Friday, February 14, 2014

Club Report: Splitsville

It's been awhile since we checked-in on the night club aspect of Splitsville. Located in Downtown Disney West Side, the huge facility opened in December, 2012.

Dine, Dance, Drink & Bowl was the idea.

The bowling seems to be doing ok.

The upstairs inside bar usually has some people partaking as does the downstairs outdoor patio bar.

But this is where the DJ booth was formerly located. When Splitsville opened they offered DJ's 3 nights per week, TH/F/SA.  When I was last there it had been pared down to just Thursday nights as they were trying to recapture PI's castmember crowd.

But not anymore.  No more DJ's and no dancing on this floor.  What went wrong?

4 comments:

Jeff - Gainesville said...

Do we just need to face the music (as if there were music there to face)- WDW wants to do away with night life? Since Disney Springs is just one big shopping mall with a REALLY big food court, should we expect anything different? It's fun to see some of the changes and new things but let's face it, how many shopping malls have night life? Does HOB still do a service industry night?

Anonymous said...

Consider this for what went wrong:
1. As usual with a LOT of places, poor management. People in positions to decide to have a Dj but have no idea who is actually a Dj versus who claims to be a Dj.
2. The bigger problem is the lack of the ability to see it through. If you're gonna do it, do it right. If you commit to T,F,SA for a Dj, then dammit, every since week you put a Dj in there on T,F,SA. 52 weeks a year without fail. It takes a manager(s) with the guts to stay with it. You don't build something by throw it out there for 3 weeks to see if it'll stick. It takes time to work.

71 said...

Anon 10:49 pretty much nails it--you don't build word of mouth after just 3 weeks, and you don't ever build it if your "DJ" is little more than a kid with an iPod.

Need to commit to your policies, too. First time I went, still saw kids upstairs well after 9 pm. If you want upstairs to have a club vibe, make it feel like a club--kick the kids and diners downstairs, open it up a bit.

KingBob said...

Jeff: Tom Staggs promised there would be adult nightlife at Disney Springs. I have no reason to believe he won't deliver. And yes, HOB stil runs their SIN on Sunday nights. Spoke to someone today who was out there last night and I'm told that it was PACKED like it always is!

Anon: You are correct. They didn't market it and they didn't see it through. And while I like the DJ that was out there and he was no doubt talented in mixing, the music genres he was instructed to play were ALL OVER THE PLACE!

71, good seeing you at the 8TRAX Reunion. It did last more than 3 weeks as you know. But you're right about the kids upstairs. It was like that the VERY FIRST weekend and it never got any better. Lighting effects were minimal and the dance floor was not marked to give it some presence. Thus, there was ZERO club atmosphere.