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| Motion closed with all the other clubs on that fateful night in September, 2008. The idea to outsource everything to third party vendors had fallen apart by the time the clubs closed and in those dark winter months of 2008-2009, the Island became a ghost town at night. One idea to liven things up was to allow outside parties to rent Motion, Adventurers Club and BET Soundstage for private events. And one such event was a Gay Days DJ party on June 6, 2009. |
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| The only people who could enter were those who knew about it and were there specifically for it. Bushes blocked off the club and Disney Security chased off anyone who just wandered back not knowing about the event. The Blog covered that event, sadly my last event ever in any PI dance club! |
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| That was the only third party rental event I was aware of. Subsequent use of the club was by other Disney entities using Motion as meeting and banquet space. I was there early that night so not many guests had arrived. |
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| DJ Joanie was on the decks during my visit. DJ Manny Lehman (USA) would come on around midnight and I was told he put on a pretty crappy show! But the euphoria I experienced being inside one of the closed Pleasure Island dance clubs 9 months after the final night was incredible and gave me hope that Disney would see the folly of their decision and reopen some of them! |
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| Bartenders was stationed awaiting a crowd. My understanding at the time was that they hoped to sell 500 tickets and they sold around 350. |
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| Being a closed club with no cash registers, you had to purchase drink tickets from people such as Erin and then take the ticket over to a bartender to redeem. |
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| Of course Motion would eventually bite the dust, literally, and the Boathouse now stands in its place. |
I know there were a number of events at Adventurers Club post closure, and obviously Motion had a number of events, even if they weren't DJ-type events. But did anything ever take place at Soundstage? I don't recall any events if there were.
ReplyDeleteThis was the only DJ event at Motion that I was aware of. AC did have several events including two annual reunions in 2009 and 2010. I don't think Soundstage had any rentals; we were told at the time that there were some bad water leaks in there.
ReplyDeleteseams what you are told and the truth can and I bet are not the same.
ReplyDeleteHad some amazing nights in Motion, still one of my favourite nightclubs of all time, very sad that it's not with us anymore :(
ReplyDeleteBob, it's funny that they'd appear to rent out Soundstage knowing it had these issues (especially when 8-Trax, Mannequins and Beach Club were available...though I remember rumors of Beach Club being gutted before the other clubs shut down).
ReplyDeleteOf course, nothing about the closure or the few years that followed made any sense at all.
Beach Club was the first closed and I believe it was because they were having issues with the roof if I'm correct, so that would make sense if that was gutted out first.
ReplyDelete8-Trax and MDP were gutted almost immediately. They were swooping in as soon as the island was clear of guests that night.
ReplyDelete@Thommy
ReplyDeleteGutted except for the floor, you mean. ;)
I remember hearing that R&R was gutted shortly after it was closed and I *thought* I remember hearing that a lot of its lighting systems were installed at Motion. Which, of course, shows that Disney had little clue what it was doing in the months leading up to the announcement. I did not know, however, that Mannequins and 8-Trax were gutted that quickly. Doesn't make any sense, but none of it truly does.
And, aren't some of the lights from Mannequins over at the Epcot performance stage now?
ReplyDelete