This Weekend In Techno Town

It's a Party Weekend!

THU   01FEB     ICE BAR ORLANDO     Megacon Afterparty: DJ TBA

FRI     02FEB     CLUB 3NINE     Megacon Afterparty: DJ Infinite (USA)

FRI     02FEB     VANGUARD     DJ Pauly D (USA)

FRI     02FEB     CELINE     DJ Rafa Barrios (E) 

FRI     02FEB     MONKEY BAR     DJ Kris Kokopeli (USA) 

SAT    03FEB     IRON COW     Bad Company UK (GB) & Prolix (GB)

SAT    03FEB     ROSEN CENTER     Megacon Afterparty: DJ Jimmy Joslin (USA)

SAT    03FEB     ARENA ART BAR     DJ Joel Gray & Amber Jane (USA)

SAT    03FEB     VANGUARD     DJ AC Slater (USA)     

SAT    03FEB     ELIXIR BAR     DJ Tony Guerra (YV/USA)

SUN   04FEB     ELIXIR BAR     DJ Nala (USA)

CW Update: Epic Universe?

Universal Orlando Resort released many details this morning about it's Universal Epic Universe theme park which is to open next year. Read about it here. Noticeably absent was any mention as to whether there will be a nightclub district built there similar to CityWalk at its current Universal campus. Originally there were rumors that there would be a shopping/club complex adjacent the new park but without the parking issue that plagues the current set-up. But we've not heard anything about that recently but we have heard rumors about The Groove reopening in the existing complex, either in its prior spot which now houses an escape room or in an adjacent currently-empty spot. We'll keep you updated if we hear anything. And look for an Epic Universe preview center to open at the existing CityWalk later in 2024.

 

PI Update: STK Update

Last Monday on Save Pleasure Island we reported a rumor that STK had layed-off their DJ's and instead switched to a pre-recorded music track. We said we would attempt to investigate the rumor. We have and sources tell us that the layoffs actually happened this past summer but they continue to employ a reduced number of DJ's that play only on Friday and Saturday nights during dining hours. So there you have it.

 

Club Reports: Shipwrecked Music Festival, Centro Cantina, The Castle (Tampa)

Bad girls received what they had coming to them last night at The Castle in the Ybor City section of Tampa. We have Saturday night club pics right here.

 

Club Reports: Swiftie Dance Party @ The Beacham, Wall Street Plaza, Aero Bar, Elixir Bar

Our Friday night in downtown Orlando included the Swiftie dance party ft. Taylor Swift (USA). And there was so much more too. Pictures are on Orlando Entertainment News here.

Friday Funny

PI Update: Steak At STK

This is the $19.99 steak special at STK. It's served during their happy hour. I think it came with truffle fries but that's not something I eat. The steak was very tender and delicious but it was gone in 4-5 bites. To see all their steak prices, take a look here. My favorite steak in Disney Springs is over at Morimoto.

 

This Weekend In Techno Town

Weather is warming up so most of us hermits should be back out again!

FRI     26JAN     ELIXIR BAR     DJ KC Lights (GB)

FRI     26JAN     CUBAN CLUB     Shipwrecked Music Festival Day 1 (Tampa)

FRI     26JAN     IRON COW     Torque: DJ Whiney (GB)

SAT    27JAN     CUBAN CLUB     Shipwrecked Music Festival Day 2 (Tampa)      

SAT    27JAN     IRON COW     DJ X (USA)

SAT    27JAN     ATLANTIC DANCE HALL     DJ Mynd (USA) 

SUN   28JAN     GRAPE & GRAIN     DJ Wilson Santos (USA)

SUN   28JAN     ELIXIR BAR     DJ duo Cat 'N Dogz (PL)

DS Update: Pop Up Shop In a Food Truck

This curious food truck-style popup shop is located in Disney Springs West Side between the foot of the No. 5 Bridge and the Aerophile balloon ride ticket booth building.They're selling jewelry.

 

PI Update: DJ's Axed At STK

When STK opened in May, 2016, they did what all the other STK restaurants across the country/world did. They offered dining with live DJ's playing during prime dinner hours. Indeed, the STK website reads, "Every venue has a DJ to create an infectious, high-energy atmosphere and the sleek environment is designed to encourage guests to interact and mingle."

But sources tell Save Pleasure Island Blog that all the DJ's have been dismissed and they're no longer offering live DJ's, just a prerecorded music track. STK at Disney Springs has always been a different kind of animal for the company. Most other locations are located in swanky business districts of their respective cities or in casinos where people willingly part with their money. The Disney Springs location is filled with families walking around with their World of Disney and LEGO shopping bags. Not as many people want to part with their hard-earned dollars, or can afford to. We recently tried out their $10 steak specials only to learn you're getting tiny slivers of beef. We've not been able to independently verify this rumor but we will as soon as possible. We'll see how this works for them.

Club Reports: Terrace @ Norman’s, Bond Room @ London House, RockPit Brewing

Running into John Brown (USA) of FOX35 TV and DJ Chino (USA) of Fly 103.1 FM  at the club with a $100 cover charge. Saturday night club pics are on Orlando Entertainment News here.

Club Reports: Fredster’s, Whole Enchilada (Suburbia)

Just when you think you've met every DJ in town, you meet another one, DJ Rage (USA). Friday night pics are on Orlando Entertainment News here.

 

Friday Funny

Gotta have the good stuff.

PI Update: Gideon's Hot, Sprinkles Not

This was the scene on a recent morning at Gideon's Bakehouse, located at The Hub on Pleasure Island. The line stretched down to approximately where the entrance to Mannequins used to stand and in the past we've seen it stretch around Mannequins to nearly 8TRAX.

The popularity of Gideon's comes at the expense of Sprinkles Cupcakes where at the same time as the first picture, no one was congregating at either the entrance or the cupcake ATM.

 

This is a far cry from pre-Gideon's just a couple years ago!

This Weekend In Techno Town

As we move into the third weekend of January, things are still a bit slow:

THU   18JAN     VANGUARD     DJ Sage Armstrong (USA) 

THU   18JAN     McQUEENS     DJ Matthias (USA)

FRI     19JAN     CELINE     DJ duo Miguelle & Tons (YV/USA)

SAT    20JAN     ELIXIR BAR     DJ Bakke (CO/USA)

SAT    20JAN     ROCKPIT BREWING     DJ Jimi The Genius (USA)

SAT    20JAN     VANGUARD     DJ Valentino Khan (USA)

SUN   21JAN     ELIXIR BAR     DJ Dimmish (I)

PI Update: No More Shaves Or Haircuts

It appears that the Art of Shaving store on Pleasure Island has closed. The place looked empty and a sign on the door read "Please Pardon Our Appearance, Something New Is Coming Soon". We did not notice the store elsewhere in the complex and if it simply moved to a new location, you'd think the sign would indicate that.

 

You may recall that Art of Shaving was in that 4-pack of stores on Hill Street that opened on the Island after the initial renovations. We believe Apex by Sunglass Hut and Sound Lion were the first two stores to open and AOS was approximately third. The front of 8TRAX was shaved-off to create room for the 4-pack and the original Curl by Sammy Duval stood roughly in this area too. We believe AOS opened in 2015 so it did last at least 8 years! Because so many vacationers want shaving supplies.

DS Update: Yet Another Aerophile Price Increase!

When the Aerophile helium balloon ride first opened in 2009, the adult price was just $16 including tax for a total of $16.00.

In 2012 they raised the price to $18 including tax for a total of $18.00.

We then had a period of price stability with the next price increase not happening until 2018 with the price moving to $20 including tax for a total of $20.00.

In 2022 they raised the price to $25 but they also no longer included sales tax. So it wasn't just a $5 increase, adding tax took the price up to about $26.63.

And now, yet another huge price increase to $29.99 plus tax for a total of about $31.94. That's a 20% price increase following the 25% price increase two years ago. We know we're in inflationary times but the national inflation rate is down to about 3%. To jack-up rates by 20% is outrageous in our opinion. The only good news in this is that the prices are roundtrip.

Concert Report: LALALAND (Wall Street Plaza)

DJ Green Velvet (USA) brought his "LALALAND" show to Orlando last night and it was awesome! Orlando Entertainment News was there and you can see the pictures here.

Club Reports: Debonair, Monkey Bar, The Robinson

DJ AT (USA) was in the perch at new downtown venue Debonair which our sister website Orlando Entertainment News checked-out last night. You can also check it out, here.

Friday Funny

DS Update: A Look At Summer House

We finally managed to get a picture of the front of new restaurant Summer House On The Lake in Disney Springs West Side. There is a menu board out front but the right half is all about specialty drinks and wines, meaning only the left half is about food offerings. As a meat and potatoes kind of person, it's definitely not my kind of place.

The decor is modern but with a 60's Retro kind of vibe.

This Weekend In Techno Town

Activity in the new year is slowly picking up:

THU   11JAN     ELIXIR BAR     DJ duo Truth x Lies (USA)

FRI     12JAN     CELINE     DJ duo Boombox Cartel (USA)

SAT    13JAN     WALL ST PLAZA     DJ Green Velvet (USA) with Cajmere (USA)

SAT    13JAN     IRON OAK POST (Melbourne)  Vortex: DJ Medley

SAT    13JAN     VANGUARD     DJ Snakehips (GB)

SUN   14JAN     TACO KAT     DJ Carlos Mendoza (USA)

 

 

 

DS Update: Anniversary Photo Op

Even though Walt Disney World was 50 years old last year, the Walt Disney Company was 100 years old this past October and there is this photo-op spot as pictured above not far from the escalators at the Orange Garage.

 

PI Update: Uggs Were Everywhere!

In January, 2011, Uggs were everywhere! Worn by the female cheerleaders from the University of Minnesota football team who were in town for a bowl game. They were spotted here at the Lily Pad on  beautiful Pleasure Island.

 

DS Update: Alex & Ani Gone

Alex & Ani has permanently closed. It used to be located on the main pedestrian thoroughfare in Disney Springs Town Center but this past summer it had been relocated to this spot above where Melissa Shoes had operated. Kind of a back alley location where few people wander, that was a kiss of death although sources say the company is closing most of their physical stores so perhaps the move here was just to wait-out for its lease to expire.

 

Club Reports: Chillers, Arena Art Bar, Elixir Bar, Barbarella

Most of us remember it as Suite B Lounge/Peek Downtown but it has reopened as The Arena Art Bar. Last night we found DJ Kris Kokopeli (USA) there playing House. Come check it out on sister website Orlando Entertainment News here.

 

Club Reports: Morse Code, West End Trading Co., Manikins (North Suburbia)

Last night our sister website Orlando Entertainment News wandered up into Orlando's northern suburbs and at one of the stops at a club called Manikins (no relation) was DJ Paul Vaine (USA) of Visage fame. You can find all of the Friday night pictures here.

 

Friday Funny

PI Update: The Last Club Sign

As you know, Pleasure Island clubs closed in September, 2008. Following the final night, signs with club names were removed from their buildings or painted over. For the most part. A few signs remained. But management discovered over the coming years apparently that they couldn't lease-out any of the club spaces so in September, 2011, during an event we called the Pleasure Island Putsch, what few signs remained were finally removed and even the remains of 8TRAX, still in its groovy 70's paint scheme, was painted-over in favor of a drab color scheme. Curiously, while every sign was finally removed during the Putsch, the one pictured above remained. Yes, the Soundstage Club sign remained until June, 2015 when it came down along with the nightclub building itself.  Note: The contract with Black Entertainment Television had expired prior to PI closing so the BET logo in the upper left corner of the club logo had already been removed.

 

 

This Weekend In Techno Town

This is about as dead as we've ever seen things:

THU   04JAN     McQUEENS     DJ Pacho Berrocal (USA)

FRI     05JAN     CELINE     DJ Victor Calderone (USA)

SAT    06JAN     ELIXIR BAR     DJ Oscar G (USA) 

Club Report: NYE At CityWalk

DJ Josh Lawrence (USA) playing the main stage at Universal CityWalk has posted pics of the view from the booth on NYE. There were thousands down there plus hundreds more behind him up on the CityWalk Promenade area. Pretty amazing!

Concert Report: DEDR 25th Anniversary NYE Party (Iron Cow)

Back in the days following the closure of Pleasure Island, Save Pleasure Island Blog was created to inform you about other dance music options around town. During those early years, we discovered the NLP DJ group which played monthly at Suite B Lounge and monthly at Vixen Bar. It's been years since they played together but they did last night at Iron Cow. Check out the NYE Party pics here.