Walt Disney World Resort Non-Park Discussion Thread

^ Or Roscoes House of Chicken and Waffles in LA. Awesome fried chicken breast on top of a waffle. Pour syrup on both!

Artery clogging goodness!

Over the last few weeks, a blog focused on the Orlando clubbing scene has collected photos of the latest happenings over at the former Pleasure Island and its surrounding area.

http://www.savepleasureisland.blogspot.com/

The inside of Mannequins sits mostly untouched.

A little eerie...

Planet Hollywood: On Location has closed...

Replacing it will be a store dedicated to the rising fad that is Disney's VinylMation.

Celebrate Tonight is still pulling in people...

At least they seem to be enjoying it.

The exterior of Mannequins Dance Palace has remained unchanged.

Not much has changed here either.

8TRAX looks the same too.

The entrance sign/banner for the Adventurer's Club has finally been removed.

The entrance signage for the Comedy Warehouse has been removed and its entrance has been covered with a hedge fence on wheels.

The stage on the lower level of Pleasure Island (on the parking lot side of Mannequins) has been repainted and has received some new woodwork, indicating that it won't be removed during Pleasure Island's slow transformation.

The old staircase on the backside of Mannequins has been removed and its entrance has been covered up.

The old P.I. Live DJ tower has been completely demolished to make way for a new seating area for Fuego by Sosa Cigars.

The cigar bar's windows are no longer blocked by the former tower.

The Rock & Roll Beach Club's sign has been removed though the facade's painting has been touched up to remove any lines that were left over when the sign was removed.

Some great updates and coverage to the PI goings on the last couple years.

Was over there last night and it looks pretty much the same. There are more construction walls moving around Lego Imagination Center. What was a big triangular block off, is now concentrated along the waterfront edge from T-REX to the Lego Nessie. A view from the other said of the water looked like a redo of the displays and planters. Since this was at night, all that is subjective.

The banners in the forthcoming Vinylmation Store windows show off several new designs/series. Haunted Mansion, sports, animals, and even the Adventurers Club Colonal were on display.

Gotta tell you, it really is sad to walk through the hulk of what used to be a jamming club scene circa 1993. No, I couldn't get into the clubs because I was a high school junior, but our family still had a great time at the recording studio and Adventurers Club. For those that have never been, they had several random comedy shows put on by various eccentric characters. I remember the Boulderdash Competition where people would tell outlandish stories, and the most ridiculous won. In the central hall was a new member initiation that happened regularly and was led by the small animatronic colonal up on the wall. Basically if you took the Tower of Terror theming, and added other exotic random stuff from all over the world, you get a pretty good idea of what AC was like on the inside. Really, it was just a lot of light-hearted fun. I know there are some podcasts out there that have some of the old shows. Check them out, and you'll see why several of us who've been feel the way we do. Real bummer this place is gone.

McDonald's has been slated for removal and some mexican chicken place will replace it. As of last night, the golden arches was still serving food. On the other end near Cirque, what used to be Virgin Mega Store is still empty. It's really wierd to see a Disney place look like a local mall with holes where shops and restaurants used to be.

Adam, if it's cool with you, I'd like to contribute here on this thread from time to time. I live 5 minutes away from Downtown Disney and am over there frequently. If I can help, just let me know.

^You are more than welcome to contribute to this thread! I've gone ahead and converted this into a discussion thread for the island so that news and updates can be posted in a single location from here on out.

Gotta tell you, it really is sad to walk through the hulk of what used to be a jamming club scene circa 1993.

Although Pleasure Island in its prime wasn't really my cup of tea, I agree that the area is quite sad and somewhat unsightly now. Why close it down with no plan for a replacement? It's like Disney just woke up one day and said, "Oh, wait, we can't have nightclubs on our property. Close it all down immediately!" - "But what about the comedy clubs, sir? Those aren't offensive." - "I don't care! Close them all, too!"

Wow this is taking forever! I was there summer of 09' and I got to see the T-Rex restaurant open and I have to say, it's very nice! Too bad I didn't get to ride the Character's in Flight.

That is sad to see. I first saw Pleasure Island in 1992 - had a pretty good time there. For a section that is supposed to be done by 2011, seems like there is some work to be done. I read the faq on their site to see if there was any info and saw this.."We're also currently considering a number of other unique concepts from around the globe." That sounds promising. Hope they take a look at Sega Republic in Dubai.

I read the faq on their site to see if there was any info and saw this.."We're also currently considering a number of other unique concepts from around the globe." That sounds promising.

Really? I interpret that as, "We have no idea what we're going to do with it."

Some of the former Planet Hollywood gift shop and soon to be Vinylmation Store

Some of the construction walls that have changed shape and expanded over the last few weeks.

Still getting used to the new forum set up, so this might post a bit fugly. Here are some pics from last night off my Blackberry of the construction walls around Lego Imagination Center and the upcoming Vinylmation store down on West Side section of DTD.

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/

A new store is joining the unique collection of shopping and dining experiences in the Downtown Disney Area with the opening of D Street, where urban inspired product “intersects” with a Disney creative edge.

 

D Street, will be located in the Downtown Disney West Side and showcase a mix of products for both men and women. Items include cutting-edge apparel, pop culture novelties, Vinylmation figures and collectibles, artwork, handbags, accessories, jewelry and more. The store will have a raw, unfinished industrial look, an provide a great venue to showcase Disney art created by local artists.

 

Product lines will feature vintage looks from Disney Couture and urban styles inspired by the surf and skate lifestyle. Vintage apparel includes artwork from classic Disney attractions and characters. D Street will also showcase jewelry designers Tarina Tarantino and Classic Hardware, and fashion labels Mighty Fine and Harajuku Lovers.

 

The new urban-style location will also pave the way for everything in Vinylmation figures. D Street will become the flagship stores for Vinylmation figures, and become the platform to showcase the latest releases from the various collections, including the Park Series, Urban Series, Holiday Series, Cutesters and more. Designed by the creative talents from our Disney Design Group, Disney’s Vinylmation figures take on a whole new meaning in the world of collectibles. These 3″ and 9″ figures are often designed to represent icons, attractions and characters from Disney Parks & Resorts or have more of street feel with their urban-inspired looks.

The official Walt Disney World twitter account has also confirmed that Downtown Disney will get a Ridemakerz store and 3-D technology for the AMC Pleasure Island theaters.

Along with D Street, a RIDEMAKERZ store & 3D technology at the AMC Pleasure Island 24 Theater will be coming to Downtown Disney at WDW.

The 3D addition for the AMC theater is really good news. I hope it will be installed until the summer.

I'm really bummed that Virgin Megastores is closed! I never knew that - How long has it been closed for? I loved looking around in there. Looking forward to shopping in that new Disney store, I love Disney Couture.

^ The Virgin MegaStore has been closed for about a year now, maybe longer. The entire chain has closed, and the last one to cease operations, which was the New York City location, closed in the beginning of June last year. I used to love going in there, because they always had really good deals on cds.

It's kind of sad seeing the shells of buildings, with nothing going on relating to contstruction. The whole of Pleasure Island should be revamped as quickly as possible, IMO, lest Universal's CityWalk continue to leech on all of Orlando's nightlife-enjoying crowd.

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2010/03/disney-monorail-trains-to-feature-tron-legacy-art/

Nope, your eyes are not deceiving you…that’s a light cycle from the Tron universe on our “highway in the sky.” And today, we’re sharing a first look at the attention-grabbing art coming to the Walt Disney World Resort.

 

The transformed trains will be visible on the Epcot monorail line as early as this month. And if you look close, you’ll notice that the design of the futuristic motorcycle-like vehicles from the upcoming film Tron: Legacy also includes walls of trailing colored light.

 

Tron: Legacy is a 3D high-tech adventure set in a digital world that’s unlike anything ever captured on the big screen. The film is scheduled to hit theaters on December 17. But there will be more updates to come before then so keep checking the Disney Parks Blog for the latest.

Those monorail trains do look pretty sweet looking forward to the film in december

Moving billboards. Welcome to Vegas

^...It's DisneyWorld...everything is an advertisement...

I really hope that's just going to be temporary. I'm not a very big fan of the monorails being solid colors (hence why I don't find the new monorails in Disneyland to be all that attractive). To me, it's just not a Disney monorail unless it's white with a stripe of a random color. But for those responsible, I sure hope that overlay is easy to install/remove. How many of the trains are they planning to convert into Tron-orails?

^ But the original monorails at Disneyland were solid colors.

I'm not a fan of this scheme, but I am looking forward to the movie.

^^Not sure how many more, but isn't there one more color in the Tron universe? ...Red???

Heck, I remember seeing the first Tron movie in the theaters. It was many, many years ago.

I'm just happy to see some monorails without those stupid balloons posted all over them. This is much cooler!

Dislike.

I likey!!!!

There hasn't been a red cycle in any of the footage that is out there on the web to this point. I am most certainly looking forward to this movie. I have been wanting Tron 2.0 for years!

And if you look close, you’ll notice that the design of the futuristic motorcycle-like vehicles from the upcoming film Tron: Legacy also includes walls of trailing colored light.

Hmmm, must've missed that huge train-long beam of light the first time I looked at it.

I think it looks awesome and anything is better than those stupid balloons!