Downtown Disney update

jt04

jt04

Well-Known Member
GoofGoof said:
My father in law lives in a retirement community in Florida so my view may be biased. Florida has better beaches by far, and in my opinion the better overall Disney Park (although the new DCA has narrowed that for me), but other than that S. CA takes it.
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I have lived in both places. Both have strengths and weaknesses. Hard to choose between the two.
 
J03Y

J03Y

Well-Known Member
Mouse Detective said:
Answering that would just bring us full circle. Bottom line though is that they thought they could make more money leasing out the club spaces to 3rd parties who would run shops and restaurants in them versus what they were making running the PI clubs.

Rock'n'Roll Beach Club was the first to close and the lease on it was snapped up immediately. So they thought this was going to be so easy to pull off and they closed everything else with 3 months notice. The decision-makers were a little blind to the rapidly declining economy and by the time everything did get closed, there were no longer any takers. And here we are 4 years later and still no takers.
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wow, that's just so... WOW.
 
docandsix

docandsix

Active Member
Cosmic Commando said:
California's awesome! Haven't you ever ridden Soarin' ?!?!?!
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On the contrary, I've seen just about everything represented in Soarin' personally, and have explored the state from north to south and east to west. I have a difficult time imagining a more geographically diverse and beautiful state. It makes Florida look silly by comparison. My conflict with the state has nothing whatsoever to do with its landscape or its climate.

I suspect I've visited Disneyland far more often than most people on these boards, including several trips within the last 12 months. And if people do "smoke weed commonly at Disneyland," then once more the prevailing culture of the state lessens my enjoyment of that resort compared to the one in Florida. I've posted before regarding why I prefer Walt Disney World over Disneyland. This assertion only adds to my convictions.

Just my opinion, of course, but each visit to either coast persuades me further in the same direction.
 
Californian Elitist

Californian Elitist

Well-Known Member
I've been visiting Disneyland since I was a baby and I've never ever smelled pot or witnessed a guest smoking it at the resort. The only times I can think of is Grad Nite. They try and get away with it but they don't. They just end up sitting on the bus all night and Disneyland will go as far as to ban the entire school the student came from from ever going to another Grad Nite.
 
GoofGoof

GoofGoof

Premium Member
Maybe you guys are on to something. We are looking for something to add to DTD to replace PI and pot smokers go to Disneyland so why not add some hash bars to DTD. With Amsterdam looking at closing hash bars to tourists there could be a big market looking for somewhere to go. Take that Universal. You have the boy wizard but we have hash bars. The only problem is there may be a huge line for imagination now. You would have to be high to enjoy that ride.
 
Patricia Melton

Patricia Melton

Well-Known Member
Every time I think of Pleasure Island, I'm sad that my son and daughter didn't get to experience it as adults.

My kids are in their 30s now and JUST MISSED Pleasure Island's clubs. My husband and I were fortunate enough to go a few times and we loved Pleasure Island...the Adventurer's Club in particular...but all the clubs were fun. In a lot of cities, there are stretches of bars where there's a few clubs in a row that are fun, but I've never encountered anything that was like Pleasure Island. I guess the closest I can think of is Bourbon Street in New Orleans before Katrina, where they'd have a jazz club next to a country western bar next to a rowdy rock and roll kind of club...but New Orleans was always kind of scary and cramped and I never felt all that safe when we'd go down there.

I felt safe at Pleasure Island. It was fun to go from one kind of bar to the other. I'm not a drinker, but I like music and love nightlife. I like to people watch while drinking my diet coke or cranberry and soda. My husband likes to pub crawl from bar to bar and try a different kind of local special in each one. I'm the designated driver and am good at it by now.

I don't remember exactly when Pleasure Island was dismantled, but I know it was in its heyday when my son and daughter were in college. We always thought they had plenty of time to experience this. During their college years, they were either too busy or too cool to go to WDW with their parents for a vacation and by the time that college and grad school was done, Pleasure Island was gone.

I wish and wish they could have had the chance to enjoy it. And for me, I wish that it was still there, evolving and maturing, as something that I could look forward to visiting at WDW. I would not go every single night of my trips down there but I bet I would go the first night and the last full night I was in Orlando. It would be a great way to start off a trip and a nice way to have a big last hurrah before leaving for home the next day.

I really, really miss the Adventurer's Club. Yes, I am one of those people who can't stop thinking about and talking about it. I wish I could have gotten the chance to take my niece and nephew to that. There was this place in New York called the Jekyl & Hyde Club that just recently closed that was on Madison Avenue. It was more horror than adventure themed, and a little too creepy for my tastes, but it had actors walking around as Streetmosphere in the restaurant and it's just so much fun to encounter that improv. It's a crying shame the Adventurer's Club is gone because it was something that was not just unique at WDW, but unique to the whole world. Nothing else like it on the planet that I am aware of.
 
M

Mouse Detective

Well-Known Member
Patricia Melton, when you look around the WDWMagic boards or the many other Disney-centric bulletin boards, Pleasure Island is always a topic of great interest. Whether it's the Adventurers Club, Comedy Warehouse or one of the dance clubs, there is still such a huge following for what they offered guests there and then took away. It was a high quality operation, not duplicated anywhere else. Not even close. It makes little sense that they closed it and makes zero sense that they're not reopening it.
 
Patricia Melton

Patricia Melton

Well-Known Member
Mouse Detective said:
Patricia Melton, when you look around the WDWMagic boards or the many other Disney-centric bulletin boards, Pleasure Island is always a topic of great interest. Whether it's the Adventurers Club, Comedy Warehouse or one of the dance clubs, there is still such a huge following for what they offered guests there and then took away. It was a high quality operation, not duplicated anywhere else. Not even close. It makes little sense that they closed it and makes zero sense that they're not reopening it.
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Mouse Detective --

This is appropriate, since you are a "detective" in name...but has anyone ever sussed out a definitive reason for why Disney obliterated Pleasure Island?

Was it really that they thought they could make more by leasing out the space...or was it that they were afraid of being held responsible for drugs/violence that might have happened in a nightclub setting?

THAT is why I was always told that Pleasure Island closed down...that Disney lawyers had been afraid for years that something bad would happen at PI, and that one year the lawyers finally managed to convince TDO that the liability of running nightclubs was too big. Videopolis at DLR was shut down for a similar reason: liability and fear of bad things happening because of the dance club.

This has never made sense to me.

I've searched through older threads looking for an answer, but didn't see one.

Can someone here please explain why they think Pleasure Island was really shut down?

Sure feels like Disney is leaving money on the table because Pleasure Island was so unique and always SEEMED to be making money.
 
bunnyman

bunnyman

Well-Known Member
Patricia Melton said:
Mouse Detective --

This is appropriate, since you are a "detective" in name...but has anyone ever sussed out a definitive reason for why Disney obliterated Pleasure Island?

Was it really that they thought they could make more by leasing out the space...or was it that they were afraid of being held responsible for drugs/violence that might have happened in a nightclub setting?

THAT is why I was always told that Pleasure Island closed down...that Disney lawyers had been afraid for years that something bad would happen at PI, and that one year the lawyers finally managed to convince TDO that the liability of running nightclubs was too big. Videopolis at DLR was shut down for a similar reason: liability and fear of bad things happening because of the dance club.

This has never made sense to me.

I've searched through older threads looking for an answer, but didn't see one.

Can someone here please explain why they think Pleasure Island was really shut down?

Sure feels like Disney is leaving money on the table because Pleasure Island was so unique and always SEEMED to be making money.
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Pleasure Island was originally built to keep adults from leaving WDW at night and traveling to places like downtown Orlando for Church Street Station/Rosie O’Grady’s. Going to WDW in the mid-1980’s post-college there was nothing to do at night, given the limited number of Disney hotel’s on property at the time with available bars/lounges, etc.; International Drive was basically just chain hotels (this was before all of the nearby “themed resorts” were built); and there was no Universal with their Citywalk, etc. I remember making the trek into Orlando for Church Street, and saying, gee, I wish Disney had more hotels on property (as all I could afford at the time pre-value and moderate resort offerings was something off property) and something to do at night.

Rolling forward several years, more hotels appeared at Disney (i.e. Dixie Landings, etc.), and we now had Pleasure Island. Given that the Marketplace was basically just shopping plus a couple of places to eat, Pleasure Island was great. You could pay, or most likely use your “pluses” on your length of stay pass to get in. Had it not been for the fact that you could use a “plus” from your length of stay, I’m not so sure how many folks would have actually forked over $$.

I think Disney’s biggest reason that Pleasure Island eventually died off was based on their own doings. When they added Disney West Side with House of Blues and Planet Hollywood, etc. and with the addition of the Boardwalk area, they started competing with themselves. In addition, building many hotels with restaurants, bars and lounges meant that many people never had to leave their hotels to get a drink.

Come on, towards the end the place was deserted, and even dropping the admission and pushing certain nights for Cast Members, etc., the place was still dead. Yes, maybe the Adventurer’s Club was moderately full, but the streets were empty (I felt sorry for the DJ’s trying to play dance music to empty streets).

Unfortunately, themed ideas surrounding restaurants and clubs eventually become stale and need to be “refreshed”. My big problem with Disney was the old throwing the baby out with the bath water analogy…they should have integrated the few clubs that still had a draw into better flowing connection between the Marketplace and West Side, rather than simply shuttering everything.
 
Patricia Melton

Patricia Melton

Well-Known Member
bunnyman said:
Unfortunately, themed ideas surrounding restaurants and clubs eventually become stale and need to be “refreshed”. My big problem with Disney was the old throwing the baby out with the bath water analogy…they should have integrated the few clubs that still had a draw into better flowing connection between the Marketplace and West Side, rather than simply shuttering everything.
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This was such excellent insight, I gave you a big ol' LIKE for it. Thank you for taking the time to give us your take on the history of Pleasure Island and why it went downhill.

I will always think that The Adventurer's Club needs to be reborn as a restaurant in Adventureland (open the same hours as Be Our Guest, and geared towards families with boys who would like the same kind of plussed dining experience but themed not to a princess story but to a life of adventure). Have the restaurant built so that it overlooks the Jungle Cruise. Have it be quick service during the day and at night table service...and also have a dinner theater aspect that would be an additional charge.

The other clubs I don't think people miss as much and were not as special as The Adventurer's Club.
 

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