An Univited Guest to My Summerhouse Dinner Party...

[melanieewr]

...Mother Nature!

You know the saying about "all the best laid plans".

A little prelude;

About 6 months ago I started planning a really big Disney bash for my upcoming October 45th birthday. It will be way beyond extravagant, but it is a celebration to the end of a very long year for myself, my family and my dear friends. After a year of surgeries and finishing chemo on May 29th, I felt it was time to celebrate!

In the meantime...my daughter called and said she had a September convention in Orlando and could I help her with reservations. Well, being the Nana that I am, I decided I should go along and babysit my 2 yo granddaughter. Then I decided she would need a playmate. One thing leads to another. I decide a couple of more friends need to come along. party:

Then the brainstorming begins. I call my event planners and we decide a Summerhouse Beach Party is just thing for my little group of 12!

I really don't want to make this a long drawn out day to day trip report. I do want to share what is possible at Disney. I am simply amazed at what they can pull together in a short time. This party was planned in less than 2 weeks!

I have to stop now as I am being called to leave the office for dinner. Drats! I thought I might get this finished with one long post.

BTW...Minnie Mouse was the guest of honor at our party! ::MinnieMo And she was so much fun...

[melanieewr]

You just never know what the weather will be in September. Afterall, it is hurricane season. I knew this going in, but I thought like so many other times we would escape the wrath.

The party day was September 22nd and I received a call a little after lunch that the weather forecast looked really bad. GF catering would have to make the call by 2:30 as to the event being inside or outside. There was so much for them to setup and they needed the time.

We caught a cab from the Boardwalk over to the GF. The skies look clear. Cab driver says "it's not gonna rain". I am hopeful. But, as we walk to the beach, I see that our party is not setup there, so I know we have been moved inside. I am so upset thinking that we could have chanced it.

The children play on the beach and we snap pics. Then...we see Minnie riding up in golf cart! I am exicted now. But where is our photographer??? GF's manager is on the phone trying to locate him. The skies are darkening and now I am worried that the photographer will not arrive in time to take pics. Of course there are folks that don't realize that this is a private event and want their pic with Minnie. I tell the GF manager it's okay if the kids want to get their pic with Minnie. We will get plenty. They do have a couple of people wait until we are done. I honestly did not mind. The photographer gets there and we get some wonderful pics! Just as a huge black cloud rolls in and the winds pick up, they rush Minnie away...:moped:

[melanieewr]

As we walk to the Convention Center, I am nervous wondering how they have set this up. I was thinking...huge, cavernous room with our little group feeling miniscule. Wrong! It was a very small room. The only bad thing was there were no windows. I had been told the Whitehall was the only place they had that was large enough for our buffet. It was being used by a wedding party.

Oh well...the room was lovely. They had setup a beautiful children's table. I had previously ordered gift baskets from diser Betsy and they were perfect.


This is the children's table;
http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa239/melanieewr/DisneyWorldSept2007-204.jpg


Can you say "Sugar Rush"

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa239/melanieewr/DSC03712.jpghttp://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa239/melanieewr/DSC03715.jpg



Adults Table;

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa239/melanieewr/DisneyWorldSept2007-208.jpg

[melanieewr]

Dinner was so delicious! The kids started out with candy as it was there right in front of them!

I will post the menu a bit later since it is at home and I want to get the details correct. GF catering does an amazing job!

Before I stop for today, I want to say that our entertainment was perfect. I had decided to go with balloon characters and it turned our wonderful. He kept both the adults and the children entertained. I will post some of his delightful creations a bit later. We gave them away to lots of children that we passed as leaving the GF.

Here he is performing one of several balancing acts!

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa239/melanieewr/DSC03749.jpg

[melanieewr]

A quick pic of Minnie on the beach with my grandbaby!

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa239/melanieewr/DisneyWorldSept2007-184.jpg