Disney to shut down Pleasure Island night clubs

On one hand I'm kind of surprised, but after reading the article, maybe not so much. In fact I'd go as far as to say it may be the right thing to do. I just found the gated nature of the club area to be strange overall.

On the other hand, I found Downtown Disney as a whole to be generally lame. It doesn't have the strong vibe that City Walk does at Universal.

It makes complete sense to me and I am all for some more dining options. I enjoy Downtown Disney when I stay on the resort and would never even consider going to a night club. I usually grab a Guiness at the Irish bar and sit out on their sidewalk cafe area and people watch.

Isn't there a H.O.B. in there?

check out the reader comments after the article...holy moley

While working the College Program I likely spent 4-5 nights a week at Pleasure Island. Needless to say, I didn't come home with much money. But, we had a blast.

That said, I don't know of too many clubs that last 14 years and while they did make some changes over the years Mannequins, the Comedy Warehouse, Adventurer's Club and even 8-Trax (which started out more Seattle grunge...I think) didn't change much. All good things.....

I vaguely remember going to Adventurer's Club when I was in high school (I was with my father). I remember the banter of the actors, and I thought it was kinda fun. Wish I could've had another chance to check it out.

The more you drank the more fun Adventurer's Club was. If you really lost your inhibitions you could really "get into it". Oh the stories I could tell from our nights there and the Comedy Warehouse.

I really liked the Adventurer's Club---unique and a ton of fun. Plus, the Kungalooshes (Kungalooshi?) were both tasty and packed a serious wallop. I'll miss that place, but of the rest I've only walked into the Comedy Warehouse once, and you could do that aywhere.

Pleasure Island hasn't been gated for quite some time now. Several years back Disney decided to route all the traffic through that area - which was kind of the beginning of the end for it in my opinion.

City Walk and Downtown Disney are totally different and good in their own way. I enjoy the food choices more at City Walk, but the CityWalk doesn't have near the nightclubs that Pleasure Island has (or had). House of Blues might be my favorite place out of both of them too.

I think this is really disappointing news. Mannequins has always been the highlight of my trips to Orlando, and I think it's arguably one of the best clubs in the country. Nothing at Citywalk even comes close.

I can understand scaling back on PI a bit, as attendance at several of the clubs seems to have dwindled (though perhaps Disney is at fault for that anyway). But I really think keeping a few of the biggest draws (Mannequins and Adventurer's Club for sure) would be a smarter move. It's hard to say for certain until we know more specifics on their plan for the area, but are people really going to stick around late into the night without the nightclubs?

I knew Pleasure Island was going to be seeing some changes, but I had no idea they'd be closing everything. It truly saddens me, and honestly makes Orlando a less appealing destination for me. Now I'd really like to make it down there once more before it's gone for good...

-Nate

Well the whole 'Pleasure Island' name always sounded like a Hugh Hefner venture for an adult themed facility, so without the party hot spots my bet is they will change the name of this area when they close the nightclubs. Probably will be something like 'Downtown Disney' - isn't that what it's called in CA or is that already a seperate district away from P.Isle?

Downtown Disney is adjacent to PI in Orlando.. So I imagine they will extend the name over into the new region..

At my last jaunt down there a couple weeks ago, I noticed they were getting closer to finishing a Dinosaur themed restaurant which was curiously encroaching on PI. I already knew this was what was to come for PI. Every trip there seemed more cast members (a few of them good friends of mine) and regulars from in and out of town. This spells out less revenue for Disney since most go in on passes and alcohol sales can only supplement so much.

Im just curious if my $550+ premium annual pass will go down in price since full PI access is attached to that cost. I know the answer.. but I still like to wonder..

Man I hope they save or move the Adventurers Club as it is one of the most imaginative clubs that I have been to and a real joy to hang out at when I visited Disney. Plus I looked forward to taking Bond there when we go.

Have Fun

Paul