The Boathouse Restaurant At Disney In The Works!
Back a ways at the big Warner auction in Minnesota we stumbled across a very cool Globe Mastercraft, as it turned out, the boat had just been purchased along with others for a in the future restaurant concept to be built at Disney in Florida. We actually did a fun story on the boat,, but not the restaurant. Well, just the other day, we received official go ahead and release to announce the new restaurant. How cool is this? A stunning restaurant using classic boats and amphacars.. The Boathouse WOW! Designed as a 1940s-1950s era boathouse the concept is perfect. Expected opening April 2015..
We are very excited about this here at Woody Boater since it reenforces what we have been saying all along. We are a lifestyle, culture, whatever you call it. Our beloved passion, is more than the boats, it”s the world around them. We know that the good folks At Schussler Creative have gone above and beyond to make sure that the finest boats are there and part of the truth mixed with some good food.
Here is the official Press release so you can read it right from the source.. Impressive spelling I might add!
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla., October 27, 2014 – Schussler Creative, specialists in the creation and consultation of attractions, restaurants, retail stores and entertainment venues worldwide, today announced their latest project: The BOATHOUSE: Great Food, Waterfront Dining, Dream Boats – located at Disney Springs at Walt Disney World® Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Schussler Creative also is the creator of other restaurant/retail attractions at Walt Disney World Resort including Rainforest Cafe and T-REXTM Cafe (located at Downtown Disney®), and Rainforest Cafe and Yak & etiTM (located at Disney’s Animal Kingdom® theme park).
Opening Spring 2015 as one of the new venues in The Landing at Disney Springs – a re-imagined and exciting district of entertainment, dining and shopping – The BOATHOUSE will be an upscale, waterfront dining experience featuring spectacular floating artwork: dream boats from the 30’s, 40’s & 50’s. The incredible culinary experience of The BOATHOUSE will be showcased in an expansive restaurant with three distinctive bars including The Captain’s Raw Bar, The Admiral’s Club Bar and The Dock Bar, which is built over the water. Other spectacular nautically-themed rooms include The Runabout, Twin Transoms, and The Lake House. There will also be two private dining rooms for special events, conventions and presentations: The Regatta and The Trophy Room. The BOATHOUSE restaurant will be managed by internationally renowned and award-winning Gibsons Restaurant Group, celebrated for exceptional food and extraordinary service (recently named Best Steak House in Chicago). Guests will enjoy a gourmet menu served daily until 2 a.m. featuring steaks, chops, fresh seafood and a raw bar.
The BOATHOUSE restaurant will immerse guests both on land and on water with live music and romantic Captain’s guided tours aboard The Venezia, a beautifully crafted 40-foot wooden Italian Water Taxi featuring champagne toasts and chocolate-covered strawberries. There also will be the exhilaration of guided Amphicar rides that launch from land, entering the water with a splash, taking guests on a 20-minute tour of the landmarks of Disney Springs.
The Harbor Master will orchestrate daily flag ceremonies, accompanied by a lively musical performance of beloved bugle songs, performed aboard a classic 1800’s antique steam boat. Authentic nautical items, custom engraved paddles, distinctive lake-themed merchandise, and other unique items “Made on EarthTM” will be available at The Ship’s Store, adjacent to The
BOATHOUSE restaurant. “Combining dining with interactive entertainment, The BOATHOUSE helps bring to life our vision of Disney Springs as a welcoming place for guests of all ages to enjoy with their friends and family amid the charm of a waterfront town center,” said George A. Kalogridis, president, Walt Disney World Resort. “We are very excited that The BOATHOUSE is joining the Walt Disney World family at Disney Springs,” said creator Steven Schussler. “We are proud to bring the culinary expertise and impeccable service of Gibsons Restaurant Group to The BOATHOUSE. The outstanding cuisine, the excitement of Amphicars, the Italian Water Taxi, and live music will make The BOATHOUSE a must-see destination for Walt Disney World guests from all around the world. Walt Disney Imagineering has created a wonderful, interactive, culinary and entertainment experience at Disney Springs. We are proud to be part of this magical experience.” For dining reservations and more information about The BOATHOUSE, guests will be able to visit Disneyworld.com in the future.
Woohooo, A good excuse to stay in Tavares for a couple more weeks!
This brings two thoughts to my mind.
First does these mean we are becoming Mainstream? Than I read about how the Italian Water Taxi will feature Champagne Toasts and Chocolate Covered Strawberries. Did they forget the Grey Poupon? When was the last time you had Chocolate Covered Strawberries on your Woody? (Leave that alone Alex)
Darn the math is back.
Well……there was the time with whipped cream…
Will they serve chicken on a stick?
The Grey Poupon is for the French water taxi, not the Italian one, and chocolate covered anything is always welcome.
THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH YOU!
Does this open a door for a future classic boat show at Disney World? Seems they would have all the ingredients for successful show of the annual International variety. Count me in.
I’d be surprised if they let us use our private boats on their lake. Guests are usually relegated to more slowly moving vessels (ok Pather would still qualify). Oh good the math is back to small numbers but still no comment count on the home page.
Ed, exactly what I was thinking! I truly hope it will be open when we make our annual trip to Tavares.
Been there several time bring up the kids. They do a great job entertaining the masses, I hope that the folks visiting the boathouse enjoys themselves and maybe it will spark a few to convert to wood for there floating fun. Maybe some will look at the cost for a family of 4 for a week there and see that they could be well on there way of owning some wood in the garages. For us we’ll save our penny’s and hit the water!
Sounds cool, my first thought is are the Ampicars real or simulated? I imagine they would be making replicas? If so, that’s pretty cool too!
Replicars? I was thinking just like you….there cannot be enough amphicars to satisfy their need. Maybe they could “marinate” some other old cars that have no purpose….maybe a floating AMC Pacer, Chevy Vega or Ford Pinto.
The amphicars are authentic. I sold a number to them for this.
Yes the Amphicars are real. it was my great pleasure to be a tiny part to this fun adventure. Dave The Wave https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gators-Amphicar/34298494069
Matt is there an easy way to increase the font size for the new format? I won’t be using my iphone to access the site as it is set up now. Back to the big screen desktop.
Is that where the Unlimited Hydro “Alter Ego” went? Rumor had it, it was going to hang in a restaurant.
Hi Mike D, there are settings on your phone for larger fonts, and on an apple comp, Hit Command + it will make things larger.. We have actualy reduced some of the captions so they dont fight the other text.. Lots of stuff on one page..
Also note on the smaller split stories now at the bottom of the page, those headlines are a bit smaller.. As to fonts, we chose very easy to read fonts this time around.. As I age…. Cough cough.. Type sometimes blends together and my eye bounces around.. I designed this for my eyes.. If you are under 30, this may seem like you are reading a Dick and Jane book. One day you youngsters will understand..
I avoid DW like the plague. I wonder if they will have a shuttle to get you in and out without touching the rest of the place? The concept sounds awesome. How many other small venues are around the rest of the country with a boaters theme but not on this scale?
It will be in the old Downtown Disney location, so you will be able to get in and out without going through any of the parks or other “attractions”
I thought you said yesterday…no more math…
And do I need to insert my e-mail each day ?..It doesn’t change…
And Am I the only one who read the part about Mt. Dora in three weeks…And when I did click on the registration form it was not available.
And lastly where are that new trading dock ads.
Other than that Mrs. Lincoln…Woody Boater has a great new look…
I am not getting into any water craft with a mickey mouse guy at the helm.
My guess is the detail will be excruciatingly lacking, except of course where they buy up some perfectly good classics and turn them into rotting, static displays. To the crowd that thinks that every wood boat must be a “Chris-Craft” -this will be very cool. To the rest of us, I think we would rather be on our own boats cruising to a real-live privately-owned water-front restaurant. You know the ones that have signs that read “Unattended children will be sold to Pirates”.
Thank God the Math went back to single digit. I failed and ran out of time yesterday and it would not post.
I started scaring the kids with Disney characters when they were babies. If all goes as planned, they will never want to go near the place.
Two things…..wait, now three…..
1) Chad, that is genus! Since you started it, when my kids were younger we took them into the entrance of Disney and there was enough going on there that they thought they were “in” Disney but we left it at that.
2) I understand they’re still negotiating hard to get MFine and his trusty Penn Yan down to the new restaurant. The idea is that he’d get them all liquored up, baconed up and then take them for a ride they’ll never forget.
3) This seems like a good place for the WB Christmas Party. I would think that hosting our group would be great PR for these people. Surely we’re their target audience?
There is no way I am sharing my bacon with other people’s rug rats!
Plus, if we are going to give the kiddies a memorable ride, the ski-jet with very little freeboard and a few 40 mph Hamilton turns should do the trick better than the stable and safe Penn Yan.
this web site looks the same as yesterday’s. how quaint. how boring.
If the poster is any clue, they will be having someone build amphicars to look like ’57 Chevy’s before long… I would think that chianti and strawberries would be OK on the Venetian water taxis and they darn well better have “outboard” drink mixers behind the bar or I’m sticking to beer!
Families and adults would be far better seeing and experiencing real boats and real boat houses in real settings, in wholesome parts of the country. Not some upscale, plastic banana eatery on a man made pond. No matter how artfully designed and built, nor how brilliantly operated (which it will be), it’s ersatz.
Well, at least we know where the duck boat will be at home. Soon to be renamed the Donald Duck boat, no doubt.
Who cares about the pond or decor. They have bacon, steak and a wet bar, plus chocolate desserts.
Well, here’s one 22-U that won’t be invited to Disney’s Boathouse.
The math captcha timeout is a bit annoying. Can you up the time for us slow thumb typers on phones?
I also like the fonts. Very readable for my not so old eyes.
We have set it for 30 minutes! mmmm, it may be a glitch in the moble part of the widget. We are looking into a new math problem. Sorry about all of this.. We recieved 350 spam comments in 4 hrs yesterday.
to bad it will not be open in time for tavaries, hard to drive 800 miles for lunch.
Wow finally a cool place to go after a Braves Spring Training game at Disney’s Champion Stadium; but I’m hoping that the “beloved bugle songs and daily flag ceremonies” stay at the ball park.Totally appropriate there, but not in an old timey boat house. What was the mouse thinking?
Graphics © The Disney Company
Looks exciting to me, I’ll be going there when in Taveras. I had also wondered if the Amphicars were going to be replicas.
the Amphicars are not ‘replicas’ they are “restored” originals and patrons will be able to drive them around the restaurant for a price. Steven will have 8 or 9 of them I think. The WaterTaxi boat is an all wooden 42′ replica..
Water Taxi boat
Amphicars have been re engineered! Captain will give rides’
Italian Water Taxi is original!
Really cool, fun boats and Great food!!!!
the water taxi is a REPlica, not an original.
Wonder if they will have any of the old Grand Craft’s back on the lake…Even if they do they won’t let us drive whatever they have. I got a ride in a Grand Craft there once…the driver was a college kid…and I don’t think he’d ever been in a boat before…I offered to drive…But no dice..
You should have said: “My name is Wilson Wright and I am taking over the controls sonny…”
Guy’s here’s what a slow troll fingered compass does.
1st type what u want.
2nd do the math, have some dried red beans next to you to help with the math.
problem fixed!
Be that as it may Matt you would help your friends if you would show a link to a map (chart?) that display all the launch ramps on this lake and the associates trailer parking. After all the proper way to approach a Boathouse restaurant is – wait for it – by boat!
Enroute to/from Tavares of course
Gene
Just wanna say to all you turkeys in WoodyBoater Land:
H A P P Y T H A N K S G I V I N G ! ! !
You guys are as bad as those dopes in Ferguson who made up their minds what happened before they KNEW what happened. Let the place open and give it a shot before you decide it sucks. Disney has the resources to do things right and will probably employ historians full time to make it authentic. Maybe they wont and it will be cheesy(mouse pun intended), But for gods sake, be open minded enough to let the place open before you trash it. I’ve played golf at some courses at Disney that were absolutely fabulous. They even had real grass and had actual real, not recreated, not fake, golf carts.
Hi Craig. I for one, have been to Disney a couple times. As have, I know, several of those who are not enthusiastic about this project and expressed their opinions above.
Disney has a way of doing things that is well oiled. Some of us are quite familiar with this. Yes, they execute very well. But virtually everything they do, from film to theme parks, to cruises, to TV shows, to video games, to plush toys, etc. is re-creation or fantasy. By example, Cinderella isn’t a real princess!
We are merely bemoaning what, by it’s very nature, will be a stereotype of real classic boating. Some people are ok with that. Some of us prefer authenticity.
Re the golf courses, I’m sure they are beautiful with nary a weed in sight and nothing but the best green dye touching up the brown spots, just like at Augusta. :). Some of us, however, would rather hike the Adirondacks, or at least play courses that are far more natural, in keeping with the game’s origins.
I hope that explains where we’re coming from.
So, my question is did Disney get the Globe??? Really interested because I have one. I worked at Disney 18 years developing and building the foliage, facades and props for Epcot. We did extreme research on all aspects of everything we built to be sure it was authentic in design. I think it’s another great venture for Disney and their guests. I really look forward to seeing it.
Hi Terry, the restaurant folks got the globe, it was a modified one from back in the day. And you are right, they have done insane research on this, and it’s fantastic. There is more to this that we know about and are waiting on for clearance, but I can say that other woody baoters are on this as well, and they totally get it. I understand the jokes, but Disney knows what they are doing and this restaurant will make a huge impact on our classic boat culture. I would imagine there will be some broad strokes of interpretation so you can bring your wife and kids and they get a taste of it.. Sorry bad pun.. We need to understand that 99.9% of the population doesn’t give a crap what screw was used in a 1941 Chris Craft 19 blah blah, and we can scare those away by diving to deep.. This restaurant and all that it is, is a fantastic way to bring to life what we love so much. By the way, here is the Globe in question, restored by the good folks at Minnitonka Boats, you will see that it was highly modified way way back in the day?
And here is the pic of the back end. We saw in rough shape back at the Warner auction. I grabed this photo from Minnitonka Boats.. There is more there.. Great folks!