Tuesday, July 24, 2012

PI Update: Are Mannequins & Comedy Warehouse Reopening?

The Rumors:
1.  Disney will make an announcement about the Downtown Disney Expansion plan (including news about Pleasure Island) in October.
Analysis:  This rumor is reasonable. An announcement has been promised since D23 last year so its really overdue.  The larger DTD plans are being described by insiders as "incredible" with DTD doubling and tripling in size over the course of the next decade.  So bring it on!
  
2. The Disney costuming department has been allocated a budget to produce new castmember costumes for Mannequins and Comedy Warehouse.
Analysis:  This is the rumor the Blog staff heard two weeks ago and have been trying to investigate ever since with limited success.  Some Disney-connected people have confirmed that they've heard this same rumor from other sources.  We have DTD castmembers saying they've heard that clubs are reopening.  We've seen two people post on internet forums that the MDP building has a new tenant. Some Comments right here on the SPI Blog have mentioned hearing that clubs were reopening.

So that's what we have.  Remember that these are just rumors; multi-sourced rumors but rumors nonetheless.  If there really is a budget for new costumes, why?  Are they needed for reopening the two clubs or are they needed for something temporary?  Maybe the costumes are needed so that Disney Hollywood Studios can run their Comedy Warehouse shows over the holidays again and possibly operate a Mannequins-themed nightly dance party there similar to elecTRONica/Mad Tea Party at DCA.  We just don't know.  But with rumors now spreading like wildfire we thought it best to publish what we've heard and invite your input.  Even if Disney is denying there are any such plans.

9 comments:

  1. I liked the assumption when you said: "possibly operate a Mannequins-themed nightly dance party there similar to electronica/Mad Tea Party at DCA"

    Even if that portion was only true, i would claimed that that good news, I wouldn’t mind seeing Comedy warehouse in Hollywood studios again.

    I look forward to the results and to hear more of splitsville as the months come closer to the holidays!!

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  2. Possibly some good news! We all miss our clubs...

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  3. Without a doubt, comedy club has been stripped of most of it's fixtures and unique props inside of it. Those props and items have been sold off. I don't see it reopening as a comedy club or with the same theme.

    Mannequins, who knows.

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  4. All this 'secret' stuff is so silly. This is an amusement park for crying out loud! Disney shot itself in the foot when they closed PI, it was probably the single largest mistake they ever made. They KNOW the best thing to do is reopen some clubs, afterall how can they really compete with City Walk, no matter how big they make DTD, if there are no clubs? The answer is...they can't! Enough time has passed, nothing else has worked, let us all stand on that amazing revolving dance floor once again!!!

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  5. most of the items in CW were from the archives I believe and most went back to the archives. I don't think it would be that difficult to recreate.

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  6. They've sold some of the various CW wall 'artifacts' on the Cast Auction site. They built CW once, they could do it again if they wanted to.

    And MDP is stripped of all lighting/sound equipment, but, again, it could be rebuilt if they wanted to.

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  7. If you're remembering Mannequins & Comedy Warehouse, lets not forget 8Trax.
    I hope this is true.

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  8. I'd love 8-trax to return, but for whatever reason, 8-trax has not been included in the rumors including the one I heard and provided to Bob. To be honest, I can not discern if this is the same old recycled information or if it's legit and the only way to tell if it's legit is if there is noticeable movement in the clubs to indicate reopening. Thus far, it's nada

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