So What's Coming to the New Pleasure Island?

[Scurvy]

Originally Posted by Jason71

I could be misremembering, but I thought the original plan was for West Side to be a more "adult" version of the Marketplace, to complement PI which by that point had lost its T.S. restaurants and was known just for its clubs. Cirque, Wolfgang Puck, Bongos, HoB, Sosa, the memorabilia shop, "Mickey Mouse Hot Topic" (I forget its real name now), the guitar shop--all could be seen as catering to an 18 and up crowd. Even the candy shop, themed to the Wicked Queen rather than Goofy, could have taken on a more adult air had history gone differently.

Hmm...an area of upscale, adult-oriented third party dining and entertainment in DTD. So basically, this idea has failed TWICE now.

I think you're right, but if I recall correctly DisneyQuest and the theater were there when the WS opened or very soon thereafter, so they should have expected some family traffic over there.
It would have been really easy to build some of the WS further out where the parking lot is so people didn't feel like they were going out of their way to walk around PI.

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

OK gang, here's the latest PI rumors I picked up on today from a reliable source. And while I say reliable, they remain just rumors and have no more credibility than all the other ones we've had on here about PI:

1. Disney management is very upset about what has become of PI. No doubt that there were indeed plans for the island but they fell through because of the economy.

Within one year:
2. The building that formerly housed Motion will reopen as an 8TRAX type of club playing 70's, 80's & 90's music.

3. The building that formerly housed the BET Soundstage will reopen as a Mannequins style club.

4. Adventurers Club will reopen in its current location. The cost of labor here remains an issue.

5. No word on the building that currently houses Mannequins and 8TRAX plus Curl and Harley.

Again I must emphasize that this is unsubstantiated. For instance, if they are unhappy with the condition out there, why take a year to reopen things? But we can still wish, can't we?

BobK/Orlando

[Scurvy]

Thanks for posting that, KINGBOBOFTHENORTH! I know it's just rumor at this point, but it's still nice to have a glimmer of hope. I'd love to be able to go Adventuring again, and DTD needs places for dancing. I would be thrilled if this turned out to be true!

[Ladysunflr]

Originally Posted by KINGBOBOFTHENORTH

OK gang, here's the latest PI rumors I picked up on today from a reliable source. And while I say reliable, they remain just rumors and have no more credibility than all the other ones we've had on here about PI:

1. Disney management is very upset about what has become of PI. No doubt that there were indeed plans for the island but they fell through because of the economy.

Within one year:
2. The building that formerly housed Motion will reopen as an 8TRAX type of club playing 70's, 80's & 90's music.

3. The building that formerly housed the BET Soundstage will reopen as a Mannequins style club.

4. Adventurers Club will reopen in its current location. The cost of labor here remains an issue.

5. No word on the building that currently houses Mannequins and 8TRAX plus Curl and Harley.

I'm sworn to secrecy on the source and again must emphasize that this is unsubstantiated. For instance, if they are unhappy with the condition out there, why take a year to reopen things? But we can still wish, can't we?

BobK/Orlando

I am inspired by this news.. but here's my question ( and forgive my stupidity... ) Where is the latin tequlia bar place going?

[Scurvy]

Originally Posted by Ladysunflr

I am inspired by this news.. but here's my question ( and forgive my stupidity... ) Where is the latin tequlia bar place going?

I think it might be going into the old Beach Club building and/or the empty storefronts next to it. It definitely isn't going in to any of the Clubs that were closed recently - nothing's been announced for those spots.

[zulemara]

Originally Posted by KINGBOBOFTHENORTH

OK gang, here's the latest PI rumors I picked up on today from a reliable source. And while I say reliable, they remain just rumors and have no more credibility than all the other ones we've had on here about PI:

1. Disney management is very upset about what has become of PI. No doubt that there were indeed plans for the island but they fell through because of the economy.

Within one year:
2. The building that formerly housed Motion will reopen as an 8TRAX type of club playing 70's, 80's & 90's music.

3. The building that formerly housed the BET Soundstage will reopen as a Mannequins style club.

4. Adventurers Club will reopen in its current location. The cost of labor here remains an issue.

5. No word on the building that currently houses Mannequins and 8TRAX plus Curl and Harley.

I'm sworn to secrecy on the source and again must emphasize that this is unsubstantiated. For instance, if they are unhappy with the condition out there, why take a year to reopen things? But we can still wish, can't we?

BobK/Orlando

I know this is only a rumor, but this glimmer of hope has me ready to cry.

Now my question is why in the world wouldn't you just open the existing clubs? why use crappy BET for mannequins instead of mannequins iteslf? Maybe it's a pride issue with the company? At this point I don't flippin care, just OPEN SOMETHING!!!!

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

Originally Posted by Ladysunflr

I am inspired by this news.. but here's my question ( and forgive my stupidity... ) Where is the latin tequlia bar place going?

The South/Central American restaurant and night club is going into the building that formerly housed a few shops plus the Missing Link Sausage Company fast food restaurant. Supposedly it will also house a food court called Street Foods of the Americas as well as a tequila bar.

BobK/Orlando

[zulemara]

Originally Posted by KINGBOBOFTHENORTH

The South/Central American restaurant and night club is going into the building that formerly housed a few shops plus the Missing Link Sausage Company fast food restaurant. Supposedly it will also house a food court called Street Foods of the Americas as well as a tequila bar.

BobK/Orlando

yeah and I'm perfectly fine with that. So now the question is what would happen if an investor came forward expressing an interest in mannequins. If this rumor has even the slightest bit of truth to it, it indicates they are not ready to give up on the nightlife component to WDW and that opens the door to what we've been wanting all along

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

Originally Posted by zulemara

yeah and I'm perfectly fine with that. So now the question is what would happen if an investor came forward expressing an interest in mannequins. If this rumor has even the slightest bit of truth to it, it indicates they are not ready to give up on the nightlife component to WDW and that opens the door to what we've been wanting all along.

We'll see how this plays out. Super Bowl weekend has arrived so now it's time to see if wrecking balls arrive shortly thereafter.

BobK/Orlando

[zulemara]

Originally Posted by KINGBOBOFTHENORTH

We'll see how this plays out. Super Bowl weekend has arrived so now it's time to see if wrecking balls arrive shortly thereafter.

BobK/Orlando

What is the significance to super bowl weekend?

Also I took a rather long stroll through PI tonight with my friend. We went to dinner at Ohana and then headed to WS to see about going to a movie but nothing was playing late that was worth the money. Here's a couple observations:
1. I don't know if this is recent or just because I really only visited during the day, but if you go to the lower entrance to 8-trax, you can actually see inside through one of the cage windows. You can see part of the dance floor and the big restroom sign that guests still could never seem to see I was informed that there used to be lava lamps in those windows. There were also lights on the top of the smoking area, but they are gone now. Interestingly enough, there is a moving multi color light at the lower entrance to 8-trax that was still on and bouncing around. So you're standing there in this completely dead environment with this little party light flashing on the door. Some things just don't make sense....

I went right up to the line into mannequins and confirmed once again that the light was on. At this point I'm entirely convinced it is a permanent thing. Come to think of it the light in 8-trax was on too. The mannequins elevator was on 3, which is how it has been since I first walked through 2 weeks ago, but my friend said it was on 2 the last time, so there has been movement.

Nothing different at motion, but we know for a fact it is still being used for meetings and events for the college program so it is what it is.

I took a closer look at the construction wall to see that the artist rendering of the new area is indeed called the streets of america(or whatever it was) and it basically indicated a food court. It looks like maybe the margarita bar will be in the middle of the food court. We peeked through the construction walls...yikes what a bloody mess!

Now here is the kicker..They added black covering to the adventurer's club revolving doors. They did not, however, add them to the normal doors. Perhaps they are adding it tomorrow, I don't know. I'll be watching that closely especially with the given rumor and the fact that the last special gatherings will be coming to(or already have) a close.

As for the "wrong element" we noticed 4 orange county policemen on patrol, 2 Disney security, and one security that was under cover(my friend knows him). As we were peeking in things(but not going past any lines) they walked by but didn't seem to care or even look at us. There were several "gang bangers" if you want to call them that, only they were hanging out by HOB and the AMC. Once again...not PI.

Also we saw a former PI manager at the old guest relations location right by wetzel's pretzels. He informed us that guest relations is moving into Disney Quest(currently they are at "booth 2" at PI, which is the main entrance ticket location) There will be a wall going up and they will start transitioning the guest relations tower into the ticket tower for that stupid balloon thing they are building. It will be expanded to include(of course) a new shop.

I think watching AC and BET will be the key to determining how real this rumor is. At this point based on my observations and their choice of which clubs opening, it seems fairly obvious to me that they sold the mannequins/8-trax building which is why they started tearing things out of it. I also believe things halted due to the economy which is why most if it is still in tact.

And so the question still remains...how does one purchase and reopen mannequins and 8-trax. I'll be damned if mannequin's rotating dance floor is gonna turn into a rotating ESPN zone....

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

Originally Posted by zulemara

What is the significance to super bowl weekend?

The significance of Super Bowl weekend was that I thought I had read here on Disboards that AC had it's final pre-booked event scheduled for this weekend. After this weekend the island was clear of contract obligations and was free to proceed with whatever.

If the Mannequins/8TRAX building is already contracted, then you can't do anything. But the question is WHO can you call at Disney to inquire?

I hope my reported rumors are true; I don't have high hope though. The cost to revamp those places is next to nothing and then they'd have revenue pouring in again out there. But the whole PI debacle never made sense (or dollars) to begin with. I bet they've lost close to $100K per week in revenue out there since the closure.

BobK/Orlando

[lugnut33]

Just my guess, I have no way of backing any of this up as it's just conjecture. I personally think they just want to make it into a mall like (rent store fronts) area and take the rent money without having to do any real work. There has to be tons of businesses that would love to put up shop in that area if redisgned correctly. Like an outdoors strip mall.

[zulemara]

for what it's worth, I met someone today who was a light tester for the american idol experience and he said the lighting was complete before PI closed. He also said the clubs have been left relatively untouched.

[zulemara]

Originally Posted by KINGBOBOFTHENORTH

If the Mannequins/8TRAX building is already contracted, then you can't do anything. But the question is WHO can you call at Disney to inquire?

yes indeed, WHO do you contact? Perhaps the manager at atlantic dance can shed some light on that

[CanadianGuy]

Would it not be the VP who was quoted in all the articles about shuttering PI?

I had heard that some lighting and tech gear from PI had ended up at property control. It would have had to come from somewhere..