An Awesome Evening!!

We got settled in our room, got ready and headed over to the Contemporary Resort for dinner at the California Grill. This was our first time to eat here, as was for Terry and what an amazing experience it was! I've always heard a lot about this restaurant from the amazing food to the breathtaking views from their observation decks but the evening surpassed what I imagined.

For starters, we had the best server on property! We've had amazing servers on this trip but none can compare to Jenny O! She was totally in a league of her own .. flawless. I thought, even if a bad meal, it was still going to be an amazing evening. For starters we had a brick oven-fired flatbread with sun-dried tomatoes and basil pesto.

I think I could become a vegetarian easily, finding my favorite meals on this trip was the gnocchi at Tony's and spinach ravioli at California Grill (maybe it's the Italian in me .. LOL!). The marriage of the rustic tomato ragu and asparagus with the spinach and parmesan cheese inside the ravioli was out of this world! I can't recall how I actually described during dinner but I know I had Terry banging his head .. LOL!

I was glad the portions aren't too large, left plenty of room for dessert :) Dessert was a tough decision. Probably the biggest decision I had to make on this trip .. LOL! Do I go for the Year of a Millions Dream cake (which contained pineapple) or the decadent chocolate cake with apricot ice cream. After finally deciding (with a little help from new friend Jenny O), went for the Year of a Million Dreams cake. As we finished dessert, Jenny came over with a dish of apricot ice cream for me with a big smile .. truly a sweetheart! Told her next trip, we wanted in her section again and she said, 'you got it!'

After dinner we walked out on both decks. Both had amazing views and a lot of great photo opportunities. We then walked Terry back to his car, as he headed off to visit friends in the Orlando area and walked over to Magic Kingdom™ for the Pirate and Princess Party.

We were glad our trip coincided with one of the evenings they were having the Pirate & Princess Party. You entered the Magic Kingdom™ tunnel to Main Street, U.S.A on a red carpet, entering Main Street through a mist of fog and smoke. The lighting was done in a lot of different shades of pink and blue on the Main Street buildings while Pirate and Princess themed songs were playing.

The party started at 7:00pm but we didn't get there till right before the parade started. There were a lot of little girls (dressed as their favorite princess) and little boys (dressed as pirates .. Aye Mateys!) running around. We seen many a sword fight while waiting for the parade to make it's way down Main Street.

We really enjoyed the parade. The parade starts out with floats featuring the Princessess (Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Ariel, Belle and Jasmine) followed by the Pirates. The first floats featured characters from the film, Captain Barbossa, Jack Sparrow, Elizabeth and Will, followed by Captain Hook's Ship featuring the characters from Peter Pan. Tinker Bell had her own float, where she was sitting a top a chest of treasure. The girl portraying Tinker Bell had her actions down to a T! The parade ended with the final float featuring the Fab Five and Chip 'n Dale in Pirate and Princess attire.

The idea of the party, your given a treasure map and the idea is to find treasures. There were designated spots (X marks the spot) throughout the park where you received beads or jewels. Cute for the kids. The highlight for us was the parade and fireworks show .. a good vs. evil fireworks spectacular! As we were leaving, spotted Donald and Goofy and couldn't pass the opportunity to get my photo taken with them :)

In spite of the move and getting resettled, ended up being another great day. Tomorrow is a relaxing day at the pool and then meeting up with friends later for dinner and mini-golf. Hope everyone had a Magical Day!