Disney closing all PI clubs

"Rudeney" <rudeney@mickeypics.com> wrote in message
news:g4g0rq$crn$1@registered.motzarella.org...
>> What they seem to be trying to do now is to deal with a shortage of
>> dining at the theme parks and resorts by putting more dining in
>> Downtown Disney.
>
> And that is the one fallacy in their whole plan. The average DDP-package
> buyer is not going to want to have to travel to DD/PI (which has the worst
> transportation service on property) just to eat dinner. They want to eat
> in the parks. Yeah, a visit to DD is nice and if you can get a meal along
> with it, that's great, but solving the table shortage by putting all their
> "eggs in this basket" is not the way to go.
> - RODNEY

I have two opinions about this, maybe three:

I believe that PI died a long time ago. It died when the West End was added
because it put a major road block inbetween the two 'shopping' portions of
DD. It has also been dying over the past 10 years due to the changing
desires of the public. The clubs were outdated and small.

What is very sad about what I just said is that over the decline of PI,
Disney did nothing. The experts in entertainment did not start rearranging
the locations to solve the traffic problem and they did not start updating
the clubs or reinvent the club atmospheres to keep up with the change in
'what people want'. There are comedy clubs all over the place in the real
world - closing the one on PI is going to be a mistake. The AC is also a
very unique 'themed' place and it will be missed. The solution should NOT be
to reinvent the place, it should be to rearrange.

What Disney will do to the island is going to be great. It will bring a lot
of additional family venues to DD. But they will lose (or already have lost)
another fan base - the ones who like to go to bars/clubs (like me).

As for solving the Dining Plan problem, I believe it will (to some extent).
While you say that people don't want to leave the parks to eat, I believe
that people will simply rearrange their schedules to spend more time at DD,
freeing up a little more space at the parks for those that perfer to eat
there. It is not as good a plan as opening up more seats IN the parks but
from a business point of view, I think Disney has set a capacity point at
their restaurants (for example that a restaurant should be at or above 90%
capacity for at or above 75% of the day) and simple will not change it. That
makes it seem crowded and hard to get a seat for dinner at the regular
dinner hour but makes good financial sense. As everyone likes to point out,
the parks are a business.

Well, thats my beef anyways
-- The 'other' Sonya

Sonya In Disguise wrote:
>
> Trouble is that I have so many great ideas and can't seem to get them down
> on paper (or in RADP) but I just don't see why the evolution of WDW as a
> whole is not highlighted at the biggest story ever told, and told very
> publicly - this would most certainly be the kind of entertainment that would
> perhaps help me adjust more easily to these new changes.
>
> Instead we get 'wham bam, your favorite bar, restaurant, attraction etc. is
> closing tomorrow - live with it'

Because YOUUUU (well, "you" collectively) had to go and complain about
Mr. Toad, and traumatize them for life.

Now it's company policy to only announce rehab closings *after* it's too
late for the public to do anything about them. Not that we still don't
do PetitionOnline tantrums for this, either.

Derek Janssen (it's really a simple explanation)
ejanss1@verizon.net

kidagain wrote:
>
> AC was my only reason for going to PI. More "good" dining is definitly
> something Disney needs.
> Do you suppose this change has anything to do with the local rif-raf
> that hang out at PI?

Would that were true--
Unfortunately, the decision to create DD Central was because No Pleasure
Is An Island Unto Itself, and the blocked-off bridges were making human
traffic difficult between World of Disney at Marketplace, and Planet
Hollywood/Cirque on the Westside.

Always made me nervous having to walk past the local crowd along that
big outside sidewalk, just to get over to AMC and DisneyQuest, and they
knew that PI wasn't going to carry its weight if people had to take
extra trouble to walk *in* it when they could be more naturally walking
*through* it.

Derek Janssen
ejanss1@verizon.net

On Jun 30, 2:59 pm, Rudeney <rude...@mickeypics.com> wrote:
>
> Maybe you need to go ahead and contact the folks at mousesurplus.com to
> let them know what you want! :-)
>
> --
>
> - RODNEY


Isn't there another maybe Disney owned company that deals in old
attraction merchadise or is mousesurplus the only one... if so how do
they get the items?

---
Bartender Sam

Foxtrot says:

> So why do we have such a problem? Why do these places, including
> Downtown Disney and CityWalk refuse to deal with the problem?
>
> Well, because there are plenty of people who will just scream to
> high-heaven about the "discrimination against the inner-city (read:
> black, hispanic and white-trash) youth" who have no where to go at
> night and have fun.

The Boulevard at Capital Centre, an outdoor mall in Prince George's County,
MD (which, btw, is majority black), has a parental escort policy. Anyone
16 and under has to be with a parent beginning at 9:00 pm. They did it in
response to some violence that was going on. The Mall of America has a
similar policy. If malls can do it, I don't see why DD couldn't.

-- Alpha

Jack says:

> Absolutely true. And like Sam said, it will also cost them the people
> who stayed on site or in the neighboring DTD hotels so they could stay
> and drink and either walk or take the bus back to their room.

I guess so, but if they aren't selling many drinks and the venues are
mostly quiet, it doesn't sound like that's too huge a customer base to be
worrying about losing.

-- Alpha

On Jul 2, 9:14 pm, Alpha <notr...@verizon.net> wrote:
> Jack says:
>
> > Absolutely true. And like Sam said, it will also cost them the people
> > who stayed on site or in the neighboring DTD hotels so they could stay
> > and drink and either walk or take the bus back to their room.
>
> I guess so, but if they aren't selling many drinks and the venues are
> mostly quiet, it doesn't sound like that's too huge a customer base to be
> worrying about losing.
>
> -- Alpha


You are probably right but every night I am on PI by myself I usually
spend $100 on booze, at the very least. I suppose in this case I was
the exception to the rule.

*sigh* I can't believe it's all going away.

---
Bartender Sam

On Jul 3, 9:14 am, Rudeney <rude...@mickeypics.com> wrote:
> Bartender Sam wrote:
> > On Jul 2, 9:14 pm, Alpha <notr...@verizon.net> wrote:
> >> Jack says:
>
> >>> Absolutely true. And like Sam said, it will also cost them the people
> >>> who stayed on site or in the neighboring DTD hotels so they could stay
> >>> and drink and either walk or take the bus back to their room.
> >> I guess so, but if they aren't selling many drinks and the venues are
> >> mostly quiet, it doesn't sound like that's too huge a customer base to be
> >> worrying about losing.
>
> > You are probably right but every night I am on PI by myself I usually
> > spend $100 on booze, at the very least.  I suppose in this case I was
> > the exception to the rule.
>
> Let's see, at Disney prices, plus tip, that's what, four drinks? ;-)
>
> --
>
> - RODNEY
>
> Next WDW Vacation?
> Who knows...


Actually you are not that far off because I order doubles.

Yes, I own a subscription to Modern Drunkard magazine.

---
Bartender Sam

On Jul 3, 11:40 am, jt august <starsa...@net.att> wrote:
>
> I have lost track of how many bars of have come and gone in the years
> since I turned 21 (I'm now 45), but so many have been A-list venue that
> touted they were THE place, and after their respective brief stints,
> quickly faded and closed.  The life cycle of nightclubs is painfully
> short and to reinvent themselves is pricey.
>
> PI had a unique position in being part of the resort, so it had an even
> more dynamic pool of potential audience to draw from, but from what I
> gather, a very small percentage of that pool even went, and locals
> tended to make a large percentage of the attendees at PI.
>
> I certainly hope that the AC resurfaces in some form elsewhere, but
> whatever it proves to be, a stand alone nightclub won't be it.  Perhaps
> it can be reinvented as a restaurant, or become a feature at a theme
> park.  Perhaps there is a different themed arena on the horizon that the
> AC would fit.  But from a standpoint of nightclubs, the end of PI as we
> knew it was virtually inevitable.  As to CityWalk, its days are
> certainly numbered, unless Universal is aggressive in its updating and
> reinventing, which Universal may ultimately decide is too great versus
> the profits to be made.
>
> jt


I'm not sure I would be comfy labeling the Adventurers Club a night
club. While it is a bar (or a club that operates at night) it's not a
trendy spot to be seen or not seen. They don't have to keep up with
the ltest craze in music. I'm not sure I could handle it as anything
but a bar though, some of my favorite jokes are booze related...

"Free Drink Colonel"

"I don't blame Jim, he's a great mechanic, just likes the pound the
fruffy drinks"

Whenever you clap for Otis to win the Balderdash cup: "Thank you
drunks"

"Oh they ARE great parents, look at all the little children at the
bar..."

Walk around the main salon holding two drinks and see what happens to
you...

Not to mention the club salute... Jeez... I could go on.


---
Bartender Sam

Sam says:

> *sigh* I can't believe it's all going away.

I wonder though if this new incarnation of PI will still have a nightlife
aspect, just not solely focused on it. I suppose it remains to be seen, as
we learn more about the kinds of places that will come to PI.

I don't feel it's a 100% lock that AC will be gone entirely. It just seems
to be the kind of entertainment offering that WDW likes.

-- Alpha