Disney Springs and Pleasure Island

Highly successful, Disney's Springs is continuing to lead the transformation of the entire area around it. Change is constant. Bongo's Cuban restaurant is one of the last pieces of what was The West Side. Back in the day, it was Pleasure Island and the Disney Village. Both were both smartly done and hit two very different audiences.

No, it wasn't just the theme parks that were given the Imagineers touch. Bringing some nightlife to Walt Disney World was also one of their tasks. Just think about the amazing, excellent Adventurer's Club! That's got their hand all over it. (Boy, I miss it!)

Do you want to see more Pleasure Island in its heyday? Go to this post for some great vintage photos taken right after the grand opening- including my favorite, a larger than life, leg swinging Jessica Rabbit. 

Look for more Pleasure Island posts on the blog. You'll be surprised what you find around here...

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

Friday Night Special: At Pleasure Island

Here's my first offering for something new on the blog. A Friday Night Special. This time it's a piece of concept art for the great adult entertainment area. It's beautiful when enlarged.

The Imagineers did an incredible job bringing some nightlife to Walt Disney World. Now, the Comedy Warehouse only shows up at Disney's Hollywood Studios at Christmas, and the excellent Adventurer's Club is a relic from the past. Boy, it was something back then! 

Want more Pleasure Island? Go to this post for some great vintage photos taken right after the grand opening- including a large, leg swinging Jessica Rabbit. 

Times change, and we all have new places for some fun. Just remember to keep it in check- we don't want to end up like those bad boys in Pinocchio! 

Do search for more Pleasure Island posts on the blog. You'll be surprised what you find around here...

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

D23's Attraction Rewind a Move in the Wrong Direction

When D23 hosts an "Attraction Rewind" at Walt Disney World, they open themselves up to a lot of criticism for the company. Why? This is easy: Here they set up hard core fans for a look backwards. A look at cool, old school attractions like 20, 000 Leagues Under the Sea, If You Had Wings, and the Adventurer's Club at Pleasure Island. Attractions and venues fans are passionate about. Ever travel through the Might Microscope for an Adventure Thru Inner Space? If so, you remember classic Imagineering, and it is attractions such as these that made you fall in love with the parks. 

What will looking backward do? It won't make fans forget the future. It will only emphasize the comparison of the old days to what the company is churning out now. Especially at Walt Disney World, where great, iconic attractions like the original Journey Into Imagination has been transformed into the mess it is today- a world where Alien Encounter morphs into the dreadful Stitch and the Yeti remains broken at Expedition Everest.

For every Cars Land and Radiator Springs Racers, for every Mystic Manor, for every Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, there's a host of misfires, sloppy stage shows, quick meet and greets, and resting on nostalgia and reputation in place of groundbreaking experiences. Attraction Rewind will only point a laser focus on what is... and what is lacking.

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

Downton Disney

Everyone is in a stir these days when the subject of Walt Disney World's Downtown Disney rises to the surface. Many, myself included, are disappointed if not outright angry that the suits closed Adventurer's Club and other favorite hotspots that were part of Pleasure Island. 

Others are frustrated by the tossing aside of Hyperion Wharf and it proposed waterfront area. Perhaps the eldest of Disney fans remember the Village Marketplace and miss the quaint and quiet atmosphere.

Disney Springs is here, but I think I have a plan to make many folks happy.

How about a total revision of the place and dub it Downton Disney? With apologies to the writers, producer, and actors of Downton Abbey, can't you just see an Epcot styled village populated with shops and restaurants from the early 1900s? Wouldn't you just love to bump into your favorite PBS series characters? Just watch out for O'Brien in that back alley! You know she's not up to anything good.

(Photograph from Trip Advisor.)

A New Day Dawning for Pleasure Island?

Much has already been written about the closing of Pleasure Island. Some say it's return is coming. So today, I offer a photo tribute instead to this once fun and vibrant adult playground. First some pictures of the area by day:




Pleasure Island's unofficial "mascot" (below).
And now by night:
The Neon Armadillo, Cowboy bar sign.


The Adventurer's Club, above. Two shots left large. Look at all the wonderful detail Joe Rohde put into this British Colonial themed take on a tiki bar.

Mannequins dance club.


Lastly, the Comedy Warehouse. Photos also left large to reveal the park icons around the room. A very fun and family friendly show that takes serious pokes at the Disney company, its parks, and its fans.
(Photos copyright Mark Taft.)

Merriweather Pleasure, At Your Service

As I mentioned yesterday in my Disney-MGM Studios 20th Anniversary post, 1989 was a year of major expansion for Walt Disney World. It was quality expansion as well. The projects like Pleasure Island, were first class, well designed, and as expected, very popular with guests.

The image above is one of very few pieces of concept art to have been made public. The Adventurer's Club, rest in peace, was an astoundingly complex nightspot. The Club's principal Imagineer, Joe Rohde, would later go on to be the team leader selected to design the beautiful Animal Kingdom theme park just a few years later. Full of audio-animatronics and wonderful live actors, the place buzzed with quirky activity upon its official opening on May 1 of that same year.
(Artwork copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

Pleasure Island's Past

During our first trip to Walt Disney World in 1982, we really enjoyed the peaceful and serene Disney Village. Seven years later, journeying with three kids to see the month old Disney-MGM Studios, we discovered Pleasure Island adjacent to the Village.

Below are two pictures from that trip- one of the now defunct Merriweather's Market and the other the Fireworks Factory. The Factory was home of some terrific and varied barbeque, and the Market, if memory serves me right, was the place to go for deli sandwiches and snacks.


The last photo below is from 1992: the Rock N Roll Beach Club. Even with a pretty cool logo and some fine design touches, at this point in time, the place was pretty empty and soon on its way out. Rollerskating here was a thing of the past as well.
Downtown Disney became the name of this complex once the West Side was added. Surely, Disney's plans for this ever growing piece of real estate will continue to change and evolve as the years go on. The T-Rex Restaurant is on its way and a rumored Apple Store, too. Hopefully, Disney will see fit to save one of the original nightspots- the truly original Adventurer's Club.

(Photos copyright Mark Taft.)