The demise of Pleasure Island!

[TinyLolitaBunny]

It's very disappointing to hear that s many people dont like Pleasure Isand anymore because my sister, my boyfrind and I are going there for the first time this year :/

I want to dance like a banana

 

[maccalovah]

hmmm....this thread is slightly disappointing. the last time i was in disney (1997), i was only 17 and wasn't old enough to go to PI in the evening (back when they had the 18+ policy after a certain hour). this time i am going with my boyfriend (who is decidedly NOT a disney fan), and i was hoping PI would be a fun diversion for both of us- what else is there to do after the parks close, you know? but it almost sounds like a waste of time- but of course we'll check it out and judge for ourselves, but i'm surprised by how turned off a lot of you sound.

it's always hard to tell if something is going to be bad, when you haven't experienced it for yourself. i lived in New Orleans' french quarter for several years, so i'm guessing any 'shady characters' at PI probably won't phase me i'm disappointed that there are no longer any fireworks, and i'm also disappointed by the apparent lack of theming in many of the clubs. it seems like the Adventurer's Club is more Disney's 'style', and i don't get why they wouldn't have themed their other clubs . i also really don't like the idea of little kids running around the clubs at night- i like to drink my fair share, and the presence of kids sort of....alters the mood.

well, there's always pat o's over at citywalk

Sarah

 

[PixieDustPolitico]

I want to dance like a banana

: You sound like someone who will go there and have a great time. Party on!

 

[Scottish-Helen]

I went to Pleasure Island on my first few visits in the mid 90's and on my last trip I was with a group of travel agents so we would go down there in the evening. Now I have always liked nightclubs but never cared for Pleasure Island it was like a plastic pretend version of real nightclubs and kind of cheesy. I wouldn't miss it at all. Citywalk on the other hand is a great night out.

 

[kstinw19]

I too am sad to see what has happened to PI. Back in the early 90's I was a CM and loved, loved to go there. We would start out at Fireworks Factory, head over to Mannequins, then run up to the West End Stage to see the great dance number and fireworks, then run back down to Mannequins to catch the 1:15 stage show. Great night!

Flash forward to 2005...went with my husband, brother and wife. I was expecting things to be the same...instead we headed up to the West End stage for midnight and only saw a dj on the stage counting down. No fireworks, no dancers, no confetti...so disappointing.

As we headed back down the street, two Orlando cops came running up next to us and threw two teens on the ground and handcuffed them on the spot. That's when I knew things weren't the same.

I think the problem started when no longer charged folks to get on the island...it's a lot easier for kids to get on for free than to pay $20 bucks to "roam" the street.

So sad...I guess PI will have to live on in my memory

 

[minnie61650]

This is old thread but it reminds me that PI has been slowly dying.
May it RIP come Sept. 28,2008

 

[TSM1993]

What are the prices again for Pleasure Island? We are going in September and I would like to add this to our budget.

 

[beachblanket]

This is old thread but it reminds me that PI has been slowly dying.
May it RIP come Sept. 28,2008

Bingo - and from looking around the DIS, the "there's nothing wrong with the place" crowd (which to little surprise seems to be made up primarly of a certain segment of Orlando area locals) seem to be blissfully unaware (or trying to bury) the fact that in just a few months Disney will be tearing this so-called "nighclub district" down.

On 9/28, they will be permanently closing all the nightclubs there. Yes, ALL: the doors will be permanently shut at BET SoundStage Club, Mannequins Dance Palace, 8Trax, Adventurer's Club, Motion and the Comedy Warehouse.

And interestingly, if you google the closings, you will see the marketing strategy types all weighing to make the exact same point I made long ago in this thread: PI as a value proposition was shaky from the get-go.

The assumption was it would keep the adult guests (and dollars) that wanted "a night out" on property and away from Church Street in Orlando. That was flawed - drinking, smoking and carousing ran against the perceptions of most (not all but most) guests of WDW being a squeaky clean family and child-oriented destination.

So the critical mass of resort guests was never there.

In desperation, the gates were then opened to the local crowd, which quickly skewed adolescent and hence led PI to become an increasingly unattractive hang-out for ner-do-wells (I'm literally laughing at those who posted here saying "don't let the gang/drug stories scare you away" - one had to be blind or have lost their sense of smell to not notice the police presence and pot stench).

But Disney wasn't, and they're pulling the plug - and in the process admitting other firms can do certain types of "grown up entertainment" better than they can. The real estate PI sits on will be refurbished into generic retail and dining, in essence becoming just another undifferentiated part of DTD.

And the "party crowd" niche (especially the element that crammed Mannequins) will have to go find someplace else to play.

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/common/helpFAQ?id=PleasureIslandFAQPage

 

[mrbghd]

This is correct, but the teenage thing was the symptom of a larger problem. IMHO, the real issue that Disney began to encounter with PI (from day one) was the positioning of the attraction.

On the surface, the concept of a somewhat-adult-oriented entertainment district was a solid one. Open up a place where mom and dad, or older brother/sis could kick up their heels and have some mickey/princess free fun during the evening, but child friendly enough so the kids could be brought along if the family desired.

In practice however, the demand just wasn't there. Perhaps it's the generalized perception of WDW as family central, or lack of proper promotion, but for whatever reason, PI just didn't become a "must do" for enough guests.

To keep the clubs filled, Disney quickly started focusing on what was originally a secondary market - local Orlando teens and young adults. And once that started, per Pepe's point, the environment at PI began to decline.

The first clear signal that families should stay away came in 1993. That year, what was in essence a riot erupted before a rap concert at the BET club. A local crowd of the "target market" for that sort of thing was waiting to enter PI for the concert, and when the show got delayed began to try and push its way in. When security tried to stop them, trashcans were thrown, windows started breaking, and eventually a massive number of Orlando police had to come in to stop the violence (don't bother searching the DIS or Google for more details on this event; Disney PR did their usual very effective job of keeping it out of the media).

I was there four times between 1993 and 2004, and with each subsequent visit, the crowds I encountered there simply got less and less attractive. By the time of our last visit (August 2005), my wife stated before arrival "our priorities at WDW don't include hanging out with drunken, smoking Orlando teenagers, so let's forget PI."

I call BS on this one. I want some proof. Here is why: 1) The "target crowd" as you put it would have not been waitign to get into the island they would have been in and waitign to get into the BET Club. 2) Orlando police have nothing to do with Dosney World, that is the Orange County Sheriff's Department and most importantly 3) When did the BET club open???????????
PI was killed when they opened the island up for the general public and not as a hard ticketed venue. Local teens, parents with young kids at clubs, and an adult carnival type atmosphere cannot work together.

 

[jfinke]

Agreed.

And if you want to discuss loitering for locals, let's look at the AMC and VirginMegaStore on the WestSide. There is absolutely no tourist reason to have those items there.

 

[beachblanket]

I call BS on this one. I want some proof.

It's already there.

If the simple fix to PI's decline was to return it to being a ticketed "attraction," why didn't Disney (who knows that strategy inside and out) do that years ago?

Well, "here is why" (it's been stated ad-naseum before, but we'll go through it yet again ): Disney finally realized the basic premise of the value proposition (centralized "adult" fun -- ergo, a nightclub district on property) had been deeply, deeply flawed from the get-go.

How so? Simple: PI never got critical paying traffic mass when it was ticketed - because not enough resort guests had so-called "adult fun" as a primary WDW priority.

Heck, I remember my first visit to PI in 1992. I was at WDW for a conference, and one of the sponsors had rented the entire island for the better part of a weekday evening. I was told by one of their staff that night that "we got a deal on the rental because Disney is having a tough time building traffic here." That sounded surprising then, but in retrospect it was a clear early warning signal that foretold where things were going to end up.

And opening the floodgates (ergo, removing admission and allowing everyone and anyone in) only exacerbated things.

Bottom line - most people who spend four figures on a WDW trip don't have "adult fun" on the agenda. The minority that do generally don't define said "adult fun" as hanging with downscale Gen Y mall refugees who are playing tag with armed cops.

But that's what the typical PI experience had become and Disney was smart enough to finally decide to stop the brand damage.

As for the residual elements of local-yokel teen pollution at places like Virgin and AMC, that's what unfortunately happens when you dilute a unique, speciality retail environment with generic mall-level "entertainment" properties. Replace 'em with pricey niche retail or dining and the riff-raff will go away.

 

[beachblanket]

Some of the ghosts of what has already disappeared from PI. Hauntingly colorful visions of one of Disney's rare failures, and emblematic of the challenge and expense of trying to keep a nightclub district's offerings current and trendy (look at how many changes in themes occurred).

Born 1989. Died in 1997 and was re-incarnated as the next picture.

Re-incanated from the above in 1998. Died in 2001 and was re-incarnated as the soon to be deceased Motion.

Born 1989. Died 1998. Was re-incarnated as the soon to expire BET Soundstage Club.

Born in 1989 as the "XZFR Rockin' Rollerdrome," where guests could dance on rollerskates (a fad that was by then already stale and dated, the whole roller disco thing peaked around '80-'81.) Re-named the Rock n' Roll Beach Club in 1990. Died on February 2, 2008.

Born 1989. Died March 2006.

The Marquee of Videopolis East. Born in 1998 as a club featuring "new wave music" on 170 video screens. That didn't last long; a year later it was re-named "Cage" and went towards a more "alt/progressive" repetoire before the whole thing was shuttered in 1993.

Born 1993 as one of the more refined offerings at not just PI but WDW in general. That may have been why it always had one of the smallest audiences. Whatever, managed to hang on until 2003, when it (and a food court next door named "Merriweather's Market") died and were re-incarnated as an "Irish Pub."

 

[GazerBeam]

Interesting thread. I've been thinking about the whole PI closure and wanted to share my thoughts.

First, I'm not really sad to see it go. Dance clubs were never for me, and I had only been to one club once, the rock and roll beach club. The conference I was at rented it out on a tuesday night, and it was fun, it wasn't really my scene. Those who went out that night reported the other clubs pretty dead.

I was surprised by the suddenness of the closing, in that all the clubs would close on the same day, instead of a staggered closing, where a club closed every couple of months. I also expected (and was dissapointed that) the Adventurer's club and comedy warehouse to stay open, given the (apparent) popularity of these venues and uniqueness on the property. I also was expecting one or two of the dance clubs to stay open (and possibly combine) to preserve this experience at disney world.

But it wasn't to be. And they have their reasons for doing it, which I am sure are mostly financial. I hope we see more raglan road like places pop up, somehwere you can go for dinner or drinks and see some quality live entertainment as opposed to overly themed chain restaurants like rainforest cafe and t-rex. They might be a fine place to eat, but you wouldn't spend a whole evening there.

What I still don't understand is the security issue. We all see the police presence, and hear about the muggings and similar. I don't see how closing the clubs is going to help with that. The troublemakers weren't going into the clubs in the first place, they were just hanging out outside, and certainly weren't limited to the confines of PI. DTD has a security issue because you don't have to pay to park, and you don't have to pay to get in. Until DTD ceases to be the only public (read: free) space in disney world, that problem will continue.

Anyway, just my thoughts on all of this. We'll see what the future holds.

GB

 

[minnie61650]

Interesting thread. .....
I was surprised by the suddenness of the closing, in that all the clubs would close on the same day, instead of a staggered closing, where a club closed every couple of months. I also expected (and was dissapointed that) the Adventurer's club and comedy warehouse to stay open, given the (apparent) popularity of these venues and uniqueness on the property. I also was expecting one or two of the dance clubs to stay open (and possibly combine) to preserve this experience at disney world. ..........

But it wasn't to be. And they have their reasons for doing it, which I am sure are mostly financial. I hope we see more raglan road like places pop up, somehwere you can go for dinner or drinks and see some quality live entertainment as opposed to overly themed chain restaurants like rainforest cafe and t-rex. They might be a fine place to eat, but you wouldn't spend a whole evening there.

GB

I had some of the same thoughts as you.
And I also think most of the reasons are mostly financial.

Last Sept. when we went to the AC the club they had very few guests in the main part of the club. The library was just about half full and DH said he did not know how they even made a profit on nights like that one. We just figured it was a fluke that attendance was down that much.

----------------------------------------------


Yes, in many ways I was happy to hear that they are closing the Pleasure Island we visited last year.
Not because we are no longer interested in the Dance Clubs but rather because the Pleasure Island we visited last year was a former shadow of itself. When we visited last September the clubs only had a few hands full of people and the streets seemed to have many more aimless young people hanging around and fewer actual guests who were visiting the clubs. To us it felt like Pleasure Island was dying.... and I guess it was.
I almost felt sad when we went to AC and the club was less than half full. When we went to enter 2 couples turned around to leave and they remarked they could not believe the cover charge so high and "no wonder the place is practically deserted!"
Between the open access( instead of gated) of Pleasure Island , the unsupervised local teens hanging around, & the high cover charges, Pleasure Island had really declined and had lost the good base of customers it once had. We felt it really had declined that much and it was sad.

So I was not surprised when the closing of Pleasure Island was announced. I was however surprised that AC was going to be closed as well because I felt that AC would still fit in with the overall theme of DTD and places like Raglan Road.
JMHO

 

[collier5]

Although I am not really sad to see Pleasure Island go, because it was not the sort of thing that interested me, it is somehow sad to see any attraction at Disney die.
I wonder what they will replace it all with.

 

[beachblanket]

DTD has a security issue because you don't have to pay to park, and you don't have to pay to get in. Until DTD ceases to be the only public (read: free) space in disney world, that problem will continue.

Excellent point. On paper, the Boardwalk shopping/dining/entertainment area is almost as accessible, but yes, there's the "deterrent" of a cost for non resort guests to park.

Maybe that's why the only locals I've ever seen around there are middle/upper middle income adults, part of the crowd that frequents Jellyrolls and/or Atlantic Dance (especially on weekends).

 

[MainStMandy]

To be honest, I think the demise and ultimate closing of PI is a load of crap. It is just yet another way Disney is taking the magic out of something to make a quick buck. Do we really need another section of Downtown Disney to be devoted to to restaurants and stores (that carry the same merchandise as every other store on property...another topic in and of it self so I shall digress).

Disney's first mistake, as pointed out earlier, was to removing the turnstiles. DTD was never intended to be a family destination...just as the Disney Stores were never intended to be mini Disney WalMarts with cheap, overpriced toys and clothing for children.

I can recall when I was a CM, frequenting DTD and it being PACKED, wall-to-wall people.

It's sad really, I had high hopes when Eisner left that someone would be brought in to bring some originality and magic back into the business. A time similar to Eisner and Wells and obviously something way more akin to to Walt and Roy.

 

[BamaFan121s]

Disney's first mistake, as pointed out earlier, was to removing the turnstiles. DTD was never intended to be a family destination....

I have to agree with you. The fact that it never seemed to me to be 1) busy or 2) an 'adult' environment didn't appeal to me. If I am going to pay extra for going somewhere for 'adults,' I don't want a bunch of families with kids or tweens there--would defeat the purpose. Likewise, I wouldn't want to be in a semi empty establishment either.
To me it seems like there just wasn't enough demand for PI, whatever the reason and where there is lack of demand and potential for profit elsewhere, Disney, like any other company, will seek the more profitable choice. Can't blame them for that.
As I said earlier, the place just didn't appeal to me, so I really could care less about the decision to close it down. I'm actually kind of happy about it in the hopes that whatever replaces it, be it a spot to eat or another store will have more of an appeal for ME. That being said though, I realize there were many who loved the place and will be sad to see it go and I hate that for them. But you gotta roll with the times. I can think of several things I looked forward to that have been changed with rehabs, but what can you do?

 

[MainStMandy]

I have to agree with you. The fact that it never seemed to me to be 1) busy or 2) an 'adult' environment didn't appeal to me. If I am going to pay extra for going somewhere for 'adults,' I don't want a bunch of families with kids or tweens there--would defeat the purpose. Likewise, I wouldn't want to be in a semi empty establishment either.
?

I agree...pre-removal of turnstiles you very rarely saw children at PI. Alcohol was served in the street.

I guess I would have like to see something different done if indeed there was no longer the attendance needed to make a profit. For nightime adult entertainment there really are too few place left.

 

[mrbghd]

It's already there.

If the simple fix to PI's decline was to return it to being a ticketed "attraction," why didn't Disney (who knows that strategy inside and out) do that years ago?

Well, "here is why" (it's been stated ad-naseum before, but we'll go through it yet again ): Disney finally realized the basic premise of the value proposition (centralized "adult" fun -- ergo, a nightclub district on property) had been deeply, deeply flawed from the get-go.

How so? Simple: PI never got critical paying traffic mass when it was ticketed - because not enough resort guests had so-called "adult fun" as a primary WDW priority.

Heck, I remember my first visit to PI in 1992. I was at WDW for a conference, and one of the sponsors had rented the entire island for the better part of a weekday evening. I was told by one of their staff that night that "we got a deal on the rental because Disney is having a tough time building traffic here." That sounded surprising then, but in retrospect it was a clear early warning signal that foretold where things were going to end up.

And opening the floodgates (ergo, removing admission and allowing everyone and anyone in) only exacerbated things.

Bottom line - most people who spend four figures on a WDW trip don't have "adult fun" on the agenda. The minority that do generally don't define said "adult fun" as hanging with downscale Gen Y mall refugees who are playing tag with armed cops.

But that's what the typical PI experience had become and Disney was smart enough to finally decide to stop the brand damage.

As for the residual elements of local-yokel teen pollution at places like Virgin and AMC, that's what unfortunately happens when you dilute a unique, speciality retail environment with generic mall-level "entertainment" properties. Replace 'em with pricey niche retail or dining and the riff-raff will go away.

I was referring to your claim about a riot at the BET club prior to it even existing!!!!!! Therefore anything else you say has zero credibility!