Why no 'Club 33' at WDW?

[Captain Crook]

Why doesn't MK or WDW have "Club 33" equivelent? It seems like a 'big money' proposition.

 

[Another Voice]

The idea for a club really started as nothing more than a place for Walt to entertain corporate clients, his personal guests, conduct company meetings and other "business-type" stuff. As I remember hearing things, it wasn't a restaurant – just a dining room. While Disney's corporate offices are in Burbank, Disneyland was more of a "public face" facility. Just as General Motors, U.S. Steel and other big companies had executive suites, Disney probably he thought he needed one too so he could wine & dine those same companies to help him build EPCOT. Allowing them to use the club for their clients was a big, big selling point (which is why all the EPCOT Center sponsorships included an exclusive lounge in each pavilion). The idea of selling memberships came out of that angle, but the Club was not started as an expensive elitist moneymaker.

WDW was both too far away from Burbank to host a lot of corporate type meetings, and it also already had the Contemporary Resort which had convention & meeting facilities and plenty of good restaurants. Certainly in 1971 there wasn't the local base to support a "secret", highly expensive private club. In short, there was no need for a Club 33 at WDW. If you want to make big money, you open up your restaurant to all who can afford it and let everyone know.

 

[Micca]

I think AV makes many valid points. The other thought I would add is that when Walt was alive and DLR was young, there were mostly counter service restaurants at DL. Walt was of course long gone by the time WDW opened, but even in its infancy, WDW had more upscale places to impress VIPs than DLR. That's my hunch anyway.

BTW, I ate at Club 33 last Fall, and it really isn't a restaurant so much as a dining room (as AV pointed out). It was delicious and expensive. It was an honor to be there.

 

[Sarangel]

AV, your reasons are valid for when the original club was built, but doesn't explain why they built a Club 33 in Tokyo Disneyland.

Sarangel

 

[Another Voice]

The Club in Toyko is for the Oriental Land Company (part owned by Japan's national railroad) to entertain their clients too. In Japanese business, the "night out" for entertainment is considered essential business manners.

If you've ever had to pick up a bar tab in Tokyo, you'll instantly know why it pays to build a place of your own.