Wednesday, December 16, 2009

PI Update: Demolition Completed.....For Now


CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE
Updating you with the latest photos from Pleasure Island Theme Park in Lake Buena Vista. On the right above you can see that the former PI Live DJ booth and the lighting catwalk is now entirely gone. The towers (not shown) that hold the Harley Davidson signs remain until they can figure out how to deal with them.

With the DJ booth gone, Sosa Cigars now has a front patio for families to enjoy a fine cigar with their spirits. The left photo also provides a daytime view of RRBC with the sign finally removed. I thought Sosa's patio was going to wrap completely around the building to meet the existing rear patio but it does not. Instead there are stairs and a sidewalk. Right now it's a sidewalk to nowhere but it likely fits in to future changes coming to the island.

Meanwhile outside Mannequins the landing outside the upstairs doors has been removed following the removal of the stairs that had been there. As Mannequins is apparently going to be transformed into a restaurant, there will be many other changes to the look of the building. One thing that won't change are these electric transformers located outside, adjacent Mannequins & 8TRAX. You'll recall the previously reported Blog rumor that the Mannequins/8TRAX building cannot be torn down because the entire power grid for the island is contained behind Mannequins and it would take weeks to restore power if it was removed. Thus, the Mannequins/8TRAX building survives, as does the CW building. But every club building waterside gets demolished! Or so say the rumors.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Damn, the island looks lifeless more and more with these changes each day.... sad.

I don't think all these new "restaurants" are going to save the day. Already heard bad things about how long Paridso is going to last.

KingBob said...

I've been to Paradiso twice and I like it. To be fair this is a dead time of the year when it comes to tourists. The next couple weeks will be crazy down there and I bet Paradiso does well. Summer is really the prime months.

Anonymous said...

ok didn't Disney say that the Mannequins building was beyond repair? I read that Disney said that it would cost to much to "reopen" Mannequins??????? the roof leaked!!!!!! and to bring it up to code to much now someone can come in and put in a restaurant in there. with the cost of repairs and the rent that would be stupid at best! OR Disney was lying to all of us!!!

KingBob said...

One of my sources told me that they can't tear it down because of the power grid and that they couldn't reopen it because the cost to bring it up to code was too much. I did publish that rumor a few months ago here on the Blog. That may still be true; the restaurant thing is just another rumor. Only the Mouse knows for sure and he ain't talking.

Anonymous said...

they could build a new power grid. and then move it the power source. if they reallllllly want to.
my question is why would anybody put there money into something (Disney told us the reason they closed it it would cost to much to rehab) that some company would put tooooo much money that is NOT worth opening! if Disney doesn't want to put money into why why why is my question????? I (if I had the money to do something like this) why would I want to do this lose out!
just more Disney Bullsh*t! if something goes on there!
THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE?

Anonymous said...

I just think it's funny that Disney has had problems with the monorail a few times in the year or less! after PI is gone VERY FUNNY! serves them right! I don't care much for city walk! wish they would do something more like PI WAS!!!! you know Universal Island??!?!?!?!?!? maybe Pleasure Walk?!?!?!?!?!?
City Island!? LOL

Joe said...

"Sosa Cigars now has a front patio for families to enjoy a fine cigar with their spirits"
Haha...nice touch.

Those families love smoking a big stogie while taking an irish shot and pushing their strollers up a hill with closed buildings all around.
Hopefully, soon they'll have three more clone-a-saurus restaurants with bad theming and over-priced crappy food.

Celebrate Tonight!

Anonymous said...

true so true Joe I never thought of that!
now that Roy Disney Died. now it's just A name! living on the Name of Walt Disney! so sad!

Anonymous said...

Disney can suck it. I haven't been back since PI closed and see no reason to return.

"Thanks" Disney.

KingBob said...

Some will argue that Roy Disney was the last real connection to Walt Disney....the Disney that we love. After reading his obit, I have to agree.

Joe, I was wondering if anyone was going to catch the irony in that sentence!

Anonymous said...

RRBC had the code issues and roof leaks. Then it was closed down, the AC turned off and mold took over. Guess what, now it HAS to be torn down.

MDP did have some roof leaks and code issues, true. But it could have been fixed easily enough. The building isn't going anywhere. If there is one space that might return with a nightclub concept this is the space it will happen in.

The real reasons. 3rd party outsourcing. More money, less headache and staffing on disney's part. Or at least, that's what the spreadsheets and projections said.. as it turned out, those projections were based on some very bad numbers and that was BEFORE the economy turned south (BTW this is the same projection that said building flamingo failure crossings was a good idea)

zulemara said...

I do believe it came down to money, but I also believe they wanted to get out of the night club business. They could have outsourced the clubs and kept them in operation. While some would have disliked it, they would like it much more than the current option.

Mannequins has a leak by the 2nd story bathroom door, but it's not coming from the bathroom, it's coming from the roof. No telling how bad it is in there now. Must be ok since they are modifying the building for a tennant supposedly

KingBob said...

Or so the rumors say. The rumor record isn't very good though!

Anonymous said...

...it's just because Disney mgmt wants DTD to be an outsourced shopping mall with a crappy selection of cloned stores.

Anonymous said...

I said it before and I'll say it again Mannequins roof had a leak from day one they patched time and again they did a roof replacment and it leaked agian and the same they patched time and time again so the roof leak is NOT the reason or part of the reason they "could not" have keep it open so please stop the roof reason! bull!`

KingBob said...

No one is saying they closed Mannequins because of a roof leak or because it would be too expensive to fix.

zulemara said...

yeah...wasn't saying the leak has anything to do with the closing or non reopening...just stating observation.

Anonymous said...

I have seen that on here about the roof leak is why they con not reopen someone has said the "floor" has water on it and out of shape yes i have seen that "reason" on here I will look and tell you where I saw it as long as you don't delete anything off of here Bob.

KingBob said...

No, I don't normally delete things except swearing and advertising and occasionally a gross error. Those making comments have the ability to delete their own comments. So whatever you're referring to should still be there if it was ever there.

I posted a source-based story a few months ago about Mannequins not being torn down because the power grid for the island was based there and the inability to reopen it because the cost of bringing it up to code was prohibitive. But right now apparently something is going on that would indicate renovations into SOMETHING...rumors say a restaurant.