A Disney tradition now in its 40th year, the Candlelight Processional is a presentation of the Christmas story in readings by a celebrity narrator and music by a Mass choir and 50-piece orchestra.

The event takes place in the America Gardens Theatre in World Showcase in Epcot®. It is an outdoor setting and is not cancelled due to inclement weather -- the stage and performance area is covered, but the seating area is not, nor is it climate controlled in any way.  It is recommended you dress accordingly.

It begins November 26, 2010, and runs every evening until December 30, with three shows per night -- 5PM, 6:45PM, and 8PM. Shows are approximately 40 minutes.

Disney operators have begun to give out partial lists of narrators for the event.

• November 26-28 -- Isabella Rossellini
• December 7-9: Jodi Benson
• December 10-11: Whoopi Goldberg
• December 12-15 : Steven Curtis Chapman
• December 16-18 : Thomas Gibson
• December 19-21: Trace Adkins
• December 22-23: Brad Garrett
• December 28-30: Marlee Matlin

The show does not require a separate ticket -- it's included with your admission to Epcot®.  However, people begin waiting in line about 45 minutes prior to each show (longer as you get closer to Christmas) and I will say, in my experience, the people can be quite rude waiting in this line.  I don't know what it is about this event, but people are very anxious to see it and are not afraid to push and shove their way to a spot in line or a seat in the audience.  Also, as you stand in line for 45 minutes to an hour, you will be seeing the show that precedes yours, if you're waiting for the second or third performance.  We've actually been in the front of the line, seen the previous show and just skipped finding a seat for the show we were actually waiting on.

You can avoid the rudeness, seeing the preceding show, and standing in line for nearly an hour by booking a Candlelight Procession dinner package that comes with a reserved seat for the show.  You will have dinner at a select World Showcase restaurant, followed by the Candlelight Processional show.  No wait.  No pushing and shoving.  No unexpected preview of the show.  Disney began taking Advanced Dining Reservations on August 26th, 2010.

Due to the fact that the celebrity narrator plays a big part in the show, many people schedule their vacation and dining around which person narrates the show.  This also causes the Advanced Dining Reservations for the show to book, quickly!  We recommend contacting your Disney travel agent, soon to make your ADRs for this event.

Disney recently announced that they'd be extending the Free Dining offer through 2011.  This isn't just into January -- the dates extend into September of next year!

Available Dates: 10/1 - 10/7; 10/22 - 10/28; 11/12 - 11/18; 11/27 - 12/2; 12/10 - 12/21; 1/1/11 - 1/5/11; 1/9 - 1/13; 1/21 - 2/3; 2/11 - 2/17; 2/25 - 3/3; 5/27 - 6/2; 8/19 - 9/29 --- You must book your vacation prior to December 20, 2010 to take advantage of this deal.

Also, when Disney announced they'd be extending the Free Dining offer, they included two more discount travel offers.

1. FREE Gift Card Offer - Get a Disney Gift Card FREE when you book a 5-night package or longer Walt Disney World package. Book a Value Resort, get a $200 Gift Card; Book a Moderate, get a $300 Gift Card; Book a Deluxe get a $500 Gift Card; Book a Villa, get a $500 Gift Card. Book by November 21, 2010. Available Dates: 10/3 - 11/23; 11/27 - 12/25; 1/11/11 - 2/16/11
2. ROOM ONLY Discount Offer: This special room only deal is valid most nights 10/3/10-2/16/11. Some blackout dates may apply. Value Resorts - Save up to 25%; Moderate Resorts - Save up to 30%; Deluxe Resorts - Save up to 25% - 40%; Villa Resorts - Save up to 40%. Book by November 21, 2010.

Be sure to book with an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, like our friends at Destinations In Florida Travel to be sure to get the best deal possible on your Disney World vacation!  They even update your reservation to the latest, greatest discount offer -- even if you've paid for your vacation in full!  Then, you don't have to worry about keeping up with the latest deals; they do it for you!

The new restaurant at Epcot's Mexico pavilion, La Hacienda de San Angel, will begin taking reservations for after October 15th.  The restaurant will begin a soft opening phase in mid-September, but no reservations until after October 15th.

The restaurant will also begin utilizing "Flex Space" Disney Dining with the La Cantina de San Angel.  During the day, La Cantina will act as any other counter-service restaurant.  In the evening (after 4PM), it will become a full-service restaurant.  Both will move towards a more authentic Mexican menu and away from the old Tex-Mex style menu.

Additionally, margarita's will now play a feature role in the restaurant with many different flavors and a tequila ambassador on duty, every day.

Both venues will take one credit for the Disney Dining Plan -- one counter service for La Cantina and one table service for La Hacienda.

To make your reservations, contact our friends at Destinations in Florida Travel at info @ destinationsinflorida.com

"Blech!"  in a word.

We had the opportunity to visit the new restaurant in Epcot's Italy in early August, just prior to the official opening and were very disappointed.

The food was not very good -- we had one of their pizza's.  The crust felt like it was dipped in water and the taste left lots to be desired.

My six-year-old son wouldn't even finish it and he loves pizza!  Additionally, the service was not quite up to Disney standards.  It was very difficult to understand or hear the wait staff -- it was extremely loud and their accents were difficult to parse.

Overall, the physical appearance of the restaurant was very cool with brick/stone pizza ovens and an open-air style and brightly lit natural environment.

You can see the names of Italy's three main volcanoes, which each oven represents.

The ice cream we had for dessert was fantastic and my son gulped it down like it was water -- then again, how do you mess up ice cream?

Here's some more pics we took from the visit.

I really wanted to like this place.  Maybe it was the fact that it is still working out the kinks and we need to give it another shot.  What were your thoughts?  I know I've seen tweets from people that really liked it.  I would love to hear from someone that enjoyed it -- if for no other reason than to steel myself up to try it again.

Ever feel like you want to get out of the "World" for a meal now and then?  Maybe you're staying off-property and can't decide where to go for dinner.  Well, if you want to try something that's not a "chain" of restaurants and has amazing food and activities, we recommend Cafe TuTu Tango on International Drive, near Universal Orlando.

"Food for the starving artist," as the menu proclaims includes lots of small dishes, meant for sharing and tasting.  The Cafe also helps starving artists by displaying works of art throughout the restaurant.  Seems like something Walt himself would have done.  The artists also frequent the Cafe, so you may get the opportunity to meet one during your meal.  Our kids had the chance to make a couple sculptures, since one of the sculpture artists was in-house teaching kids to make things out of clay!

Their menu changes weekly, with small-sized portions meant to be shared.  Most items remain on the menu week to week, but there's always something new to try.  We ordered a variety of items, sure to sample the menagerie of offerings.

We started off with the best "tortilla" soup I've ever had -- it was so good we ordered a second bowl.  TuTu Tango calls it Sopa de Leon or Soup of the Lion and I gobbled it up like I was one.  Fresh ingredients and not over-doing any of them made this a simple delight.  Roasted chicken, chorizo, garbanzo beans, and manchengo cheese make this not-your-typical tortilla soup.

For "entrees" -- really the whole meal was just a bunch of appetizers -- we tried the Cuban Grilled Steak Skewers, Flame Grilled Baby Lamb Chops, and Carne Asada.  All of it was wonderful, but the Cuban skewers really stuck out as a top pick!

Juicy, flavorful, and on top of mashed potatoes unlike any you've had, before.

The kids even got a special treat with their meals, smiley face fries!

Just because it's grilled cheese, don't be fooled.  The kids could choose from a good variety of foods, also.....ours just both chose grilled cheese.  What can you do?

For dessert, we had the Cookies and Cream.  Chocolate chip cookies stacked with vanilla and chocolate ice cream; topped with hot fudge and whipped cream.  You can also try a house favorite, Banana Pizza.  Cinnamon flatbread topped with streusel, fresh bananas, banana-walnut ice cream caramel sauce and whip cream.  It looked delicious as it headed to other tables.

You may notice that we didn't have many photos.  Due to the artists work adorning all areas of the restaurant, we were asked not to take any photos that included their work.  Even if it was in the background.  Respecting this request, we only took a few pics.

If you go off-property or are staying in the Universal Orlando area, be sure to check out Cafe TuTu Tango!  It's an adventure for your palette and a treat for your eyes!

The new pizza place in Italy at Epcot's World Showcase will begin taking reservations on August 6th FOR Sept. 10th after a grand opening celebration on August 5th.  From August 6th through the September reservations date, the restaurant will be going through a "soft opening" phase where you can maybe get a table with a walk-up.

We've had a lot of questions from readers about this new restaurant.  Apparently, the official Disney Parks blog has received a lot of the same questions and here's the answers:

The restaurant is table service only, no quick service.

Disney Dining Plan is accepted (one point per person per meal).

The hottest menu item is the wood-fired pizza, and it comes in three sizes: individual; large with eight slices; and a “mezzo metro,” or half meter, that is 12 slices.

There is one menu for both lunch and dinner. Average check is around $23.

There are several vegetarian options, including the pizza Margherita, fusilli pasta in a Southern Italian-style pesto, salads, minnestrone and more.

If you want bacon and eggs or Mickey pancakes and dark colored water posing as coffee for breakfast in Disney World, you can go to just about any restaurant or quick-service location on property.  If you want to try something a little different and get real, actual coffee, Kona Cafe at Disney's Polynesian Resort may be the only place in the "World" to get it....well, at least the actual coffee part.

Kona Cafe offers some unique breakfast options, including a guest favorite, the Tonga Toast.  However, they also have some other options to challenge your palette, including the Samoan and Macadamia Pineapple Pancakes.

Let's start with the guest favorite.  Tonga Toast is banana-stuffed sourdough bread, rolled in cinnamon sugar and served with a strawberry dipping sauce that adds that sugary kick to an already sweet delight.  This is like French toast on steroids.  Not being a sweet lover, myself, I just had a quick bite of my wife's to try it out.  It's quite good, but also very, very sweet.  There's also a lot of it, so be prepared for a rich, sweet, and filling breakfast when you order this one.

To give you an idea of my breakfast preferences -- probably more information than you need, but I like to "set the stage" for my review -- I order the low-carb, extra meat meal when I go to Cracker Barrel.  In order to satisfy my morning protein requirements and try something a little different from the menu, I went with the Samoan.  The Samoan is poached eggs with Hollandaise sauce served over smoked pulled pork hash.  I've never been a huge fan of poached eggs and I could have done without the sauce and taters, but don't let the odd-sounding pulled pork ingredients scare you off from this one.  It was delicious!!!!  One of the best breakfast meals I've ever had.  Although it appears small on the plate, it was very filling, the pulled pork was as full of flavor as any Southern barbeque stand I've had the pleasure of sampling, and the eggs added wonderful flavor to the overall meal.  This one really blew me away.  We were specifically trying the off-beat options on the menu and thought I would have to suffer through this one, but I was looking for seconds after giving it a try.

Beyond the food, Kona Cafe is also one of the only places at Disney World to get real coffee, rather than that NesCafe stuff (I'm withholding my more "colorful" adjectives to describe NesCafe).  Take a look around the cafe and notice that coffee plays a big role in the theming of this Disney restaurant, including coffee beans and leaves for lights.

Kona actually offers a couple options for you coffee lovers, out there.  The standard fare is a Kona coffee blend of 70% Kona beans and 30% Colombian.  You can also get a 100% Kona coffee in a French press pot for $7-8, if you need the 100% stuff.  You can also take home a bag of the Kona coffee, but it will cost you.  $40 for a one pound bag.  Doesn't Starbucks have 100% Kona for like $10?  We said no, thanks.

We couldn't try the whole menu, so let us know your favorite Kona Cafe breakfast or give us your feedback on the ones we mentioned in our comments, below.  We'll definitely be returning to Kona for breakfast, though.  It was delicious!

Oh yeah, don't forget to say, "Hi!" to Lilo and Stitch on your way out!

Book Free Dining Before it Disappears!

This morning, Disney World did release the Free Disney Dining discount to everyone. This discount provides savings on your Disney World vacation starting from $490 for a family of four at Walt Disney World.

If you stay at a Disney Value Resort, you get the Quick Service Dining for free. If you stay at a Disney Moderate/Deluxe Resort, you get the Basic Dining Plan for free. The travel dates are August 15-October 2.

Mention INSIDERSGUIDE and save an extra *$30-100 off your package when you book with our travel partner, Destinations In Florida travel.

You also get several other benefits from booking with them!  Click here to learn more about these additional benefits.

Click on this link to REQUEST QUOTE from our travel partner.  You can also Chat Live with an Agent or Call Us at 877-918-8941

Sample prices include:
$1,843 for a family of four**, staying in a standard room at a select Disney Moderate Resort. That's like paying $77 per person, per day!
$1,440 for a family of four**, staying in a standard room at a select Disney Value Resort. That's like paying $60 per person, per day!
*Extra discount is based on your package total including tax.
**Based on 2 adults/1 junior/1 child plus tax.

This is one of the most popular Disney World discount vacation packages all year!  By the end of today, all available Free Dining Plan packages will likely be booked, so don't waste any time if this is something you're interested in booking!

You can lose a ton of money in dining at Walt Disney World, especially when you're tired from a long day at the parks, don't have an advanced dining reservation, and don't feel like going anywhere.  That never happens on a Disney vacation, right?

Most people break down and order room service out of nothing more than pure exhaustion.  I've been there and done that, but it's usually when I'm on a Disney Cruise ship.  Out at sea, the options for food are quite limited and room service on the cruise is free, except for the tip.

At Disney, you have other options.  Believe it or not, you can order a pizza (or any other take-out food) from off Disney property and have it delivered.  Most people don't believe me when I tell them this little fact, so I took a picture of a Papa John's delivery guy bringing a pizza to the Polynesian.

Instead of ordering room service, order from a local take-out/delivery restaurant and you could easily save as much as $50 on a single meal for your family!  If you're staying a week at Disney and order a single room service meal just 3 nights of your vacation, you just saved yourself $150 -- probably just about enough to pay for one of your flights to Disney.

The Neverland Club at Disney's Polynesian Resort is one of Disney World's several childcare facilities.  In fact, this is the largest kids club on Disney property (and the most popular).  Obviously, themed to match Peter Pan, kids can play pirates, Lost Boys, Peter, or Wendy and the boys.  Located right under the monorail at Disney's Polynesian resort, the location used to be home to a character dining experience, years ago.

While at the Neverland Club, your little ones are treated to a buffet meal, endless arcade games, cartoons, and toys.  Of course, like any child care facility, this comes at a price, but gives you an opportunity to have a "date night" on your Disney vacation.  At $11/hour/child (minimum of two hours), the cost can be significant.  Due to this, we recommend using the Neverland Club only if you're staying at the Polynesian or plan to have your "date night" dinner at the Polynesian.  This way, you're not paying for child care for you to travel within the Disney resort.

Neverland Club Details

• Hours: 4PM through midnight
• Price: $11 per hour per child with a two hour minimum
• Ages: 4-12 years old -- must be potty trained, no pull-ups allowed
• Menu: Pizza, chicken planks, mac N cheese, the Captain's fries, hot dogs, corn on the cob, fresh fruit and dessert. A snack of goldfish and juice box is served at 10:00pm.
• Reservations: REQUIRED.  Call 407-WDW-DINE or your travel agent to book the reservation.  24 hour cancellation policy.