PI Update: First To Close, Second To Be Demolished

Opened as XZFR Rockin' Rollerdrome in 1998, Disney quickly learned that alcohol and roller skating don't mix well and by 1990 it was turned into Rock'N'Roll Beach Club. The beach-themed club was home to rock-n-roll on the Island with live Rock bands playing and people dancing.

Home to this outdoor lifestyle mural, we didn't think that much about it when they announced the club was closing permanently on February 2, 2008. Little did we know that in June of the same year, Disney would announce the closing of ALL the Pleasure Island clubs.

In the end, RRBC was the first club to close but the second to be demolished following Motion. Why was it closed first?  At the time, sources said it's likely at that juncture that it had not yet been decided that all the clubs would be closed. Nonetheless, Downtown Disney management was hell bent on outsourcing as much as they could and we were told back then that they allegedly put RRBC up for lease and the lease was snapped-up almost immediately. Impressed about how easily it could be done, management thought they could do the same with all the other club buildings too so they announced the entire Island was closing. But a worsening economy at the time led to whatever was going into the RRBC space to back out and there were no takers on the rest of clubs either. This was followed by 7-8 years of nothing on our beloved Island.