the best disney birthday

you know how much i love my birthday, and while last year was really freaking outstanding, i'd say this year was pretty damn awesome too.

i kicked it off with a birthday ride on the ol' peloton.

and a peek in my gmail inbox yielded this:

i also had a bunch of lovely birthday greetings via social media and text, and it's always nice to hear from friends and family - some who i chat with regularly and some i haven't seen in years.

i'm sure you'll be shocked to see where our family outing was for the day.

we met up with the old lady and the old man, and then we made a beeline for new orleans square.  the hub had used one of his connections to get us through this magical door:

of course, we had to take some fun photos in the courtyard before heading up the stairs.

i don't know why i look like such a creeper in this one.

because i am a basic ass bitch, i had to take this.

we stepped inside and glanced up to find the old audio-animatronic bird that had also been in the original club 33.

we were escorted through the club and into the dining room, where we were seated at a lovely table near the balcony.

after my backpack slipped off of the back of my chair, the server brought over a little seat of its very own.

it's club 33's 55th/emerald anniversary, so everything is green - plates, stir sticks, drinks.

of course, there were other signature cocktails available.

first course!  this is the smoked salmon with a potato pillow, served with creme fraiche and lemon. it was delicious.

prosciutto with summer melon, pine nuts and ricotta.

and this was the shrimp fritto miso, served with haricot vert, fennel and spicy aioli.

the catch of the day was salmon, and it was cooked perfectly.

the old lady finally got to try beef schnitzel, served with potato salad and corn.  she said it was really good.

this was a citrus roast chicken salad with arugula, strawberry and avocado.

and the tagliatelle with zucchini, mushrooms and artichokes.

once we were done with our entrees, the three of us went out onto the balcony to check things out.

when we got back to the table, our napkins had been folded nicely and placed on the table.

for dessert there was a warm chocolate cake with raspberry:

a vegan coconut coffee cheesecake with coffee caramel and cashew crunch, which was my pick:

this was a peach tart with chantilly cream:

and the cheese plate served with honeycomb and sourdough crostini.

while the hub settled the bill, he sent us back out to check out the merchandise situation.  for a lot of people, this is the best part of a visit to club 33.  the sucky part was that a lot of the things we were interested in were either sold out, or only available in sizes that were way too big.

on our way out, i turned around for one last look at the court of angels - a favorite spot for many disneyland fans until it was closed off and turned into the exclusive entrance to the new version of the club.

oh, and i did indeed walk out with a couple of fun items from the merchandise display case.

the bean had a ton of homework to get through before school the next day, so the hub took them home while the rest of us stayed behind to walk leisurely through the park and maybe do a ride or two.  but it had gotten really crowded while we were upstairs enjoying our fine dining experience, so we took a few pictures and then got outta there.

look at the fun stuff waiting for me when we got home!  

birthday dinner came courtesy of the hub working his own special magic at the bbq, and then they lit all of those candles and sang me the birthday song.

it was a really lovely day, and the perfect way to kick off #51.