As we approach the 9-year anniversary of the
Pleasure Island clubs closing, it's interesting to read some of the
Blog articles we published late in 2008. Some of them pertained to
CityWalk's efforts to attract
Pleasure Island's homeless. Even the
Orlando Sentinel was fascinated with the idea that
Disney gave-up on nightlife and the impact that would have on Orlando's nightclub scene. Makes for a fascinating read even today:
Sentinel Link.
But after an initial flurry to capture the PI crowd, the opportunity presented to CW never took off. Three months post-PI's closure, I made these observations in a Blog article and then my current comments follow in red:
1. They need to follow-through on a
CityWalk Annual Pass to replace our
free passes once they expire at the end of March. The cost should be
comparable to what
PI charged for their AP. Hard to believe they've
never offered one in the past. But no one I know is going to pay
$11.95+tax every weekend for
CityWalk. Sure
PI charged $24 but that was
tourist money; all of us locals had AP's for $55/year and we were the
bread & butter that supported the place during the
non-tourist/non-convention seasons.
It's 9 years later and CityWalk never did end-up offering an annual pass for locals.
2. I've met many former
PI
patrons out at the
CityWalk clubs over the past 3 months but few are
consistently there and it's definitely begun to wane. I don't know
where everyone has drifted to but
CityWalk is not holding on to what
they gained.
I see a few PI people at Atlantic Dance, I see a few PI people at CityWalk, I see a few PI people downtown. But overall, PI people scattered and were rarely seen again!
3.
CityWalk has made close to no effort to
capture our hearts
by even remotely replicating any of the things that made
Pleasure
Island unique. Hip hop clubs are a dime a dozen in this town (
still are) and that
is basically what
The Groove has become over the past few years.
Red
Coconut Club is interesting but most of the music played is exactly the
same as what you hear in
TG. So in that regard both
The Groove
and
RCC are good replacements for
PI's Motion. But the 3 most popular
venues at PI....the ones whose closure has stirred the most
emotions....are
Adventurers Club, 8TRAX and
Mannequins. I don't think
AC can be legally replicated but the music of
8TRAX and
Mannequins can
be yet there has been no effort to do so.
Nine years later this story remains the same. With electronic dance music surging right now you'd think there would be more of it played at The Groove but there isn't. Back in 2013/2014 Electromagic took over and did occasionally bring in some out-of-town DJ's to play EDM. I thought the nights were successful but they reverted back. Even the annual Sunday night of Labor Day weekend (which was always a huge EDM night) was cancelled.
Since this article was published in 2008 we lost Latin Quarter but otherwise the club mix has remained the same. Many technical upgrades have of course been added at the CityWalk clubs but the music played hasn't. I guess it is what it is.
