Our Visit

Karal and I had our first visit to Club 33 on August 10, 2002. 8:00am at the park's opening we went to the VIP section near the entrance of California Adventures and had our names checked for our pre-arranged Club 33 reservation. As a part of the Club 33 reservation we received our complimentary 1 day Park Hoppers (free park tickets). We enjoyed a day at Disneyland and then returned to the hotel in late afternoon to get ready for our evening at 33 Royal Street, New Orleans Square, Disneyland. At 8:30pm we were standing in front of the door with the silver "33" logo. We pushed the buzzer, gave our names, and then entered. The Hostess greeted and escorted us to the elevator. Stepping off the elevator onto the upper floor near the dining room the host welcomed us (by names) to "Club 33" (yeah baby...we had arrived!!) At our table Karal had a cocktail and I had my usual (coffee). Our waitress "Denise" showed us around and gave us a detailed history of everything there. She has been employed at Club 33 for eleven years. Prior to dinner we proceeded to the balcony overlooking the Rivers of America and watched the 9:00pm showing of "Fantasmic". Denise showed us the spot to get the best view. At first I thought we wouldn't be able to see the show very well due to the trees in front of us. They were all surrounding except for a large square hole in the center where we could see the water. Once the show began we discovered the all surrounding trees created a perfect frame for the show and we did have a perfect viewing of "Fantasmic". After the show we enjoyed dinner. It wasn't as expensive as I thought it was going to be (because I'm not a drinker and Karal usually doesn't have more than two cocktails). We added a bit more than our usual 20% tip because the service was exceptional.

I'm an old enough guy to remember sitting in front of the television as a kid in the 60's watching Walt Disney do his Sunday evening shows. Even though those days are long gone, by visiting Club 33 and being around so much of Walt's personal touches makes me feel a bit closer to some of the things that really mattered to me during my childhood. It's a great feeling.