DaveInTN's Christmas 2012 Extravaganza (AKA 700 Photos Of Anna and Food)

[dblr....Rennie 224]

Great trip so far, but no Anna pictures till page 3, your slipping. Looks like you had a great time!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[beccaewert 10]

love reading your trip report!!!

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

I'm in ... finally!

[YENSIDCAMPER 66]

Page 3 man a lot happens in a day. Can't wait to read about it.

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Love the pictures! You really are surrounded by women!!!

It was possible to ride Soarin standby? I've never heard of such a thing?

Can you explain the Snow White story?

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Great trip so far, but no Anna pictures till page 3, your slipping. Looks like you had a great time!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Au contraire!

He has learned how to keep people coming back by promising Anna pictures and delaying giving them!

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Awesome Epcot Pictures!!!! Ooooh, I could just squeeze Anna's little cheeks :)

They are pretty squeezable!

Can I just say - wow how much the girls have changed since your last fort tr

They grow too fast, don't they?

An kiss them

And that too.

Excellent, Dave!

Of course, the photos of all your lovely ladies are great.

But that golf ball/Japanese thingy photo is really something!

Nice job on that photo!

TCD

Thanks. I am thinking of entering it in a contest. I'm pretty sure it has never been photographed before. That alone has to be worth something.

This picture made me tear up. The thought of the life this sweet child would have had if not for you and your family is just heart-breaking.

I know...don't get me started. I get to thinking about all the children in that condition and I want to adopt them all.

What else does a farmer do for fun alone inthe countryside? Of course he turns to illegal drugs!

Of course...why didn't I think of that? He is stashing the cocaine up the monkey's butt!

That is one good looking family you have there! Thanks Marty!

I'm not doing the work I should be because these trip reports are just sooooooo darn distracting, but

now that I am committed to actually participating in this Fiend-ishness with my husband I am officially admitting online that I am reading your trip report(and at the same time admitting I am loafing on the job).

I am quite enjoying the fellow large family point of view.

And looking forward to the next installment!

I have been blamed for many things before. Loafing is a new one.

I think it looks like the farmer has a headless turtle on his back. Or maybe a sack of manure.

Great pictures. That little Anna really is a cutie :)

Manure....or a monkey hiding cocaine up its butt. Tough call.

I love your Epcot day and pictures of the Girls all of them are the sweetest girls, always seen happy and glad to see everyone.

But you forgot one important part of your day Lorna's greeting in her PJ's at the bus stop - I guess my PJ's just don't impress everyone.

We were on site 555 and I spoted all of them waiting for the bus, so I ran over and not only got Anna Hugs and Kisses, but got them from all the girls and Dave, made my day.

That was a highlight of our day too....only problem is I couldn't recall which day that happened on. I have several Fiend encounters that I want to tell about, but don't remember when they happened. I swear I can't keep details like that straight anymore. For those of you we visited with...I may need help remembering the timing!

Guess I'm getting old.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Caught up!

I love the named pics.

GAG on arrival day. Good man.

Two boat rides! Did you sing "I'm on a boat"??

Gotta get the GAG on arrival day...even though it disappoints me lately. Primarily because of the fries.

Great trip so far, but no Anna pictures till page 3, your slipping. Looks like you had a great time!!!!!!!!!!!!!

See Marty's comment below.....

love reading your trip report!!!

Thank you!

I'm in ... finally!

What took so long?

Page 3 man a lot happens in a day. Can't wait to read about it.

Glad to have you along Eric. More coming up.

Love the pictures! You really are surrounded by women!!!

It was possible to ride Soarin standby? I've never heard of such a thing?

Can you explain the Snow White story?

We found in some instances on this trip that the posted standby times were not at all accurate. I think Disney is fudging them.

The Snow White story goes back a ways....to another "place". It's a long story, but essentially we have a checkered past. She thinks I stalk her. I think she's an elusive biotch. We recently patched things up, but there was definitely awkwardness on this trip. (And yes, it's all tongue in cheek)

Au contraire!

He has learned how to keep people coming back by promising Anna pictures and delaying giving them!

Correct!

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

That was a highlight of our day too....only problem is I couldn't recall which day that happened on. I have several Fiend encounters that I want to tell about, but don't remember when they happened. I swear I can't keep details like that straight anymore. For those of you we visited with...I may need help remembering the timing!

Guess I'm getting old.

I think thats why I take so many pictures, if it weren't for them, there is no way I could keep a 2-week trip straight!

[FtWildernessFamily...Holly 25]

Suspense.Is.Killing.Me.

I cannot WAIT to hear what you thought about the Candlelight Processional. I remember your comments about it during my (still unfinished) TR from last Christmas.

MORE PLEASE!!

[Big Kahuna aka John 71]

I'm in and can't wait.... 2 weeks worth.... wow... Oh ... and you are a very blessed man with such a great family....

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

What took so long?

I've been indisposed.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I think thats why I take so many pictures, if it weren't for them, there is no way I could keep a 2-week trip straight!

I understand that! I should have taken a picture of Lorna in her pajamas. It would have served multiple purposes.

Suspense.Is.Killing.Me.

I cannot WAIT to hear what you thought about the Candlelight Processional. I remember your comments about it during my (still unfinished) TR from last Christmas.

MORE PLEASE!!

More coming up....at some point.

I'm in and can't wait.... 2 weeks worth.... wow... Oh ... and you are a very blessed man with such a great family....

Thank you! I think so....and you wouldn't believe how many people tell me they feel sorry for me having 5 girls. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I've been indisposed.

I understand that now that I've seen your thread. I'm glad you are back home.

[LONE-STAR 370]

I know it's already been said. But Dave your girls are really growing up. Kids grow to fast.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I know it's already been said. But Dave your girls are really growing up. Kids grow to fast.

Yes they do. Keep enjoying that little girl of yours.

[Lou... 3,118]

I was robbed, jilted, rejected, spurned, and ignored. I didn't get to see the DaveInTN family at all.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I was robbed, jilted, rejected, spurned, and ignored. I didn't get to see the DaveInTN family at all.

But you saw me. Isn't that really the highlight of your year? :rofl2:

[Lou... 3,118]

But you saw me. Isn't that really the highlight of your year?

Big whoop.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Big whoop.

That's what INC said about missing you.

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

That's what INC said about missing you.

Are you sure about that? I don't believe it one bit Tea Cup Boy.

[campingdawgs 4]

I'm enjoying your report. You have a great looking family! Anna is adorable! Were y'all still there after New Years Day? I think I may have seen one of your daughters ( the older one with darker hair, is it Emma?). I know I stared at her thinking I knew her from somewhere. It didn't strike me until later who she could be.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Are you sure about that? I don't believe it one bit Tea Cup Boy.

Ok, fine. You're right. One of the many disappointments of the trip was missing out on visits with many of our Fiends. You plan a two week trip and think it's plenty of time to do parks AND visit with everyone. But it's not. Whenever we get back to the Fort, it will be another non-park trip (we've done several in the past). I always seem to enjoy those more. Plenty of time for Fortin' and visiting.

I'm enjoying your report. You have a great looking family! Anna is adorable! Were y'all still there after New Years Day? I think I may have seen one of your daughters ( the older one with darker hair, is it Emma?). I know I stared at her thinking I knew her from somewhere. It didn't strike me until later who she could be.

Yes, we checked out on 1/4. If the girl you saw was sitting on the Meadows porch buried in a Nexus 7 tablet, then yes, that would be Emma. We didn't allow much internet time on this trip, but most days she would head over there for a bit while Anna was napping.

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Tell me about it. Our trip was two weeks and though we did get a bit of fiend time we seeme to miss out in fort time.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

The Reason For The Season

About the time the ladies finished up on Soarin', it was time to head back to WS for our dinner reservation at Via Napoli. The way the Candlelight Processional dinner packages work, is you book an ADR at the restaurant of your choice within a certain timeframe, predicated by the CP show time you choose. We wanted to do the 6:45 show, which meant a mid-afternoon dinner. Our reservation was at 3:30.

When you think about it, the dinner packages are brilliant on Disney's part. Not only do they make good money as the meals are all inclusive, but they fill up the mid-afternoon dining slots that traditionally may go unfilled, in particular at some of the Epcot restaurants that are tougher to sell. Smart marketers, they are.

We arrived at Via Napoli around 3:20 and there was a long line outside. I got in line, and almost immediately a CM approached asking if I had a reservation. I told her we had booked the dinner package, and I was directed inside to a separate check in counter for CP guests. After checking in, we were called to our table within 5 minutes.

The inside of Via Napoli is very pretty. I really like these light fixtures.

Those tables were all filled within 15 minutes.

In the background of that last picture, you can see the 3 pizza ovens along the back wall. They are wood burning ovens named after the 3 active volcanoes in Italy: Mount Etna, Mount Vesuvius and Stromboli.

On our only previous visit here we had the pizza. It is outstanding, I'll tell you! But with the dinner package, you pay one price and order an appetizer, entree, dessert and non-alcoholic beverage off the menu. So I wasn't inclined to get pizza...I was looking for maximum value and to try something new.

This is the salad that came as an appetizer with one of the kids meals. Needless to say, it wasn't eaten by a kid...but the rest of us enjoyed nibbling at it.

Stella got the fruit appetizer.

INC and I shared the appetizer sampler for two....fried calamari, eggplant, mushrooms, zucchini, and arancini (rice balls).

I have to say, this appetizer was pretty disappointing. Everything was quite greasy. I knew it would be a lot of fried food, but thought it would be just crisp fried. This was really heavy and oil laden, and we left a lot of it on the plate.

Gwen's appetizer was the shrimp and bean salad. This was very tasty!

Izzy got the melon and proscuito.

Emma got the arrancini appetizer. These things are pretty tasty.

Overall, we would rate our appetizers as "so so".

Did the entrees hit the mark?

Stella and Anna both got kids alfredo.

This was my dish. I think it was called Candele, and those are veal meatballs. They were outstanding.

That's all the entree pics I have. I remember a couple of the girls got personal pizzas, which rocked! And INC got the lasagna, which was white with spinach. That was also very good. Overall, the entrees were much better than the appetizers.

Even though at this point you could have rolled us out of there, dessert was included so we tried some.

Stella and Anna had the kids gelato.

A couple of the girls had the soda...which was vanilla gelato with an Italian fizzy orange soda. This was ok, but they were expecting a sweeter soda and the Italian soda was a bit bitter and not at all sweet. But the gelato was good.

Gwen and I ordered this....which was the dish of the night IMO.

It was called Coppa di Brutti Ma Buoni, which means Ugly But Good. It was vanilla gelato with amarena cherries. I could have licked the dish.

What struck me about my sundae was, if you were ordering it off the menu, you would pay $14. It was good, but ain't no sundae worth $14 in my mind unless it feeds several like the kitchen sink. But if you ever dine there on a package it's a must do.

INC had the tiramisu, which was also outstanding.

So that was our Via Napoli meal. Each successive course improved on the last. Which is a good thing, because I was not impressed with those appetizers. But I was overall quite happy with our meal. Will I eat there again? Probably not other than for the pizza. I will DEFINITELY dine there again for the pizza.

At this point, we didn't have much time to kill before we needed to be in line for CP seating. Even with the dining package you need to get in line if you want decent seats. The benefit is that you are guaranteed a seat, and they are primarily in the center area. Most nights you can get a good seat in standby, and if I did this more than just rarely that's what I'd do. But as I said earlier, being 12/23 and Gary Sinese, I wanted a good seat. And good seats we got!

Here was the scene outside the ampitheater before being seated.

That's a lot of people!

The tree across the lake. I call this shot "Tree Across The Lake".

Turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so. (this is foreshadowing for later that evening...)

We made our way into the theater and got great seats.

Before too long, the orchestra came out and began playing, and the Candlelight Processionial began. The choir proceeds by candlelight into the theater while singing....just beautiful.

The main reason I was excited about seeing this show again, in particular 2 days before Christmas, is to ensure that we stayed focused on the reason we were all celebrating. I was afraid that taking my kids to Disney World for Christmas would put the focus on rides, camping, food, and other silly things. Disney World can easily represent the worst attributes of rampant consumerism. But Disney also, I think, does a good job in this day and age maintaining a visible focus on real Christmas symbolism. They have not fallen on the secular bandwagon and rethemed the CP as the Disney Winter Festival. It is about Christ, His coming and what it represents for mankind. I loved it.

The announcer introduced Gary Sinese, and it was exciting to see him walk out on stage. He appeared very humble in my opinion, as if he knew this wasn't about him. I don't imagine all celebrities would look at it that way. His reading of the Christmas story was incredibly moving. I can tell you that the readings, the music and the pageantry of the choir brought this dope to tears several times.

And Anna LOVED it! Every time the horns played, she'd put her hand up to her mouth like a trumpet and play along. She danced back and forth. It was awesome.

The show is about an hour long, but it feels like 20 minutes. It was over too soon. But it was great, and I recommend it to anyone that has never seen it. If you are traveling to WDW at Christmas time don't miss it.

Coming up....we ride Test Track, and All Aboard the Damn Judi Dench History Extravaganza!

[mommy rainbo.....Bo 41]

I listened and watched the CP in 2006 from outside on the wall. It was beautiful and moving. I want to see it again. Great choice in Gary Sinese.