Flashback Friday: Sympathy for Generation Z, They Will Never Experience Disney's Pleasure Island

Disney is proudly family-friendly. It doesn't do, "Adult," all that much. However, there was a period of time from 1989 through 2008 when one could visit, "Pleasure Island," in Florida. Despite the name, it wasn't particularly explicit in its pleasure. It was simply geared towards grown-ups with nice restaurants, dance clubs, a comedy club, a cigar bar, and the like. I visited Pleasure Island two nights, back in July of 2007 when I was a young rapscallion all of 19. I'd concluded my Freshman year of college, and I had gone to Florida with my mother, who was down there for a convention relating to audiology/speechpathology or such. It was on the Disney property, and family of attendees could visit the park while everyone else did convention sessions. She was at that much of the day and spent time with her family who lived in Florida in the evenings. I tagged along so that during my day I could visit all the parks, ride a bunch of rides, get autographs from the various mascots for kicks (it is humorous watching a gigantic Winnie the Pooh hand try to scrawl in a little autograph book), and on the Friday and Saturday nights we stayed at Disney, I took the bus from the hotel (The Pop Century one was cool!) to Pleasure Island. I know people say nostalgia gives us rose-tinted glasses and some things people think were great actually sucked. That said, ya'll, Pleasure Island was an awesome place.

Again, I know when we see those thinkpieces/memes/whatever by Boomers (and some GenX) about how great it was to flip through a phonebook or deal with a VCR eating a VHS tape and making a mess, we roll our eyes at how they can't appreciate the cool new stuff of today. Pleasure Island has been gone nearly 18 years, having shut down the aspects that made it, "Pleasure Island," on September 27th of 2008 (it is now The Landing and host to various all-ages-friendly shopping and food establishments). It is a bummer, as this was a really cool place in the past! Picture a city block or so worth of land, with people moving between various themed businesses, all having a fun time. Thanks to how this was still a Disney property, anyone rude/beligerent was escorted off the, "Island," and that didn't even seem to be much of an issue with most folks there being on vacation; the vibe was like one big party. 

As I was merely 19, certain clubs generally only allowed those 18-20 in on certain days. Yes, the comedy club and cigar bar were always available (I enjoyed a comedy show, but I've never been a fan of any kind of tobacco), but sometimes you want to dance! That said, on Saturday, I was admitted into the BET Soundstage club even though, that night, it was advertised for those 21 or older. I honestly think the doorman was so impressed with our five-minute or so conversation about the Wu Tang Clan and how Ol' Dirty Bastard was underrated as a lyricist that he figured I couldn't be too young. So there I was, in a two-story club with massive dancefloors for an hour or so before the club closed. It was so fun to dance, take in the atmosphere, and just marvel at how cool Pleasure Island was, with the snazzy places within it. You may agree this sounds exciting or be shrugging in disinterest; either way, you just had to be there.

I never made it to any of the other Disney Clubs, even though I would have loved to visit 8TRAX and its 70's and 80's vibe. I suppose I could've planned to return and check all the places out with ease any night I wanted once I turned 21. That said, when I turned 21 in 2009...well, Pleasure Island was no more. That isn't to say my 21st birthday lacked fun, however. I went bar-hopping with friends around Cortland and only had the slightest hangover the next day thanks to being in my youth (and nowadays I have a drink maybe every two years). Pleasure Island was a happening place back when I was able to check it out, though. Pieces of what it once was remain at, "The Landing," but much was retooled or simply demolished. As a Millennial, I was barely old enough to enjoy Pleasure Island. Now, in 2026, there are plenty of people in their 20s who can go to a club, but back then were still in diapers! Woe be to my Gen Z friends who don't realize what fun they missed!

The kids these days will never know how cool Pleasure Island was! That's a mini-tragedy almost equal to how only Millennials will ever understand the secret methods used to, "Burn," a CD. I mean, would Gen Z think Paradise Island is, "Outdated?" Younger people in their 20s are drinking a lot less, and back then, the reason many went to a club was to have a drink (or socialize/dance, but a chunk of people were mostly after some liquor). If I could magically teleport some 24-year-olds back to those Friday and Saturday nights in July of 2007, would they be into the scene or declare it, "Cringe," within moments?  It's hard to know for sure, but I only went to Pleasure Island a couple of times and thought it was great, so I imagine there are plenty of others with a great fondness for it as well! Does it make sense or is it cringe? I don't know, but as, "Futurama," put it once, "Time makes fools of us all." Still, we burned CDs, ya'll; that was wild!

Teenagers are Being Banned From Going in Public Alone, it Makes Sense They're Cooped Up On Their Phones

When I was a teenager in the now apparently olden days of the early 2000's, we had a variety of tech, but it was a bit less ubiquitous. Cell phones weren't the smartphones we now know. Downloading music via the internet happened, but was more of a dirty little illegal thing compared to buying CDs or burning a mix of songs for your friends. Plus, we often just...hung out. We'd just lounge around a park, sit at a coffee place, aimlessly wander the Mall, lounge at an arcade, or otherwise go out and do random stuff. We Millennials weren't exactly like when Generation X were kids or teenagers, as they'd literally get thrown out of the house by their parents for hours upon hours (told to just come back by the time the streetlights flickered on), but we definitely were out and about more than a lot of Gen Z or younger kiddos. Some people say the ability of teenagers to sit at home and talk with all their friends online, play games with them, and so forth has created less desire to go out and be together in person. However, columnist Rikki Schlott over at the, "New York Post," of all places, hits the nail on the head with her opinion piece, "Teens are being banned from bowling alleys, skating rinks, malls, and theme parks — no wonder they’re on their phones all day."

The NY Post tends to be one of the most intentionally provocative, scandal-focused, tabloid-adjacent papers and websites out there, but when somebody's right, they're right. So many places that used to be hot spots for teenagers to just chill and spend time together now won't even allow anybody under 18 without a parent/legal guardian to be present at certain times (or all the time). Theme parks forbid a small group of teens. Malls will let a sixteen-year-old work in a store, but not go shopping around by themselves. Teens might have a couple of friends with a license and a car they can borrow to drive...but where is there to go? Some movie theaters don't want unaccompanied minors, and even something as simple that I did with friends when I was a teen, like tooling around our town's massive Walmart (there really wasn't much to do in Cortland) might be forbidden in some cities if those teens lack a grown-up by their side.

Yes, teenagers can get in trouble or cause a ruckus. They can be rude, loud, disruptive, or cause a scene. That said, there are plenty of adults doing that all the time (whether sober, drunk, or whatever). Plenty of teenagers are perfectly behaved and polite, and maybe would love the chance to spend a couple of hours at a roller rink with friends, aimlessly zooming around. More and more places don't want teens present, and bluntly, plenty of parents are paranoid about their kiddos going out and doing something without constant supervision or checking in with home on their phone every 15 minutes. When I was a teenager, we at least had the opportunity to choose between staying home and playing a PlayStation 2 or going and killing a couple of hours at Frank and Mary's diner--eating some cheap all-day breakfast--and paradoxically having a lot of fun doing basically nothing. God, I miss that place, and I'm glad it existed long enough that I was able to introduce Samii to it on a couple of visits back to Cortland.

Teens today have a lot fewer opportunities to simply go out and socialize with each other (unless a parent is essentially standing nearby). Sometimes older folks will complain about, "Kids these days," and how easy they have it. That is true in some regards when it comes to how simple it is to access information (asking an AI about an old news story is a lot simpler than scrolling through microfilm), but when it comes to opportunities for social interaction beyond the internet, the youth definitely have a lot fewer opportunities available. I feel bad for, "The kids today," in that regard. I may have had to flip through a phonebook to get the number for a local pizza joint instead of asking Siri, but at least my friends and I could chill at the park, eating that pizza and not get in trouble for just being present there, minding our own business. Times have definitely changed.