California Grill

Expensive yes...worth it...also yes

     Now first off, if you wanna go to California Grill make your reservation as soon as you know your are doing your DCP and put the money aside for it, otherwise you will likely be unable to do it when you are here. That being said the way this all worked out for me is pretty crazy but at the end of the day I could not have been happier that I went and had the opportunity to eat there because aside from Victoria & Albert's, California Grill is the next best restaurant on Disney property.

     As soon as I found out I got accepted I immediately started bringing up with family and friends, who was visiting and when. So all the way back in March, months before my arrival, I made the reservation for California Grill for myself, my brother and his girlfriend to eat at when they were planned to visit. I had been looking forward to it for months and unfortunately they could not make it for financial reasons. But there was no way I was cancelling this reservation because it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. 

     Therefore between my arrival and the date of the reservation I had been stressing about who I would ask to come and if anyone at all would be able to afford coming. Everyone doing the CP knows how expensive this place is and not everyone is in the financial place to afford such a meal. Thankfully, I was fortunate enough that two of my roommates and one of my other friends were willing to drop the coin on this meal and were just as excited to join me.

     I was massively nervous when I got my work schedule for the week of this reservation when I saw I was scheduled on this day, but lucked out because I was out of work with enough time to get to the Contemporary. 

     We arrived at the Contemporary about 45 minutes before our reservation just to wander around and explored the hotel. None of us had ever been in the Contemporary before, other than cruising through on the monorail. So we took our time, perused the shops they had and enjoyed the atmosphere. It was a great time to just relax and enjoy the fact that we have this opportunity to be in Disney and do this kind of thing leisurely.

     We finally went to the restaurant for dinner and from the moment you get up there it is unreal the views you have. You can see over the entire Seven Seas Lagoon, inside all of Magic Kingdom with a great look into Tomorrowland and you are even able to see EPCOT from the observation deck. We took our time and enjoyed our meal just mind blown at everything they had to offer. The perk of eating at Cali Grill is you are able to come back to the restaurant to watch the fireworks in Magic Kingdom. It was great that we had the reservation on a night of MNSSHP so we got to come back later and watch Hallowishes. 

     We had about 2 hours to kill between the end of our dinner and the fireworks, so we spent time out on the observation deck taking in the views and taking pictures and then went back downstairs to roam around the resort again.Watching the fireworks from atop the Contemporary is amazing. We were so high up it felt like we were in line with the height of the fireworks and you get a great view of the all the perimeter fireworks as they pop off. End of the day, if you have the opportunity to get a reservation, DO IT! You will not regret it!