"I just ran away from home..."

[AmeliaPond]

I'm so jealous of you George, in a good way. I think you have inspired me to take some time off .

Peaches - have you ever been to Disneyland? If not...you must go!! It's just lovely.

[PEACHES]

Peaches - have you ever been to Disneyland? If not...you must go!! It's just lovely.

Jill I have been to Los Angeles, I use to go out there almost monthly but, never had time to go to Disneyland I was always working.

[George]

We're winding down into the homestretch, finishing up our afternoon break.

Last night's dinner at Club 33 was civilized and unique; it was bizarre to walk through Disneyland all dressed for dinner. I'd brought my pins with me (have no fear, they came off and went into a bag when we checked in for dinner), so I was mistaken for a CM by more than one guest who wanted to trade. No, I'm not willing to trade my DCA original logo pin with you. Now go away and rush off to Captain Eo - I hear the line will get really long soon. More about 33 when I get home and can concentrate on putting my thoughts down.

This morning was truly a late one, as both parks opened at 10:00. We dashed into DCA at 9:15 (GCH guests get early entry privileges) to get a World of Color FP (Greg surprised me by asking if we could go back again tonight). The GCH entrance is literally right downstairs from our room, and the WoC FP machines are right inside the entrance, so this was exceedingly convenient. We made DLP's RD at 10:00 and spent the morning and first part of the afternoon finishing up some things we wanted to see and having lunch. We'll be leaving soon to use our Soarin' Over California (that's Soarin' to you right-coasters) and catching the 6:30 Aladdin show before queuing up for the 8:15 WoC. After that it'll be off to Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar at the Disneyland Hotel for pupus and fruity drinks with paper umbrellas.

[hinkey]

So jealous, but glad your having such a good time! Can't wait for the full report and pictures!

[pfalcioni]

he GCH entrance is literally right downstairs from our room, and the WoC FP machines are right inside the entrance, so this was exceedingly convenient.

This sounds like such heaven. Heaped on top of everything else awesome you've experienced on this trip. Can't wait to see pics and read all about it when you get back!

[George]

The key to getting into Club 33 is to know someone who's a member. Or know someone who knows someone who's a member. Or, in my case, knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who's a member. In this case, the Someone Who's a Member turned out to be none other than Disney Legend Alice Davis, widow of Disney Legend Marc Davis. You can read all about them in the linked Wikipedia entries. Needless to say, Alice is 80-some years old and did us a huge favor by making our 8:00 dinner reservation for Sunday, March 4, 2012.

We invited our friends Chris and Amy*, who are SoCal residents and DL APs, so we met at the park around 5:30, all dressed up and ready to go. Dress code for Club 33 is "business casual," and jacket and tie would not have been out of place. We, however, wore dress slacks and long-sleeved shirts, which led to several park guests mistaking us for Cast Members! Having worn my pins to the park (not to worry, I stashed them in a bag before dinner), several guests came up to me asking to trade! Anyway, to kill some time before dinner, we made our way over to New Orleans Square where we took a spin on Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. For those who only know the WDW version of the latter, DL's version is longer by about double, so elaborate and detailed, and it puts WDW's to shame. After walking around a bit, it was finally time to report to the Magic Door.

Club 33 is located at 33 Royal St in New Orleans Square. Two different stories are circulate about the name of the Club. The first, and more likely, was that the restaurant needed a street address in order to obtain a liquor license, as it's the only restaurant in Disneyland which serves alcohol. If sections of the park is rented out for private functions, alcohol can be served at those as well, using the Club 33 license. The second has something to do with 33 being the number of original sponsors of attractions at Disneyland.

The doorbell to Club 33 is hidden behind a panel to the left of the door. Once rung, a voice comes over the intercom asking the party's name. If the table is ready, the party is buzzed in. There's no room to speak of to wait in the small downstairs lobby. To get upstairs, you can either walk up the staircase or take the French "lift" that Walt had commissioned and built after an unsuccessful attempt at purchasing the original one he saw in a Parisian hotel. It's quite, small, and the four of us made a tight squeeze for the ride up. After disembarking, we walked down a long hallway (actually one of the walkways over a street in New Orleans Square below), past the Club's second dining room, The Trophy Room, to the bar area, where we were greeted and shown to our table, a beautiful corner table in the main dining room. The room is done in rich woods, chandeliers, and heavy draperies over paned French doors. Smoked glass wall sconces light the perimeter of the room, creating a relaxing and romantic atmosphere. We ordered cocktails and were handed a la carte menus and the formidable wine list. Lingering over cocktails, we chose our meals. I had a wonderful veloute (cream sauce) of scallops served in a molten hot cast iron vessel, followed by sliced medium-rare duck breast and leg confit (cooked in its own fat) on a chestnut risotto. Both were delicious, and the accompanying wine, a California Zinfandel, complimented all the flavors of not only my, but my friends' dishes. When some order beef, another fish, another lamb, it's hard to find an all-purpose wine, but Greg hit the nail on the head. During the meal, and between courses, our waiter would visit the table not only to tend to the rituals of dinner, but to tell us stories about the Club and its many famous members and guests. Alas, there was no one famous there that night, but the overall mood in the room was festive and relaxed. It was rather amusing to hear Fantasmic! starting up during dinner, and knowing that the whole show was taking place just outside the window. The planner in me wanted to jump up and watch from the small balcony just through the French doors adjacent to our table, but the view was somewhat obscured by trees from our second-floor perch. We did hear plenty of booms (which shook the wall sconces) and Malificent cackling, however.

After coffee and dessert, we settled up the bill and then were given the "full tour" of the Club, visiting the Trophy Room, an interior dining room which holds overflow and isn't without charms of its own, and later the hallways which are lined with Disney memorabilia (the marble-topped foyer table from the Banks's home in Mary Poppins, the telephone booth from The Happiest Millionaire, etc.) and ooze history and charm. A small curio cabinet housed Club 33 merchandise which I was rather underwhelmed by, and I bought a souvenir Club 33 pin. They were out of the Club 33 Mouse Ears, dammit.

Overall, our evening was a special and unique experience, one we were all fortunate to have been able to have. The dinner was what I'd call "fancy food," which is to say, a bit old fashioned in a dated kind of way (you won't find micro greens here), but prepared with care and skill. I'd love to return sometime, but it's not something I'd want to do every trip. And I felt like a real insider when it was announced recently that Alice Davis was to receive her own window, right next to her late husband Marc's on Disneyland's Main Street.

*Chris and Amy "met" over on the Stephen Sondheim message board that we all frequent, and originally met at. At the time, Chris, a freelance author, lived in Washington, DC. Their long-distance courtship ended when he moved out to Venice, CA, to be with Amy full-time. How's that for a fairytale ending? We'd become "virtual" friends first, eventually meeting up in various cities like New York, LA, Washington DC, and Chicago when various Sondheim productions would open.

[AmeliaPond]

I am so incredibly jealous! Sounds like such a great time. I've seen pictures inside Club 33....and I'm pretty sure that's as close as I'll ever get.

My husband and I have a similar story to Chris and Amy. We met on an internet forum back in early 2003. Dated long distance and saw each other every couple months. I moved there (10 minutes from Disneyland) for a year and a half. Then we moved back to the Midwest in 2007. We've been married for almost 6 years now.

[LizD]

Have a great trip!

[pfalcioni]

Well, your evening was much better than my "Club 33 Dream Sequence". What a wonderful experience, thanks so much for sharing it with us!!

Chris and Amy's story is so cool - just one more thing about the internet that has really opened up the world to so many people.

And that you know someone who knows Alice Davis is pretty darned awesome in and of itself.

[Grumpy]

Alas, there was no one famous there that night...

Modesty duly noted, but we all know better.

[Brandie]

George, thank you for reporting back. I've been on the Footsteps tour and I think we got to see into the elevator. That is as close as I'll ever get. Now I at least know of someone who has been inside!

[RebeccaMcK]

I'm late to this trip report but the title intrigued me (good one, haha) and now I see it's about Disneyland. Hope you had a great time, George - will there be any more pics or "story" here? One thing I wondered, if you could maybe answer: Are they enforcing the FP return times at DLR like they do at WDW? Or was this trip before that even started happening (can't remember the date they started that at WDW now)? We're going to Disneyland some time hopefully in October or else sooner if my kiddo doesn't get her fall break around Columbus Day. Mostly we're going so we can stay somewhere nearby (have never done that...I'm from CA and always just went there "for the day" and then back to my parents' house 45 minutes away) and enjoy the new Cars Land area at DCA (opening June 15th)....for 3 or 4 days. Good to know about Santa Ana Airport....that is aka John Wayne Airport, right? I flew out of there once when I still lived in Costa Mesa.

[George]

Our trip was right before WDW started enforcing, but as far as I know DLR ISN'T enforcing yet, and no plans to do so as of now.

SNA is so convenient to DLR (20 minutes!), but fares are typically better into LAX. SuperShuttle provides transfers for $19pp each way. No car needed at DLR at all.

We're going back in early-September to see Cars Land. Another DVC perk: VGC!

[RebeccaMcK]

Thanks for answering, George. Yeah, we'll probably have to fly into LAX from Colorado Springs since then we hopefully won't have any connections (and I hate flying out of Denver an hour or so north of us; connecting there is okay but I don't like originating from there). We're not getting a car, so the shuttle info is good to know, thanks. What is VGC? We don't have DVC, but Hubby says that if we HAD gone to the open house at BLT or AKV while we were at WDW last October we probably would have bought it. Now he thanks me for not having gone to it, lol. Just for financial reasons. That was his first ever WDW trip while I had been a couple times before (my TR link is in my signature, and I put a few DLR days in there, too, from July and December) and he liked it more than he thought he would.

[George]

Thanks for answering, George. Yeah, we'll probably have to fly into LAX from Colorado Springs since then we hopefully won't have any connections (and I hate flying out of Denver an hour or so north of us; connecting there is okay but I don't like originating from there). We're not getting a car, so the shuttle info is good to know, thanks. What is VGC? We don't have DVC, but Hubby says that if we HAD gone to the open house at BLT or AKV while we were at WDW last October we probably would have bought it. Now he thanks me for not having gone to it, lol. Just for financial reasons. That was his first ever WDW trip while I had been a couple times before (my TR link is in my signature, and I put a few DLR days in there, too, from July and December) and he liked it more than he thought he would.

Villas at Disney's Grand Californian. The most beautiful of all Disney resorts.

[RebeccaMcK]

Ah, the Villas. Yes. We will have to explore since we haven't been into any of the DLR hotels before, and this time we might have time to do so. Not sure where we'll stay in October yet, whether it'll be a Red Lion up on Harbor or somewhere owned by Disney. I have a 10 percent off code for Red Lion but I have to book by the end of May.

[George]

Ah, the Villas. Yes. We will have to explore since we haven't been into any of the DLR hotels before, and this time we might have time to do so. Not sure where we'll stay in October yet, whether it'll be a Red Lion up on Harbor or somewhere owned by Disney. I have a 10 percent off code for Red Lion but I have to book by the end of May.

The Best Western Park Place Inn on Harbor is the absolute closest hotel to the parks. Closer than many oof the rooms at the Grand Californian. Check kayak.com for good October rates. Weekends fill up quickly in CA.

[RebeccaMcK]

Thanks for the tip! I'll check that out.

[RebeccaMcK]

BTW I'm glad that "Aladdin" musical is still at DCA. I thought it was going to be replaced by a Toy Story musical soon (same one we saw aboard the Disney Wonder in 2009). "Aladdin" is still very popular and the musical is hilarious with the Genie's improvisations. I'm the only one in my family of 3 who has seen it, so maybe we'll get to see it again. DD6 (almost 7 now) is leery of "Aladdin" though - she made me sell her dvd (that's okay but I refuse to part with "Snow White" and "Beauty & the Beast" even though she won't watch them any more. Those are classics she MIGHT like some day.). She likes Jasmine and the monkey but is too scared of everything else in it, yet she posed happily with Jafar at DHS last October (Characterpalooza in Animation Bldg). Well, she stared at him a while first until he physically turned her head around to face the camera.