From no trip to celebrating 20 years together… planning it all in less than 100 days! UPDATED 6/30 About This Page:

[SuperDave]

A nice start to your meal at the Cali with some good drinks (at least yours) and great sushi! Nice photos of Illuminations, while everyone else was watching Wishes! Too funny with the other couple rushing through a great meal like this!

[Colexis Mom]

Great start to your meal at CG! Love the photos of IllumiNations!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by clio

I thought nit was amazing, too. My problems that when I recorded it, it cut off the last few minutes. Luckily I also recorded the show after it and It was the beginning of that or I would have really been upset. I hope next week's is as good.
Liz

Thank goodness you were able to get the ending or without that, you'd have missed the best bits!

[Cam22]

That was one crazy boat ride to the Contemporary! Perfect time for you to capture a deserted California GRill. So neat that you got to see and photograph Illuminations from there.

[chezp]

Saturday 4 March – part eleven: talk about celebrating in style!

When I got back to the table after watching IllumiNations, it wasn’t long before our entrees came out. Mark stayed at the table the whole time, and said it was fascinating to watch the kitchen. He said they literally got to one point in the music, and the kitchen sprang back into life. I bet that was neat to see that!

For entrée, I went for the San Francisco style cioppino, with Maine lobster tail, wild gulf shrimp, Alaskan king crab, cedar creek clams, P.E.I mussels, fregola, tomato fennel broth, lucid abstinthe, blood orange oil, crisp vegetables, and sourdough crostini. I was a bit concerned about the abstinthe, as I knew that could be a liquorice taste, but Jenny reassured me it was more like lemongrass and she was right. She was very concerned about how I was finding the taste of it, and came back to check on that. It was lovely, and I really could not believe how much seafood was in this. That’s probably why it came with the hefty price tag of $63 – the most expensive item on the menu. I’ve never seen seafood more expensive than meat in here. My only slight criticism was that it did have a little heat in it after a while, and there was just way too much. I managed to eat all of the seafood, but there was still so much left.



Jenny told us that the grilled pork with goat cheese polenta (which Mark subbed out for mashed potatoes as he doesn’t like polenta), royal trumpet mushrooms, roasted belly, apple-raisin mostarda, with Snake River Farms 10oz Kurobuta pork rib chop, had been on the menu for 22 years, and was consistently one of their best sellers. Bearing in mind we’ve been coming here since our honeymoon 17 years ago, Mark’s never had the pork, so I kind of insisted that if it was a house speciality, he really needed to try it, and he did.



By that point, he was starting to feel decidedly unwell. I don’t think it was the food, I think it was the cocktail he’d had earlier, but he declared himself out from dessert, which was fair enough. It is a lot of food. However, I’d eaten less for lunch and less for dinner, as I hadn’t finished my entrée.

I wanted to try out the chef’s selection cheese board, which was made up of the following:

• Taleggio Fondutta – a buttery, delicate, semi-soft, and subtlety sweet cheese from Italy made from pasteurised cow’s milk
• Point Reyea Toma – an all-natural, pasteurised, semi-hard table cheese with a natural rind
• Wyngaard Chevre Affine – goat’s cheese, slightly sweet, walnut and crème fraiche, awarded best goat cheese at the World Championship Cheese Contest in Wisconsin in 2016
• Moliterno – pasteurised Italian sheep’s milk cheese, named after the town it originates from
• Smokey blue – a sweet creamy cheese cold-smoked over shells from Oregon hazelnuts to give it nutty, savoury flavours

I also figured I’d try the lemon basil sorbet, but to be honest, it was awful. I don’t like sharp tastes, and this was exceptionally sharp, but Mark does – he can eat a lemon raw… seriously! However, he took one mouthful, and he couldn’t stand it either, which tells you something about just how sharp it was.. However, I’m glad we were on the Dining Plan, and could try it, and frankly it really didn’t matter if we liked it or not.



Now remember I’d mentioned we’d been together 20 years when we arrived? Well, they obviously wanted us to celebrate in style, because first the butterscotch crème brulee turned up first. By now, neither of us could stomach anything else, although Mark gamely took a bite, but he couldn’t manage any more than that. He saw that there were rows of them lined up, and he reckoned they were getting rid of one of their less popular desserts… it’s possible.



Ok, so we thought that was the end of it, but next these turned up..



Wow, the California Grill really wanted us to celebrate! My goodness, I was quite touched by all of these things. I thought they did a huge amount, and it’s just a shame that Mark wasn’t feeling better to enjoy it.

Our meal came to over $200 without the drinks or tip, but my goodness, it was worth it, and already the Deluxe Dining Plan had more than paid for itself, meaning tomorrow’s breakfast would essentially be free.

Eventually we left about 10:15pm – talk about a wonderfully leisurely meal, much better than the couple next door who’d just raced through theirs just to see Wishes.

California Grill

Appetiser 9 9
Entrée 9 9
Dessert 9½ N/A
Service 10 9
Atmosphere 10 9
Value for money 9 9

Average score: 9.23

We made our way back to the boat dock, and wouldn’t you know it, there were boats at both docks. We thought we knew which one to catch back, but we double checked, and captain Clueless was there from earlier. Thankfully he was going to Fort Wilderness, so we were safe from his clutches! There were four other adults on our boat, and we told them about what had happened on the way over, and they were laughing so much.



Our captain was amazing. As it was a cooler night, he told us we wouldn’t feel the cold if we had a bit of trivia to get our brains going, so he asked us which two dwarves were voiced by the same actor. Apparently it was Grumpy and Sleepy. Well, you really do learn something every day! He was such fun, and the type of Cast Member you want to encounter all the time.

The weather today was warm and sunny, but windy, with temperatures in the mid 70s.
The best thing today was dinner at the California Grill.
The worst thing today was Mark not feeling well towards the end of dinner.
The funniest thing today was Mark with the birds…
Today we tried going to Discovery Cove without a dolphin swim
And the result was we didn’t miss it at all.
The most magical moment today was our wonderful anniversary celebrations at the California Grill.

Next: who is that knocking at 8:30am on a Sunday?

[DMA]

Wow! Dinner looked amazing! Too bad Mark was not feeling well.
Glad you had a better boat ride on the way back.

[lindawdw]

Your dinner looked amazing and how wonderful that the CG went out of their way in the fashion that they did to make your 20th Anniversary so special. I'm sorry was not feeling well by the end of the dinner though to truly enjoy all the free desserts. I love when the Cast Members tell stories or trivia to pass the time on the transportation. They do that on the buses sometimes also!

[wheezie]

Your dining experience at CG sounds lovely! Sorry Mark was feeling poorly and not able to enjoy it.

[cubfancolleen]

Dinner looked amazing! I do think that may be the only bargain on the DDP options - the deluxe. The others don't seem to pay for themselves as easily anymore. We'll see what it looks like price wise when they add the alcohol option next year.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by cubfancolleen

Dinner looked amazing! I do think that may be the only bargain on the DDP options - the deluxe. The others don't seem to pay for themselves as easily anymore.

I agree. We've only ever thought the Deluxe Plan was worth having.

We'll see what it looks like price wise when they add the alcohol option next year.

I'm wondering what those prices will look like. It'll be interesting to see.

[clio]

You food looks good. I think I'd rather have the seafood instead of the pork. That was a lot of food, though. I'm not sure about the desserts, though.
I rewatched Dr. Who again. I don't know why it took me so long to figure out who was the Master. Even with the makeup, it looks like him. I think I was just too involved with the story the first time.
Liz

[Tara O'Hara]

Wow!! What a wonderful and romantic meal with lots of special touches!! I am so sorry that Mark was feeling poorly towards the end of it. . Thank goodness your boat ride was infinitely better for the ride back!!

[SuperDave]

What a great meal and time at the Cali! Your cioppino looks amazing and funny in all my times there, I have never seen that on the menu! I'd be all over that. The pork dish is basically their signature one at the restaurant and had it before and was very good! Too bad Mark wasn't feeling well at the end so the two of you could enjoy the extras more!

[Cam22]

What an awesome dinner, but so sorry that Mark was beginning to feel unwell.

[Colexis Mom]

What an amazing dinner. What a shame Mark was feeling poorly! . Great photos!