Lost Dutchman - Part 3, Fairmont Princess Hotel

Wednesday, December 18, Fairmont Princess Hotel

Turned out that leaving 15 minutes earlier than yesterday ... 4pm instead of 4:15 pm traffic moved great all the way to our exit at the 101 loop. Took 15 minutes from there to the Fairmont Princess but we arrived with 15 minutes to spare for our dinner reservation.

What a gorgeous hotel and property. Good thing we put our "going to town" clothes on. However there were also people in jeans and sweatshirts in the restaurant too. We were seated at the bar as we waited for the restaurant to open at 5:30.  Here is one of the hundreds of trees decorated in the lobby by the restaurant. Santa' s picture is even on the wall.

Ray and I had one of the best dinners ever. Expensive but we deemed it our "Christmas Dinner". The deal there to see their property and venues for Christmas was $55 to self park and up to 6 wristbands (6 people) or $75 for valet parking and up to 6 wristbands. If you eat at any of their restaurants on the property and your bill is over $75 you get your wristbands for free ... it was not hard to spend more than $75 at their restaurant. lol

What wine do you want with your dinner... there's two more rows?

They start you off instead of bread with a trio of specialty french fries, fried in duck fat, with 3 different dipping sauces. Yumm. Next up was a little Amuse Bouche of beef carpaccio and goat cheese, compliments from the chef.

The "show stopper" was my meal of the Chef's Signature "Lobster Pot Pie". It came out looking like nothing I had ever seen. Wow. Both Ray and I were "gobsmacked". They cook a whole Maine Lobster, shell it and put it back in its shell with sauteed veggies and Brandy Cream Sauce and top it with a puff pastry and bake it all together.

Once at the table the server breaks the crust and serves the "pot meal" on top of the pastry and puts the lobster back together in parts for the presentation. Wow it was delicious.

Ray ordered a tenderloin steak poached in butter and then grilled with a side of green beans, pearl onions and slivered almonds. So tender and yummy. Needless to say Ray ended up with surf and turf as I could only eat a third of my meal it was so big.  He was rather stuffed as we didn't want to pack the leftovers all over the grounds.

After dinner we walked their light displays ... huge, took us almost 2 hours with Ray taking pictures. The plan was to go on their carousel and train but with lineups over an hour each we decided against it. No way Ray can stand in a line anywhere near that long! They had tons of outdoor fireplaces set up everywhere for people to make smores. Lots of kids and adults were partaking in this. Some of the activities for kids were Build a Bear Workshops, photos with Santa and seeing Princess Noel as well as the rides and tubes down an "ice hill". Extremely well-attended event. This is how they describe their event. "Enjoy more than 4.5 million dazzling lights as you stroll through the resort's majestic lagoons to see graceful swans floating on the water, a buccaneer pirate ship, a mermaid, Nessie the 30-foot Loch Ness monster and more." 

The main entrance courtyard to the lights.

Kids making their smores, the kit comes in a little metal lunch box.

They even have a ice skating rink for kids and parents.

One of the many pools on the property.

Then we walked along their lagoon display. This is also the route the train takes.

One of Ray's favourite Christmas characters ... The Grinch!

They had snow globes for people to go in and sit and stay warm.

You can just see a lady singing christmas carols.

Singing Christmas Trees, the kids we're mesmorized.

A great event to visit.