Our 2013 Combined Birthday Trip Part VII - The Finale

[uscwest]

Alas it is departure day. We were up early this morning to accomplish our packing, took our showers, got dressed, called the bellhop for assistance and loaded up the car. Next we were on our way to the Grand Floridian for our final Disney meal. It has become a tradition for us to head to the Grand Floridian Café for our last breakfast on our last few trips. We always start our day with a Grand Mimosa (Champagne, Orange Juice and a touch of Grand Marnier, $9.75 ea).
Our server’s name was Faith. She was from Massachusetts. She was a very pleasant young lady and a quite good server. We ordered coffee and glasses of water. Donna ordered Eggs Benedict - Two Poached Eggs on a Toasted English Muffin, Canadian Bacon, and Hollandaise Sauce served with Asparagus ($10.99). She ordered hers with scrambled eggs however, as she is not keen on poached eggs. I was debating what to order and Faith asked me what I usually ordered. When I told her she said I should order it and that it was the best thing on the menu. Of course I guess I should have expected this from a Massachusetts girl. I ordered Lobster Eggs Benedict - Two Poached Eggs, Lobster hash, Asparagus, and Hollandaise Sauce ($17.99). I keep forgetting this doesn’t come with an English muffin. I also ordered a glass of skim milk ($2.29). Again using our TIW, the bill including discount, tax, tip and a round up tip came to $60.00.


We had planned a bit later breakfast as we knew that they didn’t start accepting cars until 11:30 at the Sanford Auto Train. We went and retrieved the car from Valet Parking and left Disney for Sanford. As we departed the Grand Floridian we noticed the Goodyear Blimp overhead. I assume this was associated with the Live with Kelly and Michael show. We arrived shortly before 11:30 and waited for the gates to open. Once open we were given our vehicle number, turned in the car and headed in to obtain our boarding passes. We were in car 5213 seats 9 & 10. However, the car was quite empty and we were able to move to other seats so that we both had more room to stretch out at night. I went down to the lounge car, which was the one next to us and obtained a couple of Bl00dy Marys. The train pulled out of the station a few minutes ahead of schedule. We would visit the lounge car again before dinner. Dinner was at 7:00. I think I mentioned before that dinner is included in the cost of the train. Donna had the chicken parmesan, which came with garlic mashed potatoes. She really didn’t care for it. I once again had the baked cod. We finished off our meals with cheesecake with strawberries on top. We both managed to grab a bit of sleep over the long trip and arrived back home a little ahead of time. We soon retrieved our car and headed home. Now breakfast is served on the train, but it is continental, which Donna doesn’t really care for. So we decided to stop at our local McDonalds. It was only 10:30 in the morning but they had already started serving lunch. So we skipped. We went home, unloaded the car, and headed out to the Vet to pick up Cookie our cat. We stopped at a Wendy’s along the way and grabbed lunch. After picking up Ms. Cookie we went back home, another trip to Disney, sadly coming to an end.

Shades of Green
SOG Wine Sign.jpg

SOG Wine Barrels.jpg

SOG Mardi Gras.jpg

GF Greeter
GF Greeter.jpg

GF
Grand Floridian.jpg

GF Cafe
GF Cafe.jpg

Us
US GF Cafe.jpg

Grand Mimosa
Grand Mimosa.jpg

Scrambled Eggs Benedict
Scrambled Eggs Benedict.jpg

Lobster Benedict
Lobster Benedict.jpg

Goodyear Blimp
Goodyear Blimp.jpg

[Slowhand]

It`s great to see that Richard is still on duty at the entrance to the GF. He is a great guy and has worked there for many years and I bet that by now he must be in his late 80`s!!!!

I`ve really enjoyed reading your T/R`s John which have sadly now come to an end....time to get planning your next trip eh?

[Wendy]

I've loved your reports John, it sounds like you had a magical birthday celebration

[Beccaberry]

I love the sign! Great photos!

I've enjoyed your TR's so much, SD, I'm sad to see them come to an end

[susanm]

thanks for sharing your trip memories. i love reading trip reports and seeing how others spend their days in the magical world. sounds like you guys had a great trip...what a wonderful way to celebrate birthdays....thanks again for sharing