Anyone Done Dine with an Imagineer?

[cbg1027]

How was it? And how was the food at The Brown Derby?
Is it worth the money?
How long do you stay?

Thanks!

 

[maugwamp]

We did it a few years back. The food was excellent and so was the experience. I have to say, come prepared with questions, the experience has alot to do with what you make of it. Don't be shy

 

[TestTrackBoy]

I have done it three times and I loved it. It lasted between two and three hours depending on how many questions the Imagineer was asked and how long the stories went on for. The lunch was very good and included a soup, a Cobb salad, a choice of one of the three entrées, and a dessert. The food is excellent, well presented, and you dine in the private Bamboo Room. It totally depends on the guests there to ask the questions and get the lunch rolling. The first time I did it I was a guest and the last two as a Cast Member. I feel that either way I have so many new and interesting facts and stories to tell. I was fortunate enought to know the Imagineer the last time I did it and got to sit in for free. If you do it you will not be disappointed.

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

According to Allears it was discontinued in 2008, but I hope it is back, I'd love to do it again! It is still on Mousesavers website.

We did it Jan 2008, totally worth the money. DH and I don't exchange b-day gifts, just go out to a nice dinner and decided to do it. Ours lasted close to 3 hours, but it flew by!

EDIT, EDIT! Sorry, DInner with an Imagineer at Artist Pt was discontinued! Maybe I'll have to do lunch again!

 

[TiggerAllie]

ITA with the above posts.

We did this a couple of years ago, and it was very interesting and definitely worth the money. The food at BD is very good (and the only place worth eating at DHS).

The group is very small (maybe 12)? So you really get a good chance to talk and ask questions. Definitely come with questions! We met some really interesting other guests as well.

 

[Hallowishes]

i guess my question is ... do you know who the imagineer is ahead of time? or is it just whoever is available? did you just have general questions?
im glad to hear this is worth it as ive considered doing this before and decided not to.

 

[TiggerAllie]

I realized that our Lunch with an Imagineer is actually in one of our trip reports:
http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=15294938&postcount=22
(sorry for the missing pics, it's from 2006)

 

[cbg1027]

This really sounds like something I want to do!

But any suggestions on questions? Can't these be difficult to come up with ahead of time since you don't know what sort of area the Imagineer you'll dine with works in?

 

[LadyVT]

We did it at Artist Point when it was still there, in 2007. We talked about all kinds of things. Our imagineer gave us a general overview of his job, how he got into it, what he likes about it, the projects he's worked on and was working on at the time. We got in to a lively discussion about Main Street -- whether or not it would have to be changed for the next generation who may or may not relate in any way to the "old-time" images, when for them, "old-time" might be the 60s; what "Main Street" means to people; what people get from going to Disney World emotionally; how the rides were built; some history of Walt Disney himself and on and on. It was a great evening.

 

[hgoff79]

We did it in Feb. At 29 and 30, we were the youngest people there by about 20 years, but that wasn't bothersome to us. The food was good, we loved our souvenir plates and name tags.

To be honest, I found the tour at the beginning to be a little boring, but perhaps that's because the woman who led it acted like it was crazy that I didn't know who a few movie stars on the wall were from the 1930s (when my GRANDPARENTS were infants). Joe was wonderful, and the things that he's worked on were interesting to me b/c DHS is my favorite park.

The two questions I asked that seemed to get the greatest response were:
1. What have you done here that you're most proud of?
2. At the end of your Disney career, what would you want your epitaph to say?

Overall it was a great experience, and we'd love to do it again!