Inside the secret Disney club you can only visit by invite – it’s loved by celebs and has some amazing perks
DISNEY has a secret club that most guests have no idea exists thanks to a very exclusive guest list.
The original Club 33 is in Disneyland California, although can also be found in Disney World, Tokyo Disneyland and Shanghai Disneyland.
You can’t buy your way in, as the club is on an invite-only basis.
It is even suggested that there is a waiting list of up to 10 years (which was even closed in 2007 after it became so long, before reopening in 2012) and even then it isn’t guaranteed.
Found on 33 Orleans Street, the speakeasy style club is found behind a blue door with a discrete 33 address plate at the entrance.
It was founded by Walt Disney, who based the secret club on his travel adventures with his wife Lillian, although he died a year before the club opened. in 1967.
Inside is a lounge and restaurant, one of the few places where alcohol is served in the park.
Props from films and rides such as Mary Poppins and Haunted Mansion are inside with vintage decor and original drawings on the wall.
The Salon Nouveau Lounge is one you can visit if not a member, as long as you have someone who is with you.
Here you can find caviar appetizers as well as burgers and champagne.
There is also Le Grande Salon, with a set menu costing upwards of $100, but can include options such as scallops and steak tartare.
There is even a suite you can stay in called the Disneyland Dream Suite, which sits above the next-door Pirates of the Caribbean ride.
If you are lucky to get on the list, you will have to make sure you have the cash.
Initiation fees are believed to range between $25,000 (£19,200) and $50,000 (£38,000).
Then there is the annual fee, which can be as much as $30,000 (£23,000).
The membership, however, gets you some extra perks such as day passes for guests, private VIP tours, exclusive merchandise and free hotel room upgrades.
You also can’t go to more than one of the Club 33s around the world, as each membership is exclusive to each club.
But you might also rub shoulders with some very famous guests.
This includes actors such as Tom Hanks and Rebel Wilson, as well as Christina Aguilera and Elton John.
A couple who had access to the club have recently taken Disney to court after losing their membership.
The couple, from the US, said they had paid as much as $124,000 a year to visit the theme parks, sometimes visiting as much as 80 times a year.
However, they were taken off the membership list after the park claimed they had both behaved badly, being both intoxicated and swearing – something they both refute.
What is a holiday to Disney like?
The Sun’s Deputy Digital TV Editor Jill Robinson recently went to Disney World as an adult.
THE last time I was in Orlando, it was 1992 and I was seven years old and overwhelmed by the magic.
It’s more than 30 years since I last visited Walt Disney World in Orlando but my inner child reappears and I am transported back to the magic I felt as a seven-year-old.
But boy have things changed. It goes without saying the Florida theme park has evolved in the three decades since I last visited.
The sheer technological advances meant I was not just reliving childhood memories but experiencing a totally different side as an adult.
Everything seemed bigger and better attractions – none more so than the astonishing tech marvel that is the Happily Ever After display at the Magic Kingdom.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that some things haven’t changed since the 90s – such as the Tomorrowland Speedway – and the nostalgia I felt in those moments was overwhelming.
If you want to find another exclusive area in the Disney parks, there is also the Victoria & Albert’s – the only five star restaurant in the park.
And here’s a raunchy secret club that Disney opened back in 1989, although has sadly closed.