Thursday, October 6, 2011

PI Update: Entertainment Acts Renew Contracts

PI Live Bar and Laffers Cantina are the only two Disney owned & operated venues still open on beautiful Pleasure Island. Named because of its location adjacent Comedy Warehouse, the bar used to face the West End Stage. When the Celebrate Tonight spectacle operated for awhile there, the large brick expanse was rechristened as Celebration Plaza. After CT's demise, PI decided to create an ultra-lounge type of atmosphere there to be called the West End Street Bash. But that name was never publicly announced and I've been referring it to as the West End Plaza ever since. But from now on the Blog will simply refer to the entertainment taking place there as taking place at Laffers Cantina. Heck, even the Downtown Disney Guide Map doesn't list the place!

Giving you an idea of how long it might be before permanent activity comes to Pleasure Island, Andre Caram of the Andre Caram Band tells the Blog that they've been signed to a new one year contract to continue to perform outside Laffers Cantina. They were performing a lot of current Dance tunes during my visit such as current DJ David Guetta material. Good stuff!!

Entertainer Nicholas Marks also reports signing a new one year contract to perform outside Laffers. I have to say that both Marks as well as the Andre Caram Band have proven quite popular out there. Of course it makes zero sense that both have to work outdoors in the heat and cold when air conditioned and empty buildings stand behind them. But that's a story for another day!

The new Scarecrow addition to the human statue collection.The statues are apparently staying too.
Sources told us long ago that PI management reads the Blog. If there was any doubt, get this. In our September 20th article it was pointed out that when they removed all the PI historical plaques a few days prior, they forgot one hidden behind this bush on the No.2 Bridge. A few days post article the plaque was gone!

That same article mentioned the Adventure Club Cart. It dawned on PI management reading the article that they can't have people forgetting about the Adventurers Club if the snack cart in front of the closed club still openly uses the name.
Blog reader Victoria reports via email that the sign atop the cart has now been removed and provides us this photo. She notes that the menu signs on both sides of the booth still have the Adventurers Cart name on it (different name than what was on top) but I expect this removal is so sudden that they've had to order new signs which will get installed shortly.

13 comments:

FN said...

I still think that the total loss of all the clubs on Pleasure Island was not a good decision. And is it really not possible to make any sort of turnaround and restore one or two of the clubs? So sad... I don't go to Disney properties at all anymore, instead go to Universal and a few other places for nightlife. Doesn't Disney management realize they could attract and retain customers who are now spending money at their competitor's establishments? I really don't understand the dynamics of what happened to PI and why, but it must have been a drastic money loser or a liability in some other ways to Disney. Otherwise why would they have closed everything? I can only hope that future developments at Pleasure Island will be similarly fun and creative (and repeatable!) as the concepts at Pleasure Island used to be. And while Splitsville will be unique and fun, how repeatable is bowling going to be? Splitsville will be great for the short-stay visitors, but what about us who are reliable repeat customers? I just don't get it.

Doug said...

I am a repeat customer to DTD and will likely use the bowling alley quite often...

It'll be nice having a great bowling alley in the area.. we don't have a good one now..

Anonymous said...

sorry Doug!! I am with FN on this one! Disney slapped us in the face when they closed PI clubs!
how can you still go to DTD Doug? just asking? oh well it is people like you the reason Disney can Mistreat us and take away our power to make disney to keep open things we like(d)
I will never go back now anyway! even if they reopen any club I would go just to see ONCE to see how bad it is!

Anonymous said...

...yawn rip the whole damn island down i will never go there ever!!!! they betrayed me and will never get one cent from me. if clubs reopened they would be an extension of the joke they are offering out there now. close it down for good like river country and discovery island

Anonymous said...

It's pretty pathetic that two or three of the clubs have not been reopened yet.
Is'nt about time that you get some of the clubs opened up, and get some nightlife down in P.I. .
Finally you would make all the party go'ers happy.

P.S. Make it a good new year.

Jeff - Gainesville said...

KingBob, do the contracts mean that the outside acts will always perform on P.I. or could they be re-located to a different location at DTD?

FN said...

Doug, thanks for your follow-up. It seems that you may not be acknowledging that Splitsville will be a "tourist attraction" bowling alley and not a league bowler's alley. Are you ready for the potential of having families and kids alongside your lane everytime you bowl? Therefore I wonder if it will be a "great" bowling alley or more of a "fun" bowling alley. (I think I know the answer to that...) And remember that it will also come with "Disney resort pricing," so get ready to break out a handful of your Hamiltons every time you go... BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

KingBob said...

Jeff, I've not seen the contracts but I imagine they're flexible enough such that the entertainment acts could be used anywhere in DTD and perhaps anywhere in WDW, should there be a reason to move the acts elsewhere. For instance, the Andre Caram Band performed NYE last year at EPCOT.

FN, while families will be using the bowling facilities too, other Splitsville locations go "adult only" after 8pm so it's doubtful that will be an issue in the later hours.

Anon at 9:49pm, you're getting kind of hostile. "Rip the whole damn island down!" Last week you said you'd burn down the Adventurers Club. Why all this violence-talk?

Jeff - Gainesville said...

I'll be at EPCOT for NYE so I'll keep an eye out! Thanks........

KingBob said...

Jeff/GNV, as of the moment I plan to be out at EPCOT for NYE as well. Hard to believe but it's LESS than 3 months away!

71 said...

Has this been confirmed for DtD yet? I ask only after being burned by the Dave & Busters on I-Drive, the only one (AFAIK) that allows people under 21 at night. In other words, the rules are different in Orlando. The ONLY site I can think of on-property with a formal age restriction is Victoria & Alberts.

71 said...

[Post cut off, was asking if 18+ at night at Splitsville was confirmed]

KingBob said...

71, the adult-only late-night status of Splitsville has not been confirmed for the DTD location. That's how their other locations operate.

I believe many HOB concerts are 18+, I believe Bongo's goes adult-only after 11:30pm. There was a time that many PI clubs were adult-only. ADH is adult-only. So this would not be unprecedented.