Friday Funny

NO.....we're already reopened!

PI Update: Gideon's Bakehouse Coming To Island

Gideon's Bakehouse, a popular cookie/snack venue in Orlando's East End Market, will be opening a new location on Pleasure Island. Many of their cookies weigh a half-pound according to their website, which doesn't give a lot of information about the new locale. "We would tell you more, but we’re nothing if not a little dark and mysterious," states a message on their site. 
However, the Orlando Sentinel indicates it will be across from Jock Lindsey's Hangar Bar. The only place we could think of was the circled location on the photo above where The Basket walk-up window is currently located on the lower level of the Wine Bar George building. On further thought though, perhaps it's that corner spot where Erwin Pearl Jewelry used to operate and is now home to Rustic Cuff.  Either location seems to be removed from the pedestrian traffic walking by but the smell of hot fresh cookies and other desserts could be enough to get them noticed. Yum!!

This Weekend In Techno Town

THURSDAY JUN 18
Radio Gaga with DJ Kimball Collins (USA)     Independent Bar     80's Classics

FRIDAY JUN 19
Opening Night     Ole Red @ Icon Park     Country

FRIDAY JUN 19
DJ Eskuche (RUS/USA)     Celine     House / Tech House

SATURDAY JUN 20
DJ's Andy Hughes (USA), DJ Sandy (USA), DJ Berto (USA) and many more. Noon - 11PM
Ace Cafe Outdoors
Breaks / Old Skool
EVENT CANCELLED

SATURDAY JUN 20
DJ J-Dub (USA), DJ Beni Hill (USA, DJ Andrez (USA) and many more.
Oasis on the River / Sanford
Breaks

DS Update: Construction Continues

Let's give you an update on all the exciting things taking place at Disney Springs. First off, in the Town Center, Lululemon will be occupying the space vacated by Trophy Room. The sign says Summer, 2020 for the opening. Since they've been working on the space for some time now, that does seem plausible.

M&M World is relocating from Florida Mall to this space in the West Side where Curl by Sammy Duval and Fit2Run used to occupy. Progress here seems very slow from what we've seen so we'll see if they can meet their Late 2020 opening date.

We're unsure of the status of Ample Hills Creamery, slated to go into this West Side space previously occupied by Something Silver. AHC filed for bankruptcy back in March and we don't know what will happen here.

Lastly, we have this space where Bongos Cuban Cafe used to stand and where there will be new construction. Chicago-based healthy eating restaurant Beatrix will be coming here but we'd have to say sometime in 2021. While construction "looks" can be deceiving, compare what it looks like now to what it looked like back in March when we last visited here.

The Year A DJ Played The Olympics

The year was 2004 and the Summer Olympics were being held in Athens, Greece. And for the first time ever, the music for the Opening Ceremonies was being choreographed and delivered by a DJ! That DJ was Tiësto (NL). The set was mostly Trance. During the Parade of Athletes, the Dutch team stopped as they passed the DJ booth and began dancing! Officials had to get them moving again.

Club Reports: Kush, Elixir Bar, Independent Bar

You know by now if it's at all possible on a Saturday night, I'm going to visit Independent Bar. And I did. See all the Saturday night pics on sister website Orlando Entertainment News here.

Club Reports: The Patio, Aero Bar, Mai Thai, Shine & Hooch, Celine

A good time was had by all as Orlando bars and clubs reopened for business again last night and the Blog was there! All the pictures can be found on our sister website Orlando Entertainment News here.

Friday Funny

Downtown Update: Bars v Clubs

We can understand why Elixir Bar was able to reopen over a month ago. In Florida, restaurants were allowed to reopen in Phase 1 albeit with a reduced capacity. Elixir is primarily a restaurant so they were able to reopen their bar and outdoor patio in a bar/club format at night too. But now that we're in Phase 2, there seems to be more than one interpretation regarding reopening. The above photo, courtesy of Ernie Plowden, shows that tables and chairs have been placed on the dance floor. They interpret the reopening rules to say that bars but not clubs can reopen and that there has to be a limited number of table. They're not alone; neighbors Ember, The Patio, The Beacham and Aero Bar will also reopen as early as today.....with tables.

But this is Gilt Nightclub this past Monday night, compliments of Aaron Steel. There are no tables on the dance floor and this is an early evening photo; it got packed later. Tables do exist in certain areas where they usually exist so perhaps those were reduced to the required 50% capacity. Celine opens tonight, they're a club, and it will be interesting to see where their tables are in order to reduce them to 50% capacity.

This Weekend In Techno Town

THURSDAY JUN 11
DJ Eric Arroyo (USA)     Celine     House

THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY JUN 11-12-13
DJ Parry (USA)     The Patio     Top 40 / Dance
Tables on the dance floor so not sure about space to dance.

THURSDAY JUN 11
Blunts & Blondes (USA)     Gilt Nightclub     Electrohouse / Hard Dance

FRIDAY JUN 12
DJ Shiba San (F)     Celine     House

FRIDAY JUN 12
DJ K1KO (USA)     Elixir Bar     Hip Hop Hits

FRIDAY JUN 12
DJ Jimmy Joslin (USA) Happy Hour     Ember     Old School / Top 40
DJ Magic Mike (USA) 10PM to Late     Hip Hop Hits
Table reservations required.

SATURDAY JUN 13
DJ Chino (USA)     Elixir Bar     House

FRIDAY JUN 12 & SATURDAY JUN 13
DJ Richie Rich (USA)     The Beacham     Hip Hop / R&B
Tables on the dance floor so not sure about space to dance. 

SATURDAY JUN 13
DJ Phin (USA) & DJ Amygurl (USA)     Oasis on the River/Sanford     Breaks

SUNDAY JUN 14
DJ Carlos Mendoza (USA)     The Patio     Techno / Tech House

Downtown Update: Bars Can Reopen Immediately!

Also, the Orlando citywide 10 p.m. curfew is lifted immediately and Orange County Mayor Demings has lifted the countywide curfew as well. This is such a difficult, painful time for our country and city, but our community has come together to help move Orlando forward.
First DJ show was held last night at Gilt Nightclub as the city and county are now OPEN for business! Tune in tomorrow for our usual column "This Weekend In Techno Town".

DS Update: Storm Troopers, Seriously?

I realize Disney is trying to be cute. I realize Disney has long-cross-utilized the intellectual properties that they own. But in light of the recent protests, riots and police/military responses, isn't it a bit unnerving for Disney to have storm trooper/military holding what appear to be weapons observing the crowds?  If anything, it's displaying very poor taste.

Downtown Update: When Are Bars Reopening?

The Governor has moved Florida to Phase 2 reopening but Orlando's downtown bars remain closed because of a City of Orlando curfew arising from political demonstrations. So when will the downtown bars and clubs reopen?  Currently, many plan to reopen by next weekend but that can only happen if the city drops its local curfew. Stay tuned!
UPDATE: The curfew for the city of Orlando remains 10PM citywide and we believe a 10PM curfew remains for unincorporated Orange County.

Travel Day To Orlando

Came across this video which is interesting at times and horribly boring at times but it shows a day in the life of two Brits who are coming to Orlando and staying at Walt Disney World. They're flying on Virgin Atlantic from London-Gatwick to Orlando-International. Hopefully these flights can begin operating again very soon!

Friday Funny

Downtown Update: Hot Pants Are Back!

The downtown scene is very limited right now but there's anecdotal evidence that short shorts and hot pants are back!

 

 

 

We urge readers to check it out for yourselves!

Downtown Update: Bars Can Reopen!

Television station WCTV in Tallahassee is reporting that Florida Governor DeSantis has this afternoon declared that bars can reopen beginning Friday! Details here. This does not preclude that local curfews due to demonstrations and rioting could still impact openings.
Stay tuned!

This Weekend In Techno Town

Per WESH Channel 2 Daytona Beach/Orlando, both Orange County and the city of Orlando are under a mandatory curfew beginning at 10PM nightly to 5AM, and until further notice. The downtown area has an 8PM curfew.  Given the every-changing circumstances, it seems unlikely that the curfew will be lifted before the upcoming weekend. Thus, we're not aware of any scheduled local DJ events at this time.

Downtown Update: More Church Street Gloom

The Blog has learned that downtown restaurant and lounge Ceviche will not be reopening. It had closed with everyone else when the Orange County curfew was announced back in March. It was expected to reopen but we're told that employees have been informed that it's not coming back.

This is another loss for an already decimated Church Street. The Orlando Magic still have not started construction on their "festival marketplace" on the other side of I-4, something originally announced more than five years ago. The stretch of Church Street west of the SunRail tracks where Ceviche was located already contains a lot of empty space and the section east of the tracks is only marginally better. It's hard to believe that Church Street used to be the retail and night club center of Orlando until Pleasure Island and CityWalk pushed it aside.

Downtown Update: Ono No More

Taco Bell Cantina should be opening soon at 1 S. Orange Avenue at the southeast corner with Central Blvd. A more upscale version of a typical Taco Bell, it will feature beer and wine along with an expanded menu. The nightclubs Bar 1, 1 South and Ono Nightclub used to be located in this spot. Since all of them were Hip Hop clubs and were thus beyond the scope of this Blog, we rarely visited any of them.
Looks like besides the Cantina, there will be two other spots for lease further south facing Orange Avenue. We were not able to locate an opening date.