Interview with Steven Schussler

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Over the years millions of Walt Disney World visitors have enjoyed dining alongside waterfalls, jungle vines, howling gorillas and trumpeting elephants at Rainforest Cafe, in the company of prehistoric dinosaurs as an imminent meteor shower streaks overhead at TRex Cafe and surrounded by an eclectic collection of stunning Asian artifacts in Yak & Yeti thanks to the innovative vision of SchusslerCreative. And in Spring 2015 their latest dining experience, The Boathouse, opens at Disney Springs where guests will enjoy gourmet dining along the waterfront amid an array of exquisite nautical vehicles, daily flag ceremonies and live entertainment including buglers.

According to Steven Schussler – The Boathouse will bring Disney guests a kaleidoscope of options featuring great food, waterfront dining, dream boats and array of nautical arwork and souvenirs. The dream boat he explained, “encompasses those beautiful old mahogany boats from the ’30s, 40s and 50s along with incredible fiberglass boats.” Captains from The Boathouse will take guests on guided tours of Disney Springs in Amphicars – a feature unique to the location. Appearing as regular street vehicles that surprisingly splash down into the water for aquatic fun these intriguing amphibious vehicles were made from 1962 to 1967. Schussler has been experimenting with them for 10 years due to their unique nature. He explained, “President Jimmy Carter owned one, Lyndon B Johnson, another former President owned one. Amphicars have been around a long time. They weren’t very popular because they were expensive as a second car in the ’60s … There’s probably 350 left in the world.” Dedicated to providing great guest experiences, Schussler Creative will not only introduce these unique vehicles to a wider audience at Disney Springs but they have also re-engineered these classic aquatic cars. “[We] redesigned the interior, took 30 degrees of heat out of the engine so people in the backseat are comfortable.” Along with the amphicar tours of the waterfront The Boathouse has also announced romantic guided tours aboard The Venezia, a beautifully crafted 40-foot wooden Italian Water Taxi featuring champagne toasts and chocolate-covered strawberries.

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Back on land The Boathouse will feature the pageantry of a daily flag ceremony accompanied by a lively musical performance of beloved bugle songs performed aboard a classic 1800’s antique steam boat. And in keeping with the immersive dining, entertainment and retail model found at TRex Cafe and their other locations, The Ship Store, adjacent the Boathouse will offer themed children and adult’s clothing, hats, sunglasses, fine watches and incredible nautical items from the ‘50s and the ‘60s, including items for the home.

At the center of all these activities will be The Boathouse restaurant and bars serving a gourmet menu of steaks, chops, fresh seafood and a raw bar. The Boathouse restaurant’s nautically themed dining 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. Its expansive layout will offer three distinctive bars — The Captain’s Raw Bar, The Admiral’s Club Bar and  The Dock Bar, which is built over the water. The Boathouse will be managed by the award-winning Gibsons Restaurant Group. Recently named Best Steak House in Chicago, Gibsons is the only restaurant group in the country to feature its own USDA certification raising breed specific, Black Angus beef on sustainable farms in the Upper Midwest. The beef offered at their Chicago steak house is listed as corn fed for 120 days and aged for 40 days. Continuing Schussler Creative’s dedication to social responsibility “(We’ve) teamed with culinary conservationists,” says Schussler. “They support healthy abundant oceans. They’re great stewards of the seas. (Diners) can expect incredibly pristine seafood..wild caught shrimp, catfish and sustainability farmed salmon. It all helps ensure the bountiful and dynamic ocean stocks for generations to come.”

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Staying open until 2 a.m. Schussler hopes The Boathouse will also give parents the opportunity to “leave [the kids] to bed and come on back out, have a cocktail and eat at our raw bar; eat out of the dock bar.”

As one of the earliest announced additions The Boathouse establishes the newly named Disney Springs as an entertainment district for the entire family offering unique experiences in combination with quality entertainment and dining.

You can learn more about Steven Schussler, the creative process and the entrepreneurial spirit of Schussler Creative in his book “It’s a Jungle in There:Inspiring Lessons, Hard-Won Insights, and Other Acts of Entrepreneurial Daring.” One hundred percent of  Schussler’s profits from each book sale will be donated to Smile Network International (www.smilenetwork.org).  As one of the founding members of Smile Network International, and a lifetime member of the board of advisers,  Schussler strongly supports Smile Network International’s amazing mission of surgically repairing cleft lips and  palates of impoverished children and young adults.

Jeremiah Good
Our main correspondent for Walt Disney World and the Orlando area and a heck of a paleontologist if he does say so himself.