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(Disney is ABC parent company.... hmmm)
“It’s a Cult, and Walt’s the Messiah”: Meet the Couple Who Sued Disney Over Secretive Club 33
Scott and Diana Anderson only want one thing: to be let back into Club 33. But Club 33 definitely doesn’t want them as members.
Since 1967, the club has served Disneyland’s highest-rolling VIPs — an in-the-know oasis over the Pirates of the Caribbean ride that purports to make the happiest place on Earth even happier. (Much of that is due to the fact that Club 33 was for decades the only place inside Disneyland proper to get a hard drink.) In 2012, the club opened a satellite location available to its Platinum-tier members, the 1901 Lounge, in California Adventure.
The Andersons, both 60, have been together for 44 years. They waited 12 of those years to receive their Club 33 invitation, shelling out $50,000 for their first-year dues alone. They got their money’s worth, however, using the clubs upward of 80 days per year.
By their fifth year of membership, however, the magic was fading: They say new managers had taken over, their favorite chef was gone, and they were repeatedly slapped with member violations. The worst of them came on Sept. 3, 2017, when Scott was discovered by park security keeled over a bench in California Adventure near the 1901 Lounge.
A park guard said he smelled alcohol on his breath. Scott says it was a “vestibular migraine” triggered by red wine. A month after the incident, the Andersons were informed they had been expelled from Club 33 forever. Thus began their $400,000 legal odyssey to get reinstated and seek $231,000 in damages. But the Andersons lost after a jury of 12 deliberated for 45 minutes and ruled in Disney‘s favor.
And so the Andersons have no more Donald Ducks to give. At least that appeared to be the case when they joined The Hollywood Reporter for a conversation about the secrets of Club 33. “The worst part with Club 33 is, conservatively, 80 percent of all members are selling access,” claims Diana of a practice that is prohibited by the club bylaws. “And they’re selling all the merchandise online. They’re making cottage industries off this place.” Explains Scott: “A lot of it is to pay their dues. The dues today are $32,000, which is just insane.”
Hi, Scott and Diana. What do you do in Arizona?
SCOTT ANDERSON We own a golf course in Gilbert, Arizona, which I live 500 yards away from. I drive a golf cart over there to work. I work all day every day.
Where did the obsession with Disneyland come about?
DIANA ANDERSON That’s all on me. My dad was in the military, and we moved a lot as a kid. Whenever we moved, you purge. The only thing I ever consistently got to move with me was my record player and my records. And back in the day, you could get a full tank of gas and they would give you a Disney record. So all my records were Disney records. My whole life was all Disney music.
When I was 16, every high school in Arizona went to Disneyland for graduation. That’s when I first saw the light in the window above the fire station, which is Walt’s Eternal Light. I’m like, what is that about? Turns out the light was in Walt Disney’s personal apartment. Then I found out that right next to that is Club 33. I’m like, “I would like to get into this club.” We had heard it cost $6,000, and this was more that 30 years ago. Then the invitation came, and it was four times what we thought it would be.
SCOTT There was a $25,000 [level of membership] and $40,000 [level of membership].
Did it really take you 12 years to gain entry to Club 33?
DIANA Yes, but we started saving up before then. We were thinking it would be about $12,000.
So what was the actual amount?
SCOTT It was $40,000 plus your first year dues, which was $10,000. That included access for her mother and our son.
What are the actual tiers of membership?
SCOTT There was Silver, there was Gold. Then they created Platinum and Executive, and they forced the Silvers to come up to Gold. And the Gold had the option to go up to Platinum if they paid the Platinum dues.
And what does that get you?
SCOTT Well, you get five VIP tours per person. The tour is basically a “skip the line” pass.
And how many people can go on that tour?
SCOTT Ten people. Our park fees were waived, plus we got 100 park tickets [for guests].
But your park fees are always covered?
SCOTT Right. Club 33 is really a glorified annual pass.
DIANA And a Club 33 member, you don’t have to pay for the Lighting Lane or Genie pass or all that other garbage.
What do you get in the actual Club 33?
DIANA Liquor and food. When we first joined, they had the Dining Room and the Trophy Room.
SCOTT When they opened up these new membership types, they opened a second club called the 1901 Lounge, which is on the California Adventure side, and it’s right next to the Cars restaurant. It holds maybe 45 people total inside. When it’s 95 degrees outside, it’s lovely to go in there. They have light bites and cocktails, wine and beer. And then the manager would wander around and do table touching, as any manager should.
DIANA But you did get other privileges. We used to get to ride the Lilly Belle, which was Walt’s personal car on the Disneyland Railroad train. Eventually they started selling that for $85 apiece.
Isn’t the food in Club 33 supposed to be really good?
DIANA It was when Marcel was there.
SCOTT When we first joined, the original chef, Marcel [St. Pierre], would make a world of different things for you. You could have a full rack of prime rib for a party of eight, and he’d bring it all out and hand slice it.
DIANA Waffles at 4 o’clock in the afternoon — no problem.
SCOTT It was an amazing experience. But they wanted to redo the restaurant and increase the size of the kitchen. So they took out the Trophy Room and added a bar-lounge called Salon Nouveau.
Do they have a no-photos policy in there?
DIANA They have a no-photo policy in the bathrooms, but that’s just California law.
SCOTT You can take photos in the lounge and the Grand Salon, but you can’t do any videoing.
DIANA And you can’t take pictures of other people who aren’t in your group, because people are always trying to take pictures of celebrities. It’s just very rude. Members do it all the time.
And there’s no blackout days or anything?
DIANA Correct. Unless they close the club down because they have Tom Hanks coming for Thanksgiving — then you have to get out by 3:30.
And did that happen?
SCOTT Absolutely. Our friends from San Jose were so pissed off because they called far in advance to get a good reservation for dinner for Thanksgiving. The club said, “Unfortunately, the latest reservation we can have is 1:30 p.m.” On their way out, in comes Tom Hanks and his wife and family, so they had their own private dining experience. [Hanks did not respond to a request for comment.]
DIANA [Member] Rebel Wilson got suspended [for 30 days] for taking a picture in the bathroom. And then six months later she took a video of her dancing with Minnie Mouse in the Grand Salon. And then she was on TV [on The Daily Show] announcing she’d been suspended.
SCOTT A bigger scandal was actually Katy Perry offering access to the lounge for [charity] for $160,000.
DIANA You’re not allowed to give your tickets to charities. [Perry did not respond to a request for comment.]
How are people profiting off their memberships?
DIANA They’re selling their [100 park] tickets. They’re selling access. They’re getting about $125 for lunch [in the club] a head.
SCOTT Then there’s exclusive Club 33 merch. There are fanatics out there that obviously aren’t members. Members walk out with 10 bags in their hands of the latest releases of merchandise. They put it all up for sale.
DIANA One of them even has an online store. There’s also special events — and people sell access to those events. We got Club 33 gardening vests and clipping shears that had the 33 logo on the leather pouch. They would sell all those items online and get $1,000 for them because they’re so rare.
SCOTT We did dinner inside the Haunted Mansion — 25 people around the dining room table. I think that was an additional $2,500 bucks for the two of us.
Does it give you access to secret stuff like Walt’s apartment?
SCOTT We got to see it when it was still all the original furniture in there. They’ve since yanked it all out and replaced it with replica stuff.
DIANA When we used to go as members, we could have all the time in the world we wanted in there. Now they make you pay and it’s all roped off. But you used to be able to go inside and walk through. I mean, we were using the bathroom in Walt’s apartment because we were in there so long. They were like, “Go head. Use the bathroom. It’s fine.”
“Walt pooped here.”
SCOTT It is very truly cult-ish. Every time they built a new ride and it wasn’t up to snuff, [members] are like, “What would Walt do?”
DIANA It is a cult, and Walt’s the messiah.
Is it true the “33” in Club 33 is a Freemasons reference?
SCOTT Walt was a Freemason and that is the highest level: Level 33.
DIANA That’s all speculation. You can’t find any written evidence that that’s where 33 came from. They say it’s because it would have been the address on the street that where the original door was. But the door has moved. So that explanation never made any sense.
How long were you members before you were terminated?
SCOTT Five years. Four really good years, and then the last year when [a new manager] came in is when everything went south. After my incident, they took their full 30 days. I sent them my medical records. I emailed them multiple times. We didn’t know we were going to be terminated. It was so out nowhere. We get a letter in mail that says, “Terminated.”
DIANA First [the manager] said, “If you don’t write an apology letter, I’ll terminate you.”
SCOTT It was like, “But if you write an apology letter, all will be forgiven.”
And you wrote one?
SCOTT I did, yeah!
What did the check that night say in terms of how much you drank?
SCOTT We were there for a Fantasy Football draft, and so there’s 15 to 20 people on the tab. It was two bottles of wine, there were beers. So I had two of the beers and I had a glass of wine between 12 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. It was 9:30 p.m. that I was found on the bark bench. I was sitting on a bench and then when [security] were like, “Hey, can you stand up?” I couldn’t really stand up. I stood up and then I kind of sat back down on the bench right away because severe vertigo is part of vestibular migraines. All I had in my pocket was my Club 33 card. So they called the club and reported me based on that.
Where was Diana during all this?
DIANA I was [closing our check] inside 1901. Security did not call me, and I am listed as “In Case of Emergency” in his phone. They just called the last number that had called Scott. Luckily it was one of our best friends. Imagine if it had been a business associate.
In a Los Angeles Times story, they note “the Andersons had run afoul the year before. Diana had been briefly suspended for using some salty language, ‘a couple of F words.'”
DIANA My friend knocked over her drink with her sleeve. And the waiter came up and she’s like, “May I get another mimosa?” He is like, “I can give you water or I can give you tea.” After five minutes I go, “Wait a minute, did he just cut us off?” And I went to talk to the manager, who would not look at me. Finally I leaned into him and I said, “What the fuck is going on?” And he goes, “That’s it.”
You hadn’t been drinking?
DIANA I had two glasses of wine. Everybody there knows I pour water in my wine. I’m not really drinking two glasses of wine. Everybody knows that. … Believe me, when we’re talking, we know we sound crazy. My friends talk about it. We’re like, “I know we all sound insane.”
You spent a great deal of money to be a member there and I assume you get no refund. So is it about that? Or do you really miss being part of the club? Why undertake this very expensive legal route?
SCOTT It was two things. One is my integrity was impugned because now I’m “the drunk in the park.” And it’s all the friendships that we have there. “We’re all going to go to Club 33.” And we’re like, “We’ll go do something else for a while.” They feel guilty. We would feel guilty [if the shoe was on the other foot].
So you’re not banned from the parks?
SCOTT No, we’re not banned from the parks.
Have you been back to the parks?
SCOTT We have, twice is all I can recall.
DIANA We’ve gone three times. We paid for the Lightning Pass. They didn’t tell us how to use it. So we went on one ride and then everything was sold out for the day. I’m like, “Are you kidding me?” And while we were in line, Disneyland sold out, so we couldn’t go to both parks. It wasn’t any fun.
Your Club 33 troubles began in 2017. Why did it take seven years to go to trial?
SCOTT [Disney] got a summary judgment saying, basically, “We’re throwing this out.” So we went to appeals court. Appellate court said you can’t do that. So it got handed back down to lower court, then COVID happened and then the courts got shut down.
DIANA We actually [subpoenaed] Rebel Wilson.
But she didn’t take the stand?
SCOTT No. She probably should have.
The interview was edited for length and clarity.
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