I left you on Friday evening as we were headed off to the California Grill. We left the villa about 8:15 and after popping some papers into IPG we got to Disney’s Contemporary Resort hotel at about 8:45 – perfect timing! The air was cool but still a seemingly very pleasant evening. We checked into the restaurant at the 1st floor check in desk then got into the elevator to the 15th floor where the restaurant is. It was pretty full and given the prices surprisingly with a lot of families. Mind you, it is included in the Disney dining package. We had been given a lighty-up thing to tell us when our table was ready so sat on bar stool perusing the menu. We were called bang on 9 so didn’t have to wait at all really. We were shown to a pretty good table. Not quite at the window but next row back and with a clear view of the castle and Magic Kingdom. Fireworks would be at 10pm so we would get a good view although there is an outside observation deck too.
There were 3 choices of starters: flatbreads, sushi or usual appetizers. The prices were high and the food was a little pretentious for our taste. We elected to share a starter of hearts of romaine lettuce with garlic sauce, Parmesan and croutons (or to the rest of the non pretentious world a caesar salad). We got them to hold the anchovies and olives though! We had soft drinks and water and got a basket of bread too. For main course we both elected to have the fillet of beef. This came with dauphinoise potatoes, ginger carrots and barbeque sauce (yep barbeque sauce). The piece of beef that arrived was huge – had to be 10oz easily. The rest of the portion was small as posh cuisine is. It was very nice steak it has to be said and it did melt in the mouth but the rest of the dish was nothing special and certainly not worth the prices in our opinion. We were served this course quite quickly as the waiter was timing us to be between courses for the fireworks bless him.
By now it was 9:50 so we decided to head out to the observation deck to watch “wishes”. It was very breezy out there which made it decidedly chilly. The music is played on the deck and in the restaurant so you can enjoy the show properly. Of course the perspective is a little wrong as the fireworks are meant to be viewed from in front of the castle and this is more side on. As the fireworks started it soon became apparent that there was very low thick cloud – almost like a mist or fog and as the fireworks went into it you couldn’t actually see them go off!! What a huge disappointment; all you could see was a coloured glow in the cloud! Paul took some video footage of it that can be found below.
We made our way back to our table and I decided to have the coconut and mango Panna Cotta for dessert. Paul elected to have a coffee. The dessert was really nice (despite my mango salsa on the plate being described as looking like sick by Paul). All in all we finished up by about half 10. We’re glad we did it as had not done so before but won’t rush to do it again – and when the bill came to more than I spent in Tiffany’s it’s a poor show 😉
We came home and pretty much went straight to bed with a cuppa and some TV viewing.
OK so some news updates: Pool heating still not fixed, we’ve found Delilah on another station and the Shuttle launch planned for the early hours of Tuesday has been postponed to 17th Dec. We’re quite gutted as there are only ever to be 2 more so we’ll never get to see it. As a result we can adjust our itinerary though and make the most of the weather.
Saturday was somewhat dull and overcast. We had a lie in and mooched around by the pool for most of the day. It was nice to simply relax and although the weather wasn’t hot it was nice enough to sit out – in some respects better than being too hot. We watched a lot of English TV on the laptop (Harry Hill, John Culshaw’s impressions show and a Corrie episode!). We’d got bread, bagels, crisps etc in the house so had enough for lunch.
We’d decided to go to Kobe for dinner after it being closed on Thanks giving. We wanted to eat earlier again so went out about 5:45. We must have got to Kobe about 6:15 and it was heaving – a 45 minute wait is what we were told. We sat with a drink at the bar as they called table after table and after at least 45 mins we eventually got called. Paul was just on his feet to check with them as they said it was our turn. We were seated around the corner of the table between a couple and a family of 4 young adults and 2 kids. No one really attempted to converse with the others at first and the family were local so clearly knew all the staff. The family then did talk to the couple next to us about baseball teams and it was then that we noticed we were the only white people in the whole bunch. Neither Paul nor I are racist at all, but these folk certainly proved to us that they were. Not one of them acknowledged we were even there all night. The family also ordered single meals to share amongst not only the kids but also the adults and as the chef knew them gave them extra portions too – bang out of order in our opinion.
The staff in Kobe seem to have changed a lot. The blonde is no longer on the front desk and there are way more western staff. We had a drinks server called Mitchell who had clearly had a bad day and was gonna let us know about it. Our chef was Takashi and was slow! The order of food has changed too. The portions have reduced (which is no bad thing as you got way too much before) but now the rice was served in bowls before the meat not at the very end like before. Since I hold onto my noodles until my beef arrives I had to wait through 1 veggie course, 2 lots of shrimp and the rice being cooked and served before my meat was even started. We presumed since one person was having a vegetarian meal they do this so as all her food is served before the meat goes anywhere near the grill. Sadly it meant my noodles were stone cold by the time my steak arrived. I’d opted for the fillet and it was a really nice cut. Very tender and tasty – just about worth the wait. Paul had opted to shrimp and steak so had finished his noodles and shrimp and then had steak with the rice. The food was as good as ever but the service was poor so we ensured this was reflected in our 2 dollar tip, which we hoped was more insulting that leaving nothing.
We came out of Kobe at half 8 and headed down the 192. We were off to Heritage Park in Osceola as it has a drive-thru lights display. It was only 15 mins away and despite trying to enter through the exit at first we made our way in. It was 10 bucks flat rate entry fee. It was pretty good. They had the 12 days of Christmas all in lights (which amused us trying to work out what each set of lights was representing), Santa playing basketball, reindeer hiding behind trees, Merry Christmas signs and the usual baubles, candy canes etc etc. It only took 10 to 15 mins to drive through (even at walking pace) but was good and something we’d not seen or done before. There is a promo video embedded here for you to watch (this is not our footage mind)
We came home and watched X-Factor on ITV-player with the obligatory cuppa.
It is now Sunday mid morning (well it was when I started this, it could well be lunchtime by now). It’s another hot and sunny day so we’ve caught some rays out by the pool. Paul looks like a foreigner as ever with his skin that goes brown at even the thought of the sun and the good news is his cold is on the way out today.
We are going to head out to Premium and Prime Outlets on I drive today as they are outside and we want to make the most of the weather. The forecast looked bleaker next week with dull days and rain tomorrow and Wednesday. We have a park day planned for Tuesday right now, as this still looks to be fine.
So, off to spend more cash…..