Saturday, February 28, 2009

Is Pleasure Island Going to Reopen?


Well first of all, Pleasure Island never really closed. Technically, it's still there and it's still open. It's just that the night clubs closed. But for all of us, PI did close last September. Is it going to reopen?

There are a few signs out there that give some hope that something is going to happen out on PI.

1. Sources told us that top Disney officials were very upset about the current state of affairs out at PI.
2. There were recent DJ auditions out at Atlantic Dance Hall. Why a sudden need for DJ's?
3. There was that well-sourced rumor reported on this Blog several weeks ago that Motion, Soundstage and Adventurers Club were going to reopen within a year. The source was specific enough to state that Motion was going to be playing 8TRAX music and Soundstage was going to be playing Mannequins music.
4. Those 3 clubs were suddenly made available for private rentals after being basically shuttered since September. There is a large "open to the public" concert event in Motion this weekend.
5. That huge PLEASURE ISLAND sign atop the Mannequins building was recently refurbished. They apparently installed brighter LED bulbs and even strobe lights. This means that not only is the Mannequins building not going to be demolished but also that the Pleasure Island name is going to remain a viable entity.
6. Construction continues on the South/Central American restaurant, food court AND night club!
7. There are survey-takers out on the island again. If you're out there and get stopped, please take a few minutes to let them know how you want PI to reopen the clubs! In fact, make an effort to wander around out there and hope you get stopped.

Keep in mind that my previously reported rumor about the clubs reopening said it could take up to a year. I'm told that many laid-off PI employees are still "on the books" for 1-year from the closure date and that they would have to be paid back wages if they were suddenly employed again. Don't know if this is a sticking point but it could mean that legally PI can't reopen clubs until a year after the closure date which means we won't see clubs reopening for Spring Break nor will we see them reopen until after the closure anniversary date. This kind of fits in with the fact that they are only taking private event bookings until the end of September and that these rentals are ok because they're private events using employees who were not laid off last year.)

But this is all speculation from reading the signals. Only time will tell. Stay tuned! /KingBob

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hope you're right. I wouldn't be surprised if most of the club lights were taken over to the new American Idol attraction. Could be wrong but I bet the clubs have been stripped down by now. Has anyone been inside any of the clubs since they closed?

Anonymous said...

Mannequins and 8TRAX are locked-up tight but DJ Peapod confirmed to me two weeks ago that Mannequins has been stripped. Interestingly though, supposedly you can still see one of the hanging mannequins if you peer in the side door from what used to be the smoking area. 8TRAX just recently had some of the 70's memorabilia inside taken down. But Soundstage and Motion have not been stripped and are good to go, I'm told.

Barb said...

I hope you don't mind that I linked to this blog entry in one of my Examiner articles. You can see the article at http://www.examiner.com/x-2200-Orlando-Theme-Parks-Examiner~y2009m3d6-Is-Adventurers-Club-and-more-of-the-old-Pleasure-Island-returning-to-Disney-World
I just hope this is true!

Anonymous said...

Barb, you're welcome to link over. I reviewed your blog and really like it. Stay tuned to my blog for the latest updates.

2muchmark said...

I just happened to Google Pleasure Island and found this post.

I would LOVE to see PI re-open "Properly" and bring back those amazing clubs, especially Mannequins. I freakin' LOVED that place and couldn't believe it when I read they were replacing it with even more stores to by useless crap in. If they re-open, I'll book my flight and be the first person in the doors.

Disney made a HUGE mistake in closing these clubs last summer.

Anonymous said...

I work for disney and Ive been in Motions a couple of times this month, motions is still stable in the same condition it always has been, they sometimes use it for some cast activities, its really nice inside but it get scary being there since sometimes its dark, all the furniture and everything is in there and no there are no plans to reopen none of the clubs

Unknown said...

The list about the sign to happen out on GPI is really good and useful to read,and the post is also great to read.

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