PI Update: Splitsville Is Coming.....Soon!

The story of the Virgin Megastore building has been a sad one. Once a great media store and part of a worldwide media chain, it shut down in 2009.  The late-2008 closure of the clubs on Pleasure Island coupled with the store closing created a lot of dark space across Downtown Disney.  The June announcement that the building would be turned into the Princes Diana Museum created a huge amount ostracism.  No disrespect intended to Princess Di, but this had absolutely nothing to do with Disney.  It was fortunately a short lease and it ended at the conclusion of November, 2009.

What came next wasn't much better though.  The building became the temporary home of RideMakerZ.  Occupying just a small portion of the bottom floor, the store sold model race cars.  We give it credit for creating a space where boys might actually find something of interest.  It has since relocated to a much-smaller space at the rear of Team Mickey in Downtown Disney Marketplace.  With the move, we knew something else must finally be coming to the Virgin space.

The announcement that the building would be the future home of Splitsville Luxury Lanes caught everyone by surprise since there had been a previous announcement that Disney's Wide World of Sports would soon be home to a 100-lane competition bowling alley.  Nonetheless, nearly all the vibe about Splitsville has been positive!

And this upper level lounge is part of what has so many people excited.  The advertising has stated "Live Music" which could be bands but more likely DJ-driven music.  So that has piqued the interest of many who have little interest in bowling on the 30-lanes that are coming but instead are looking for nightlife in a post PI-era!

 A peek in the gap shows a brick-look floor with ceiling tiles and countertops pending.

The already turned-on Brunswick monitors tell you that the bowling lanes are installed!  Some workers are putting in 16-hour days to meet the imposed deadline: "Opening Fall, 2012".  The last day of Fall is December 20th.  Including today, they've got 24 days.

I thought this was a flat sign but closer inspection shows that it's a 3D neon-lighted BOWL sign which will beckon those in the DTD parking lot.  This is getting exciting!