Save Pleasure Island roving reporter William was viewing this new video placed on YouTube by Disney Imagineering when something caught his eye. The video talks about the use of new computer technology over at the Fantasyland Expansion in Magic Kingdom. What caught his eye though was an interview with Imagineer Scott Mallwitz. The interview, which is cut up and inserted several times throughout the video, apparently took place in Disney Imagineering facilities. And right behind him on the wall is a large overview photograph of beautiful Pleasure Island. We don't spot any bombshells in the older photo but William found it intriguing that PI is currently on the wall at Disney Imagineering. William thinks that it shows that PI is definitely an active topic of work over at DI. We agree. With club renovation permits freshly filed, hopefully incredible new club concepts are in the works as can only be created by Disney Imagineering!
I see it on the wall....looks like a rather "old" view. Maybe it has just been hanging in his office all this time because he had something to do with the original concepts? Just a thought...
ReplyDeleteI hope you are right about DI, but I thought the last time I read anything on the post was about 3rd parties renting out the clubs, so what would that have to do with DI, unless they are going to reconfigure the island, right?
I did state it was an older photo put it up on their wall.
ReplyDeleteWhile new entities on Pleasure Island would be "operated" by third parties, Disney is only leasing spaces, not selling them. The least desirable possibility is that Disney is going to build out the spaces and then try to lease them out. That's a bad idea; remember the Missing Link building was totally renovated and then sat there and when Paradiso 37 came along and leased it, it had to be completely redone to meet their needs!
The more positive possibility is that some third parties and Disney have come to an agreement to renovate the spaces and reopen them as clubs. The renovations could range from simply reinstalling light and sound systems (but more modern) to large scale idea-based renovations. The parties and management and Imagineering come to an agreement on what that entails and then Imagineering and Buena Vista Construction build it. Third party operators never build, they just lease space. DI would be fully involved in the process.
Thanks Bob!
ReplyDeleteoouuu that's a very good point, Disney wouldn't blindly renovate without an agreement in place. Interesting!
ReplyDeleteHowever, Disney DID blindly close PI without any agreements in place.
ReplyDelete(just what appeared to be a loose idea and hopes something would happen)
It seems that Disney Imagineering may have a hand in refurbishing the clubs.
ReplyDeleteHopefully this will be the first step towards reopening them.
Don't let it be another 3 years to get some nightlife down there at P.I.
>However, Disney DID blindly close PI without any agreements in place.
ReplyDeleteI believe there was an agreement in place for at least RRBC and perhaps others but the agreements had escape clauses. You'll recall that RRBC closed months before the rest of the clubs. A source told us long ago that RRBC was offered for lease and the lease was snapped up by a 3rd party almost immediately. Amazed about how quickly that happened, DTD management was encouraged to offer the other clubs for lease as well. So that's why the ending date was announced for 3 months later. But
storm building on the horizon...the economy...was visible at that point but ignored. The clubs closed but no one was interested any more in going through with the plans for more restaurants. The club buildings were too large, too expensive and credit was impossible. It all unraveled and has sat empty now for 3 years. If the rumor is true that third parties can reopen the clubs as clubs, then there appears to be some interest out there!
Bob, Back in the day I had heard that the reason why the leasing of RRBC didn't actually go through was because the roof was unstructionally sound, that they were ready to move forward with the leasing but there were too many problems with the roof. The only way to make it happen was to reconstruct the roof but that would have been just as expensive to tear down and rebuild the whole place. Do you know anything about that?
ReplyDeleteI've heard that RRBC had leaks and mold; I've heard the same about BET. I recall the outer wall of Motion to the left of the doors was so eaten up with dry rot that you could literally push you finger into it. But I have not heard from any of my sources that it made any of them unleasable. My source on the RRBC story told of the quick lease on it, why that gave them confidence they could do the same with the others and the bailing out of the lessor. That's all I know.
ReplyDeleteI've heard the same rumor about RRBC--Cheesecake Factory was specifically mentioned, in fact. But I think it fell through more because the other clubs closed than because the economy crashed. CF thought they were building in the middle of a still somewhat active nightclub district (and man, would that place have cleaned up...)--instead, Disney turned around and said "No more clubs, just empty buildings for a year or two, then more restaurants." Making a different market than CF thought they were buying into.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could share Zulemara's faith in TDO. The lack of news over the last week is making me suspect this is a generic re-do of the buildings in an attempt to make them more attractive to tenants--as KingBob said, basically what happened with Missing Link.
I had not heard the Cheesecake Factory angle. Makes sense; wasn't a small version of CF located inside DisneyQuest around the time PI closed? Timing would have been right to open a full-sized full-exposure location there.
ReplyDelete