Snow to 80 in 8 days–A spoonful of Holiday Cheer (2/5 update Ch 36 - Final Thoughts)

I amended my answers .. Give me the BONUS points !! I am trying to be like Glenn and Magdalena with the research!!!:rotfl2:
 
Last call for answers to Round 2 of the Contest questions....... TR updates coming soon!
 

I awoke the next morning and quickly showered and vacated the bathroom so others could get started. There were items we had unloaded from the cars into the room because it was so cold overnight; computer, camera, etc. I started taking items to the car and rearranging stuff so we could leave as quickly as possible. Finally everyone was ready to go and we had it all loaded for our short trip to Kidani.

With the late night and trying to get everyone ready, we had missed the complementary breakfast at the hotel and it was close to being too late for stopping anywhere for fast food during breakfast hours since it was already 10:30. If I had known where to find a Bob Evans we would have definitely gone there, but instead we pulled into a Denny's right near the turn we needed to make for Kidani. They weren't too busy and we were quickly seated and got our food. I was working on a great attitude on this trip, that time wasn’t as important as having a relaxing vacation. :goodvibes There would be chances later to speed up our schedule and hit the parks hard, but not today. The food was typical Denny's breakfast food, but we had a lot of jokes, comments and laughs so a very relaxed and enjoyable family meal together. :thumbsup2

When we were done, we made the short drive the rest of the way to Kidani. I had reserved two Studio Villas this trip; one for the boys (allowed since Matt is now 21), and another for DW and I. This saved us points to use for our next trip over a 1-BR like we normally get, plus gave us extra beds and a second bathroom. :woohoo: It was also part of the reason for the decision to try the DDP for the first time, since you don't have a kitchen in the Studios like you do the 1-BR. We had a small refrigerator to keep a few things in, but we knew most of our meals would be eaten in the parks or a resort. All of our table service meals were set for dinner to get the most benefit from the DDP. That also meant that most of our schedule would be worked around our ADRs.

We arrived at Kidani and Matthew got his first experience at doing check-in. The CM that waited on us was named Chet. I noticed from his name tag that he was from England. While Chet was handling all of our paperwork I asked him if he knew Rosie the famous Pole Dancer from England. :thanks: After he gave me a quizzical look and said he didn’t think so, I explained that she was real famous on the DIS boards. Once I explained it to him, he got a good laugh out of it. Maybe he knew Rosie after all.........

We got all checked in and made sure everything was in order for our DDP since there were two rooms involved and different numbers of people in each. When Chet finally showed us on the resort map where my room was I realized that it was a very familiar location. When we had stayed at Kidani on our previous trip, we were in room 7613 on the second floor, which was a 1-bedroom. This time we were on the fourth floor in room
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one door down, which is the lock-off studio room that would be used to create a 2-bedroom Villa. I knew immediately we would be parking in the same location, and once again getting full use of the Rafiki elevator from underground parking. The boys were just down the hall closer to the elevator in room
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Here is the view from our balcony towards the Kidani pool
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towards the Porte Cochere
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and towards the bus stop, where we would be headed as soon as we could get everything unloaded and settled in the rooms.
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Once we got all settled in we headed to the bus stop. It was only a few minutes until we boarded a bus to
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We were finally on our way.

The night before when we got our annual passes I had intended to take care of everything at the same time for the rest of our trip, but one thing slipped my mind. As soon as we arrived at Epcot my first stop was at Guest Relations to purchase the Tables in Wonderland card. Even though we were on the DDP, I knew there would possibly be an occasion for additional food discounts or at the very least the benefit of a discount on any drinks that weren't covered under the dining plan. Plus the TIW card is good for one year like the Annual Passes, so I knew we would use it a lot when we return for our next trip.

When I got in line at Guest Relations there were people at each of the three available windows, and a small group waiting in line. As I stood there I realized that nobody in line ahead of me was speaking anything familiar to me and this was going to take longer than I had hoped. The rest of the family had headed into the park and as I waited I was able to get a couple of pictures where I hoped to be very soon.......
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And I waited......
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Finally another CM came outside and helped one of the families in front of me, and one window opened so I was next in line. After about a 10 minute wait (that seemed much longer) I was finally on the way inside to join the rest of the family. I had planned to give the boys my AP when I got inside so they could go see if there was a ride with fastpasses still available. While the boys waited for me to get inside, and knew there was only about 2 and 1/2 hours until our dinner ADR at Tutto Italia, they decided they weren't going to worry about rides for now. They had done some of the Kim Possible missions on our previous trip and they decided they would use what time they had to try and do the rest of the missions they hadn't tried. They had gone on to get their Kim Possible communicator by the time I met DW inside the park.

When I was planning this trip I had DISchatted with Aimee(Emilyswish), whose family would be on a MAW trip at the time we were there. They were supposed to be in Epcot that morning and heading out to another park for the second half of the day. My original plans would have gotten me to Epcot a lot sooner, and I had hoped to have a chance DISmeet with her and her family while they were there. As late as we were arriving I figured they were long gone by the time we got there. When we got home I mentioned to her on her PTR that I hated we didn't get to meet up but we arrived so late. As it turned out we figured out that we just barely missed each other since they were taking photopass pictures in front of Spaceship Earth about the time I was probably standing in line to get my TIW card. They probably walked past me as I stood in line. If any of you want to read a very special story, look up her TR that she is working on now!

Up next Chapter 10 – World Showcase Storytellers
 
My big goal today was to see some of the WS storytellers. I knew I didn't have as much time as I would have liked to see many of them, but there were a couple that many people had spoken highly of and I wanted to make sure to see those in particular. On the way into the park I stopped and grabbed a times guide so I could see when each storyteller would be speaking. As it turned out, the Norway storytellers Julenissen and Sigrid were scheduled to appear in about 20 minutes. We headed off towards Mexico and then a quick transatlantic "flight" to Norway. On the way I stopped to get a picture of the Epcot Christmas tree.
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I also wanted to test out the new zoom lens we got at Christmas and got a picture of France across the lagoon.
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I never realized that the Swan and Dolphin were located so close to the Eiffel Tower.........

We quickly made our way to Norway with time to spare, so I got a few pictures of the decorations while I waited.
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I hadn't ever noticed this hole where you can see the Maelstrom boats as they reverse direction during the ride.
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Here is the Christmas tree on the Norway Storyteller's stage.
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And the Christmas Story Scroll.
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Finally Julenissen and Sigrid arrived to tell their tale. Since we had arrived about 10 minutes before they started, DW and I were right in front of the stage. It didn't take Julenissen long to realize that Marv was a willing participant in the show. He hid behind me as he performed some of his mischief (well, I think it was HIS mischief), making funny sounds until Sigrid asked me if I was okay. Being the honest person that I am, I shook my head no.
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I'm not real sure what mischief Julenissen has on his mind right here, but it looks interesting........
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When Sigrid and Julenissen told the story of how the Norwegian children leave a steaming bowl of porridge for Julenissen, I was more than happy to lend them one of my wooden spoons to use as a prop!
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This is a very entertaining story of the way Norwegians celebrate Christmas. Julenissen performs his mischief throughout the show while Sigrid is oblivious that he is there among us and keeps blaming the innocent children and Marv's in the audience for the problems and interruptions that keep occurring until finally her eyes are opened and she joins the rest of us in knowing he is there.......
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Sigrid and Julenissen didn't want to return my wooden spoon as they thought it was a great prop to use in future shows. I offered to let them keep it if I could get a picture with it one last time before I headed off to other lands......
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DW and I left Norway on the way to see the Storyteller in Germany, who would soon be appearing. On the way we passed through China and noticed the Storyteller there was already performing. We stopped for a few minutes to see the Monkey King regaling the crowd with his story.
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My goal was to make it to Germany in time to see the Storyteller there, so we only listened a couple of minutes to the Monkey King before continuing our journey.

We arrived in Germany with time to spare. Here is the scroll that tells the Christmas story for Germany.
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While I had a couple of minutes, I decided to get some pictures of the decorations in Germany.
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I love caramel, and there were some delicious looking items in this store, but they will have to wait until another time since it was getting too close to our dinner ADR when we were here.
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Here is a view of the stage where Helga the German Storyteller performs. Does any part of this picture look familiar to those of you who are participating in my contest? Poolrat Pat and I had a discussion about this on her TR thread, where she posted a similar picture. No wonder she recognized my final question right away.....
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Another view of the Tannenbaum with the lagoon in the background....
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And a close-up of some of the decorations on the tree.......
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Another picture of the Nutcracker with spaceship earth in the background.
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And a toy box that also adorns the stage.....
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Magdalene had mentioned in my PTR that she had seen a video of Helga and agreed the story was very well done, so I was really looking forward to hearing what she had to say. My German DISfriends were on my mind the whole time I was taking everything in during my brief stay in Germany. It made me feel like they weren't quite so far away while I experienced all of the decorations and the story.

Before I left on my trip Katharina had posted a picture of her wearing her dirndl. Here is a picture of Helga in her version as she tells us the tale of Christmas in Germany. I'm not real good on sizes, but I would say the one Helga is wearing is about the same size as Katharina's......... (Just kidding you Katharina!) I'm guessing this one isn't the same size Helga wore when she was 16 like the one Katharina modeled for us!!!
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Another picture of Helga, deep in her very entertaining story of celebrating Christmas as a young girl in the kitchen with her Oma (grandmother). She talked about how while her Oma was cooking she would stir or taste the food, and then take a sip of a special Gluhwein that is served at Christmas; then more stirring followed by more sipping.
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Magdalene mentioned the use of the Advent calendar in Germany a few times, and here is Helga explaining one to the audience.
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Helga seemed like such a sweet lady, and she did a wonderful job and was very entertaining. Nearby was a little pavilion where you could get either German Bier or try the Gluhwein that Helga mentioned when she was talking about her Oma. I had to take a picture of the Bier tent for my DISbuddy Dan, and wish he had been there to sample it and let me know how it rated.
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Up next Chapter 11 – World Showcase Storytellers (Part 2)
 
When Helga finished I knew from the times guide that it would soon be time for the Storyteller in Italy. I didn't remember hearing much about this particular storyteller, but it was close by and also in the area where we would soon be eating dinner, so we started towards Italy. It was about 4:00 by this time, as we walked past the end of the German pavilion. I stopped to get one more picture of the Christmas decorations around the Glockenspiel......
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....when all of a sudden it came to life. I had mentioned in my PTR that I had seen this before and Glenn commented that he had never been lucky enough to get a picture of it actually chiming the hour, so here are some more pictures for my good friend Glenn to enjoy.
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As the "children" struck the bell for the final time and returned to their shelter behind closed doors, we hurried off towards Italy, but not before I stopped to get a picture of one of my favorite sights in the WS.
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We arrived in Italy and I stopped to take a picture of the decorations there.
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Then I realized that a crowd had gathered. It wasn't time for the Storyteller yet, so what could have everyone's attention. I walked closer and immediately thought of my good friend Rosie and her love of Hot Italians and took a couple of pictures for her pleasure.
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Sergio was very entertaining, and Rosie should be pleased I found her someone with such talented hands!!! This was the first time we had seen him perform, and we enjoyed it a lot. I wonder if Sergio can teach Rosie how to juggle like this so she can add it to her many "innocent" talents!!!

When Sergio finished his show we moved towards the stage where la Befana, the Storyteller in Italy would perform soon. As I said, I had no idea what to expect here, but this was a convenient storyteller to experience. Here is the Scroll for the Christmas story in Italy.
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And here is la Befana telling her tale for us.
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This woman was very enthusiastic and did a wonderful job of keeping everyone's attention, including the many children seated right in front of her. This was a wonderful story and we enjoyed it as much as we did the ones in Norway and Germany.

We still had a little time before our dinner ADR. I had wanted to go through some of the shops in Germany, including the one that sold Christmas ornaments after Magdalene had posted her pictures of the Christmas market she had visited. I saw the pickle tree but didn't take a picture since Magdalene said this isn't something that is authentic German. As I passed another tree covered in ornaments I thought of my friend Rosie once again.......
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After getting back home and reading some of the comments on my TR thread so far, I think next time I will be thinking about a lot of others; Kathy, Jen, Molly, Tammie (PJs in Las Vegas indeed), Amy................ Even so, I think Rosie still holds the title on this one until the rest of you can top Pole Dancing around Disney, and lap dancing a Piglet!!!

I came out of the shops and happened to look towards the lagoon and saw this sight...
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We had spent all the time we could taking a repeat tour of Germany and started back towards Italy to meet the boys for dinner. As we walked towards the back of the Italy pavilion I saw something that made me think of a new DISfriend Tom. This is where he got the picture of he and his lovely wife Dianna that he uses in the opening to his TR.
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Coming up - Time for Dinner at.....
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Holy cow you weren't kidding!!!!:eek: Very similar touring plans.

I actually was going to change my answer to have you get up with Julenissen but they were only picking children not the big kids when I went. ;)


I see they have moved Germany to face the lagoon.

Your first picture of Sergio has a princess where I had a prince sitting. How funny that I threw the mime in there too!



Funny - Denny's did not show up on the yahoo maps search of restuarants near Kidani. :confused3 But the Shoney's did.

I had some good educated guesses here. It was like I was stalking you. :tiptoe: :lmao:
 
Really cool pictures of WS at Christmas. EPCOT is absolutely my favorite park and I had not considered what WS would be like all dressed up for Christmas. Thank you for sharing.
 
Holy cow you weren't kidding!!!!:eek: Very similar touring plans.

I actually was going to change my answer to have you get up with Julenissen but they were only picking children not the big kids when I went. ;)


I see they have moved Germany to face the lagoon.

Your first picture of Sergio has a princess where I had a prince sitting. How funny that I threw the mime in there too!



Funny - Denny's did not show up on the yahoo maps search of restuarants near Kidani. :confused3 But the Shoney's did.

I had some good educated guesses here. It was like I was stalking you. :tiptoe: :lmao:
After our conversation on your TR I figured you would rack up on this round of contest questions. I would probably have done Shoney's but Denny's was right there on the corner of 192 and I could tell the parking lot wasn't too full so was hoping for a relatively quick meal. Would definitely have gone to Bob Evan's if I knew where to find it quickly. A lot of people guessed that one.

I kept hinting about time constraints and every indication that we would probably be running late that day, which we were. I was hoping if people thought it through they might come up with some really good answers. Reading your TR would have helped too obviously. Haven't graded the responses yet, but somebody actually made a guess about the TIW card! :thumbsup2 (I guess that might have been you.....I can't remember)
Really cool pictures of WS at Christmas. EPCOT is absolutely my favorite park and I had not considered what WS would be like all dressed up for Christmas. Thank you for sharing.
I had three huge goals for this trip. Our previous trip at New Years was supposed to be relaxing and to enjoy the Christmas holidays in the atmosphere at Disney, but our plans changed and we ended up with another commando trip.

This time I was determined to have a relaxing trip, spend time soaking up as much of the Christmas decorations and offerings as possible, and making sure we got the most from our first time using the DDP and our ADRS.

Epcot was a great start. Lots of wonderful decorations and the World Showcase showed how many different countries celebrate Christmas. I wish we could have enjoyed more of it, but unfortunately we didn't make it back until our final full day, and all of the Storytellers and things were no longer available.
 
I got a real bona fide shout out!!! Thanks Marv! :cool1::hug: I'm still upset that we probably just missed each other and I was really looking at your pics from when you were in line in case one of our heads was in the background!!

And I'm even more upset now that we didn't have time to see the WS except Mexico quickly and our ADR in Norway. It looks amazing!! Something to look forward to for a future trip I guess . . . Oh, and my bil makes a nice gluhwein for us all at Christmas/Thanksgiving, it's delicious! :)

My Drew would've flipped for Sergio in Italy too, he LOVES soccer! Very cool.
 
WHOA! Mondo update Alert!!! This is going to take a me a long spell to get through, Marv. Not only do I get to enjoy it, but I also have to endure finding out how many stinking questions I missed!!
 
I got a real bona fide shout out!!! Thanks Marv! :cool1::hug: I'm still upset that we probably just missed each other and I was really looking at your pics from when you were in line in case one of our heads was in the background!!

And I'm even more upset now that we didn't have time to see the WS except Mexico quickly and our ADR in Norway. It looks amazing!! Something to look forward to for a future trip I guess . . . Oh, and my bil makes a nice gluhwein for us all at Christmas/Thanksgiving, it's delicious! :)

My Drew would've flipped for Sergio in Italy too, he LOVES soccer! Very cool.
I looked at all of those pictures I took when I was in line at Guest Services wondering if I might spot something that looked like your family. I still hate we didn't get to meet!

It is always good to have things left to go back for. We still have plenty of them! And I hope you get a lot of traffic on your TR! It is a wonderful and touching story and I'm glad you guys had a special trip!!!
 
WHOA! Mondo update Alert!!! This is going to take a me a long spell to get through, Marv. Not only do I get to enjoy it, but I also have to endure finding out how many stinking questions I missed!!
Don't worry about the missed questions. Best as I can remember nobody is going to fall very far behind on this round........ :rolleyes1

Hope you enjoy the update! I've got to learn a lesson from you though, and break them up a whole lot smaller so it doesn't take so long to get them done...... :goodvibes
 
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!! I sho' done got that barge one right!! YEEHAW, Baby!!! I think I also got 3 complete Christmas stories right on too, but thought you'd see a few more partial ones.

WOOT! I might not have done as bad on this one as I Thought, although, knowing Pumbaa, I sure thought you'd have parked in there. ;)
 
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!! I sho' done got that barge one right!! YEEHAW, Baby!!! I think I also got 3 complete Christmas stories right on too, but thought you'd see a few more partial ones.

WOOT! I might not have done as bad on this one as I Thought, although, knowing Pumbaa, I sure thought you'd have parked in there. ;)
Well, we saw the barge, but it was later than 4:00, probably around 4:30. The glockenspiel ringing the hour was the photo op that occurred at 4:00!
 
Well, we saw the barge, but it was later than 4:00, probably around 4:30. The glockenspiel ringing the hour was the photo op that occurred at 4:00!

Well, you did say AROUND 4:00. But there is no sense in riling up the Master Spoonerator, is there. :rolleyes1
 
Ah no. I had you going the other way around World Showcase. I did get Helga's Nutcracker so that's some consolation.

That pair in Norway look like a big hoot! If I ever get out there in the Christmas season I'll have to check out some of these storytellers. :thumbsup2
 
Well, you did say AROUND 4:00. But there is no sense in riling up the Master Spoonerator, is there. :rolleyes1
Wooden you know you would be the first to try something like that. You don't want to feel the wrath of the spoon!!! ;)
Ah no. I had you going the other way around World Showcase. I did get Helga's Nutcracker so that's some consolation.

That pair in Norway look like a big hoot! If I ever get out there in the Christmas season I'll have to check out some of these storytellers. :thumbsup2
I don't think you were part of the conversations where everyone was giving me input on which storytellers to make sure I saw. They were all good and I wish I could have seen more of them, but I guess that leaves something for next time.

We had a conversation on Pat's TR about how well all of the storytellers performed. You know by that time they had done that performance a large number of times, but yet they still seemed to put everything they had into it. The one in Italy, la Befana, was really animated and kept all of the children's attention so well, and her story was so interesting and so much about the Christmas story, which surprised us a little bit some of the things she freely expressed. Helga in Germany had such an interesting story about their traditions, and her expression and voice just kept you clinging on every word.

But the two in Norway were definitely the most entertaining. For most of the performance Sigrid "isn't aware" that Julenissen is there and when he hits his staff on the ground she "freezes" and he tells a little more of the story. He sometimes would put her in an awkward position or hand her something so when he "unfreezes" her she is looking the wrong way, or is wondering where something came from that she is now holding. He even gets the kids in on the fun handing them a bell to ring while she is "frozen" and after she takes it from them, they mysteriously get it back. It wouldn't be nearly as funny if Sigrid didn't sell it so well with her expressions and responses but she was VERY good at it!!! :thumbsup2
 
Hey Marv! That's a perfect room location at Kidani. :thumbsup2 And Rafiki elevator Baybee! Oh yeah. :woohoo: That may be my only point this round?

GREAT picture of you with Julenissen and Sigrid and your wooden spoon! Love it.

Thanks for the shout-out and the picture of the hour being chimed in Germany.
 





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