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| News from beautiful Pleasure Island that you won't find in the Sentinel! |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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! |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| A SkyCam look at the first construction staging area, located on the Island where Rock'n'Roll Beach Club and Motion used to stand. |
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| 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! |
And, before 8Trax was the Cage (whose sign was in the Comedy Warehouse for years), it was Videopolis, home to lots of monitors playing music videos.... am I showing my age? Lol..
ReplyDeletebefore the cage it was called Videopolis East.
ReplyDeleteYes, that was it. But if my "old timer" memory (Thanks Bob) is correct, it was only a short time before it became The Cage..
ReplyDeleteI was in Orlando the weekend before last for a 3 day WDW weekend w/ my best friend I met 12 years ago when he was CP and I was a part time cast member. I made my 2nd visit to PI since closing night on June 30th. I wanted to see the demolition walls for myself. From the outside, I was able to get some photos of inside Mannequins. There are still mannequins hanging on the walls!
ReplyDeleteThe wall near the Characters in Flight entrance will be for the walkway bridge. It will go from the balloon to Paradiso 37. It should move the foot traffic away from the old PI walkthrough where construction will be heaviest.
ReplyDeleteHi Paul, that's very interesting about Mannequins. Please send them to King Bob so he can post them. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Ray.
ReplyDeleteBrian, you are correct. Videopolis was the name and it did not last long before becoming Cage.
Paul, please send me some pics if you can. And readers, I can confirm that you can see 1-2 mannequins hanging in the corner tower when you peer inside from Mannequins upstairs door. Easier to see at night when it's dark outside and still lit-up inside.
Kat, thanks for the info.
YES Paul lets SEE these pics? and don't forget to let us see the DATE on the pic(s)! not to CLAIM it! even then it can still be taken back when?
ReplyDeleteOH there is a way to make it more believable. (think)
What the heck is that weird grid over by Cirq? I saw them digging it up a few weeks ago and from the photo here it looks to be paved. Certainly that isn't part of the garage???
ReplyDeleteFood trucks?
ReplyDeleteAnon at 1:59am, you must not live in Orlando because if you did, you could just go over to Mannequins yourself, look inside and see 1-2 mannequins hanging there. I was just there last week and could see them still there. But it was daytime so the pics did not work, which doesn't really matter because you'd think they were fakes anyway. Go at night, the inside is partly lit, and see them for yourself!
ReplyDeleteJeff, I walked the sidewalk adjacent to the construction fence but never noticed that grid area. Don't know what that is. An area for food trucks? Well, it would be a poor area for foot traffic.
Bob, this is not the same anonymous that you were talking to about the mannequins still being visible but does the fact that they are still there give you any encouragement as to Mannequins reopening?
ReplyDeleteAt one time it did give me hope but it doesn't anymore. I think that in these past 5 years if anyone was willing to lease the space for whatever, the place would have been converted to whatever. But until there was a lease for the place, Disney simply didn't have a reason to bother taking them down. (The lights and sound systems were removed only because they could be used elsewhere.)
ReplyDeleteDuring my recent visit to 8TRAX, which was only being used for merchandise storage, the place also looked exactly as it did the night it closed. Lights and sound equipment removed and a few more valuable memorabilia items removed but otherwise largely unchanged.
ok then lets see pics of them then? why are there NO pics? again believable proof! again (THINK)
ReplyDeleteI am offering you a way to give dang near 100% way to prove it!?
OH I forgot WHERE are the so called pics that was taken inside Mannequins?
ReplyDelete