Tuesday, April 17, 2012

PI Update: Vast Wasteland

If Newton Minnow was alive today, he'd probably describe Pleasure Island as he once described television, as a "vast wasteland".  Those of us who live here are fortunate enough to experience its vast wastelandness as often as we dare.  But for those of you from out of town, from out of state or even from out of the country, you have to rely on these the Save Pleasure Island Blog to keep you updated!

Last August the Mannequins sign was finally removed from Mannequins Dance Palace, just a few weeks shy of three years from when they closed the doors.  Three years of wasted time.  We still hear that the revolving dance floor is still in there.  Let's reopen it and bring adults back to Disney each night!

At 8TRAX the sign had long been removed but the psychedelic paint job remained.  Last August it too finally got painted over.  It was done to make it more attractive to would-be renters.  But inside it's still very much a 70's/80's dance club that could reopen with just a few weeks notice!  So why not?

Now hidden behind this spring's greenery, Adventurers Club could reopen with fresh drywall and a return of all the artifacts.  We know the cast is still around!

At the end it likely was the least popular of Disney's dance clubs, Soundstage (formerly BET Soundstage) is a large multi-level facility that would make a great Top 40 club, Motion style!

Rock'n'Roll Beach Club and Motion.  RIP.  Replaced with Seed & Mulch.

Harley Davidson moved to the West Side and was replaced with Apricot Lane, a women's clothing store.  PI Live Bar lives on though.

At Celebration Plaza, Laffers Cantina (left) lives on too but Comedy Warehouse (right) is only used for its electrical outlets, needed by the live bands playing outside to plug their equipment into. Otherwise, it remains dark!  So that's our tour of Pleasure Island.  Move along now, there's nothing to see here.

19 comments:

Joe said...

It's rather pathetic. It illustrates how clueless and shortsighted Disney management can be.

Anonymous said...

"We still hear that the revolving dance floor is still in there."
I hear that it was gone before the 1st year went by!
you heard the floor is still there?
I heard the floor is LONG gone?
think why else would they take the stairs on the outside have been taken down! the stairs would need to be there for a fire escape! never thought of that did you (anyone)

Anonymous said...

^ Person makes NO sense.

Anonymous said...

None a-tall.

Anonymous said...

well IF you read it you would UNDERSTAND!!

OK why would DIsney take the stairs off of the side of Mannequins? IF they are going to reopen! you HAVE to have a FIRE ESCAPE by LAW!! get it? got it? good!

so if you still do not understand? tell me what "makes NO sense" "None a-tall" oh and what does
"None a-tall mean? HUH!! a-tall person?a-tall building? what?

AND or the floor being gone IF that is what you do not understand?!?!?! I have HEARD that the floor has been GONE sometime after PI (Mannequins) closed!
and the inside of Mannequins has BEEN GUTTED!

now tell me that makes NO sense?

OK I think what your problem is! is you WANT to believe that PI clubs will still open one day! and do NOT want to believe it is over!?

Anonymous said...

well IF you read it you would UNDERSTAND!!

OK why would DIsney take the stairs off of the side of Mannequins? IF they are going to reopen! you HAVE to have a FIRE ESCAPE by LAW!! get it? got it? good!

so if you still do not understand? tell me what "makes NO sense" "None a-tall" oh and what does
"None a-tall mean? HUH!! a-tall person?a-tall building? what?

AND or the floor being gone IF that is what you do not understand?!?!?! I have HEARD that the floor has been GONE sometime after PI (Mannequins) closed!
and the inside of Mannequins has BEEN GUTTED!

now tell me that makes NO sense?

OK I think what your problem is! is you WANT to believe that PI clubs will still open one day! and do NOT want to believe it is over!?

Anonymous said...

I have never SAID the floor was GONE i just said I heard (rumor) it is GONE! not trying to state FACT but just saying what I heard!
just like the Blog owner said he heard the floor is still there he can not prove it is I can not prove it is gone!
so till someone has a PIC of it and it shows ALL of the inside with ALL the lighting and speakers gone! even if you can post a pic of all that you can not 100% prove it is true!
BECAUSE the PIC could have been taken and the floor taken ANYTIME after! but if the pic shows the floor gone now that will be 100% proof! OK well there will will still be SOME who will say it is faked!

titi_maite said...

Entren aki porfiiis....

Warren said...

If you go back to this post dated Jan 31, 2010 you can see the dance floor is (at least at the time of the posting) still in tact.

http://savepleasureisland.blogspot.com/2010/01/breaking-news-mannequins-interior-shots.html

KingBob said...

The floor was definitely there when those photos were posted in the article mentioned above which was more than a year after Mannequins closed. If the floor ain't there, where is it? To use it you'd not only need the floor but the entire mechanical mechanisms that are under the floor. And wouldn't you advertise that your club has Mannequins old floor? But no one is doing that.

Anonymous said...

Anon #1 must be a special person. They speak as such so I will not pick their post apart because that would be mean. But I will just add that they still make NO sense

Anonymous said...

Anon @ April 20, 2012 6:12 PM
guess you will NEVER understand anything?
OH and here we go with the NAME calling YET again! nice well I know what kind if person you are yes just mean? a bully? now I am not name calling just pointing out what you MIGHT be? so with that said I will just BLOW you off and take you for what you are!
I guess you still Do not care to think it can be gone for what reason I can not understand? IT IS OVER! GONE! DONE! do you understand that? or does that not make sense?
and let me repeat my self! I hear a rumor! like most that post "What they hear"
so I LAUGH at your posting call me what you want but to know when you do it just bounces off of me! LOL!!!

KingBob said...

Gentlemen, please stop the name-calling or I'll have to delete your posts.

Anonymous said...

It's true....it's impossible to rebuild a part of a flight of stairs...you win... >_>

bob said...

"OK why would DIsney take the stairs off of the side of Mannequins? IF they are going to reopen! you HAVE to have a FIRE ESCAPE by LAW!! get it? got it? good!"

hang on let me get this straight... are you saying the reason the building is empty is because it CANT be used because it has no fire escape?! You're a genius!! so all Disney needs to do is rebuild the fire escape and all the problems are solved!!!!! woohoo!

KingBob said...

Those stairs were actually used as an entrance to the club for many years. It was more than a fire escape. They led to the 3rd floor, a very small attic-like area that sported a small bar. In the club's later years the 3rd floor was rarely in use. (The third floor entry was actually used on the Thursday night of the final weekend.)

Disney figured Mannequins future was as a restaurant and that the third floor would never get used. So there was no reason to maintain that 3rd floor entry door and stair system. So it was taken out. Keep in mind that other stairs still lead to the backstage area of the 3rd floor.

Jeff - Gainesville said...

The first year that I attended the 'Gay Days' celebration at P.I. the elevator went all the way up to the third floor where they let us off and then we had to walk down a flight of stairs to the second floor. A very strange experience! Perhaps the crowds were so large that they had to divert a group or two. I don't remember a bar up there but that does not mean it was not there.

Oh to walk on to that floor one more time!

DJMadManRay said...

When the club first opened, the elevator always led to the third floor and you would have to make your way down. They also had a little hallway area up there that had pictures of celebs that had been on the island. It was great and the original Mannequins was the best... It never really felt the "same" after the remodel. It was still great, just not the same...

KingBob said...

Jeff-Gainesville, the Thursday night of "Gay Days" seemed to be the only time they ever used the 3rd Floor during the later years.

MadManRay, you are correct. It was standard operating procedure to take guests all the way up to the third floor so that they could see down to the dance floor from up on the "catwalk".

Just such a great place!