What a huge operation!!! I would die if I had to organize something like that - and on my birthday!!! You are a hero! But it sounds like you had plenty of competent helpers around.
I've been dreaming about this since before the Villas opened back in 2009! Now I have a beautiful home where I could do this at my house, but when I first came up with this idea I never knew that we would be moving into a beautiful home made for entertaining. I love entertaining and feeding people and I came up with this plan back when the Grand Californian Villas owners and lovers thread was on the first thread. I remember ACDSNY and I were talking about it before we became 3D friends.
You should see what I do over Christmas and Thanksgiving when there is only four of us!
Everything looks great, I am really looking forward to pictures of the buffet once everything is up!
I'm working on that!
Why was someone simmering the brats? Do you eat them boiled?
If you put the raw brats directly on the grill, the outsides will char before the insides cook to a proper temperature. I learned that the hard way years back when we bit into raw sausages. I actually had to Google the proper way to cook them. I never would have come up with the beer and onions, but it gives them extra flavor.
I wonder how often these Grand Villas are being used for parties and how much the bellmen are used to people showing up with a car full of food? I would guess it is more common at
Disneyland than at WDW. I would love to rent a Grand Villa one day, but then I would have to use far too many of my points and I really don't see that I will ever have a group large enough to make sense for a Grand Villa... But I am pretty happy with one-bedrooms for Michael and me. Feels pretty luxurious already!
I have a feeling that all the Villas are used by folks to do parties like this. I've heard, on the VGC owners thread, multiple stories of folks who bring in their local families to entertain even in the 1 bedroom villas. Probably because they are so nice and spacious, you can usually fit more people in a Villa than most people's small apartments.
Also the Bellmen, didn't seem at all surprised, although they did seem to think we had quite a bit of alcohol!
Wow...what a lot of work!! It all looks amazing though!!! I'm looking forward to seeing all the food too!! It does look like a really amazing place for a party and to stay!!
There was a lot of chopping of fruit and some cooking, but really we were pretty much set at 6PM other than the cake hadn't arrived, so we couldn't move ahead with the rest of the stuff. I didn't want the salads tossed until just before we eat, so that they wouldn't be wilted. It only took about a little over an hour to set it all up with about eight people helping.
We laughed our butts off getting that ice!
It was collaborative effort between the ice girls. It was a lot of work setting up for dinner but also lots of fun!
You ladies were a hoot! Jill and I were just glad we weren't the ones draining those ice machines!
Cynthia did a great job organizing the bar and Jill was up to her elbows in chicken carcasses.
So glad I didn't have that job.
I am sure I would have lost at least a finger trying to cut them up.
In hindsight, I bought way way way too much chicken, but the tri tip and brats were probably about just right! Thank you so much Jill for your skills with the knife! I never would have thought of cutting the breasts in half, but it made total sense once you thought of it!
Our view was incredible!
That villa was something else. There was so much room. I really loved the girls' room too!
I loved our room. Even with 11 people staying there, I never felt like anyone was on top of each other.
I hope everything turns out ok 
Its not tragic but its far from perfect. I am not a big fan of change. Basically my position now, because I am part therapy and part UR would be moved from behavioral health to case management which would mean a new boss and immediate new co-workers. I love my position now because its 32 hours and it's not ALL therapy which can be totally overwhelming on a locked acute adult psych floor. My options are to go with the move which would mean moving offices which sounds silly but I love my office location and office mates; stay under behavioral health and do ALL therapy and be a 40 hour a week employee which keeps me in the same office and same department but like I said, 40 hours a week on the psych floor can be taxing; or find a new job which I have been looking and have a final interview this Tuesday. 
I did the typical pros/cons list and don't see a pronounced winner. I came home to this news on Monday and have been struggling with a decision ever since.
. But I didn't worship any gods, or drive any busses of a certain stone like nature! 
It's a hella fun bar for those that haven't been!
We had so much fun! I hope that I can communicate all the fun through this TR!
Each trip they deduced that the ice machine was still OK, since it wasn’t emitting smoke or anything.
