Carthay Circle Theater Restaurant & @DCA Today Part:2

Hey guys! If you're just jumping in, stop and be sure to read Part 1 first! :D
(Warning: this post is extremely picture heavy) 


Ok where was I? right... the incredible opportunity to reschedule my reservation for Carthay Circle Restaurant!

After receiving the confirmation for the restaurant, which happened to be on a very important July 17th date, I was giddy for the entire week wondering (again) how the food was going to taste.  Instead of salivating over the lunch menu like before, I was checking out all the yummy looking dinners! And again, I say the desserts look divine!

Finally the day came.  I think I was literally bouncing at times.  Katy came over to the house to see Miss Annabelle, and then we were off! We made sure to get there in plenty of time just in case... can you imagine if traffic happened to be bad and I missed it AGAIN?! Oh, the horror!

With about an hour to go, we entered into Disneyland first but weren't quite sure what we wanted to pass the time with.  After checking out the wait times, our old mantra helped out...  "when in doubt... Pirates!" so we headed to the left of the hub, cut through Adventureland and steered toward our most beloved destination.

Then... it was time.

Skipping over to DCA (ok we didn't really skip... well, maybe...), we entered into the lobby of the Carthay Circle Restaurant and gave the hostesses my name.  For a brief second, I got that scary panicky feeling my name wouldn't be on the list - that somehow all this really wasn't happening, but DCA Today had done as he said he would and they pulled it right up!

lobby sitting area and hostess desk in the far left corner
elevator and stairs to the right 

to the right of the lobby

bar area of the lobby

I tried to get a shot of the
Lasseter Family vineyard
 wine selection.
If only I had $70 for wine! 

As DCA Today had requested, I sent a quick tweet out once we had checked in letting him know we were there and excitedly waited for the response. Didn't have to wait long as he quickly replied, however, I'll wait til after dinner to show you the rest ;p Feel my suspense! hahaha

Knowing this probably has something to do with the "surprise", I got even more excited!  Can I just tell you that trying to enjoy a dinner you've waited a VERY long time to eat is extremely hard when you've been given a hint of a prize for when you've finished?? I tried so hard to enjoy every single bite! 

The upstairs area of the restaurant is just as beautiful as the downstairs, albiet a little cramped.  I was surprised at how close the tables were to each other.

upstairs bar area

Yours Truly :)

Katy posed for me :) 

And then our Food, Glorious Food! 

potroast, veggies, garlic mashed potatoes, & the Monte Cristo Banana Split Sundae!

After stuffing ourselves with as much food as we could handle (It's expensive, I was gonna eat all I could! haha).  It was time to go and see what magic Disney had in store for us! 

Since we took the gorgeous elevator up to the dining area, we decided to go down the stairs on the way out while I pulled twitter up on my phone. 

Everything, even the staircases, are elegant! 

We got outside and I sent out the tweet that we were finished... here's the rest of the conversation.. 

wha-wha-whaat?!

I'm sure my eyes were buggin' out of my head when Katy heard me gasp towards my phone LOL. 

"Umm.. we're meeting DCA Today by the Storytellers statue in 15 mins..." 

She laughed at my reaction but was just as excited to go haha, so we walked across the street and waited just out of photo reach of the guests by the statue.  As we sat against the railing, I turned over to Katy..

"You know... this could be the point where we get kidnapped.  At least the tweets are on the internet so they can get clues and find us." 

She just shook her head and laughed, "Way to be dramatic, Hobbs".

We were there for probably about 10 mins and then .... I spotted a BIG sign with legs walking over to us...

"Are you Annie?"

"YES!" (I think I actually squealed at him. I'm such a nerd) 

He introduced himself to us and asked us how dinner went, how my sister and niece were doing, and of course I pulled up a picture to show him. :)  This whole time my brain was a blur.  I was so over the moon with happiness. 

After a few minutes of conversation passed, he brought up the topic of us going to World of Color, (we had ordered a special selection of food at Carthay, so they gave us fastpasses to the 9pm show).  Upon hearing our "yes" response, he pulled out the surprise...

2 Glow-with-the-Show Mickey Ears!

Awesome!! 

I most definitely squealed here. I'd been wanting a pair so badly, but we didn't know on our last trip if we were going to watch World of Color then.  It was completely unexpected and considering those ears retail for about $25, it was most definitely appreciated! 

(For those of you who might not know what these ears do, here's a quick rundown: The ears sync up with the controls for the World of Color shows.  They blink, glow, and turn colors sometimes completely independent of each other but still are in tune with what's going on in the lagoon.  If you're standing in a group of people who all have the GwtS ears (even in the same section), you'll notice that they also are independent of each other. It's really cool. AND they just announced that the ears will be added to Fantasmic starting Sept. 2012! )

Here's a short clip of the GwtS Ears in action. 

I think I thanked him about 50 gajillion times, but in between I managed to ask for a picture to post on the blog.  He happily obliged. 

cheezers!

After taking the picture and again thanking him a few more thousand times we said goodbye and headed down towards World of Color.  And by "headed", I mean I was jumping up and down like a complete dork with my Mickey ears bobbing around blinking neon.  All 5ft 10 inches of me. I bet I looked special. 

The rest of the night was spent in giant smiles as we watched the show, or more accurately... watched our ears and other peoples' GwtS ears around us, while the while World of Color was going. If you haven't seen the show, I suggest that you go see it in DCA first and then go see Fantasmic when the ears debut in Disneyland Park. 

It was one of the best days of the summer.  I have to admit that I have had a pretty rockin' month of July.  So many incredible experiences have happened and this was right up there at the top of my list.  

I say again, Thank You DCA Today, for making a life long memory at what truly is the "Happiest Place on Earth".

Thanks for reading along! :D