On the move - part 3

Didn’t take long and we were given the five minute warning and some of the other guests headed for the restrooms, while we patiently waited, then were led outside to wait for the approaching Monorail, we got into our reserved compartment and off we went to the Grand Floridian.

Once we had arrived our guides took us down the Grand Staircase and we got a bit of a tour of the resort, before we were all guided to the Garden View Tea Room, where we were to have our next course. There were actually tables laid for the amount of people in each individual party and we quickly found a table, which had a nice 

platter of cheese and meats. There was some hard cheese with some salted roasted almonds, some blue cheese to be eaten with some honeycomb and some Hungarian cured ham and some pork salami, plus some Cornichons and some grain mustard, some blackberries and there was also a small plate with some 

slices of bread. 

While we were still checking out the menu we were served some 

Fairytale Sparkling Wine and then we were ready to tuck in. 

It was just the right amount of food to again wet your appetite and it went very well with the cold Sparkling Wine.

All too soon we were given the five minute warning again, but this time we didn’t even have to go on the Monorail, we just walked over to Citricos. There we were welcomed by the restaurant manager, who gave a little speech about the workings of his restaurant, before dividing us into three groups, two of which were seated at large tables in the dining room and our group was to dine in the wine room. 

They had a nice large table and as soon as we had sat down the waiter came around explaining what we were to enjoy and serving some wine. 

Some of us tried the red wine, some the white wine and some of our group even tried both as there was beef and fish to come. Again, we were served some 

slices of bread and some 

butter with rock salt sprinkled on top. 

As we were sat with another group of people again, we all introduced ourselves again and talked about our Disney experiences so far and again talk came back to the hurricane that was on the way. 

Now, we had sailed through the outskirts of two hurricanes on Disney ships and had weathered through Hurricane Charly a few years earlier, but with all this talk we started to think that our flight home maybe would not be possible. 

But like the first time we were interrupted by the food being served. 

Everyone got a plate with two sample size portions of Citricos’ most beloved dishes, one being the 

Red Wine Braised Beef Shortribs, which were sitting on well-seasoned but unfortunately only lukewarm potato mash. 

The other was Wild Caught Pan Seared Halibut, which was slightly dry and overcooked, but we thought that might be because of the small pieces and size of the group they had to prepare for. What we did not like at all were the blanched, still crunchy and hard and already rather cool green beans. I have to admit that this was our least favourite course that we had had so far. 

They gave us a bit more time at Citricos and wineglasses were filled several times until we saw the rest of our group already leaving. 

They had forgotten to give us the five minute warning. 

But we quickly hurried out of the wine room and joined the rest of our group. 

There was still time enough for those in the group that needed a restroom before we headed back up to the Monorail again. 

And when it arrived we settled in our compartment and off we went to the Contemporary, for desserts, coffee and a view of the fireworks. 

We all went out onto the area underneath the Monorail tracks on the fourth floor, which again had been cordoned off for our group. 

They had a few different desserts 

and we tried one or two of them. Some of our group had already occupied the front few rows of chairs so they would have a great view of the fireworks and for a minute we thought about just standing at the back, but then, being a DVC member and so close to the Top of the World Lounge, we just told the hosts that we would leave early and watch the fireworks from the Lounge. 

They told us to wait for a moment, while one of the hosts went back out and came back with two small boxes with chocolate truffles in it, which were presented to us as a farewell present. 

And with that we walked over to Bay Lake Tower, showed our membership card and walked over to the elevator to take us up to the lounge. We found a spot along the railing and after about 10 minutes the fireworks started. 

They were fun and beautiful as always and once they were over we lingered for a few more minutes, then took the elevator down to the fifth floor and the walkway to the Contemporary and then down to the ground floor. 

We asked them to get us a taxi back to our resort and within a minute the car had arrived and we were whisked away and back to our resort. 

Back in our room we talked for a while, while the TV was on and it brought our mind back to the coming hurricane. Maybe we should look into it the next day, but for now we were tired and just wanted to drift off to sleep.