Consulate Lounge (was Focus Group@Gurnee)

[MGA1]

Both parks had nearly identical Consulate Lounges. The Consulate Lounge was located on the second floor of what was originally called the "Mardi Gras Emporium"...the largest gift shop in Orleans Place. This building is the first building on the left side when you enter Orleans Place from Carousel Plaza. You'll see a stucco wall with a wrought iron gate on the first floor level...the gate is always locked unless there is an event happening in the Consulate Lounge. Looking through the gate, you'll see a small courtyard. There was a small decorative fountain located on the stucco wall at the back of the courtyard. To the immediate right (inside the courtyard) is a set of wrought iron stairs leading up to the French Quarter-style balcony for the Consulate Lounge.

The Consulate Lounge was initially designed to be a two-bedroom apartment for the Marriott family members when they visited either park, however, before either park opened the plans had changed. The Marriotts had also built a fancy brand new Marriott hotel immediately across the street from the the Santa Clara park and they chose to stay in the Marriott Lincolnshire Resort when visiting the Gurnee park. Who could blame them...there wouldn't be any room service or valet service in the park and it would be odd staying there....too noisy during the day, too desolate at night.

Anyway, the Consulate Lounge floor plan is kinda "L" shaped. At either end of the "L" are rooms designed to be bedrooms. One was definitely larger than the other one. As the Consulate, the large bedroom contained a huge conference table. There was also a large walk-in closet in this room and a door to a bathroom. The bathroom actually had two doors. One entrance from this bedroom and another from the adjoining Living Room. The odd thing about the Consulate bathroom (at both parks) is that it is a large room that contains one sink and a toilet...there is a large open area where I presume a tub would have been installed if it had been finished as a real apartment. I remember lots of marble, gold plated handles on the toilet and the sink faucet. I can't remember but I think the entire sink bowl was gold plated.

The bedroom at the other end of the apartment was much smaller. It also had a small walk in closet. It is furnished as a Study with a small writing desk.

The Living Room and the formal Dining Room area are very large with high ceilings, elegant moldings and French Victorian furnishings. There was an old fashioned (circa 1976) large console color TV in the Living Room...I think the screen size was a whopping 28". I believe the entire Consulate (excluding the bathroom and kitchen) had inlaid parque wood flooring covered with several large tapestry rugs.

There was a apartment-sized kitchen in the back of the Consulate that you entered from the formal Dining room. The kitchen had a very large (10'x10') walk-in pantry. The rest of the kitchen was pretty average size...one kitchen sink, one dishwasher, one range. There was an exterior door in the kitchen that lead out onto a wooden catwalk across the roof of the rear side of the Emporium and then a wooden staircase that ended up in a service area behind the Emporium. The kitchen service entrance was used for Foods to bring catering service up to the Consulate kitchen when an event was happening.

From the public areas of the park, the only way you could get a glimpse of the Consulate kitchen entrance is from the sidewalk on the side of the Men's Bathroom in Carousel Plaza. If you walk down that sidewalk area to where the Men's Bathroom side exit door is located and look up over the fence toward the roof/back side of the Emporium, you can see the wooden catwalk & the kitchen entrance door.

I was fortunate enough to have been in both the Gurnee and the Santa Clara Consulates a couple times when hosting VIP events. Both Consulates have identical floorplans. The only difference I noticed is that the kitchen in the Santa Clara Consulate has a very residential feel to it...wood laminate cabinets, laminate counter tops, an electric range...I think it was Avacado Green...all original from 1976. The kitchen in the Gurnee Consulate was the same size but looked more commercial...like a catering kitchen...I remember stainless steel counters and such. I think this is because the Santa Clara park was further along in construction when the decision was made that the VIP apartment space would be changed to the Consulate Lounge.

The Consulate Lounge was used when the General Manager of the park was hosting special guests. Also VIP guests (celebrities) were offered the space to use as a secluded resting place when they visited the park as guests. For a short while, when Santa Clara hosted concerts in the Redwood Amplitheatre near the Consulate, the area was used as a waiting area/resting area for the performer and his/her family. They later built green rooms closer to the stage.

Unfortunately, I never took any pictures of the Consulate interior. I've also never seen any pictures of it taken by anyone else.