Dining with an Imagineer ?

[kittylady1972]

My DS goes on his own, he is also into the whole Disney thing. Just so you understand and he is prepared, that "imagineer" does not mean that they draw or part of the animation part. One my DS met was a financial guy in charge of the budgets for many projects. He had worked his way up from college program years (probably impossible anymore) and had lots of info on park operations. Another was one of Disney's TOP imagineers we often see in video who was in charge of NF and much more. He was recruited by Disney. These folks can come from any department so not guaranteed an "artist" that draws etc.

He takes cash to pay there.

Good to know and I'll make sure he is prepared. I think he would be into any of it as a Disney fan as well though. I think the financial guy might be NOT up his alley but any others would be cool, especially if they talk about the college program too.

 

[VAfamily1998]

I took my two sons for the Citricos dinner back in August. They were 15 and 17 at the time. Yes, you pay at the end of the meal; the server brings each party a bill just like at a regular restaurant.

DEFINITELY keep checking for openings if another member of your party wants to go! When I booked our dinner, I was only able to get two spots. I was prepared to allow my two sons to go by themselves. I kept checking, and two days before our reservation, I was able to get another spot!

 

[kittylady1972]

I took my two sons for the Citricos dinner back in August. They were 15 and 17 at the time. Yes, you pay at the end of the meal; the server brings each party a bill just like at a regular restaurant.

DEFINITELY keep checking for openings if another member of your party wants to go! When I booked our dinner, I was only able to get two spots. I was prepared to allow my two sons to go by themselves. I kept checking, and two days before our reservation, I was able to get another spot!

VERY good to know and yes the fact that I got this one just a week before the dinner means I'll definitely keep trying. I'd love to go with him but I think he'll be okay by himself. It sounds like he can pay with his MagicBand at the end of the meal if necessary.

 

[DaisyDuck001]

I went this month at Brown Derby, and the cost per person was $105.00, including tax and their automatically-added tip. It was an imagineer who had been there just a few years and who appeared to know much less about Disney theme park history than I do, although had much knowledge of current and recent projects. My food initially turned out wrong. If I had it to do over, I'd skip this whole thing, although some other day with a different imagineer and better service, I might have enjoyed it.

 

[CinderDuffy]

Be prepared for the conversation to be dominated by pushy parents asking how to get their children jobs at Disney. Have some topics in mind so that you can push back. The Imagineers are generally good at putting a stop to it but it will be good if you’re ready to pick up the conversation.

 

[caribbeandream]

OMG I was *JUST* able to book this for my son as a surprise! He's 17.5 and really into drawing and I think this would be a great experience for him. I was able to get the Citricos dinner for NEXT week! Unfortunately they only had one opening and so I'm sending him alone. He's a very mature kid so I think he'll be fine. I just hope he enjoys it. The rest of us may try to have dinner nearby since we can't get into Citrico's at the same time. So I think this is a prepaid thing, or do I need to be there to pay for him or send him with cash? Just want to make sure he has what he needs to get through the whole thing.

How exiting for your son! Would love to hear a review of his experience.

 

[kittylady1972]

How exiting for your son! Would love to hear a review of his experience.

I'll definitely post about it!

 

[kittylady1972]

So we ended up cancelling this as my son didn't want to do it alone.

HOWEVER I haven't told him I have another one booked for June, and I was back and forth on it but finally decided to keep it so I think we might do this one. It is at the Brown Derby at noon. Any idea how long these usually take? Trying to plan flights home that day and want to make sure we have enough time.

 

[dcassetta]

So we ended up cancelling this as my son didn't want to do it alone.

HOWEVER I haven't told him I have another one booked for June, and I was back and forth on it but finally decided to keep it so I think we might do this one. It is at the Brown Derby at noon. Any idea how long these usually take? Trying to plan flights home that day and want to make sure we have enough time.

We were probably there for 2 hours at the Brown Derby, but you could leave earlier if you needed to go to the airport.

 

[kittylady1972]

We were probably there for 2 hours at the Brown Derby, but you could leave earlier if you needed to go to the airport.

Thank you!

 

[DaisyDuck001]

However, if I were paying around $100 per person including tax and tip, I'd probably want to stay for the whole thing and not leave early...

 

[armerida]

How do you reserve this? Assuming there is a separate online form and not just a regular reservation through MDE? It sounds really cool, I read a recent review of one at Tiffins and it made me want to try it out!

 

[dcassetta]

How do you reserve this? Assuming there is a separate online form and not just a regular reservation through MDE? It sounds really cool, I read a recent review of one at Tiffins and it made me want to try it out!

It is a regular reservation just look under "dine with". They di fill quickly and are not offered every day, so may be hard to get.

 

[DaisyDuck001]

The most likely way to get it is to try for the later part of your 180+10 range.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

I ask for cobb salad without the egg every time. They don't mind.

Yep there is no guarantee that you will get a guest imagineer who works in the area you prefer. The one my group got was a structural engineer. She worked on Soarin'. and there were some teens in the group and all they wanted to know was how to get a job at Disney (well, their parents wanted to know). They seemed not to enjoy hearing how long she had to study to be a structural engineer.

 

[kittylady1972]

However, if I were paying around $100 per person including tax and tip, I'd probably want to stay for the whole thing and not leave early...

Well we have a car and the drive to the airport is easy enough for us...since I've done it plenty of times. My flight would be that afternoon so I'm hoping that allowing about 2 hours for the meal is reasonable, but we could even push it to 3 hours if necessary.

 

[Meriweather]

It's always been 2 1/2 - 3 hours for us. Depends on the Imagineer and what they have to get to that afternoon, if they like to talk and if there is enough interactive talk and questions with the diners
It is wonderful and we hope to do it again in Dec.

 

[kittylady1972]

It's always been 2 1/2 - 3 hours for us. Depends on the Imagineer and what they have to get to that afternoon, if they like to talk and if there is enough interactive talk and questions with the diners
It is wonderful and we hope to do it again in Dec.

LOVE hearing great reports about this. Since I really wanted DS to do this last year at Citricos, I'm glad I didn't cancel this current reservation. He doesn't yet know about it but I did make sure our flights were a bit later so we would have the time needed to spend on this for sure.