Tuesday, April 10, 2018

PI Update: The Motion Corridor

One of the problems that vexed Downtown Disney managers was that Pleasure Island was right in the middle of their two shopping centers, Marketplace and West Side, and guests hated walking around the Island at night to go from one section to the other. And so they largely didn't. One idea implemented was the un-gating of Pleasure Island at night so non-ticketed guests could pass through but this led to new problems that would ultimately doom our party venue. But behind that wall pictured above was a planned solution.

The Motion Corridor. Envisioned as part of the doomed Hyperion Wharf plan for Pleasure Island, the idea was to build a pedestrian corridor behind Raglan Road and beside Portobello Yacht Club. This would allow guests to easily transfer between the two shopping halves of Downtown Disney.
The space was being used for garbage and waste disposal which could easily be moved elsewhere. But that big brown building in the back stood in the way! Club Motion!
Which by the way held offices for Levy Restaurants too.
So Motion had to go!  And beginning in December, 2010, down it went!
But the vacant spaces where Motion and Rock'n'Roll Beach Club once stood remained idle for years before the Disney Springs plan was launched. So the bleak Motion Corridor did not open until October, 2014, nearly 4 years later!
And today it carriers multitudes of happy guests between Marketplace and West Side, all of them oblivious to what once was.

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