Robin
05-26-2004, 01:47 PM
Pleasure Island throws open its gates
Only nightclub patrons will have to pay the $21.84 admission charge this summer.
By Chris Cobbs
Orlando Sentinel
May 26, 2004
Evening visitors to Downtown Disney can now stroll through Pleasure Island for free under a summertime experiment to lift the fee for entering the 15-year-old nighttime-entertainment complex after dark.
The three-month admissions policy, launched Sunday, still requires guests to pay the $21.84 admission if they enter one of Pleasure Island's eight nightclubs, a Walt Disney World spokeswoman said.
But nonpaying visitors can browse shops, listen to music or watch the fireworks within the Pleasure Island compound, which separates Downtown Disney's original Marketplace section from its newer West Side, which opened almost seven years ago.
"It's always good business to evolve and evaluate strategies," spokeswoman Rena Langley said. "This is a result of staying on top of industry trends. Keep in mind that Downtown Disney has doubled in size in the past 15 years."
The trial means that, for now, Pleasure Island's admissions policy more closely resembles that of its chief rival, Universal Orlando's CityWalk entertainment complex.
Visitors to CityWalk have always been able to stroll through its shops and eateries without charge, paying fees only to enter the nightclubs, spokesman Tom Schroeder said.
CityWalk guests can either pay a cover charge of about $5 to enter one club or purchase a $9.95 "party pass" good for entry to all seven clubs, he said.
The free experience at CityWalk includes live entertainment on the street along with access to a dozen shops and a variety of restaurants.
CityWalk has maintained the same admission policy, allowing for increases in the nightclub fees, since its opening in 1999. Across town, however, Pleasure Island has always charged a blanket fee for all nighttime visitors, though it also experimented with a $6.36 single-nightclub admission shortly after opening in 1989.
Visitors have always been able to pass through Pleasure Island during the daytime, using it as a shortcut from the Marketplace to the West Side. But the gates to the area were closed each day at 7 p.m. and the entry fee charged.
Now guests can move freely through Downtown Disney without circumventing Pleasure Island to get from one side to the other.
"It's all about the outside entertainment, like music and fireworks, and the ability to walk through shops," Langley said. Pleasure Island shopping includes airbrush caricatures, apparel stores, desserts, movie memorabilia and carnival games, she said.
Local experts said that, with its new approach, Disney is simply embracing a common marketing practice by testing a variation in its pricing formula.
The experiment might reveal that it's more lucrative for Disney not to charge guests to enter Pleasure Island, said Abraham Pizam, dean of the University of Central Florida's Rosen School of Hospitality Management.
"What they have done has worked for years, but if you let people wander around and buy things in other outlets without entering the bars, the profits might be higher," he said. "After the experimental period, they will compare profits from recent years to this year and see the results."
The added foot traffic might even boost attendance at the nightclubs because of the increased exposure to people visiting West Side or the Marketplace, said Steve Baker, a former Disney executive who runs Baker Leisure Group, an Orlando consulting firm.
"It will bring more mass to the area and spread what is there," Baker said. Disney's West Side, for example, includes a Cirque du Soleil, House of Blues, Virgin Megastore and 24-screen movie theater.
"Overall, it's a good test and I think they will learn a lot," he said.
The change isn't likely a reaction to some competitive threat, the experts said, though a downtown Orlando booster touted the city center's growing mix of cultural, entertainment and dining opportunities.
"We're an authentic choice for Central Floridians, and there's no entry fee," said Frank Billingsley, executive director of the Downtown Development Board.
Downtown was once home to Church Street Station, the granddaddy of all nighttime-entertainment complexes.
At the height of its popularity in the mid-1980s, the collection of bars and restaurants on Church Street between the CSX railroad tracks and Garland Avenue was the fourth-largest tourist attraction in the state, based on annual attendance. But the complex, which charged a single admission to its themed bars and nightclubs, fell on hard times after Disney opened Pleasure Island in 1989 and Universal debuted CityWalk a decade later. By 2001, it had changed hands several times and had ceased operations almost entirely.
"Downtown is not a threat" to Pleasure Island, Baker said, "and it won't be for quite a while. I don't think this move is about competition."
Although neither Disney nor Universal reveals attendance figures or operating results, Pizam said business appears to be strong at both of their nighttime venues.
"We don't know average expenditures at either Pleasure Island or CityWalk, but it's pretty full at both places," he said. "There's no sign of trouble."
Only nightclub patrons will have to pay the $21.84 admission charge this summer.
By Chris Cobbs
Orlando Sentinel
May 26, 2004
Evening visitors to Downtown Disney can now stroll through Pleasure Island for free under a summertime experiment to lift the fee for entering the 15-year-old nighttime-entertainment complex after dark.
The three-month admissions policy, launched Sunday, still requires guests to pay the $21.84 admission if they enter one of Pleasure Island's eight nightclubs, a Walt Disney World spokeswoman said.
But nonpaying visitors can browse shops, listen to music or watch the fireworks within the Pleasure Island compound, which separates Downtown Disney's original Marketplace section from its newer West Side, which opened almost seven years ago.
"It's always good business to evolve and evaluate strategies," spokeswoman Rena Langley said. "This is a result of staying on top of industry trends. Keep in mind that Downtown Disney has doubled in size in the past 15 years."
The trial means that, for now, Pleasure Island's admissions policy more closely resembles that of its chief rival, Universal Orlando's CityWalk entertainment complex.
Visitors to CityWalk have always been able to stroll through its shops and eateries without charge, paying fees only to enter the nightclubs, spokesman Tom Schroeder said.
CityWalk guests can either pay a cover charge of about $5 to enter one club or purchase a $9.95 "party pass" good for entry to all seven clubs, he said.
The free experience at CityWalk includes live entertainment on the street along with access to a dozen shops and a variety of restaurants.
CityWalk has maintained the same admission policy, allowing for increases in the nightclub fees, since its opening in 1999. Across town, however, Pleasure Island has always charged a blanket fee for all nighttime visitors, though it also experimented with a $6.36 single-nightclub admission shortly after opening in 1989.
Visitors have always been able to pass through Pleasure Island during the daytime, using it as a shortcut from the Marketplace to the West Side. But the gates to the area were closed each day at 7 p.m. and the entry fee charged.
Now guests can move freely through Downtown Disney without circumventing Pleasure Island to get from one side to the other.
"It's all about the outside entertainment, like music and fireworks, and the ability to walk through shops," Langley said. Pleasure Island shopping includes airbrush caricatures, apparel stores, desserts, movie memorabilia and carnival games, she said.
Local experts said that, with its new approach, Disney is simply embracing a common marketing practice by testing a variation in its pricing formula.
The experiment might reveal that it's more lucrative for Disney not to charge guests to enter Pleasure Island, said Abraham Pizam, dean of the University of Central Florida's Rosen School of Hospitality Management.
"What they have done has worked for years, but if you let people wander around and buy things in other outlets without entering the bars, the profits might be higher," he said. "After the experimental period, they will compare profits from recent years to this year and see the results."
The added foot traffic might even boost attendance at the nightclubs because of the increased exposure to people visiting West Side or the Marketplace, said Steve Baker, a former Disney executive who runs Baker Leisure Group, an Orlando consulting firm.
"It will bring more mass to the area and spread what is there," Baker said. Disney's West Side, for example, includes a Cirque du Soleil, House of Blues, Virgin Megastore and 24-screen movie theater.
"Overall, it's a good test and I think they will learn a lot," he said.
The change isn't likely a reaction to some competitive threat, the experts said, though a downtown Orlando booster touted the city center's growing mix of cultural, entertainment and dining opportunities.
"We're an authentic choice for Central Floridians, and there's no entry fee," said Frank Billingsley, executive director of the Downtown Development Board.
Downtown was once home to Church Street Station, the granddaddy of all nighttime-entertainment complexes.
At the height of its popularity in the mid-1980s, the collection of bars and restaurants on Church Street between the CSX railroad tracks and Garland Avenue was the fourth-largest tourist attraction in the state, based on annual attendance. But the complex, which charged a single admission to its themed bars and nightclubs, fell on hard times after Disney opened Pleasure Island in 1989 and Universal debuted CityWalk a decade later. By 2001, it had changed hands several times and had ceased operations almost entirely.
"Downtown is not a threat" to Pleasure Island, Baker said, "and it won't be for quite a while. I don't think this move is about competition."
Although neither Disney nor Universal reveals attendance figures or operating results, Pizam said business appears to be strong at both of their nighttime venues.
"We don't know average expenditures at either Pleasure Island or CityWalk, but it's pretty full at both places," he said. "There's no sign of trouble."