This Weekend In Techno Town

FRIDAY OCT 8

 DJ El Nagon (USA)     Discothèque @ Barbarella     House

SATURDAY OCT 9

           DJ duo Soul Clap (USA)  Discothèque@ Elixir Bar     Soulful House

SATURDAY OCT 9

                 DJ Marten Hørger (D)     Gilt Concert Venue     House / Breaks

SATURDAY OCT 9

                      DJ Robotic (USA)     Grumpy's Underground     Breaks

EPCOT Update: Well Not So Fast NYE

The New Years Eve parties at EPCOT are legendary. Due to the Covid19 situation last year, the parties were cancelled and the park closed well-before midnight. But what about this year? The answer is that we don't know yet. In early August we published a story that indicated there probably would NOT be DJ's playing "around the world" this year because none of them had received contracts from Disney. That's something that normally occurs in Spring. But by the end of August several DJ's informed Save Pleasure Island Blog that they had received a call from Disney regarding their availability. So it looked like things might be happening after all. But those calls were followed by.....silence. No contracts, we're told. So it appears Disney is taking a wait and see approach to NYE. Theme park hours on the WDW website are only updated into early December and not for Christmas or NYE. We'll update you once we know more!

PI Update: Remembering The Causeway

Do you remember the Pleasure Island Bypass Causeway? Yes, nearly 8 years ago Disney decided it needed to construct a bypass pedestrian walkway around the main section of Pleasure Island because of upcoming heavy construction.

Pedestrians could initially still use Hill Street to traverse the Island after the clubs closed and even during the demolitions of the Comedy Warehouse, Laffers Cantina and Curl by Sammy Duval buildings. But once they began knocking down the front section of 8TRAX plus the Harley Davidson and BET Soundstage buildings, conditions would get too dangerous. So they built a relatively expensive bypass causeway over the water and around the Island.

 

When it first opened it only went to a new location for the Downtown Disney water taxi. But eventually it went all the way around and served as a complete bypass. Eastbound, it began where the balloon ride currently operates and ended at The Hub.

There was a connection to the Island between Adventurers Club and Paradiso 37 but this was not open to the public and it was more for cast members to "service" the Island.

The causeway operated for more than 3 years but by March of 2017, it had been completely demolished as Hill Street reopened for pedestrians.

Concert Report: Origin (Ace Cafe)

We used to hear DJ Josh Wink (USA) hit "Higher State of Consciousness" all the time at Mannequins and last night he played live at Ace Cafe. The pictures are on our sister website Orlando Entertainment News so check it out here.

 

Concert Report: DJ Carl Cox (The Vanguard)

Oh yes, oh yes! World famous DJ Carl Cox (GB) came to town last night and our sister website Orlando Entertainment News was there! See all the pictures here.

 

Friday Funny

I've seen this!

EDC Update: Daily Lineups Announced

 Insomniac has released daily lineups for the upcoming Electric Daisy Carnival - Orlando. We don’t know set times yet but now know who is playing on each day in case you can only attend one day and not the entire event. Hope to see you there, under the electric sky! Single day tickets go on sale this Friday at 12:00N EDT (GMT -4) right here.

This Weekend In Techno Town

FRIDAY OCT 1

                              DJ Carl Cox (GB)     The Vanguard     Techno

FRIDAY OCT 1

       DJ Nick Whitney (USA)     Discothèque @ Barbarella     House / Nu Disco    

SATURDAY OCT 2

           DJ Josh Wink (USA)     Origin @ Ace Cafe     House / Retro / Breaks

SATURDAY OCT 2

             DJ Illenium (USA)     Orlando Amphitheatre     EDM / Future Bass

Trip Report: The Hook Up Ship

Over in Stockholm, Sweden they have a party ship that sails daily at 6PM and it's like nothing you've ever experienced! Its operated by Viking Line on their ship Viking Cinderella and it seems this could work here in Florida too if someone had the bucks to put it together.

Sailing from Stockholm, the ship's destination is Mariehamn in the Aland Islands.

Leaving Stockholm behind every night at 6PM.

Passengers are given a program for the sailing and even though it is in Swedish, it's easy enough to figure out what's going on by words such as "Fun Club" "Nonstop Party", "Karaoke" and "DJ". 

 

 

     Outside and inside cabins are available with en suite facilities just like on any cruise ship.

Just like cruise ships, Viking Cinderella is filled with restaurants and bars. The nightlife begins at 9PM in the Fun Club.

This is in the ship's 3-level atrium with a huge dance floor on the lowest level.

This is where you'll find live bands playing Top 40 hits.

And what is unique is that there are two live bands playing consequently. They play for about an hour each and when one band goes on break, the other takes over for the next hour. So the music is constant.

And the dance floor, mostly Swedes of course, stays busy! Friday and Saturday night sailings are especially crazy fueled by (relatively) cheap booze. You've heard of the Love Boat; Viking Cinderella is the Hook-Up Boat!

The ship's cavernous Disco is called Club7even.

On the night of my trip, we found DJ Peo Wahlin (S) in the booth.

The format here more to my liking, all EDM including Classic Dance.

The Aland Islands are an autonomous nation that no one has ever heard of. Legally a part of Finland for Defense and Customs purposes but otherwise independent, the nation is monolingually Swedish.  The Aland Island are exempt for tax purposes from EU regulations and thus ships calling there are able to sell duty free goods on board.

Sleepy little town at 7AM on a Saturday. Viking Cinderalla's port-of-call at Mariehamn lasts just 90 minutes so it was a quick walk about.

Only 2 other passengers plus myself got off here. They legally have to allow transit to Aland but otherwise the visit is just for tax free purposes onboard the ship. With Sweden's high taxes on tobacco and alcohol, the ship's supermarket store is a popular purpose for taking the trip.

Many ships stop here for that reason, often for just 5-10 minutes to make it legal.

And back on board with just a few minutes to spare, it was time for the return journey back to Stockholm. At this early hour nearly everyone onboard was asleep. The bands stop playing at 3:40AM and the Disco runs till 4AM. So you can literally party (or whatever) all night and then go to sleep with the ship not returning to Stockholm until 3:30PM the second day. The ship is then cleaned up before heading out again for another night of partying!

Could something like this work in the United States? The ship Scandinavian Sun used to operate day cruises to nowhere out of Port Canaveral under the SeaEscape brand name. U.S. law would no longer allow something like that. But in later years, the same ship under new name Discovery Sun for Discovery Cruises operated day cruises from Port Everglades to Freeport, Bahamas. It was hardly the party ship though because of its mostly daytime schedule. The foreign port stop makes that legal though and this concept could work here too with overnight sailings and early morning calls at Freeport.

If you're ever headed to Stockholm, check out the Viking Cinderalla. LINK  I can assure you that a good time was had by all.

PI Update: RIP Pleasure Island

The day that will forever live in infamy. September 27, 2008.

13 years ago tonight.
Read our Blog article from that night here.

Club Reports: Elixir Bar, Barbarella, Aero Bar

DJ Phoenix Jagger (USA) doing a 5-hour House set! Saturday night pictures are on our sister website Orlando Entertainment News here.

 

Club Reports: Bullitt Bar, McQueen's, Elixir Bar, Discothèque @ Barbarella

An amazing set from DJ Totally Cool Dad (USA) was the highlight of last night's Discothèque @ Barbarella. All our Friday night pics are on sister website Orlando Entertainment News here.

 

Friday Funny

I'm pretty sure this quote is in the Bible.

PI Update: Remembering The Hub

The Hub. Located at the intersection of Hill Street and the pathway that ran between Mannequins and Raglan Road, it was the center of Pleasure Island. But as we can see in this photo, it's still there!

And with it's all-points compass star built into the pavement, it's still considered the center of Pleasure Island if not the entire Disney Springs complex.

Back in the day, PI Live Bar sat in this slightly lowered section at The Hub. The bar closed with everything else on the Island in 2008 but they reopened it just months later when they discovered the Island became a dead zone after dark with nothing going on.

It was ultimately demolished and replaced with a row of store fronts beginning at that famed corner. The first occupant was Erwin Pearl Jewelry, one of our favorites. Gideon's Bakehouse now occupies that spot....at The Hub.

Looking straight ahead, Rock'N'Roll Beach Club was located there but that retail spot on the lower left side remained empty during most of my years on the Island. I do recall there being a game room in there at one time and DJ's in the PI Live booth nearby liked to point their camera into the room and display the video of an game player onto a large screen on the adjoining (not pictured) Hub Stage for passersby to watch, unbeknownst to the player!

RRBC was razed to make room for Jock Lindsey's Hangar Bar....at The Hub.

I could not find a picture of the previously mentioned PI Live DJ booth in the Blog archives. We only have this one of it being torn down. The booth was home to DJ's playing music to everyone on the Island as they passed between club options. Like the Island itself, it closed in 2008 but was reopened a few months later to create some liveliness on the Island after dark. The DJ booth was then moved to the top floor of the Laffers Cantina building and the original booth razed.

The booth was built on top of and slightly to the side of the Fuego by Sosa Cigars building, which lasted a few more years before it too came down.

When Fuego came down, the patch of dirt that it sat on became the last remaining parcel of land on the Island that had not been built upon. It later did get built on with the construction of Wine Bar George which is there now.....at The Hub.