Disneyland has a secret private dining club hidden within it called Club 33. The club has a lot of strict rules governing patron decorum. For instance, public intoxication will get your membership revoked.
That’s exactly what Scott and Diana Anderson discovered back in 2017 when Disney revoked their Club 33 memberships after accusing Scott of public intoxication within the park. He blames a vestibular migraine triggered by red wine.
The couple sued to get their membership reinstated. As reported in the LA Times, their attempt has now officially failed, and all it took was several years of their lives and $400,000 in legal bills.
First, let’s rewind to explain why anyone would devote so much time and resources just to regain access to a private Disney dining club. The Andersons are Disney Adults, for all the good and bad that label comes with, and that’s putting it mildly. Maybe they’re Disney obsessives. But at least they paid their dues.
The couple reportedly rode the Haunted Mansion ride nearly 1,000 times. They ate at the private club 80 times a year. Annual dues to Club 33 are $31,500. Adding in travel and hotels, they said they spent around $125,000 a year to enjoy all its amenities. They spent nearly a decade on the waiting list for the private club in the first place. So when they were banned, they burned a lot of that money trying to get back in.
The dream came crashing down in September 2017 when security guards said Scott was slurring his speech and had trouble standing near the entrance of California Adventure. Anderson’s lawyer says Scott was just exhibiting symptoms of a vestibular migraine brought on by the wine—and that it’s unfair that they were banned without video evidence and a breathalyzer test.
The Andersons had previously run afoul of Disney brass when their memberships were briefly suspended after Diana used inappropriate language in the park, says the Times.
In their lawsuit, the Andersons wanted their Club 33 membership reinstated and sought financial compensation totaling $241,500 to cover four months of unused membership and seven years of membership fees. An Orange County jury sided with Disney.
Scott said the entire ordeal has set back his retirement by five years but that they’re going to keep fighting. Diana said that she’d sell a kidney to keep the fight going—though, liver probably might have been a more appropriate organ, given the context.
The post Disney Adults Spend $400k Losing a Lawsuit to Rejoin the Exclusive Club 33 appeared first on VICE.
The post Disney Adults Spend $400k Losing a Lawsuit to Rejoin the Exclusive Club 33 appeared first on VICE.
