The Powers That Be at Disney announced on November 18, via their Disney Parks blog, what the future of the late, lamented Pleasure Island entails.  And the vision of Disney’s imagineers is shops, restaurants, a walkway, and . . . dull.

You can read the online announcement here.  What they don’t say is they’re pretty much taking the wrecking ball to the waterside portion of Pleasure Island and expanding it into an attractive walkway that connects the Downtown Disney Marketplace — shops and restaurants — with the Downtown Disney West End — shops and restaurants.  By adding . . . um, shops and restaurants, the Disney bean counters expect to make a lot more money than Pleasure Island ever did, since PI was basically a cash cow only from sunset to 1 a.m.

This may indeed be a huge financial enhancement for the Bank of Walt, but it is another huge blow to Disney fans who want some grown-up entertainment in there that captures the Disney imagination.  Go to the announcement.  The important thing is not their press release verbiage.  It’s the reader comments.

Only two days later, and the news has garnered almost 300 comments.  (These are comments that are safe and non-critical.  There are tons of comments that the Disney censors didn’t post . . . including one of mine that was analytical.  Guess they didn’t like me mentioning revenue and profit margins . . .)  And if you go through them all, you can see for yourself that at least 9 out of 10 want only one thing — something that will fit right into the vision of Hyperion Wharf without a hitch.

They want the Adventurers Club.

Seriously, in light of the Adventurers Club fans across the world, their vocal opinions . . . what do you think the Bank of Walt will do?

Get real.  Profit margins will beat fans every time.

The seat at the bar on the left is where you would usually find my wife on any given night between 1991 and 1992.  I would be occupying the seat to her right.  Our friends and favorite bartenders, Jackie and Ray, would be pouring in front of us while Darin, Mike, Bob, Phil, Tim, Andy, Art, Kris, Phran, Sheila, Leslie, Joan and others made magic come alive all around us.

It’s gone now.  But we have wonderful memories.