Oh the finale......it's bittersweet
Dining with an Imagineer………..Uffda, where do I start?????
I guess I’m gonna start from the absolute beginning of the day because it will show you the kind of day we had lol.
Brandon aspires to be an Imagineer someday and he has been dying, begging, pleading and screaming about having lunch with an Imagineer for a good few years now. Our mom decided it was finally time to do that for him. She surprised Brandon with the lunch of a lifetime. For the last 12 months we have been telling him that he is eating at one of his favorite restaurants 50’s Prime Time Café all the while planning to surprise him with this lunch.
The morning of the big day, we went to Hollywood Studios at park opening. We’re not really park opening people but we figured if we went early we might be able to get on Toy Story Mania. We got there early so we waited in line for the gates to open. They started letting people in about 10 min to 9am. We all were directed forward into what felt like a holding area behind a rope. All we wanted was a FP for TSM and we were done. They released the rope and people went flying, running, crazy and mad. Brandon and I ducked through the crowd and took a shortcut. We ended up at
Pixar Place before a lot of the others. When we got down there I was being pushed and shoved and didn’t want Brandon part of that so I made him go up the stairs and wait far far far away from those crazies. I was really quite afraid that he was going to get hurt. I was run into by numerous strollers and crashed into by a lady in a
scooter. I actually had to jump out of the way of another scooter woman to avoid her hitting me. INSANITY if you ask me. The poor CM’s that were helping down there had to yell at adults to walk and not to push. They all had joined arms and hands like they were playing red rover red rover to keep people at bay. They released arms and I ended up with about 8 bruises but I was able to get us a fastpass.
After shaking off that madness, we walked over to ToT and RnR and went on tons of times while everyone was still at TSM. After we got on TSM finally, it was time for our lunch ressie. We had an 11:30 ressie for “50’s” and we started walking that way from TSM. Mom stopped us and turned to Brandon and said, “I decided that I don’t want to eat at 50’s and changed our ressie to Brown Derby”. Brandon said “huh, wait, what, wait, huh, wait, not fair!” It didn’t dawn on him that he was about to embark on the experience of a lifetime. See face below.
Brandon is a genius. He is extremely intelligent and well rounded. Mom and I sat and stared at Brandon for a good 5 minutes or so waiting for it to click (the kid picks things up extremely fast). I was over waiting and he STILL didn’t get it and was quite mad so I blurted out “Brandon, you are going to have lunch with an IMAGINEER!!!!!!!” CLICK! That was the light switch turning on. See faces below. Brandon finally got it and mom is bawling lol.
We checked in for our ressie right around 11:15am and were given name tag badges to wear during the lunch. If we would’ve known this, we would’ve checked in and given the name tag to Brandon to read it instead of telling him about the lunch.
We had a little while before the lunch started so we got to look around the lobby. They have all these neat caricatures hanging up and it was fun trying to figure out who some of those people were. We were finally called back for our lunch and we were lead to a small private room in the back of the restaurant. We knew this was a group affair and were prepared for it. There were 10 of us altogether seated around this long open table. Our little family was sooo in awe of the whole thing. Once seated, we were introduced to our Imagineer Sarah. She walked in and was bright and full of smiles and light. She took her seat at the head of the table and we went around the table and introduced ourselves, where we were from and what our favorite thing at Disney is. Then our waitress came in and presented us with personalized lunch menus and also took our drink order.
Sarah proceeded to tell us about herself, what she did for Disney, what kind of Imagineer she was, what led her to get there and a little bit about herself personally along with some background tidbits. At this time, we were also given free reign to start asking the questions our hearts desired. We had a nice solid group of people and everyone was given a chance to talk and ask questions. It was very nice. She also informed us that for one of her projects, she designed her very own Vinylmation boxed set called Black and White. It’s only available at D-Street in Downtown Disney.
In the box
Fronts of figures
Backs of figures
Our waitress came back in and stopped the spotlight question session awe, boo! She took our lunch order and was very accommodating around some of the courses.
Mary, Brandon and I ordered the:
Char-grilled Filet of Beef with Cotswold Butter over Fingerling Potatoes, Asparagus, Ugly Ripe Tomatoes, and a broken Cabernet-Shallot Vinaigrette
Brandon and I asked for meat and potatoes only and they were accommodating.
Once our lunch order was taken, the waiters and waitresses started swarming the table bringing in the first course of soup. Lobster Bisque was served and Mary, Brandon and I asked if we could skip the Lobster Bisque (before hand) because we don’t eat seafood and the waitress was extremely nice and offered us chicken noodle soup instead which we gladly accepted!
The first course was cleared and it was on to the second course of the famous Cobb Salad. When the salads were served the team cleared out and our main waitress remained. She told us some tidbits about the real Hollywood Brown Derby and the story behind how their famous Cobb Salad came to be. It was a nice break for the Imagineer I could imagine.
Throughout the first and second courses, we all continued asking a few questions and talking and she was delighted to continue the conversation while dining. I was afraid she was going to be quiet the whole time we dined on four courses.
The third course was brought out and that’s when the room became quite quiet as a whole. Everyone was ready for their entrees. My filet was hands down amazing. I ate the whole chunk of meat (not normal for me) but was too full to eat more than a bite or two of the potatoes. Once this course wrapped up the waitress came back and took our dessert order and asked if anyone wanted tea or coffee to go along with the dessert course. The conversation kept flowing and some questions arose that Sarah “wasn’t able to discuss” which we all got a kick out of. Her face gave away the answer to some of the questions lol.
The fourth course (dessert) came and I was super full. Mary, Brandon and I all ordered the crème brulee. It was absolutely the best crème brulee I’ve ever tasted in my life. I was stuffed to the core but managed to eat the entire thing pants bulging afterward and all. It was extremely refreshing to have an amazingly awesome waitress. She was very attentive to all 11 of us and worked like a dog through our 3 hour lunch.
After dessert we started wrapping up the lunch. We were each given a handout which included information about our Imagineer and a group photo of everyone that attended the lunch. We also received a commemorative plate which Sarah autographed while we were standing there. It was a superb and unexpected souvenir.
We departed having had the time of our lives. It was such an amazing opportunity that I will never forget. Brandon asked a bunch of questions that startled the other diners and baffled Sarah (which I found extremely hilarious). He had such a blast all he could do was thank our mom over and over and over again. We all left with uncontrollable smiles on our faces and light in our eyes.
If you are a diehard Disney fan, I suggest doing this once in your lifetime. However, it is NOT recommended for children under 14 and I think that might even be a bit young. We did have a young gal in our group that looked like she hated the whole experience. I’m not sure if she did or not but she didn’t say a word nor did she ask a question. Parents, it’s up to you! If you do decide to do this sometime, please make it worth your while as it is an expensive lunch that is not included in the dining plan. I believe our total was around $250 for the three of us after tax and tip.
A couple of side notes:
1. I didn’t take any pictures of the food because I felt it wasn’t appropriate
2. I cut out the last name and personal information of our Imagineer to keep her privacy.
3. I blacked out the other people that were at the lunch for their privacy.
4. I enjoyed the tidbits of information on the Brown Derby just as much as the lunch.
This completes my reviews for 2011. I hope you all have enjoyed tuning in!