67 - Pleasure Island Part II

Welcome to Episode 67 of the RetroWDW Podcast: "Pleasure Island Part II - We appreciate your support and hope you have been enjoying each and every episode. Be sure to check out some of our previous shows from over the years. We have visited multiple parks, resorts, and just about everything else in between. We hope you stick with us through 2021 as we bring you some great content that will take you back to WDW each month.  Enjoy!

Listener Mail

Right to the mailbag this month! The bag is full and we love that! Every month, you can possibly get on the show, so be sure to write to us at podcast@retrowdw.com. Also, top-tier donors can even join us on a show! Take a look at how you can join us live on an episode.

1. Our first letter is from way back in July of 2020! Jimmy Tucker wrote us about 'Walt Disney World: The First Decade'. We discuss the various hardcover books that have come out as souvenir books and they are loaded with pictures. Everyone chimes in with the various ones in their collections, as these were very popular during the anniversaries they were celebrating.
2. Lanie from Boston wrote us and she successfully made Lime Chiffon Pie. It looked absolutely amazing and we are not only jealous of your pie, but also that view you have there. Take a look at this masterpiece - thanks for sharing!
3. John wrote us about butter! He remembers the butter at the Brown Derby, shaped like a derby hat. We have a memory of this, but no photos. If you have any photos of this, please share them with us as we would love to see them and add these images to the site.
4. Paul is up next and he wants to discuss The Boardwalk and their famous clown slide. He is curious if there is a Bozo The Clown reference tied in here....
5. We had numerous people write in about Pinocchio Village Haus and all of the seating options. Well, we are corrected, and still being corrected! Also, Brian was correct originally.
6. Linda called and left us a voicemail, asking if we were all ok. That was super nice and we appreciate you reaching out, along with all of the other kind messages.
7. Our last message is from Matthew, he works for the Space Foundation Discovery Center in Colorado Springs. He is super curious about this craft that is in their possession. This was inside EPCOT in the fall of 1998. Take a look, and let us know if you have any info or remember seeing this inside EPCOT.

Main Topic

For this episode, we continue where we left off on the first episode of this series, Pleasure Island Part I. If you missed Part I, please take a minute to download that episode and get caught up. How is once again leading us and we are so excited to get into the 90s where Pleasure Island went through some changes. Within a few months of opening, we learn that it wasn't drawing the crowds that were expected. There is no official statement, but How speculates the access was an issue, meaning a ticketing problem. Todd also throws in that the changing access and idea of it being different, day and night, could have been a concern. Finally, confusing ticketing could have added to problems as well. How gives us some inflation prices on tickets and we learn that it was super expensive back when it opened. Either way, changes were needed and we get to discuss these next.

How gives us the history of age limits and how this changed over the years. Some clubs never allowed guests under 21 years old, but this did change a bit from time to time. One fun bit of history that is almost never forgotten, the Fort Wilderness Railroad train cars were repurposed as ticket booths right off the island, obviously colored in the amazing 90s color scheme. One of the big draws, the roller skating at XZFR, mysteriously stopped randomly at one point. How gets into some of the rumors and also busts a pretty large myth on this one. We continue to get into the changes and clubs being renamed, as this seemed like a regular occurrence every few years. The side attractions were a big deal too: Orbitrons, Velcro Walls, Ice Luges, Test Tube Shots, and so much more. All of these things added another layer of fun and excitement to a night out.

Overall, Pleasure Island somewhat had a heyday and if you are curious about what happened during this time period, this episode is what you want to listen to. Disney really worked hard to make this work with the constant changes and updates, but as we'll learn in the near future, things didn't last forever. Over the years, there were even more changes and modifications to the island, which we will get into in a future episode.

2021: Year Two of The Film

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Next Month

• Join us next time for Episode 68, where we take you back to EPCOT Center once again.
  
• We have another movie night coming soon too...  Subscribe on YouTube so you are ready.