Club Disney, the ill-fated playzones of the 90's.

[lifeofemilyxo]

I literally just signed up so I could reply to this form. I am crying right now remembering this place and watching the youtube video of merlin. I remember that entire show. When it was your birthday, you would get special attention for the characters in the show. I had my birthday here as a kid and often visited. I was so incredibly sad once it closed. My mom even still talks about this place. There was nothing else ever made like this magical place. kids of this generation need this place back! I would pay anything to be able to have this back in phoenix. Arizona especially needs anything Disney in the area. I remembered the entire merlin show. Back in the 90s, this was totally state of the art and I remember the computer room almost being like a modern-day ipad now. The games were so interactive and I learned a lot from them.

I remember playing with Minnie and mickey and other characters the whole time that I was there. The employees were amazing. The food was good. My mom loved taking my brother and I there every sat to entertain us. Even my mom said she used to have a blast as an adult. Plus, she could have peace and quiet in the adult section while my brother and I were totally watched over by employees the whole time and we could run free. I remember swinging in the Tarzan treehouse. I vaguely remember the Mulan section having to do with stretches too at some point almost like a karate learning session hahaha with poles that the kids could hold like in the movie. I also vaguely remember doing Disney karaoke and sing-alongs that were a lot of fun. There was a lot of pre-planning involved with the birthday's and as a girl, I remember I got to wear a crown and princess dress. The gift shop was so much fun and great for picking out a prize at the end of the day. The food was even shaped like characters. The entire time from the minute you walked through the door felt like absolute magic and you had constant entertainment. When you checked in at the front desk, gave them your shoes, and got your wristband the employee that opened the gate for you made it so magical like you were entering this magical dreamland. Constant disney music was playing overhead.

As an adult, I wish this place still existed so I could go to work there hahaha!! I know it employed a lot of people in the Phoenix area and everyone there seemed like they loved their jobs and the benefits that it brought them. I think we should do a petition to Disney to bring something like this back! They charge and arm and a leg for their parks clearly they could charge something decent for a place like this.


With modern-day escape rooms and laser tag areas being so popular and profitable... why not? This would do amazing

 

[lifeofemilyxo]

I also remember belle reading stories.

 

[lifeofemilyxo]

I had a princess tea party too at one point with alice in wonderland and the mad hatter. They used to chase you around the tables to move down. It was a blast and really brought the movies to life. As I am watching these videos more memories are starting to resurface in my brain. At one point, they had dress up for kids too. Where you could dress in a princess gown etc.

 

[*Q*]

I was lucky enough to get to check this place out for the short time it was open in Phoenix, but I haven't really retained many memories of it, so I'm grateful this thread is here to share information about it. It's really a shame Disney didn't make their regional entertainment initiatives work.

I live in Phoenix AZ and just put two & two together! There is a place called makutu’s island that is definitely the “planned chandler AZ club disney” location mentioned in the club Disney Wikipedia page! Still in tact!! When I took our kiddos there I mentioned that it reminded me of the Disney place I had gone to in Glendale as a kid, and my husband had no idea what I was talking out! Turns out this is why it seemed so similar! The article below confirms and explains the transition. The bottom link is for makutus where you can see tons of photos!

https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2005/02/21/story1.html

Makutu's Island – Family Fun in Chandler, AZ – Birthday parties and Play

www.makutusisland.com

That is some real special grammar on that website there...

 

[TwilightZone]

Sorry to not responding to people here in so long, I am glad this forum can bring back so many memories to so many people! All of this info is really interesting to me as someone who hasn't been to Club Disney.

 

[Tikitony]

I worked here I believe from 97 to 98 and it was a lot of fun. I remember we closed to the public for a prince from the Middle East. I wish I had photos. I kept my name badge and had my uniform for a number of years before I finally got rid of it. Wish I had photos working there.

 

[Colleen12]

I was one of the opening cast members for Club Disney Glendale AZ. I was the foodservice director in charge of the Cafe and food for the birthday parties. I worked until just before the Club closed for good. Our cafe served among other things, pizza, fries served in sorcerer hats, cupcakes made by the Cheese Cake Factory and Starbucks brewed coffee. Each cupcake was topped with a Mickey figurine. The BBQ Chicken pizza was really good! We were classified under attractions which meant retail items and some food items were similar to what was sold in the parks. For example some of the costumes or beanie babies sold at the Club retail store were not available for purchase at the Disney Store in the mall. Our daughter was about 16 months old when we opened. I still have her Club Disney t-shirt and Club Disney Mickey & Minnie beanies. A Bug’s Life was our theme at he time so in the cafe we served “dirt “ cupcakes with gummie worms and bugs. Yum

 

[TwilightZone]

I was one of the opening cast members for Club Disney Glendale AZ. I was the foodservice director in charge of the Cafe and food for the birthday parties. I worked until just before the Club closed for good. Our cafe served among other things, pizza, fries served in sorcerer hats, cupcakes made by the Cheese Cake Factory and Starbucks brewed coffee. Each cupcake was topped with a Mickey figurine. The BBQ Chicken pizza was really good! We were classified under attractions which meant retail items and some food items were similar to what was sold in the parks. For example some of the costumes or beanie babies sold at the Club retail store were not available for purchase at the Disney Store in the mall. Our daughter was about 16 months old when we opened. I still have her Club Disney t-shirt and Club Disney Mickey & Minnie beanies. A Bug’s Life was our theme at he time so in the cafe we served “dirt “ cupcakes with gummie worms and bugs. Yum

Oh wow, that's super cool! All the food sounds so quality, which is great and really sets it apart from competition from the time. I also like how it had unique merch, you don't see that much even within the parks much.

 

[Umiri]

I live in Phoenix AZ and just put two & two together! There is a place called makutu’s island that is definitely the “planned chandler AZ club disney” location mentioned in the club Disney Wikipedia page! Still in tact!! When I took our kiddos there I mentioned that it reminded me of the Disney place I had gone to in Glendale as a kid, and my husband had no idea what I was talking out! Turns out this is why it seemed so similar! The article below confirms and explains the transition. The bottom link is for makutus where you can see tons of photos!

https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2005/02/21/story1.html

Makutu's Island – Family Fun in Chandler, AZ – Birthday parties and Play

www.makutusisland.com

Hi! Where was the Glendale location? I'm a native Phoenician, but as I was born in 1995, I don't have a memory of this place. HOWEVER, I remember seeing a building near Arrowhead Mall with Disney stuff. I used to ask my mom what it was, and she told me it was an old Disney place. Is that it?

 

[Bree3289]

After many years of searching, I have found photos of the interior of club disney. Club disney was an ill-fated Eisner project that was a group of indoor kids playzones. Club disney is so ill-fated that less people know about it's existence then for disneyquest. Club disney failed due to high admission fees, at the time it was $8 for both child and adult, one can imagine how much that is with inflation. The other reasons for closure include not a lot for adults to do, failing net profit returns, and a change of strategy at the corporate level. Club disney had many themed playzones, sadly, only photos of a few of these playzones I was able to find, but any photos are better then no photos.

The logo for club disney. The one that opened in February 1997 was the very first one, which was located in Thousand Oaks California.

These photos are from the opening day of one of the locations.

The signage for one of the locations

I am assuming that this is the check in desk for club disney.

These photos are of the cafe area, a press release goes into detail:
"In the cafe area, Mickey and Minnie images decorate the walls of a room with blond wood tables, chairs, and floors. Dinkel once again worked to avoid an institutional feel in the lighting by using ribbon tracks with 250W MR-16s for extra sparkle. "The room is kept to 35fc," she says, pointing out that some of the MR-16s are on flexible stems to aim at the murals. The MR-16 ribbon motif reappears in the gift shop, where large cut-outs of the sun, moon, and stars are arranged like constellations on the ceiling. Track lighting highlights the walls and window displays."

These photos are of the circus area.
"A circus area, intended for kids from four to six years old, has a mini-carousel accented with low-voltage rim lights. Strings of lightbulbs covered with Lumisphere plastic globes in pink, purple, yellow, and blue create the illusion of a bigtop. On an upper level is a low-ceiling area meant for kids to climb around, so for safety Dinkel built fiber-optic lighting from Fiberstars into the scenic elements. "This way no one can hit their head on the instruments, and there is nothing that can get too hot," she says."
The green square with the nature print on it may be the winnie the pooh area or tarzan area.
"On a recent afternoon, the "Tarzan" activity center from Disney's current animated feature was the most popular place in the club, with children lined up to swing on a "vine" like Tarzan and play the jungle drums."

This area seems to be the hub area, where kids await instructions for the next activity.

One of the activities when club disney opened was a winnie-the pooh exercise area.
"That's why it has designed a number of separate admission programs to lure visitors to the club on weekdays: educational field trips for school groups; themed birthday parties with invitations, entertainers and cake included; and multi-session workshops like Poohrobics, a 10-week parent and child stretching and exercise program led by the beloved, befuddled honey bear."
It seems like later on this activity was replaced by a more fitting hurcules themed exercise area. One of the activities, as seen above was throwing thunderbolts into a pot.
Some activities not shown are the computers, the special birthday rooms, some of the rotating activities like poohrobics and tarzan, and the dress up show.

The club disney in Thousand Oaks became a sports authority. I have no clue what it is after sports authority closed. Edit: it seems to be a nike or a bed, bath and beyond now. If anyone who has been to the Pomanade and would like to share what the location is now, feel free to do so. If anyone has any stories to share about these unique locations, feel free to do that as well.

I am so glad I found this! I’ve been trying to locate this place for years! I went here for a field trip to the Thousand Oaks location and I always wanted to go back. This place was absolutely fun! I will never forget the splat and shadow area where you run and do a pose and it stays on the wall and I loved the mirror maze! Thank you so much for posting this! I feel like it would have made a killing these days (precious) if they decided to reopen.

 

[TwilightZone]

I am so glad I found this! I’ve been trying to locate this place for years! I went here for a field trip to the Thousand Oaks location and I always wanted to go back. This place was absolutely fun! I will never forget the splat and shadow area where you run and do a pose and it stays on the wall and I loved the mirror maze! Thank you so much for posting this! I feel like it would have made a killing these days (precious) if they decided to reopen.

You're welcome! I think it would be pretty popular these days with some modern reworking for the characters. Especially now when people want to get out again, it would be a nice cheaper option to the disney parks and a good alternative to the Chuck E. Cheese line.

 

[anna66]

I just came across this forum when I randomly remembered Club Disney from my childhood!! I went into search mode because I wanted to try remembering everything I could since the memories started flooding back while reading everyone’s replies in this thread...and there’s footage on YouTube!! It’s a person who uploaded a bunch of their family footage and it included their twin daughter’s birthday party experience at Club Disney in June 1999!! Here are the videos they have up:

Check in/play area/arcade:
Merlin’s little birthday show:

Birthday room + Mickey pizza:

Presents:


This is the version of Club Disney I remember when I visited the West Covina, CA one in 1999 (I was 7) for a friend’s birthday party. My mom helped me pinpoint the location and the building is now turned into several different businesses so we assume the insides were mostly demolished
Approx. address:
2851 Eastland Center Dr
West Covina, CA 91791View attachment 420575
View attachment 420576

I’m having so many flashbacks I remember the birthday room/experience and Winnie the Pooh area the most with a little soft bridge and blue “water” floors (the Hundred Acre Wood play area seemed so huge to me at the time ) I remember playing on the drums and catching those little ping pong ball bees with a tiny net, too! The Winnie the Pooh bee catching game was similar to the arcade games you control the handle to try catching coins, but instead of a metal arm thing it was a brown “wooden” handle with a white net and you had to scoop the bees into a little bag or basket I can’t quite remember but the game was really adorable and fun! It was the Tarzan theme when I went, wish I could have experienced the Mulan theme too but I loved Tarzan back then so I was happy Even the little clear teacups for the drinks in the birthday room came back to me! My mom and I are reminiscing right now remembering the experience with me! She didn’t even know there was a parent’s lounge she had so much fun with me She said she wanted to have my birthday there since the package was about $100 or so but when she called in to book it they said they were closing down and she was so sad My 8th birthday was just one week after on November 8th 1999 and they closed on the 1st so sad. My mom and I are now mad they closed it down she wants to write a letter to Disney to bring it back lol but it really was a highlight of my childhood and I remember my time there even more vividly than any of my frequent Disneyland trips at those ages. I think if they brought this back now maybe it would do better, it was such a cute and fun experience for kids and parents, frankly $8 (~$12.80 w/inflation) to get in is very cheap to me I’d easily see them charging $20 to get in today and I’d gladly pay honestly it was that well worth it with all of the intricate Disney touches and little activities you could do! Thank you Bakemeyer family for uploading this to YouTube and pulling these fond memories out of my childhood spending time with my mom! She unfortunately didn’t take any photos at Club Disney nor own a camcorder so I have no footage of my childhood in general. It brought back so much good nostalgia I rarely feel anymore since all I have are photos. Really warmed my heart this morning

Circuit City took over the Disney Club location there in W Covina (your picture shows the businesses that took over that space later). I used to take my son there when he was very small. It was so much fun. Every parent I knew loved it. It was perfect for the younger set. I don't have a picture of the front, but they changed the storefront since Circuit City closed and they put in Dollar Tree and the hamburger place. Club Disney had a curved front which Circuit City kept. That was where the entrance was. I don't know why they closed it...it wasn't expensive (maybe to have a full on party) and was always well attended. It was kind of a pilot program I guess. One day I hope I come across some pictures we must have taken.