History
The Adventurers Club opened with the rest of Pleasure Island on May 1, 1989 as part of a fictional legend about the island's previous owner, Merriweather Adam Pleasure, and back-story describing each of the buildings' former uses. Disney's Imagineers led by Head Writer, Show Producer and Show Director, Roger Cox and designer Joe Rohde (who later designed Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park) conceived and created the club.
The Adventurers Club's unlikely hero, Emil Bleehall, is based on a semi-autobiographical character Cox created. He is a little guy from Ohio who wins over the higher authorities and gains their respect and admiration with his seemingly awkward, modest, but ultimately unique crowd-pleasing talents. Cox felt it paralleled his own story at Disney. A docudramatic version of Cox’s journey at Disney by Sandra Tsing Loh, called, "It Happened in Glendale" from her Book, Depth Takes a Holiday was performed on the radio show, This American Life episode "Something for Nothing."
Until December 31, 2005, every night in Pleasure Island was celebrated as New Year's Eve. The clubs show schedule was set to create a break near midnight to allow people to go outside to see the fireworks, and to accommodate the noisy explosions that resulted. One of the launch points for the nightly fireworks was the Adventurers Club's rooftop.
On June 27, 2008 Disney announced the Adventurers Club (along with all other clubs on Pleasure Island) would be closing permanently on September 27, 2008. An online petition to save the club was created at SaveTheAdventurersClub.info by members of the Disney fan community in hopes that Disney would consider moving the club or keeping it open as part of the new Pleasure Island format, and over 2,750 signatures were collected in the first 72 hours. There were also letter writing campaigns to company executives, internet web sites, and blog postings. In February, 2009 Disney announced that Adventurers Club and the dance clubs Motion and Soundstage would reopen for private party rentals at least through September, 2009.
On September 26, 2009 it was confirmed that props from the Club would be sent to Hong Kong Disneyland. The props will be worked into the Mystic Point expansion that was announced at the D23 Expo. A few props which were created by cast members for use in the shows have been sold at auction by the performers who owned them. There are sitings that several "artifacts" from the former Club can now be seen at Trader Sam's in the Disneyland Hotel. Also, Scooter (the stuffed Peacock from the Club) and several other item have a new home high on the walls at D Street in Downtown Disney, Florida. Some items have been internally offered for sale to cast members
The last public performance was held September 27, 2008 to overflowing crowds. The last semi-public event held at the Club occurred on September 25, 2009. It was a convention party for The ConGaloosh Society, Inc, a Florida nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of interactive improvisational theatre. The ConGaloosh Society continues to hold events that bring together fans of the Adventurers Club with cast members in new settings.
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