The Lone Palm Airport Bar at Universal CityWalk Orlando has reopened, but construction work isn’t done just yet.
Lone Palm Airport Bar Construction
The bar is an extension of Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville and closed for construction in early March. The work comes months after Jimmy Buffett’s plane, the Hemisphere Dancer, was removed from the bar’s patio.
Construction walls remain around the patio. A peek behind the walls shows a freshly paved ground. A few weeks ago, this space was mostly dirt, but it’s been cleaned up, and most construction materials are gone.
Planters sit next to three circular raised concrete platforms. Two of the platforms have poles and wires sticking out of them. We would guess these are to support the plane when it returns.
Crews installed new straw roofing above the actual bar, and it’s now open for business, with chairs and tables returned to the area in front of construction walls.
There is still additional seating down by the waterfront.
When the Hemisphere Dancer was removed last year, Margaritaville said in a statement the plane would return in 2025. The Lone Palm Airport Bar webpage states it is “being refurbished under the care of Buffett’s personal team”. This recent construction was likely to prepare the bar for the plane’s imminent return.
The Hemisphere Dancer is a Grumman HU-16 Albatross seaplane manufactured in 1955. It was originally used by the U.S. Navy. Buffett purchased and restored it in 1995, then naming it the Hemisphere Dancer.
Buffett’s adventures in the plane include an incident recounted in the song “Jamaica Mistaica.” On January 16, 1996, Jamaican police shot at the plane because they thought it was smuggling drugs. Buffett, his wife, two children, U2’s lead singer Bono, and Island Records founder Chris Blackwell were all on board, but, thankfully, no one was hurt.
The Hemisphere Dancer is also featured in Buffett’s memoir, “A Pirate Looks at Fifty,” which chronicles his trip around the Caribbean, Central America, and South America for his 50th birthday.
Jimmy Buffett passed away in 2023 at the age of 76.
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