Disneyland's Exclusive Club 33

[BruceWayne]

This is a really amazing website that goes into great detail with some great photos of Disneyland's Club 33. Walt designed the place himself as a place for business associates to meet and mingle for meetings and parties in the park, without having to hassle with the general population. It is also the only place inside Disneyland that serves alchohol.

http://www.disneylandclub33.com/index.html

 

[mkt]

I've been there a few times. Good steak

 

[Lee]

Yep...good steak....and an AMAZING creme brule! :slurp:

 

[isitingood]

That's one place I always visit:sohappy:

 

[darthjohnny]

That's one place I always visit:sohappy:

How can you all visit. Are you saying you are all members?

 

[mkt]

How can you all visit. Are you saying you are all members?

Yup.... we are all members :lol:

 

[darthjohnny]

Yup.... we are all members :lol:

Yeah, I didn't think so....:lookaroun

 

[MainSt1993]

I hate the buffet brunch. But, probably has more to do with the fact that I despise buffets with every fiber of my being. It's a cool place, if you ever get the opportunity to go.

 

[WDWScottieBoy]

It's cool enough just seeing inside it, the food is a whole other thing!

 

[isitingood]

How can you all visit. Are you saying you are all members?

My parents are members so I don't need to be one.

 

[TP2000]

Club 33 is mildly over-rated in my opinion.

I am not a member, but I have been twice recently as a guest of Standard Oil of California (Chevron). The food was good, but not great. The service was good, but not great, and a few CM's were noticeably unpolished around the edges. The facility needed a rehab and deep cleaning and some TLC. The CM's didn't have the art of service down very well, and their management thinks you can bluff your way through good service skills with a big cheesy smile and a dollop of attitude. Sorry kids, you aren't fooling everyone.

I would love to send the entire wait staff of Club 33 down to Studio at Hotel Montage in Laguna Beach for a crash course in service skills. Studio is a restaurant in the same high price range as Club 33, but with service clearly a cut above and flawless menu offerings. Perched on a rocky cliff above the Pacific ocean, the view at Studio is just as stunning as the Rivers of America and Big Thunder Mountain as seen from Club 33. http://www.studiolagunabeach.com/

There are a dozen world-class restaurants within 30 freeway minutes of Disneyland that could easily teach Club 33 a thing or two, and Studio is my personal favorite. Club 33 just doesn't cut it when it comes to modern Orange County, California fine dining.

Club 33 has so much fabulous potential crying out to be tapped. But the details are missing, the service isn't polished enough, and the food doesn't quite meet the price points charged. Club 33 is coasting on the fumes of Walt era elegance, and the sloppy Disney Geeks in jeans and sweatshirts taking digital pictures of their creme brulee really let the place down in the 21st century. It's only has the reputation is does because of its distant 1960's past, and the exotic thrill of having a Martini inside Disneyland.

Club 33 could, and should, be so much more than it currently is.

 

[JLW11Hi]

Well, yeah. Honestly, do you think that most of the people on that huge waiting list are anxious for the "meal" in Club 33? I am guessing most are just there for the luxury of experiencing a piece of Disneyland history and legend.

Not that there's anythin wrong with that. I'd love it if I could dress up nice and have a dinner there.

 

[TP2000]

Well, yeah. Honestly, do you think that most of the people on that huge waiting list are anxious for the "meal" in Club 33? I am guessing most are just there for the luxury of experiencing a piece of Disneyland history and legend.

Exactly. That's why it's a shame. The original design intent was to provide a top notch dining experience in an elegant club-like atmosphere. That went away sometime during the 1980's.

Club 33 in 2007 is an overpriced amusement park restaurant a notch above the Blue Bayou coasting on the fumes of the past. It is only mentioned with reverence by fanboys who froth at the mouth at the thought of going upstairs to take pictures of themselves eating lunch and to buy Club 33 logo baseball hats and coffee mugs to place prominently on their computer desk at home.

Club 33 could be so much more, and thus remain true to the designer and owners original intent, if it polished up its act and put forth some legitimate effort. Club 33 in its current form is coasting on fumes and nostalgia and fanboys who wouldn't dare question the actual service or quality they are charged huge prices for.