Tomorrow, tomorrow...

From the Jungle Cruise, we meander towards New Orleans square.

My “meandering” is pretty slow. Even the mild sloping walkways leading to New Orleans Square are kind of daunting for me, and I pause at the top, directly in front of Pirates of the Caribbean, to catch my breath.

We’ve got about a half hour before we need to board the monorail for Downtown Disney, so I don’t know if we’ll be able to take in another attraction. Of course, if the wait times are as low as they have been, we might just have time.

Before we do, though, we want to locate Club 33. This is an exclusive, members-only club inside Disneyland that most park-goers don’t even realize exists, like a secret five-star restaurant that isn’t open to the public. Membership is held at around 400 people in the entire world, and the waiting list for membership is reputedly over a decade long. Given that, it’s a pretty rare thing to be able to dine there – you have to either be a member or know a member, since a member has to make any reservations.

We’re eating lunch there tomorrow.

No, none of us are members. And actually, what I said before isn’t precisely true, because none of us know a member, either. But I know someone who knows a member, and he was kind enough to have his friend make reservations for our whole crew.

Because the restaurant is meant to be found only be those who know about it, it’s is not very obvious. Oh, the door to Club 33 is right out in the open, on Royal Street, and thousands of people walk past it every day without realizing the treasures to which it leads. But it is painted a bland grayish-green, and the only sign is a mirrored address marker with its street number – “33.” Closer inspection of the door will reveal a couple of speaker boxes on the left side by the handle. That’s it.

We head down Royal Street and quickly spot the door, just past the Blue Bayou restaurant. It’s easy to find if you know what you’re looking for, it’s just that most people don’t know to look.

Our mission accomplished, we head back down the street to check out the wait time for Pirates. Hey – 5 minutes? This is unreal! We’ve barely been here an hour, and this is the fourth attraction we’ll be able to do!