Downtown Disney adds bowling, but Hyperion Wharf derailed
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Downtown Disney adds bowling, but Hyperion Wharf derailed
While Downtown Disney has seen—and continues to see—a great deal of movement, enhancement and addition of shopping, dining, and entertainment, it appears that the Hyperion Wharf project at Downtown Disney has been (at least temporarily) derailed.
Dining locations such as T-Rex Cafe, Paradiso 37, and the Pollo Campero/Fresh A-Peel/Babycakes NYC venue have appeared in Downtown Disney Marketplace, and Portobello Yacht Club was reborn as Portobello on Pleasure Island.
Recent development in shops has included the expansion of the LEGO Imagination Center at the Marketplace, the move of Orlando Harley-Davidson from Pleasure Island to a new location on the West Side, and the new Dine-In Theatres at the AMC Downtown Disney 24. Later this summer, Apricot Lane Boutique will move into the Pleasure Island location vacated by Orlando Harley-Davidson.
The latest news is that Ridemakerz will be moving out of the former Virgin Megastore on the West Side to an unspecified location in the Marketplace to make room for Splitsville, an entertainment and dining venue that features bowling, billiards, dining, music and nightlife. The 50,000-square-foot venue will join the Splitsville chain's other locations in Tampa and Miami in Florida, and Fredricksburg, Virginia, and Fairview, Texas.
According to Splitsville's website, "We got rid of the old concessions stand to make room for a gourmet kitchen serving up everything from hand-cut steaks and hand-tossed pizzas to fresh rolled sushi, signature entrees and mouthwatering desserts." Bowling lanes are spread throughout the location in clusters, and billiards tables, bars, and dining rooms also help to divide the space.
The availability of bowling has not apparently killed the 100-lane venue still slated for construction at the Wide World of Sports Complex, though the opening of that project has now been pushed back to 2015.
As for Ridemakerz, since it appears that no current leasees are showing signs of wanting to leave, look for the make-your-own-car shop to move into one of the rooms within either World of Disney or Once Upon a Toy, since Ridemakerz has locations within Disney Stores, such as the flagship location in New York City's Times Square.
While shopping and dining changes move forward, largely at the Marketplace and the West Side, there has been a distinct lack of new construction on Pleasure Island where Motion and the Rock 'n' Roll Beach Club were demolished and the new Hyperion Wharf development was to take place. "During the course of this site work, we identified opportunities to further refine our master plan and are pausing to evaluate them," according to Vice President of Downtown Disney Keith Bradford. "While we’re moving quickly, it will admittedly cause a delay in construction. But we’re willing to bet that any delay will be worth the wait once we’re able to share details about the exciting work we’ve been doing."
This could well be another halt called by Disney Parks Chairman Tom Staggs, who had previously put the brakes on the New Fantasyland project to reassess and make some changes to the plan in order for the new expansion to be more attractive to all guests and not just princess-obsessed young girls. Those changes were met with enthusiasm from the core Disney fan audience. If this halt to a second ill-considered plan by former Disney Parks Chairman Jay Rasulo, perhaps some of the plans for converting the nightclub area of Pleasure Island into family-friendly shops and restaurants will also be pulled back. While Motion and the Rock 'n' Roll Beach Club buildings are down, the Adventurers Club, Comedy Warehouse, and Mannequins still stand. It will be interesting to see whether Staggs directs a U-turn on the plans or if the Hyperion Wharf project will just receive minor tweaks and continue forward. We'll let you know when we hear more.
Re: Downtown Disney adds bowling, but Hyperion Wharf derailed
Just listened to Lou's update on this from Wednesday.
Glad they're going to finally do something substantial with the old Virgin MegaStore (oh, how I miss it!), but sad to hear Hyperion Wharf has been shuffled to the back burner.
Re: Downtown Disney adds bowling, but Hyperion Wharf derailed
Hyperion Wharf didn't sound like they had a whole lot of solid ideas for it. Just some pretty lights and landscaping. But as for a solid replacement for anything? Wasn't going to cut it. Then again, if it were, then bowling (and whatever other siliness they are going to add in there) wouldn't be a substitute for the Wharf.
Re: Downtown Disney adds bowling, but Hyperion Wharf derailed
Yet another major piece of the resort essentially going to waste, though.
Re: Downtown Disney adds bowling, but Hyperion Wharf derailed
I just feel that bowling is better suited for WWOS then DTD. And at this point I could really care less what they are doing for Hyperion Wharf as long as they get something in that wasted space for Pleasure Island. I feel like when they closed down PI then they should have had something ready to move in. Not that i really care about PI closing at all but I hate seeing all that dead space when i know Disney being Disney could fill do something with it rather then just having it sit there.
Re: Downtown Disney adds bowling, but Hyperion Wharf derailed
Quote:
Originally Posted by
supernova 
Hyperion Wharf didn't sound like they had a whole lot of solid ideas for it. Just some pretty lights and landscaping. But as for a solid replacement for anything? Wasn't going to cut it. Then again, if it were, then bowling (and whatever other siliness they are going to add in there) wouldn't be a substitute for the Wharf.
They had sooo many issues with Gangs and PI. At first blush I'm thinking the Mega Store in combination with the Wharf, designed to be a hang out kind of place....they could be right in the same situation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Mo Noyz Yet another major piece of the resort essentially going to waste, though.
Well, they have not bulldozed the Adventurers Club yet??? I shouldn't dream.
Re: Downtown Disney adds bowling, but Hyperion Wharf derailed
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Cortini I just feel that bowling is better suited for WWOS then DTD. And at this point I could really care less what they are doing for Hyperion Wharf as long as they get something in that wasted space for Pleasure Island. I feel like when they closed down PI then they should have had something ready to move in. Not that i really care about PI closing at all but I hate seeing all that dead space when i know Disney being Disney could fill do something with it rather then just having it sit there.
That seems to be a kind of ongoing struggle for WDW in the lat 10 years or so. Somethings is closed down and it just sits there (River Country, Pop Century Legendary Years, the health pavilion in Epcot). Now closing down Adventuruer's club and PI and not having a well defined follow up plan.
Strategic/long term planning doesn't seem to be working so well the last decade or so.
Re: Downtown Disney adds bowling, but Hyperion Wharf derailed
That would be a good place for an east coast Disney museum and Blue Sky.
Re: Downtown Disney adds bowling, but Hyperion Wharf derailed
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Cortini I just feel that bowling is better suited for WWOS then DTD. And at this point I could really care less what they are doing for Hyperion Wharf as long as they get something in that wasted space for Pleasure Island. I feel like when they closed down PI then they should have had something ready to move in. Not that i really care about PI closing at all but I hate seeing all that dead space when i know Disney being Disney could fill do something with it rather then just having it sit there.
From an operations standpoint, the overhead to keep something open can often be beyond what it brings in. This creates a cash vaccuum, and in the face of this, pumping money immediately into an overhaul may not be the best move,
It's unfortunate that everything is not always wine and roses, even at Disney World. Disney is not ever TRYING to make you unhappy. Sometimes the money is just not there to fix something, especially when things on the other side of the World are being taken care of. Walt Disney World is a dynamic place, and instead of focusing on what's not being done, it might be better to celebrate what IS.
That's just my take.
Re: Downtown Disney adds bowling, but Hyperion Wharf derailed
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Thom Morrow From an operations standpoint, the overhead to keep something open can often be beyond what it brings in. This creates a cash vaccuum, and in the face of this, pumping money immediately into an overhaul may not be the best move,
It's unfortunate that everything is not always wine and roses, even at Disney World. Disney is not ever TRYING to make you unhappy. Sometimes the money is just not there to fix something, especially when things on the other side of the World are being taken care of. Walt Disney World is a dynamic place, and instead of focusing on what's not being done, it might be better to celebrate what IS.
That's just my take.
I understand that disney has a lot going on right now all over their parks all over the world but PI has just been sitting there since 2008 and they could have brought in 3rd party vendors for the time being why they are working on what to put there.
Re: Downtown Disney adds bowling, but Hyperion Wharf derailed
There isn't a thing they can do to even rival City Walk. I think they realize that and would never plan on sinking too much $$ into the area. They know that the majority of their customers are going to be guest who are staying at a hotel in the area, used the Magical Express to get there, and don't have a car to go anywhere else. So they can keep expectations low and still get away with it. Even in the hayday of PI, I didn't much care for it. Then again, leaving NYC to go 'clubbing' isn't really high on my list of priorities while in Orlando. I could have stayed home and done that.
