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Favorite club/hang out at CityWalk?

Jul 9, 2010
779
30
Charleston, SC
I don't really spend much time in CityWalk, usually its to grab food before, after, or in between parks. Whats your favorite place to grab a snack/drink and unwind in CityWalk at the end of the day?
 
I don't really spend much time in CityWalk, usually its to grab food before, after, or in between parks. Whats your favorite place to grab a snack/drink and unwind in CityWalk at the end of the day?

Honestly I am likely to get a lot of slack for this but...

The Rising Star.

It is the best Karoke gets. That may not be saying much. But it is upper class Karoke, again sort of an Oxy Moron. But the novelty of having a live band backing someone is so cool. I have done it three times and even on nights the live band is not backing it is really neat. The price to get in for cover was not terrible, but most of the time I did not pay while I worked at Disney because they let CMs come in Free on some nights. I believe it was Thursday at one point. They considered it Hospitality nights.

Also certain nights where it is rainy or it just seems so dead quiet in there they will sometimes drop the cover charge thinking you will just pay more for food/drinks.

Its good entertaining fun and a positive atmosphere for someone like me who does not really go for the alcohol nor club.
 
Honestly I am likely to get a lot of slack for this but...

The Rising Star.

It is the best Karoke gets. That may not be saying much. But it is upper class Karoke, again sort of an Oxy Moron. But the novelty of having a live band backing someone is so cool. I have done it three times and even on nights the live band is not backing it is really neat. The price to get in for cover was not terrible, but most of the time I did not pay while I worked at Disney because they let CMs come in Free on some nights. I believe it was Thursday at one point. They considered it Hospitality nights.

Also certain nights where it is rainy or it just seems so dead quiet in there they will sometimes drop the cover charge thinking you will just pay more for food/drinks.

Its good entertaining fun and a positive atmosphere for someone like me who does not really go for the alcohol nor club.

That sounds like what I'm looking for. I'm not worried about the cover (i have a premier AP) and I'm not looking to go clubbing or get wasted. What's the food selection like?
 
I too am a fan of Rising Star. I'm below the age of 21 though so it knocks a lot of the different clubs out. Their menu is all appetizers so it's a good place to go and get a few appetizers with friends and just share them. The people that sing are usually all pretty decent and it's usually an entertaining time.
 
Rising Star is now at the top of my list! any others?

Which other venues do you guys recommend i avoid?

(knowing im not going there to party/dance and that im going to hang out and chill)
 
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Food is very expensive but it is mainly a bar entertainment venue so snacks are always pricey. The quality is that maybe a tad over Applebees or about the same but if you are there and want to snack go for it.
 
Rising Star is mine as well. The only other place I'll go in Citywalk is Cigarz. Cigarz or Fat Tuesdays for drinks if you're of age, and then meander back to Rising Star.
 
My favorite is to grab a Fat Tuesday's with the extra shot. Then head over to Cigarz to grab a cigar and sit and people watch with my cigar and drink.
 
Hands down my favorite place is the dueling piano bar at Pat o'Briens. One of my favorite places to unwind at Universal Orlando and not to mention the Hurricanes are mighty good :happy:
 
Sorry I have never been to Jellyrolls, I've walked by but never stopped in. I'd imagine its similar to all other dueling piano bars. Pats is a little on the smaller side so sometimes it's hard to find a table if you get there late.
 
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I'll post a quick reply, because I actually had the opportunity to visit several of the clubs and bars last Saturday night.

Let me preface this post with a quick explanation: my wife, my two best friends, and I visit HHN every year (minus the last two years). Ever since our first trip in 2005, we have been waiting until we were all 21 to visit all of the CityWalk venues. Well, this was the first year that we went where everyone was of age. Needless to say, we may have over-hyped these places in our minds over the years. Here are my feelings on each place that we visited in a quick review-style format.

The Groove - So this obviously seems to be the signature spot for nightlife entertainment at CityWalk, at least according to the advertisements I've seen. For that reason, this was the one we were looking forward to the most. That being said, we were a bit disappointed. Compared to our expectations, we all agreed that this place was very small (this turned out to be a recurring theme). For a city like Orlando and a resort like UO, this place is TINY. While I have been to overcrowded clubs in the past, I just couldn't wrap my mind around the decision to make this place so small given the number of people who visit UO. Aside from that, I didn't really find it to be much to look at. The different "rooms" were nothing more than places to sit, and the dance floor and music setup was generic at best. We stayed for about 15 minutes before losing interest and moving on.

Latin Quarter - Again, this place was smaller than we thought it would be, but I really liked the nighttime sky inside of the building, as well as the bit of theming that was present. Granted, if music of Latin American origin is not your thing, then you may not find this place all that exciting. We thought it was refreshing compared to the typical techno-centric music of most clubs you go to. We definitely had more fun here than at the Groove, but still only stayed for about 30 minutes before leaving.

The Red Coconut Club - Boring. Uninteresting. I could see that they were going for a kind of swanky lounge feel, but I don't think it worked. As before, this place was also very small.

The Rising Star - I will echo the sentiments of some earlier posts: most fun we had all night. No one in my group chose to take to the stage, but we had a ton of fun singing along with the brave souls who did. The place is set up very well, and I was very impressed by how big it was, given that its still a karaoke bar at its core. We stayed here for a little over an hour, at which point the entertainment concluded for the night. Honestly, this is probably the only place that any of us showed any interest in returning to.

To end, I just wanted to add that Margaritaville was also pretty awesome with an incredible live band last Saturday. I wish I could remember their name, but they did an excellent cover of Devil Went Down to Georgia, complete with fiddle solos. Anyways, if it were me and I were you, I'd say grab a Cheeseburger in Paradise and a margarita at Margaritaville before heading to the Rising Star for drinks and entertainment.
 
^ Glad you were able to find some fun that night. I'm not much one for clubs and have been to them all over the but usually skip them all at City Walk unless its a big group of us and I get suckered into it lol.
 
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