May 7th, 2013 (Part 4) - Big River Grille and La Nouba!
Once Miranda left, Mom and I got ready for our night! Once I showered and got ready, I made this little beauty of a video giving a tour of our garden suite:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbEAXgSGE18
I am such a frump.
Then mom and I headed down to the Boardwalk to grab dinner!
As we were walking to dinner, we saw FanoftheDuck from disboards! I was so glad he said hello! He was at disney for his friend's wedding (which is tomorrow, on my birthday!) I hope that it was completely perfect! The Boardwalk is probably the most gorgeous place to have a wedding. I'm definitely keeping that in mind.
I wanted to try Big River Grille really bad, so that's what we did!
We walked up to the podium, asked for an inside table, and got seated right away! We had a lovely window table so I got to stare at the love of my life out the window- the yaCHt club. <3
We started off with the crab and artichoke dip. I LOVED THAT STUFF. What a great way to begin!
The menu was unexpectedly good. I was excited and had a hard time deciding what to get! But after obsessing about my new macaroni and cheese cookbook, I decided I wanted pasta. So I got shrimp alfredo and it was AMAZING! I haven't had alfredo anything in so long because it's really not the healthiest for you.... But IT'S MY BIRTHDAY WEEK! And it was SO worth it. OMG. The noodles were cooked perfectly, the alfredo just tasted phenomenal, and I was just in love.
Mom got the mushroom and swiss burger and she said it was excellent! The portions at this restaurant were huge so she couldn't even finish it! The dish came with kettle chips too which she loved.
We were too full for dessert. (even though we saw this chocolate cake that looked HEAVENLY) I have never been to Big River Grille before today and I was VERY impressed. It was definitely a hidden gem! The atmosphere was so relaxed and the food was such good quality. We had such a fantastic experience there and I'm so happy we decided to give it a go. It's still weird to me that they don't take reservations, but getting there right around 5 pm definitely helped us get seated right away!
After dinner we just walked around the Epcot resort area twice. I literally am in love with this area. It's absolutely beautiful. I wish I could just walk around there every day! (Heck, I guess I could if I wanted to)
Near the Yacht Club we saw a little bunny as well as a mama duck and her little baby ducklings!
We also saw these two males fighting over a female duck. They were biting each other's necks and ripping out each other's feathers and the female was just sitting there watching it all happen. It was actually pretty hilarious.
We got back to the room, changed, and headed to Dundries and Sundries - the little gift shop in the Boardwalk lobby. Mom wanted to grab some medicine and we were talking with the CM's as we were checking out. I mentioned that it was my birthday tomorrow and mom was like "we have to get your birthday button!" Then the one cast member in the store, Patrick, was like "oh can I make it?" And I was like "yeah sure!" Little did I know what was to come.
He said he would be right back because he had to go get his supplies. He came back with colorful fancy artistic markers and I was getting SUPER excited. He let me pick a color and I said purple.
So then he made a big announcement with a straight face. "What I am about to do will offend all of the nuns in the Catholic Church across the United States. I'm working on the Vatican."
Then he started. He wrote my name out in black. Then he added in the purple. Then he started drawing pixie dust. Then he added in some blue. And before I knew it I had the most GORGEOUS birthday button in EXISTENCE.
I just couldn't believe it! I literally told my mom this morning "I really want to find a special cast member to make my birthday button." Then he just found me! It was magical, it was unexpected, and it was what Disney is all about.
I thanked him profusely and I thanked the cashier for being a part of the moment. Then I went right to the concierge desk and put in a good word for both of the cast members.
This is my biggest advice to all of you: if a cast member ever does anything special for you, PLEASE tell someone. Whether it's at the front desk, at guest relations, or a manager at the location, it is so important to give people the recognition they deserve. If the moment means a lot to you, I guarantee that the moment meant a lot to them as well!
After that, Mom and I grabbed our car and headed to Downtown Disney! I was just obsessing over my birthday button. IT'S LITERALLY THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD!!
Mom surprised me this afternoon and asked if I wanted to go to Cirque du Soliel: La Nouba for one of my birthday presents. UMM YES. OMG. I HAVE BEEN DYING TO GO!!!!!!
We arrived at Downtown Disney a little after 8 pm and we went to the box office. We waited in line and got up to the window. Mom and I were discussing where we would like to sit, and the cast member told us "one moment, let me just refresh the cancellations." So we were like, okay no problem. Then he was like "I have two seats open right here; two people cancelled." He pointed to the first row of category 2 DIRECTLY in the middle. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?!
Of course we said yes and I thanked him SO many times!!! I couldn't believe it. I was like jumping up and down and was just ecstatic.
We were loaded into the theater at 8:30 pm for the 9 o'clock show. We were in section 204 and in row FF. They were BEYOND PERFECT.
The show started at 9 and I was BLOWN AWAY. Stacey is so right, it is literally eye, ear and imagination candy. I was just in awe.
I took physical theatre classes for the past 2 semesters so a lot of things in this show were coming full circle for me. It was a little weird how I was recognizing so many things!
They had hilarious clowns, there were INCREDIBLE costumes, the music was amazing.... AHH I just don't even know how to accurately describe this show.
One of my top favorite things was recognizing little clips in the soundtrack from the Stacey show. It was so exciting when a new one would come on. My mom and I would be like "ah this ones in must do Disney!" Loved it.
The best part was definitely the Chinese yoyos with the young girls. My jaw DROPPED for a good five minutes. I was just like "HOW DID THEY DO THAT?! OH MY GOD." The girls did not miss a beat. At all. Ever.
Then the juggling was INSANE. I couldn't even get over it. How he did it so flawlessly is beyond me.
The acrobatics, tight rope walking, the trampolines, and the EVERYTHING were so cool. I just don't understand how people learn how to do this stuff. It's just weird to think about how they are in real life. What are their names? Where do they come from? How did they get to where they are now? And how the HECK are they so incredibly talented?!!!!!?
I was just beyond impressed. BEYOND. It was so phenomenal. I saw the show once when I was in 7th grade and I remember it being amazing but I didn't remember any of the specifics. Seeing it at the stage of life I am in right now was EYE OPENING. The show was surreal. It almost seemed super human. It was absolutely unbelievable. I LOVED IT!!!!!
GAHH well that was pretty much one of the most awesome things I have ever seen. My mom and I haven't stopped talking about it. I was so excited that we got to go!
So we headed home after and we got back to our room.
I literally had just been talking about how I physically cannot be surprised to my Mom. I am always the surpriser but never the surprisee.
Well... we opened the door there were BALLOONS and A WRECK IT RALPH CAKE sitting on our table. WHAT?!!!!?
I read the card and it didn't say who it was from. I asked everyone and nobody owned up to it, so I still don't know who gave it to me. I'm guessing that it was the Boardwalk, since they used my full name instead of Jess. However I'm confused as to why they chose Wreck-it Ralph. It was a risky choice considering I am a girl, but thankfully I have an emotional attachment/obsession with that movie. IT WAS PERFECT!!!!!!!! Leave it to Disney to surprise me!!
We didn't get to eat the cake because we didn't have any plates or forks or knives, but we put it in the fridge and saved it for later!
After that we headed to bed. It was my last night being a 19 year old!
COMING UP NEXT: MY BIRTHDAYYYY!
Continued in Next Post
glad you had such a lovely birthday x
