Hello Destinee!
My son and I love
California Grill at
Disney's Contemporary Resort! We have eaten there many times and had a fantastic meal every time. It is awesome that you secured a 5:40 pm Advanced Dining Reservation for California Grill!
I have some fantastic news for you! If you are dining at the California Grill for dinner and complete your meal before the Magic Kingdom Park fireworks are scheduled to begin (in your case for the 10:15 pm viewing of the fireworks for the Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party on October 2nd, 2022), you can go back up to watch the fireworks on the balcony viewing areas with your dinner receipt for that evening. Just show your dinner receipt to the cast member running the special California Grill elevator (located by the check-in area for California Grill on the second floor), and they will let you ride up to watch the fireworks from the observation deck on the roof of Disney's Contemporary Resort according to my experience.
Dinner at California Grill can take 1 1/2 to 2 hours or longer, so you could feasibly finish dinner around 7:00 to 7:45 pm. So here are some ideas to help you pass the time while you are waiting for the fireworks to begin:
1. Take a Monorail ride on the Resort Loop just for the fun of it and stop at each Monorail Resort to look at their lobbies
2. Explore the great shops on the fourth floor of Disney's Contemporary Resort
3. Take a walk to Disney's Contemporary Resort Marina and have a look around
I hope that your California Grill dinner is truly magical!
Marc L.