Say goodbye to ALL the clubs at PI.

[Pippa]

However the definition may be the same but the make up of the modern family is a damn site different from Walts day.

Theres also the international factor where johnny foreigner dosent get quite so hysterical over alcohol and slippery nipples.

So the hunt is on for another bar to hang out at and sip cocktails
after a busy day at the parks........it wont be the same though

 

[wannabeBelle]

I have read through a few more pages of the thread and tend to agree with most people, that PI went downhill after they ungated it. I never quite understood parents wanting to bering kids into an area where clubbing is the main attraction, and then complaining about people who are intoxicated!!! well DUH!!!!!!!!! I do love Disney, honestly and the parks are truly a wonder. I dont think it was a bad idea to have one little corner set aside for adult activities only though. Lee, make sure you keep us updated on anything you can from your AC friend? Thanks, Belle

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

So the hunt is on for another bar to hang out at and sip cocktails
after a busy day at the parks........it wont be the same though

Thats why we stay a Universal for a few days, can be a bit more adult.

 

[wickedfan07]

I've never been to PI, but I do hink this mass closure is a bit over the top anyway. Why does disney feel it needs to take away EVERYTHING that could possibly attract Orlando/Florida locals to the Resort. Just because it is a vacation destination does NOT mean that they need to strip away everything that is geared toward or at least welcoming to the local population. We're reading in this thread that some local people don't even want to go to WDW if this area is removed. I'm guessing that a point will be reached when Disney loses a good chunk of local loyalty, if it hasn't happened already. I know Kevin Yee is a joke, but who knows what will happen to WDW attendance in the coming months. If attendance does go down, Disney would need local people to help offset the drop. As of now, Disney is still stripping away everything that could be attractive to someone who ISN'T blindly spending money on vacation. How does that make sense? In other words, I don't think it's wise for them to mess with their neighbors too much.

 

[twistedmickey]

I keep reading how disney is going back to their target audience "families" and how they need to cater to them. Why cant Disney have a place where children are not allowed??? yes i said it! The day they opened up pleasure island to everybody that was the nail in the coffin.

I still dont agree with the decision disney has made. I think its time for some changes in upper management.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

I have read through a few more pages of the thread and tend to agree with most people, that PI went downhill after they ungated it. I never quite understood parents wanting to bering kids into an area where clubbing is the main attraction, and then complaining about people who are intoxicated!!! well DUH!!!!!!!!! I do love Disney, honestly and the parks are truly a wonder. I dont think it was a bad idea to have one little corner set aside for adult activities only though. Lee, make sure you keep us updated on anything you can from your AC friend? Thanks, Belle

Id say theres a fair chance they are some of the same people who are not happy that alcohol is available anywhere.:shrug:

Lets be honest, what people are lamenting is the two clubs where you can have a drink while still doing something that those of us with an older family can experience together and appreciate. A laugh floor for those who have out grown cracker jokes. :animwink:

 

[yankspy]

However the definition may be the same but the make up of the modern family is a damn site different from Walts day.

Theres also the international factor where johnny foreigner dosent get quite so hysterical over alcohol and slippery nipples.

In what way? I am not necessarily disagreeing I am just unsure as to what you mean by that.

 

[speck76]

I understand the decision to close PI - I don't really like it - but those are two different things.

Before anyone gets out of control (as that never happens here at WDWMagic) - you may want to wait and see what will be opening in this location - it may suck - but it may be much better too.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

In what way? I am not necessarily disagreeing I am just unsure as to what you mean by that.

1 parent families, extended families etc, what I do/did as a parent is vastly different from family time in my childhood.

Also my expectations from a holiday destination would no way be the same now as they were 20 years ago.

Disney doesnt know where to position itself, but it would seem the two places that they did actually get right are to suffer because of a lack of management vision.

 

[MythBuster]

It's front page news on the Orlando Sentinel now.

The party's over at Pleasure Island: Disney to shut down 6 nightclubs

Scott Powers | Sentinel Staff Writer June 28, 2008 Walt Disney World is shutting down the six nightclubs at Pleasure Island to make its party district at Downtown Disney more family friendly.

BET SoundStage Club, Mannequins Dance Palace, 8Trax and three other clubs that have for years catered largely to young, single adults -- rather than to Disney's bread-and-butter family market -- will close after Sept. 27.

During the next couple of years, Disney will reopen the Pleasure Island venues with a broader mix of restaurants and shops.

Pleasure Island's change has been the subject of rumors for a while. Now 19 years old, it may have seemed an odd venture for Disney, but it appeared to thrive -- so much so that some in the industry have blamed it for accelerating the decline of the nightlife district in downtown Orlando during the 1990s.



In announcing what they called "a bold new vision" for all of Downtown Disney on Friday, Disney officials framed the Pleasure Island nightclub closures as a response to customers who say they want more broad-based dining and retail opportunities throughout the 120-acre district.

"Right now we believe we've got a shortage of dining capacity and shopping capacity, so we'll be adding to those areas, and we'll be looking at some specialized entertainment options also," said Downtown Disney Vice President Kevin Lansberry.


Dining, shopping, more

Pleasure Island opened in 1989, designed to look like a revitalized back-alley warehouse district. Today it is the middle section of Disney World's dining, shopping and entertainment district. Though the two flanking areas, Marketplace and the West Side, also have nightclubs, they operate as parts of restaurants, appealing to broader, family-friendly crowds. Until recently, Pleasure Island has been mostly about music, dancing, drinking and partying -- creating an awkward link between Marketplace and West Side.

"The rumor has been there that they would transform Pleasure Island into something else, but us regulars always thought at least Mannequins and 8Trax would stay alive," said Jorge Vazquez, 41, an accountant who said he goes to Pleasure Island two or three times a month.

Pleasure Island and its counterpart at Universal Orlando, CityWalk, which opened in 1999, both offer coordinated clusters of high-quality, highly themed nightclubs with lots of free parking and security. They offered two carefully conceived alternatives to downtown Orlando's once-vibrant counterpart, Church Street Station.

Orlando lawyer Mark NeJame, majority investor in the downtown nightclub Tabu as well as an investor in other nightclubs, said he is surprised at Disney's announcement but that it could be good news for downtown Orlando.

"It's a real opportunity for downtown to continue its revitalization," NeJame said. "When Pleasure Island first opened, it devastated a lot of the local entrepreneurs and operators."


Some businesses remain

Though the six nightclubs will close, the other businesses on Pleasure Island -- a couple of restaurants, a cigar bar and a couple of clothing shops -- will remain open. They already offer the broad appeal that Lansberry said Disney's patrons want. He did not offer specifics about what might replace the clubs but said Disney was looking worldwide for restaurant and shopping concepts.

"Some of the offerings might feel like a nightclub, but they won't feel like high-energy clubs like we have today in all likelihood," Lansberry said. "Truthfully, our guests have really gotten out of that in the last couple of years. They want things that are a lot more geared toward family entertainment."

Disney World also is sprucing up Downtown Disney's other two areas, adding restaurants, expanding and updating a band shell, refurbishing and updating other businesses, and bringing in a giant tethered-balloon attraction that visitors will be able to ride in, going up more than 300 feet above Village Lake.

Bob Snow, who developed Church Street Station in the 1970s and has re-entered the picture this year by reopening one of that district's centerpiece nightclubs, the Cheyenne Saloon, said he never blamed Pleasure Island for Church Street's decline. But he, too, said he hopes Pleasure Island's nightclub closures would create more opportunities in downtown Orlando.

 

[wickedfan07]

I think its time for some changes in upper management.

Oh, I think we've needed those changes for a while now. The thing is, it will never happen until someone with a very clear creative vision for the entire company comes into power at the very top.

One hand doesn't know what the other is doing in the company and the focus is solely on profit. However, if you have no product to sell, there will be no profit. Cutbacks can only go on for so long before it starts dminishing the magic. Disney is a public company, but that's no excuse for letting the product slide while profits go up a tiny bit. This was Disney's company FIRST and a public company SECOND. May quality always outshine profit.

Wow, sorry for the random rant. I'm done now.

 

[MythBuster]

Also some other changes:

Marketplace Stage
Closes July 7 and will be rebuilt

Portobello Yacht Club
Will be transformed this summer into a more family oriented restaurant, Tuscan Country Trattoria

 

[yankspy]

Id say theres a fair chance they are some of the same people who are not happy that alcohol is available anywhere.:shrug:
I would agree. I think the alcohol problem comes from the few people who can not handle themselves. It's sort of like the one drunk who is tripping over strollers that you always see at WS out of thousands of people who are enjoying a drink that they may not be able to get at their local pub/bar.
Lets be honest, what people are lamenting is the two clubs where you can have a drink while still doing something that those of us with an older family can experience together and appreciate. A laugh floor for those who have out grown cracker jokes. :animwink:

1 parent families, extended families etc, what I do/did as a parent is vastly different from family time in my childhood.

Also my expectations from a holiday destination would no way be the same now as they were 20 years ago.

Disney doesnt know where to position itself, but it would seem the two places that they did actually get right are to suffer because of a lack of management vision.

I also have to agree here. Those two places seemed to be interesting in their own way. I wonder if it is possible to keep them while still maintaining a family friendly place.

 

[wickedfan07]

I think its time for some changes in upper management.

Oh, I think we've needed those changes for a while now. The thing is, it will never happen until someone with a very clear creative vision for the entire company comes into power at the very top.

One hand doesn't know what the other is doing in the company and the focus is solely on profit. However, if you have no product to sell, there will be no profit. Cutbacks can only go on for so long before it starts dminishing the magic. Disney is a public company, but that's no excuse for letting the product slide while profits go up a tiny bit. This was Disney's company FIRST and a public company SECOND. May quality always outshine profit.

Wow, sorry for the random rant. I'm done now.

 

[unkadug]

-My room mate receiving a lifetime ban from the Comedy Club for heckling the comedians. I was laughing so hard that it hurt. One of the comedians was picking on some poor fellow and his girlfriend in the front row and my roommate out of nowhere was so funny and so on point and he completely slammed the comedians (esp. this one lady comedian with a mullet). He got a standing O as he was escorted out. I always enjoyed the Adventurer’s Club and Comedy Club on a date. (On a side note: I hated with a passion when the crew wanted to go to Jelly Roll’s - same 6 songs over and over)

I have a feeling that the standing ovation was for the bouncers and NOT your roommate.

It's front page news on the Orlando Sentinel now.

The party's over at Pleasure Island: Disney to shut down 6 nightclubs

Scott Powers | Sentinel Staff Writer June 28, 2008

....

Pleasure Island's nightclub closures would create more opportunities in downtown Orlando.

:lookaroun see original post :wave:

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Who is taking these Disney questionaires? I know Ive done a few and when aksed I have never responded that I felt my Disney experience was suffering owing to the lack of diversity of retail experience.

Who the hell are they trying to kid. Its revenue from 3rd party retail rent v expenditure of running night time entertainment venues.

As for waiting to see what the future holds, recent precedents do not bode well. But then Irish pubs are 10 a penny here and are generally on their way out.

 

[peters]

Please tell me you are being a drama queen or joking or I will ______ myself :lol: You bought DVC because of one small club? And now you will sell it? That's so insane I can't even compare it to anything in my rational world.

wow. that really wasn't cool.
if the guy likes ac that much, who are you to argue?
let's keep this discussion focused... and civil.

 

[I-4Warrior]

Who is taking these Disney questionaires? I know Ive done a few and when aksed I have never responded that I felt my Disney experience was suffering owing to the lack of diversity of retail experience.

Who the hell are they trying to kid. Its revenue from 3rd party retail rent v expenditure of running night time entertainment venues.

As for waiting to see what the future holds, recent precedents do not bode well. But then Irish pubs are 10 a penny here and are generally on their way out.

Holy carp... I never even thought of it that way. I think you hit the nail right on the head. Ah, King Greed, lead a fat mouse to the Profit Land!

 

[tirian]

I've been expecting this since they started kicking the idea around in late 2005, but the AC closure shocks me. Until this announcement, the AC was understood to be remaining.

Maybe they'll move it? :shrug:

 

[marni1971]

This is a great day for Universal. I bet they`re already working on the advertising material now.

WDW Co management... two steps forward and one step back.