When we got back to the hotel, we sat down in the bar area. They have some rather comfortable sofas there. I had some sparkling mineral water and Graham had some white beer. I tried some and it was rather nice and refreshing. We just relaxed for a while before heading back to our room. We both checked in online and I read for a while before we headed out for my birthday dinner.
The plan was that I would get a little Disney on my birthday after all. There is a buffet restaurant at the Disneyland Hotel offering character meals called Inventions. This has a great reputation, but also prices to go with it. We had a reservation there on a previous trip and ended up cancelling this when we saw the prices. Graham suggested that we could go there for my birthday meal. He pointed out that he saved quite a bit of money by not having to buy a park ticket and the discount I got with my annual pass also made this a little more palpable.
So shortly before 17:00 we set off. The restaurant was due to open at 18:00 and we figured being there nice and early would maximize our changes of being able to get a table. A train pulled in shortly after we got to the platform. This was slow going though. The train was held for a short while at almost every station meaning that the journey took twice as long as it normally would. When we got to the bag check at Disney Village, the line was impressive. It was nice to see that people were out and about. The line did not move very quickly and once we got nearer to the front, it became obvious why. They had started to scan people with metal detector wands. Soon we were through and headed towards the Disneyland Hotel. On the way we were intercepted by a group of cast members. We were asked if we were heading to the hotel, which we confirmed. We were then asked for our hotel card. I explained that we were staying offsite, but were hoping to have a meal at the hotel. I was then asked if this was at Inventions, which I confirmed. I was then asked for our reservation number, which of course I did not have either. I started to think that this was the end of this, but explained that we were trying for a walk up. To my surprise the cast member I had been speaking to wished us luck and waved us through.
When we stepped into the hotel, I was absolutely blown away by the decorations. There was a huge tree and a gingerbread house. We then made up our way towards the restaurant where there were more beautiful decorations. We headed straight to the podium to check if there were still any reservations available. We were offered either 18:00 or 20:30. 18:00 suited us perfectly. Our name was put on the list and we were handed a pager. We went to find a seat in the area in front of the restaurant. At one point I went to get some photos of the Christmas decorations on that floor.
Shortly after I got back, I noticed that Cinderella and Prince Charming had come out and were meeting with people by the fireplace. I was quite excited. I have seen Cinderella many times and have also been lucky enough to meet most princes over the years. However, Prince Charming has always eluded me. I definitely jumped on this opportunity especially as there were only a handful of people in line.
Pretty much as soon as I had said goodbye to the royal couple, our pager went off. We were taken to our table. Our table was by a window overlooking Main Street, which was lit up even though the park was closed. We were also right across from the dessert buffet. I was pretty happy with this location. On our way to our table, we were given a quick guided tour of the buffet. This looked rather nice. Once we were seated, our server came to take our drinks order. I went with sparkling water and Graham had some iced tea. Before we could even go to the buffet, Donald came to see us.
Once he had moved on, we headed to the buffet. Graham concentrated mainly on the seafood. I had some olives, some marinated buffalo mozzarella, cream cheese stuffed peppers, cream cheese stuffed ham and ham and cheese bread. Everything was delicious. While Graham was still working his way through his seafood, I went for some main course. I had some baked ham, potato cakes, meatballs, chicken nuggets, mashed potato and potato gratin. Again, everything was delicious.
When I got back from the buffet, Rabbit came to see us. He was quickly followed by Pinocchio and Gepetto. Pluto passed us by while Gepetto was with us. Somewhere in the middle of this, Graham managed to get some more food. He had some fish, some of the baked ham, some beef medallion, mashed potato and assorted vegetables. Once the characters had moved on, I went back for some more food. I had some beef medallion, beef stew with olives and beans and some risotto. Captain Hook came by and Eeyore turned up at the same time and moved right past us.
We went for some dessert. Like so often with Disney, this is were things unraveled. Everything looked great, but the taste did not match the looks. Graham had some rice pudding that apparently tasted like it came out of a tin. I had a waffle, a chocolate tart, some lemon jelly and some foam strawberries. The strawberries were actually the best of the bunch.
Once we had finished, we had quite a long wait until we got the bill. This actually worked out nicely as while we were waiting, first Tigger came by and then Pluto and Eeyore came to see us on their second walk around the restaurant.
Eventually we did manage to pay. On the way out, we had another look at the decorations. Earlier on, they had set up a train set and this was now working. We then headed over to the station. Again, we did not have to wait long for the train. When we got back to the hotel, I packed and then caught up online. I checked out the train times for the next morning and set the alarm. We had another fairly early night. Even though my birthday had turned out very different from what I had imagined, I had a very enjoyable day.
