"I drove these girls to every hotel. We talked to every valet, figured out who possibly was not telling us the truth," said an Edina mom. "We were like stalkers -- the nice stalkers."

In the end, "four darling girls [found] Justin Bieber," Heidi Barcelow told me Wednesday.

"The girls were just bound and determined to see him. We figured out where he was going to stay on Monday night and the girls waited outside [the Grand Hotel] for three hours. Sean Kingston [Bieber's warmup act] came by as well. The girls met him. Finally Justin [arrived] at 11:50 at night. Justin got out of this minivan. He was trying to go incognito; pulled up his cute hoodie and had his red Converse on.

"They were the only four girls at the hotel," Barcelow said of her daughter Grace and friends Maggie Byrne and Regan Wagner, all 14 and students at South View Middle School, and Katie Gaches, who was visiting from Kansas.

When told that it sounded like fun, Heidi said "TOTALLY!" with such enthusiasm that the next logical question was: Who had more fun, the mom or these girls? "Oh, I don't know," said Heidi. "I was kind of getting into it, but for sure the daughters."

Bieber bowls

"He was very polite," an insider at Brunswick XL Zone Bowling in Lakeville said of the teen-star guest.

Bieber, who had a sold-out concert Tuesday at Target Center, hit the lanes with an entourage estimated at 10 on Monday. He spent about 2 1/2 hours at the bowling alley during the quiet down time between regular bowling and the beginning of league bowling.

"The manager who was on duty asked employees not to text everybody," said my insider.

The Bieber party had the usual food, soda and bowling and, "they actually paid for most of their bill."

Carlos at Manny's

Carlos Santana, who performed Wednesday at St. Paul's X, ate dinner at Manny's Steakhouse Tuesday night.

That sinking feeling

Three Disney World executives have no idea how close they came to getting drenched in Lake Minnetonka.

Restaurant creator Steve Schussler had Disney execs here last week to check out two more dining concepts by the Twin Cities creator of Rainforest Cafe, T-Rex and many others. The new concepts are "Musical Garden: A Living Work of Art, Food and Music" and an unnamed project featuring classic wood boats and ice cream floats.

Two days before the execs arrived, one of Schussler's German-built 1960-era Amphicars was taken on a test drive on Lake Minnetonka by Dave Flom, mechanical genius-in-residence at Schussler Creative. Flom's wife, Bonnie, came along for the ride.

About 500 feet from Lord Fletcher's, Bonnie informed Dave there was water in the back seat. Back to shore they motored, but the motor starting missing and taking on more water. By the time they were in about 2 feet of water, the Amphicar conked out for good, sank and rested on its tires.

Bonnie covered her head and arms with a jacket as she waited the 2 1/2 hours until they got towed. And during the wait, she also managed to hold her water.

Flom worked around the clock to get the amphibious auto repaired in time to take the Disney execs, David Stofcik, Phil Bernard and Keith Bradford, on the watery dog-and-pony-show ride.

"No," Dave said, he didn't tell them of the earlier mechanical problems, "but I think they knew because everybody was laughing."

Next concept in dining

Steve Schussler's party to showcase his "Musical Garden" concept for Disney was less eventful.

"Everybody loves a garden," said Schussler, who's been working on this concept for 15 years.

Especially when the garden feels air-conditioned.

Like all his dining concepts since 1991, when he got out of the nightclub business, kids figure prominently.

"It's about sustainable food from farms within a 100-mile radius. It's lighter fare, approachable, lots of salads and fish," said Schussler, who wants the restaurant to be like Easter or the Kentucky Derby, with women in hats pushing baby strollers in a green, park-like space accented with bridges, waterfalls, butterflies and "bronze sculptures of children in motion, because children rule. You can smell the grass and the flowers in an open area with children, usually under the ages of 18, playing music every 25 feet." (See video of the concept at startribune.com/video.)

Famous for bringing the out-of-doors in, Schussler said the 10,000-square-foot concept for Musical Garden "could be in a bubble, like a conservatory. It needs to be temperature-controlled, because people still want air-conditioning. "

We certainly would have liked some conditioned air when Schussler transformed his back yard into the concept for the executives, because there were unwelcomed drop-ins.

"Steven can do anything but keep the mosquitoes away," said Kim Meshbesher.

"They're not bothering me," said her husband, Ron Meshbesher, "because I'm a lawyer."

C.J. is at 612.332.TIPS or cj@startribune.com. E-mailers, please state a subject -- "Hello" doesn't count. Attachments are not opened, so don't even try.