*4/10*GF Cafe & final thoughts* Dead Lizards & Deluxe Dining: A December Trip Report

[yinyanggirls]

Wow, that dinner looked amazing! I tend to stick to my faves at restaurants too. Cruise looked like fun, especially to have the other group join you! Cool!

 

[All7OfUs]

The Cali comes through again for you!! I just can't help but think that we are going to have such a great meal here in Sept!

One question about the cruise... Did you hear the music or did they pipe it in somehow?

So glad you could share such a happy memory with another DISfriend!

 

[praisehisname]

Oh my gosh, Cali Grill sounds so good! Everytime I read a review I keep thinking that I have GOT to go there!

The Wishes cruise looks fabulous! Do they pipe the music into the boat for you?

Denise

 

[DisneyGuy758]

I LOVE the California Grill. It was more than worth the 2 TS credits. When my wife and I went in 2007, I think our bill was $250+ or so. Wow. Most. Expensive. Meal. Ever. She had the cold crab salad as an app, and I had sushi, it was my first time trying it and OMG I'm glad I had it there. Nothing else even comes close in town. I don't remember what we had for a main course, but I do know it was fantastic. The wine list was exquisite, and being a wine snob I was in heaven. The view we had (I asked for a window seat and got it!) was breath taking. I don't wanna hijack your thread with my own pics, but I have to post at least one...

Great update. And awesome pictures!

 

[KathyRN137]

Mmmm. Cali Grill looks so good!

Amazing fireworks pictures, Shannon. I am jealous!

You have convinced me that someday we must do the fireworks cruise! I'm glad you were able to combine it with a lovely DIS-meet, too!


Kathy

 

[manntra]

What a wonderful dinner! YUM! I really have to get there someday and you should definitely try to make your most favorite meal!

The Wishes cruise looked like lots of fun too and how awesome is that sharing with Wigd!! Your pictures came out great too! What a perfect view

Tracy

 

[njtinkmom]

Just caught up with you TR. What a great friend to spend a 40th birthday with someone! I wish I did that for mine!! Anyway you MUST convince your hubby that going to WDW without kids is sooo worth it. I just went for 4 days in November with the hubby and no kids, and what a different type of vacation!! I did have a little guilt but since we are all going again in July I did not let it bother me toooo much. Christmas at Disney is great and the pix you got at DHS are fabulous. It brought back my memories. Keep writing - I subbed in!

 

[Native NYer]

Great photos of Wishes!

Back to catch up

 

[wigdoutdismom]

Hi Shannon and Courtney!
Your dinner at CG looks tasty, well except, I need my pork cooked a bit more....
The desserts totally yummo! I sure hope we are eating there in July!
Great pictures of Wishes! I haven't seen Marc's pictures yet, it will be fun to compare!
I can't believe that you don't have any of the lump under the blanket sitting across from you!

 

[shannn]

Great update! Dinner looks amazing and the cruise sounds like so much fun!! That's great that you were able to experience the cruise with Wigoutdismom and her family!! Yay for DIS meets!!

It was so much fun! I wish Anita & Marc & I had had more time to hang out. Next time we're there at the same time, I want to plan a dinner or something so we can talk!

Wow, that dinner looked amazing! I tend to stick to my faves at restaurants too. Cruise looked like fun, especially to have the other group join you! Cool!

The dinner was amazing. I have a horrible habit of ordering the same things over and over again. If I ever find a place where I order a lot of different things, then I really like it!

The Cali comes through again for you!! I just can't help but think that we are going to have such a great meal here in Sept!

One question about the cruise... Did you hear the music or did they pipe it in somehow?

So glad you could share such a happy memory with another DISfriend!

You are going to love the Cali!! Yes, we got the deluxe cruise, so the music was piped into the boat. "Magic Kingdom Wishes Cruise (Premium): includes pontoon boat, driver, water, soda, bagged snacks and and audio feed of the fireworks music" (from the DIS)

Oh my gosh, Cali Grill sounds so good! Everytime I read a review I keep thinking that I have GOT to go there!

The Wishes cruise looks fabulous! Do they pipe the music into the boat for you?

Denise

CG was amazing. The music is piped into the boat on the deluxe cruise. Except for being really chilly it was great! He did have blankets for everyone though.

I LOVE the California Grill. It was more than worth the 2 TS credits. When my wife and I went in 2007, I think our bill was $250+ or so. Wow. Most. Expensive. Meal. Ever. She had the cold crab salad as an app, and I had sushi, it was my first time trying it and OMG I'm glad I had it there. Nothing else even comes close in town. I don't remember what we had for a main course, but I do know it was fantastic. The wine list was exquisite, and being a wine snob I was in heaven. The view we had (I asked for a window seat and got it!) was breath taking. I don't wanna hijack your thread with my own pics, but I have to post at least one...

Great update. And awesome pictures!

Beautiful picture! I've been there twice, but never during the day! It was really expensive, but totally worth it. The wine list is amazing, and the Reisling we have there is one of my favorites.

Mmmm. Cali Grill looks so good!

Amazing fireworks pictures, Shannon. I am jealous!

You have convinced me that someday we must do the fireworks cruise! I'm glad you were able to combine it with a lovely DIS-meet, too!


Kathy

The fireworks cruise was wonderful, and it's always great to do a DIS-meet!! There are the nicest people here, aren't there? Thanks for the compliments on the fireworks pictures. Believe me, you wouldn't want to see the hundreds I took to get at least a few good ones!

What a wonderful dinner! YUM! I really have to get there someday and you should definitely try to make your most favorite meal!

The Wishes cruise looked like lots of fun too and how awesome is that sharing with Wigd!! Your pictures came out great too! What a perfect view

Tracy

It was a great night for sure! I guess I'll have to work up the courage to try and make the pork. I make tenderloin all the time, but the sauce and the polenta are another story.

Just caught up with you TR. What a great friend to spend a 40th birthday with someone! I wish I did that for mine!! Anyway you MUST convince your hubby that going to WDW without kids is sooo worth it. I just went for 4 days in November with the hubby and no kids, and what a different type of vacation!! I did have a little guilt but since we are all going again in July I did not let it bother me toooo much. Christmas at Disney is great and the pix you got at DHS are fabulous. It brought back my memories. Keep writing - I subbed in!

It was such a wonderful girls' trip for both of us!! (although not without a little drama that's coming up shortly!) Sam did finally give in on going on a couple trip in October so hopefully he'll love it. And I'm with you on the guild factor~~ we're going back for a family trip in March so the kids will get their turn.I loved Christmas at Disney, and I hope I get to share it with my kids some day.

Great photos of Wishes!

Back to catch up

Thanks!

Hi Shannon and Courtney!
Your dinner at CG looks tasty, well except, I need my pork cooked a bit more....
The desserts totally yummo! I sure hope we are eating there in July!
Great pictures of Wishes! I haven't seen Marc's pictures yet, it will be fun to compare!
I can't believe that you don't have any of the lump under the blanket sitting across from you!

I can't wait to see Marc's pictures. Hopefully, we got at least one with both of us in it!! I should have snapped a picture of Keeley, except I probably would have disturbed her furious texting with the flash! Gotta love teenagers!

 

[shannn]

The morning of our last full day at Disney dawned beautiful again!! We had ended up experiencing the Magic Kingdom on Sunday, of course, but today was the day of my favorite thing. Rope drop at MK!! This ceremony just gives me chills and brings tears to my eyes!!

We jumped on a bus and were soon watching!

So we headed on to Fantasyland! It was strange to not be running for Dumbo, but we were on our way to Peter Pan (which gets a really long line and that amazes me!) Courtney's eyes get huge as she saw no line and realized the joy that is getting to the MK at rope drop!! It's so worth giving up sleep to me~

After Peter Pan, we headed across to catch It's a Small World. When we got on the boat, I looked up in the window to Pinnochio's Village Haus (that is the restaurant that overlooks IaSW, right?) and look who we saw making faces at us through the window:

Hilarious!

I had to, of course, take some pictures of my favorite part of the ride~~ the snowy-like Scandavian room!

We left Fantasyland and headed (I think I say headed too much...oh well, accept that this isn't true literature...) over to my laughing place. Splash is definitely my favorite mountain and when we saw it had a 10 minute wait posted, we had to jump in line. It was less than 10 minutes and we got our boat. I love this ride, especially because of all the theming. I wish that there was something that I could show my kids to really introduce them to Brer Rabbit. When I was little, my dad played Brer' Bear in a play called "An Evening with Uncle Remus" and we have pictures of him in our house. So, I think this ride also reminds me of my dad. (Boy, I wasn't kidding about that literature thing. I'm rambling here!!) Anyway, we did this:

We got a FP for BTMRR and went over to visit with the pirates!

And then! We saw a pirate with a rope. And the pirate was putting the rope on the ground. And I knew that someone was coming!!! So, I asked Courtney to stop. And soon this guy came sneaking up behind the crowd!

Yes!! We were able to hang out with this amazing pirate for a while. And, he, of course, was unable to take his eyes off of me (even though he looked like he was playing to the crowd, I know he was thinking of my beauty and his eyes were twinkling right at me.) Enough of this foolishness, here's some more pictures!

We were getting a little hungry so we thought we'd check out the bakery next before going back to use our FPs. On our way we met a photopass photographer:

I had a yummy breakfast croissant and Courtney had a huge blueberry muffin.

There were some birds who wanted to join our meal:

As we ate our breakfast the Celebrate Parade came riding by and we got to catch it!

We went back to the Wildest Ride in the Wilderness and used our fast pass. It was a great ride, but when we got off we realized that it was getting crowded in the MK! We had a lunch reservation with a Mouse and we needed to get going!

Coming up next: lunch with a mouse, Where do we spend our last afternoon? Last dinner? Last night?

 

[KathyRN137]

I looked up in the window to Pinnochio's Village Haus (that is the restaurant that overlooks IaSW, right?) and look who we saw making faces at us through the window:

Hilarious!

What a great little surprise! So fun!

And then! We saw a pirate with a rope. And the pirate was putting the rope on the ground. And I knew that someone was coming!!! So, I asked Courtney to stop. And soon this guy came sneaking up behind the crowd!

What perfect timing... and you didn't even plan it! Bonus eye candy!

As we ate our breakfast the Celebrate Parade came riding by and we got to catch it!

Another dose of park-touring karma!

Love, love, love MK rope drops! Thanks for the cool video, too.


Kathy

 

[All7OfUs]

Eye candy is right, Kathy!! So fun, Shannon that you came across this! We saw it twice on our last trip, and even though my daughter was well older than all the other kids they were picking, she got to go up and get a certificate. MADE.HER.DAY! It was her 16th birthday, and she was loving it!!

(What young lady wouldn't?)

I love the characters in the window- yes! RD is totally worth it!

 

[Happydog]

That is TOOO funny about the step sisters and mother! LOVE it!! HOW fun!! I just love Its a Small World.... such childhood memories from the one in DisneyLand... How great you guys got to see the opening show, I REALLY must catch that this summer!!!!

 

[DisneyGuy758]

The wine list is amazing, and the Riesling we have there is one of my favorites.

You should check out some NY Finger Lake Rieslings. They can challenge almost any German/Alsace one out there!

 

[PrincessCaitlin]

Hi

I have been lurking and I am really enjoying your report!

I just wanted to say that Splash Mountain is my favorite ride and I had never seen the movie before so I looked it up on YouTube and watched it
I would think they would still have it

 

[shannn]

What a great little surprise! So fun!

What perfect timing... and you didn't even plan it! Bonus eye candy!

Another dose of park-touring karma!

Love, love, love MK rope drops! Thanks for the cool video, too.
Kathy

It was a great morning! Everything seemed to be going our way. Rope drops are fabulous! (and I'm normally not a morning person!)

Eye candy is right, Kathy!! So fun, Shannon that you came across this! We saw it twice on our last trip, and even though my daughter was well older than all the other kids they were picking, she got to go up and get a certificate. MADE.HER.DAY! It was her 16th birthday, and she was loving it!!

(What young lady wouldn't?)

I love the characters in the window- yes! RD is totally worth it!

It was so cool because the stepsisters & mother were making great faces at us! I loved seeing the pirate tutorial even though I was *well older* too!

That is TOOO funny about the step sisters and mother! LOVE it!! HOW fun!! I just love Its a Small World.... such childhood memories from the one in DisneyLand... How great you guys got to see the opening show, I REALLY must catch that this summer!!!!

I would love to go to Disneyland. I wish I could afford to get out to the west coast.A friend of mine is on his way there in March for business and I can't wait to see his pictures!

You should check out some NY Finger Lake Rieslings. They can challenge almost any German/Alsace one out there!

I will have to find one. Is there a specific one you recommend? I like sweet wines (I know. Bad wine drinker!) and my favorite right now is Schmitt Sohne Spatlese.

Hi

I have been lurking and I am really enjoying your report!

I just wanted to say that Splash Mountain is my favorite ride and I had never seen the movie before so I looked it up on YouTube and watched it
I would think they would still have it

I'm glad you came out of lurkdom. I will have to try and hunt down the movie for my kids to see. I loved the stories when I was little.

 

[Happydog]

I missed your Cali Grill update! WOW so nice! The Wishes cruise seems so fun! How neat! I love it! AND I am very envious of your photos from the Grill, because I agree it was so neat to see the castle from there, all lit up with the castle lights! We watched it turn so many colors while we were there! I really enjoyed that pork loin and polenta too! SCRUMPTIOUS! And I had the ravioli as well! SO the same meal! Last trip I had a salad and the pork, it is my favorite dish, too!!!

That cruise really seemed so special!!!

 

[serrotak]

Splash Mountain is one of my favs of all time. I am very disappointed, however, that it will be down when I visit in 2 weeks.

 

[kate_wdw]

I love this picture - this is so Disney!

This picture cracked me up. When I was at Disney in November, I got stuck on POTC at precisely this spot for at least 45 minutes (and even in all that time I wasn't able to get a decent picture).