AMC Dine-In Disney Springs 24
1500 Buena Vista Drive,
Lake Buena Vista,
FL
32830
1500 Buena Vista Drive,
Lake Buena Vista,
FL
32830
20 people
favorited this theater
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Six screening rooms (on the Planet Hollywood) at this megaplex have been converted to AMC’s dine-and-view concept: View link.
Here’s some pics – View link – It looks like there are at least two bars – one on the first floor next to the “new” concession stand by Theaters 1 and 2 and one on the mezzine level for Theaters 1 & 2 (where they had a short lived cafe I believe for a few years). The Concession Stand of the Future looks like it has an impressive selection including flavored popcorn (the large is $9.75!) and includes the new Coke Freestyle machines.
The theater predates “Downtown Disney” – it’s original 10-screen configuration was an entertainment anchor of Pleasure Island, along with Planet Hollywood (both were off Pleasure Island proper, ie: allowing access to those 21 and under after 6PM without an adult). The theatre expanded to 24 screens with the opening of Downtown Disney West Side and got a second box office and entrance adjacent to the now defunct Virgin Megastore.
The theater is also getting a Fork & Screen “upgrade” (my guess is the original concession stand adjacent to Hyperon Wharf (a re-envisioning of Pleasure Island and open in 2013) will become McGuffins and the 5 right side theaters will become the Fork & Screen auditoriums). Perhaps other upgrades (as suggested by cgimovieman) will occur in the transition as AMC has opened a “Concession Stand of the future” (http://www.laughingplace.com/News-ID513430.asp) – which sounds similar but more extensive version of what Drive-Ins have and the “express” concession General Cinema tried and abandoned in their newer plexes a few years before AMC bought them. AMC is doing weird stuff lately.
I guess because Pleasure Island doesn’t really exist anymore. Used to be a fun place….
Since January 1, this theatre is now named “AMC Downtown Disney 24 Theatres”
it’s AMC’s answer to IMAX, Regal’s RPX and Cinemark’s XD systems where the auditorium is upgraded to feature the largest screen possible – 4K digial projection w/ 3D and custom sound where a multitude of speakers are placed in, around and behind the screen
It stands for “Enhanced Theater Experience,” a trade name that AMC uses for for its large format, non-IMAX screens.
ETX: ‘Enhanced Theatre Experience’
Ok, would someone please tell what ETX means?
The AMc Pleasure Island 24 only has 1 ETX screen, according to the AMC website. I don’t know if it’s Screen #1 or Screen #2 (the ones by the now shuttered Virgin megastore)
This unfortunate reality seems to mirror how Disney has let Pleasure Island itself to be destroyed. The whole area around Pleasure Island is a shadow of what it once was in the 1990’s. Sad.
I can remember this theater in the 90’s. It was a true gem. Premieres (I think just for the U.S.) were held here for Dick Tracy and The Rocketeer in the early few years of the 90’s. It’s theaters 19 and 20 were two of the only THX certified theaters in the whole state of Florida. I’ve lived right near them now for a good 13 years, but in the years before then I used to come down to Orlando on vacation and marvel at how first class AMC Pleasure Island was. It had 3 separate concession stands (one at each end and one in the center), a specifically made round customer service desk in the center, great video game areas, and a small room near the south entrance that held self-serve ticket kiosks. It also kept right up to date with all of the projection and sound format technologies in all of it’s theaters big and small. Sadly now in recent years, I have very seldom gone back to AMC Pleasure Island. The center concession stand and customer service desk have been completely removed, the small specialty room with it’s kiosks is closed up, most of it’s video games have been removed and the few remaining are pretty horrible, and the theater in general doesn’t have the “premiere” feel that it used to. Most disappointing, the technologies and physical layouts in the theaters have had little update. A good 6 of it’s theaters (17, 18, and 21-24) do not even have stadium seating, but rather a more bowl-shaped array of seats rising slightly in the front and back with a trough-like feel in the center. Most of it’s theaters have no digital projection and a very small array of surround speakers. In some theaters these surrounds only number around 4 (2 on each side). It has made some improvements to it’s biggest theaters. Screens 1 and 2 as I understand have had screen, sound, and projection changes and are now labeled under AMC’s EXT name. Theaters 19 and 20 (the two old THX theaters) lost their THX certification several years ago now, I believe for the added financial cost of THX’s rigorous regular testing, but are still 2 of the 4 biggest screens. These two have had digital projectors off and on in the past several years, but I’ve never been able to figure out when they utilize that technology and when they do not. I believe they each have both traditional film projectors as well as DLP, but depending on the film, do not use the DLP. In a time where some theater complexes such as Rave have ALL digital projection and are uniform throughout, I’ve never been able to understand why AMC has not kept up AMC Pleasure Island 24 with it being in such a premiere location. I have written AMC corporate several letters over the years explaining this, but the only response has been a “thanks for your comments” and being thrown the bone of a free movie ticket. However nothing much as been done to address the concerns. I long for the good ‘ol days of this theater in the 90’s when it truly was world-class.
okay… another question: has the EXT screen been upgraded to 7.1 sound for Friday’s opening of ‘Toy Story 3’??
so… can someone here check out ‘Kick Ass’ on the EXT screen and report back with their thoughts on the system? I’d really like know what other theatres in the AMC chain, corporate wants to convert
The theater is in the news as analysts downgraded IMAX stock on word that AMC will install an EXT (Enhanced Theater Experience) at the complex. EXT boast a 20% larger, wall to wall screen, to compete with the digital IMAX and Cinemark’s Extreme Digital (XD) system which is the same thing. Essentially EXT was developed when AMC couldn’t install an IMAX at Younge & Dundas in Toronto (Scotiabank Theatre about a half mile away has one, and AMC and Scotiabank share a booking zone). Sadly it’s no big deal, or at least not when I saw a character driven drama at the Toronto International Film Festival in EXT.
Claims are IMAX rejected the auditorium for conversion – I’m not so sure this is true. Regal, when they purchased the Muvico Pointe Orlando (which had an IMAX, closed it, and Regal re-opened both the IMAX and the complex) – might have beat AMC to the punch, they may have an exclusive territory for IMAX in greater Orlando (although AMC Altamonte Mall has IMAX).
Theater chains developing their own digital large screen experiences is a direct result of IMAX giving exclusive rights to certain territories. Which is why Cinemark decided to develop their own system (IMAX is now suing them claiming copyright infringement).
I usually wind up going here on rainy days if in the disney area, and I guess everyone always has the same idea, as the place was packed when I went there back in january….almost uncomfortably so as almost every seat was filled!
So far, the only seat count I was able to get from the AMC pleasure Island 24 was 188 seats in House #22.
Correction on original Theatre numbers: current House #24 was Original house #2, and current House #23 was original House #1
Thanks so much Mike for that information. I was in the theater when it was first built, and couldn’t figure out how the layout used to be when I was there earlier this year.
I would assume that the retrofitted theatres with Stadium Seating are Theatres #19 and 20?
The original left wing of the AMC Pleasure Island 10 Theatre is now Theatres #20-24 (#24 was original #1, #23 was original #2, #22 was original #3, #21 was original #4, and #20 was original #5). The right wing has Theatre #19 (original #6), Theatre #18 (original Theatre #10) and Theatre #17 (Original Theatre #9), with the location of original Theatres #7 and #8 is now a hallway to reach Theatres #1 to #16, with #13 to #16’s screens in the spot where Original #8’s right side wall used to be.
Does anyone know thow many seats are in each auditorium at Pleasure Island 24?
1994 was pre-expansion back when it was still a 10-plex (I saw The Truth About Cats and Dogs while on vacation there) – the 24 screens I think arrived in 1996 (14 new stadium theatres and 4 retrofitted). I belive the main houses (which are quite an experience) – now theaters 1 and 2 (at the new entrance across from Virgin Megastore and Wolfgang Punk) are THX certified, as for the rest I’m not quite sure, but whats the big deal with THX anyway, it’s pretty much a scam.
The former main houses (the two located next to the snack bar in the old 10 plexes) were retrofitted with stadium seating.
It’s been 11 years since I’ve experienced this theatre. I had the pleasure of doing a summer internship w/Disney in 1994. That was the summer of Lion King, Forrest Gump, True Lies, and Speed! I still remember seeing all 4 of those films in the main auditorium in THX and Dolby Digital. A great great summer and a great great theatre!
Are any of the auditoriums still THX certified?
The theatre grew from 10 screens to 24 with the expansion of Downtown Disney to include the West Side district (probably explaining why this movie theatre is still known as the Pleasure Island 24 even though it doesn’t call the Pleasure Island district its home anymore. A few of the orginal screens are still there (I belive they have 18 theatres with stadium seating). The entire left wing (except for a retrofitted-with-stadium screen) is nearly intact from the days of the AMC 10-plex, as is the orginal loby (nearest to Planet Hollywood). The other loby (across from Virgin Megastore) is new and includes the gigantic screens 1 and 2, both with balconies.
i love amc pi. so many wonderful memories. and the tickets are reasonably priced, as are the snacks (well, as reasonably for a movie theatre!) which is surprising because it’s on property.
the movies that show there show all day long, new movies show about every 30 minutes to an hour, and they have about 18 different movies at any given time, so i wouldn’t ever worry about not having something to see. it’s definitely the kind of place that you just decide to go to a movie and then drive there and pick something out, any time of day or night.
Hey Bway…
You’re right, the AMC Pleasure Island is a magnificent megaplex and when I lived in Orlando was my favorite theatre to go to. This was only the second Mega I’d ever been to just after being totally dissapointed when I’d gone to the Regal 22 Oviedo Marketplace with it’s lousy projection and sound and unremarkable interiors. Unlike Oviedo, Pleasure Island is what every Megaplex should be like. Another O-Town Mega worth mentioning is Muvico’s Pointe Orlando with it’s Imax screen.