My First Ever Trip Report - Day 6 - Part 2 - The Evening

raph_b

<font color="red">Proud Redhead</font>
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Part 1 of Day 6 can be found here:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2082310

You know where the rest of the TR is by now ;)

Day 6 - Part 2 - The Evening

So, the evening was finally upon us. The weather had cleared up a bit - by that I mean it had stopped raining, but the skies were still looking a bit grey :(

As we left the room I had to slip the ring into my pocket and with the ring box being a lot bigger than I had anticipated, I thought the game would be up before we even left the hotel! :lmao:

We got a cab from our hotel, and I had to make sure I sat on the right hand side of Em as the ring was in my right pocket :) The taxi ride over is when I really started to feel proper nerves for the first time, but apparently I managed to subdue them :)

We arrived at the Contemporary and made our way to the check in for the California Grill. We said we were there for dinner and then gave my name - after typing in the details the hostess gave me a big smile - I'm guessing there was some kind of note on the ADR Computer - good old Disney! We then caught the lift up to the restaurant.

California Grill


I had made a point of never looking at the interior of any of the restaurants we were eating at - I liked the idea of knowing the menu inside out but having no idea what to expect internally. I was hoping this one would be particularly nice and I was not let down. The floor to ceiling windows looking out over the Magic Kingdom are absolutely amazing, and the restaurant is very tastefully decorated, nice and elegant without being over the top.

We checked in and went over to sit at the bar for a drink (as we were about 20 mins early - I wanted to make sure we got there for sun set!)

The 15 minutes sat at the bar was very surreal indeed. And it also involved my first major panic of the evening! :scared1:

The barman ID'd us! Okay - nothing to worry about, we both had our driving licences so we showed them to the barman. Here's where it went wrong....

Em and I both have the exact same birthday, as in same day of the same year. My driving licence is brand new, and hers is quite old, so they look very different too. When the barman checked them out he was obviously very confused, he then asked where the date of birth was supposed to be and I showed him, but I guess because both cards had the same DOB it must have looked a bit dodgy to him. At first I thought he was joking - but he wasn't. He said they are only supposed to accept passports and for a few minutes I foresaw an alcohol free evening on the night I really needed a nerve quenching beer or ten :drinking1

Anyways, he accepted the ID after being convinced we weren't crazy college kids, and I had a beer and Em had a cocktail recommended by the barman, which was absolutely delicious. I cant remember the name of it but it tasted a little bit like lemon sherbet.

As we were sat at the bar we started chatting to the man next to us, and he first asked where we were from and then asked if we were on our honeymoon! I said no and then he asked if we were engaged - again I said no, and then he said that I should ask her to marry me! :eek: I couldn't believe it - I thought it was some kind of joke! What are the odds of having a conversation like that an hour before you're about to propose?! See what I mean about surreal?

Anyway, we chatted away to him for a while, he was a really nice guy, and then the restaurant manager came over to us, introduced himself and gave us a very nice welcome, and then told us our table was ready and offered to carry our drinks over for us. Talk about great service!

He then suggested going outside for a few pictures before sitting down, as the sun was just setting and the weather had actually cleared up now! So we went out onto the balcony and got a few pics with MK in the background.

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MK

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Grand Floridian

We then sat at our table and was delighted to find that not only had we got a window table but I later found out it was one of the best tables in the house - as it was the MK side of the restaurant so it had the best views of that and the fireworks :banana: :banana: :banana:

We were then introduced to our waiter (who was excellent all night). We got our menus, then I made my first of many trips to the toilet ;) This was all a cunning plan to get away from the table and put the plans in motion!

I had been in contact with the California Grill prior to coming away and had got everything lined up for the evening. The first step was to speak to the manager, so I went over to the check in and asked to speak to him.

He came out, with a big grin on his face and said he had been wondering when I would be calling for him! We ran through the plan and he had all the details spot on. I handed over the ring (I was do glad to get it out of my pocket!) and then went back to order some food. He actually seemed more excited than I did!!

Our waiter was so good, and made a few really good recommendations. I really wanted to try one of the flatbreads as they are quite famous from there. I also wanted to try so many starters though! and with a sushi platter the aim of the evening we had to control ourselves. we were recommended sharing a starter and then sharing a flat bread. Great idea :worship:

Starter

Sonoma Goat Cheese Ravioli - with sun-dried tomatoes, pesto, shiitake mushrooms and basil


Flatbread course


Roasted Chicken with Applewood Bacon, Crisp Romaine, sweet Onions, and Lemon Mayonnaise


Ok, the starter and the flatbread were both amazing, and it was great to have half of each too, there is no way I could have managed both but I'm glad I got to try both :) They also brought each of them out on 2 separate plates for us, which was a really nice touch. Anyway, you're not here to hear about the food!!

A clear sign that nerves were getting to me - I forgot to take pics of both courses!!

So once the flat bread course had been cleared away I realised that it was time to really start panicking. I think it must have been about 8.15ish, and the plan was to go down at 9, so the countdown really had begun! :scared1:

The next 45 minutes or so was so tense and stressful - even if I wanted to back out now I couldn't as the plans were now out of my hands!

I think I went to the loo twice during that 45 mins! I had been, but then at 8.50 I thought I might need to go again, and didn't want to risk being stuck in toilet when the ring was delivered to the table! so I excused myself yet again, and came back. Then at about 8.55 Em decided that she wanted to go to the loo! I (rather lamely) convinced her that the fireworks would soon be starting and that she wouldn't want to miss the start of them, which seemed to work!

continued on next post......
 
So 9pm came (which was the planned starting time for the Wishes fireworks show). In the California Grill they dim the lights just before the show starts, and then start playing the music in the restaurant.

So just as the lights dimmed our waiter came over, with a large plate with one of those silver domes on to cover the 'food'. He put the plate in the middle of our table and took the lid off.

Em was expecting sushi on the plate but instead she found this:

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It was exactly as I had hoped for, the ring was very elegantly placed in the middle of the plate and there was a small scattering of rose petals.

Em looked at the plate and looked very confused. I then got down on one knee, and took her hand in mine. I can remember Em saying 'what's going on' a couple of times.

I had been thinking of what I wanted to say, but needless to say by this point I was just a touch nervous and so anything I had thought of was lost! I ended up saying something along of the lines of how much I loved her, that so far our holiday had been perfect and that I hoped she would make it even more perfect by saying yes to my next question, and I then asked her to marry me.

Did she say yes? did she say no?......

'Are you joking?!' were the words I got - a couple of times! To be fair, if I had been joking, it would have been quite an elaborate prank! :rotfl2:

Once she realised that I was serious, she said yes :cloud9:

There were a few tears on both our parts during all of this as you can imagine!

As all of this was going on, one of the employees of the California Grill was taking pictures of it all for us, and here are the 'action shots':

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And as we had such a good table, it meant that the whole restaurant were looking our way as it all happened, as they were looking over for Wishes to start! It was like something from a film when everyone started clapping when Em said yes!!

Once we had calmed down, our waiter brought over some champagne for us :) then the manager came over to congratulate us, and escorted us onto the balcony to watch the rest of wishes whilst enjoying our champagne :)

After the show, we came back to the table, and who should be sitting on the table behind us?! the guy from the bar earlier! he came over to congratulate us and told me he was pleased that I had taken his advice!

After admiring the ring for a while, our sushi came out :)

Sushi

Spicy Kazan Roll - crab, shrimp, bay scallops, tuna and fireball sauce
Double-Crunch Rainbow Roll - Cobia, Salmon, Tuna, Tempura Crunch and Tobikko

Yellowfin Tuna Three Ways - Poki, Tartare, and Tataki

"Snake in the Grass" - Barbecue Eel with Shrimp Tempura, Avocado and Cucumber

& (as if that wasn't enough!) Em also ordered a few extra pieces of Salmon Sashimi as its her favourite!

This was the nicest sushi I've ever had (and the presentation was superb), although we had so much we only ended eating just over half!

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Later on our waiter came over with some more champagne for us and explained that it had been sent over by somebody from the bar! I asked who it was so we could go and thank this mystery person, but apparently said person had told the waiter he wanted to remain anonymous so we never found out who it was! I really like the idea that it was someone like Tony Soprano that sent the champers over :)

They also printed up some special copies of the menu of that day for us, and personalised them with a nice congratulations message :) Quite a cool souvenir of the evening :)

A couple of 'after' pics:

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As you can imagine, the mixture of adrenaline, cocktails and copious amounts of champagne left us feeling a little bit tipsy and we spent the rest of the evening taking loads of pics to remind us of such a great evening (and lots of time thanking all the staff for making it such a perfect evening)

So there you have it - 9 months of planning had finally arrived and it had all paid off :)

Sorry its taken me so long to get this up, but as you can see I had so much I wanted to write its taken me ages to get it all down!!
 
A beautiful engagement, thank you so much for sharing and it was worth the wait though I did shred a tear or two (in happiness for you both).:sad1: (should be a smiling face with tears).
 
At last!!!! I have been checking on here constantly waiting for the big night.

I am so glad it worked out how you wanted.

Come on now, we all want to hear about the rest of the trip.
 

Oh how lovely... what a fanastic evening. I'm impressed with you actually getting down on one knee and doing it the "proper" way.

My DH just slid the box across the table (we had the ring made whilst on holiday so i knew what was inside) and said "there you are" and "shall we do it then!"
He said he was too embarrassed to get down on one knee!:rotfl2:

Can wait for the next instalment.
 
wow what a brilliant report :goodvibes

great way to propose, lucky Fiancee :cloud9:
 
Yay!!! :dance3: Yay!!! :dance3: Yay!!! :dance3: Yay!!!

Thank you Craig. It was truely worth the wait.....I am all choked up. What a wonderful evening that I am sure neither of you will ever forget. :hug:

Em is positively glowing in those photos. :cloud9:

So now that your on a roll get on with the next installment. :lmao: Well you didn't think I was going to let you off now did you? ;)
 
This is a wonderful trip report!! A big THANKS for sharing your very special moment with us - it really bought a tear to my eyes!!
 
:love: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :love:

About time Craig I have been so looking forward to this:thumbsup2

What a wonderful evening, You and Em look so so happy, glad it all went well I had a tear in my eye whilst reading, how sweet, and the view you had was fantastic:thumbsup2
 
Bravo, Craig! I had the photos you sent after you got back, but it somehow wasn't official til it was on The DIS! Congrats again to you both! I can't wait to see pics and hear about the wedding and honeymoon!
 
Wow - it sounds like you had a wonderful, memorable experience. I am glad it worked out for you so well. How will top this???? Wait a minute - I know the answer to that - Click Here

Subscribing, so that I can keep up with the report. Thanks for sharing!
 
Dear Craig,
I know you've devoted hours to writing your excellent report. I also know that feedback from your readers is a large part of the reward for the hard work of trip report writing and hope you will forgive me for reading installments 4, 5, and 6 pt 1 and pt 2 all at one go tonight without stopping to send notes of thanks and comments for each one (although I had several, the two main ones being: 1) That for a girl who had reservations about visiting WDW without children in tow, Emilie certainly got into the swing of things quickly and was a real trooper. and 2) If Disney had sent over to Central Casting for a beautiful couple to be photographed all around their parks to show off WDW in the most romantic light, they couldn't have done better than the two of you.

Thank you for being so generous in sharing the details of your very special moments. Well done, both of you, and best wishes.
 
Thanks for sharing your special day it sounded wonderful. The ring is beautiful
 
You could not have picked a better setting, you both look so happy. Congratulations, I;m sure you'll both remember this forever.

Tina
 
At last! The big moment! Congratulations to you both, what a lovely thing to remember.
 











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