Questions re: birthday celebration at The Wave restaurant

[Infamousmare]

Gosh, I hope I'm in the right place!

We are putting the finishing touches on our Disney vacation (Sept. 12 - 19) and after finalizing all of our dining reservations (months ago!)/room reservations, I am now in charge of putting together a really special birthday celebration for my dad. He turns 62 while we're at the park and the entire family will be there to celebrate with him. We haven't been to WDW in 17 years and we are all just thrilled!

Here's the question. We are eating at The Wave (@ the Contemporary Resort) and I called the cake hotline to order a special cake for him. I was immediately given an email address to contact the pastry chef, who has not been really helpful. ( It's the first negative experience I've had in planning this trip.

I had initially asked if we could do an Eeyore cake (Dad is a closet Eeyore fan) and was told that due to licensing restrictions, no Winnie the Pooh characters can be reproduced on a cake. No sweat. I told him that a pirate/fishing theme would be fine (POTC, perhaps?) or perhaps Mickey or Goofy (like an outline of the character, if possible). I asked if there was a place where we could see pictures of cakes or if he had any neat ideas and the only response I got was "we can do Mickey". :-(

I asked some more questions (about what it might look like, flavors available, etc.) and he told me I could just get a ready made cake at the restaurant. :-( :-(

I've seen some of the neat cake pictures here (I came running to look!) and I'd love to know if any of you have advice re: this? Should I call back and try to speak to someone else? Is there a place, either here or at the WDW site that has a showcase of what can be done? (we have a cake budget of around $100 - 150 max. We've been saving up!) Can I order a cake elsewhere and have it delivered?

I know it's just a silly cake, but we just really wanted to do something super special for dad. TIA for your help!

 

[Jeanieblue114]

umm...that's weird because I've seen lots of pics of Pooh characters on cakes unless something changed recently.

I would definitely call back and talk to someone and do the conversation over.

Or, go to a different restaurant for better service.

I have to say that I"m surprised because we enjoyed the wave and the service. Maybe you got the wrong person on the wrong day.
I would call back and just ask for a manager directly and make your request and see if they say something different.
If you are still getting difficulty in getting what you want, go somewhere else.

For that kind of money, you could order an eeyore cake from a local bakery and get a cab to go pick it up!

 

[Jeanieblue114]

oh, here is the cake chatter thread link. It has a list with links to the cakes that people have ordered with pics and prices on most.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2413710&highlight=cake+chatter

Here is one that is an eeyore cake.
It also says that they weren't able to make the Pooh character cakes, but they had it made with a spot on top and just put on their own Eeyore figurine..GREAT IDEA.

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33871490&postcount=107

good luck!

 

[Infamousmare]

Thanks so much for your responses. I have been lurking around here for a few months and came running back to the cake thread after my first round of emails with the pastry chef! I hadn't seen the Eeyore cake, but that's a good idea.

When I initially called, the person on the phone was very kind and helpful (as everyone has been each time I've called WDW); however, when I started asking questions about what we could do, he told me to email the pastry chef. Obviously, the pastry chef has been less than helpful so I think I may just quit emailing him (there seems to be no hope of a conversation or brainstorming session with this man) and call again.

I think I'm also sort of upset because we cancelled our initial reservation at Raglan Road (my dad is Irish) because we couldn't get a specialty cake delivered there. It was disappointing to have to get a new (last-minute) reservation elsewhere and find out that the cake might not be all that, um, special. *weary laugh*

If we can't get anywhere, I think I'm going to go with one of the Mickey's face-shaped cakes I saw on the thread. They are cute!

 

[Jeanieblue114]

Can't you get a cake made from one of the other chef's on property and have it delivered to the wave?

I've heard a lot about chef Brian at the Cali Grill (if he's still there) and his cakes seem to be amazing from the pics i've seen.
And they would just be upstairs.
Maybe just TRY to call the Cali Grill and see if they will make something and send it downstairs to the wave?
That wouldn't be too complicated...or would it??

Now I"m glad that my friend just had Disney Floral delivery a beautiful arrangement to the table last week when it was my bday at the cali grill......so much trouble for something that should be so simple.
Still...definitely worth the effort I think. What a special moment!

I'd love to hear what comes of it....just for future reference.
We are back in Sept and it will be our 12th Anniversary. Might have to think of doing something special.

 

[Infamousmare]

Uh-oh, I wonder if this is the same person. The chef I'm emailing with is named Brian and he's at the Contemporary Resort.

I ended up calling the cake hotline back but was immediately (again) told to email Brian.

I'm really a very nice person, I promise! When I called back I told the rep. where we were eating, when we'd be there, how many will be in our party and that I wanted to do something really special. I asked if it would be possible to get a white chocolate figurine (Disney character - I thought of this b/c I've seen pics here of people getting white chocolate toppers/figurines) atop a round (or square - whatever) cake. I also asked if it *might* be possible to do that white chocolate figurine (like Mickey or Goofy) either holding a fishing pole or sitting in a fishing boat (with the cake as the "water", make sense?), since Dad is an avid fisherman. I'd also be willing to go for even a scanned picture of a Disney character fishing. I just want to know what's possible.

The rep. told me to email Brian. Brian told me "we can do character cakes".
That was his entire email back to me. "We can do character cakes."
I emailed back and said, "Great! So we can do a character in a fishing boat, is that correct?"
His response back was, "We can't do a cake in the shape of a boat."

*sigh* It's okay if they can't do what I'm envisioning, I just don't feel like we're communicating very well. Each email response is one sentence, and it usually doesn't address my question.

I read somewhere here that the GF no longer allows people to custom order/pick up cakes? Is that true? I was sort of thinking of trying to go through the GF bakery and just bringing it to the restaurant myself!

 

[Infamousmare]

SUCCESS!!!

I gave up and called the cake hotline again. This time I spoke with Sally, who is just as friendly as Jerry (the first cake hotline person I spoke with).

I politely explained my situation and she started laughing. She said that Brian is a very talented pastry chef and is really good at his job; however, he is not a conversationalist. *LOL* She asked me what my dream cake would be and I described the scene (white chocolate Mickey in a chocolate fishing boat set atop a cake covered in blue fondant for the "water").

She understood exactly what I wanted and then asked about size/flavors. We had a whole conversation. She then told me to email Brian and tell him the size, the flavor, and describe exactly what I wanted. She said not to ask for ideas or give anything else, just to tell him what I want, then go from there.

I'm not used to ordering people around. However, this seemed to work. Brian works best with "yes" or "no" answers, not open-ended questions!

Good for others to know!