Dine with an Imagineer at Brown Derby

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Is this just impossible to book? I was just looking for Jul 23 out of curiosity (considering it for early Aug) and no spots available. How large a group is at each? To those who have done it, would you do it again?

 

[SnowChaser]

We did it, and there were about 12 people at the table. It was a wonderful experience! Would definitely do again. Food & conversation were great. We booked when our 180+10 days reservation window opened. Never saw any availability after that.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

We did it, and there were about 12 people at the table. It was a wonderful experience! Would definitely do again. Food & conversation were great. We booked when our 180+10 days reservation window opened. Never saw any availability after that.

Ahhh... so it did work with the 180+10... Our next trip is 11 days, so I have a shot! Thanks so much!

 

[DaisyDuck001]

I was disappointed with it and would probably not do it again. A lot depends on the imagineer you get. We had one who was nice enough, but had only been there a few years, and seemed to know way less about WDW theme park history than many of us on these boards do. Also my food order came out wrong. If I had it to do over, I'd skip it.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

That is a great point about variability... I can see it depending a great deal on how engaged the Imagineer is, and even what your fellow guests are like.

It looks like we won't be doing it this Aug after all. I just noticed on the website that it says ages 14 and up -- we want to attend with DS13 and DD11 (few weeks shy of 12). Perhaps another time.

I was surprised at the age requirement, as we did Dine with an Animal Specialist several years ago with the kids. Very well behaved, really into animals, and had great questions. A fellow diner was from one of the guide books and even asked if my son might want to contribute a comment to a future book.

 

[imagineer52]

I did it last year, and I managed to get a reservation on my birthday, about 2-3 months before. I have my second one scheduled for next week, which I managed to pick up a week or so ago. I'm a single person, so it's easy to squeeze in, since it's so limited availability. I'm guessing both the times I got it, someone cancelled, or reduced their party size. I've never seen it available at 180 days. Once your kids are old enough, they will enjoy it. There was a high schooler at my last one, who asked for college advice. I must say I loved who I got, he was a civil engineer, and as a fellow engineer, I feel like I was the only person sometimes who really understood what he did. Hoping for someone good this time. You may get some inside secrets!

 

[Disney_Alli]

I'm dying to do it again as our experience included an excellent imaginear, a VERY bored 5 year old boy who only answered to Darth Vader, and two pushy moms who wanted to know how their - uninterested looking - preteens could become imaginears too... with the new age requirements at least the 5 year old wouldn't have been forced to be there.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

I'm dying to do it again as our experience included an excellent imaginear, a VERY bored 5 year old boy who only answered to Darth Vader, and two pushy moms who wanted to know how their - uninterested looking - preteens could become imaginears too... with the new age requirements at least the 5 year old wouldn't have been forced to be there.

I understand 5 being too young, but 14 is ridiculous IMO. 10yo would seem reasonable to me.

 

[Disney_Alli]

I understand 5 being too young, but 14 is ridiculous IMO. 10yo would seem reasonable to me.

I bet it goes back to Disney's thoughts on ruining the magic for kids and that's why the age is 14. I would have been interested and engaged at 10 but I know tons of people who wouldn't have been even at 14.

 

[starry_solo]

We had an engineer too, who led a team that dealt with many of the attractions

 

[disneyland addict13]

My mom and I did it in April 2017, and we had a project manager who was in charge of the Star Wars Land development at Hollywood Studios! He had also managed several other huge projects, and he had some amazing stories about all the different elements that have to come together to form a new attraction, resort, restaurant, etc. We have reservations to do it again next month, and I'm really hoping that our experience lives up to the first one.

 

[TinkerBellSam]

We have it booked for next month. How long does it last? A very old review I saw said 3 hours?!?!

 

[dtragonese]

My husband and I did it last month and really enjoyed it. There were 10 guests plus the Imagineer. It lasted about 2.5 hours for us. We were done around 2:30 if I’m remembering correctly. I can see by our photopass pictures that we were in toy story land by 3:00. Enjoy!