The AP adventure - THREAD 7 COMPLETE!
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**DrDolphin** · 03-14-2005, 08:47 PM

Great start Cheryl - this tour is a definate must do for me in the future!!! More please!!

**2princessmom** · 03-14-2005, 09:02 PM

Great report! Can't wait to hear more! Love all the pictures and both you and Mark's spin on things.

I am sure Mark will never live it down that he caused a tantrum with chocolate. I hope he learned to never give out candy to a child again unless he is willing to spend the next couple of hours with them.

Tammie,
I saw your post and welcome to the boards. I think we all aspire to one day be in a trip report of Cheryl's!

**Colexis Mom** · 03-14-2005, 09:14 PM

What a great tour Cheryl

And how cool you got to meet Tammie as well

Great pictures! More please

boBmouse · 03-14-2005, 10:50 PM

Hi Cheryl,

I thought the same thing about the Yule Tide tour. It was not what I expected at all though it was very nice.

boBºoº

**chezp** · 03-15-2005, 03:02 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Well now that I have made it into a Chezp trip report, I will have to post more often. I thought Cheryl and Mark were going to think I was crazy (and maybe they did) but I did not want to pass up meeting them after reading Cheryl's trip reports.

Tammie

[/ QUOTE ]

Hi Tammie!

It's so

to see you posting - I hope we'll see many more from you in the future!

**chezp** · 03-15-2005, 03:03 AM

Friday 24 December – part two: how can it get colder as the morning goes on?

Next we moved into Italy and heard how their big celebration is Epiphany on 6 January. This dates from the time of La Befana, who was an old woman alive when Jesus was born. The wise men asked her how to find Bethlehem and she decided to head that way as well, arriving there in time for Epiphany. I think that’s the gist of it. Anyway, children get presents on Epiphany now which are from La Befana. We also learnt about the nativity sets, where the three wise men got closer to the crib every day and Jesus appears on Christmas Day.

Next, it was on to the American Adventure, where it was pointed out to us that the America of Colonial days wouldn’t have had a Christmas tree, because they weren’t really introduced to the US until the late 1800’s. We were also told about poinsettias and how to make their leaves turn red, something which I remember very well from when my mum grew them at home one year. They need 12 hours of light and then 12 hours of darkness. Trust me, it’s far easier to buy those things from your local supermarket.

Our next stop was inside the American Adventure, where we learnt about Kwanzaa, which was started in the 1960’s by a professor from the African-American community. It’s something I’d never heard of, but apparently it’s growing in popularity.

Then it was over to the other corner of the room to learn about Hanukah and the eight candles they light, one of which is used to light all the others.

From there, it was into Japan, which has no Christmas decorations, apart from one and do you know what? I’d never even noticed that! The one decoration is above the back entrance to the shop. It’s a rope which signifies the new year, as that’s the biggest celebration in Japan, not Christmas. Apparently, the aim is to have your house completely clean for the start of the new year.

At this point, I have to tell about the weather.

It had started off really warm and humid and so we left the room, just wearing T-shirts, although all the forecasts said that the top temperature would be around 60°F and they seemed to be claiming that it would get colder as the day wore on. OK, so we all know how reliable weather forecasters and I’ll be honest, we just didn’t believe it Well, as the morning wore on, sure enough, it got colder and colder. At least I had brought a sweatshirt with me, but Mark hadn’t and froze for much of the tour. Indeed, he was sorely tempted to buy a sweatshirt as the tour progressed, but he resisted. In his position, I’m not sure that I would’ve shown such restraint.

Anyway, the cold was not the only problem with the weather today. The other thing was the mist and fog. As you can see in this photo:

Spaceship Earth was barely visible from World Showcase. It was a weird sight and to be honest, not one that I’ve experienced before in Florida.

Our final stop in World Showcase was in Morocco, where again, of course, Christmas isn’t their main celebration. Instead, it’s Ramadan, where they fast for a month in daylight hours and ever after sunset, they don’t eat that much.

For a tour that’s only offered for three weeks of the year, the guides have to remember a lot of information. Speaking of which, we had two guides – Michael, who was quite young, and James who was older, but far more of a character. He has so many stories to share with us and it’s clear that he absolutely adores Christmas and has even adopted a lot of the traditions he talks about at home, which is lovely. He was a real character and made the tour for me. I think, if anyone less charismatic had been our guide, I may well have come away disappointed, as this tour wasn’t really what I expected, as I mentioned earlier.

After a restroom break, we headed backstage again, where the bus was waiting to take us over to MGM. On the way out, we drove past the rest of World Showcase. It was very surreal to see signs for China and Norway and I could see a fair bit of scaffolding on one of the backstage parts of Mexico. Then we went past Test Track (which goes through the backstage area, the problem is you’re normally going too fast to notice!) and then our of the park.

You should see the ramps at the entrance to the parks. They’re about three feet tall! There is no way that anyone is going to get in through the Cast Members entrance without a valid pass.

Next: where is everyone and gingerbread time at the Grand Floridian!

BritDisFan · 03-15-2005, 04:37 AM

The tour sounds good Cheryl, I can't believe how foggy it was

.

Karen

**Colexis Mom** · 03-15-2005, 05:33 AM

Another great update Cheryl! How great to learn about all the countried traditions

More please

Tara O'Hara · 03-15-2005, 05:50 AM

Wow, Cheryl, sorry about the yucky fog and cold but it was really neat to hear about Christmas around the World!

I really can't wait until this year to see this stuff firsthand!!

MickeyMAC · 03-15-2005, 08:23 AM

I really want to take this tour and your report is making me want to even more. Cheryl your trip report is awesome!

lauren-roxy · 03-15-2005, 08:57 AM

Great update Cheryl! I look forward to my fix every morning! Great pictures, I've never seen fog like that in Florida.

EeyoreNeedsLoveToo · 03-15-2005, 09:34 AM

Wow on the fog! although that is a very nice photo of SE through the fog!
Looking forward to more --

Joy J · 03-15-2005, 09:37 AM

Another great update, Cheryl! We had James as our guide when we took the Yuletide Fantasy tour and found him to be fabulous - informative and funny all at the same time.

Joy