Originally Posted By mickey_ring Haven't been to the Island in yeeears. Hardly get to the newer, "other" side of Downtown Disney at all. I forget where and when, but I recall a Disney bus driver referring to PI as Walt's Nightmare. Here's a snip from the Orlando Sentinel article: "Once a haven for grown-ups looking to dance the night away, Disney's Pleasure Island is morphing into a place where Mom, Dad and the little ones can feel comfortable -- but the wild uncle is still welcome. The transformation, part of a revamped night-life strategy for Walt Disney World, is not just an image makeover. Bulldozers are involved. Disney is tearing out bridges, building a bigger, more prominent new bridge, knocking down two outdoor music stages, cutting a building in half, leveling a hill, opening up vistas of the lake and getting away from the back-alley warehouse-district look. The goal is to merge Pleasure Island more with the other two districts of Downtown Disney -- geographically and in appeal. "We're going away from the traditional, adult-only nightclub environment to an environment where we can appeal to all groups, including adults," said Djuan Rivers, vice president for Downtown Disney. Disney created the adult entertainment complex in the 1980s when it saw visitors leaving its hotels to club hop in downtown Orlando. Though Pleasure Island has helped keep nightlife-seeking tourists on Disney grounds for 17 years, the area also has presented challenges -- partly because of its location and its mix of businesses. Centrally located in the 120-acre Downtown Disney, it sat like a no-kids land, blocking traffic between the shopping and entertainment area's two all-age districts, Marketplace and the West Side. And nothing says "not Disney" quite like a place where partyers wander from bar to bar with beers in their hands while loud music blares."
Originally Posted By wahooskipper Pleasure Island was great in it's heyday. Crowds, energy, excitement. At least I will have good memories. Oh, and some hazy memories too.
Originally Posted By fundog58 I'm more of a shopper than a club hopper, so I think the changes at Pleasure Island are great and long overdue. As a fairly frequent visitor to Downtown Disney, PI was the one thing that I've always felt somewhat marred the experience. At night you often had to trudge the narrow sidewalk around the exterior of Pleasure Island just to get from Westside to the Marketplace. While you could walk through PI during the day, it was basically a hilly ghost town. I hope these changes will make all of DTD more of a seamless whole.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA Pleasure Island was a reaction to the downtown Orlando nightlife of Church Street Station. My fellow cast members used to love to go to 'Nickel Beer' at one of the nightclubs. Bleccch! It should be interesting to see how they morph this place into a more 'family friendly' location.
Originally Posted By a1stav Just keep the Adventurer's Club and possibly Maniquens and I will be happy.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo And the Comedy Club - keep the Adventurer's Club and Comedy Club, then I don't have a problem.
Originally Posted By Labuda I'm with dave./ Adventurer's Club and COmedy Warehouse for me. I have no interest in the rest of Pleasure Island. Oh, except the gyro stand around about 1:30 am. lol
Originally Posted By RoadTrip Another fan of the Adventurer's and Comedy Clubs. I like that they are trying to make PI more "Disney-like". The last time we visited there a couple of years ago the place was close to being scary after about 11:00 PM. You don't need loud falling-down drunks anywhere at WDW (well, except for maybe at Jellyrolls).
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 The problem with PI, if you didn't have a problem with Saint Disney having a place for big boys and girls to have fun and enjoy spirits and adult entertainment, was the same problem that much of WDW has faced in the past 10-12 years -- it got old and stale and saw little to no reinvestment. What they are doing now is much too little, too late. The Spirit doesn't like to enjoy his Bahama Mama while tripping over the stroller brigade. This attempt at making PI more family-friendly clashes with the whole point of an adult entertainment zone and is destined to fail. You can't have it both ways (well, you can but that's for another forum). The Spirit longs for the days when PI was a shining beacon of nighttime excitement in that special Disney way. They can keep the current version.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<The Spirit longs for the days when PI was a shining beacon of nighttime excitement in that special Disney way.>> I guess I didn't have a problem with how PI was 10 years ago either. I didn’t like what it had become recently. It seemed that there were a whole lot more people getting a whole lot more drunk and obnoxious than I remembered seeing before. The problem seemed especially bad on CM night.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 Agreed, Trippy. But if you had to deal with tourists all day, who aren't at all demanding, all for $7-10 an hour, you'd need to drink ... and drink ... and drink some more!
Originally Posted By dizneed We were waiting for our kids to be old enough to take care of themselves while Mom and Dad went on the town (PI)......guess that won't be much of a getaway now!
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <This attempt at making PI more family-friendly clashes with the whole point of an adult entertainment zone and is destined to fail. You can't have it both ways (well, you can but that's for another forum). < Vegas tried this too.....and that was a failure for the most part also.....
Originally Posted By pixiedust1 Yes... the Adventures Club... We would pay the admission price just go there... We were fortunate to experience it when it was new and for years after that. I have to admit we have not been there for the last 5 or 6 years. Is it as good as it was years ago.. I know Disney has a tendancy to change things to less the favorable ideas of what guests want..
Originally Posted By a1stav ^^^^ The main problem is that the Adventure's Club has not changed enough. They are still doing essentially the same shows and routines since opening. They need to change up the act a bit.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA Disney could take a look at the history of Las Vegas. Remember back in the 90s when Vegas added the 'MGM Grand Aventures Theme Park' and all the other resorts added what they thought were 'family friendly' stuff? It didn't really work. Now, it's back to just doing the nasty with scantily clad girls, liquour and gambling. That's Vegas. Heck, even the 'Treasure Island' show has semi-naked girls [and boys] struttin' their stuff in the ship-sinking show. As the Spirit of 74 says - 'you can't have it both ways'
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<As the Spirit of 74 says - 'you can't have it both ways'>> Which is why Pleasure Island is a pretty dumb idea to begin with. You build a resort meant to appeal to families so the great majority of people there have young'uns with them. Just where are you going to park all these kids while Mom and Dad go to an "adults only" Pleasure Island? Yes, there are child care services available but not that many people want to pay for over-priced childcare after they've already been paying for over-priced everything else during their vacation. The only chance PI ever had was with locals and older folks without children with them. But that doesn't work because the rowdy locals drive away the older folks without children. Bulldoze the whole thing and build more plush stores I say!!!
Originally Posted By pixiedust1 I think that just like anything else, times change, things get old... In 1989 when Pleasure Island was new , we would vist there with our two children at that time 9 and 11. We had no problem with the mingling of the two crowds..The over 21 Mannequins crowd and families with the youngsters.. We enjoyed many fun nights and years there doing what we could with underage children. Doing Adventures Club (Kungaloosh With Specialty Canteen $8.25) and my hubby even danced with our daughter (9) at the Neon Armadillo.. The two crowds seemed to mingle well back them, we got to have a couple beers to boot... The kids had mixed drinks LOL... From what I hear the local crowds migrated to Unviversal's City Walk and the clubs in that area.. It was a great place years ago.. we enjoyed it very much...
