{"id":40675,"date":"2015-07-28T12:00:43","date_gmt":"2015-07-28T16:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/?p=40675"},"modified":"2022-04-12T13:41:26","modified_gmt":"2022-04-12T17:41:26","slug":"lunch-club-33","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/lunch-club-33\/","title":{"rendered":"Lunch at Club 33"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"pinable\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I had lunch at Club 33.\u00a0 I still have trouble believing that statement 19 months later.\u00a0 I was gifted an amazing opportunity to go inside the private club Walt had built to entertain dignitaries and celebrities at Disneyland.<\/p>\n

What is Club 33?<\/p>\n

When Walt was working with corporate promoters at the 1964-65 World’s Fair, he noticed VIP lounges that were set up for the corporate elite and decided he would like to offer this as well at Disneyland.\u00a0 When the plans were being made for New Orleans Square, he included this exclusive area.\u00a0 Walt didn’t want the public to know that\u00a0Disneyland had a\u00a0liquor\u00a0license, so he used the address of 33 Royal St on the permit\u00a0and the name Club 33 came to be. \u00a0Originally, Walt wanted this club for the Disneyland corporate sponsors and industry VIP’s but individual memberships were offered when the club opened.\u00a0 Walt passed away 6 months\u00a0before the club opened on June 15, 1967.<\/p>\n

\"imageedit_2_2067875768\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Memberships don’t come cheap and in 2011, there was a 14 year wait list.\u00a0 Membership Initiation in 2012 cost $40,000 for corporations and $27,000 for individuals.\u00a0 Annual Dues ran around $12,000 yearly.\u00a0 You cannot get into this club without a membership or as an invited\u00a0guest of a member.\u00a0 I never thought I would get a chance to go inside\u00a0and experience a meal.\u00a0 A friend of mine was given an invite where she could include a few friends and I was one of those lucky friends.\u00a0 To the anonymous member who gifted her and our group this courtesy, thank you from the bottom of my heart.\u00a0 You made a Disney fan very happy!!<\/p>\n

Our lunch was in December 2013, right before they were going to close down for an extensive refurbishment.\u00a0 I really\u00a0appreciated getting\u00a0to see the club as Walt had imagined it.\u00a0 Our lunch time was at 2:00 p.m. and our small group gathered outside of the Club 33 door.\u00a0 They ask that you wait until your reservation time to push the intercom button to the hostess.\u00a0 You give the hostess the\u00a0name on the reservation and\u00a0she will let you in.<\/p>\n

You steeped inside to the small lobby and were in awe of the beautiful rich red colors.\u00a0\u00a0Stunning paintings, brass railings & the impressive French lift draw your attention immediately.\u00a0 The French Lift was an exact replica of a lift in Paris that\u00a0Walt fell in love with while vacationing.\u00a0\u00a0 Walt\u00a0asked the owner if he would sell\u00a0the lift and\u00a0 the owner declined. \u00a0When Walt returned, he sent back a team of his engineers to get exact\u00a0measurements of the lift and to attain a small sample off the back to ensure the proper finish.<\/p>\n

\"imageedit_2_6649040058\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"imageedit_2_7467784173\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When your table is ready, you have the option of taking the lift (3 people max) or the stairs.\u00a0 Our group split up so all of us could take the lift upstairs.\u00a0 When we stepped off, the host\/hostess greeted us and escorted us to our table.\u00a0 We were seated in the private dining room, known as the Trophy Room.\u00a0 We were thrilled to be seated in here, as this room would be no more after the remodel.\u00a0 This area would be made into a dedicated kitchen for Club 33.\u00a0 The Trophy Room had 2 large round tables and a long rectangle table.<\/p>\n

\"imageedit_2_2929780870\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"imageedit_2_9209240514\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The dark wood paneling\u00a0was originally\u00a0adorned with native spears, masks and skulls but with a remodel imminent, a lot of the original pieces had been removed by the family.\u00a0 Lillian decided to add a female touch to the room by adding butterflies on the wall, but when one of them went missing, the family removed them and now a few of them can be seen at the Disney Family Museum in San Francisco.<\/p>\n

\"imageedit_2_5851840447\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"imageedit_2_5425546161\"<\/a> \"imageedit_2_5443965252\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Walt originally had an idea of placing a microphone in the light fixture above the table so he could overhear the conversations and then have his audio-animatronic characters respond, but the system was never fully implemented but the microphones still remain.\u00a0 The animals did talk up a storm in this room, but all of these were long gone.<\/p>\n

Once we were seated, we were given the lunch menu.\u00a0 Choosing what to have was difficult, as the menu had some very tempting dishes.<\/p>\n

\"imageedit_2_2223038587\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"imageedit_2_5013146780\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Our table was given a Club 33 Cordial or starter\/tasting plate of Plateau de Fruits de Mer<\/em>, which is French for a seafood platter.\u00a0 The platter contained shrimp, lobster tail and crab claws on ice.\u00a0 Two members of our party don’t eat shellfish and received a plate of grilled then chilled vegetables.\u00a0 The fried piece on top remains a mystery, no one could figure out what it was as the consistency was a bit strange.<\/p>\n

\"imageedit_2_3481447290\"<\/a> \"imageedit_2_9100607976\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The next course was our appetizers.\u00a0 My son Tyler was my dining partner at this dream meal and he ordered the Butternut Squash and Gala Apple Bisque~~<\/em>Curried Root Vegetable Compote, Pumpkin Seed Oil and Dehydrated Apples.\u00a0 I chose the Pan Seared Bay Boat Scallop~~<\/em>Black Pearl Osetra Cavier, Aromatic Risotto Croquette and Brussels Sprout Emulsion.<\/p>\n

\"imageedit_2_9978281293\"<\/a> \"imageedit_2_5097104806\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The entr\u00e9e course for Tyler was the Colorado Rack of Lamb~~<\/em>Salsify & Black Garlic Crust, Creamy Polenta and Saga Blue Balsamic Reduction.\u00a0 I stayed with the seafood theme and had the Zahtar Spiced Grilled Arctic Char~~<\/em>Caramelized Forest Mushroom, Celery Root and Sweet Potato Hash and a Pomegranate Jus.\u00a0 So what exactly is Zahtar Spice??\u00a0 Our waiter described it as a Mediterranean Spice that isn’t hot or contain curry.\u00a0 It was very good, but I couldn’t explain it if I tried.<\/p>\n

\"imageedit_2_3990289263\"<\/a> \"imageedit_2_4196634113\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After a very fulfilling meal, you are able to head to the area between the Trophy Room and the Main Dining Room for the Dessert Buffet.\u00a0 The bar is also located in this area.<\/p>\n

\"imageedit_2_2611670807\"<\/a> \"imageedit_2_6319293648\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"imageedit_2_2916929259\"<\/a> \"imageedit_2_5858773794\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Tyler & I chose the Angel Food Cake, Bailey’s Cream Filled \u00c9clair, Fruit Tartlet, Eggnog Cheesecake, Chocolate Mint Mousse, Gingerbread Cookie Shingle and Hot Chocolate.<\/p>\n

\"imageedit_2_2074140526\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was very impressed with our entire meal.\u00a0 Tyler and I shared tastes of each other’s selections and I don’t think there is a wrong choice.\u00a0 The plates are presented beautifully and our waiter was very attentive.\u00a0 He even shared stories with us about his experiences over the number of years he had worked here.<\/p>\n

After dinner, we were able to wander around a get some pictures, but unfortunately, the main dining room was being prepped for a private event and so we never really saw this room.\u00a0 We did take a couple pictures in the restrooms, even these rooms were elaborately decorated.<\/p>\n

\"imageedit_2_2215504009\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"imageedit_2_6818916689\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"imageedit_2_7298326164\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\"imageedit_2_7872506443\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Grandfather Clock and Phone Booth outside of the Trophy Room.<\/p>\n

\"imageedit_2_6127084743\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"imageedit_2_7294317662\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"imageedit_2_5122327554\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The last thing we did was check out the case of Club 33 merchandise.\u00a0 We picked out a few mementos to celebrate our fabulous visit to Club 33.<\/p>\n

\"imageedit_2_2565888948\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"imageedit_2_6150742705\"<\/a> \"imageedit_2_2606858029\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Club 33 closed for the first\u00a06 months in 2014 for a major refurbishment that included taking over the Court of Angels area for the new entrance and waiting area.\u00a0 I loved this little\u00a0tucked away\u00a0area in New Orleans Square\u00a0and was sad to hear that it would no longer be available to the public.<\/p>\n

\"imageedit_2_4290508799\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"imageedit_2_8426686313\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I would love to see all the changes but if I never get that opportunity, that’s okay.\u00a0 I got to see it as Walt wanted it to be.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Have you visited Club 33 ever? What are your thoughts?<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had lunch at Club 33.\u00a0 I still have trouble believing that statement 19 months later.\u00a0 I was gifted an amazing opportunity to go inside the private club Walt had built to entertain dignitaries and celebrities at Disneyland. What is Club 33? When Walt was working with corporate promoters at the 1964-65 World’s Fair, he…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":40728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4319,506],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-disneyland-travel","category-resort-menus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40675"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40675\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40910,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40675\/revisions\/40910"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}