The Bock Family: November 2008

For months, Joel and I tried to find someone with a membership to Club 33 at Disneyland to get a dinner reservation for Mom and Dad's 30th anniversary. We were not successful, but when we told them what we were trying to do for them, they mentioned a colleague in Mariposa who they suspected might be able to get us a reservation, and they were right! He had a friend with a membership, and we got a reservation for dinner Nov. 6th. Well, we've been amped up for this trip for months now, and Wednesday we all piled into the Avalanche for our big Disneyland trip. On the way to Anaheim, we stopped in Valencia for dinner at Outback Steakhouse. Mom and I had soup and salad, Dad had a steak, and Joel had a chicken salad. Poor Joel brought the Bock Disneyland curse, and came down with food poisoning in the middle of the night. He (and we) did not sleep much that night, and Joel was still unable to keep fluids down in the morning.

Sadly, we left for Disneyland without him, with the hope that he'd be feeling better by evening and he could join us for dinner, if only to drink 7Up while the rest of us dined. I guess it was not meant to be, he was still too weak and incapable of leaving the bathroom that evening, and Mom, Dad, Julia and I experienced the fine-dining of Club 33 without our most excited member.

The food and service were fabulous - we suspected the rumors that Walt Disney had installed listening devices in order to provide better table service were true because several times we mentioned needing something and the waiter miraculously appeared to meet our needs. We ordered the 5 course meal, complete with wine pairings (oh so worth it!), and Julia had a 3 course meal (her favorite of which was the decadent chocolate mousse Mickey). It was a lovely experience, and I only hope that we might be fortunate enough to go back sometime in the future so Joel can share in the magical ambience.

Here are some of the highlight photos: