Reliving the Past - Kungaloosh

Ever since my trip in 2001 I had wanted to visit a magical place called 'The Adventurers Club', unfortunately we weren't there very long on our 1st visit so we missed out, again in 2007 we failed to pop our heads round the door of this grand establishment... finally 2008 we made it! Despite being up since 6am we just couldn't pass on this opportunity and had one of the best nights out EVER (even though Claude and Arnie got a bit to friendly with me in the mask room much to the disgust/amusement of my father!) Then came the horrendous news that it was closing for good along with the rest of Pleasure Island as it that part of Downtown Disney was not considered family friendly enough...

For those of you who haven't got to experience this amazing place I will give you a little background info...

Everything at Disney has some kind of theme and backstory and the Pleasure Island part of Downtown Disney is no exception. Merriweather Adam Pleasure landed at the shore of what is now Pleasure Island determined to make research lab and development facility for all his eccentric ideas as well as a playground for the well to do his motto being "Fun for all, and all for fun!". Pleasure lived on a show boat with his Wife (Isabella), 2 sons (Stewart & Henry) and his Daughter (Merriam), he set out to be the world foremost supplier of sails which with the out break of world war one and the demand for canvas ensured his fortune. Having out grown the showboat Pleasure and his family moved into a Bermuda style mansion overlooking Lake Buena Vista (which is now the Portobello Yacht Club) in 1918. By 1920 Pleasure had filled the mansion with all manner of exotic artifacts from their travels, his wife became so annoyed about this that she threatened to eject Pleasure from the house unless he found a new home for all his treasures. And thus the Adventurers Club was born.

What is the Adventurers Club (AC)?

The AC was a themed nightclub in Pleasure Island district of Downtown Disney at Walt Disney World styled after and explorer's club house at the turn of the last century. Guests were greeted by Graves the club's English butler as they entered the club on the The Zebra Mezzanine level before descending down to the Main Salon which houses the main bar. In the Main Salon there is a small stage where character actors would perform skits like the new member induction ceremonies, this was also home to Colonel Critchlow Suchbench (a cable controlled puppet) who would appear in his own private box over looking the main area,to help with festivities. The walls of the club are filled with many artifacts from all round the globe many of which are enchanted and would randomly come to life, one of the largest being Babylonia a giant stone face of the goddess of women and all things fertile. Off of the main Salon there were 3 rooms the treasure room, the mask room and the library, each one hosting different shows and events. The mask room was host to one of our family's happiest memories of the club, the walls are covered in masks from all over the world some of which come to life all led by 2 greek masks called Claude and Arnie. Firstly the picked on poor Joe who was wearing a retro T-shirt then their attention turned to me (I stood out like a sore thumb being the only person wearing a dress and right in their field of vision) and for the next 15 mins I was the butt of their 'Carry On' style humour, my dad tried to act horrified at their comments but I saw him smirk a few times! We then moved on to the Library where the main shows are hosted (these are the ones which are a bit more scripted than the improvisation in the smaller rooms), the show we viewed was the The RadioThon where they need to raise $2000 to keep the lease on their club. Obviously they always hit the figure... except on the very last night the AC was open which added to the story of it being shut down. There are far too many details to tell you about this fabulous club so if you want to find out more about what went on there wikipedia has some great info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventurers_Club


Virtual Adventurers Club

So the inspiration behind this post was a fabulous project finished by a guy known online as Brerben who has painstakingly recreated it using a mod of the half life 2 gaming engine. It took over a year and a half of 2 hour dedicated nightly session to complete and features many interactive elements that could be experienced in the real life club. When asked why he embarked on such a project he responded:
"the hope that someone (wealthy) will someday be able to use my video to build their very own Adventurers Club to the exact same specifications as the original one. A far-fetched dream, but you never know…”

Here is a video of the virtual club


if you are interested in downloading it you can grab it here