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

[DaveInTN 3,247]

w00t

woot to you too.

Yay! I'm in! First page too!

Congratulations. A certificate will be arriving via US Mail.

I am in

I am glad

Ohh I think I'm here soon enough for page 1!

Yep, you get a certificate too.

Alright!!! Now your moving!!!!

I am? I'm in my recliner.

I'm in. I can live vicariously through other's TRs!! Onward now..... :jumpforjoy

We'll move onward later this morning.

Well, I'll give you credit for not leaving us hanging for days with just a picture of the van.

You still hold that against me?

One Anna picture is just not enough. Even though she is adorable sitting in her car seat. The girls all look like they are ready for fun.

I'm in.

Sorry. But I do have a few more pictures of Anna to come. Just a few.

Hey - Page 2! Not bad for an old timer like me! Just finished the other TR and jumped in on here. Woo=hooo, two trip reports in one day is a big deal for me. I must be avoiding some other chore ;-)

Does it involved shoveling something?

I'm in.

Hey Ray! Glad you are here...and sorry we missed each other at the Fort.

[Total Joker ... TJ 203]

:pc: :pc: :pc: :pc: :pc:

[charitycase20....Charity 10]

Cannot wait to hear/read more about your Christmas, Dave!! All your girls are just too beautfiul for words. :heart:

[BRDof3...Rob 40]

I think you should torture Jim by just posting pics of the van and house for a couple of days.

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

I think you should torture Jim by just posting pics of the van and house for a couple of days.

:rofl3:

[DaveInTN 3,247]

YMCA!

Moving right along...when I left off we were well into our 2nd travel day. We had stopped the night before in Troy, AL, and by late afternoon we had made the Florida Turnpike. I always like hitting that milestone, because you know you are about an hour away from the Mouse House. But over the years, my family has developed a love for a particular milestone that indicates it is time to start searching the horizon for castles, giant golf balls and haunted hotels.

We saw this.

That's the YMCA that sits at the juncture of the Turnpike and 429. And when you see it, you are close!

Hooray!!! Everyone sing with me....Y-M-C-A! It's fun to stay at the the....

ok, enough of that.

I often will get off of 429 at the first exit, and take 535 down to Vista Blvd, coming in the "back door" to Disney. But this time I stayed on all the way to this exit.

Western Way!!

Why the exit sign doesn't say "Western Way", I don't know. I can be confusing. But knowing what we were looking for, we made it.

And in just a short moment, we were greeted with this.

Seriously, after a long drive, isnt' that the greatest sight in the whole world??

More sights along the way....

This sight ranks right up there too....

Notice how quiet those toll booths were during the late afternoon of 12/22. That wouldn't be the case in 48 hours.

Ok, scratch everything I said above. THIS is the greatest sight evah!

Yackety yack, here's the guard shack.

Check in was piece of cake. We were directed to an empty lane at check in, and it went very smoothly. I had checked in online and our documents and KTTW cards were all ready. And I got one of my requested sites too....524. I was a happy camper!

I got backed into the site on the first try and was unhooked, plugged in and had a beer in hand faster than you can say Zippidy Doo Dah. Before too long, we were heading down to the Settlement to order our GAG and get in some good porch time.

I have a personal rule against taking GAG pictures since they did away with steak fries. Actually, I forgot the camera at the camper, so no porch or GAG pics. But you know what fried chicken looks like. And you know what the porch looks like.

After eating, the girls ran off (except Anna) to do stuff, and INC and I had our first fiend encounter of the trip...we saw TCD's twin on the porch. I asked them where their Dad was, and they pointed us inside Trails End. (Andrew, you need to train them better...they gave you up too easily). So we got to chat briefly with TCD and the twins. We then headed back to 524...our home for the next 2 weeks, and settled in somewhat early. We had plans for hitting Epcot the next day, so we needed some rest.

And that puts behind us the drive and the setup....which means I can proceed to get into the "meat" of the photos starting with our next post. And by meat, I mean POOD FORN and ANNA pics!

Coming up....The Reason For The Season.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

:pc: :pc: :pc: :pc: :pc:

Keep your pants on.

Cannot wait to hear/read more about your Christmas, Dave!! All your girls are just too beautfiul for words. :heart:

Thanks! Lots more coming up.

I think you should torture Jim by just posting pics of the van and house for a couple of days.

:rofl3:

Great idea! I think he is just jealous of me and Larry with our vans. :rofl2:

[Specularius 102]

Strange, I have never noticed the YMCA. Guess I'm too busy holding onto the steering wheel and watching for other motorist so I don't run over them (never worry about them running over me! Not in "Pete")

Looking forward to the Pood Forn! I saw your site several times but never saw anyone there to say HI to. Keep up the great report.

[Fort4ever 0]

can hardly wait for more, your trip reports are very entertaining.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Strange, I have never noticed the YMCA. Guess I'm too busy holding onto the steering wheel and watching for other motorist so I don't run over them (never worry about them running over me! Not in "Pete")

Looking forward to the Pood Forn! I saw your site several times but never saw anyone there to say HI to. Keep up the great report.

I'm sorry we missed you....we were on the go way too much on this trip for my liking. But since this was likely our last trip for quite a while, I wanted to get it all in.

can hardly wait for more, your trip reports are very entertaining.

Thank you! And welcome! I see you've been a member for quite a while but just posting recently. Thanks for reading my report! Look forward to hearing more from you.

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Ok for the record. I want pics of all the family as well as Anna and I want to know how many times someone got inc's name wrong

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Ok for the record. I want pics of all the family as well as Anna and I want to know how many times someone got inc's name wrong

LOL! You will get pics of everyone...maybe even one or two of me. If that doesn't scare you off, then you are a dedicated trip report reader.

And it's funny how many people think her name is Cindy. What part of "It's NOT Cindy" do you not understand. :rofl2:

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

LOL! You will get pics of everyone...maybe even one or two of me. If that doesn't scare you off, then you are a dedicated trip report reader.

And it's funny how many people think her name is Cindy. What part of "It's NOT Cindy" do

you not understand. :rofl2:

The issue is that the ItsNotCindy makes people remember Cindy..... So I just think of her as INC. makes it easy if a bit weird

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

if a bit weird

Before anyone says anything....I never said I was normal

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Before anyone says anything....I never said I was normal

Yes carol....still suffering from cabin fever

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Ok, I'm going to hurry along with the next update as it seems people want to see pictures of something other than vans and highways. So....here we go.

For this trip, I opted to buy park tickets, which we hadn't done in a while. One nice thing this allowed us to do is to plan some meals at a couple of the park restaurants I enjoy, and to do something at Epcot that we had only done once before. The Candlelight Processional.

Although it is certainly not necessary, I decided to book a dinner package. I wanted to attend while Gary Sinese was hosting, which meant Dec 23-25...busy days. I figured it might be more relaxing to be able to have dinner and be guaranteed seating for our show choice. I booked a package at Via Napoli for our first park day, 12/23.

We slept in that morning, and didn't leave for Epcot until late morning.

Despite Lou's advice, we took the bus. I prefer not to drive to parks, especially a park where I might have something to drink.

Anna loves her big sister.

We arrived at the Epcot bus depot to a bright, sunny but chilly day.

Everyone was excited!

Let's go, Dad!!

While INC and the girls waited in bag check, I walked over to Guest Services to get our tickets. I had purchased them through Feisty and had her email with all the information on activating them, including the confirmation number. While waiting in line, I read the email and got a sick feeling in my stomach. It very clearly said to show your purchasing credit card AND photo ID. Idiot that I am left my wallet back at the camper. I usually just hit parks with my KTTW card and Visa rewards card. Duh. Plus, the credit card I purchased the tickets with is the Disney Visa that had been stolen during our cruise, so I didn't even have the one anymore.

Crap.

I almost bailed from line, but figured I'd talk to a CM and see what I needed to do. This wasn't starting well.

But then I realized that INC would have a credit card and ID in HER wallet. So I flagged DD16 (Emma) over and had her get INC's wallet.

INC left her wallet at the camper too.

Double Duh.

By this point, it was our turn at the window. I explained to the CM that we no longer had that credit card. No problem! They just needed to see some ID.

Crappety crap.

Then Emma said "I have my license". The CM asked if her last name was the same as mine. Yes. No problem then.

YAY EMMA!!!! She saved the day. Thank God we had one responsible person in our party.

Do you parents ever feel that your kids grow up having their act together better than you do?

So within moments, we had our tickets in hand and proceeded through the turnstiles.

We were in Epcot!!!

We grabbed fastpasses for Test Track for later that evening, and headed off to Mexico.

We decided to head inside for the boat ride. Anna loves boat rides.

Truthfully, so do I. They are relaxing.

The 3 Caballeros!

After the ride, we checked out the crystal shop.

Princess Anna of course had to try on a tiara.

As did Izzy.

From there, we wandered over to Norway and rode the Maelstrom, then we were feeling the need to hit Germany for pretzels and beer.

INC put on her pretzel smile.

Octoberfest!

We sat for a bit on the wall outside Germany, enjoying our snack and letting the girls use the restroom. I checked out the trains with Anna.

There's a ton of detail in the train setting, but why does this farmer have a monkey on his back?

And if that's not a monkey, what is it? It looks like he is clearly struggling with something. Maybe it's an alien? I really don't get it.

Let's take a closer look.

Hmmm, that doesn't help. Any guesses? I feel kinda bad for the guy.

In the meantime, what the heck is going on with this picture? Something looks out of the ordinary here.

DD16 pointed out that the drinking age in Germany is 16.

Is that accurate? Doesn't matter either way, we are in Florida. So give me back my beer. I need it to deal with this.....

HO ALERT!!!!!!

I know we made up and all, but she looks PISSED! I think her handler is motioning to her that I have been spotted. Better get a move on. I don't need the aggrevation at this point, with only one beer in me.

I call this shot "Golf Ball Framed By Japanese Thingy".

We still had some time to kill before our Via Napoli reservation, so the girls wanted to go check out Soarin for fastpasses.

As we headed around WS, I thought it was pretty cool to spot the DTD balloon above the Illumination globe. So I call this shot "DTD Balloon Above Illuminations Globe".

Had to grab a couple of phone booth pics in England.

Like I said, it was bright, sunny day.

It was such a long walk from Germany that by the time we reached England we needed another snack. The pastry cart was calling our names.

Let me tell you, if you are ever hankering for a good cookie at Epcot...this is NOT the place to get one.

That sucker was a dry mess.

But we ate it anyways, and enjoyed resting on another wall.

Hey, why am I always stuck in my stroller???

This is better.

We got to the Land, and the Soarin line wasn't too bad. INC and the 4 older girls went to ride, while Anna and I checked out the CM gingerbread houses.

One more Anna pic for this post.

After the ladies rode Soarin, it was time for us to head to Via Napoli for dinner, and then the Candlelight Processional....coming up.

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

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

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

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

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

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

An kiss them

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

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

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

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.

There's a ton of detail in the train setting, but why does this farmer have a monkey on his back?

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

That is one good looking family you have there!

[BuckeyeFortMama 43]

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!

[dvccamper 32]

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 :)

[LORNADUCK 261]

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.

[AC in A2......Aaron 693]

Caught up!

I love the named pics.

GAG on arrival day. Good man.

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