Grand Duo Birthday Trip: COMPLETE 2/5/09 About This Page:

[Meggera]

Hey, Dawn! I don't know how I missed this, but I have found it now. Yay! I always love reading your TRs. How cool that you got to stay at the GF. Wow! I can't wait to see lots of pictures. Great start!

[DyanKJ130]

What's wrong with Chuck's birth name?!?! I honestly like the name Marvin! There's nothing wrong with that! I have some family members whose names are almost laughable! An aunt named Sigrid (we used to call her Auntie Cigarette! She that! ). Then there was my cousin, Emil, who wasn't exactly fond of his name so we call him Mo. My Uncle Mickey (aka Americo) And, the best one.....my grandmother....HEDWIG!!! (Just like the owl in Harry Potter! ) Marvin is nothing! I LIKE it!!

[DawnDenise]

Originally Posted by DyanKJ130

What's wrong with Chuck's birth name?!?! I honestly like the name Marvin! There's nothing wrong with that! I have some family members whose names are almost laughable! An aunt named Sigrid (we used to call her Auntie Cigarette! She that! ). Then there was my cousin, Emil, who wasn't exactly fond of his name so we call him Mo. My Uncle Mickey (aka Americo) And, the best one.....my grandmother....HEDWIG!!! (Just like the owl in Harry Potter! ) Marvin is nothing! I LIKE it!!

It's not that I don't like it. Chuck hates it. But he hates my nickname for him more.

[DyanKJ130]

I had a feeling you liked it, Dawn! I think it's a great name to embrace, Chuck!!!

[Wendyismyname]

Originally Posted by KandJluvdisney

hey it could be worse - my cousin is naming his son dexter - in 2008 that is pretty bad

I have a nephew named Dexter. He certainly isn't nerdy like the name implies(remember Revenge of the Nerds?)

[PrincessSharon]

Glad you made it down without much trouble, Dawn! And what a great surprise for Mar... I mean Chuck upgrading to business class. Can't wait to hear about the fun at Epcot!

[DawnDenise]

Some new rides for Chuck, a Minor Shrimp Incident, and our Home for 8 Days

So, we headed into EPCOT and made sure to stop and get our Photopass card for the trip. So naturally, you get to see some of the pictures.



We headed over to Spaceship Earth next. It was about a ten minute wait but Chuck hadn’t been on it since it was refurbed so we stood in the line. We found it quite humorous to overhear some of the conversations around us. There was a family of 6 and the kids were complaining about standing in a line for SE that it wasn’t worth it. The mom basically told them they had to deal with it in no uncertain terms. Chuck and I figured the ride had stopped because all of the sudden the line just started moving regularly again. We were in our “time capsule” within 5 minutes. We got our picture taken for our trip to the future and off we went. I took a few pictures on the ride. The first one I forgot to change the setting on my camera and the flash went off. Whoops!!!





So after experiencing our future and spending some time in the after ride area, we decided to head back into the World Showcase. Our lunch ADR was at 1:00pm back in Japan, so we needed to head in that direction. We quickly grabbed another shot from a Photopass photographer and made our way into the WS. As we entered, the EPCOT Christmas tree was up and a picture was begging to be taken.


After a quick pit stop, Chuck noticed that they were boarding a Friendship boat to go across the WS Lagoon to Morocco. Having never taken one of those boats, Chuck led us down to the dock and on board we went. Now the captain of our boat explained as we were heading across that there were Dream Team members at the dock at Morocco that were going to be handing out some prizes to those that got on the boat. He told us that if we wanted to disembark and get back on, we could. Unfortunately, chuck and I needed to get to our lunch ADR so we had to get off. So close, but yet so far.

We headed over to Japan and walked up the staircase to Teppan Edo. We checked in and were given a buzzer. Having never dined here before, I didn’t know that Tokyo Dining and Teppan Edo were up here. I took a few pictures.



Our buzzer went off and we gave it to our hostess who was trying to find the rest of our tablemates. No one else showed up so she went ahead and took as back to our table. We were in the first room and were seated at the end of the table. Eventually three other parties of two joined us. One was a mother and daughter form the New York area, and the other four were two moms with their sons who were not happy at all that they were eating here.

Our server came out and got our drink orders and explained to each family how each of their dining plans worked. We decided on our appetizer and entrée course. For our appetizer, I went with shrimp cocktail, and Chuck went with the Assorted Tempura. Within a few minutes, our appetizers were delivered to our table, and it was time to eat. Since I had become quite the eater with chopsticks, I refused a fork and made Chuck proud.


We were having a great conversation with the mom and daughter from NY and enjoying our appetizers. The daughter was telling us about how she had been down to WDW 6 times in the past year. And here I thought I came down a lot!! As I was eating my fourth piece of shrimp, I chuckled and apiece of shrimp went down the wrong pipe. Thinking I could just cough it back up, I didn’t panic. The first cough didn’t work and neither did the second cough. I had my napkin in front of mouth, but it was here that Chuck realized that all wasn’t right in my world. He patted my back trying not to let everyone at the table know what was going on. I won’t go into all the details but my gag reflex kicked in and the piece of shrimp came back up and into my napkin. To say the least, I didn’t eat any more shrimp.

They cleared away our plates from our appetizer and introduced us to our chef. Kenji was his name and he was one of the older chefs. He didn’t talk a lot but put on a great show. For our entrée, Chuck went with the Asakusa (sirloin steak and large shrimp) and I went with the Nihonbashi (sirloin steak and chicken breast). Kenji tried to convince one of the kids to let him toss a shrimp tail into his mouth. He got the kid to open his mouth and then tossed into a bowl. Here are some pictures from the preparation of our entrees and the finished product.





The meal was wonderful, and I am glad that we finally made it to Teppan Edo. We thanked Kenji and enjoyed our dinners. I was a little envious of the cool monorail car plates that the kid’s meal comes in. Very cool in my eyes. For dessert, I just went with the vanilla ice cream, and Chuck went with the Ginger Cake. When they brought out our dessert, they had a candle in my ice cream that was quickly melting and put a chef hat on me that they had decorated with crayons. Chuck took a picture of me with my hat with the camera phone but I didn’t check it until we got back to the room and it didn’t turn out great. We saved my ice cream from the candle and enjoyed our desserts. I will admit I had to grab a taste of the Ginger Cake, and it was divine. Total bill before DDP and tip was $89.56.



So after our wonderful first meal of the trip, we headed back out of World Showcase making our way over to the Italy pavilion as there was an adult frozen beverage calling my name. It’s like my legs knew exactly where they were headed as I seemed to pick up speed the closer we got. Two Italian Margaritas were purchased (no good eye candy), and off we went headed toward Mexico. I thought I would have my drink finished in time for a fiesta margarita but I was still enjoying the Italian version. We stopped and took a look through Mousegears as I always just have to look around and see what is available.

We made our way back up those long monorail ramps at EPCOT that I knew I would become more than familiar with by the end of the trip. A monorail was waiting for us and we had a relaxing ride back to the TTC and then caught the resort monorail back to the Grand Floridian. We headed into the lobby and went down the grand staircase. We were watching a wedding party getting some photos in front of the Gingerbread house. Chuck went over to Bell Services to get our backpacks while I headed over to check-in to get our room assignment. I had put down three requests on our reservation and didn’t do a room request fax. I requested a king size bed, a room in Sago Cay, and a dormer room if available. ( to Crystal for giving me the area to recommend.) The lady pulled out a map and circled Sago Cay. One small happy dance. She said it had a king size bed. Second small happy dance. She then said it was at the end of the building and a dormer room. Third happy dance. She finally gave me the room number, 5443. She could tell I was pleased and gave me directions on how to get to our building and said that the Gaspirilla Grill was right by our building as well as the bus stops. She wished me a happy birthday, I thanked her profusely, and I found Chuck waiting for me on one of the couches in the lobby. We decided to grab our mugs that were part of the deluxe dining plan on our way to the room.

After grabbing our mugs, we headed over to our room, which would be our new “home” for the next eight days. I didn’t tell Chuck about any of the requests so this part was going to be a bit of a surprise for him. Since we were paying for a theme park view, that’s all he knew we were going to get.



We walked into our building and found the elevator. We were on the fourth floor. Once we got off the elevator, I decided not to look for signs that tell you where the range of room numbers are located and walked all around the area overlooking the mini-lobby to our building. Chuck, on the other hand, was making his way down the correct hallway to our room. I did a little jog to catch up with him as we finally reached the end of the hallway and turned right to find room 5443. Chuck unlocked the door and let me in first. I just fell in love with the room.







And my absolute favorite part of the room…..THE VIEW






Coming Up: Chuck Floors Me and One of the BEST Meals We Had

[Lemap760]

Great view from your room.

[CountryTink]

What an amazing view from your room.

[Caldercup]

Originally Posted by DawnDenise

Coming Up: Chuck Floors Me and One of the BEST Meals We Had

Aaaaaaack! You're leaving us hanging like that?!

Come back! Come Baaaaaaaack!!!
Eileen

[DyanKJ130]

Oh my gosh!!! What a beautiful place to call home!!!

[disneydani]

What a great start at Epcot, glad the shrimp incident quickly righted itself!

You snagged an awesome room at the GF!

Hurry back with your dinner, please.

danielle

[lauren-roxy]

Sounds like a great lunch, but so sorry about the shrimp. Your view is just beautiful, we had that same view a year ago, but on the first floor. I think I cried everyday about how lucky we were to get that room.

[DawnDenise]

Chuck Floors Me and One of the BEST Meals We Had

So Chuck and I spent about 45 minutes out on our balcony drinking our drinks and admiring the view. I called my mom to let her know that we had arrived and that we got everything she requested for us. She asked if anything had been delivered to the room yet. I told her no and then remembered we had to open the card she had given me a few weeks back for our birthdays. I ran inside and pulled it out of the PassPorter. I went back onto the balcony and handed it to Chuck to open while I was on the phone with her. Chuck opened the card and it was one of those ones that sings “Celebration”. In the card was a Disney gift card for $150 to spend between the both of us for whatever we wanted. We both thanked her and then said good-bye so we could unpack and get ready for dinner.

Our luggage had been delivered while we were in EPCOT so it was a matter of unpacking the three pieces. We pulled them onto the bed, and I tackled the lightest one that only had shoes and a jacket in it. Next we tackled the others. We had to call for more hangers but eventually got everything put in its place as well as the luggage out of sight. Chuck decided to take a happy nap while I took a long hot shower. As he was sacked out on the bed, I put my outfit on the nightstand next to the bed so he wouldn’t roll over on it.

I had just gotten in the shower when I heard someone knock on the door. I yelled Chuck’s name, and I heard him get up and answered it. I figured it was whatever my mom had gotten us being delivered. I finished up my shower and then wrapped my hair in towel and put on one of those nice bathrobes in the closet. I went out to find what was delivered and saw that not only had my mom sent us something, but so had someone else. After checking what had to my mom’s little gift, I checked the flower and balloon arrangement. My dad had sent us some flowers in a Mickey vase with some Happy Birthday balloons. I have to tell you that this was a shocker. Not that he sent me something, that it was Disney related. Here are pictures of our gifts.


This was what my mom sent. It had a single white rose in it with all the different colored ribbons. It was to a wand to grant all of our wishes.


This is what my dad sent and then a picture of the little table that would become birthday central.

At this point, I realized I need to get my behind in gear and finish getting ready and get Chuck to take his shower. I pulled my bangs out of my towel turban and kept nagging Chuck to jump in the shower. He said give him a minute as he was watching something on ESPN. I growled to myself and went to get my clothes off the nightstand. As I literally pulled the clothing off the nightstand, a box went flying across the room and hit a wall. After asking what the heck that was, Chuck told me to check out the box.

Now mind you, I was still dressed in the robe and towel turban at this moment. I picked up the box and opened it. What I found was the most beautiful engagement ring and wedding band set in white gold. The tears started falling immediately, and my arms were around Chuck in a heartbeat. He told me that he has wanted to replace my ring ever since he gave it to me. He knew I was never embarrassed by the first ring but just wanted to do something to blow my socks off and let me know how much he loves me. He took my old rings off and put my new ones on, gave me a kiss, and went to take his shower. Guess ya’ll want to see a picture, huh?



When he got out of the shower, I was still sitting on the bed in shock and all he could do was laugh. I finally got out of my stupor and finished getting dressed and ready. We had some extra time and headed over to the lobby to grab some pictures of the Gingerbread house.



We slowly made our way up to the second floor to the monorail station and waited about 3 minutes before one arrived. We got an empty car to ourselves and just snuggled on our way to the Contemporary. Once we got there, I forgot where we had to check in, but quickly remembered. We had some time before we had to check in so we looked around in the gift shops. I was trying to convince Chuck that he needed to get a hat for MVMCP later in the week. He found one or two that he would consider but he didn’t want to buy them just yet. After looking around, we headed over to check in for our dinner at the California Grill. There was a long line and only one person checking people in. A second person arrived and got all of us waiting checked in pretty quickly. We decided to head on up and see if we could get a drink in the bar while waiting.

Unfortunately, there was no room in the bar so we just found a spot in the waiting area. We waited about 10 minutes when our buzzer went off and we were led to a fantastic window seat for two. We were handed our menus and was told our server would be Ron. We glanced over our choices and Chuck was glad to see he could get some sushi as he forgot to get some at lunch. Ron came over and introduced himself and brought us some water. He explained what we could get on the plan and took our drink orders. Chuck wanted to get a bottle of wine for us to share but wanted to get Ron’s opinion when he took our appetizer and entrée order. When Ron returned, he stayed and chatted with us for a few minutes. He told us he was going to drag our dinner out to make sure we got to see Wishes during our time there. He took our appetizer and entrée order and recommended a Chardonnay to compliment it. We agreed and off he went. Our appetizers were out fairly quickly. Chuck ordered the California Roll with Jumbo Lump Crab with Avocado and Cucumber, and Ron added some tempura to it as well. I had the Triple Cheese, Pecorino, Asiago, Provolone with Sun-dried Tomatoes and Basil Pesto Flatbread.



The wine Ron recommended was wonderful. I wish I had written down the name of it but it was a perfect fit for our meal. Now my flatbread was eight pieces and would have been more than enough for a meal itself. I finished 4 of the pieces, and chuck finished off two for me. When Ron came to clear our plates, he put a leftover piece of on my small plate and one on Chuck’s saying he was holding off on our entrees because Wishes would be starting about 10 and he wanted us to sit back and enjoy it. He topped off our wine glasses and continued to talk to us for a bit. We found out that he was originally from Lexington, KY (about 20 minutes east of Louisville) and that he moved down here to start a realty company and work for the Mouse. Just as they dimmed the lights and started the music, he left us to enjoy the show. I only took a couple of pictures but with the reflection in the glass, they didn’t come out great.



I have to tell you that it was a different perspective seeing Wishes from Cali Grill but very enjoyable. I loved every minute of it and still got a little teary eyed. About 5 minutes after Wishes ended, Ron arrived with our entrees. Perfect! I ordered the Pan-Roasted Grouper Fillet (with olive oil crushed potatoes, cipollini onions, and red wine butter sauce), and Chuck went with the Oak-Fired Filet of Beef (with Boniato Mashed Potatoes, Sauteed Haricot Vert, and Teryaki Barbeque Sauce). I forgot to take picture of Chuck’s before he destroyed the presentation, but was able to grab one of mine.



The grouper was very light and tasty and was happy with my choice, especially since I am not a big fish person. Chuck’s filet was good but he said the mashed potatoes were kind of weird. <shrug> I couldn’t clean my plate as I got filled up pretty quickly. Ron was over to clear our plates and gave us the dessert menus. I truthfully didn’t have the room for anything more but Ron said we had to order something so he could do the birthday thing. Not wanting to disappoint, I ordered the California Grill’s Legendary Crème Brulee with a Duo of Banana Cakes and Caramelized Bananas while Chuck decided to have the Cashew Nut Dacquoise Cake with Roasted Stone Fruits, Blackberries, Lychee Cream, and Ginger-Caramel Ice Cream. (Boy is that a mouthful).



I could tell I wasn’t hungry as I ate the bananas on top and broke open the cream brulee and scooped out a couple bites. It was very sweet, and very good, but I could not even begin to finish it. Chuck enjoyed his as well, and really liked the ice cream. As Ron cleared the table, I excused myself while Chuck ordered a couple of Bailey’s on the rocks to finish it off. I was already quite light headed by the half bottle of wine I drank (give me anything but wine as it really hits me different than any other alcohol). I returned to our table and my Bailey’s was sitting there waiting for me. Ron chatted with us for about ten minutes and then went to get our bill so we could get it completed. I asked if I could have a menu for my scrapbook and when he returned with the bill, he brought me a bag with all sorts of menus, drink stirrers, business cards, etc. Total cost of this fine meal with the alcohol and tip included was $201.10. Wowsers! About $50 of that was alcohol. After everything was settled, we ask to get a picture with Ron as he really made the meal for us. He obliged and had a fellow server take it for us.



By the time we left the restaurant, it was 11:15pm. Our ressie was at 7:55pm. Nothing like a 3 hour meal. We grabbed the monorail back to GF and made the short walk from the main building over to Sago Cay. Chuck being the sweetie he is went and refilled our mugs as I got ready for bed. While he was gone, I opened the drapes to see the view that took my breath away, each and every evening. The Castle all decked out in its icy glory turning different colors. It became my nightlight throughout the trip. He returned about 15 minutes later (probably got a smoke while he was out and about.) He joined me on the balcony for ten minutes taking in the view. We eventually went back inside and set the alarm as we had a breakfast ADR in the morning. The bed was all nicely tucked and we wiggled our way in under the covers. Chuck watched some Sports Center to catch up on the College Football scores while I dozed off rather quickly thinking how a first day couldn’t have been better than this one.

Coming Up: Breakfast with My Favorite and Are We Really Getting through the Park this Quickly???

[chezp]

What a wonderful day - that ring is absolutely beautiful. It sounds like you've already had some awesome meals and I just love your room - it's stunning.

By the way, as I read what you ate at Teppan Edo, having been working on our Tokyo trip, I suddenly realised what all the names are for the different foods - different suburbs of Tokyo!