Club Reports: The Hen House, Slingapour's, Bliss Ultra Lounge, Eye Spy, Independent Bar

First stop on Saturday night is a visit to The Hen House, a small new bar operating with a bordello theme.

Part of the sprawling Wall Street complex, the lure of cheap girls, cheap rooms and cheap liquor is always addictive!

The interior is packed with whorehouse chic and a lot of $3 drink specials.

But the real reason to check out Wall Street is to see if Slingapour's has evolved at all.  Numerous venues within the Wall Street complex have DJ's and music but Slingapour's is really the only dance club there.

When I first visited Wall Street right after Pleasure Island closed I was disappointed that Slingapour's and everywhere else in the complex were all Hip Hop oriented.  Surely now that Top 40 is made up of mostly EDM, the music format had changed here too?  Not. It's still mostly Hip Hop, Reggae and Oldies as spun by Wall Street resident DJ Digital.

And only a handful of dancers on the large dance floor.  Sorry, but Wall Street remains on my "I just don't go there very often" list.

But the best in House and Dance on Saturday nights in Orlando can be found at Bliss Ultra Lounge.

DJ Mickey Bono (Beat Thrillerz, K5, RadioDanz.com, Party95.com) putting out an incredible dance mix!

The dance floor was jammed!

Great place for a bachelorette party!

Interesting distractions.

Some of the best speakers downtown give the music a deep sound and the nonstop music makes it a great choice.  "Ven I came to Orlando and I saw people partying, I tot to myself Vat da fuck!  Viva la fiesta, viva la noche, viva los DJ's!"

Hidden behind I-Bar, Eye Spy is as unique as they come in Orlando!

No change in the main room as the DJ was spinning Hip Hop.

It's unique because it's "open air".  And on a nice March evening it's quite pleasant.  On a nice August evening, not so much.

But I'd heard a rumor that there's a secret room somewhere inside where a DJ is playing EDM.  It took some searching but I found it behind double doors.  And he really was!

It's small and it's smoky but the dance floor was full of people moving to the Progressive House beat!

Final stop of course is Endent Bar.

DJ Dem Rok (aka DJ Rob) was in the booth playing 80's New Wave.

The dance floor was typically Saturday night full.

When visiting you should always wear your favorite color, as long as your favorite color is black!  Nice scenery can always be found at I-Bar!

Welcome To The "Save Hyperion Wharf" Blog

Effective immediately the SAVE PLEASURE ISLAND BLOG is changing its name to SAVE HYPERION WHARF BLOG.  With the name change comes a complete change of focus from trying to save Pleasure Island to instead trying to save Hyperion Wharf!

You know, I know, we all know that Pleasure Island was for losers. The place did get crowded and it made tons of money but we all know that Disney is and has always been about "show" rather than "making money".  Everyone at PI was a loser with a capital "L" over their face.  Think about it.  Mannequins was full of people getting drunk and just going around in circles while flashing lights brought them to a trance-like state.  Losers.  8TRAX, omg, people listening to the same songs from the 70's over and over and over and over again.  Losers.  Adventurers Club.  The same 10 people keep complaining that it's closed.  Other than visitors who wandered inside by mistake, it was the same crazy locals in there night after night, yelling the same stale lines to the same old-geezer colonel puppet on the wall. It never was any fun. Losers.  Now don't get me started about Motion.  Orlando already had Hip Hop/Rap clubs yet Disney's attempt to mimic one was sooo lame.  Come on, Hip Hop and Rap are all about demeaning women and having sex, yet Disney wouldn't allow any of those kinds of songs to get played.  Instead they played line dances like the "Cupid Shuffle", sometimes three times a night. Losers.  As you can see, it makes no sense to try to "save" Pleasure Island because it's really not and has never been worth saving!

But let's talk about Hyperion Wharf.  Now that was going to be a place worth visiting! The plan was put on hold a few months after it was announced as the replacement for Pleasure Island.  But then just last month we learned that it's going to be cancelled.  No way!  We've got to save Hyperion Wharf.  It was going to be full of awesome 3rd party shops and restaurants.  It was going to have a waterfront amphitheater where everyone could gather to watch incredible free musical acts while waltzing water fountains performed in the lake.  There was going to be a million tiny little lights that flickered in the evening to create magic as only Disney can while a waterfront "pier" offered amusement games and prizes in a turn-of-the-century atmosphere. There was going to be free stroller parking! When Disney told everyone that they were bringing "bold and new" to the Island, they really meant it!  And now they're going to cancel it?  No way, not on our watch!

Thus today, Pleasure Island is out and Hyperion Wharf is in.  I'll be creating petitions, I'll be giving out email addresses of Disney execs so you too can voice your support for Hyperion Wharf!  Readers, we need you to re-energize and help fight to bring back the Wharf!  (And while we're at it, let's bring back Celebrate Tonight too!)
UPDATE: Since no one seems to care about Hyperion Wharf, the Blog is returning to it's original mission: to Save Pleasure Island!

Club Reports: BB King's Blues Club, Opa, Fire Lounge & Icebar, Señor Frogs, Dave & Busters, Backstage Nightclub

When living in a tourist town, sometimes you gotta act like a tourist! Friday night in the tourist district of International Drive.  Not that many years ago there was a dearth of  nightlife along I-Drive but that is no longer the case.  First stop on a Friday night is the Pointe Orlando complex, formerly geared towards shopping but now much more of a restaurant and nightlife complex including BB Kings Blues Club.

The BB King All Star Band was in the house as they nearly always are here.  While there can be some "blues" the music is mostly older Top 40.  And while no one was dancing at this moment, the floor does get pretty full.

The venue is more of a restaurant earlier in the evening but is more of a club later on!  Cover $5.

Also in Pointe Orlando is the Greek-themed restaurant turns into club Opa.

The DJ booth was on auto-pilot during this visit, playing Dance.

Napkins are strewn all over the floor and many of the females like to hang out on top of the tables!  There were fortunately no Greek austerity-measure riots taking place!  No cover.

First visit to Ice Bar Orlando which consists of both Fire Lounge and Icebar.

$20 will gain you entry into the Icebar itself but it's only $12 if you buy your ticket on-line in advance.  It's a nippy 20F degrees in the club and music from Fire Lounge is pumped inside.  Drinks are pricy, extra and limited to different flavors of vodka. It's a really cool vibe....literally.

Drinks are served in "glasses" made out ice!  You may recall the Blog reported in December, 2009 that a rumored "Water, Fire & Ice" could be part of the Pleasure Island re-do, part of a Schussler Creative Winter Wonderland restaurant.  We'll see if that actually happens!

The adjacent Fire Lounge was pretty empty but I'm told it gets pretty crowded by midnight and Friday's "Siberian Nights" theme are a gathering place for the local Russian community.

DJ Sher-Khan was playing music reminiscent of what gets played in The Groove.  By that I mean a mix of Top 40, 80's, 90's, House, Hip Hop, all of it.  No cover for Fire Lounge.

OK, finally made it here for a review.  Nothing else quite like the Frog!

Normally associated with various cruise ship ports like Nassau, San Juan and Cozumel, Orlando now has one of its own Señor Frogs and it's exactly where it should be located, in the tourist district.  The music is all Hip Hop and Latin.

Crazy, crazy, crazy!

No guys allowed on the stage!

The place is 80% tourists and only 20% locals.  Admission is $5 with local ID, $10 for everyone else!

There is no parking.  You either must use the free valet service and pay the expected tip or do as I did and pay to park at Pointe Orlando and walk. I'm told local towing companies are making a killing towing people from the various hotel parking lots in the area.  I'm also told that various I-Drive powers are not happy this place is here and would like to see it gone.  But after seeing all the money being poured into their coffers, that's not likely to happen anytime soon!

Quick visit to Dave & Busters across the street.

It's more like a sports bar with music but no DJ or dance floor.

And of course it's mainly a game room; kind of a Chuck E Cheese for adults!  I've attended a couple of work-related functions here during the day when it's not crowded and the place is a lot of fun! No cover.

Final stop of the night at Backstage Nightclub located in the Rosen Plaza Hotel.

The live band Top Secret was performing to an empty dance floor when I arrived.

But it was late and the band ended and DJ La Pause took over.

The floor quickly filled up to the Top 40/Dance mix being played.

The place reminded me of the Why Not Lounge, but slightly younger.  They do have cover charges on some nights but it was free last night. I-Drive is now a lot of fun and many restaurants (i.e. Fridays, Ale House, Funky Monkey) have open-air seating and even they were packed.

PI Update: Sentinel Reporter Visits The Island

In today's edition of the Orlando Sentinel, reporter Dewayne Bevil pays a visit to Downtown Disney. In the article he mentions several of the former comedy and dance clubs as he crosses over beautiful Pleasure Island, which he refers to as "once populated", lol. The entire story can be found at this link.  He also mentions the now defunct Hyperion Wharf concept.  Good article Dewayne!

Sunset Music Festival, Electric Daisy Carnival & AAHZ Reunion Updates

Looking for a dance music festival to attend over Memorial Day weekend (which by the way is just 2 months away)?  Well look no further than the north parking lot of Raymond James Stadium in Tampa for the Sunset Music Festival on Saturday, May 26th, presented by Insomniac.  More DJ's to be announced but the lineup as you can see on the flyer above includes Morgan Page (USA), Nervo (GB), Derek Smith dba Pretty Lights (USA), Datsik (CDN) and Alesso (S).

But wait, you say! Memorial Day weekend means the 2nd annual Electric Daisy Carnival in Orlando, doesn't it?  Apparently not this year.  HTG's Facebook page says "EDC is in the works. We are working diligently to make this year substantially bigger than last. Because we are moving the date to a cooler time of the year we are simply not ready to announce it". The Blog has heard November for EDC-Orlando.

But wait, you say!  November is when Kimball Collins (USA) and Dave Cannalte (Mannequins, Promo Only) put on their annual AAHZ Reunion, isn't it?  Apparently not this year.  Kimball's Facebook page indicates that his travel schedule (which includes substantial time in Thailand) means the next AAHZ Reunion may need to be in July, not November.  In fact, they're looking at Tuesday, July 3rd.  And since the next day is a holiday in the U.S. for most people, it seems to be a very viable date!  Pics from last year's AAHZ Reunion here.  Thanks to our roving reporter Thommy who contributed to this report.

PI Update: Spring Break On The Island

Where to go for Spring Break this year?  Daytona Beach, Panama City Beach, Destin, Fort Lauderdale? No need to travel so far.  The place to go for Spring Break this year is right here...beautiful Pleasure Island!

Long line for drinks at Laffers Cantina last night. (No line at PI Live Bar though.)

At Celebration Plaza in the West End Ultra Lounge, Nicholas Marks and his gypsy guitar were part of the evening's entertainment at the Green Stage.

He alternated with band Nova Pop who was playing Top 40 songs on the Purple Stage.

Decent-sized crowd in attendance to watch.

Who says there's no dancing on Pleasure Island!

Human statues still appear at the ultra lounge.

Checking out the clubs, Adventurers Club remains hidden but not forgotten behind the strategically placed foliage!

At Mannequins, the dancing neon lights flash quickly above the entryway!

Click to enlarge this picture and you can see that the interior of 8TRAX is still being used for storage space as it is piled high with boxes.

Finally, a quick visit over to Planet Hollywood which had a long line outside.

DJ Tony Z (Atlantic Dance Hall, Paradiso 37) was on the boards playing Top 40 requests.  Tony Z returns to ADH next Friday/Saturday night, Easter Weekend!  He was at Ultra this past weekend and says it was just meh.....too crowded and too expensive!  (It was held at Bayfront Park this year instead of the larger Bicentennial Park.)

This Weekend In Techno Town

 

WED MARCH 28:  DJ Jimmy Joslin at Suite B Lounge! (Orlando)

THU  MARCH 29:  DJ Jimmy Joslin at Vixen! (Orlando)

FRI   MARCH  30:  DJ Jimmy Joslin at Mai Tai! (Daytona Beach)

SAT  MARCH 31:  DJ Jimmy Joslin at Summersplash! (Tallahassee)

SUN  APRIL 1:      DJ Jimmy Joslin at House of Blues! (Lake Buena Vista)  

MON APRIL 2:      DJ Jimmy Joslin at One80 Grey Goose Lounge! (Orlando)

Make it a Jimmy Joslin weekend!