December 6th, 2014
I'm trying to structure the blogs for this trip as more of a Shiny and New Experience kind of thing. Because, I've done (and written about) the Disney thing enough that seeing how we waited for 90 minutes for Peter Pan's Flight isn't all that exciting. Again.
Though let's be honest, I'm not waiting 90 minutes for Peter Pan's Flight. And you shouldn't either!! Seriously, world!! Why is this even a thing?? In the last few weeks, Scott has texted me with the Peter Pan's Flight wait time and we shake our head every time. This is a nice enough ride, but not for a wait longer than, what...15 minutes??
We didn't go on Peter Pan's Flight this time. But I have wildly gotten away from where I was going here.
One of the things we did this time that we haven't done in the past will probably sound weird.
We went back to the room to rest in the middle of the day.
Seriously. It's like I don't even know who I am anymore!!
 |
| Grand Floridian from outside of the Magic Kingdom |
But honestly, we had already spent time at the Magic Kingdom
the other day. And the park was pretty crowded on a bright and sunny Saturday afternoon. Plus, they were beginning to film the holiday parade, so streets were closed intermittently. Once we ate lunch, we went back to the hotel for some relaxation. But only for a while.
We never really made plans for dinner for tonight. Trying to make reservations on a Saturday night is hard anywhere. But in the Magic Kingdom?? Even worse. So we had a general idea. Let's visit a lounge for a few drinks and some nibblies. Perfect. Let's go to
California Grill.
 |
| The Frozen Gingerbread House at the Contemporary Resort. Adorable. |
California Grill is probably one of the most difficult reservation to get at Disney World. The restaurant sits at the top of the Contemporary Resort, with views that overlook the Magic Kingdom. As Wishes begins, the lights dim and music is piped into the restaurant. Everyone stops for 10 minutes to watch the fireworks from a vantage point that is unlike any other. We did not go to California Grill at this time of the night. But we did go right
after sunset. We probably could have planned that part a little better...
 |
| So maybe there was still a little light left when we found a place to eat. |
Bus to Magic Kingdom. Monorail to the Contemporary. We had to go down one floor to get to the elevators for the California Grill. A Cast Member takes the journey with you in the elevator to the restaurant.
As we walked into the restaurant, I first looked towards the bar. There was room at the bar and I started to drift in that direction. But Scott pointed to the seating closer to the windows and said, "Are these seats we can use??" There was a whole lounge area that seemed to be for us interlopers. He grabbed a corner area near the window while I asked the bartender if we could use these. The answer was yes. We eased on into a comfy area with views of Cinderella Castle. And that's where we stayed for a few hours. We watched as people moved in and out of the area. Some parties waited for their reservation in the lounge. Others were like us, we didn't need reservations. We just needed a place to take a load off for a while.
 |
| Our view |
Our server was lovely. She was definitely busy with tables in our area, but she knew when to come by (pretty much as I was finishing my glass of wine) and she knew when to stay away. At times she was chatty. Other times, she quietly made a loop. The whole thing was kind of perfect.
 |
| This picture was taken to show I do drink water. Not just wine. |
As I looked back on the evening, I realized we hadn't had too much food here. Our server recommended a glass of
Conundrum wine, which was an excellent choice. I don't know what it is about this time of the year, but I should be wanting red wine (because in my brain red wine = winter). Nope. I'm totally down with white wine. Now who knows, maybe Disney has an "in" with the Conundrum people and are forcing servers to recommend this wine. I say this because she literally walked around with the bottle of wine and many people also made the same choice as I did. While I doubt this was the case, it wouldn't matter if it really was the case. Because I loved it. In fact, I need to look for this at home.
 |
| In case you also want to look for this wine. |
Food-wise, I keep trying to get Scott to try sushi (which, dude, if you want to try
Tokyo DisneySea one day, you're gonna have to figure this sushi thing out). We were able to come up with a compromise. Pork Belly Nigri. So it's kind of sushi, but with (cooked) pork belly.
 |
| Mmm...pork belly on sushi rice... |
I had floated the idea of hitting one of the lounges on Wednesday night when we arrived in Orlando. And because it took some time to get to our hotel from the airport, this plan never materialized. I'm glad we were able to hit one of the lounges a few days later. For someone who doesn't like to take breaks from the park, it was
really nice to take a break from the park. After a few glasses of wine (only two, come on...) we left the confines of the lounge and back into "reality." If you can call the Magic Kingdom "reality."
Comments
Post a Comment