Save the Adventurers Club

[CaptainMichael]

Interesting...but hard to believe.

But if it is true, as a CM, I would have gladly bought some sort of pass. It is worth it to me.


My question is, would Disney be willing to sell me the rights to the concept, characters, etc, so I can rebuild it in Orlando and show them how successful it can be?:lookaroun

 

[Scooter]

But if it is true, as a CM, I would have gladly bought some sort of pass. It is worth it to me.


My question is, would Disney be willing to sell me the rights to the concept, characters, etc, so I can rebuild it in Orlando and show them how successful it can be?:lookaroun

Apparently,you missed the post that said it cost $1.5 Million Dollars a year to run the AC but it only took in $400,000 a year.
I'm no accountant, but it might be hard to find financial backers for this endeaver.

 

[CaptainMichael]

Apparently,you missed the post that said it cost $1.5 Million Dollars a year to run the AC but it only took in $400,000 a year.
I'm no accountant, but it might be hard to find financial backers for this endeaver.

And you missed the part of the post that said it's from Screamscape. The AC is capable of more than $400,000. Plus, it's Disney's fault if that were true. They decided to include it with the Annual Pass and have it as a benefit for CM's. I would have paid to go, and I'm sure I'm not alone. Disney failed the AC, not the other way around.

 

[sassytink03]

Again, I agree. As I said before, Disney was the downfall of PI. They stopped advertising, took away the merchandising, and took away the turnstiles. They knew what was going to happen when they did that. Then they turned it around on us and told us that the clubs weren't making enough money. They tried to pull one over on us, but it didn't work. We are a lot smarter than Disney thinks we are.

 

[CaptainMichael]

Again, I agree. As I said before, Disney was the downfall of PI. They stopped advertising, took away the merchandising, and took away the turnstiles. They knew what was going to happen when they did that. Then they turned it around on us and told us that the clubs weren't making enough money. They tried to pull one over on us, but it didn't work. We are a lot smarter than Disney thinks we are.

Also, if giving CMs free admission was allegedly its downfall, that's Disney's fault. If I'm not mistaken, CMs only used to get in free on Thursdays (that's why it remains to this day "CM night", then they changed that to Sunday-Thursday, and recently to all week.

 

[Master Gracey]

Here is another Disney News article describing the amazing “New Years Eve Every Night” celebration, and the first Pleasure Island Cast Photo.


Disney News- Summer 1989

Pleasure Island Cast Photo

As for Screamscape article, there is absolutely no way that Disney would release financial information to anyone, let alone Screamscape. Even if it is true, the Adventurers Club’s value must not be placed in dollars, but in Guest Experience and Guest Satisfaction. The first “Pirate and Princess Party” lost Disney money, but received countless guest commendments. If that happen in the span of 4 months for Pirate and Princess, imagine the amount that the Adventurers Club has received in 19 years! Also, there is definite proof that the Adventurers Club was, is and can be profitable. Here is a sampling of what Adventurers Club merchandise goes for on Ebay:

There are many people out there willing to purchase Adventurers Club Merchandise, (seemingly at any price). Since they do exist, then why shouldn’t Disney provide both the Club and the Merchandise for the Guests that they are supposed to be listening to?

Lastly, at least for this post, with the one month mark approaching, it is now the time to fight hardest! Do not give up hope Adventurers; we will save our beloved Club somehow.

Some days you eat the mouse.
Some days the mouse eats you.
But never give into the mouse without a fight!​

KUNGALOOSH!​

 

[sassytink03]

It's seems like everyone has given up the fight. I still am emailing and writing letters even though I still have not gotten a response. And once Sept 27 hits, I will be sending more letters, emails, and phone calls Disney's way to let them know that I want the AC back! I won't wave my white flag yet!

BTW, the newest rumor is that once the club shuts its doors, the frozen drink machine is going to be moved to the outside bar. Now why the heck would they do that? They are still going to offers drinks at the bar, but not have any clubs or restaurants or even a bus stop near by. Who is going to buy drinks there? I for one will not go to visit whatever they replace PI with. Anything I need to buy, I will get in the parks. Downtown Disney has lost my business forever.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

Apparently,you missed the post that said it cost $1.5 Million Dollars a year to run the AC but it only took in $400,000 a year.
I'm no accountant, but it might be hard to find financial backers for this endeaver.

There's NO CHANCE that that data is correct. It doesn't take an accountant to see that, either.

$400,000 total take in 07 would mean an average PER DAY take of basically somewhere around $1,100. Let me say that again. $1,100. There's NO CHANCE that the Adventurer's Club averaged $1,100 per day in revenue. Even if it did during the slow points of the year (which I would still find hard to believe because that's such a low number), there's absolutely no way to deny the fact that at the very least during the Summer that place is packed. It's very easy to rack up $1,100 worth of drinks quickly. Say each drink costs $6 (I don't remember exactly). That's 183 drinks per night. If the place is open 6 hours a night(ish), that's 30 drinks per hour. Seems AWFULLY low, especially at any point during the year besides the extremely slow periods. We were there December 14 of 07, which is considered one of the slowest weeks of the year, and the bartenders were hopping the whole time, even with a modest crowd in attendance... Not to mention the waitresses bringing drinks to people during the shows.

Plus, there's probably creative accounting going on. The last time we were there, my wife and I had to each buy access to all the clubs, just so we could get into the AC. Was any of the money from my purchase directly tied to AC revenue for the evening? I'm quite certain it was NOT.

Listen... I really do not want to lose the AC. I love that place. But I get that other people don't feel as strongly. And that's fine. But using SCREAMSCAPE to back up an arguement? And then forgetting that some of us own calculators to do a quick number crunch against that arguement?? Eek.

If the AC was hemmoraging money at the rate of $1,100,000 per year, it would have been closed INSTANTLY.

 

[agent86]

It's seems like everyone has given up the fight. I still am emailing and writing letters even though I still have not gotten a response. And once Sept 27 hits, I will be sending more letters, emails, and phone calls Disney's way to let them know that I want the AC back! I won't wave my white flag yet!

BTW, the newest rumor is that once the club shuts its doors, the frozen drink machine is going to be moved to the outside bar. Now why the heck would they do that? They are still going to offers drinks at the bar, but not have any clubs or restaurants or even a bus stop near by. Who is going to buy drinks there? I for one will not go to visit whatever they replace PI with. Anything I need to buy, I will get in the parks. Downtown Disney has lost my business forever.

I'm with you! I vow here and now that whatever goes in place of AC will NEVER get even one penny of my business.

 

[dmagickingdom]

adventurers club

here is the bottom line... PI has been like a ghost town for a couple of years now. It is ridiculously sloooooow. It is a great BUSINESS decision to close it. Everyone that says they love apparently don't love it enough because it, along with every other club there was 70% empty almost every night. Even after Disney started allowing cast in FREE EVERY NIGHT, it was still empty. Disney executives know beyond a doubt that they will receive almost endless emails and letters. If you all want to simply get your point across, then obviously feel free to write. They are well prepared for it and their decision was final when they announced it. They anticipate hardcore fans response to their actions. I believe you should voice your opinion on what you want but also know NOTHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN. It is weak management who makes a firm decision like this only to say, "maybe the normal Disney fan knows much more than I do with my 2,000,000 paycheck every year."
Good luck and maybe I am very wrong but theme park history proves otherwise.

 

[kimmychad]

And you missed the part of the post that said it's from Screamscape. The AC is capable of more than $400,000. Plus, it's Disney's fault if that were true. They decided to include it with the Annual Pass and have it as a benefit for CM's. I would have paid to go, and I'm sure I'm not alone. Disney failed the AC, not the other way around.

is it now included with just a regular annual pass?

 

[Master Yoda]

is it now included with just a regular annual pass?

No. PI has never been a part of a standard AP. You either had to purchase a Premium AP or a PI AP.

 

[Brian Noble]

et me say that again. $1,100. There's NO CHANCE that the Adventurer's Club averaged $1,100 per day in revenue.

If it is just admission revenue (rather than admission+sales), I'd say it is at least possible. Admissions are coming in off of multi-club day tickets (which are often discounte), Plus options, and PAPs. A day-ticket guest can't book more than $22, and if they visit two clubs (say, CW and AC) then it's split. That's before discounting. APers get $4 off. DDE holders get the tickets 1/2 price.

If a Plus option visitor visits both waterparks and AC even once, then they book at most 1/3 of the revneue of the option. Probably less than 1/3, because I'm guessing they don't book the revenue equally, as the waterparks are "worth more". Again, if they visit two clubs that night, then AC books half of the "PI-designated" revenue. So, figure about $8-$10.

PAPs pay about $180/year for all the extended options. But, passholders almost always book lower admission revenue than day guests.

Now subtract all those College Program CMs who hang out there twice a week, 'cause they are free.

Add it all up, and I would be surprised if the per-guest admission revenue exceeded $10 a head.

All that said, I'm pretty sure that the AC, viewed alone, is almost certainly profitable. PI as a whole might even be in the black. But, on a $/sq. ft./year basis, it almost certainly under-performs the rest of DTD by a very wide margin. You could blame Disney for letting it get to that point, and I wouldn't argue with you. It seems to me that the beginning of the end was the development of the West Side which led to the removal of gated access for the Island.

I don't expect to see anything like PI returning to Disney property for quite some time. I would not be surprised if something that looks like the adventurer's club re-appeared sooner rather than later, perhaps as a standalone entity in DTD.

As for a campaign to save PI? Not going to happen.

A campaign to salvage AC? Maybe. But, the best way to have saved AC is to have patronized it more often. I suspect that would not have been possible for some.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

If it is just admission revenue (rather than admission+sales), I'd say it is at least possible. Admissions are coming in off of multi-club day tickets (which are often discounte), Plus options, and PAPs. A day-ticket guest can't book more than $22, and if they visit two clubs (say, CW and AC) then it's split. That's before discounting. APers get $4 off. DDE holders get the tickets 1/2 price.

If a Plus option visitor visits both waterparks and AC even once, then they book at most 1/3 of the revneue of the option. Probably less than 1/3, because I'm guessing they don't book the revenue equally, as the waterparks are "worth more". Again, if they visit two clubs that night, then AC books half of the "PI-designated" revenue. So, figure about $8-$10.

PAPs pay about $180/year for all the extended options. But, passholders almost always book lower admission revenue than day guests.

Now subtract all those College Program CMs who hang out there twice a week, 'cause they are free.

Add it all up, and I would be surprised if the per-guest admission revenue exceeded $10 a head.

All that said, I'm pretty sure that the AC, viewed alone, is almost certainly profitable. PI as a whole might even be in the black. But, on a $/sq. ft./year basis, it almost certainly under-performs the rest of DTD by a very wide margin. You could blame Disney for letting it get to that point, and I wouldn't argue with you. It seems to me that the beginning of the end was the development of the West Side which led to the removal of gated access for the Island.

I don't expect to see anything like PI returning to Disney property for quite some time. I would not be surprised if something that looks like the adventurer's club re-appeared sooner rather than later, perhaps as a standalone entity in DTD.

As for a campaign to save PI? Not going to happen.

A campaign to salvage AC? Maybe. But, the best way to have saved AC is to have patronized it more often. I suspect that would not have been possible for some.

I don't think they were talking about admission revenue. If they were, how would they say they had a "cost" of $1.5 mil? If the info from screamscape is true (and I don't think it is), they're basically saying it takes $1.5mil to run the place for a year, overall. If you're comparing like for like, you would then compare that against the revenue it generated overall(whether that be in some percentage of admissions or in sales revenue).

While I tend to agree that admissions revenue could be a pretty low number for various reasons (both real and self-inflicted by accountaneers), I don't believe there's any way that sales revenue could be that low.

I also could see the place costing $1.5 mil to run in a year. :shrug: I just think they're WAY off on sales revenue. Even if one could make the argument that the place is dead in the off season, there are plenty of months of the year that it's going crazy in there.

 

[darthjohnny]

I think people are concentrating too much on the numbers Screamscape used. Yes the numbers seem off. But I think they were really just either rough estimates or just to put things in perspective. What the main thing is though it that, unless of course the rumor was true that they do plan on moving the AC (i.e. to Night Kingdom/Jungle Trek) the reason it's most likely closing is because it's losing money.

 

[hokielutz]

All that said, I'm pretty sure that the AC, viewed alone, is almost certainly profitable. PI as a whole might even be in the black. But, on a $/sq. ft./year basis, it almost certainly under-performs the rest of DTD by a very wide margin. You could blame Disney for letting it get to that point, and I wouldn't argue with you. It seems to me that the beginning of the end was the development of the West Side which led to the removal of gated access for the Island.

PI is an entirely different business model than most of the rest of Down Town Disney, particularly the west side. And comparing them is completely absurd. Most of the businesses and restaurants are run by non-disney companies, who pay Disney a pretty good premium to use the land, and then I am sure Disney gets a cut of the revenues or profit generated by each of those businesses.

So Disney makes money from these businesses without having a payroll, benefits, pay for utilities, or other overhead expenses to worry about. Relatively easy money.

PI on the other hand has Disney Staff, creative producers for the comedy clubs, overhead, Utilities, etc... that they pay for, and the profit margin is for sure smaller than it would be to lease the entire space out for commercial tennants.

So comparing the two entities can't be done, unless all you are looking at is the bottom line profit each generates.

 

[sassytink03]

PI has been like a ghost town for a couple of years now. It is ridiculously sloooooow. It is a great BUSINESS decision to close it. Everyone that says they love apparently don't love it enough because it, along with every other club there was 70% empty almost every night. Even after Disney started allowing cast in FREE EVERY NIGHT, it was still empty.

Are you insane? :hammer:I go to the AC all the time and it is always busy! Even when the other clubs are slow, the AC has a lot of people in there. There are always people getting turned away from the show in the library because there isn't enough seats for them all and usually the people overflow into the Zebra Mezzanine upstairs. And there is always a line for the first show at the CW no matter what night it is. So perhaps you haven't been to the AC in a while because your figures on the AC are wrong.

I believe you should voice your opinion on what you want but also know NOTHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN.

I believe that Disney had made its decision to close down PI a long time ago..from the time that the WS came onto property and they removed the turnstiles. But, that is not going to stop me or the other 6,000 or 7,000 people that signed the petition from saying what we need to say. We will keep fighting for this club long after it is gone. If we stay quiet, then Disney wins...I won't give up yet no matter what people say.

Good luck and maybe I am very wrong but theme park history proves otherwise.

We saved Lincoln didn't we...and we brought Figment back!!! :sohappy:

 

[Brian Noble]

So comparing the two entities can't be done, unless all you are looking at is the bottom line profit each generates.

Which is exactly what a publicly-held for-profit company would do.

 

[Master Gracey]

As I was perusing Youtube today, I came upon an amazing video. It shows what has to be the most magical moment that I have ever seen come out of any Disney park, and of all places it is at the Adventurers Club!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oX7-W0vSPA


We have less than a month, but there is still time to let Disney know that adults deserve Magical Moments while visiting Walt Disney World and the best place for us is at The Adventurers Club!

Some days you eat the mouse.
Some days the mouse eats you.
But never give into the mouse without a fight!​

KUNGALOOSH!​

 

[Pippa]

I also got engaged at the club, I don't have a video so I'll try to describe it....

Wake up on my birthday Nov 28 2000 at the Caribbean Beach resort with Glen, he tells me that my present is a trip to NYC in a few months for a shopping trip.

Have lovely day at Epcot and dinner at Le Cellier.

Go to AC for the evening.

Colonel asks if there are any birthdays in the club, I reluctantly admit it is mine. He asks what I have done today so far, I tell him.

He then says that he thinks my boyfriend has something else to ask me, Glen then drops on one knee and proposes with diamond solitaire ring. I accept.

After much celebrating the bartender gives us a disposble camera to get pictures. When we settle the bar bill at the end of the night, we are told that the club has picked up the bill and congratulations!

In 2001 we buy a house and name it "Kungaloosh!".

In 2005 we return for our honeymoon and spend every night at the club.

In 2008 the closure of the club is announced and I am heartbroken.

So many Magical Memories in that place but we'll be there Sept 27th to say goodbye.