PI Update: Curl Moving To Splitsville

The Curl by Sammy Duval surf clothing store on Pleasure Island is apparently moving into new retail space to be located at Splitsville Luxury Lanes in Downtown Disney West Side, according to the website WDWMagic.  The move is not a total surprise though; back in May a source told the Save Pleasure Island Blog that Curl was leaving when their lease expired.  What we didn't know at the time was whether they were leaving totally or just moving.  Now we know.  So what's going into the Curl space?  We don't know but our prior article had a rumor! One of our readers reports that RideMakerZ may be moving into the Splitsville building as well! 
Interestingly, the Curl move leaves just Apricot Lane as the only remaining non-restaurant retail space on the Island. Will be watching to see if they move too so that the Mannequins building can be put to new use.  We keep hearing about activity going on inside (and underneath) MDP! 

 

PI Update: Curl's Move & Demise

Ten years ago this week in 2012 it was announced that the Curl by Sammy Duval store was relocating to the then new Splitsville building on the West Side. As you'll recall, it was in a building on Pleasure Island adjacent to 8TRAX. In that new spot, it would be joined by Fit2Run, the runner's superstore. The new location would ultimately be the end of the run for Curl though as the M&M's store would take over the location several years later with Curl closing and Fit2Run relocating to Disney Springs Town Center's Arcade building.

 

Breaking News: Curl Gone, 8TRAX Coming Down!

One never knows what one is going to find when one crosses that bridge!

Save Pleasure Island Blog roving reporter Thommy on  Pleasure Island this afternoon taking a picture of this narrow passageway between Paradiso 37 and Curl when he realized the Curl (formerly Superstar Studios) building wasn't there!

And 8TRAX was being crunched!

Demolition at the side!

Demolition at the front!

Zooming in on the action!

He reports that the entire single-story front section of the club that stuck out from the multi-story main section of the club is gone and appears to have been demolished first.  This is the area that  housed the main bar. You can see one of the psychedelic walls in this shot. 

Thommy speaks with great sadness of losing 8TRAX.  He says he used to work there, it's where he learned the Thriller dance and where he decided to become a DJ back in his hometown.  We are all sad about using 8TRAX.  It was a club where all ages, races, genders, religions, etc. shared the dance floor and everyone knew the words to all the 70's & 80's songs!

It's all being taken down with a backhoe.

Click to enlarge this picture and you can see the Lombard Promenade hill is there but the promenade itself, the winding sidewalks reminiscent of San Francisco's Lombard Street, are gone. Now excuse me while Thommy and I go have a cry!

PI Update: Construction Outside 8TRAX

Another visit yesterday where brisk winds or gloomy skies kept the Characters In Flight balloon ride from operating, so no SkyCam views in this article.  Instead we crossed the No. 2 Bridge to our beloved Island and toured on foot.

First stop to the east end where Rock'n'Roll Beach Club and club Motion once stood.

Last week we showed you the over the lake framework that had been built to support the over the lake portion if the new Boat House Restaurant.  (Formerly known as Classic Old Boats & Good Food Restaurant.)

Since then vertical framework for the building itself has gone up.  Notice up front the concrete construction for the rumored outdoor amphitheater where entertainment will take place.

The block wall was there a week ago but all the metal girders have been added since our last visit.

In our last visit this building was green from the construction materials being used.  The next layer has now been added and it's gone white!

This is roughly behind where Fuego Cigar Bar used to stand.  We don't know if this is going to be  yet another restaurant or multiple shops.

Exciting action in front of 8TRAX and the former Curl spots!

You know from our previous reports that the middle level of 8TRAX was demolished about a year ago.  You know from our report a couple weeks ago about the Disney Springs concept art that there appears to be a row of stores going in in this strip across the sidewalk from Paradiso 37.  You're seeing the walls and framework of what is being added in front of 8TRAX.

The Curl building was demolished completely and this is the building going in in front of where Curl once stood.  Again, the concept art makes these out to be new stores along the walkway, and this continues to new construction taking place in this same area besides Mannequins, where Apricot Lane most recently stood.

A new secret passageway has opened beside Raglan Road.

If you follow it there's an interesting Irish display in RR's side windows.

And it takes you back behind that new white building.

Past the still-closed but recently renovated public WC.

And it comes out into this former service court between Raglan Road and Portobello Country Italian Trattoria (formerly Portobello Yacht Club). The new main pedestrian pathway will pass through this area once construction is completed.  The secret passageway presumably will allow guests on either side of RR to access the bathrooms.

Meanwhile at Mannequins Dance Palace..............nothing.

PI Update: Second Staging Area Added

News from beautiful Pleasure Island that you won't find in the Sentinel!

First of all, one of our readers has sent us two photos taken yesterday morning from Parking Lot H showing that it is now blocked off.  This is the parking lot directly across from Planet Hollywood.

This lot will either be used for the parking of heavy equipment and supplies during the conversion of Downtown Disney to Disney Springs or for the parking of buses visiting DTD that previously parked behind the Hess station, where staging also seems apparent.  This takes a lot of spaces out of commission for the rest of summer but they simply could not delay moving forward with the project any longer.  This becomes the second construction staging area.

Now let's go up for a helium balloon ride, home to the Save Pleasure Island Blog official SkyCam.  Here we see a new construction wall surrounding the waterway adjacent the Characters In Flight ticket booth. Not really clear why they are blocking this area off.

From 400ft up, a nice view of Celebration Plaza, (clockwise) surrounded by 8TRAX, Curl, Laffers Cantina, Comedy Warehouse, the No.4 Bridge, the WC complex, BET Soundstage, Adventurers Club and Paradiso 37.  The area is bisected by that demolition wall.

Zooming in, a look at the former Curl store and 8TRAX dance club.  Both are on the "wrong side" of the wall.  PI oldtimers will remember that before 8TRAX the building was the home to Cage, an underground music club.  And Curl housed Superstar Studios where you could dress-up and record your own music video!

Preliminary work has begun adjacent Cirque du Soleil and Parking Lot N where the first of two Disney Springs parking garages is to be built.

A close up of that area.  This garage is needed quickly because until it opens it will be impractical to use Lots E,F,G in front of Pleasure Island  for the Disney Springs expansion as that would take way too many parking spaces out of inventory.

A SkyCam look at the first construction staging area, located on the Island where Rock'n'Roll Beach Club and Motion used to stand.

Finally, here's a sign that the upcoming demolition and construction is going to be a long project.  Those are lights being installed along the entire wall across the Island!

PI Update: Demolition Wall At 8TRAX!!

As the Disney Springs conversion takes place, no other website provides as much coverage as the Save Pleasure Island Blog.  We are beyond saving it of course but at least you'll know what's happening!

Last Thursday we showed that the so-called "Seed & Mulch" sector on Pleasure Island had been converted into the first construction staging area.  A construction wall has now been added and surrounds this former home to Motion and Rock'n'Roll Beach Club.

It's still possible to peek in and see a few of the pallets sitting there.

We've posted several times the Celebration Plaza construction wall that begins at the No. 4 Bridge from the West Side.

The wall used to end at the stairs behind Laffers Cantina.  It has now been extended!

We previously posted that Curl by Sammy Duval was to relocate last weekend to their new space in the Splitsville building.  They did.  And now the old Curl is behind the demolition wall!

But the wall continues even further.  Yikes!  It's surrounds 8TRAX too!!

And ends directly up against Mannequins!

And continues on the south side of Mannequins up to the Waterfront.

Remember that Mannequins, 8TRAX, Apricot Lane & the former Curl are all one building.  Is it possible that some of the building will be demolished and Mannequins remain?  We just don't know.

And a view from behind 8TRAX.  The end is near!

PI Update: More Trailers Arrive

For those who remember the days when they used to have huge fireworks shows off Pleasure Island, please be aware that at one time they also used to have huge dance clubs too.

Out in Downtown Disney's Parking Lot Q, more construction/office trailers have been added.  First there was one, then there were two.....and now there are four!  We're told management and cast members from Entertainment, formerly located beneath Celebration Plaza, are housed in there.  Indeed, spotted one of those red "human statues" come out of Wardrobe here and travel via a golf cart all the way over to his stage in Keith's Park in front of Pollo Campero, Downtown Disney Marketplace.

A picture of the newly opened location for Curl by Sammy Duval. They occupy one of two outparcels located in the Splitsville building with the other apparently still available for lease.  Until two weekends 
ago, Curl was located on beautiful Pleasure Island.

Hoping all this rain that Orlando has been having is driving some business to Splitsville.  Apparently things have been slow enough that they're mailing out a 20% multiple-use discount "Summer Pass" to locals, valid Monday-Thursdays.  And it's not only a discount on bowling and billiards, but also on food, beverage and retail!

With Curl now gone and not counting the small logo store inside Raglan Road, Apricot Lane becomes the last retail store on the Island.  It's slated to close sometime in August. Part of the Mannequins building but separate, it could be demolished too.