Featured Image Courtesy: Laughing Place
It is widely known that Walt Disney Imagineers really do love the long gone Adventurer’s Club that once resided in Disney World’s Pleasure Island. Even to this day, they’re busy making references to the club that closed in 2008… its props and interior gutted, then sent to Hong Kong for a new attraction there.
The back of the plane appears to have “AC 589” on it. The Adventurer’s Club opened May 1989. https://t.co/j0PGSzKPy8 pic.twitter.com/3jdD9TdSTJ
— WDW News Today (@WDWNT) July 24, 2021
Well, the rumor mill has been at it again, this time from the WDW Magic forums where a user named “Literally Nobody” has started a thread titled “Kungaloosh“. “Literally Nobody” does, in fact, have connections with various projects around Walt Disney World, and I have received exclusive tips from this user in the past in regards to rumors that turned out to be true. Within the thread about new A.C. possibilities, user Roso11 provided an image of text from former WDI member C McNair Wilson:
So what’s going on?
Having spoken with several insiders, here are some things that I think are accurate:
- I do not believe there are any current plans to return a new version of the Adventurer’s Club to Walt Disney World. As we can see in the image above, there’s interest but no commitment to anything from Disney Parks and/or WDI.
- What is likely driving some of this interest is the real work on an Escape Room concept we’ve discussed here on this website in the past. That project was under development prior to the pandemic, but was shelved. I believe that it has been picked back up again with some modifications from before the world shut down for a bit.
- The Escape Room is based on the S.E.A. theme, itself a connection to the Adventurer’s Club, and is likely to be constructed at the Polynesian or one other location (the Polynesian is what I’m hearing). Sarasota Springs has been tossed around, but I have at least one source saying that has been ruled out.
So that’s where we’re at. WDW has an abundance of cap ex funding for this year due to a decision to move Tron completion off until 2023. Some projects are being looked at for resurrection after being swept away by the pandemic… but a full-blown Adventurer’s Club restoration is not on the table yet. That could change at any point given the interest in the experience. I personally think it would be a fantastic addition to Disney’s Boardwalk. I imagine the lines and enthusiasm at opening would be incredible.
So give me your thoughts on Disney bringing back the Adventurer’s Club? Did you ever go when it was around? What were your thoughts? Let me know in the comments below!
