Club Reports: Suite B, Senso, I-Bar, Antigua

I try to get to downtown Orlando at least once per month so it was time again to check out some clubs not previously visited plus some old favorites. One on my list for a long time was Suite B Lounge, a club with a Central Blvd. address but the entrance is around the corner on Magnolia Ave. next to where Cairo used to be. No cover charge, the club consists of one moderately-sized room with a bar on one side, the DJ booth on the opposite side and a large dance floor in the middle. A variety of music is played throughout the week but Saturday nights are House nights. There was only about a dozen patrons during my visit and no one was dancing. The drinks are strong though; the music a very hard House with a good beat but nothing I recognized.


Located where Zinc Bar used to be, Senso is a restaurant during the early evening and evolves into a beautiful upscale dance club later on. Cover is $10 but that does not prevent the place from getting packed! The club is long and narrow and spills out onto the sidewalk in front. The dance floor is aft and gets crowded. I saw DJ Ferry Corsten at Zinc a couple years ago and the venue remains true to its Dance/House roots, playing more familiar music. Dress up for this place.



Independent Bar wasn't quite as gothy or smoky last night as it sometimes is but it was very full and they remain open until nearly 3am. The music on Saturday nights is Old Wave with the videos displayed on monitors around the club. Admission is free until 11pm so it pays to come early, get your wristband and then return later once it's more crowded.



Antigua on Saturday nights is pretty legendary but it didn't get anywhere near as crowded last night as it sometimes does. It was full, just not packed. Admission is $5 before 11pm and drinks are free till 11 as well as long as you settle for the rot-gut well drinks. DJ Nova was nowhere to be seen last night but his replacement was playing the same mix of Top 40 and Mashups. He might have been playing the same "tape" as far as I could tell.

Mannequins Flashback

Continuing my series of sharing favorite songs from Mannequins, Toni Braxton's Hit The Freeway was a song from 2006 which was part of a growing trend back then. Mannequins was famous for techno music including House and Trance. But the end of the 90's saw the growing movement of Hip Hop taking over Techno in popularity among the masses. By the mid-part of this decade we saw mainstream techno DJ's remixing hip hop into music with faster House beats as part of a growing genre called Dance music. This song is a great example because this H2Q remix sounds nothing like its original Hip Hop edition. Mannequins incorporated a lot of these hip hop dance remixes during the latter years. While many House music purists despised this, this kept Mannequins relevant and it's a reality of the dance music scene today.

Club Report: CityWalk Thursday Nights

It's been a little while since I reported on Thursday night activities at CityWalk. Now that the tourist season has ended, how are the clubs doing on Thursdays? Pretty darn good! It was another 80's Night at The Groove featuring former 8TRAX DJ Doc Wells. It was a little light early on but by 11:30pm the club including the dance floor was pretty full, as you can see above. A nice feature of 80's Night is the wide span of ages of the patrons. Everyone knows and loves these songs and they're successfully drawing on Thursday nights. The $2 Blueberry Pop Tart shots are quite the draw too!

Latin Quarter also began the evening rather empty but over a 15-minute period around 11pm the place moved to crowded status, dancing to Latin rhythms and some House spun by DJ Leony. There is some serious eye candy in this place! Ladies get in free and drink free on Thursdays; Guys with hospitality industry identification can also get in free.

No photo from over at Red Coconut Club but the crowd was more moderate in size during both of my visits. The American tourist season may be over but the British tourist season is still in effect and there was a large number of Brits on hand.

Are These Restaurants Coming to PI?

TM All logos are Trademarks of Schussler Creative, Inc. and are used as part of this news story. Fair use claimed.
Back in May of 2008 there was a little get-together up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Actually it wasn't all that little; local police were on hand to direct traffic around the party. The party was hosted by Steve Schussler, a man of ideas if there ever was one. His job that weekend was to pitch restaurant concepts. And who were among those attending and listening? Well, Barry Carlson was there. Then Downtown Disney VP Kevin Lansberry was there. And you know who else? None other than our new DTD VP Keith Bradford. And boy did they listen. A month later the bombshell press release was issued: Pleasure Island clubs to close forever, to be replaced with exciting new shops and restaurants.

You see those logos above? Some of these concepts might be the exciting new restaurants promised for Pleasure Island. I don't know that they are, I'm just telling you about this party.
But maybe Adventurers Club is being replaced with Hot Dog Hall of Fame. What could be more timely than the Sorcerer's Kitchen: The School of Wizardly Magic and Food? And how about a restaurant where it's Winter all the time? The website of Schussler Creative, Inc. can give you more details about these concepts. http://www.schusslercreative.com/concepts.html

More PI Rumors

After a rumor dry spell that lasted across most of summer, the rumor mill really went into high gear at the beginning of August and hasn't let up. Let me summarize and then give you the latest:

In early August sources were talking about Motion coming down to allow a direct pathway from Disney Marketplace directly into and across PI to the West Side. The Orlando Sentinel reported that Adventurers Club artifacts were being shipped to Hong Kong Disneyland.

In mid-August rumors had all the waterfront club buildings being demolished meaning not only Motion but also RRBC and Adventurers Club/Soundstage. Within a week though someone said they heard that 2 clubs were going to reopen and that started a whole volley of others hearing the same thing and others flat-out denying the possibility. Speculation was that if 2 clubs were reopening but the waterfront buildings were coming down, that meant 8TRAX and Mannequins were the two coming back!

Over Labor Day weekend I ran into someone who supposedly personally knew the person that bought the contracts to run 3 clubs on Pleasure Island. I didn't think to ask which 3 clubs but 3 was the number.

So the latest rumors heard this past weekend, not yet posted by me, again refers to 3 clubs reopening. The most specific was Adventurers Club reopening no later than January 1st. The other 2 that are supposed to reopen (timeframe not mentioned) are Motion and Soundstage. Someone is supposedly interested in reopening Mannequins as a restaurant during the day and a club at night but Disney is balking because it would compete with something similar at EPCOT. In the 9/11/09 comments section an Anonymous poster commented that Soundstage was stripped yesterday (Monday) of equipment. So perhaps the club is not reopening and is to be demolished soon. On the other hand, Disney would have to remove its equipment if a 3rd party operator was taking over and reopening it with their own equipment.

All very interesting, all just rumors! I don't make 'em up, I just report them.

Mannequins Flashback

In less than 2 weeks it will be the one year anniversary of the closure of Pleasure Island clubs. Blog reporters will be out covering all local events that weekend. Stay tuned for details.

My all-time favorite song played at Mannequins during the years I attended was this song by the Belgian (Flemish) duo Milk Inc. called Walk on Water. DJ Peapod always played the long version; unfortunately this is just the short version below. Classic trance with vocals, it had the build-up which always led to a CO2 spraydown! Long after the song was popular I'd continue to hound him to play it and every once in awhile he'd surprise me and put it on. I don't think this made it to the Final Night roster but it was so crazy in there, maybe it did.

Last Night at Atlantic Dance

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I've always commented about how Atlantic Dance Hall is feast or famine when it comes to attendance. Well last night it was feast....a really big feast....the largest crowd I've ever seen there! I'm told there was a heart convention in town and also that a "party bus" dropped off 75 people. There was easily 400 in the club and that sure makes it more fun! Pictured in the fourth picture above are Mannequins regulars Gary and Mark on both ends with Friday night Atlantic Dance DJ Tony in the middle. Tony said Friday night was also crowded although not quite as many as Saturday night. Format is Top 40 and whatever anyone requests which runs the gamut from 70's, 80's and Dance.

D23

Jay Rasulo now speaking as of 2:15pm ET.
1. Fantasyland at WDW to nearly double in size by 2013. Largest expansion in Magic Kingdom history. WOW, clearly Disney's response to Harry Potter Land at Islands of Adventure! Overview: http://bit.ly/5JMVN
2. Dumbo The Flying Elephant ride to be completely re-imagined. Image shows clowns; carnival style booths ala CityWalk. http://bit.ly/Ka5dP
3. The Little Mermaid will be a new attraction in Fantasyland! http://bit.ly/Zt8bd
4. More princess stories; meet your favorite in their storybook world castle, cottage or chateau. Villains from the films will be incorporated to try to appeal to boys, per the Orlando Sentinel.
5. Star Tours II will be a 3-D version to debut at Disney Hollywood Studios in 2011. Guests will join a high speed pod race! See YouTube video below.
6. Dine in one of three enchanted rooms in The Beast's castle at a restaurant to be called Be Our Guest.
7. Meet Tinker Bell and her friends in the magical world of Pixie Hollow. Mickey's Toontown Fair will be demolished to accomplish this.
END. Nothing about Downtown Disney or Pleasure Island.

Mannequins Flashback

This next song from the Final Night at Mannequins is the one that everyone has to remember because it's the last song ever played there: Everybody's Free (To Feel Good) by Rozalla. You would think that the entire night was planned out and to a large extent it was but I'm told this song was not planned at all. You'll recall that on the previous night (Friday) when the last song of the evening was played they quickly turned on the lights and covered all the equipment. Despite the crowd, there was no encore. Such was the plan for Final Night too. The last song played had something to do with "Silence" and that was to be it. But the crowd refused to move! The crowd demanded more! Not a sole was leaving. After about 10 minutes the staff in the booth scrambled to find an encore song to play. Everybody's Free was played and it remains the song that defines our post-PI life. It's all up to us to find what makes us happy. It was close to 2:30am before the music ended and the club emptied out one last time. I'm told PI management chastised the booth staff for running late!

PI Rumor Update

The D23 Convention is in progress in Anaheim, California and so far there have been no announcements pertaining to any of the Florida theme parks, Downtown Disney or Pleasure Island. Jay Rasulo has a session on Saturday which many are waiting for with anticipation that there will be announcements about new additions to the Florida parks. Many are hoping that Disney's "bold new vision" for DTD and PI will be announced as well.

Since there is that possibility, I wanted to share in advance the latest rumors I came across last weekend that I've alluded to here on the Blog. The first rumor is the negative/adverse one. As you know, many rumors have come and gone about the fate of the various club buildings on the island. They've ranged from club reopenings to compete demolition. But the Mannequins /8TRAX building is always left out. A PI employee told me the building is "off limits". Why can't it be torn down? The source tells me that the power grid to the entire island is located inside the building on the 2nd/3rd floors. Someone on a Disney bulletin board confirmed that such a power grid exists and it's located behind the stage. Supposedly if they shut this down the entire island would be without electricity for weeks before it could be reestablished. Obviously that can't happen. So why not simply reopen the clubs there? Well supposedly because the building is 20-yrs old it is no longer up to code and they would have to do serious renovations in order to bring it back. I questioned the source about this because the city of Lake Buena Vista is its own entity controlled by the Reedy Creek Improvement District which is Disney itself. Source said there are some things that are controlled by government outside the District such as water & sewage, electricity, etc. So supposedly THAT is why Mannequins/8TRAX can't reopen yet they can't tear it down either. I don't buy the latter part. I think it could be brought to code and reopened. Source also said that when RRBC closed earlier in 2008 before the recession hit, the outsource contract on it sold almost immediately. Disney saw how quickly that happened so they reasoned they could do that with all the clubs so they arranged for all the clubs to close. Unfortunately the recession really kicked-in and by late 2008 there were no takers, the deals that were in the works collapsed (including RRBC) and they were left with no options.

Now the positive news. A couple days later I ran into another source who said he/she personally knew the person who bought the contracts to operate 3 clubs on the island! And you would see some reopening activity by October! I have no reason to doubt this person but I doubt nonetheless!

So that's what I've picked up on this past week. Anything announced tomorrow at D23 trumps this information. I can't stress enough: THESE ARE JUST RUMORS!

Fargo

Greetings from Fargo, North Dakota, surely the far end of the earth. No news to post just yet; still working on trying to confirm the latest PI rumors. One set of rumors is bad news; another set is good news. Once back in O-town I'll update the Blog. Thursday Update: I've returned to beautiful Orlando but no updates to post just yet. I'm still sniffing around.

Mannequins Flashback

As the 1-year anniversary of the closure of Pleasure Island approaches, I will be posting some of my favorite songs from the Final Night as well as some photos from that night. I'll be using both my pics as well as some sent in by Blog readers. This first song was one that haunted me for a couple months after the closure until someone in my office found it for me. Thanks, Nicole! This is from dance music producers Agnelli & Nelson titled Everyday, obviously filmed on Ibiza.

If you have any pictures you took that you'd like to see posted or favorite songs from Final Night, feel free to e-mail me at: kingbobofthenorth@gmail.com

PI Update

Everyone sees the Pleasure island sign as you come in over the bridges but this is what the sign says as you depart. Funny I never noticed it before. Kind of ironic, huh?


I'm happy to report that the Mannequins elevator has made it to the 2nd floor. It's been stuck on the 3rd floor since the club closed. Supposedly Mannequins will reopen when the elevator gets to the 1st floor.


Rumor has it that this booth atop the Sosa Family Cigar bar is supposed to be removed to be replaced with an elevated outdoor patio smoking/drinking area. The booth was the former home of PI Live before it moved to the booth above Laffers Cantina.


Celebrate Tonight continues to offer the only fun on the island.* What luck; you'll recall that a few weeks ago I caught DJ G-Clef doing the 5-cent, 10-cent, 15-cent, a dollar song & dance routine for the gathered crowd. Well damn, Sunday night he was doing the exact same thing during the 10:30pm edition! *-if you're 12 yrs old


Over on the West Side, the Princess Diana gown display continues to wow the masses. Thankfully this is to close November 30th but it wouldn't surprise me if it remains in business through the holidays. American women fall for this kind of thing, you know.


Club Report: House of Blues (Sunday SIN)


Some more familiar faces spotted Sunday night at Service Industry Night at House of Blues. Besides these two guys, I chatted with with at least 8 other Mannequins and 8TRAX regulars. It was great seeing PI fans!


I was hoping to catch regular Sunday night DJ Sandy in action but it was a holiday weekend so that means DJ Magic Mike. My last time out (Memorial Day weekend) we got a good 45 minutes of techno out of him before he went hip hop on us. This time it was worse! There was no techno. He went hip hop on us from the start (although for the first hour he mixed some techno classics in there too). But he was mashing everything so most songs lasted about 15 seconds. After that it was 100% hip hop!


The crowd didn't seem to care though. It was really crowded; the most I've seen since Tiesto played here in September, 2007, This was a hip hop crowd and they got what they wanted. Mannequin fans were disappointed though.

PI Overload at ADH

I usually don't post club pics of known people but I have to make an exception for last night at Atlantic Dance Hall because this was the largest collection of PI regulars I've run into in one place since the clubs closed. (plus I got permission to post them) Mannequins regulars, 8TRAX regulars and Motion regulars were all in da club last night led by DJ Tony. He's the usual Friday night DJ at ADH and it was crazy. He yelled off all the PI club names at one point while the lighting tech did a great impression of one of those Mannequins CO2 spray downs! DJ even yelled "Techno Larry". Crazy! Relatively large crowd on hand and on the dance floor.

Labor Day Weekend Options

So what's happening this Labor Day weekend? I've spotted a few things to share.

SATURDAY: In Orlando, don't forget awesome House music with DJ Mickey Bono at Bliss Ultra Lounge. Around the corner former Mannequins DJ Dominick will be spinning Dance and Top 40 at Vintage. In Tampa DJ Santana and DJ Chris Craze will be playing Top 40 early and Dance music late (to 6am!) at Floyd's at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino. In Jacksonville Beach the Ocean Club is about the only club that brings in House DJ's and this time its DJ George Acosta. We haven't seen him around in awhile and he has a new track that has hit the Dance charts!

SUNDAY: Not known for Sunday night entertainment, CityWalk takes a stab at it by offering up DJ Ravidrums. Check him out on YouTube but he's a DJ that plays a variety of drums while he mixes techno music! CityWalk clubs will be open too! DJ Nova from Antigua will be spinning mostly mashups at The Groove while DJ Leony will playing Latin (and hopefully some House) at the Latin Quarter. It's Service Industry Night at the House of Blues and it will be packed to the rafters for DJ Sandy! DJ X will be the main DJ spinning at a fundraiser at Suite B Lounge in downtown Orlando. Cover charge is just $7 in their "Dance For Ta-Ta's" night. Back at Floyd's in Tampa DJ KJ of K5 will be featured in "an old skool reunion" called Memory 09. Doesn't sound like techno though.

Have a great weekend!

DTD Nightlife: You've Got to be Kidding!

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I guess so much grief has been spewed onto Disney about the lack of nightlife for adults at Disney World that they've had to launch an advertising campaign to tell us that we're wrong. Didn't you know that there's ALL KINDS of adult nightlife at Downtown Disney? They point out that besides the $70 ticket you could spend at Cirque du Soleil, you can groove to to salsa, rock'n'roll and Irish music! And don't forget that classy cigar bar, LOL. It's ironic that they use the term Groove in the ad since that's the name of the club at CityWalk where most Disney nightlife customers have migrated. The time of my life Disney? You've got to be kidding!

Marvel Troops Move to Take Back Island!

With Disney's purchase of Marvel Comics, Marvel troops wasted no time attacking Pleasure Island and taking over! There were no injuries as PI Management quickly fled with tails betwen their legs. Martial law was declared and all the clubs are going to reopen! (Awesome graphics are from the WDWMagic website.)