Post #106453 by donhonyc on Thu, Aug 5, 2004 9:50 AM

Name:Bamboo Lounge
Type:bar
Street:4849 W. HWY 192
City:Kissimee/Orlando
State:FL
Zip:
country:USA
Phone:
Status:operational

Description:
Tiki Road Trip describes this place as 'ramshackle' which is being kind. This place is downright scary! And the thing is, I didn't even go into the place! Located on one of the main hotel drags in Kissimee/Orlando the Bamboo Lounge is hard to find, at least at night. On this main drag their seems to be two worlds; the world of the newer nicer hotels on one end, and the world of the scary old hotels that probably saw better days in the early years of Disney World on the other. That said, I don't have to tell you where the Bamboo is. When I asked the bartender at the Radisson (where I was staying while visiting Disney World) about the Bamboo Lounge, she immediately laughed and said "that place is a HOLE!". Well I have been to many 'holes' (crappy bars that is) in my day, so I decided to give it a go. What's the big deal, right? Like I said this place is hard to find at night. After going up and down Hwy 192 a few times, we finally found it. A small shack with no sign, and no lights accessible from the highway only by a small dirt road into a small dirt 'parking lot'. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) the place was closed. A handwritten note on the door mentioned something about plumbing problems, and it would be reopening soon. Even if it was open, I don't think my fiance' was willing to go in there, and she's usually not squemish about stuff like that. Hell...it freaked me out a little too! To put it plainly The Bamboo Lounge looks like one of those bars you see on 'Cops' when some toothless white-trash guy or girl staggers out only to be busted for DUI a few minutes later after trying to drive their decaying 1979 Caprice back home, if you know what I'm saying. It also reminded me of a place that would be talked about on 'America's Most Wanted'. I'm not kidding. I can just picture John Walsh saying "...this cold blooded killer is on the loose. Last seen at the Bamboo Lounge in Kisimee, Florida."

The next day we drove by the Bamboo unsuspectingly. It looked totally different in the daylight. At that point you could see an old airplane fuselage and a small airport 'control tower' (which looked more like a lifeguard tower) with a windsock flying above it in the dirt parking lot. So I guess this place actually worked on some sort of South Pacific WWII/Tiki theme.

If anybody out there actually gets to go in this place, I would love to hear about it. I'm sure it may look worse than it really is. But from what I saw, I would say enter at your own risk.

[ Edited by: donhonyc on 2004-08-05 10:27 ]