Disney parks are known to contain "secrets," like a hotel suite inside Cinderella's Castle in Disney World and a hidden menu at Disney Springs. They also offer a $15,000 dinner at Disneyland, and you can only have it at 21 Royal.
21 Royal, which opened in January 2017, is a private space that can be booked for the expensive and fancy dining experience. "Imagine a home designed by Walt and Lillian Disney in the 1960s, a place they where they would host family and friends, or even celebrities and dignitaries," Matt Ellingson, manager and sommelier at 21 Royal, tells CNBC Make It.
The dinner costs a flat fee of $15,000, according to Disney. Each booking can accommodate 12 people, so the cost comes out to $1,250 a person at full occupancy. The cost of the seven-course meal covers tax, gratuity, wine pairings and cocktails. The full experience, Ellington says, includes park-hopper admission tickets for up to 12 people (a one-day ticket costs $185), valet parking at Grand California Hotel & Spa and private, after-dinner entertainment overlooking the Rivers of America.
"It's refined, it's private and it's filled with Disney storytelling and surprises."
The event rental space is in Disneyland Park, at the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and overlooking the Rivers of America. Friends and families gather to celebrate occasions and employees for corporate gatherings, according to Ellingson: "At 21 Royal, there may be traditional moments such as birthdays and anniversaries and babies being born, or the celebration of milestones in life or in business. And, of course, many come to celebrate their affinity and love for Disneyland and for the man who brought it to us."
He says the dinner at 21 Royal is an experience offered less than a dozen times in any given month.
As the evening begins, guests are driven through the back gates of Disneyland and around to New Orleans Square, where they are greeted by one of 21 Royal's professional butlers, Ellingson says. From there, guests are escorted up a grand staircase to the front steps of the private home located at 21 Royal Street in New Orleans Square.
Guests then have "time to explore the home, and to enjoy libations under the evening sky and signature cocktails," he says. The sitting room features a carousel horse and antique furnishings.
From there, guests enter the dining room for a multi-course dining and storytelling experience. "The chefs and sommeliers join you table-side from time to time with tales of what inspired each dish and wine pairing," says Ellingson.
The dinner "offers some of the rarest ingredients and most celebrated wines from around the world," Ellingson says. He would not comment on the food served. According to a Food & Wine writer who had the experience, the meal "started with String of Pearls: golden osetra caviar with Alaskan king crab and heirloom tomato."
It also includes A-5 Kobe pastrami, a premium Japanese beef, cooked medium rare and paired with a pinot noir.
Each dish in the dinner has a story behind it. "Ellingson shared the story of trying two dozen wines before he decided to masterfully pair the spiciness of a banana-leaf roasted pheasant/coconut-tomato curry dish (known as Razor's Edge) with a 2011 Tommaso Bussola Amarone della Valpolicella Classico from Veneto, Italy," Food & Wine reports. "This dish, which included fiery chutney and mango with yogurt, had a lot of nice things going on and the wine went well with all of them."
The evening concludes with entertainment in the park which diners can enjoy from the private balcony, like the Disneyland fireworks show or "Fantasmic!'" with lights, lasers, music, live action and Mickey Mouse.
Ellingson says it's the food, level of service and personal attention that make the dinner unforgettable.
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