Within minutes the monorail was dropping us off at
This was the first time either of us had been inside the Grand Floridian. I remember when I came with my family and we saw people getting off here my Mom couldn't believe people actually stayed at a place so nice. At the time I decided that I had to stay here some day. Then when we were looking up hotels for our honeymoon, Candi and I decided it looked to "stuffy" and not relaxed enough for us ... especially for the money. So .... what did we think when we saw it in person?
ABSOLUTELY BREATHTAKING!!!
It looks like a place straight out of a dream!
Everywhere you turned there was something beautiful to catch your eye!
The band playing on the balcony was Candi's favorite part of the hotel - it seemed like a place created for royalty - truly!
Even the ceiling and light fixtures were like a work of art.
After we had absorbed the lobby - and accidentally (almost) ran someone over trying to get the picture shot of the light fixture shown above
- we decided to head out and find the restaurant. I knew from reading other reviews that it was outside in a separate building, but we didn't know how long it would take to find it. We currently still had a lot of time to kill, but we didn't want to miss our reservation time.
I really didn't take long before we found it
It looked so beautiful all nestled behind the trees on the edge of the water. I was instantly in love with the restaurant and knew that I had made a great choice for dinner that night.
Once we had ensured that we were truly at the right place we decided to roam around the grounds outside for a while. Everything had gone so smoothly up until that point so we were still incredibly early for our reservation time. This time we didn't want to try to check in early because I had made this reservation specifically to try and time dinner with the fireworks. In my mind the perfect setting would be to have a window seat and for Wishes to start as soon as dessert was served
While we were waiting we decided to head down to the boat dock and check out the view.
I love how you can (ever so faintly) see the castle in the background.
Now, one of the hardest parts about traveling with just the two of us is how hard it is to get a picture of the both of us together. That's exactly why I knew I wanted to buy the Photopass CD. However, on this night there was a very nice guy waiting for the next boat watching us attempt the perfect self portrait. After we got a picture we were satisfied with, he offered to take another picture for us.
This is my absolute favorite picture of the entire trip. I love how you can see the castle, space mountain and the Contemporary in the background. I also think this picture shows how truly, truly happy we were on this trip!
We thanked the gentleman for taking the picture for us and chatted with him until the boat arrived. At that point Candi's Mom called and I took that opportunity to take more pictures.
This was my favorite shot - I love how the boat dock looks like it's framing the Magic Kingdom!
This is my favorite shot of the Grand Floridian. The Palm tree and how the hotel is glowing just bring a smile to my face.
After Candi finished up his phone call we decided to head on up to the restaurant, but not before Candi could check out the menu
This was the one restaurant I didn't let him have any say on. I had absolutely fallen in love with it from all the reviews I had read and I don't think he really knew what to expect.
After checking in we were told that they were running a little bit behind and they gave us a pager to wait. We decided to wait outside on the patio and were able to catch part of the electric water pageant (I think that's what it's called?) while we waited. I didn't get any good pictures of it but we were so happy we got to see it. It's one of those smaller Disney touches that we had on our "to do" list for this trip. Funny thing is, we forgot all about it and just got lucky that it was happening while were out there!
I think we had to wait about 15 minutes past our reservation time, but no big deal, there was still plenty of time before the fireworks started. And, we were led over to a table by the window ... SCORE!!!
Our waitress came by after a few minutes and seemed very rushed and not all that interested in being a waitress … uh-oh, please don’t let this be sign of things to come! She took our drink order and rushed off before we had a chance to tell her that we were ready to order appetizers, oh well, no real biggy. It seemed to be about 5-10 minutes before she arrived with our drinks and then tried to take off again without asking if we were ready to order. Candi quickly caught her and told her we were ready and she sighed rather loudly before asking what we wanted.
Candi had the crab cakes and I had the green goddess salad to start with.
Candi loved his crab cakes - it was his first time having them and definitely would not be his last. They look rather small in the picture but he said it was the perfect amount to enjoy but still leave him hungry for the rest of his dinner. My salad was just ok, it had a lot of ingredients that I'm not a fan of, but I did enjoy the avocado dressing which was unique and wonderful at the same time. The appetizers were $13.00 and $11.00 respectively - had we not been on the dining plan I probably would have skipped an appetizer all together. I knew that the salad wouldn't be something I would love from reading the ingredients, but it was the only thing that seemed like something I would somewhat enjoy and went with it. I find $11.00 to be steep for a salad that is meant to be an appetizer, but that's just my opinion.
Now, I hate to be a complainer but I have to tell you I was starting to get frustrated with our waitress. The entire time we were eating our appetizers we never saw her, not even when our glasses were empty – not even when our appetizers were finished. Finally, Candi saw her at another table and politely waved her over. She just sort of came over and was like “yeah” to which we said we would like some refills and to check on our entrée order. Without a word she took our glasses and left. This time she was back within a minute with our refills and our entrees.
Candi had the surf and turf and I had the filet mignon which were $58.00 and $41.00 respectively.
The surf and turf was a complete no brainer choice for Candi. It was pricier than we would have paid for a meal if we weren't on the meal plan, but since we were no prices were being viewed that night
We both found the filet mignon to be good, but not as great as the one from Fulton's the previous night. Also, the choron sauce on the steak became overbearing after a while. It tasted good but about halfway through it overpowered the taste of the steak and that was kind of a bummer. The lobster tail, however, was perfect down to the last bite. It was right then and there that I realized I like lobster. Yep, that's right, this seafood hater loves her some lobster!
Once again, our waitress was slow to come around so even though we were finished with our entrees we did not actually see her for quite some time. I was kind of bummed because I really wanted to enjoy dessert while Wishes was going on. However, I quickly realized that you can't actually watch Wishes from inside because everyone goes onto the balcony to watch it, which blocks the view from your seat. No big deal, we just got up and joined them.
At this point in the night, we both forgot all about how the meal was not going quite as planned. Wishes is my favorite fireworks show EVER and I got completely caught up in the moment as we enjoyed the show. And, I cannot lie, I even started to cry a little. Seeing Wishes from a different angle was exactly why I had booked the meal and it went perfectly. Standing on the balcony with Candi holding me - nothing can top that!
After the show we made our way back inside to order dessert and observed our waitress laughing and having a great time at another table. We were relived and thought maybe she was in a better mood
WRONG!!!!!!!
It took her 20 minutes before she came around to our table to get our dessert order. In that time we saw her go to 4 or 5 other tables offering to take pictures for them and even offered a couple there for their anniversary some free champagne. Now, I don’t EXPECT a waitress to do any of those things but I DO expect to be treated the same as any other paying guest. By this point I was so irritated I started to cry out of frustration . She had basically ignored us all night, had an attitude every time we made a request and then I watch her treat every other table like actual guests.
I wanted to just leave without ordering dessert, but Candi reminded me that I had been looking forward to the almond crusted cheesecake for months and we should at least order dessert to go. I decided to just stay and eat it there - that I shouldn't let a waitress ruin my night - a night we had talked about over and over again while planning this trip.
Finally, the waitress came over to get our order. Of course I ordered the almond crusted cheesecake and Candi got the key lime creme brulee. I gave him an odd look because I know he doesn't like limey things, but knew he ordered it because it was my second choice dessert and he was trying to make my night better by letting me try both
A few minutes later our waitress came back and threw the dessert menu in front of me - I'm not kidding - she actually threw it, in fact it almost slid off the table - and told me "choose something else, we're out of cheesecake."
I chose the strawberry cheesecake and sat there and cried. I wasn't crying because they were out of cheesecake. I was crying because I didn't understand what we did to make her treat us like this. I was crying because I was mad at myself for letting her ruin most of our night. I was crying because I knew that Candi was trying so hard to fix everything and couldn't. I was crying because it just wasn't supposed to go this way.
We finally received our desserts - without getting a refill on our our drinks - and Candi stated he was going to ask for the Manager. At the time I begged him not to so he didn't. I know that a lot of people are surprised that we didn't say anything, but I knew that it wouldn't fix anything. I didn't want an apology from a Manager or anything free or anything like that. Nothing could fix what had happened so I left it alone. Thinking about it now I wish I would have talked to a Manager because I hate knowing someone else may have had to experience this bad service!
We did enjoy our desserts though
I traded with Candi because I knew he really didn't want the creme brulee but both were very, very good. They were each $7.00 and I would recommend either one.
For the first time all night, our waitress was at our table before our plates were empty - to leave the check. We gave her the card before she walked away and came back in less than a minute with the receipt to sign and had the nerve to point out where we were to leave the tip
Now, we did leave a (very small) tip, I just don't have it in me not to. Call me crazy, but I believe in karma, and I know that tips are a major portion of a waitresses income. If Candi would have had his way, he would have left the lonely one dollar bill from his wallet and left it at that.
(continued in next post)
I sooo wanted my kids to do this ride. But just another reason to keep going back i guess.
After discussing it a while we decided that we would try to hang around MK until our reservation and then I promised after lunch we could hang out in the room until he got bored or until it was time for dinner.
So I decided to snap pictures to wait out the line
Plus he was mad because he tried to drink and walk at the same time and spilled Sprite all over himself 
<-- yes, I was mean enough to laugh at him about it 
Photography is a hobby that I am trying to perfect so the compliment truly means a lot! We honestly have not regretted becoming DVC members for a second. Now, keep in mind we got bonus points for our first year but in that first year we did were able to go to WDW (the trip you are currently reading about), Disneyland for 5 days, Sedona, AZ for 4 days in a beautiful condo like resort and lent the remaining points to a friend to go to WDW for a week. That first year we had 420 points because of the bonus points - from here on out we have 210 points. Hope that helps your fight to become members 
)
