Jump to content

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


Recommended Posts

  • Replies 898
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Posts

Great update, Dave! I loved the safari commentary. I think you should become a driver for the safari. You are a lot better than what they have there now. It's funny that you mention stopping to see sh

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

Hey Carol, for further clarification, I asked Anna. Her response was "это отстой обезьяны окурки".

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.

He was great! So glad we got to see it with him.

The CP is amazing. I agree, it is over too soon! Glad you got great seats.

Thanks Gwen! It was a beautiful show.

Great !

Thanks for reading along, Dan!

You did a great job planning your visit to the Candlelight Processional, Dave. You had a great meal and got great seats during what probably was one of the busiest nights of the year.

I'm not sure I like all the weird stuff they serve at Via Napoli. Sometimes I think they get too fancy for their own good.

TCD

I agree on VN...and like I said before, if we go back I'll just do the pizza, which I really love there. The other stuff was fun to try, but some of it missed the mark.

Awesome update Dave!!! I'm glad there weren't too many pics of CP. That means you were in the moment and soaking it all in!!!!

That's the truth! I honestly forgot about the camera through the show. My Gwen did film some video of Anna dancing around...I'll have to see if I can get some of it to post.

Link to post
Share on other sites

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.

DSCN1155.JPG

DSCN1156.JPG

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.

DSCN1157.JPG

Stella got the fruit appetizer.

DSCN1158.JPG

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

DSCN1159.JPG

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!

DSCN1160.JPG

Izzy got the melon and proscuito.

DSCN1161.JPG

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

DSCN1162.JPG

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

Did the entrees hit the mark?

Stella and Anna both got kids alfredo.

DSCN1164.JPG

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

DSCN1165.JPG

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.

DSCN1168.JPG

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.

DSCN1169.JPG

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

DSCN1170.JPG

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.

DSCN1171.JPG

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.

DSCN1174.JPG

That's a lot of people!

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

DSCN1175.JPG

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

DSCN1176.JPG

DSCN1177.JPG

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

DSCN1178.JPG

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.

DSCN1179.JPG

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!

Yay!! I was hoping you'd love it!!! :) It really is such a moving description and storytelling of Jesus' life and trials. Russell gets all seriously choked up and sobby both times we've seen it, as did I. We snuck down for a weekend in December so that we could see it again on Sunday, December 16th. Lea Solanga narrated, she's the singing voice for Jasmine in Aladdin and for Mulan. She did a fantastic job. Original Holly was there the same weekend and saw it the day before on Saturday, same narrator.

I'll do that every single year if we can, that's how much we love it. The orchestra and choir are both so amazing and powerful.

SOOO glad you loved it.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Yay!! I was hoping you'd love it!!! :) It really is such a moving description and storytelling of Jesus' life and trials. Russell gets all seriously choked up and sobby both times we've seen it, as did I. We snuck down for a weekend in December so that we could see it again on Sunday, December 16th. Lea Solanga narrated, she's the singing voice for Jasmine in Aladdin and for Mulan. She did a fantastic job. Original Holly was there the same weekend and saw it the day before on Saturday, same narrator.

I'll do that every single year if we can, that's how much we love it. The orchestra and choir are both so amazing and powerful.

SOOO glad you loved it.

I had only seen the CP one time before, narrated by Steven Curtis Chapman. It was very good then, but for a variety of reasons including bad seating and misbehaving kids, it didn't blow me away. This time I was awe struck.

Would love to hear Gary read the phone book so I can't even imagine how good the CP was

Gary Sinese reading the phone book....I can honestly say I've never considered that before.

____________________________________________

As I have a cold and plan on staying in tonight...I am going to try to get another update posted this evening. So, for all you people home on Friday night with no lives like me, stay tuned....

Link to post
Share on other sites

woohoo :jumpforjoy I'm in! I'm positive I have no life anymore but not at all certain where it went to. So nice to share in yours. Your family is truly Blessed. INC looks great and the girls are growing up so fast...

Link to post
Share on other sites

All Aboard the Damn Judi Dench History Extravaganza!

This will be a relatively short update, as we have almost reached the end of December 23rd.

After the CP, we filed out of the theater and headed through the WS toward the Mexico end. We had Test Track fastpasses to use in a little while, so that was our ultimate destination. INC was staying back with Anna, and the rest of headed here.

DSCN1181.JPG

We were excited to ride the updated attraction, although I had read mixed reviews here from Fiends regarding the retheming.

Pretty much everyone that has riden TT since the refurb has posted a pic of this concept car. Why should I be different?

DSCN1183.JPG

We didn't get the full car design experience...I assume because we were in the FP line. We pretty much just got to choose from a handful of predesigned cars based on our priorities; efficiency, capability, power, etc..

DSCN1185.JPG

This is what we came up with. The process was very rushed, and honestly I think they could completely skip it. I got nothing from it.

DSCN1186.JPG

DSCN1187.JPG

A prototype of the engine from my van.

DSCN1188.JPG

Oh, wait. That's a Chevy engine. I don't buy those anymore.

All strapped in and ready to go!

DSCN1190.JPG

DSCN1191.JPG

Our ride photo....me, my girls, and kd lang.

DSCN1192.JPG

My impressions on the new theming? Two thumbs down. I really liked the old car testing aspects...hokey as they may have become. Now it's just a bunch of Tron lights. But the car still goes really fast outside, and that's fun. But IMO they really botched this. The whole scene where you used to be driving through the forest and the truck is coming at you? Now it's a ridiculous mess. The trees are neon, as is the truck. Stupid. But that's just my opinion. And like I said, you still go fast at the end. So all is well at the end of the day.

Afterward, we met up with INC and Anna, and decided to hit one more attraction before heading back to the Fort.

Yep, as I'm sure you guessed by the title of this post...we rode the Golf Ball. Spaceship Earth. Or as we have come to calling it....the Damn Judi Dench History Extravaganza!

I've made no secret in the past of my disdain for DJD's narration. Disney falls into the trap of many Americans...they hear a British accent and find it convincing. I find the accent distracting and a bit condescending. I have nothing against Damn Judi Dench personally. I'm sure she's a nice person, and a competent actress. But I don't like hearing the history of Western civilization from her.

I think Gary Sinese would be a better choice. But from what I hear, he's booked solid performing the phonebook in some RV park in Texas.

Ok, so in any case, we entered the golf ball to ride.

INC and I took Anna with us, seated in the middle.

One of the first things that comes up on the touchscreen is a language selection screen. You may remember on a previous trip report of mine that I failed to select English and somehow ended up stuck on German. That kinda sucked. I don't speak German.

Well, I wasn't exactly paying attention, and when the screen came up, Anna immediately touched it. And what did she touch?

DSCN1195.JPG

Oy!

Japanese.

I don't speak Japanese. Any better than I speak German.

I asked the CM whether it could be reset. She just laughed and said "no".

Thanks.

So we rode the Damn Judi Dench History Extravaganza, sans Damn Judi Dench. Which wasn't the worst thing in the world.

For one night only, it was the Damn Suri Yamaguchi History Extravanza. And I actually liked it.

Afterward, we headed to the buses and made our way home. It was a cold night, and we needed our heaters in the trailer. We snuggled in our beds, and eagerly awaited the next day...Christmas Eve!

Link to post
Share on other sites

DSCN1179.JPG

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.

Sadly, I guess that I've seen it too many times and it's become less than magical. It never changes. How about letting some of the singing celebs sing?

We went one day before you and as I was watching those horn players I was thinking, it must be though to stand holding that horn for an hour.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Many of you have seen my Gwen's videos before. She has put one together of this trip and it's on YouTube. Because of editing issues from the number of files she was using, it is split into 7 pieces. If you are interested in watching, click the link below, and then click "Play All" at the top of the screen. It should play the 7 videos one after the other. WARNING: It is 10 min long....

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVC81FaotY_BMn9KFqGspd8Bhh5-tiK7w

Link to post
Share on other sites

Many of you have seen my Gwen's videos before. She has put one together of this trip and it's on YouTube. Because of editing issues from the number of files she was using, it is split into 7 pieces. If you are interested in watching, click the link below, and then click "Play All" at the top of the screen. It should play the 7 videos one after the other. WARNING: It is 10 min long....

http://www.youtube.c...Gspd8Bhh5-tiK7w

and worth every single minute! I adore Gwen and her videos! She is a talented young lady!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...



×
×
  • Create New...