Ditching the Hubbies for Mousefest - Final Thoughts COMPLETED 3/4/08 - Page 10 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Day 3, Part 1: Yuletide Fantasy and Wandering the Resort
Day 3, Part 1: Yuletide Fantasy and Wandering the Resort
After a wonderful previous night, we slept in a little bit. We were going on the Yuletide Fantasy tour and had to be at Guest Services in EPCOT by 8:45am. We got ready and headed to the bus stop. I believe the bus fairies were looking down upon us because we didn’t wait long at all. After the bus ride to EPCOT, we made it through security and Tiff went to the window at Guest Services. We were told to wait over by the sign for tours and they would be along in a bit to get us checked in.
Carmen (a retired teacher who traveled all over the world due to her Air Force hubby) and Brian (who has been with Disney for 10 years in various positions) showed up soon after and began to go around to check our names off and give us our name tags. A cool thing about Brian was that Tiff had already met him on a previous trip. Back on her honeymoon, he was the photographer through Disney that they had booked. (Hopefully Tiff will chime in here and fill in the details!!) Another CM, whose name escapes me, passed around our headset devices.
We walked through Future World pretty quickly and went backstage to board a Mears Motor Coach. Once we got situated on the bus, they told us that the left side of the bus was going to go with Brian and the right side was going with Carmen. We drove around backstage to the World Showcase and walked into Germany.
Brian’s group was a little ahead of us and on a different channel on the headsets. As we were walking in and Carmen was stating that we weren’t allowed to take pictures yet as WS was not open, and they didn’t want us to capture any un-magical things. I, being curious, switched over to Brian’s channel and heard him saying they could take pictures as long as no pictures were being taken of delivery carts and CMs walking from one pavilion to another. Dang it!! I’ve always wanted to take some pictures of WS sans people and this would have been the prime time. Oh well, I was a good girl and kept my camera in my bag.
Carmen went on to tell us the German traditions that are now accustom in America, particularly the red and green colors of the Christmas holiday. They decorated evergreen trees with red apples. It was here that we were also told of the German tradition of hiding the pickle on the tree for that extra gift on Christmas morning.
After Germany, we walked over to Italy where we heard of the history of mistletoe. Carmen also told us a most darling story of the poinsettia. She pointed out how unlike in Germany with the reds and greens, it was decorated mostly with angels and gold trimmings and baubles.
Next, we made it the American pavilion and walked into the building to see the displays for Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. Carmen went through the different traditions and stories of both holidays. We then headed over to Japan on our way out of the World Showcase. Carmen briefly told us the Daruma doll and the painting of the eyes. The doll has a face with a moustache and beard, but its eyes only contain the color white. Using black ink, one fills in a single circular eye while thinking of a wish. Should the wish later come true, the second eye is filled in. It is traditional to fill in the right eye first; the left eye is left blank until the wish is fulfilled. (Gotta give my thanks out to Wikipedia on the exact tradition. I knew it had to do with wishes.)
We boarded the bus and joined Brian’s group. Tiff and I remarked quietly that we wished we were in that group. Not that we didn’t like Carmen, we just thought he had more of a flair that agreed with us. Anywho, we next headed to MGM (Not Hollywood Studios yet ). Both the guides started quizzing us about Christmas movies and how some of them came about. Carmen told us a great story about the reaction of Natalie Wood in the original version was real when she pulled the whiskers of Santa Claus’ beard.
We entered MGM from backstage and had a quick bathroom break before heading over to check out the Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights. We were told the story of how the light display became too huge for the Osborne’s neighbors to deal with the constant traffic. After the court order from the Arkansas Supreme Court, Disney came to the rescue giving them an option to display them at MGM. She also told us about the “Hidden Cat” that made it into the display because it accidently was boxed in the Christmas display lights even though it was a Halloween decoration. Of course, we were directed to where it was, which made it kind of a easy thing for us to find later in the evening.
We left MGM pretty quickly and headed over to the Grand Floridian for a glimpse of their spectacular tree and the gingerbread house. We were told we wouldn’t have a lot of time to spend here and we didn’t. I quickly grabbed a picture of the tree (Carmen is in the red sweater in front of the tree.) and then went over to the gingerbread house. I’m absolutely in awe of this display and the smell is just heavenly. Tiff got some good shots of the windows with Eeyore and Snowman Mickey.
As we were boarding the bus, they gave us a piece of gingerbread to eat on our way to the next destination. We drove back behind the scenes again and stopped at a whole bunch of warehouses, including the ones where they serviced the monorails. Of course, we were backstage, so no pictures. Anyway, we followed Carmen into this HUGE warehouse where they house all the Christmas decorations. Since we were there at the holidays, the majority of the pallets were empty. Carmen did tell us how the themes for each park tree and the decorations for each resort must commit to the decorations for five years. The boxes and boxes of spare ornaments were amazing. All in all, Disney does put a lot into decorating for the holidays.
After leaving the warehouse, we headed over to the Magic Kingdom to see the decorations there. Just as an FYI, this was a brand new tree for MK. We got some pictures of the tree itself and around it, but the time was slipping away from us. We needed to head back to the motor coach as the tour was ending.
Our ride back to EPCOT was filled with talking of Christmas carols and movies again. Once we arrive back at the EPCOT parking lot, we received our special pin for the tour and said good-bye to our guides. Tiff verified that it was Brian that was her photographer at that point as well. We jaywalked across the parking lot as it was a lot closer then walking all the way around to our bus stop for SSR.
Overall, I enjoyed the tour and am glad we decided to do it. Just to hear the different traditions of the holiday season and see where certain traditions that I have originally came from made the tour for me.
We hopped on our bus to SSR and got off at The Springs and walked over to the main building. We decided to head to Artist’s Palette for some lunch and using up a counter service. We made a quick run through the gift shop as Tiff was looking for an SSR type of sweatshirt and I was looking for at least a magnet for my collection. We both found something that we were considering but knew we would be back again.
We both ended up getting the grilled chicken Caesar salad with our choice of dessert and a fountain drink. We were given a buzzy thing and headed out to find a table. I love how a lot of the tables have easels with paper on them and crayons to draw on while you are waiting. Brought together that whole theme again. it! Our meals were ready pretty quickly and we devoured those in short order as we were pretty hungry. We had purchased our refillable mugs as well so we filled those up on our way out and decided to walk back to the Grandstands.
We really didn’t know exactly where we were going but after a few u-turns, we found the paths that lead us back to the Grandstands. We passed on of the quiet pools and a couple of barbeques that Tiff wanted to make sure Eric never saw. We made it back to room 9132 without an issue and decided to relax for a bit. Tiff passed out pretty quickly and I wasn’t far behind. Unfortunately, mine was meant to be a happy nap of 15 minutes. I woke up fully recharged and not wanting to wake Tiff up, I snuck outside with the camera in hand and decided to take some pics of the surrounding area.
I spent about 45 minutes just walking around and enjoying the surroundings. SSR is truly a lovely resort!! I headed back to the room and waited for Tiff to wake up. She woke up about 15 minutes later and we freshened up before heading to MGM for the evening.
Coming Up: Introducing Tiff to the “Winter Wonderland”!
A cool thing about Brian was that Tiff had already met him on a previous trip. Back on her honeymoon, he was the photographer through Disney that they had booked. (Hopefully Tiff will chime in here and fill in the details!!)
As soon as I saw Brian, I think I whispered to Dawn that I thought he was Eric & I's Honeymoon photographer. Back when we were married in 2002, Disney still had the Fairytale Honeymoon Packages. The package had tons of options to pick from of which one was a personal photography session at the Magic Kingdom. Brian was a spectacular photographer and we had such a magical time with him including personal photography sessions with the characters in Toontown Fair. We have a lovely photo album with all the outstanding and magical pictures he took that day.
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Tiff and I remarked quietly that we wished we were in that group. Not that we didn’t like Carmen, we just thought he had more of a flair that agreed with us.
Carmen was more of the by the book type where Brian is more of a jaywalker.
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She also told us about the “Hidden Cat” that made it into the display because it accidently was boxed in the Christmas display lights even though it was a Halloween decoration. Of course, we were directed to where it was, which made it kind of a easy thing for us to find later in the evening.
I already knew about the cat from Anita Answer on Allears and included a pic in my December 2005 trip report. Now how many here didn't know the story and have seen the cat in the past wondering why it was there?
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As we were boarding the bus, they gave us a piece of gingerbread to eat on our way to the next destination.
I think this is one of the few times I have ever had gingerbread and I am not sure that I particularly care for it. Though it might have been the icing stuff on the piece I got.
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The boxes and boxes of spare ornaments were amazing. All in all, Disney does put a lot into decorating for the holidays.
To me it was also amazing to see how big some of the ornaments are. I have seen the trees up close but once you take the ornaments off the tree without the tree as scale it is spectacular how big they actually are.
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We jaywalked across the parking lot as it was a lot closer then walking all the way around to our bus stop for SSR.
We had to get our jaywalking in since we were scolded and made to use the crosswalk earlier in the day.
I really enjoyed the tour also. It was neat to hear how all these different countries formed our American Christmas traditions and to see how Disney puts on their Christmas show.
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We made a quick run through the gift shop as Tiff was looking for an SSR type of sweatshirt and I was looking for at least a magnet for my collection.
I was also still looking for a mechanical pencil and once again was dissappointed.
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We passed on of the quiet pools and a couple of barbeques that Tiff wanted to make sure Eric never saw.
Ya Eric loves to grill out but I only go as far as a gas grill. The thought of him with lighter fluid to get a fire going... not my idea of pretty.
Loving all the updates chica! There were some things I had forgotten about during the tour.
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Anyway, we followed Carmen into this HUGE warehouse where they house all the Christmas decorations. Since we were there at the holidays, the majority of the pallets were empty. Carmen did tell us how the themes for each park tree and the decorations for each resort must commit to the decorations for five years. The boxes and boxes of spare ornaments were amazing. All in all, Disney does put a lot into decorating for the holidays.
We made it back to room 9132 without an issue and decided to relax for a bit. Tiff passed out pretty quickly and I wasn’t far behind. Unfortunately, mine was meant to be a happy nap of 15 minutes. I woke up fully recharged and not wanting to wake Tiff up, I snuck outside with the camera in hand and decided to take some pics of the surrounding area. 
Future Imagineer? 
Glad you had a great time on the tour 
And what beautiful pictures of SSR 
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