Lunch with an Imagineer

[Not My Fault!]

We just booked a trip for April and we made a reservation for the "Dine with an Imagineer" lunch at the Brown Derby.

Has anyone done this? Any feedback?

Thanks!

 

[TDC Nala]

Not sure of the makeup of your party but I would not recommend it for little kids (all ages are permitted but Disney recommends for age 14 and up). Little kids will almost certainly get bored. Other than that, if you love to talk Disney you will really have a great time with this.

 

[Not My Fault!]

Thank you...this is with our teenage daughter who is planning to study architecture in college...she's pretty into the design/build of the theming at the parks.

 

[TDC Nala]

The lunch I did in August '09, the featured imagineer was a structural engineer. She helped design ride mechanisms for Soarin' and Toy Story Mania. So there could be a an imagineer at your lunch with that kind of background.

 

[Mad Hattered]

At $75 /pp (including tax and gratuity) it would seem like I'm buying this rich person lunch. I don't think so!

 

[acourtwdw]

We did this in Sept 08 and would do it again in a heartbeat! Our Imanigneer was a sound producer for the resorts and parks. He also was a producer of No Doubt's first album "Tragic Kingdom". The bamboo room, where the lunch is held is really nice and the food was plentiful, almost too much. He told us stories about his past work and what he could about his future projects. If you can swing it, then do it. There was a surprise take home present at the end.

 

[Not My Fault!]

At $75 /pp (including tax and gratuity) it would seem like I'm buying this rich person lunch. I don't think so!

Wait. What? I thought they paid me $75...

 

[Not My Fault!]

We did this in Sept 08 and would do it again in a heartbeat! Our Imanigneer was a sound producer for the resorts and parks. He also was a producer of No Doubt's first album "Tragic Kingdom". The bamboo room, where the lunch is held is really nice and the food was plentiful, almost too much. He told us stories about his past work and what he could about his future projects. If you can swing it, then do it. There was a surprise take home present at the end.

Sounds awesome, thank you! We're very much looking forward to it, despite the cost.

 

[TDC Nala]

The cost may be considered high, but here is what you get. Soup, salad, entree and dessert, plus nonalcoholic beverage, at the most expensive restaurant in DHS, one of the most expensive restaurants at WDW - and the price includes tax and gratuity. If you ordered all that you'd likely pay at least $75 per person anyway. (It's not the full menu, they'll give you about 3 entrees and a couple of desserts to choose from). Plus, up to three hours in the Derby's private room, chatting with your Imagineer about Disney. They also give you a souvenir to take home - I guess I shouldn't say what it is? (Mine was mailed because they were out of them in August - I did get one, in December).

 

[Not My Fault!]

The cost may be considered high, but here is what you get. Soup, salad, entree and dessert, plus nonalcoholic beverage, at the most expensive restaurant in DHS, one of the most expensive restaurants at WDW - and the price includes tax and gratuity. If you ordered all that you'd likely pay at least $75 per person anyway. (It's not the full menu, they'll give you about 3 entrees and a couple of desserts to choose from). Plus, up to three hours in the Derby's private room, chatting with your Imagineer about Disney. They also give you a souvenir to take home - I guess I shouldn't say what it is? (Mine was mailed because they were out of them in August - I did get one, in December).

thanks TDC - I think it's a reasonable value; we've eaten at Brown Derby before and loved it. And you do get an Imagineer for 3 hours, when they should probably be off imagineering or something. And don't tell us what the souvenir gift is!

 

[dopeynme]

DH and I also did this in Aug and loved it. You are with total 8 guests plus the imagineer, so the conversation depends somewhat on the other people and their possibly dumb questions. But we also enjoyed the conversation with the other guests.

The food was also outstanding, as was the service. There was only 1 waiter but he was really good. We never had a chance to think, "I want....." because things just appeared before you could realize you were going to need them.

Have a wonderful time!

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

We did this summer '07. Our Imagineer was Cathy Carver, Interior Designer. She was the head designer of the Cinderella Castle Suite, cruise ship rooms AND the very room we were eating in - the bamboo room in The Brown Derby! The food was good, the conversation was fantastic and it was well worth the price! We also got souvenier plates that she signed for us along with our personalized menus.

 

[karen l]

We're doing this in April too. My DS (15), me & my Dsis. I'm giving this to my Dsis as a belated birthday gift. We've never eaten there & are really looking forward to it.

 

[ColoradoDis]

We did this in June 2009. We had lunch with the lead Imagineer at Animal Kingdom. There were four of us me, DH, DD(21) and DD(17).

We had a great time - even better that the other guests that were supposed to be there didn't show up so we had the whole time to ourselves.

It was our first time at the Brown Derby and we all liked the food - especially the soup and salad.

In our opinion, it was really worth the money and we'll do it again the next time we visit.

 

[MainStreetFireman]

...and we loved it.

Food was great. Really enjoyed the quality, as well as the casual timing. we were never made to feel "moved along" to get out of the room by a certain time or whatever.

The conversation will depend on what Imagineer you get and how much interest your other diners have in asking questions about their area of expertise. Our Imagineer was an architect who did alot of work in crowd control as it related to fire control, so it was all very interesting to me.

Our DKs were 13 and 11 and are very interested in process, so it was good for them. But there were DKs there who were a bit younger who didn't have a lot of questions to ask.

As with all things Disney, I find it is best to experience it myself at least once. In this case, I would do it again.

 

[sunnyday123]

Do they let you know in advance where the imagineer you are getting works? My DD has always been the kid to ask the how & why questions, and would love something like this.

 

[pippy27]

When my friends and I went to the imagineer lunch last year, they couldn't tell us who the imagineer would be. We wound up with an interior designer imagineer, and we were really hoping for someone who did attractions. It was an ok experience, but would have been much better had we had someone we would have been more interested in.

 

[TDC Nala]

No, you don't find out your Imagineer's specialty ahead of time, and you can't pick the imagineer you get.