We enter the salon and are handed a cool towel and cold beverage (Champagne and creme de violette). It’s a mood that prevails as our group, dressed in crisp, clean evening wear, saunter past strollers and bathrooms and sweat-drenched summertime parkgoers toward 21 Royal’s chained-off staircase perched atop the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Here, Paul makes the first of several allusions to people thinking we’re celebrities. It’s here, through a nondescript side gate into a literal magic kingdom, that we meet Paul, one of three professionally trained butlers on hand for the night. On a recent Tuesday afternoon, our group boards a black coach mini bus from Disney’s Craftsman-style Grand Californian hotel to be transported about one mile “backstage” - Mickey-speak for the industrial, unthemed areas not visible by guests - and cross over the Disneyland Railroad tracks into New Orleans Square. After all, if anyone is able to judge whether a theme park hideaway offers enough of a Disney rush to splurge your life savings on, it’s someone who has already dedicated their life to it.
#AVERAGE MEAL COST IN DISNEY WORLD FOR TWO PEOPLE FULL#
So, when I was given the chance to experience the full Royal treatment as part of a small media group hosted by Disney public relations, I bit. That exclusivity hints at the true value of 21 Royal, which lies not in the overall quality of the food and wine - delivered via menus curated for each party by executive chef Andrew Sutton and his team - but the degree of Disney magic folded into the package. You are also paying a premium on par with an event rental space, rendering 21 Royal in a different category than Saison’s $298 tasting menu or Masa’s $595 omakase, especially as its 19th-century-French-inspired interiors and waterfront views of Disneyland’s serene Rivers of America can only be visited during this mega-money meal.
The Golden Oak residential community at Walt Disney World, which boasts its own members-only restaurant, has already built more than 200 multimillion-dollar mansions, some of which share amenities with the Four Seasons Orlando at Walt Disney World Resort, a favorite of well-heeled travelers.īut in terms of cold, hard cash, what does one actually get for a reservation the price of a 2018 Mitsubishi Mirage? First off, VIP status for yourself and 11 friends along with valet parking at Disney’s Grand Californian hotel, “park hopper” tickets for all (about $166 each), and an elaborate seven-course meal - with tax, gratuity, wine pairings, and a couple of cocktails included. Club 33, Disneyland’s historic high-roller club, has expanded to Orlando, where individually themed lounges throughout Walt Disney World serve truffled popcorn and craft cocktails to guests allegedly forking over a $50,000 initiation fee. At $1250 per person, 21 Royal is not even their most expensive offering. The upper crust loves its Donald Duck and Darth Vader as much as the next guy, and the company has been steadily broadening its brand to embrace its ultra-high-end clientele. These days, Disney fandom knows no economic boundaries. So while it was a surprise to learn that Disneyland was turning its formerly inaccessible Dream Suite into a private dining space where, for $15,000, a dozen friends could eat and drink in luxury a few floorboards up from Jack Sparrow and his animatronic pirate pals, the fact that the place is still open - and thriving - is not. Themed Caribbean cruises, Hawaiian getaways, jaunts to China simply to ride on the back of a Tron Light Cycle - when Disney sorcery is good, you’ll spend whatever it takes to get the purest uncut taste of it. For those of us who buy into the Mickey Mouse club, there’s nothing quite like it.
0 kommentar(er)
