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Politzania · 12-13-2004, 11:18 AM

Day 4 – Saturday, 4 Dec 2004
Today's Event: Yuletide Fantasy Tour

Slept in a bit this morning, as our tour wasn't scheduled until 8:45, so Mickey & Stitch didn't call til just before 7:00. We got ready & had breakfast in the room again – were at the bus stop by 7:45.

Got to Epcot around 8 - figured we had time to ride the monorail to the TTC & back. The train leaving Epcot was empty except for us & the driver, so we asked to ride up front. Whee! Got some really neat pictures, including an another monorail coming down the other rail! We had about 10 min to look around the TTC – Scott got pix of the huge inflatable Santa Stitch. The ride back was busier, but just as quick, so we got to the meeting place for the tour (outside Group Sales) just in time.

This was the largest group I've seen on a tour – they can take up to 40 people; I think we had 30-some at least. We had two guides: Cammi and Maggie. We got checked in & holiday nametags. One woman forgot her ID (despite "Bring Photo ID" being mentioned several places in the literature), so another CM took her back to her room while we started the tour. We had our bags checked & were waved thru the turnstiles (no park admission needed) and went backstage behind The Living Seas.

The reason the tour can be so big? A charter bus takes you from place to place – even within Epcot! We rode around backstage to Germany and started the World Showcase portion of the tour there. The group split into two - we were in Maggie's group. She's originally from Venezuela and shared some of her family & cultural traditions as we went through the day.

In Germany, she talked about the many traditions that come from this culture: the Christmas tree itself – which was originally a Paradise Tree as part of an Adam & Eve church play. It was decorated with apples, hence the red color predominating the décor of the pavilion. Glass ornaments are also originally from this area and of course, she recounted the story of "Silent Night". Maggie did a pretty good job of keeping the tour members involved with lots of Q&A opportunities.

Next was Italy - the discussion focused on nativities and the novena: 9 days of prayer before Christmas Eve. The décor of this pavilion was from the Renaissance: cherubs, flowers and gilded ornaments.

The American pavilion was next. A bit of trivia: the first state to recognize Christmas as a legal holiday was Alabama in 1836. Maggie talked about community trees & decorations, as well as the history of the poinsettia (named after Ambassador Joel Pointsett, who brought it to the States from Mexico). The pavilion also had displays for Hannukah and Kwanzaa, and she talked a little about them both.

Somewhat surprisingly, we stopped in Japan, as the Japanese have adopted Christmas as a holiday of romance and kindness towards others. Maggie also told us about the New Years' tradition of cleaning the home of the "stains" of the previous year. Quite often, household items are replaced at this time of year, and once the cleansing is done, a twisted rope decoration (I forget its name) is hung above the door to let the gods know the rituals are complete. She also told us about the daruma (sp?) dolls – you make a wish or resolution and color in one pupil, then keep the doll until the end of the year. If the wish or resolution is fulfilled, you color in the other pupil and throw it away.

We paused briefly in Morroco to talk about Ramadan, which had already happened this year. We went backstage to board the bus – next stop: MGM. One small issue I have with this tour – it's advertised (some places) as a 3 hour tour & ours ended up closer to 4 and a half! Lots of grumbling stomachs by the time we were done, plus we were kind of pooped out the rest of the day.

We entered the park from a backstage area near Rock N Roller Coaster. The group divided in half again and we walked towards the market area – attempting to stay together as a group. Scott's a pretty tall guy & his Tigger Santa hat on made him even easier to spot in a crowd; I think

Maggie half-jokingly asked him to stay up front for the rest of the tour!

The focus of this part of the tour was how Hollywood portrays the Christmas season. Maggie started by asking us about our favorite Christmas movies. Scott said "Die Hard" – it IS set at Christmastime, ya know…

She said that's the first time anyone's even mentioned *that* movie!

We then went over to Hollywood Boulevard, where the decorations were in the style of the late 1940's & 50's, with lots of glitz & glitter. Maggie also shared with us that WDW uses over 62,000 poinsettias each year as bedding plants, trees & other greenery. Next stop was New York Street, where she delved a bit into the story of the movie "Miracle on 34th Street", and also told us the background behind the Osbourne Spectacle of Lights.

Back on the bus again, this time to one of the resorts. The Grand Floridian is lavishly decorated for Christmas in the style of the turn of the 19th century. According to our guides, the new LED lights (which use 1/10 the power of standard lights) allow them to plug the HUGE center tree into a standard outlet; they used to have to run cables out to the middle of the lobby & camouflage them with rows of poinsettias.

The gingerbread house – large enough to be used as a stand to sell gingerbread – was lovely as well! They had posted an ingredients lists – 600 lbs of powdered sugar, 800 pounds of flour… and of course, Tons of Creativity! The lobby was somewhat crowded, especially around the gingerbread house, so our guides gave us about 10 min to wander about & take pictures, then we met back at the entrance. They brought us some of the roasted chestnuts the GF staff occasionally hand out this time of year. I kinda liked them but Scott didn't.

On the road again, to our last park visit – The Magic Kingdom. Unfortunately, this was the main day that ABC was filming the Christmas Day parade; so Main Street was PACKED! We took quick glances at the tree in front of the train station & wove our way to the first side street on the right side (Scott was definitely a useful guide during this!) and stopped there to talk about the décor. The theme is early Victorian – mid to late 1900's, with lots of fruit and ribbons. Maggie & Cammi told us that each "store" is decorated a little differently, just as if actual storekeepers were selecting their own decorations.

Since Main Street is mostly a "pass through" area – most of the decorations are up high and at more of a surface level; compared to the detail of decoration you'll see at the resorts. If it hadn't been for the parade (and running pretty late), I imagine we would have walked up Main street to the hub, which had several evergreens & poinsettia trees decorating it.

Last stop: Holiday Services. 25 employees work year round in a very, very large warehouse to supply not only the WDW parks and resorts with holiday decorations, but they also take care of the cruise ships and the East Coast Disney time-share properties in Hilton Head and Vero Beach. Of course, they hire extra help in November. Near the entrance, I spotted a calendar that said 354 days til Holiday Deployment… :^).

The department staggers their decorating schedule so each park and resort basically gets decorated overnight sometime between mid-Nov and the beginning of December. To avoid issues like the cables across the floor in the Grand Floridian, the latest resorts (like Pop Century) were designed with decorating in mind; planning where the trees would be placed & putting heavy-duty electrical outlets in those locations, for example.

The decorating scheme for each resort and each park is also updated every 3-5 years, and planned out that far in advance. This explained why the warehouse wasn't completely empty; retired decorations were being examined for possible re-use; and the supplies & materials were starting to arrive for the next scheme. Most of the decorations are purchased from various sources, but quite a few of the more unique items are made in house by this department. As the employees weren't working on Saturday, we didn't get to talk with anyone who worked there (though we still had to wear safety glasses!), but Cammi & Maggie were quite well-informed.

We rode back to Epcot, and on the way, Cammi & Maggie handed out ornaments; bead covered "Mickey heads" in bright red; just the thing for our trees! We also got a limited edition Christmas Card pin.

I would definitely recommend this tour; however, plan on it taking at least half a day - also, bring some snacks & drinks along with you, as no food was provided, other than the chestnuts!
-----------------------------------
Needless to say, we were a little pooped out and a lot hungry by the time the tour was finished. My plan of having a shwarma from Morroco was replaced by lunch at the nearest eatery: The Electric Umbrella. It was pretty crowded, as it was still lunchtime (1ish, IIRC). Since I was so hungry, I got the turkey sandwich & the black bean soup, which was piping hot – just what I needed to take the chill off. Scott ended up buying a sweatshirt (Santa Stitch), as I don't think the temps broke 70 at all that day.

Since we weren't sure if we were coming back to Epcot for any large chunk of time, we (well, mostly me) decided to see as many of the storytellers as we could. We started in Mexico and heard about the posadas from both the storyteller and a CM from Mexico. They chose 2 children from the audience to play the roles of Mary & Joseph and split the crowd into the "houses" that the children would visit. At each stop, they asked for a place to stay & we said no, until the last time, when we said yes &; "the party" began. They handed out candy to the children and we headed inside to ride Rio de Tiempo. Yes, it's kind of cheesy, but we figured it was the closest we'd get to It's a Small World this trip. :^)

In Norway, we met Juleniessen – a sprightly gnome who lives in the barns and really, really likes porridge. I think I like the reinactor style of storyteller better than the ones who just told about the legends of the country. God jul! The line was fairly short for Maelstrom, so we checked it out again. Finally spotted the Mickey in with the Vikings, thanks to Scott's zoom lens!

We missed the China storyteller, but I did make a quick stop for bubble tea. It's an interesting treat – sweet, milky tea with tapioca pearls & chunks of jellied fruits. I got the chocolate flavor & quite enjoyed it.

In Germany, they had a storyteller and a CM from Germany. They talked about the Christmas pickle - parents decorate the tree in secret and then unveil it on Christmas Eve. Somewhere on the tree is a pickle ornament, and the first child to find it gets an extra gift. We were also visited by a life-size Nutcracker after a quick summary of The Nutcracker Suite.

La Bufanda in Italy was particularly interesting; I'd never heard of her story before. A poor peasant, she was astounded by the Star's appearance, as well as the Three Wise Men stopping by her home on their way to see the Christ Child. They invited her to come along, but she said she was too old and too poor to go with them, so they continued on. A group of people from her village then came by and invited her to go along, but she gave the same excuse. After they left, she thought for a bit & remembered the dolls she had made and some other simple gifts. She went back into her home to collect them and gather some food for the journey, but by the time she went back outside, the Star had faded. So she wanders the countryside in search of the Baby Jesus, visiting each household and looking at the faces of the children. She leaves gifts and treats behind, just in case she overlooks the Christ child.

We missed the storytellers in the American pavilion – we figured we knew the Santa story fairly well (tho were curious if Coca-Cola & Haddon Sunblom were mentioned) and had already heard versions of the Hannukah and Kwanzaa stories during our tour. We didn't see the storyteller in Japan either, but did stop in the department store to pick up Japanese Yu-Gi-Oh cards as a Christmas gift for a friend.

We got to France just as Pere Noel was coming out to tell us about the wonderful letter he received from a little girl in Provence. (That was a clever way to tell the story). She was a little mischievous, as she put out about a size 15 shoe for Pere Noel to fill with gifts! Another wonderful performance by a reinactor.

The last storyteller we saw was in the United Kingdom pavilion. We caught the tail end of the troupe's performance of "A Christmas Carol", then a few minutes later, Father Christmas came out. A great jolly man all dressed in green robes, he sang some of the traditional carols and quoted Shakespeare regarding the Christmas season.

It was getting dark, so we'd missed the last performance of the Canadian storyteller. This is also when I discovered that they're no longer selling beavertails. Sigh…. I'd only had them one time before, in May & was so looking forward to another!

We were about worn out, but I hadn't been on Test Track at all, so we jumped in the single riders line & after about a 10 min wait, were whizzing around the pavilion. If you've never been on this ride at night/evening – it's highly recommended. Scott watched the Epcot tree lighting ceremony while I tried to track down a sweatshirt I really wanted at Mouse Gears. We'd seen it over at the American pavilion and at one of the shops at the Lagoon, but not in our sizes. A CM, Clay from Detroit MI, was incredibly helpful, even tho we weren't successful. He did get an SKU for me, so I could call the mail order number & try to get it that way. I made sure to fill out a comment card before we left the park that evening.

Spaceship Earth had no line at all, so we visited it before leaving the park around 7:00. We headed back to the hotel & picked up a pizza and breadsticks… very very yummy! We even had a couple of pieces left over & were thankful once again for the fridge.

We rested for about an hour, then took the bus over to DTD. This was going to be our big shopping expedition, so we visited the Christmas store and World of Disney. We dropped quite a bit of cash, but got lots of neat stuff. Decided to have it shipped back home (the shipping vs not paying Florida sales tax basically cancelled each other out), so we'd have something to look forward to upon our return to wintry Indiana.

Bedtime was later than we wanted – Mileage was 19,429 steps = 8.80 miles.

12-13-2004, 11:18 AM	#16 (permalink)
Politzania Community Rank: Traveler Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: central Indiana Posts: 450	Re: Disney in December (12/1-12/7) - UPDATED Days 4/5 Day 4 – Saturday, 4 Dec 2004 Today's Event: Yuletide Fantasy Tour Slept in a bit this morning, as our tour wasn't scheduled until 8:45, so Mickey & Stitch didn't call til just before 7:00. We got ready & had breakfast in the room again – were at the bus stop by 7:45. Got to Epcot around 8 - figured we had time to ride the monorail to the TTC & back. The train leaving Epcot was empty except for us & the driver, so we asked to ride up front. Whee! Got some really neat pictures, including an another monorail coming down the other rail! We had about 10 min to look around the TTC – Scott got pix of the huge inflatable Santa Stitch. The ride back was busier, but just as quick, so we got to the meeting place for the tour (outside Group Sales) just in time. This was the largest group I've seen on a tour – they can take up to 40 people; I think we had 30-some at least. We had two guides: Cammi and Maggie. We got checked in & holiday nametags. One woman forgot her ID (despite "Bring Photo ID" being mentioned several places in the literature), so another CM took her back to her room while we started the tour. We had our bags checked & were waved thru the turnstiles (no park admission needed) and went backstage behind The Living Seas. The reason the tour can be so big? A charter bus takes you from place to place – even within Epcot! We rode around backstage to Germany and started the World Showcase portion of the tour there. The group split into two - we were in Maggie's group. She's originally from Venezuela and shared some of her family & cultural traditions as we went through the day. In Germany, she talked about the many traditions that come from this culture: the Christmas tree itself – which was originally a Paradise Tree as part of an Adam & Eve church play. It was decorated with apples, hence the red color predominating the décor of the pavilion. Glass ornaments are also originally from this area and of course, she recounted the story of "Silent Night". Maggie did a pretty good job of keeping the tour members involved with lots of Q&A opportunities. Next was Italy - the discussion focused on nativities and the novena: 9 days of prayer before Christmas Eve. The décor of this pavilion was from the Renaissance: cherubs, flowers and gilded ornaments. The American pavilion was next. A bit of trivia: the first state to recognize Christmas as a legal holiday was Alabama in 1836. Maggie talked about community trees & decorations, as well as the history of the poinsettia (named after Ambassador Joel Pointsett, who brought it to the States from Mexico). The pavilion also had displays for Hannukah and Kwanzaa, and she talked a little about them both. Somewhat surprisingly, we stopped in Japan, as the Japanese have adopted Christmas as a holiday of romance and kindness towards others. Maggie also told us about the New Years' tradition of cleaning the home of the "stains" of the previous year. Quite often, household items are replaced at this time of year, and once the cleansing is done, a twisted rope decoration (I forget its name) is hung above the door to let the gods know the rituals are complete. She also told us about the daruma (sp?) dolls – you make a wish or resolution and color in one pupil, then keep the doll until the end of the year. If the wish or resolution is fulfilled, you color in the other pupil and throw it away. We paused briefly in Morroco to talk about Ramadan, which had already happened this year. We went backstage to board the bus – next stop: MGM. One small issue I have with this tour – it's advertised (some places) as a 3 hour tour & ours ended up closer to 4 and a half! Lots of grumbling stomachs by the time we were done, plus we were kind of pooped out the rest of the day. We entered the park from a backstage area near Rock N Roller Coaster. The group divided in half again and we walked towards the market area – attempting to stay together as a group. Scott's a pretty tall guy & his Tigger Santa hat on made him even easier to spot in a crowd; I think Maggie half-jokingly asked him to stay up front for the rest of the tour! The focus of this part of the tour was how Hollywood portrays the Christmas season. Maggie started by asking us about our favorite Christmas movies. Scott said "Die Hard" – it IS set at Christmastime, ya know… She said that's the first time anyone's even mentioned that movie! We then went over to Hollywood Boulevard, where the decorations were in the style of the late 1940's & 50's, with lots of glitz & glitter. Maggie also shared with us that WDW uses over 62,000 poinsettias each year as bedding plants, trees & other greenery. Next stop was New York Street, where she delved a bit into the story of the movie "Miracle on 34th Street", and also told us the background behind the Osbourne Spectacle of Lights. Back on the bus again, this time to one of the resorts. The Grand Floridian is lavishly decorated for Christmas in the style of the turn of the 19th century. According to our guides, the new LED lights (which use 1/10 the power of standard lights) allow them to plug the HUGE center tree into a standard outlet; they used to have to run cables out to the middle of the lobby & camouflage them with rows of poinsettias. The gingerbread house – large enough to be used as a stand to sell gingerbread – was lovely as well! They had posted an ingredients lists – 600 lbs of powdered sugar, 800 pounds of flour… and of course, Tons of Creativity! The lobby was somewhat crowded, especially around the gingerbread house, so our guides gave us about 10 min to wander about & take pictures, then we met back at the entrance. They brought us some of the roasted chestnuts the GF staff occasionally hand out this time of year. I kinda liked them but Scott didn't. On the road again, to our last park visit – The Magic Kingdom. Unfortunately, this was the main day that ABC was filming the Christmas Day parade; so Main Street was PACKED! We took quick glances at the tree in front of the train station & wove our way to the first side street on the right side (Scott was definitely a useful guide during this!) and stopped there to talk about the décor. The theme is early Victorian – mid to late 1900's, with lots of fruit and ribbons. Maggie & Cammi told us that each "store" is decorated a little differently, just as if actual storekeepers were selecting their own decorations. Since Main Street is mostly a "pass through" area – most of the decorations are up high and at more of a surface level; compared to the detail of decoration you'll see at the resorts. If it hadn't been for the parade (and running pretty late), I imagine we would have walked up Main street to the hub, which had several evergreens & poinsettia trees decorating it. Last stop: Holiday Services. 25 employees work year round in a very, very large warehouse to supply not only the WDW parks and resorts with holiday decorations, but they also take care of the cruise ships and the East Coast Disney time-share properties in Hilton Head and Vero Beach. Of course, they hire extra help in November. Near the entrance, I spotted a calendar that said 354 days til Holiday Deployment… :^). The department staggers their decorating schedule so each park and resort basically gets decorated overnight sometime between mid-Nov and the beginning of December. To avoid issues like the cables across the floor in the Grand Floridian, the latest resorts (like Pop Century) were designed with decorating in mind; planning where the trees would be placed & putting heavy-duty electrical outlets in those locations, for example. The decorating scheme for each resort and each park is also updated every 3-5 years, and planned out that far in advance. This explained why the warehouse wasn't completely empty; retired decorations were being examined for possible re-use; and the supplies & materials were starting to arrive for the next scheme. Most of the decorations are purchased from various sources, but quite a few of the more unique items are made in house by this department. As the employees weren't working on Saturday, we didn't get to talk with anyone who worked there (though we still had to wear safety glasses!), but Cammi & Maggie were quite well-informed. We rode back to Epcot, and on the way, Cammi & Maggie handed out ornaments; bead covered "Mickey heads" in bright red; just the thing for our trees! We also got a limited edition Christmas Card pin. I would definitely recommend this tour; however, plan on it taking at least half a day - also, bring some snacks & drinks along with you, as no food was provided, other than the chestnuts! ----------------------------------- Needless to say, we were a little pooped out and a lot hungry by the time the tour was finished. My plan of having a shwarma from Morroco was replaced by lunch at the nearest eatery: The Electric Umbrella. It was pretty crowded, as it was still lunchtime (1ish, IIRC). Since I was so hungry, I got the turkey sandwich & the black bean soup, which was piping hot – just what I needed to take the chill off. Scott ended up buying a sweatshirt (Santa Stitch), as I don't think the temps broke 70 at all that day. Since we weren't sure if we were coming back to Epcot for any large chunk of time, we (well, mostly me) decided to see as many of the storytellers as we could. We started in Mexico and heard about the posadas from both the storyteller and a CM from Mexico. They chose 2 children from the audience to play the roles of Mary & Joseph and split the crowd into the "houses" that the children would visit. At each stop, they asked for a place to stay & we said no, until the last time, when we said yes &; "the party" began. They handed out candy to the children and we headed inside to ride Rio de Tiempo. Yes, it's kind of cheesy, but we figured it was the closest we'd get to It's a Small World this trip. :^) In Norway, we met Juleniessen – a sprightly gnome who lives in the barns and really, really likes porridge. I think I like the reinactor style of storyteller better than the ones who just told about the legends of the country. God jul! The line was fairly short for Maelstrom, so we checked it out again. Finally spotted the Mickey in with the Vikings, thanks to Scott's zoom lens! We missed the China storyteller, but I did make a quick stop for bubble tea. It's an interesting treat – sweet, milky tea with tapioca pearls & chunks of jellied fruits. I got the chocolate flavor & quite enjoyed it. In Germany, they had a storyteller and a CM from Germany. They talked about the Christmas pickle - parents decorate the tree in secret and then unveil it on Christmas Eve. Somewhere on the tree is a pickle ornament, and the first child to find it gets an extra gift. We were also visited by a life-size Nutcracker after a quick summary of The Nutcracker Suite. La Bufanda in Italy was particularly interesting; I'd never heard of her story before. A poor peasant, she was astounded by the Star's appearance, as well as the Three Wise Men stopping by her home on their way to see the Christ Child. They invited her to come along, but she said she was too old and too poor to go with them, so they continued on. A group of people from her village then came by and invited her to go along, but she gave the same excuse. After they left, she thought for a bit & remembered the dolls she had made and some other simple gifts. She went back into her home to collect them and gather some food for the journey, but by the time she went back outside, the Star had faded. So she wanders the countryside in search of the Baby Jesus, visiting each household and looking at the faces of the children. She leaves gifts and treats behind, just in case she overlooks the Christ child. We missed the storytellers in the American pavilion – we figured we knew the Santa story fairly well (tho were curious if Coca-Cola & Haddon Sunblom were mentioned) and had already heard versions of the Hannukah and Kwanzaa stories during our tour. We didn't see the storyteller in Japan either, but did stop in the department store to pick up Japanese Yu-Gi-Oh cards as a Christmas gift for a friend. We got to France just as Pere Noel was coming out to tell us about the wonderful letter he received from a little girl in Provence. (That was a clever way to tell the story). She was a little mischievous, as she put out about a size 15 shoe for Pere Noel to fill with gifts! Another wonderful performance by a reinactor. The last storyteller we saw was in the United Kingdom pavilion. We caught the tail end of the troupe's performance of "A Christmas Carol", then a few minutes later, Father Christmas came out. A great jolly man all dressed in green robes, he sang some of the traditional carols and quoted Shakespeare regarding the Christmas season. It was getting dark, so we'd missed the last performance of the Canadian storyteller. This is also when I discovered that they're no longer selling beavertails. Sigh…. I'd only had them one time before, in May & was so looking forward to another! We were about worn out, but I hadn't been on Test Track at all, so we jumped in the single riders line & after about a 10 min wait, were whizzing around the pavilion. If you've never been on this ride at night/evening – it's highly recommended. Scott watched the Epcot tree lighting ceremony while I tried to track down a sweatshirt I really wanted at Mouse Gears. We'd seen it over at the American pavilion and at one of the shops at the Lagoon, but not in our sizes. A CM, Clay from Detroit MI, was incredibly helpful, even tho we weren't successful. He did get an SKU for me, so I could call the mail order number & try to get it that way. I made sure to fill out a comment card before we left the park that evening. Spaceship Earth had no line at all, so we visited it before leaving the park around 7:00. We headed back to the hotel & picked up a pizza and breadsticks… very very yummy! We even had a couple of pieces left over & were thankful once again for the fridge. We rested for about an hour, then took the bus over to DTD. This was going to be our big shopping expedition, so we visited the Christmas store and World of Disney. We dropped quite a bit of cash, but got lots of neat stuff. Decided to have it shipped back home (the shipping vs not paying Florida sales tax basically cancelled each other out), so we'd have something to look forward to upon our return to wintry Indiana. Bedtime was later than we wanted – Mileage was 19,429 steps = 8.80 miles. Last edited by Politzania; 11-05-2008 at 07:56 AM.