How Disney Killed the Greatest Theme Park of the South: Pleasure Island

For 19 years, a small island at Walt Disney World rang in the New Year every single night. Then, on September 27, 2008, the clock finally ran out. Pleasure Island was never a theme park. No roller coasters, no characters in parade costumes, no lines for rides. Just a fenced-in village of old "warehouses", a dance club with a rotating floor, an improv stage, and a secret explorers' lodge where the mounted heads on the walls talked back. It was the place Disney built for grown-ups, complete with an invented founder, sailmaker Merriweather Adam Pleasure, whose made-up life story was told on 26 plaques around the island. In this video: • Why Disney needed nightlife in the first place • The one-ticket gamble of 1989 and the nightly New Year's Eve countdown • Mannequins, the Comedy Warehouse and the legendary Adventurers Club • Locals, annual passes, Downtown Disney's West Side and Universal CityWalk • The 2008 announcement, the petitions and the final Hoopla • What replaced it, and how the fans kept the story alive So did Disney kill Pleasure Island? In the plainest sense, yes. The full answer is more complicated. CHAPTERS 0:00 The last night 1:09 A legend that never happened 2:02 The day ended too early 4:11 Midnight, every night 5:09 A village of warehouses 6:53 The Comedy Warehouse 7:27 The Adventurers Club 10:45 A hybrid 14:41 The announcement 16:33 The final night 17:44 Just a room 19:49 The fans did not forget 21:11 Did Disney kill Pleasure Island? 22:22 The year was always about to end All visuals in this video are original illustrated animation, not archival footage. Newspapers, documents and maps shown on screen are illustrations. Kungaloosh! #PleasureIsland #DisneyHistory #WaltDisneyWorld #AdventurersClub #DisneySprings