Q: We recently enjoyed a second dinner at Club 33. We were told by a hostess that the restaurant was completed in 1967. But after leaving, I thought to myself, “How could Mr. Disney sit at a table and watch the guests in New Orleans Square below him in 1967 when he died in 1966?” Could you straighten out the timeline of the Club 33 construction and completion for me?
Denise, Auburn, California
A: Walt Disney never had a chance to sit in Club 33 and watch his guests below in New Orleans Square (as depicted in a well-known piece of artwork), because he died six months before the club was finished. He was very involved in the early planning of the club, and he and his wife, Lilly, had traveled to New Orleans with the club’s designer, Emile Kuri, to select the beautiful antiques to be featured there. But he never got to see the results as he died on December 15, 1966. The club opened on June 15, 1967.
Dave Smith