Should MK Gut Pirates of the Caribbean and Replace With Shanghai DL's Pirates: Sunken Treasure?

I say no. What I hope happens is that Universal counters Disney's amazing D23 announcement with an equally impressive announcement of their next Orlando park, although It will be hard to top. After they do that, Disney finally decides a fifth gate and brings 20,000 Leagues, Center of the Earth, Mystic Manor, and the Shanghai Pirates all to a new park with an explorer's theme. Put a big Up attraction in there to bring it all together.

Unfortunatly, I don't think that's happening. Even though I'd love that, I don't think they have the guts to do it. Also, though I believe Universal is planning their third(or fourth, counting Volcano Bay) gate, I disagree with JC. I don't think Disney is building a fith gate anytime soon. They still have a lot of work by expanding their current gates, with these Epcot changes, and possible future Animal Kingdom additions.

I wish that would happen

I don't think they would do it either. I think most of what we are seeing is in anticipation of what Universal is about to do so as to not be seen falling behind, which some believe. It took Disney forever to make a few kiddie rides when Universal make all the Harry Potter, Kong, fixed the Hulk and Spider-Man, and put in a water park. I hear Avatar is great, but they need to disperse the crowds since they refuse to modify the awful FP +. I really wish they would, as we potentially could be in the new golden age of theme parks (if we could just manage the crowds better).

Clealrly the driving forces behind these announcements are as follows:

(1) The coming 50th anniversary of Walt Disney World.

(2) The completion of civil work on Buena Vista Drive that has relieved traffic snarls.

(3) The desire to expand the success of DVC by adding more new attractions and shows. The more DVC members the more people show up and spend at the parks.

What's most apparent about the D23 anoucement is how easily Disney can sweep away and semblance of competition within the Florida market. When Mr. VanHouten references what "Universal is about to do" it makes me wonder if those plans include matching the D23 announcement (as well as other projects already in progress) that added ten new attractions/shows, a groundbreaking, fully immersive hotel/adventure experience, four heavily themed restaurants, two brand new (tower) resorts and two attraction re-boots.

Looking forward to Universal's big announcement in ... 2018, maybe?

Shanghai Pirates is a spectacular ride. I wouldn't mind if they borrowed the technology for another IP. There's a lot of potential for such a boat ride at Disney World. It was rumored that the Avatar boat ride was supposed to be similar, but that didn't happen. None of the recent announcements suggest the technology will be utilized in any new upcoming rides. So we must wait another decade before they find a suitable IP.

I am going to be in the No Camp.

WDW can't build a replica of Journey to the Center of the Earth or 20,000 Leagues as The Oriental Land Company has an exclusive clause that states that any attraction developed for DisneySea remains unique and exclusive to DisneySea only. They can make different iterations of those attractions but can't copy them outright.

Also, I'm of the opinion that every Disney park should be distinct enough and offer a few park-exclusive attractions which can't be found at any other Disney park in the world. I don't want every iteration of Magic Kingdom to be the same, otherwise I have no incentive to visit the other Disney Resorts. The more they homogenize, the less potential international and national travelers they can attract. Why would I want to spend money on expensive tickets to TDL or DLP if I can drive 20 minutes down the freeway and be in Disneyland which offers the exact same thing?

Cross-over and replicated attractions are fine and necessary to keep some of the core elements of a Disney park, but complete similarities are detrimental, not only to creative minds, but to guests and bean counters most of all.

I will say this, no matter what Universal is about to do, they face the same issue that Disneyland does- limited real estate space. I really don't know how they will address the challenge of whatever superpark they plan to make being so far down the road. I have pointed this out before as well, while Universal sees incredible expansions, most people not in tune with theme parks are unaware of them. Disney is still the beast and will remain so, but Disney's problem is crowd control. It simply is not fun having to manage ride reservations weeks ahead of time and being limited to being able to experience so few attractions during a day due to crowds. They have to find a better way to address this, and they really have to before Star Wars opens. What would be interesting is to compare customer satisfaction exit surveys with first time and repeat visitors.