Magical private dining in the HS Prop Shop

[soccermother]

This is a review of a private dinner held in the Prop Shop area of the Backlot Tours ride at Hollywood Studios.

I arranged this dinner for our extended family of 20 about a month before our trip, through Disney's convention catering department. It took a lot of phone calls to set it up but was totally worth the hassle. All of my nieces and nephews now think they have the coolest Auntie in the world.

We had the Italian buffet which included ceasar salad, breadsticks, 2 pastas, chicken, fruit salad, a dessert table and coffee service. Our experience begain with finding our event guide holding a giant glow stick waiting for us at the giant coke bottle near the backlot tour. She led us into the Prop Shop which was set with the hot buffet set up in the middle and four tables spread out around the room with fancy linens etc. A waiter and another employee made for a staff of 3 at our service. We had pre-selected several wines and these were waiting for us as well. There was far more food than we could possibly eat.

After dinner the six teens in our group had the best time exploring the props and staging funny photos while the adults just relaxed. Our event was 1.5 hours. By the end, the park had already closed for the day. Our dinner ended with the event guide whisking us through a side door and on to the Toy Story Mania ride which was waiting for us to take the final ride of the day, followed by 15 minutes to linger at the nearly deserted Osbourne lights. I was glad to discover that a photopass person was still hanging around and was able to get some photos of us in Christmas lights without all the crowds.

Even the walk out of the closed park was sort of magical. The last boat to Yacht Club had long since departed, so a nice employee quickly summoned an empty bus and we enjoyed a private ride home.

 

[janeapplemeadow]

I've been thinking about this sort of experience also. A quick question if you don't mind answering. Did they have a minimum number of guests required and did they charge per person and what was the charge per person? Thanks for sharing.

 

[soccermother]

It was $46.50 per person, no discounts for kids. The cost includes the tax and gratuity but wine is extra. There is another, fancier menu that is about $10 more, and there is also a cheaper lunch make your own sandwich bar option. The menus are fixed- you can't substitute items.
The totally amazing thing was that I was able to buy our park tickets at a discount through the catering and the discount covered the dinner cost.

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

that's wonderful...never knew you could do that. I read reviews that Epcot holds special dinning

 

[catne]

that just sounds like a wonderful time...thanks so much for sharing. I had no clue you could buy that kind of catering event. And it's really not that much more than regular Disney Dining buffet meal. The TSM ride & Osborn Lights to yourself...awesome!

 

[soccermother]

Yes that is why I posted, to pay back all the great tips I've read over the years. It took me 10 trips in as many years before I figured out you could do this.

 

[lizandjason]

Is there a rental/setup fee? It's amazing that you can get a private catered dinner in an attraction for $50 per person AND a discount on park tickets! I'm wondering what the 'fine print' is?

Thanks for sharing this great experience!

 

[soccermother]

there was no rental or setup fee

don't know what the minimum number of people was, I had 20

 

[OurDogCisco]

That sounds so cool. What an awesome experience. So, how do you set it up? Who do you call?

 

[soccermother]

I started with the number on this website:
http://disneymeetings.disney.go.com/dwm/catering/detailOverview?name=ExceptionalCateringPage

They take your name and say that the person who handles the resort where you're staying will call you back. I had to call several times before this actually happened.