PI Update: Island of Adventure!

Save Pleasure Island Blog took to the air yesterday with its exclusive SkyCam to give you this update of construction progress.  Let's begin here at the currently closed No. 4 Bridge from the West Side and follow the shore of Village Lake eastward and then return here to West End Plaza and cross again more inland.

We begin with the Adventurers Club / BET Soundstage complex.  Disney Springs concept art shows these buildings still in use albeit renovated.  Currently nothing seems to be happening inside either one of these clubs and tomorrow we'll post some close-ups to support that.

Next up eastbound is the Paradiso 37 restaurant. It remains operational and no changes are expected here.

Next up is the connection to the Pleasure Island pedestrian bypass causeway.  While the causeway is temporary, the connection to the Downtown Disney Water Taxi stop should remain here.  The empty lot adjacent this is where The Hangar restaurant is supposedly going. The lot seems awfully small though for that hanger-looking building pictured in concept art.

The outdoor entertainment amphitheater comes next, featuring those round cut-outs for palm trees.  This is roughly where Rock'n'Roll Beach Club once stood.

Finally, roughly where Motion and the Seed & Mulch area once stood, the Boat House restaurant continues to rapidly take shape.

OK, back to West End Plaza / Celebration Plaza where the No. 4 Bridge will bring guests over from the West Side when it reopens. We have this curious looking "turntable" taking shape. Remember long ago when early DS plans had the Adventurers Club becoming some kind of railroad-themed "cafeteria"?  And we have those "abandoned" High Line trestles just to the west of here. Could this be an abandoned railroad turntable that in previous history was used to turn train locomotives around?  Why not; it ain't a new revolving dance floor!

Moving east we have this new construction in an area that was partly Comedy Warehouse, partly Laffers Cantina and partly the Lombard Street hill.  Long ago the Blog posted a rumor that Mannequins was going to become an upscale steak house but subsequent rumors moved the steak house to the Comedy Warehouse location.  But this seems too small for even a Ponderosa. Note the two levels.

Next over another new structure, two+ stories in the front and three+ in the rear (the rear is at the Island's lower level).  This is where the Curl by Sammy Duval / Superstar Studios building previously stood.

8TRAX still stands with a new front area.  Construction permit says restaurant and maybe that's a front covered awning ala Orlando Ale House. Wouldn't mind some wings. If 8TRAX had to give its life for anything, I'd consider wings a draw, lol!

Concept art appears to show several retail shops in this triangular area adjacent Mannequins. The main pedestrian artery (aka Hill Street) passes through here.  Whatever goes in there would be where Apricot Lane most recently stood along with PI Live Bar at the corner.

Mannequins is supposed to become a restaurant.  Notice the gap between the Mannequins building and the new front retail complex.  This is a service corridor for FedEx, refuse disposal, etc and will connect to the retail shops' back doors, a side door to the 8TRAX "patio" as well to the old upstairs smoking area door of Mannequins which is still there.

The former home of Fuego by Sosa Cigars is currently an empty lot.

This is followed by new retail at the new turn.

And at the new turn, the former service court between Raglan Road and Portobello becomes the main pedestrian routing headed towards Fulton's, the No. 1 Bridge and the Marketplace. At least one retail outlet goes in here. Ironically, this cut-through predates Disney Springs, predates Hyperion Wharf and goes all the way back to original plans to demolish Motion to open this area up and close all the other clubs too!  In tomorrow's article, we'll give you "boots on the ground" views.