Top 13 of 2013, Day #3: Champagne Birthday

Day #3: March 3, 2013

Do you know about "Champagne Birthdays"? Some people call them "Grand" or "Golden", but for me...it's all about the bubbly. Your Champagne Birthday falls on the day you turn the same age as your birthday - my birthday is the 3rd, for example, so my Champagne Birthday happened when I turned three. Long before I could actually celebrate with champagne, of course.

Seems to me that most people probably can't recall more than half their birthdays before they turned 10. Since my memories of that era of my life are written by faded photos in lost albums and stories flavored by the interests of the people telling them (for instance, my mother allowing me to be nearly kidnapped after my sister threw hot cocoa at me at a McDonald's in New Jersey...but that's another blog entirely), I feel like I got gypped by my original Champagne Birthday three decades ago.

Those of us with single digit Champagne Birthdays deserve better, so I propose that the day you turn your FULL birthday, you get a chance to celebrate something extra. A Champagne Clause, if you will. January 5th, for example, means you get to re-celebrate your Champagne Birthday when you turn 15. Still can't toast with actual champagne of course, but at least this time you'll remember it.

This year was my Champagne Birthday - I turned 33 on 3/3. Ironically, I celebrated the day the same way lots of actual 3-year-olds probably did: At Disney World with my mom.

I did, however, get to do something those birthday girls didn't: I enjoyed my first ever toast of champagne inside the Magic Kingdom!

Traditionally, there's never been alcohol served in the park. Not until Beast welcomed us into his Castle nestled in the mountains of New Fantasyland has a guest been offered a wine list, and that seemed like a perfect reason to celebrate there.

Mickey balloons become part of the finale

It was a short trip, but it was a perfect party. Watching Wishes - my absolute favorite thing in all of Disney World - a bundle of at least 20 Mickey balloons was released into the sky. I mean, they weren't for me (or WERE they?!?), but the deliberate timing convinced me those balloons were something special to someone (and I hope the special meaning wasn't "unemployed" to a careless Cast Member). I got a surprise serenade from Mickey and Minnie, and it was absolutely freezing the entire weekend. There were even reports of flurries in Orlando the morning of my birthday.

Be Our Guest

But dinner? Dinner was special. As you already know, I'm a frequent Disney visitor, and, while we can always find something different to do, entirely brand NEW experiences are a different kind of exciting. Taking our seats in the ballroom the night of my birthday was one of those experiences.

I won't ruin it if you haven't been there, and I won't bore you if you don't "get it", but Be Our Guest dining is an amazing experience. From the snow on the balcony "outside" to the chandeliers on the ceiling, Imagineers could not have done more to make you feel as though you've snuck into the Beast's ballroom. Did my eyes sweat the first time I walked in (and...every time since)? Yes. Don't act like you're surprised.

 

 

I had my champagne, and I enjoyed my steak, and then? I got to try the grey stuff. This was before they added it to the menu, when the grey stuff was reserved for celebrations, and I had no idea what to expect.

Fun fact: It IS delicious.

It made me happy. All of it. My mom and I don't typically travel without one or both of my sisters, so the fact that she was sharing it with me was a brand new experience, and it came at a time when I needed to be away from everything more than anything else.

So a toast, to my Champagne Birthday, and to my mom for sharing it with me.