The D23 Convention is in progress in Anaheim, California and so far there have been no announcements pertaining to any of the Florida theme parks, Downtown Disney or Pleasure Island. Jay Rasulo has a session on Saturday which many are waiting for with anticipation that there will be announcements about new additions to the Florida parks. Many are hoping that Disney's "bold new vision" for DTD and PI will be announced as well.
Since there is that possibility, I wanted to share in advance the latest rumors I came across last weekend that I've alluded to here on the Blog. The first rumor is the negative/adverse one. As you know, many rumors have come and gone about the fate of the various club buildings on the island. They've ranged from club reopenings to compete demolition. But the Mannequins /8TRAX building is always left out. A PI employee told me the building is "off limits". Why can't it be torn down? The source tells me that the power grid to the entire island is located inside the building on the 2nd/3rd floors. Someone on a Disney bulletin board confirmed that such a power grid exists and it's located behind the stage. Supposedly if they shut this down the entire island would be without electricity for weeks before it could be reestablished. Obviously that can't happen. So why not simply reopen the clubs there? Well supposedly because the building is 20-yrs old it is no longer up to code and they would have to do serious renovations in order to bring it back. I questioned the source about this because the city of Lake Buena Vista is its own entity controlled by the Reedy Creek Improvement District which is Disney itself. Source said there are some things that are controlled by government outside the District such as water & sewage, electricity, etc. So supposedly THAT is why Mannequins/8TRAX can't reopen yet they can't tear it down either. I don't buy the latter part. I think it could be brought to code and reopened. Source also said that when RRBC closed earlier in 2008 before the recession hit, the outsource contract on it sold almost immediately. Disney saw how quickly that happened so they reasoned they could do that with all the clubs so they arranged for all the clubs to close. Unfortunately the recession really kicked-in and by late 2008 there were no takers, the deals that were in the works collapsed (including RRBC) and they were left with no options.
Now the positive news. A couple days later I ran into another source who said he/she personally knew the person who bought the contracts to operate 3 clubs on the island! And you would see some reopening activity by October! I have no reason to doubt this person but I doubt nonetheless!
So that's what I've picked up on this past week. Anything announced tomorrow at D23 trumps this information. I can't stress enough: THESE ARE JUST RUMORS!
19 comments:
so which 3 are to reopen? AC, BET, and Motion?
I'm going to suspect MDP/8TRAX and maybe CW (just due to the location).
We know MOTiON, RRBC, AC/"Soundstage" are all in "prime" waterfront locations, and would be more easily leased to a 3rd party (look at Paradiso).
A major effort would have to take place to convert MDP to a usable space for a restaurant/store. It's just a whole open space, designed for a club/show venue. They'd have to move Harley/Curl elsewhere to demo the structure.
We'll see what happens. As KingBob mentioned, Disney execs got greedy. They weren't making as much money as they wanted simply selling drinks, and assumed they could convert PI into another DTD shopping mall space, and reap the profits of being a landlord as they have elsewhere at DTD.
Notice how empty many malls are these days?
They COULD have owned up to their dumb decision, and "temporarily" re-opened select PI clubs, perhaps only during "peak" days of the week (Thu/Fri/Sat), but they have much bigger egos than that.
indeed only time will tell. We have been through this whirlwind so many times that I just refuse to believe anything anymore. Yet, as long as the buildings are there, there is always a possibility. That's very interesting info about RRBC and their following decision to close PI.
The whole idea that this person personally knows the contractor who is taking 3 of the clubs and reopening them certainly seems to show legitimacy, but there ARE crazy people out there. Then again, bob wouldn't report from someone he though was crazy.
The good news is if something is to happen, it is supposed to be in Oct right? That is not far off.
October?; can they prep the buildings by then? Here's another factoid/rumor. Starting in 2010, Rix club @ Coronado Springs is having an 8trax style 70's/80's night. Could it be that Disney directing it's nightlife options to other outlets like Rix & Atlantic Dance Hall????
I like Rix and they could definitely do more with it than they have. My problem with Rix is all those televisions showing sports. If you're going to be a sports bar then you can't be a dance club. You can't be both successfully. The televisions are too distracting. I'd like to know more about the 70's/80's Night so I'll check into that. Thanks for the tip!
Last I heard, RRBC is now ready to be torn down. BET also will go at the same time. Ad Club, is still in limbo land apparently.
Still no word on 8Trax and Manq building. From my side of the world there has been no talk of anything happening. Again, if it were to leak out and it involves Disney and not a 3rd party I would be one of the first 10 to hear about it.
I am not doubting any demolition plans though of course I disagree with them but BET poses a problem for demolition on the island since it is one of the buildings connected by the Utilidor on Pleasure Island. Without destroying the Utilidor I dont know how they can easily demolish BET.
What is the Utilidor? (Not familiar with that and why would that prevent destruction of the building?)
Utilidor is what Disney calls Tunnels. The part where you go up on the island is above a undergorund network of tunnels
There's a tunnel under "Hill Street" which connects AC to the offices/wardrobe near CW. This was so the AC actors could easily move to the club from wardrobe. They also have a catering kitchen down there where I assume they used to make food back in the day when AC served some.
I agree...Rix was kinda neat, but the sports aspect was annoying. Either be a sports bar, or a dance club. Both doesn't work.
there are NO tunnels under PI I know a lot of old PI employees who have worked there from the very first days of pi years ago asked how they got to the clubs and they had to walk from the building that was in the parking lot to the clubs and saw them walking myself so tunnel WHERE??????????????
and even talked to one pi employee if they would have a tunnel and they said NO! I have been going to PI from the 1st year. you have no idea what you are talking about Joe!
Hmmm. I recall asking an 8TRAX CM years ago if the clubs were connected by tunnels and she said no but I also recall her mention that there was one tunnel on the island. None may be able to answer this since he used to work on PI. Seems like PI management offices are underground and might connect to AC/BET at the lower level. It might not be a tunnel but just a lower level you don't see.
All equipment in BET was struck and put on pallets today to be transported to EPCOT for cleaning and redistribution, so count that as a not for BET. yes there is a tunnel. The entertainment offices are located under the Westend plaza. The roof is a rebar/concrete combination.This is the reason why they have issue with the brick in the Westend plaza area. They are half the depth of the other bricks on the street. This area many years ago also housed costuming before the gray building was built in the back corner of Lot D.There is a tunnel that does connect Comedy, BET and AD club. sorry.
A rumor I posted the other day has 3 clubs under contract to reopen. One of them is Soundstage. The removal of equipment from Soundstage could mean 1) imminent demolition of the building or 2) Disney equipment out so that vendor with the outsource contract can bring in new stuff.
Appreciate your update!
Again i state that is incorrect info on the contractor idea all info i have seen shows all four clubs demolished by the end of 2011
The end of 2011 is 2 more years. Why would they wait that long to take action?
Uh, yeah, I do...
It's not really a "tunnel", per se, it's a hallway/service area which connects the offices under CW-area to AC/Soundstage.
I have been in there numerous times.
...there are no "tunnels" between the other clubs, or from the parking lot.
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