No More in “Water Parks and More”

WDWNT on July 1, 2008

Disney will be changing some of the rules that apply to the Water Parks and More option on Walt Disney World tickets in response to the closing of the Pleasure Island clubs on September 27:

Beginning September 28, 2008, the Water Park Fun & More ticket option will no longer include admission to Pleasure Island nightclubs.

Guests who purchased or will purchase the Water Park Fun & More Option will still receive a certain number of visits to their choice of Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon Water Park, Disney’s Blizzard Beach Water Park, DisneyQuest® Indoor Interactive Theme Park or Disney’s Wide World of Sports® Complex. Beginning June 28, 2008, your Clients can also choose to use a visit to play a round of golf at Disney’s Oak Trail Golf Course, a nine-hole walking course designed for the entire family. Tee times are required and subject to availability. For tee times, call (407) WDW-GOLF ( 407-939-4653 ) or visit disneyworldgolf.com.

Excludes activities/events separately priced. Water Park Fun & More visits must be used within 14 days of first use of ticket. Water Parks subject to closures for rehab and seasonal and weather closures.

Downtown Disney Update

WDWNT on June 29, 2008

Orlando Attractions Magazine has gained possession of some of the concept art for the new stores and restaurants coming soon to Downtown Disney. Some interesting notes from the photos:

-Mickey’s T-Shirt Factory will replace or take up most of the Wonderful World of Memories store next to the Art of Disney in the Downtown Disney Marketplace.

-The new restaurant replacing the Rock N’ Roll Beach Club on Pleasure Island will most likely be named “El Dolbe”.

-Portobello Yacht Club will make a minor name change, menu changes, and an interior renovation when its changes occur.

You can see all of the concept art HERE.

Up, Up, and Away Over The Closed Clubs

WDWNT on June 28, 2008

From the Orlando Sentinel:

Disney World also is sprucing up Downtown Disney’s other two areas, adding restaurants, expanding and updating a band shell, refurbishing and updating other businesses, and bringing in a giant tethered-balloon attraction that visitors will be able to ride in, going up more than 300 feet above Village Lake.

This will be similar to the one that can be found in The Disney Village at Disneyland Resort Paris, you can see it HERE.

More Downtown Disney Details

WDWNT on June 28, 2008

Here are some more details on the changes coming to Downtown Disney, including the replacements for some of the Pleasure Island clubs:

Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (June 27, 2008)– Walt Disney World Resort today unveiled a new vision for Downtown Disney, with extraordinary new shopping, dining and other experiences including a completely re-imagined Pleasure Island. Also planned are numerous enhancements to popular Downtown Disney locations, as well as additional theming and storytelling brought to life by Walt Disney Imagineers.

“We are committed to offering guests new and exciting experiences they can only have at Walt Disney World Resort,” said Downtown Disney Vice President Kevin Lansberry. “Our bold new vision for Downtown Disney reflects the feedback we receive from our guests each and every day and will enable us to continue to offer the high-quality entertainment that is our hallmark.”

Over the next year, the 120-acre entertainment-shopping-dining complex will add a number of one-of-a-kind, immersive experiences for guests. Downtown Disney will even get its own iconic attraction, in the form of a giant, tethered balloon that will take guests 300 feet into the air to view the amazing vistas of Walt Disney World Resort. Other new experiences include:

· In fall 2008, guests will enter a world of prehistoric creatures at T-Rex: A Prehistoric Family Adventure. The dinosaur-themed family eatery will serve up pizzas, pastas, seafood and more, and will feature life-size animated dinosaurs that dwell among bubbling geysers, waterfalls and a fossil dig site.

· Also this fall, a design-your-own t-shirt store from Hanes will add to the growing collection of merchandise guests can personalize at Downtown Disney.

· E-brands Restaurants, an Orlando-based, multi-concept restaurant group, will premier its newest concept at Downtown Disney in spring 2009. The high-energy, casual eatery will feature authentic Central and South American cuisine, specialty drinks and live music along the waterfront.

Guests also will enjoy a brand new mix of shopping and dining experiences at Pleasure Island as it is transformed over the next two years.

“Our guests tell us they want additional shopping and dining experiences at Downtown Disney,” added Lansberry. “We are currently considering a number of unique concepts from around the globe as we re-imagine Pleasure Island and look forward to sharing our progress over the coming months.”

To make way for the new offerings, all of the clubs currently on Pleasure Island will close on Sept. 27. Other locations on Pleasure Island , including Raglan Road , Fuego by Sosa Cigars, Curl by Sammy Duval, Orlando Harley-Davidson and outdoor food and beverage locations, will remain open during the transition.

To complement these new experiences, many popular Downtown Disney locations will undergo enhancements.

· Beginning this summer, Portobello Yacht Club will be transformed into a Tuscan Country Trattoria. The refreshed menu features authentic Italian dishes and signature favorites and a re-designed interior along with an outdoor dining space.

· This fall, Goofy’s Candy Company will add a special new room that will enable families to host one-of-a-kind birthday parties at Downtown Disney.

· The Marketplace Stage will be completely replaced with a larger, covered stage this fall to welcome even more entertainment to Downtown Disney and serve as a new premier venue for Disney Magic Music Days.

· Fulton’s Crab House will update its interior fixtures and furnishing and exterior in Spring 2009. The enhancements include a refreshed third floor deck dining area to offer additional Disney guests and larger private parties the traditional Fulton’s experience.

· Next year, Wolfgang Puck Café will update its interior fixtures and furnishings and will feature an enclosed glass patio offering guests a year-round outdoor dining experience.

These efforts come on the heels of recent enhancements at World of Disney, Wolfgang Puck Express, Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop, Earl of Sandwich and Cap’n Jack’s Restaurant.

No More Pleasure On This Island

WDWNT on June 28, 2008

From the Orlando Sentinel:

The six nightclubs at Pleasure Island will soon shut down, as Walt Disney World redevelops the adult-focused district at Downtown Disney.

BET SoundStage Club, Mannequins Dance Palace, 8Trax and three other nightclubs that have for years catered largely to young, single adults — rather than to Disney’s bread-and-butter family market — will close after Sept. 27. Over the next couple of years Disney will reopen the Pleasure Island area with a broader mix of restaurants and shops.

Though Pleasure Island’s possible demise has been the subject of rumors for awhile, the announcement surprised many in the Orlando nightclub business. Pleasure Island, now 19 years old, may have seemed an odd venture for Disney but it appeared to thrive — so much so that some in the industry have blamed it for accelerating the decline of the nightlife district in Downtown Orlando during the 1990s.

In announcing what they called “a bold new vision” for all of Downtown Disney on Friday, Disney officials framed the Pleasure Island nightclub closures as a response to their customers, who say they want more broad-based dining and retail opportunities throughout the 120-acre district.

“Our bold new vision for Downtown Disney reflects the feedback we receive from our guests each and every day and will enable us to continue to offer the high-quality entertainment that is our hallmark,” said Downtown Disney Vice President Kevin Lansberry.

Pleasure Island is the middle section of Disney World’s 120-acre dining, shopping and entertainment district, called Downtown Disney. While the two flanking areas, MarketPlace and the West Side, also have nightclubs, they are parts of restaurants, appealing to broad crowds. In general, those areas appealed to families. Until recently, Pleasure Island has been mostly about nightclubs, and it created an awkward bridge between MarketPlace and West Side.

Other businesses on Pleasure Island, including a couple of restaurants, a cigar bar and a couple of clothing shops, will remain open. They already offer the broad appeal that Lansberry said Disney’s patrons want from the rest of Pleasure Island. He did not offer specifics about what might replace the clubs, but said Disney was looking worldwide for restaurant and shopping concepts.

In addition, Disney is sprucing up the other two areas, adding new restaurants, expanding and updating a band shell, and bringing in a giant, tethered balloon attraction, which visitors can ride in, going up 300 feet above Village Lake.

Be sure to stay tuned to WDW News Today as more information on this breaking development becomes available.

WASH. RESIDENT FIRST IN THE NATION TO REDEEM HIS FREE DISNEY PAR

WDWNT on April 9, 2008

(JANUARY 1, 2009): Using an oversized park ticket created for the occasion, Seattle, Wash. resident Andrew DaCosta enters the Magic Kingdom in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. on Jan. 1, 2009. DaCosta was honored this morning as the first person in the nation to receive free admission to a Disney theme park on his birthday as part of Disney’s “What Will You Celebrate?” campaign. DaCosta, who is celebrating his 49th birthday today, redeemed his “Free On Your Birthday” registration at the Magic Kingdom Guest Relations window at 7:31 a.m. Jan. 1 is the first day of the “What Will You Celebrate?” campaign at both Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and Disneyland Resort in California. In addition to offering everyone who visits a Walt Disney World or Disneyland theme park on their birthday in 2009 free admission, the “What Will You Celebrate?” campaign features new theme park entertainment, added celebration experiences and new ways for guests to customize their own “celebration vacation” at both vacation resorts. (Preston Mack, photographer)

Lights Out for Pleasure Island?

WDWNT on March 31, 2008

More rumors are beginning to swirl about the future of Walt Disney World’s Pleasure Island district at Downtown Disney, according to our good friend Jim Hill at JimHillMedia.com. Beyond reporting that the famous PI spotlights will be leaving the island and going up for sale, Jim also reports some rumors on the remaining clubs that might possibly be going “lights out” sooner than later. To see the full JHM article, go HERE, and be sure to stay tuned to WDW News Today as more becomes available of the fate of Pleasure Island.

Upcoming Evolution of Pleasure Island

WDWNT on January 22, 2008

Christopher Boyd | Scott Powers and Jason Garcia, Orlando Sentinel
The slow evolution of Downtown Disney’s Pleasure Island continues with the recent opening of a second specialty apparel shop, the impending shutdown of a live-music nightclub, and the anticipated reuse of a long-closed building. Opening shortly before Christmas was a new, two-story shop called Curl by Sammy Duval, named after the water-skiing legend and featuring name-brand surf and skateboard fashions, boards and gear. Closing Feb. 3 will be the Rock ‘n’ Roll Beach Club, a venue known for its nightly live music. Along with Raglan Road, which often features solo musicians or acoustical combos, the Beach Club has been Pleasure Island’s live-music venue.

Nearly completed is the overhaul of a retail and venue building, along Village Lake, which has been vacant since the Orlando Harley-Davidson clothing store relocated and two other stores closed in 2006. Renovations appear to provide four retail storefronts plus side entrances for a multistory venue behind them. Disney officials would not discuss plans except to say something will be announced soon. Together, the three changes are consistent with a more than 2-year-old strategy pursued by Walt Disney World to broaden the appeal of Pleasure Island beyond nightclub patrons. Disney spokeswoman Zoraya Suarez declined to elaborate on plans for the Beach Club building, which features a panoramic view of Village Lake, though she dispelled rumors that the building would be torn down. All employees are being offered jobs elsewhere in Disney World, she said.

The Beach Club building has undergone major change before. It opened in 1989 as the XZFR Rockin’ Rollerdrome, with a roller rink inside. The rink was deemed too dangerous and was removed in favor of a beach-club theme, according to The Official Encyclopedia Disney A to Z, by Dave Smith.

News From Around WDW

WDWNT on January 15, 2008

‘-One of my favorite restaurants, Citricos in Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa, is now open seven days a week. For many years the restaurant was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

-Rock and Roll Beach Club at Pleasure Island will be the first club to close this February. Many more of the long-standing clubs will also close soon to prepare for the addition of more shopping, dining, and maybe even a bowling alley.

Replacing Pleasure

WDWNT on December 15, 2007

Screamscape.com is reporting the following rumor:

“Fans of the Pleasure Island nightlife will want to take note of this latest rumor. According to Screamscape sources we’ve heard that there could be some fairly significant changes to Pleasure Island starting in 2008. In fact, as early as January we could see Disney begin the process of shutting down the various nightclubs one by one. I don’t know if this is just for remodeling, a total revamp of the PI concept, or something else entirely. I’m also not sure if the term “club” applied to just the drinking/dancing clubs or if this rumor also applies to the Adventurer’s Club or the Comedy Warehouse.
I know that in the last year or two Disney completed a new remodeling of Pleasure Island to allow foot traffic to better flow through it from the West End to the Marketplace side. This along with the admission changes were supposed to be just the first step of many for a complete overall remodel of the Pleasure Island concept. Back when that was all still just a rumor I had heard at the time that Disney was in talks with Lucky Strike Lanes to convert the Beach Club into one of their high-end bowling clubs. I’ve got to wonder if that deal is still on the table or if it was just one of many that were in the works. Can anyone shed a little light on just what might be going on?”

I have also been hearing these same rumors, especially on a new bowling alley, about Pleasure Island. This is still a rumor at this moment, but we will keep you posted as more information on this becomes available.