do I count as recent?
It was not available as part of the "normal" dining plans (no one in our group was part of the platinum or premium plans so I don't know if they were included or not).
You could charge it to your room or pay however you wanted, but the tip was already included (they worked the checks separate in the different parties, but did the tip as if you were over a group of 6 or more)...
We met in the lobby of the Brown Derby at 11 for lunch, and were taken on a tour of the building by one of the Brown Derby cast members. While it was very interesting, she was very soft spoken, and it was hard to hear her at times- so it paid to be in front or to the side of her.
After the tour, we were taken to the Bamboo Room and seated- we had twelve total including the Imagineer of the Day and another cast member who sat in (evidently this is common when there are extra spots, and the cast members can see who is speaking that day, and they make sure to go to as many different ones as possible). Our Imagineer was one of the three left in the Animal Kingdom lighting department, and we had a wonderful time discussing attractions and his job, how long he had been in Disney (decades after being a roadie for various 80's hair bands), etc. The youngest in our group was younger teens, and really anyone younger, no matter how advanced, would have been bored. It was a good 4 hours of dining and talking, and if you don't have a polite group it can be monopolized very easily, which IMO is why they have the age limit.
We did receive the customized menu with what we ate and who was with us, along with a group photo, and a plate for each person which you can have the Imagineer sign at the end of the meal or not as choose. Great for my husband and I as we have one signed and one not, perhaps not so great for the family of four as they now have four plates that are definitely not for eating on....
And ours were clear, not the black that are show on the all ears site .
http://land.allears.net/reviewpost/showproduct.php?product=514&cat=37
The menu that's up currently on the Disney site
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/media/wdw_nextgen/CoreCatalog/WaltDisneyWorld/en_us/Media/InternetMediaType/Dining/DineWithAnImagineer/hollywood-brown-derby-dining-with-an-Imagineer.pdf is very similar to what we had in October... we had a mushroom soup with creme fraiche as opposed to oyster soup; the fillet is similar but not the same (peppers featured prominently on ours, which while the server said they could do without was made with some type of pepper juice which set of my allergy later in the day), while the other entrees are the same; the desserts are the same.
I used it to surprise my husband for our wedding anniversary, and he was thrilled. It did take a good chunk out of our day, and it was a very unique experience, so if you want to sit and talk for a good 3-4 hours with an Imagineer, I highly recommend it.
There were only three drawbacks that I could see with it:
1. a bad group could ruin the experience for someone- Imagineers are not always the best crowd control people, so they might not control the conversation well (didn't happen with our group)
2. it is a set menu so if you don't like what's on there or are allergic to something, it may not be able to be changed, no matter what Disney says (even though we told them when we made the reservation, told the check-in CM, and the server, I still got an entree with peppers which could have easily been fixed with the sauce left off... I was told that it was made without it, even asked the server when it was set down in front of me as it looked the same as the others around me, and he assured me it was, but it wasn't)
3. the freakin' parade- it was HSM or something and passed by every 45 minutes or something and was SO loud we would have to stop talking as it passed. It got really annoying but we worked around it
