Don’t get me wrong. I love shopping and dining out as much as the next girl, but I miss the different clubs that they had when Pleasure Island was open. I’m still not completely sure why they closed it. I can only guess that there was too much “un-Disney” behavior going on and people where complaining. So, I thought it would be fun to write about Pleasure Island for Throwback Thursday.
There were so many fun elements to the different clubs at Pleasure Island. I remember the first time I visited with two of my friends and we had so much fun! We met some locals who hung out at the clubs and one of them actually had “dance-offs” with a rival dancer whenever they saw each other at the clubs. I kid you not. He was was actually a very good dancer though, so I’m sure he won plenty of the “dance-offs” 😉
My favorite club that we visited was Mannequins Dance Palace. The coolest thing about this club was that it had a revolving dance floor! It was so much fun! Although, depending on how much you decided to partake in the bar, you had to be careful getting on and off the revolving dance floor. I believe this is the same club that had the elevator that was the entrance to the club. So cool!
Another club that was fun was the Rock ‘n Roll Beach Club. I remember this club had live music, which was usually played by different cover bands. We had lots of fun here too! This is the club where our new friend came face to face with his dance rival. He held his own and did just fine. It sounds like a cheesy movie story line, but I swear to you, it happened. We watched a real live dance-off at the Rock ‘n Roll Beach Club.
A couple of other clubs that we went to that night were 8 Trax and Motion. These were both fun clubs as well! Motion played Top 40 music videos and 8 Trax was themed after the 1970’s and 1980’s (hence the name).
One club that we didn’t make it to, that I wish we had, was The Adventurer’s Club. I hear nothing but good things about this place and I know many people that wish it was still open. It closed in 2008, along with many of the other clubs, and people still talk about it and how much the miss this club. It sounds like it was a lot of fun! From what I understand it was an explorer’s club, that was supposed to take place in the 1930’s, and was staffed with some very good improv actors. I know there are a lot of people that would love to see The Adventurer’s Club return to Downtown Disney. Unfortunately, I don’t think Disney is going to bring it back. If they did, I would definitely have to check it out. I’m really sorry I missed it when it was still open.
Pleasure Island also had a DJ in a tower in the middle of all the clubs. So, even when you stepped out of the clubs there was music playing. There were outside vendors that sold drinks and personal pizzas. You could just spend the night outside, have some drinks, eat some pizza, all while listening to the music. I loved that! They also had fun projections on the walkways. Disney was able to make it feel like a club outside. You never had to leave the music.
So, while I enjoy shopping and dining, I really miss Pleasure Island. The Boardwalk has some clubs like Jellyrolls (the dueling pianos sound pretty cool) and the Atlantic Dance Hall, but it is not the same as Pleasure Island. It was one of those places where you could go and sort of escape Disney for a night, without actually leaving Disney. The other thing I loved about the clubs is, since they were in Disney, they were very well themed. It was fun going to each club, not just for the music, but also for the different themes. If Disney does one thing well, it’s themes.
We miss you, Pleasure Island! You gave us a lot of fun and some pretty good music. We can only hope that the new shopping and dining areas, taking over the former Pleasure Island location, will be half as fun as the clubs were. So this Throwback Thursday is for you, Pleasure Island! Dance on!
Thanks for reading!
Liz ⁰O⁰
