Lunch with an Imagineer

[momandseandodisney]

has anyone dones this?

what exactly is it?

Info and opinions please

 

[FeeFeeWhite]

We have a ressie for 8. Has anyone does this?

 

[momandseandodisney]

More Info Needed Plase

 

[hmp2z]

We did this and enjoyed it, but my husband liked it more than I did, because he's more into the planning & work behind the parks. I just appreciate the magic, and am less interested in how exactly the magic is made Recaps below:

We checked in at 11:30 at the Brown Derby for the lunch with the Imagineer. Our Imagineer was Alex Wright, who had worked extensively on the Animal Kingdom, and who was currently working on the Everest ride, as well as a book about Disney from the Imagineer’s viewpoint.

We were seated in the private Bamboo Room, and there were a total of 8 guests plus the Imagineer. Alex was very interesting, and answered all of our questions, though a few times, he had to be a bit cagey and could only give hints. I felt bad for him, because he barely had time to eat. There was an old man from Texas there, who would invariably ask a question right as Alex was bringing a forkful of food to his mouth! The old man had brought his grandson, Tyler, to the lunch, but people kept referring to Tyler as a girl, because he had long (about midway down his back) blond hair. There was a single man there, who did cable TV work, and a family of three who had been DVC owners for almost 10 years. We kept seeing this family of three again and again, as our trip went on.

One of the interesting tidbits we found out from Alex was how they keep the lions out on those rocks on the safari ride: they put an air conditioner in the rocks. I had never thought about this before, but it was neat to hear how they didn't force the animals to be in a particular place. Instead, he said, they try to make that place the most desirable spot to the animals.

We started out with a lobster bisque, which was creamy and delicious, then we moved on to an individual classic Cobb salad with chopped greens, turkey breast, bacon, egg, tomatoes, crumbled blue cheese, avocado, and Cobb salad dressing. I really enjoyed the salad – it was very filling, and I liked the variety of ingredients.

For our entrees, we had the choice of 3 dishes, and I chose the pan-fired Grouper over roasted asparagus, citrus plugra butter sauce topped with a sweet onion marmalade. This fish was really good! The citrus butter sauce was very light and refreshing, and it complimented the grouper so well.
Andy chose the grilled filet mignon with boniato mash, crisp peppered onions and chimichurri aioli and rich cabernet reduction. He had ordered the filet rare, and it was slightly overcooked, but he enjoyed it still, and ate almost all of it.

For dessert, we had a bananas foster mascarpone cheesecake with strawberry sauce and port wine reduction. I don’t usually like bananas, but I really enjoyed this dish. The cheesecake was light and fluffy, and the slight tartness of the strawberry sauce and port wine paired well with the creaminess of the cheesecake.

At the end of the lunch, we received commemorative plates, which Alex signed for us, and we asked the Brown Derby to ship ours to our room at the Grand Floridian the next day.