PHXscuba's Club 33 Christmas

[PHXscuba]

I AM BACK!!

It was an amazing -- if super-short -- trip. It was so different than many I have done. DS8 asked me what rides we did -- after I told him we only rode 3 rides and the monorail I think he's almost glad he wasn't with us!

It was cold but beautiful, I got my camera to semi-cooperate to get some night photos, and I had an incredible meal at Club 33 with some amazing DISers. It will take me a bit to wrangle all my photos, but rest assured I will get them up.

Although I'm a little overwhelmed that it is now less than 2 weeks to Christmas, I am full of the Christmas spirit and ready to celebrate! I am even wearing my Mickey/Minnie mistletoe shirt today!

PHXscuba

 

[DizNee Luver]

I AM BACK!! It was an amazing -- if super-short -- trip. It was so different than many I have done. DS8 asked me what rides we did -- after I told him we only rode 3 rides and the monorail I think he's almost glad he wasn't with us! It was cold but beautiful, I got my camera to semi-cooperate to get some night photos, and I had an incredible meal at Club 33 with some amazing DISers. It will take me a bit to wrangle all my photos, but rest assured I will get them up. Although I'm a little overwhelmed that it is now less than 2 weeks to Christmas, I am full of the Christmas spirit and ready to celebrate! I am even wearing my Mickey/Minnie mistletoe shirt today! PHXscuba

Ty and I were saying the same thing about this being a "different" trip than the norm......lol. I'm sorting pics today as well!

 

[Lynne G]

Glad to. Hear you are back home and had a great trip. That is the fun of an AP, no need to always do and see everything every time you visit.

It is getting to feel like Christmas here. We have snow and very cold temps, so the snow will remain for some time.

Kids are worried the weather may interfere with our flights, but I told them there won't be any trouble next week end when they go.

Almost all gifts are packed, as we will leave them here for our family. I am not taking anything of value or girth as bringing gifts on vacation to carry them back home is not my favorite thing to do. Besides the kids big gift is enjoying FLA sun in December.

 

[PHXscuba]

Ty and I were saying the same thing about this being a "different" trip than the norm......lol. I'm sorting pics today as well!

Glad to. Hear you are back home and had a great trip. That is the fun of an AP, no need to always do and see everything every time you visit.

It is getting to feel like Christmas here. We have snow and very cold temps, so the snow will remain for some time.

Kids are worried the weather may interfere with our flights, but I told them there won't be any trouble next week end when they go.

Almost all gifts are packed, as we will leave them here for our family. I am not taking anything of value or girth as bringing gifts on vacation to carry them back home is not my favorite thing to do. Besides the kids big gift is enjoying FLA sun in December.

I have definitely had some different experiences having an AP this year. Seeing the park without my kids in tow is different ... not always better, but different.

I would definitely leave gifts at home, especially if I had kids old enough to understand things like luggage weight! I remember one summer my mother surreptitiously dragging my sister's birthday gifts through several states on a car trip so she could have some on her birthday! DS turned 8 in DLR last year and we opened gifts before we left home and let him bring the new Nintendo game with him.

PHXscuba

 

[PHXscuba]

A Club 33 Christmas, part 1

OK, I figure the Club 33 photos are probably the most exciting part of the TR, so I'll do that first, even though it is out of order in the day!

My mother and I wandered down the little alleyway in New Orleans Square where I was pretty sure Club 33 was located. Confession time: I've never actually looked for the famous Club 33 door, and it's not where I would have imagined it, somehow. So I am checking every number and finally Sherry took pity on me and called us over where she and the others were waiting across from the door.

It's funny ... the very unobtrusive door is right near the entrance to the Blue Bayou and the line out the door of BB had reached almost to the Club 33 door. In fact, people were parking their strollers (including one particularly enormous double stroller) almost right in front of the Club 33 doorway. I guess they figured it was a facade? I finally actually got the above picture when I came out later.

We had been told that One Does Not Knock at the door until One's appointed time, so after my mother left (she was not coming in with us) we introduced ourselves -- Sherry, Liza, Laurie, and Laurie's son Tyler -- and chatted until we safely felt it was closer to 2:00 than 1:59. We were admitted to the pocket-sized lobby with the efficient hostess. I totally covet her job. It is now on my "Disney Jobs I Want list, maybe even ahead of Holiday Decorator.

Five of us in the lobby (standing on the level below the elevator and staircase) was already a little cramped, and we were all doing our politest best not to lean into each other's photos. Imagine how much more crowded it got when they admitted another 6 people as we waited! I'm glad I got a few photos at first.

After a decent wait, the hostess came and almost apologetically asked if we were OK being seated in the "smaller dining room." I think the first thing we all thought was "Trophy Room" and I think I was the one to directly ask the hostess if that was where she meant. We were Disney-geek excited about the prospect of sitting in the Trophy Room, being Walt's personal design and knowing it was going to lost forever in the upcoming reno.

The hostess offered us the chance to use the stairs or ride in the elevator modeled after the one in "The Happiest Millionaire," which Walt copied after they wouldn't sell it to him. Cool historic elevator always > stairs, so no-brainer for all five of us.

The Trophy Room had two big round tables seating 10 and a very long table that could probably fit 20 people. We were the only ones there when we arrived, so we spread out at a table for 10 (lots of rooms for purses, coats, and cameras) and started filling our memories and memory cards.

The microphones that Walt hoped to use to respond to guests' requests were never turned on, but remain in the chandeliers

The room used to have more Disney family pieces and trophies, but they have gradually been removed over the years, including the infamous corner vulture

Big bonus for me -- Christmas trees everywhere. I resisted the urge to try and smuggle out one of these 3-foot trees under my coat

My dining companions and new friends: Sherry and Liza seated; me, Tyler, and Laurie standing​

Stay tuned for round 2 ... the food!!

 

[DizNee Luver]

Yay for going out of order!!! Love the staircase pic......gonna borrow that one for my own viewing!!!

Club 33 doesn't try to advertise that they are there....but I think moving the entrance down to the former Court of Angels will change that. As for the strollers, you would think that Blue Bayou would send out a CM to corral the strollers. They do that all over the park & the limited walking space (and since that was an active door), you would think they would stay on top of that. Kinda a hazard having strollers parked here and there.

 

[The Fox Menagerie]

Thanks for the Club 33 pics, someday we'll get to go, but for now we'll enjoy your photos!

 

[PHXscuba]

Yay for going out of order!!! Love the staircase pic......gonna borrow that one for my own viewing!!!

Club 33 doesn't try to advertise that they are there....but I think moving the entrance down to the former Court of Angels will change that. As for the strollers, you would think that Blue Bayou would send out a CM to corral the strollers. They do that all over the park & the limited walking space (and since that was an active door), you would think they would stay on top of that. Kinda a hazard having strollers parked here and there.

You don't know how much I wanted to move that giant stroller! I was fighting the urge the whole time. Of all the places Disneyland moves strollers, I agree that would be an excellent one. Unfortunately the "alleyway" feel of NOS is the same thing that makes us all crazy -- the tight corridors and crowding.

Thanks for the Club 33 pics, someday we'll get to go, but for now we'll enjoy your photos!

Thanks! It was a wonderful experience. As long as we still have items on our "Disney bucket lists," I guess we'll just have to keep going back!!

PHXscuba

 

[kaoden39]

The whole New Orleans and Adventureland areas are filled with parked strollers. It is so crazy when you go through there. There are times that I avoid Adventureland completely. The worst bottle neck is at one of my favorite places to eat. Right at the Bengal Barbecue.

 

[rentayenta]

The trophy room? Awesome!

 

[Lynne G]

Lucky you, the club! Sounds like you had a fabulous time.

Have a great and merry holiday.

Kids are getting excited as a few more days before break. They go until Friday.

 

[PHXscuba]

The whole New Orleans and Adventureland areas are filled with parked strollers. It is so crazy when you go through there. There are times that I avoid Adventureland completely. The worst bottle neck is at one of my favorite places to eat. Right at the Bengal Barbecue.

That is the worst part about those areas. I know I would poke around more if I didn't feel so constricted all the time! I will say that once we got into the Club that almost all of outside noise disappeared -- I almost forgot I was right over NOS until I'd look out a window.

The trophy room? Awesome!

Yes it was awesome. The hostess -- cool as she was -- didn't know she was dealing with people who knew what the Trophy Room was and would likely have picked it if given the choice anyways! Given that it goes bye-bye very soon, it was serendipity that we got to experience it. I felt very honored.

Lucky you, the club! Sounds like you had a fabulous time.

Have a great and merry holiday.

Kids are getting excited as a few more days before break. They go until Friday.

My kids are out Friday by noon as well. My parents arrive Thursday night, so I'm at about T-minus 48 hours to get the wrapping cleaned up, the den cleared out and at least the downstairs bath sparkling clean. Meanwhile I'm here, contemplating doing another TR section before I lose my access to my primary computer til Christmas Day -- if I sneak onto it for snippets it will have to be for only essential business.

PHXscuba

 

[kaoden39]

Have a fun holiday with your family.

 

[PHXscuba]

A Club 33 Christmas, part 2

I really shouldn't tease you with hallway pictures when I promise food, but I promise they will make it into this post ...

A fitting Pirates of the Caribbean picture

Love, love, love this picture, which imagines what Walt would have seen looking out from his table by the window in Club 33, if he had lived to see it finished.

I never made it over to the windows in the main dining room to see the view from there -- there's a fine line between taking pictures of neat surroundings and being rude. I believe the balconies across the way are part of Club 33 too. But above is the view out the Trophy Room, looking down onto Royal Street. I didn't mean to capture it, but I love the couple getting their caricature made.


THE FOOD!!!

Lauire (DizNee Luver) has better menu descriptions than me in her TR, especially since Tyler photographed the menu!! If you want better details, look there. I will just tell you what I had and what I thought it was (always a fun game to remember what's in what you ordered after they take the menus away!)

First course: A seafood plate for the table to share. Three of us split it and two others had a vegetable plate because they didn't prefer the seafood. The shrimp were very good.

Second course: a squash/pumpkin fall soup, with a slice of dried apple on top (the large lighter part of the soup). Once I carefully figure out how to break up the apple, this soup was divine. Perfect texture and so tasty on a cold afternoon.

Main course: Chateaubriand with mashed potatoes (and couple of vegetables I didn't waste valuable stomach space on). My photo does not do this steak justice. I think Sherry had this as well. The steak was very tender and cooked just as I asked -- I don't like it too red. All of the main courses looked amazing and I wish I could have had a sampler platter of all of them.

Side dish: Truffled macaroni and cheese. I'm not sure I could taste the truffle oil (I am so not a foodie) but this mac and cheese was very good. We had two between the table to share, and I don't think we even finished them. I was desperately trying to save room for dessert but it was so hard when everything was so good!

The dessert bar!! I wish I had room for everything on this bar. They do need labels or an attendant -- we figured out what was in everything when we returned to our table and started tasting.

This is what made it onto my plate -- hot cocoa in tiny cups, an eclair, a jam tart, and a gingerbread shingle. I made it through the contents of the plate and about two bites of the gingerbread before surrendering. They were very nice to give me a small bag for the gingerbread, and I ate it the next morning for breakfast. I look back and think "I should have gone back and tasted more," but I was seriously soooo full of good food that I feared they would have to roll me down the stairs!!

I will have one final installment with some more pictures and final thoughts about Club 33. Might be a few days before I get the chance, though.

PHXscuba

 

[Sherry E]

You got some really great pictures! You covered a lot of ground in the restaurant. You took many more than I did, because at that moment I had forgotten that I didn't set my camera for low light and I was thinking that I was going to have trouble getting decent photos...so I just kind of stopped taking them after a while. (I am praying that at least a few of the Club 33 pictures came out decently, and that at least a few of my Carthay Circle/1901 pictures came out decently but I won't know for sure until I can see them in a larger window.)

Also, there never seemed to be a good moment for me to get up and walk around. I was either eating or we were chatting with Louis. There was never any 'down time' for me to get up and walk around (especially not while others were up walking around too). Oh well.

In any case -- since you mentioned that I had the Chateaubriand -- I will add that I had nothing to do with the mac & cheese. That was something you and Liza wanted to order, and it was split between the 4 of you (including Laurie and Ty). I didn't want it. I didn't try it.

I knew what my desserts were before I brought them to the table because I didn't get anything mysterious -- I knew I was getting angel food cake and a muffin, as well as the obvious hard slab o' gingerbread. I think it was the folks who got the Bailey's-infused mini-eclair or pastry, or whatever it was (which I did not get) that weren't sure??

I had fully intended to get a piece of chocolate cake, but when I got to the dessert buffet and saw the remnants of what I think was supposed to be the cake (or it may have been a yule log!), it looked a little picked over and pitiful, so I skipped it. The angel food cake was yummy though (while being rather difficult to slice in a neat and orderly way!).

You didn't get a picture of the menu? Now that is one thing I did get a photo of, even if I skipped taking photos of everything else. I thought everyone took photos of the menu!

 

[PHXscuba]

You got some really great pictures! You covered a lot of ground in the restaurant. You took many more than I did, because at that moment I had forgotten that I didn't set my camera for low light and I was thinking that I was going to have trouble getting decent photos...so I just kind of stopped taking them after a while. (I am praying that at least a few of the Club 33 pictures came out decently, and that at least a few of my Carthay Circle/1901 pictures came out decently but I won't know for sure until I can see them in a larger window.)

Also, there never seemed to be a good moment for me to get up and walk around. I was either eating or we were chatting with Louis. There was never any 'down time' for me to get up and walk around (especially not while others were up walking around too). Oh well.

In any case -- since you mentioned that I had the Chateaubriand -- I will add that I had nothing to do with the mac & cheese. That was something you and Liza wanted to order, and it was split between the 4 of you (including Laurie and Ty). I didn't want it. I didn't try it.

I knew what my desserts were before I brought them to the table because I didn't get anything mysterious -- I knew I was getting angel food cake and a muffin, as well as the obvious hard slab o' gingerbread. I think it was the folks who got the Bailey's-infused mini-eclair or pastry, or whatever it was (which I did not get) that weren't sure??

I had fully intended to get a piece of chocolate cake, but when I got to the dessert buffet and saw the remnants of what I think was supposed to be the cake (or it may have been a yule log!), it looked a little picked over and pitiful, so I skipped it. The angel food cake was yummy though (while being rather difficult to slice in a neat and orderly way!).

You didn't get a picture of the menu? Now that is one thing I did get a photo of, even if I skipped taking photos of everything else. I thought everyone took photos of the menu!

I've never been good at taking pictures of writing on the page -- my camera and I are bad at focusing that finely. Plus I knew if I really needed to know something from the menu that Laurie/Tyler had a picture.

I'm sorry that you didn't get to take more good pictures. If you want to borrow any of mine of something we both saw, you are welcome to them if they capture what you want to remember. I hope your card reader gives you access to all your photos.

I'm glad the angel food cake was good. I do agree that it's not the easiest dessert to wrangle. I am having sugar overload this week between looking at my Club 33 photos and all the goodies floating around my house.

PHXscuba

 

[PHXscuba]

So I am sort of starting to get back into my non-Christmas groove and routine. The decor will come down very slowly over the next week and the goodies have piled up. I am in a post-holiday sugar coma.

DS17 got his wisdom teeth out this morning and is doing amazingly well. I'm not sure all of the Novocaine has worn off, but he's pretty much his normal self. Hope it lasts.

DD14 went up to the mountains with her cousins yesterday. First hour there she walked out onto a pond that was much less frozen than my desert girl thought ... up to her thighs in freezing cold water. Silly child.

I made cutout gingerbread cookies today for the first time, from the Disneyland recipe.

I wanted to make them all Mickeys but I needed more total cookies for the outing I am taking them to tonight. So I just made Mickey for me!

I will re-start-up my trip report as soon as I can remember what I've written, where I left off, and upload and edit some photos. Meanwhile, I will leave you with a picture we took Christmas day of our family!

PHXscuba

 

[kaoden39]

Very cute! Have fun tonight!

 

[PHXscuba]

A Club 33 Christmas, part 3

I am going to finish up Club 33 with a small assortment of photos before going back to the beginning of the day in the next installment.

One thing that surprised me about Club 33 was the teeny, tiny bathroom. I knew the club was 50 years old and way, way, before the ADA mandates, but it was truly tiny. I'm sure it's something they will fix/change/update in the renovation. It was maybe 12 feet deep and 7 feet wide? I was seriously leaning back to get each of these photos.

The fronts of the vanity and sink are maybe 3-4 feet away from each other.

Even the toilets are famous at Club 33!​

I snuck into the edge of the main dining room before dessert when they were between lunch and dinner seatings. I wanted to take a peek but not be the elephant in the room!

Close-up of the fireplace wreath and trees

The tree just inside the doorway to the main dining room and a bit of the wine cabinetry.​

My overall impression of Club 33? Amazing. I have read some (but tried not to after I knew I was going to not over-learn) about it before and knew the general history. Obviously I was there for the experince and not just the food, but I thought the food was very well-prepared. And when compared to the price of a sit-down meal with the "Disney premium" attached anywhere in the parks or hotels, it was almost a value in my opinion. Even the diet Coke I had was only the same price if I had ordered it at Carnation Cafe or elsewhere!

The staff was helpful and unobtrusive. I know the others in my party stuck around longer and chatted with our waiter (I left to rejoin my mother after 3 hours inside), but I had hoped he'd be around more during lunch. The waitstaff was working without their storage room, already taken over by the impending reno, but you would have never known unless they said it. I feel bad for the staff, who will all be shuffled around during the time the restaurant will be closed. Our waiter seemed uncertain about his fate and where he would be working in the meantime. I hope they don't lose some of their good people by not taking care of them.

I'm doubly glad I got to see the Trophy Room before it closes for good, and to see Club 33 at Christmas, my favorite season. Doesn't everything look more magical with lights and sparkle? While I never had it on any official "bucket list" (because I thought it was an impossible wish), I feel so blessed I was able to have the chance to go. And it gives me hope that someday I might accomplish some of the more far-fetched "Disney bucket list" items, like going to an overseas Disney park.

I will look forward to seeing photos of the re-done Club 33 later next year when it re-opens. And if anyone ever wants to take me along to compare and contrast the old and the new ... I wouldn't say no!

PHXscuba

 

[DizNee Luver]

Oh, I'm glad you got a picture of the main dining room....since it was closed off when we were finally done. I didn't even get a peak inside!

I totally agree....getting to go at Christmas time just made it even more special!!

I sure hope Louis will be able to go back after the refurb (that is, if he can hold on that long in a temporary location....) I'm sure any where he gets put....other than Napa Rose would be a significant pay/tip cut.