PI Update: Hindsight Is 20/20

This month in 2012 we linked to a rumor posted on a website called Disney Gossip that indicated Disney was bringing an adult entertainment district back to Downtown Disney. We critiqued it pretty harshly:

Could Disney be planning a new adult entertainment district for Downtown Disney?  Save Pleasure Island Blog roving reporter Thommy brought to our attention a post on the Disney Gossip website where the author has pieced together various internet forum posts and a lot of imagination for his theory that such a district is indeed coming.  

 There are several things problematic with the article.  First of all, the author says that Disney doesn't like all that money leaving property so they've decided that the best way to compete with Universal's CityWalk is to really compete with them.  But there is no explanation as to why Disney would have had to have had a major change of heart about nightlife.  We know Disney does not like money leaving their property every night; that's why PI was created to begin with.  But Disney wasn't naive when they made the decision to shut PI. They knew they would lose the club business to CityWalk and obviously were willing to let that happen. That posting does not say why they've changed their mind?

The next problem with the article is that supposedly the plan is for a two level entertainment complex. That's all great and all but we have to wonder how Disney would supposedly fill such a place with third party operated venues when they can't get even a single vendor interested in what is already there at Pleasure Island.  And what about Pleasure Island, a place that is already there and could easily accommodate night clubs with a minimum of expense compared to something entirely new?

Maybe Disney has finally noticed all the money leaving property each night, one rental car, one taxi and one bus load at a time. We know an expanded DTD is coming, we know a parking garage is in the future, we know an I-4 ramp to DTD is likely. Maybe the solution is indeed to put nightlife in a place separate from the shoppers.  Regardless, adult nightlife needs to return to Disney World asap and if that article is true, bring it on!  But the Blog has heard no rumors of such a thing, unfortunately. 

So here we are 7 years later. We now know that no adult entertainment district was ever built and nightlife has negligibly returned to what became Disney Springs. I do like that our posted rumors of an expansion, a parking garage and a ramp from I-4 did come true. We'll continue to monitor our Island.