Could we soon see the end of PI

I noticed a very interesting article on Jim Hill Media today.

I really hope if they do close PI (as we have grown to know it) they will keep a couple of the clubs open. I really enjoy the Adventures club and 8 Trax.

 

As it is now it should be closed. It is a shadow of it's former self, at least compared to the 2001 version we loved so much. I guess they really need some more shops in the downtown area, there just doesn't seem to be enough of them :.

 

It is a shame that PI has changed so much over the past few years, I thought the rehab was supposed to bring new life to the area. ; We were to go there a few nights ago and instead ended up on the Boardwalk and then went to Jellyrolls, which was just GREAT!!! ; We had a blast!!!! ; ; The Comedy Warehouse has always been fun when we have gone, it would be too bad to see it go.

 

I hope they take it back to paying to enter the area. There were too many children that should not have been there. If Disney wants to have adult clubs they should make the whole area adult. It was very uncomfortable walking around there with all the groups of teenagers just hanging out because they couldn't get into the clubs.

 

I miss 8Trax already. *sniff, sniff*

As well as the 'second shot of rum only being a dollar more' at those outside bars! ; ;D

 

We loved PI, especially 8trax. ; I guess we'll save a bundle on day care from SSR if they close it.

 

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

source: Onlando Sentinal - http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business ... 7595.story

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.

Snow said he always was amazed that Disney got into the nightclub-district business in the first place.

"It really surprised me that they're just going to throw in the towel," he said. Then he added: "They got out of their knitting. They got out of their main line, what they do so well."


What else can I expect to see in the area?

Downtown Disney

Changes include construction of T-Rex: A Prehistoric Family Restaurant, due to open next spring.

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.

 

R.I.P PI 1989-2008

 

Just watched video pod cast from "Inside the Magic" and found some interesting additional details from an interview from Kevin Lansberry (DTD Vice President).

• suggested that guest would like more shopping and dining options
• New attraction to open on Westside and fly over water. A giant tethered balloon. Similar to on at Disneyland Paris. Internally lit and can carry about 30 guest.

Personally I can realize why from a business standpoint they are doing this. But this does make me sad, I have spent many hours at 8 Trax, The Comedy warehouse and The Adventurers Club. If any club I would like to see stay would be the Adventures Club.

Kungaloosh

 

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

Ah man, I love this place. It was a nice quiet place to take your honey for a great meal, as far as I am concerned there are enough "family-oriented" restaurants on property and you could walk up and get a table within a half an hour window without booking months in advance. Can't us D.I.N.K.S.(not by choice) keep one or two places? Please! Pretty Please! ;

I loved P.I. when you had to pay to get in. There was a live stage and we had a ball going from place to place. I would never do that at home. It was a place the big kids could go and have fun night clubbing Disney style. It had an identity, that was in 2001. In 2007 we walked around and it just seemed like it had lost it's self and is easy to see why they need to close it now.

Why do they need more shopping?

Between West Side and Market Place it takes a better part of a day to wander all the shops and that doesn't include all the shops in the parks and resorts. More shopping you have to be kidding me, how many different ways can you sell the same trinket. Maybe that's the point keep showing the item and they will buy it sooner or later.

Chris.

 

I have to agree. ; My DW and I went to Portobello Yacht Club without the kids and it was an excellent night out. ; There were a few kids there, but not many. ; It's nice to have a few islands of adult sanity (?) amongst everything else.

 

Alas, it looks like we'll never get to the Adventurers Club! ; We really wanted to.

 

I think it was a bit of poor planning on Disney's part. They had 3 distinct areas very close together but no cross over. PI was blocking the crossing of the 2 shopping areas.

I remember it in it's prime (mid 90's) All of the clubs were packed. Good mix of locals & guests. It lost a lot when they removed that stage from the West Entrance.

 

Realfam

Perhaps we could do a night out to PI with the DW's in August.
My 14 year old DD is a St Johns certified babysitter.

 

I wish they had kept the Adventurers club they could have made it more kid friendly if that is an issue. There is a petition going around to try to save it I think it will be a long shot but worth a try. http://www.petitiononline.com/wdwaclub/

 

I don't think that it will do much help. Once Disney has made up it's mind to do something it is usually to late, plans are well in the works for the change. ;

I think that a good fit would be to maybe relocate it to Animal Kingdom Lodge, the story could work......

 

Sorry for the late reply. ; We have been away in cape Cod since June 27. ; I just got home today. ;
Funny you should mention that.. DW (michelle) and I were talking about getting a baby sitter one night and having a night to ourselves at PI. ; I think we should definately figure something out. ; That would be a ton of fun..... ;

 

; As of end of sept it closed ; ,I was told that went we go up the first week in sept we be one of the last people there and some of the clubs are all ready close . ; Now went ; you buy the water park pass ; you can use it ; to ; golf , we can use it for golf and P I ;

 

PI last day for business is this Saturday.

Click on headline for full article.

The party's over for Disney's Pleasure Island
Dewayne Bevil | Sentinel Staff Writer
September 24, 2008

We are in the end days for the six nightclubs of Pleasure Island. Patrons and performers of the Downtown Disney entertainment complex, which opened in 1989, have been gathering for final rounds of merriment before the last-ever last calls Saturday.

Since the shutdown announcement in June, some mourners have shifted into reminiscing mode.