Disney's "Pleasure Island" To Close

[Coach Man]

Disney's Pleasure Island is closing its doors in September. The area will be transformed into family-friendly eating establishments in due course.

Coach Man.

[leatherlou]

Disney does this often in Florida for maintenance on all there rides, ect. But don't worry they will be back up & running soon. Plus it is only one part of the park, think of all the other parts of the park that will still be open. Take care & ride safe, Lou Anne

[LoveToTravel]

Pleasure Island is not a section of one of the Disney theme parks. Pleasure Island is an area of nightclubs in the Downtown Disney/Pleasure Island/West Side complex. It sounds like it is just going to become and expansion of Downtown Disney? Back in my college years I really enjoyed Pleasure Island especially the Adventurers Club and the Comedy Warehouse. I am a little sad to see it go.

[ThunderHockeyFan]

Yes, it is going. I think the last day it is open is September 27th if I remember correctly. I listen to about 10 Disney podcast and they have all reported on it.

If you are going to Disney at all in the next year they are also changing their ADR system for a time. Instead of booking restaurants at 180 days they are going back to the 90 day system for a while. They are putting in new software and at some time in later 2009 it will go back to 180.

They are also doing away with a couple of character meals. One of them being Liberty Tree Tavern which really upsets me.

They are messing with a lot of my plans for next years trip!!!

[LoveToTravel]

Not the Liberty Tree Tavern character dinner! We just got back from Disney World in April and I haven't looked at any Disney forums (too depressing) since then because we aren't going to be able to go back until 2010. I guess I need to go look and see what is going on! Please tell me Chef Mickey's is still going to remain. That is our favorite character meal.

[ThunderHockeyFan]

Originally Posted by LoveToTravel

Not the Liberty Tree Tavern character dinner! We just got back from Disney World in April and I haven't looked at any Disney forums (too depressing) since then because we aren't going to be able to go back until 2010. I guess I need to go look and see what is going on! Please tell me Chef Mickey's is still going to remain. That is our favorite character meal.

They are stopping the lunch character meal at Garden Grill and there will no longer be characters at Liberty Tree. From what I have read the food will still be the same just no characters.

I had this on our list for 2009. Yes, we are two adults in our upper 30's with no kids and we do lots of character meals

[kbradleyar]

I have been to Pleasure Island many times. It is a great place to unwind at the end of the day. The place is open during the day. You can walk thru the area and shop but at night, the gates are closed and it cost. NO KIDS were allowed, adults only.

I loved it because in my younger (and skinner days), we could hit the top 40 rock dance club and then go over to the county dance place and then go over and listen to comedy acts and/or go over to the exployer's club and laugh at the "Indiana Jones" character tell about their stories in the wild (a lot of fun with lots of comedy).

Because of the variety, it was a great place to spend an evening.

[leatherlou]

I hate too say this but it all goes back to the economy. Just today on the news they announced that the Bush beer company of all things has been sold to an overseas company & they are talking about moving the plant overseas as well. The Fed. gov. has also bailed out Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac & they also bailed out another bank on the east coast. They were talking that there are 9 more banks fixing to go under as well but they did not say where they were based out of nor the names of them. And i really hate to be the one to pass on even more bad news but Oil was way up again today. Due to 2 reasons. The first is one of the oil producing countries has gone on strike, the second reason is watch the weather tonight. I'm in florida and there was a Cat 1 hurricaine out there 4 days ago. Three days ago it was Hurricaine Bertha Cat 3. Two days ago it went back down to a Cat 1. Then sunday it went to a tropical storm that they were saying can get stronger. I missed the update today because i am pulling a double shift. But from what i understand my local weather guy saying about it, They think it might get to a Cat 4 or a Cat 5 soon. And that was early this morning. The bigger problem is they think it might take out some of our oil riggs in the atlantic & gulf if it comes into the gulf. My local guy thinks it will hit the tip of Bermuda then go NW towards DC. Don't ask me how they can predict something this far off. So everyone take care & ride safe, Lou Anne

[MNtraveler]

I used to enjoy Pleasure Island, but it seems to have really gone downhill in recent years. It doesn't attract nearly as many people as before, and it seems a large percent of the people there are young Disney cast members blowing off a little steam after work.

I'm no prude, and I've been known to have a drink or two (or three), but in recent years that place has been almost scary after 11:00 PM. I've seen people staggeringly drunk, and IMHO that just isn't proper behavior for a Disney location... not even an "adults only" one.

By the way, kids can go into all but two of the clubs as long as they are accompanied by parents. These means you had little kids seeing things they really shouldn't have to see (though I do wonder about folks who would keep young children up that late!).

[BeagleDad]

We were at Disnworld the first time in 2006. One of the Disney bus drivers suggested to us passengers to not let kids ride the bus from Downtown Disney back to the resorts after about 11:00 pm. He said things just got two wild because of Pleasure Island. That didn't sound to 'Disney' to me.

[leatherlou]

I hate to say this to you all but i can remember back when it use to cost $24.00 for a weekend pass to get into Disney. That was back in the early 1970's and i was living in Wis. and had great great grandparents who were still alive & living in Sebring, FL. Not to far from there. Use to come south every winter & loved it. I'd be white as could be comming south but by the time i went back after the blizzards passed through i was so darken tan everyone wanted to about kill me, lol. Being 1/4 cherokee indian did not hurt at all with getting tanned. Take care & ride safe, Lou Anne

[kbradleyar]

Originally Posted by MNtraveler

By the way, kids can go into all but two of the clubs as long as they are accompanied by parents. These means you had little kids seeing things they really shouldn't have to see (though I do wonder about folks who would keep young children up that late!).

Wow, things had changed. I used to work in Jacksonville FL and me and my girlfriend would drive down to Orlando after work Friday and stay till Sunday evening and drive the 2 to 3 hours back. We would arrive about 8:30pm and would get a hotel and head to Pleasure Island. They had several nice places to eat, then we would dance the night away. I liked top 40 dance and she liked country. We would switch back and forth from the different places. We would dance and party the entire night. At midnight, they had the countdown to midnight and they would shoot confetti in the air (like a new years celebration).

When it first opened in 1989, the sign said "no one under 21 allowed". this was on the entrances/bridges where you paid for your admission. They checked IDs also because the big thing you could carry your container from place to place. You didn't have to leave it at one club, you could take your drink with you outside and drink or into another club. It was all about PARTY back then and it was a "good safe" place to go and dance without worrying about getting mugged or robbed. The music was great, the dance clubs were awsome. Sorry to hear it has gone down.

I was surprised to hear that kids were allowed since it was originally an "adult only" place and they were real strict about the ages.