In memory of Merriweather Pleasure....(aka P.I. memories)

[Kurby]

the fact that it's gone now makes me really mad DH and I didn't go to 8 Track when we were there before we had dd

now it's gone see this is why i keep saying - do it now cause ya never know

 

[Zuzu03]

I have a lot of great memories of PI too - one of those is when my sis and I went carousing in the 90's. It was as Thursday night and of course, there were a lot of locals. We headed into Mannequins but on the way in we saw signs all over the place that it was DV8 tonight. We'd never been before and couldn't figure out what it meant, we thought it was a DJ or band, or something. Well it took us several hours of wondering why nobody was asking us to dance when we finally figure dout that DV8 meant it was gay night and none of the guys were interested in us! We laughed sooooo hard after figuring that out and just jumped onto the dance floor anyway! We still laugh about that night!

 

[Tinkh]

Loved PI and will miss it forever. One of my best memories is the first time I went to Disney. My company flew a group of us down for 4 days. We partied like rock stars. I think we maybe slept 4 hours a night the entire time. I can remember doing shots off a huge block of ice right near where the band was jamming in the middle of PI. LOVED the improv club. Hit pretty much all the clubs. Danced with this little old man who was with his great-grandson lol. I was chatting with the grandson and then the grandpa was a wee bit sloshed and was dancing like a maniac. He was sooo adorable. So, a few of us ended up sandwiching him and making this night the highlight of his life. I know that sweet, well-to-do man had probably never partied that hard in his life lol. I bet his grandson will tell those stories forever.

 

[strawberryblonde]

My husband and I loved Pleasure Island! Our first trip ever to Florida (from WA state) and WDW was on our weeklong honeymoon, springbreak 1994. We went to Pleasure Island 3 nights that week and enjoyed the "new year's eve" countdown each time, the confetti was such fun! I saved a few pieces of the confetti and they are still in my scrapbook.

It was a crowded, popular place to be, such fun! The beach club was no longer rollerskating for our first visit. There was a live band and the dance floor was packed....we had a blast at this club! Mannequins had a line behind a rope, you felt lucky to get in....enjoyed it on the dance floor, although the lights did make this the hottest club.

We ate at the Fireworks factory and tried their specialty drinks. Just being in the streets was a fun party. We got a kick out of Jessica Rabbit, she was huge!, and her moving leg...still have that picture. We bought drinks each night we were here, this "adult" part of our honeymoon was a highlight.

Didn't make it back to WDW for 5 years, this trip was springbreak 1999. PI was still fun, but we missed the confetti at midnight. Fireworks factory was now a Country dance club...great vibe in there and we got drinks with light up "ice cubes". Beach club was no longer as popular. No wait to get in and there wasn't a live band. 8 traks was a lot of fun this time, there was a crowd on the dance floor and they were playing tunes that my DH loved (instead of just disco like 5 years earlier). We were able to get into the Comedy Club and Adventures Club this time....seems as though their lines had been longer 5 years ago. Perhaps we made sure to hop in line earlier. I do know that I was determined to make it in this time! We were very happy to have this be a part of our WDW trip, even though we did spend most of our weeklong vacation at the parks.

4 more years later, early March 2003, we are back to WDW for a week and back to PI for an evening. They have "Mardi Gras" and throw beads from the stage. We are with my sister and her husband, we all get cool drinks. We didn't make it to midnight this time....Grandma is back at the hotel with the kids so we could have stayed out all night, but we are older now (30's) and must make early entry in the morning . Still, a very fun part of our trip, such a nice "adult" option in the middle of a kid focused trip.

Here we are in 2010, and we are making a trip to Orlando in Oct. because DH has a conference. We get to take a week's vacation before it, how shall we spend it, WDW? Universal? Due to many changes at WDW, the deals don't fall on our dates and it doesn't feel as though you get good value at WDW for full price, you can't even make meal reservations a couple of months out, no Pleasure Island ......we are going to spend the entire week at Universal. We are going to stay at the Hard Rock Hotel for the entire week and just walk everywhere. How nice to have both parks right there, front of the line access to rides and restaurants all week, and Citywalk open 'till 2 am (if we want to) all week. There won't be confetti nor the disney magic, but I have a feeling we are going to have a great time, perhaps our best vacation yet!

Such a shame to close down the clubs, very sad. Perhaps they weren't a huge moneymaker, but I've not heard that they ever lost money. PI was an enhancement to a vacation....something disney could provide to the vacationer, without them having to drive. Taking it away, feels as though they don't care about their customers who do enjoy this. Just having it there as an option, made my DH happy. Just knowing that he "could" go there, even if he didn't go much, made the entire week better at WDW. Pleasure Island was advertised as part of the package in the early 90's. This is one of the reasons we chose WDW as our honeymoon destination...it seemed to have it all. If I were in my early 20's now, and looking for a honeymoon destination....I would not be choosing WDW now. Food quality down, shopping diversity down, no more Pleasure Island. I'm glad I have my 1994 memories, it was the time of our lives xx