33: A different kind of Mickey Mouse club
Walt Disney World is joining the Club 33 crowd.
Versions of the highend establishment will open in each of the four WDW theme parks by this fall, Disney confirmed.
The first Club 33 debuted at Disneyland 50 years ago and has a reputation for being exclusive and, as one might guess, expensive. Membership costs are in the tens of thousands of dollars, including an annual fee, according to various sources.
Disney has not revealed the price structure for Florida’s Club 33s, although a spokeswoman says one fee will cover all four clubs. The “if you have to ask, you can’t afford it” adage springs to mind.
Disney also has not shared where in the parks its new “limited membership clubs” will be or their themes. They might not mirror the California version; we’re not even sure that the ones in Florida will include restaurants.
My entire first-hand experience with Club 33 is snapping a photo of the Disneyland’s subtle 33 plaque a few years ago. So I turned to someone who has been inside: AJ Wolfe, who runs the unofficial Disney Food Blog website. I’m confident I can’t afford it, but if I could, what would I see? Anything from fanny packs on up, Wolfe says.
“There are people there in general park wear, and there are people there that are dressed to the nines,” she says. “It really depends on whether you’re there for lunch or dinner. Dinner is going to be a little bit fancier, probably.”
She made it sound a little more casual than I had imagined, too, saying it has a French-inspired, yellow-and-blue look. Its lounge is darker with jewel tones, she says.
“California is a different vibe altogether. Even fancy California is a different vibe,” Wolfe says. “So you’re going to have a much more casual feel than Victoria & Albert’s. It’s not Victoria & Albert’s, not even close.”
The décor has elements that belonged to Walt Disney and his wife Lillian, including a harpsichord played by Elton John in Club 33, legend has it.
A selling point for Club 33 in Disneyland is that it’s the only place to buy alcohol. It’s easier to find drinks at Disney World, now even at select restaurants in Magic Kingdom.
It’s fun to imagine where the Disney World clubs will go. And it’s about as much fun to think of lousy, empty spots (Stitch’s Great Escape? That tent that was by Space Mountain?).
And who do you know that can afford it?
Disney “must have done their market research. They know it’s going to work,” Wolfe says. “It’s intriguing, and I do think there is a maybe small, but passionate, crowd for that kind of thing.”