Telling Stories

As most of you know, one of our favorite things about Disney World at Christmas is the Candlelight Processional.  A 50-piece orchestra led by a distinguished conductor, a mass choir of approximately 200 cast members and high school groups from around the country, members of the nationally

Conductor Dr. John Sinclair

   acclaimed Voices of Liberty, a guest celebrity narrator reading the story of the nativity, a sign language interpreter to translate all that is said and sung…what’s not to love!  The narrators change every few nights, and though they all read the same script and most are very good, some are better than others. This year we saw 5 celebrity narrators we had had missed in previous years.

First up was Andy Garcia (The Godfather Part III, The Untouchables, Ocean’s Eleven trilogy), a fine actor who I assumed would do a splendid job.  Unfortunately we were greatly disappointed.  It wasn’t because he kept breaking into Spanish translation (though that does kind of break the flow), but more that he practically treated it like a comedy routine.  He kept talking about breaking into a dance, made little side comments to the choir behind him, and right before Silent Night he broke into a bad German accent talking about Franz.  We didn’t know if he was adlibbing or if something new had actually been added to the narration, but it didn’t make much sense.

A few nights later the narrator was actress/singer Jodi Benson, best known as the voice of Ariel in The Little Mermaid and Barbie in Toy Story 2 & 3.  What a contrast from Andy Garcia!  She read it with such reverence and passion, and as it turns out, there was a new section added to the narration.  When she read the portion before Silent Night, it finally made sense.  It tells how the song came to be written in the early 1800s in Austria. Jodi Benson truly did an outstanding job and is probably now one of our favorites.



Alfre Woodard

Throughout the rest of the month we saw actor Alfre Woodard (St. Elsewhere, Radio, Desperate Housewives), actor Gary Sinise (Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, CSI: NY), and singer-songwriter Amy Grant (Emmanuel, Baby Baby, I Will Remember You).  All were wonderful.  We actually saw Gary Sinise on Christmas Eve, a night we traditionally go to see the Processional when we’re in town.  No matter how many times we see it, we marvel at the beauty and majesty of the sound, the story, and the performers.


Gary Sinise

Amy Grant




Something else that has become a tradition for me is to take a day to myself and go over to Epcot for Holidays Around the World.  Each country brings their unique holiday traditions to life through decorations and Holiday Storytellers.  Though the telling of each tradition is only about 5 minutes long, there’s no real flow to the timing so that you can 

easily go from one country to the next without skipping around and missing some.  Though the first one didn’t start till almost 11:30am, I arrived early figuring I’d have to hassle with traffic and crowds.  Since I was early, I managed to catch the JAMMitors, a humorous trio of “park custodians” who perform live percussion using trashcans, lids, mop buckets, just about anything!  They’re pretty talented!

I made my way over to France for Pere Noel…even got my picture taken with him afterwards. I was trying to see some I hadn’t seen in a couple of years, so over the next few hours I visited Italy for La Befana, Germany for Helga and the Nutcracker, and my favorite, Julenissen and Sigrid in Norway

(below right) though they didn’t come on till 2:45pm and were the last that I planned to see that day.  In between my “scheduled stops”, I was able to enjoy the music of Mexico, the drums of Japan, and watch Reinhard create his hand blown glass ornaments in Germany.

In between I also visited America because though I had seen Kwanzaa and Santa Claus before, I had never seen the Hanukkah storyteller.  I know the story but the Disney cast members always do such a wonderful job, and Danielle was no exception.  Her presentation was held inside the American Adventure building, and

immediately following I found myself a seat there in the rotunda to await the Voices of Liberty, an 8 member a cappella group.  Dressed in period costume, they generally perform patriotic songs, but of course during the Christmas season they sing carols.  I just love listening to them!

As I was exiting the building, the colonial-era Spirit of America Fife & Drum Corps came marching along playing “Yankee Doodle Dandy”, stopping in front to perform their patriotic set.  I decided to stay and listen instead of heading to another country, and I’m so glad I did.  I had forgotten how good they are. 

Besides playing Grand Old Flag and God Bless America, they asked all the children come out front and lead everyone in the Pledge of Allegiance, and then we were all invited to sing the national anthem.  It only lasts 10 minutes but is such a feel good experience.

And speaking of feeling good, that’s exactly what Joyful! A Gospel Celebration of the Season does for you!  This muscial act consists of the group D’Vine Voices and their band who “blend gospel and inspirational songs with the sounds of R&B, jazz, and urban-inspired music”.  From the moment they hit

the stage, their high energy and enthusiastic performance had me moving and clapping along.  You could get worn out just watching them! This was my first time seeing an entire set of this extremely talented group. I was definitely impressed and planned to catch them again another day.