Day 12...a night at the Contemporary (continued)-
So where was I? Oh yes, sitting "almost" window side at the California Grill. Watching the sunset cast brilliant reds, yellows and oranges on to the castle and the waters of the lake. It really was sight made for sore eyes (or eyes of any other sort).
We started our meal with appetizers that were so very delicious! I cannot say just how much we loved this food without sounding like a glutton...BUT WE LOVED THE FOOD!!!
"Aladdin" got what I wished I could have had. A great big plate of sushi! He said it was exceptional (all my pregnant mouth could do was look and drool over his plate).
My mouth was not busy drooling over anyone else's plate for very long. I chose to have the Grilled Shrimp Salad...OH MY GOODNESS! Heaven on a fork!! It had grilled shrimp (of course), crispy greens...both of the "normal" and the obscure (at least in this country) Asian variety. It also had mint and peanuts tossed in and a Vietnamese vinaigrette dressing. Every mouthful was full of different little bursts of flavor. Who knew salad could be that good?!
Dh picked tomato soup and said it was the best bowl of the stuff he had ever had. I took a few spoonfuls and he was right...that was a great bowl of rich, creamy, herb infused tomato soup!
Both "Goofy" and "Stitch" chose to have a kid's size Cesar salad. I snagged a fork of this as well and it was also very good.
Even if our meal had ended before the main course, we would have all been very satisfied...but it went on!! While we were finishing up our appetizers a CM came over and took our picture in honor of "Goofy's" birthday. We thought it was a very sweet gesture. Within minutes, we had a beautiful keepsake brought back to our table (they inserted the picture they took of us in a Contemporary Resort picture holding card with a really stunning photo of the Contemporary inserted in the opposite side). Here is our mug shot.
A picture of a very happy "Stitch" and his dad between courses.
"Stitch" two strawing it. He loved it that our server kept his refills coming fast and furious all night long!
But back to the food. Our main courses were all, once again, delicious.
Dh chose the Buffalo Strip Steak. It came with a corn cake, bacon, shallots and fava beans. He loved this entrée. In fact, he said it was one of the best meals he had ever had.
"Aladdin" chose the Grilled Pork Tenderloin with goat cheese polenta, sage and mushrooms. Once again a hit!! He loved the polenta (go figure, I didn't think he would even try it). We did ask for (and receive) his sauce on the side and that helped with his enjoyment level...although he ended up dipping his meat, I think he enjoyed having control over how much ended up on each bite.
Both "Aladdin" and "Goofy" were very happy with their choices!
"Goofy" finally had something other then a hot dog...and he enjoyed it!
He picked the oak seared steak with potatoes and steamed veggies. He cleaned his plate completely and said it was great (although he did ask why they didn't serve hot dogs!!). He said it was almost as good as the steak that mommy and daddy make at home on the grill (bless his little soul!).
"Stitch" chose to have the grilled chicken breast with potatoes and braised carrots. He LOVED this meal. Every last lick on his plate was gone. He liked the carrots best of all. "Stitch" too did ask where the hot dogs were
BUT once he started in on his plate I don't think he even gave them a second thought.
As far as myself, I think I did a great job choosing a winner as well. I had the Oak-fired Beef Filet with crushed red potatoes (I asked them to hold the bacon normally whipped into the potatoes as bacon is one of the foods that I haven't been able to eat since the baby joined in on food selection choices
), green beans (VERY GOOD) and it was topped with a teriyaki bbq sauce. WOW!! This meal was so amazing that it knocked my socks off!
After all of that, we were still up for dessert. Dh had to pre order his as it took so long to prepare. He had the warm chocolate cake with the molten chocolate center and freshly made vanilla bean ice cream on the side. It was also covered in some sort of liqueur reduction. He said it was rich, delicious, smooth and very good.
"Aladdin" chose to have an adult sized portion of the vanilla bean ice cream. He wanted it plain with no hot chocolate sauce or whipped cream but that didn't stop it from being GREAT ice cream (I took one small spoonful for "reporting" purposes, of course!). He was the only one able to finish dessert. The rest of us didn't even make it half way through.
I chose the "Where Dreams Come True" Honey Crunch Cake. It has cream, pineapple surrounding it and was topped with a candy crumble. YUM!
"Stitch" and "Goofy" both chose to have the crispy rice sushi. What a cute presentation!
"Stitch" gave it the thumbs up sign!
Not only was that dessert tasty and with good presentation...it was ready made for playing with as well (maybe it was not their intent but my boys took full liberty to be creative with their desserts).
As the boys built their sushi into so many different shapes we lost track, dh and I sat holding hands, relaxing and taking in the atmosphere. It was then dh made a monumental admission...he was GLAD we had stayed at WDW an extra week!!
I am sure he would now deny ever having said such a thing...but he did and hearing it just once was enough for me!
As dh was sipping coffee, Wishes started.
Watching Wishes from the California Grill was wonderful! We held hands and smiled wide. I said a few prayers for my dad and our little unborn boy and I think a few tears just might have escaped. It was just a really perfect moment.
Here are two short video clips of Wishes from the CG. Sorry for the fact that you have to turn your head (or monitor) sideways.
As Wishes ended we knew it was time for us to finally vacate the table we had been lingering at. WOW, the crowds leaving the restaurant were huge! I think everyone who had eaten there that day must have been out on the observation deck along with their brothers, sisters and second cousins twice removed. The wait to grab an elevator back down to the 4th floor to board the monorail was almost 10 minutes!
When we finally did make our way to the monorail platform we heard the monorail CM telling people it would be standing room only for the next hour or so due to Wishes just getting over and people leaving the park. As soon as we heard that, we simply walked on through and didn't even bother to try to get on the packed monorail (and as we walked by we could see it truly was jam packed full of people).
We made our way back down to the 4th floor concourse (first making note of the monorail's posted operating hours) and then made our way into the arcade.
I think our boys had never been happier then they were at the moment we handed them each cards full of arcade credits and gave them free reign of the arcade. The arcade itself was almost empty. But the games...oh the games...WOW, the games! The Contemporary sure did do it right when it came to building an arcade! Our boys LOVED every second of time spent there. By the time those cards ran out (dh and I shared one as well) the boys were the proud owners of 6 pretty neat stuffed animals, assorted plastic trinkets (read junk) and a few tootsie rolls rounded out their treasures earned. They were so happy with their winnings and so proud of the fact that they had won more there then at any other arcade (maybe the fact that we gave them way more $$ then we ever had before in an arcade helped). We got so caught up in our video competitions and picking out the prizes afterward that we lost track of time. By the time we looked down at our watch we only had five minutes before the monorail closed up for the night!! So we high tailed it out of the arcade and over a few steps to a GATED OFF escalator. They had closed the monorail a few minutes early!!
Even the clock at the Contemporary read that we still should have had 4 minutes before closing...but for whatever reason, that was not to be.
So we walked (read hobbled, by this time, my ankle was in need of some more ice and lots less walking) to the boat docks only to see they were no longer running (at least that we could see). Back into the Contemporary we went and I sat down ready to camp out in the lobby all night if need be. Actually I suggested we walk over to MK and find transport back from there but dh took one look at my limping self and declared that a bad idea. So there we sat. Stranded at the Contemporary. Dh went to the front desk to ask if they could call us a cab and pay for it and put the charge on our Key to the World card or if they could (as an alternative to that) give us some cash and charge that to our KTTW cards. He explained the situation and instead of doing either of those things, the lady asked him to get his family and bring us to the front entrance of the resort. Once we arrived the front desk CM dh had spoken with was waiting with another sweet CM. The other CM had an SUV pulled up to the front doors and she was waiting to give us a ride back to the Grand Floridian!! WOW!! We NEVER expected that! Not only was she a very sweet person, she kept thanking us for the chance to transport us! She kept shushing our thank yous and kept up a very lively and interesting conversation. In our short drive over to the Grand Floridian, we learned that she used to be a nurse but quit and started working at WDW to fulfill her life's dream. It's CMs like her who embody the Disney spirit. She was full of life and energy and grace. She had us all doubled over with laughter for almost the entire ride. She was so stinkin' funny and so nice and by her driving us back to the Grand Floridian she helped us avoid a very unpleasant end to an otherwise very pleasant evening.
When we pulled back up at the GF, she hopped out of the car and raced to open my door. I had started to open the door myself but she told me to sit back and she closed it again and opened it.
She told us she was giving us the VIP treatment and not to lift a finger. As she was helping me out, the CMs (the greeters) at the GF came over and helped the boys out of the other side of the vehicle.
I cannot imagine this sort of service happening on a regular basis but dh said the CM at the front desk just took his card and then handed it back to him. We were never charged anything even though we offered to pay. Not only did we get a ride back...but a fun conversation with a very nice woman.
I must say it was a good thing that we found a way back and I would have been really upset at the fact that the monorail station closed a few minutes early and we were stranded. After all of the days I had packed along cash for a taxi while we were staying at AKL it is so funny that it didn't even cross our minds to bring along cash to the Contemporary for a cab situation there.
So THANK YOU DISNEY for helping us out of a jam (but grrr for closing the monorail station a few minutes early)!
All in all we had a most fabulous night and throughly enjoyed our time at the Contemporary...I cannot wait to stay there again!
Up next a special day is planned (yet another surprise...one I was really looking forward to) at the Grand Floridian.
TO BE CONTINUED-
) that I have ever had a chunk of. It was so beautiful that we *almost* didn't want to cut it apart. It was more like a work of art then a cake. But alas, our stomachs won out over our eyes. And I am sure glad they did! . I've shown it to DH, who's response was "Wow, I didn't know they could make cakes like THAT!". I then casualy directed him to the Birthday cake thread and pointed out Prices, Sizes, Flavours, my personal preferences and telephone numbers for ordering.....yes I even amaze myself with my subtlety at times
I agree with SoonerGirl that you'd make a wonderful vacation planner! Of course, all the vacations would have to be 
). While dh dropped off the packages in our room, the boys and I sat on a bench listening to the orchestra play. It was a very peaceful moment...except for the fact that I was afraid we might be late checking into dinner (this fact may have saved our family hundreds of dollars, if my greed/lust for all of those bath products had gone on much longer, I think I would have had to offer to work there to leave with all of the stuff I had picked out! 
The man with the clipboard must have noticed the greedy gleam in my eyes and he asked me, you live in his household? YES. He then asked if I had taken all of the previous Disney vacations with dh and I said yes...and he told me that I qualified too!! 
