WDWCP: Dining Like The Rich People Do

On October 21, 1997, I spent my morning with my roommate Danielle. We went to Pool #1 and worked on our Florida tans. According to my journal I DID get a dark tan. Ha, who knew!?! Danielle worked at the California Grill, the fancy pants restaurant at the top of the Contemporary Resort. She made some phone calls and was able to get Sarah, Marcy and I dinner reservations for that evening! So again we had to bring out some of our nicer clothes so we could fit in with the setting.  Prior to going out, Marcy, Sarah and I went to Pool #2 to hang out for a while. (I didn't realize I spent so much time at the pool during the day!) 

We had 5:30 pm reservations, which would allow us time to enjoy the view, but also experience the sunset from high above the world of Disney. 

Check out some daytime views below:

Upon our arrival at the California Grill, Danielle was waiting for us. I thought her "costume" was cute. I mean she pretty much got to wear normal attire, as opposed to the majority of us in our apartment. She was the one to take us to our seats, and I don't think I'm wrong when I say we had the best seats in the house! We were situated right in the center next to the window looking out over Bay Lake. Bay Lake is the big body of water that you may see in front of the Magic Kingdom in certain publicity shots. It houses the Grand Floridian and Polynesian Resort as well. If you take the ferry boat to get to the Magic Kingdom, you're on Bay Lake!

I'm laughing as I look at my journal. Apparently I thought our dinner was "way over-priced". For the three of us girls it cost about $70. I'd hate to know what that same dinner would cost in 2017! I am so happy I found my journal. Because of it you're going to get nonsense details that are giving me a good chuckle. I had a three-cheese flatbread thing. I remember being nervous because of the goat cheese incident at Epcot. I didn't want to repeat that! This flatbread was alright, I didn't complain! For dessert I had cheesecake, and who is going to complain about that? Certainly not this girl!

Sarah and I, all dressed up!

It was during our dessert that we got to sit and actually watch a Florida sunset for the first time. In Hawaii the beach was always filled with people sitting and absorbing the sunset. In Florida, well, there is so much going on, I never actually see people stop to watch it. So this was a nice thing to actually experience, and from such a fancy location!

Seeing as we were right next to the Magic Kingdom and nobody had to work, we decided to wander next door and enjoy some rides! We spent most of our time in Fantasyland. Whoa, this is going to date us here ... we went on Mr. Toad!! Mr Toad is gone, and became the Winnie the Pooh ride. We also had some time in the Tea Cups and the carousel. The carousel was more of a challenge given our attire, so Sarah and I decided to ride side saddle!

From there we went to Sarah's territory, Tomorrowland. We took a ride on Space Mountain, where we saw the cute Alejandro working - but he didn't see us. Oh well. As we were leaving Tomorrowland a Cast Member named Drew stopped us. We ended up talking to him for nearly an hour. He was a Florida Gator apparently. We also spent time with a manager that was a former Miami Dolphin. You can thank my journal for this entire paragraph.

The park was starting to close, so by the time we got to Main Street USA we were the only ones left. If you know me, what happened next shouldn't be a surprise. The music was playing, so we danced our way right down the middle of Main Street USA! I couldn't resist, and I would totally do it again. And again.

By the time we got back to Vista Way Danielle was off work. Sarah is the good girl that likes her sleep, so she went to bed. Danielle, Marcy, a co-worker of Danielle's and myself all went across the lot to the pavilion for the party going on. I guess it was kind of boring, so there wasn't much to report. Except Ryan from my seminar said hi to me. So that was nice, I didn't blend in so much that I was ignored! At this point I'm wondering who Ryan is. I think he is a tall guy I have a photo of Danielle with - you'll see that later. 

That's all I have to say about this night out. It always stuck out in my memory as a really fun night. California Grill is one of the nicest restaurants on property, the nicest back then. So for us little ol' interns to get to eat there and have the best seats, well that was pretty darn special. And then to play around the park at night in our dresses, that was truly a unique experience!

And because she is so cute, we will end this post with two of my favorite photos of my favorite roommate!

See ya real soon! °o°