A smoking volcano, a big Lego dragon and a spitting Stitch make it difficult for a triple-decker paddleboat restaurant to get attention these days at Disney Springs. But when the Empress Lilly came onto the scene in 1977, it was a big deal. “Disney officials say the restaurants will be like nothing seen in Orlando,” read a Sentinel caption with a construction photo from August 1976.
The paddleboat was named for Walt Disney’s widow, Lillian, who whacked a champagne bottle upon the building’s wheel as a Dixieland band watched from the upper deck on May 1, 1977, signaling its grand opening. In the mid-1990s, Empress Lilly became Fulton’s Crab House, and in 2017, it took on its current Paddlefish name.
For this week’s Disney World at 50 (publishing every Wednesday on OrlandoSentinel.com/wdw50), we dive into the archives for the early hype and opening of Empress Lilly.
Early numbers
Opening-day dimensions of the restaurant were 217 feet long by 62 feet wide. The faux smokestacks up top reached a height of 84 feet. The “ship” was built on land and then water channeled around it. This was explained early on but still presented as Disney magic.
There would be three restaurants and five lounges, seating 318 patrons.
The paddle wheel would turn at one revolution per minute.
Disney was noncommittal about what it spent to create Empress Lilly, sticking with a “multimillion-dollar project” answer. But after the restaurant opened, Sentinel reporter Mark Hanebutt twice wrote the price tag was $5 million. (That translates to about $23 million today.)
Inside the Empress Room
The floor plan for Empress Lilly was to have the Baton Rouge Lounge and Steerman’s Quarters, a steakhouse, on the lowest floor. One level up, accessible via a grand staircase, was the Promenade deck sporting a seafood restaurant plus the more exclusive Empress Room, which seated 68 diners.
“The dining room has been purposely designed without windows so concentration on the fine food will not be diminished,” longtime Sentinel food writer Dorothy Chapman said of the Empress Room, which had gold leaf and heavy mahogany going for it. Reservations were required for Empress Room, as were jackets and ties for men.
The Empress Room used a Lenox service plate with a rose-coral rim, circled in gold.
“The same design is carried out in the ashtrays,” the Sentinel noted.
The third deck was known as the Texas deck.
All this segmentation was torn out for the Fulton’s Crab House era, creating a single restaurant.
‘I’ll have a Mark Twain’
Here’s where the sticker shock might kick in. In 1977, the Baton Rouge Lounge cocktails were $1.50, except for a specialty one dubbed the Mark Twain, a frozen blend of brandy, creme de menthe and fruit juices. That would run you $2.50.
At Fisherman’s Deck, dinner entrees were between $7.95 and $12.50. “Daily soup choice will be lobster bisque served pristine for children and with a dash of sherry for adults,” the Sentinel wrote.
It was a flat fee for the Empress Room. Pre-opening publicity had the price “in the neighborhood of $35 per person,” but instead it was $50.
People on the scene
The first executive chef for Empress Lilly was Garry Reich, who had been executive banquet chef at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. His resume included a stop at the Beverly Hills Hotel as head chef, and he had been White House chef for President Lyndon B. Johnson. He had been head chef in the New Orleans Square area of Disneyland and, before that, a Hungarian Army cook during World War II.
There was talk that the monorail would connect the Lake Buena Shopping Village to Magic Kingdom and the “planned World Showcase.” Howard Roland, vice president in charge of construction and purchases, noted that was “somewhere down the line.”
Standing next to Lillian Disney Truyens (she had married real estate developer John Truyens in 1969) during the restaurant christening: Donn Tatum, Walt Disney Productions’ chairman of the board. He became CEO in 1971 after the death of Roy O. Disney (Walt’s older brother) and was the first non-Disney to run Disney.
Odds and ends
Although the flesh-and-blood Lillian appeared at the opening, she did not speak to reporters. “According to Disney officials, Mrs. Truyens, who is reportedly in her early 70s, was fighting a cold,” the Sentinel reported. (For the record, she was 78, according to modern sources. She died in 1997 at age 98.)
In early May 1977, the Sentinel reported that Disney had planned to serve venison and striped bass, but Florida law prohibited the sale of the game. It was removed from the menu two days before opening. “They’ll probably either return it from where they bought it or give it to charity,” said spokesman Bob Mervine. There had been calls from “concerned citizens,” the newspaper said.
In June, a column called “Inside Stuff” reported the flat fee for the exclusive experience dropped from $50 to $35. “Insiders say top Disney brass may soon decide to change the Empress Room altogether to get back to a more realistic price that would be in better keeping with the Disney image as a family adventure,” it said.
This Series
This story is part of the Orlando Sentinel’s “Disney World at 50” series – a year’s worth of stories leading up to 50th anniversary of the historic opening of Walt Disney World on Oct. 1, 1971. More stories, photos and videos at OrlandoSentinel.com/WDW50.
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