Just a thought to add to the earlier "Comedy Warehouse isn't profitable (or isn't nearly as profitable) as 8Trax or other dance clubs:"
I wonder if there is a correlation between Comedy Warehouse/Adventurer's Club and other elements of PI/DTD that makes management think of those two clubs as "loss leaders." In other words, people who go to PI to go clubbing spend the money on drinks at the clubs, but many people who go to PI specifically to see a show wind up spending more money in other venues, shopping, restaurants before or after or maybe even going dancing after all. Thus, CW/AC serve a purpose that enhances Pleasure Island's bottom line, even if they don't make a big profit themselves. My wife and I aren't big on dancing, but usually when we go to PI, we go for CW or AC and we make a night of it, by making reservations at a DTD restaurant, shopping, maybe go to a movie too, or Disneyquest. They definitely make money from us in other ways tham only getting a drink or two in the clubs. But if CW/AC were to go away, we might not go to the DTD area as much, if at all.
And while I'm adding two cents to earlier comments let me also say, living in the NYC area, drink prices are pretty much in line with what I expect to pay. But to be fair, I'm not a beer drinker so I can never take advantage of 2-dollar bottle nights or quarter/pitcher specials, etc.
This is going to sound mean (but then again, I am kind of a r@t b@st@rd), but I wonder if the bloom coming off the Pleasure Island rose has more to do with a: the dance clubs themselves coming off as a homogenized recreation of a nightclub more than an actual nightclub, a synthesized approximation of the real thing that keeps veteran clubbers away, and b: the absence of those aforemetioned veteran clubbers keeps other resort guests away, because they're stuck on line with all you dillholes and decide that the last think they want to do is go drinking and dancing with all y'all at night too. :ROFLOL: And C: Since so many Disney resort guests tend to be families, all the parents with at least half a brain don't go because they're not about to expose their kids to a nightclub element, even a synthetic watered-down version of a nightclub (Heck, I've been to 8Trax and RnRBC on nights so slow and boring, they make "The Place" on Kids Incorporated look like a Rod Stewart birthday party at Club 54 during the Steve Rubell era). So, most families don't go, hard core clubbers on vacation with their families don't want to dirty dance with their Aunt Helga, families that DO go creep out single folks looking for a little sumpn sumpn, and those horn dogs have to deal with disappointing glares from the small number of Harper Valley PTA members who insist on enjoying every square inch of WDW with their kids in tow...
I dunno, it seems like one of those situation where, by trying to find something for everyone, it winds up appealing to no one. Or at least, not enough someones.
Personally, with my wife & I expecting our first, it might be a while before we enjoy PI again anyway, so its future isn't as important to me as it used to be. If they made it a giant bowling alley, or a giant obstacle course ala American Gladiators/Most Extreme Elimination Championship or kept the clubs and made them all ages or no ages, or only people whose age is a prime number, it probably has ceased to be a factor for awhile. However, I do hate to see it withering on the vine, and wish they made A decision, ANY decision on how to go forward, as walking around the area at night was kinda sad, and only the actual entertainment in AC/CW made it worthwhile IMHO.
And put me down as one who'd like to see more age appropriate entertainment for adults (as opposed to "adult entertainment" in the usual sense, haha) in the lounges of all the resorts. Heck, I've always thought that WDW could probably make a nice chunk of change if, along with the other options for transportation, they'd have a fleet of cabs to take people from resort to resort. If, for example, they were to move AC to the Animal Kingdom Lodge, I'd be happy to drive there or pay to cab it there. If the CW were moved to one of the Boardwalk resorts, I'd do the same, or of course just walk there if I were close enough, or if I were visiting Epcot that night, I'd walk through IG afterwards, see a show and then cab it back to my resort. And having some semblance of nightlife within the resorts might influence people to visit the resorts or unwind a bit. I mean, some people might consider this borderline child abuse, but I know that, were I still a kid, being the youngest of 5 and all, and if my parents took us to WDW, my parents would be more inclined to visit an in-resort nightclub, leaving my teenaged siblings to watch over the younger kids, and feeling more comfortable being only a few minutes walk/run away in case of emergency as opposed to going all the way over to a giant shopping/enetertainment complex.
Sorry for the novel, my wife's got a stomach bug on top of "morning" sickness, and I've spent most of Christmas home while she sleeps. I'm getting punchy. But if history teaches me anything, it's that I'm often a Destroyer of Threads, so I won't be surprised if everyone now becomes officially sick of this thread.
you're welcome.