PI Update: Pleasure Island Then And Now

Pleasure Island (PI) was a nightclub district located within Downtown Disney. Designed by Disney Imagineers, the concept came from then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner who watched so many guests leave Disney property every night to go to Orlando's downtown nightclub district, Church Street Station. Like CSS, it would copy their formula that paying for one ticket would get you into multiple clubs. The complex opened in 1989 and closed in 2008. Pleasure Island consisted of 5 dance clubs and 2 comedy clubs.

Pleasure Island's main dance club and largest was Mannequins Dance Palace. They played mostly electronic dance music and EDM remixes of pop tunes. It was mostly-famous for it's large, revolving dance floor. The lighting was amazing too.

 

When PI closed in 2008, Mannequins survived the wrecking ball and reopened years later as Morimoto Asia restaurant. In 2017, we visited the inside to compare Mannequins to Morimoto. LINK

Adjacent Mannequins was 8TRAX. It opened as a 70's Disco club but in later years added 80's hits. The decor inside was purely colorful 70's-era dance floors and furniture.. 

Attached to Mannequins, 8TRAX too survived the wrecking ball. You can still see the corrugated metal walls, especially if you're walking behind the building. For the most part, the former club serves as the kitchen for Morimto. That round building pictured, which used to contain a circular staircase that led up to the DJ booth, now has traditional stairs within and is used by kitchen staff only or as an emergency exit. 

Rock'N'Roll Beach Club was, as the name would indicate, Pleasure Island's Rock club. Live bands would play nightly. It was the first club to shutter, closing in early 2008. That would become a bad omen for the rest of the PI complex.

RRBC was demolished as Downtown Disney converted to the Disney Springs concept. Jock Lindsay's Hangar Bar, themed for Indiana Jones, would be constructed on the spot.

BET Soundstage Club (later just Soundstage Club) occupied a spot at one end of the Island. It was Pleasure Island's Hip Hop, Soul, and Funk club. Extremely popular in early years, it became less popular in later years as their crowd migrated to club Motion.

It was razed and replaced with Maria & Enzo's, an Italian restaurant.

Motion was a late-comer to the PI scene, replacing a restaurant. It was a Top 40 club for the most part. During the late 90's to late 00's, much of  American Top 40 hits were Hip Hop and Rap which got played here. That is why so many BET Soundstage regulars migrated to Motion. "Cupid Shuffle" at midnight!

Motion was razed too and replaced with The Boathouse restaurant.

And now on to the two comedy clubs. The first was called Comedy Warehouse and it featured mostly improv comedy.

It was torn down and replaced with STK steak house.

Lastly, there was Adventurers Club. It was styled after a private club for world travelers and explorers and was set in 1937 and was loosely related to Jungle Cruise in Disney's Magic Kingdom. This place is difficult to put into words but YouTube has many videos. Congaloosh!

AC was heavily renovated to become The Edison Orlando, primarily a restaurant and bar but with evening floor shows and sometimes even a DJ and dance floor. Step inside and anyone familiar with Adventures Club will recognize part of the past. And that's the story of Pleasure Island.