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

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Trying to get a snack and make 5 girls happy is impossible.

I could be insulted by that remark but I know it to be true....

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I could be insulted by that remark but I know it to be true....

I could have just as easily said 5 boys, or 5 people....but my experience is with 5 girls.

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Just wait til it's the two of you in the parks! Now THAT'S relaxing!

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

I could have just as easily said 5 boys, or 5 people....but my experience is with 5 girls.

I am not so far removed from my own growing up that I don't remember those hellish slumber parties were the birthday girl is always miserable because some one doesn't want to do what everyone else wants to do.

One of the girls at my last Slumber party actually almost got me grounded for trying to explain to Dad why they expected me to persuade him to allow us to watch a horror movie.....My dad was not drinking his lovey dovey alcohol that night.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Just wait til it's the two of you in the parks! Now THAT'S relaxing!

I think with us it will always be 3. But that will be relaxing nonetheless.

I am not so far removed from my own growing up that I don't remember those hellish slumber parties were the birthday girl is always miserable because some one doesn't want to do what everyone else wants to do.

One of the girls at my last Slumber party actually almost got me grounded for trying to explain to Dad why they expected me to persuade him to allow us to watch a horror movie.....My dad was not drinking his lovey dovey alcohol that night.

I remember nothing from my youth. Guess I've killed too many brain cells. May as well kill a few more tonight.

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

I think with us it will always be 3. But that will be relaxing nonetheless.

I remember nothing from my youth. Guess I've killed too many brain cells. May as well kill a few more tonight.

I may join you in the killing of unnecessarily used cells

[rdancemom... Pam 113]

I'd take the Poly's pork nachos over white chocolate monkey poop bars any day...

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

I think with us it will always be 3. But that will be relaxing nonetheless.

I remember nothing from my youth. Guess I've killed too many brain cells. May as well kill a few more tonight.

Don't forget Anna has LOTS of Aunts and Uncles. I think we could arrange an evening or afternoon for 2 :)

[DaveInTN 3,247]

The Moose Is On The Loose

Well, this trip report has gotten off track just a bit. But luckily in my absence from posting an update the last few days, y'all have kept things moving along with discussions of sponge candy, Boneyards and white chocolate monkey butt bars. However, at this time I think we should get things moving again.

After our little side trip up to the Villages to visit with the DIT parents, and our relaxing respite on the porch sipping fruity drinks, our evening plan was to hit the MK in hopes of seeing Holiday Wishes before they switched back over to regular Wishes. So after a crockpot dinner at the campsite, we hit the boats and in short order were walking through the gates.

Instead of walking down Main Street, we made our way through the shops along the right side of the street. I always enjoy watching the glassmaker. (I guess he's a maker...I'm not sure if he blows).

When we reached the end of Main Street by the Plaza Restaurant, we split up, with the 4 older girls going off to hit some rides, while INC, Anna and I headed toward Frontierland.

Believe it or not, I had never, ever, ever seen the Country Bear Jamboree.

I know. Hard to believe.

So we got in line to wait. The line stretched from the theater doors practically all the way to Pecos Bills.

Ok, not really. I think there were 10 people in line. Maybe 12.

In just a minute, the doors opened and in we went. It was good to see my friend Melvin again.

We had a nice talk before the show started. I asked him how it felt to be free from his captivity at Pioneer Hall and back working in the MK.

He said that he had never stopped working in the Magic Kingdom, and that it was his twin brother Melvin who was in captivity since the demise of his Breakfast Show. Apparently the two brothers originally shared the duty of working the Country Bear Show, but in the early 80's one of the Melvin's was approached by a CM and offered a starring role in his own show in Pioneer Hall. He took it, and was never seen by Country Bear Melvin again.

If you've never seen the old breakfast show, here is a clip that TJ was kind enough to share with me recently.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cU2folQvh5k#!

Country Bear Melvin only heard from his brother on one occasion after he left the Jamboree, back in 1988 after the demise of the breakfast show. He received a cryptic message delivered by a guest who appeared to Melvin to be an albino monk. The message simply said "Behind the butt, in the tiled room....two moose brothers, one moose tune".

What the Fort??!?

Melvin said he gave up long ago trying to figure out what it meant, and wrote his brother off as just a lunatic. I told him thanks for the clue, then sat down the watch the show.

You know what? That show isn't half bad.

It's ALL bad.

Well, that may be harsh. I actually enjoyed it just a bit. Mostly watching Anna dance to the music. Fortunately it's not a long show. So before too long, we were filing out of the theater. I thanked Melvin again, and told him that if I ever see his brother again, or if I ever figure out the clue delivered by the crazy monk guy, I'd let him know. I think he knew I was blowing smoke, and would never see me again.

Afterward, we stopped at one of the shops in Frontierland to get some caramel corn, and then we made our way over to another Anna favorite...small world.

I've always thought the clock there was really cool. It was operating while we were in the queue.

Anna was getting pumped up for the music.

Getting into it now!

WARNING!! EVIL CLOWN ALERT!!

Saying goodbye to Anna....and apparently saying goodbye to these signs, to be replaced soon with next gen technology. Rumor has it, in the future, the creepy clown will read your bracelet and yell at you in your home language. Awesome.

As we were exiting the ride, the clock was going off again. Any guesses as to how long we were on the ride?

We next watched Philharmagic.

And then we make our way back into NF. Gaston was holding court in front of his Tavern tonight, and the line wasn't very long, so we got in it. When it was our turn, the CM coordinating things looked at Anna and said "are you ready to meet Gaston?". Well, we said "she's not meeting him....but my wife is!". I wanted to get some pictures of INC with Gaston, and hear what conceipted things he had to say. And he didn't disappoint! This guy was hilarious.

He took INC's hand like he was going to kiss it, but he kissed his own hand.

He said things like "I'm so happy for you to get to meet me".

This guy was really into the role, and was good at it. We saw a different Gaston another day that wasn't nearly as funny.

When I took this next picture, he said "be sure to get my good side. Oh wait, they're ALL good". :rofl3:

After having fun with Gaston, we went into the gift shop there to look around. Apparently, I decided to dress up like an idiot.

It was getting a bit cold at this point and we wanted to rest, so we walked back through Fantasyland to the Columbia Harbor House for a snack.

INC and I each had some clam chowder.

I know it's probably just some food service soup that comes in huge plastic bags, but it's pretty darn tasty!

Anna had some.....can you guess? Yep, french fries!

She decided it would be fun to play with the fry cup.

Silly girl.

After resting a bit in the nice warm restaurant, we texted the girls and met up with them again. We got them some dessert, and then all rode the Peoplemover.

It turned out that the lights in Space Mountain were on, so I snapped a few pictures. And nobody yelled at me!

Nothing too exciting there....it just looks like a bunch of scaffolding with the lights on.

At this point, we had wasted sufficient time and it was close to fireworks time.

We got a spot on the bridge between Tomorrowland and the hub with a good view of the castle. We first watched the Celebrate the Magic projection show. This was the first time we've seen one of the projection shows, and it was very cool. Especially enjoyed the Wreck it Ralph scene, and the girls liked the Tangled part.

Then, in just a few minutes after that was over, Holiday Wishes started.

As always, we enjoyed the fireworks. But I think we all agreed that we prefer regular Wishes. I think it's the combination of the music and the story as told by Jiminy Cricket that is so moving. But I'm glad we saw the Christmas version as well.

We exited the park afterward and went back to the Fort. It had been a long day....from visiting the Villages, to the porch, to the MK. We were tired and slept well. And that night, I kept dreaming about that cryptic message from Melvin. I decided I had to figure out what it meant. And I knew just who to ask to help me figure it out. That, along with "She Must Be Getting Verklempt", is coming up.....

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I may join you in the killing of unnecessarily used cells

I hope you did!

I'd take the Poly's pork nachos over white chocolate monkey poop bars any day...

I think I'm with you.

Don't forget Anna has LOTS of Aunts and Uncles. I think we could arrange an evening or afternoon for 2 :)

We'll take you up on that!! ^-^

[PureTcrazy...rita 380]

LOL! I'm eager to hear more about Melvin's message. it's a good think you got to meet his other brother Melvin at Country Bears. I know the CBJ is kind of hokey, but it's one of those shows that I have always enjoyed. I know I'm weird.

Y'all were really on the go. I'm tired for y'all!

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

I did indeed. Love INC with Gaston! Although it would have been interesting to see him interact with Anna.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

LOL! I'm eager to hear more about Melvin's message. it's a good think you got to meet his other brother Melvin at Country Bears. I know the CBJ is kind of hokey, but it's one of those shows that I have always enjoyed. I know I'm weird.

Y'all were really on the go. I'm tired for y'all!

I'm tired just from typing it! I gotta go get another cup of coffee....

I did indeed. Love INC with Gaston! Although it would have been interesting to see him interact with Anna.

Tried to get a pic, but Anna was not impressed with Gaston.

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Then I will say Anna is one smart girl

[Live4FW 30]

Now, to be honest I thought I had put together a crockpot dinner for that night. But this next picture in order tells me that this was the night we decided to go to DTD to do some shopping and hit Earl of Sandwich for dinner.

We drove over to DTD, but at each intersection where you would enter the parking lot, the signs up on the light signals indicated "LOT FULL".

Whodathunk DTD would be busy 3 days after Christmas?

Yeah, I'm usually a better planner. But this wasn't working out so well. And, as I've said before, I don't like people. So while we may have been able to find a parking spot, the thought of fighting crowds in the shops and to get a table at Earl's was not how I wanted to spend my evening. So we aborted that plan and turned around..

Sorry we weren't able to meet up with you guys. If you had made it to DTD, we could have met with you. We were at a hotel so getting over to POR would have probably taken more time than you were there. We ended up just heading back to DTD and eating at Wolfgang Puck's express. Excellent dinner as usual. I guess we will just have to wait until SMGG.. See ya then. Kelly was not at all happy about skipping POR.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Sorry we weren't able to meet up with you guys. If you had made it to DTD, we could have met with you. We were at a hotel so getting over to POR would have probably taken more time than you were there. We ended up just heading back to DTD and eating at Wolfgang Puck's express. Excellent dinner as usual. I guess we will just have to wait until SMGG.. See ya then. Kelly was not at all happy about skipping POR.

Unfortunately this was one of the things that fell through the cracks of my anti-technology kick on this trip. Gwen mentioned to me later that evening that she had been communicating with Kelly about getting together. But she didn't keep me in the loop in real time, and then it was too late. I wish we had seen you there, but at least SMGG is coming up before too long.

[Duane 150]

Dave, You have an awesome family and have really enjoyed spending time with you guys through this report...Been reading along the entire way.... have finally caught up and just now have found time to comment.

On the sponge candy thing, I was introduced to it in a weird kind of way... Being one of those NC rednecks, I had never even heard of the stuff... But when I was trying to sell my truck back in 2009 so we could get our current MoHome, I listed it on eBay. During the process, I got several questions about it from this guy. Well long story longer, he and I made the deal through eBay, and he turned out to be one of the owner's of Platter's Chocolates from Tonawanda NY.

Supposedly, his shop is famous for sponge candy as well as sea foam candy. This was his story, so you may or may not have even heard of the place.... When he flew in from Buffalo to pick up the truck, he brought me some sponge candy and seafoam. It was pretty good stuff.

I do alot of work at the HSBC Tower in downtown Buffalo, so the next time I'm up there, I'm gonna search out Fowler's and try their product.

On the subject of Port Orleans French Quarter's food court, in mine and my fam's opinion, it does suck monkey butt....

Our most favorite food court is at Riverside, which by the way is where we had the pleasure of meeting Andrew last year. In our humble opinion, the two places don't even hold a candle to each other....

Now, on to the Festival of the Lion King show at AK, you may or may not know, that you can relive that show in audio only from the comfort of your own home.... In fact, you can listed to other shows like Nemo's musical, or other tunes from other parades and shows from this site:

http://www.d-cot.com/jukebox

Now you do have to sign up for free, but it gives you access to all of these tunes at your convenience. Unlike some of the other Disney music sites, you can choose what you want to specifically want to listen to...

I like listening to the Illuminations show and Soarin' soundtracks....

Anyway, looking forward to readling along for the remainder of the journey!

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Dave, You have an awesome family and have really enjoyed spending time with you guys through this report...Been reading along the entire way.... have finally caught up and just now have found time to comment.

On the sponge candy thing, I was introduced to it in a weird kind of way... Being one of those NC rednecks, I had never even heard of the stuff... But when I was trying to sell my truck back in 2009 so we could get our current MoHome, I listed it on eBay. During the process, I got several questions about it from this guy. Well long story longer, he and I made the deal through eBay, and he turned out to be one of the owner's of Platter's Chocolates from Tonawanda NY.

Supposedly, his shop is famous for sponge candy as well as sea foam candy. This was his story, so you may or may not have even heard of the place.... When he flew in from Buffalo to pick up the truck, he brought me some sponge candy and seafoam. It was pretty good stuff.

I do alot of work at the HSBC Tower in downtown Buffalo, so the next time I'm up there, I'm gonna search out Fowler's and try their product.

On the subject of Port Orleans French Quarter's food court, in mine and my fam's opinion, it does suck monkey butt....

Our most favorite food court is at Riverside, which by the way is where we had the pleasure of meeting Andrew last year. In our humble opinion, the two places don't even hold a candle to each other....

Now, on to the Festival of the Lion King show at AK, you may or may not know, that you can relive that show in audio only from the comfort of your own home.... In fact, you can listed to other shows like Nemo's musical, or other tunes from other parades and shows from this site:

http://www.d-cot.com/jukebox

Now you do have to sign up for free, but it gives you access to all of these tunes at your convenience. Unlike some of the other Disney music sites, you can choose what you want to specifically want to listen to...

I like listening to the Illuminations show and Soarin' soundtracks....

Anyway, looking forward to readling along for the remainder of the journey!

Cool comments!

I actually used to work in the HSBC tower, on the 36th floor. That building REALLY gets swaying when a wind storm comes off Lake Erie. I used to work for a guy who was President of Marine Midland Bank (predecesor of HSBC) in the 70's, and he told me how, during the Blizzard of '77, the wind was so strong and the building was moving so much, that they called the architects out in San Fran to see how strong a wind the building was designed to withstand. Apparently it was pretty close to max! But they couldn't leave the building as people were dying out in the storm, so they rode it out. No thanks!

If you get some Fowler's sponge candy, I hope you like it!

Thanks for reading along!

[Duane 150]

That's wild about working that building.... Don't know if you've heard or not, but HSBC is getting ready to move out of that building after being there since I think in 1977...

In fact I am the team lead for HSBC's move management group... we are responsible for all of the moves and relocations for HSBC all over the US and Canada....

I'm convinced that when we start moving them out of that building, we are gonna find Jimmy Hoffa's remains somewhere in some secret room....

[DaveInTN 3,247]

That's wild about working that building.... Don't know if you've heard or not, but HSBC is getting ready to move out of that building after being there since I think in 1977...

In fact I am the team lead for HSBC's move management group... we are responsible for all of the moves and relocations for HSBC all over the US and Canada....

I'm convinced that when we start moving them out of that building, we are gonna find Jimmy Hoffa's remains somewhere in some secret room....

I wouldn't be surprised if old Jimmy is in there somewhere! I have a good friend in IT there and had heard about the move. That building will be a ghost town!

I remember when they first renamed all the branches up there from Marine Midland to HSBC....we took to referring to it as "Hongkong Shanghai, Number One Super Bank". (if you don't remember the old Hongkong Phooey cartoons that would make no sense.

The other joke when they put the name on the arena, and you've likely heard this one, is that HSBC stood for "Holy Shit, Buffalo's Cold". :rofl3:

[Lou... 3,118]

Apparently, I decided to dress up like an idiot.

You nailed it Dave.

[Southern Blessings 4]

Enjoying your TR!

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

Getting caught up after slacking on the TRs last week.

Such great updates, too much to comment on, so I'll just say...

STELLAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

[DaveInTN 3,247]

You nailed it Dave.

I knew I could bait you into commenting with that.

Enjoying your TR!

Thanks for reading!

Getting caught up after slacking on the TRs last week.

Such great updates, too much to comment on, so I'll just say...

STELLAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

[CKCK 45]

We may disagree on waffle sandwiches, but we are kindred spirits on Country Bear Jamboree.

I think it's ridiculous.

The last time we rode it was before they "refurbished" it. That time the sound was all screwed up. You couldn't understand what anyone was saying, and the music didn't line up with the "acting."

Of course, I'm sure it's way better now...