Tuesday, October 12, 2021

Breaking News: The Groove & Red Coconut Club Are Not Reopening!

Several separate sources have informed Save Pleasure Island Blog that allegedly Universal CityWalk will not be reopening The Groove and Red Coconut Club. Both clubs closed early last year with the outbreak of Covid19. RCC had reopened earlier this year with no band and no dancing; yet it was dark again when we visited this past Friday night. The Groove had never reopened and we were wondering what was going on since clubs everywhere in town reopened long ago. But sources say they're not coming back and allegedly the stage in The Groove has already been split-apart with subs and lighting removed from the venue.

Back in 2014 the rumor-aggregator website Screamscape published a rumor that The Groove would be closing to use the space "for other projects". That never happened and indeed new lighting, sound and lasers were installed in the club. But now it appears CityWalk may be moving in a new direction amid separate rumors of them opening a shopping/club district over at their new Epic Universe theme park location off International Drive. Current rumors mention nothing about Bob Marley's, Pat O'Brien's or Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville but keep in mind that although there are certainly club aspects to each of them, they are also primarily restaurants. We'll keep you updated on this sad news.

5 comments:

DJMadManRay said...

Wow, this is sad news! Not as sad as PI, but still sad. Damn. Well, thanks for the info and thanks to Universal for all the good times!

KingBob said...

At least PI gave us 90-days notice.

Anonymous said...

I don't see how a comedy club would work.

You have Hard Rock right down the street there that books big name acts.. I don't see anyone with a decent name, wanting to do any less of a venue. As far as a "comedy warehouse" style ensemble, I don't see there being enough folks nightly who would go into it for 2 or 3 shows a night that would make the cost of the performers worth spending on.

zulemara said...

Well I give credit, they tried to capture the PI crowd with the 8-Trax nights and such. But

Given the increase in bookings for Universal thanks to Disney's customer hostile policies, it is kind of surprising. They are poised to take a lot of the local crowd and vacationers are booking more nights at Universal. Having a night club district with increased hotel stays seems like a good thing.

ultimately, they probably wanted out of the night club business with PI gone. This just gave them the excuse to do it.

KingBob said...

Anon at 8:55PM & Zulemara, I don't know what they're thinking. Perhaps they've seen the success Disney has had with restaurants at Disney Springs. CityWalk has added a few too the past few years and this gives them the potential for even more. Moving the beginning of free parking to 6PM has certainly been beneficial in grabbing some of the dinner crowd.
It would not surprise me to see them add a shopping/nightlife district over near their new theme park.