From the Sea to the World - Holiday Edition - Completed

[schmass]

I'm joining in! I'm looking forward to reading about your stay at SSR. We own there, but have never stayed there!

That is a great upgrade you got! When we sailed from NY to Canada there was a DVC discount that upgraded us to a balcony while saving money - that's the best feeling!

Oh, the Frankfurt airport - I will be there in less than a week!

 

[Flossbolna]

Looking forward to joining you on this TR

Signing up! I will be back to read everything!

ETA, OK I read it all! I love all the background and information. I can't wait to meet you! So many fascinating stories you have!

I think you have plenty of fascinating stories yourself! We will have a lot of fun together!!

I'm glad Michael's father got better. There Is nothing worse than an appliance going out Thanksgiving week! It's America's #1 eating holiday.

We are all very relieved that he is doing much better now!

Thanks to Publix and the just in time delivery of the fridge we did have a lot of food!!

That's awful you got such a migraine. I've never had one, bit everyone says how bad they are.

I had them for quite some time and then about a year ago I finally went to see a neurologist about it. I now have high end pain killers for it. But somehow since I went to see her the migraines have changed and are worse now...

I would have gone for the night at Vero as well. We aren't good in the morning really either.

Once I thought about it, it was the logical choice!

You started! I'll be back tomorrow to read more thoroughly and to comment!

Checking in. What a shame that you felt unwell for part of the flight and that things did not always go according to plan for the first part of your trip.

Corinna

I could not even admire the A 380 - I am still not sold on that plane... I know we talked about it. But neither the Air France one in May nor this Lufthansa one were any better than any other plane I have been on recently. My favorite is still the A340.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I could not even admire the A 380 - I am still not sold on that plane... I know we talked about it. But neither the Air France one in May nor this Lufthansa one were any better than any other plane I have been on recently. My favorite is still the A340.

You just need to try the right A380. Ours are nicer than any other aircraft I have been on. I am actually tempted to go via Dubai the next time I go to Los Angeles so that I can travel on our A380 all the way.

Corinna

 

[Flossbolna]

Yea! Another report. Off to read now.

Kate!

Target, my favorite store. I am glad you also enjoyed it.

I had so much fun looking at everything and I was impressed by the quality of a lot of stuff. I was so tempted to stock up on all kind of Christmas stuff!

Hi! I read your last report and looking forward to this one.

I hope this will be as interesting as the last one!

On board! Have enjoyed your other reports!

It is great to see readers of my past reports returning!

Yeah! New TR, so on board, now going back to read!

Karin! I think you will find my views on the new ship interesting.

Joining in!

 

[Flossbolna]

All caught up! (Thanks to a nearly broken toe, that "prevents" me from going to work)

Oh, so sorry that you are sick! I hope it is not too painful! Gute Besserung!

I really enjoyed reading along on all the planning - isn't it just interesting how things fall into place sometimes.

We were really amazed how somehow with everything that went on, this was the only way how we could have made the trip work and that was what we had booked before we knew of all the chaos that was going to come

So sorry to hear that you were suffering from a headache while flying - it is one of the worst things you can have.

It was pretty bad - the other really bad trip was the one when I caught a nasty stomach virus that started to be effective while on a train to Berlin...

But even though Michael's dad struggled with his health, and the fridge deciding to die on his family, it seems to have been a really nice Thanksgiving for you.

It was a wonderful holiday and we really think the combination works very well and might be worth repeating in the future!

Shopping at Target, hm, need to make a note of it. We have never tried that.

Yes, make sure you get to Target! Great stuff to be found there! Just don't buy cosmetics, they are very expensive! But then Michael always tells me that they are very cheap in Germany - his favourite store in Germany is the dm and he always travels home with a nice supply of tooth paste, deodorant and such.

Can't wait for the next installment.

Hope to get it up soon!

Thanks for the heads-up Magdalene! I'm watching!

Glenn!

I'm in! Will be back to comment further soon.

Mark!

 

[Flossbolna]

You just need to try the right A380. Ours are nicer than any other aircraft I have been on. I am actually tempted to go via Dubai the next time I go to Los Angeles so that I can travel on our A380 all the way.

Corinna

That might be true!!

Maybe you need to plan a trip to Tokyo Disneyland - at least Dubai would be kind of on the way there. That must be a long flight from Dubai to California?? It is already 12 hours from Germany.

 

[dolphingirl47]

That might be true!!

Maybe you need to plan a trip to Tokyo Disneyland - at least Dubai would be kind of on the way there. That must be a long flight from Dubai to California?? It is already 12 hours from Germany.

Hong Kong Disneyland works, too and I already have pencilled in a trip to Shanghai Disneyland.

It is actually not too bad. I would leave the UK at 21:00 and arrive in Los Angeles at 13:00 the next day. So it is 24 hours. It does not take us a lot less if we go indirect via one of the US airports.

Corinna

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

I've enjoyed reading along on your other trip reports. Joining in on this one too.

 

[Flossbolna]

Yippee!!!! (Not that I finished the last one...)

Liesa! Well, soon there is spring break for you, so you can catch up everywhere!

Count me in too!

Lisa

Lisa!

Nice to meet you!

Oh - Hello!

Hello there!

I am not sure he reads your comments...

I really like this picture of you! You look so happy!

Thanks! I was so excited to be back on Castaway Cay! I am really sorry that you are going to miss out on it during our cruise!

I secretly hope that this is a trend with you - not staying in the originally booked inside cabins….

That would be wonderful! Should be another 6 weeks or so until we find out.

I'm looking forward to this part as well!

I think I told you that I think we need to spend a few days there the next time we are at WDW together. You would really like it! It is more like the Baltic coast then the Cote d'Azure.

More things to look forward to!

Yes , more things that need to go on your itinerary for your next visit.

I felt so sorry for you when you texted me!!!

I texted you while I waited for my luggage, didn't I? It was so good to have something to distract me.

And I'm very impressed that both of you did manage not to talk for the whole drive

I guess I looked so sick that Michael knew I was serious. I was really impressed that he was able to shut up for so long!

And fortunately you even had company on the other side of the pond via e-mail, if I remember correctly

I did send you some of the pictures from the TV, didn't I? It was a fun morning!

 

[Malia78]

Hi--joining in. Your trip reports are some of my favorites so looking forward to this one.

 

[Flossbolna]

Reading the offerings on the beverage machine, one can't my eye. Wiener Melange?????

"Wiener" is the German word for "from Vienna/Viennese". And a Wiener Melange ist a coffee mixed with milk - generally also known under the name of cappuccino. Vienna has a very extensive coffee culture. Supposedly it was Vienna from where coffee was introduced to the rest of Europe. Vienna was under siege from the Turks and when they left, the people found the coffee beans. They also invented the croissant at that time as the bakers made half moon shaped baked goods to celebrate the victory over the Turks. (And I really hope that I did not get the Austrian history too wrong - don't want to give our resident Austrian a heart attack!) However, this Wiener Melange from the Lufthansa machine seems to be more what Americans would call "mocha" as it is mixed with hot chocolate. Here a mocha is a Turkish coffee...

Oh - and if you were thinking of the sausage, that gets is name from being called "Wiener Würstchen" which means Viennese sausage.

Joining in! I loved reading your Panama Canal report!

So happy to hear that people are following me from my last trip report!

I'm joining in! I'm looking forward to reading about your stay at SSR. We own there, but have never stayed there!

Sarah! We really liked SSR, but it is not the resort that I am longing to book again.

That is a great upgrade you got! When we sailed from NY to Canada there was a DVC discount that upgraded us to a balcony while saving money - that's the best feeling!

Those DVC discounts are really rare! You were lucky that you managed to get one!

Oh, the Frankfurt airport - I will be there in less than a week!

Hope you have a great trip! I prefer by far connecting through Munich which is a much much nicer airport. But I think the newly refurbished areas in Frankfurt are quite nice. The airport is just far too large!

Hong Kong Disneyland works, too and I already have pencilled in a trip to Shanghai Disneyland.

It is actually not too bad. I would leave the UK at 21:00 and arrive in Los Angeles at 13:00 the next day. So it is 24 hours. It does not take us a lot less if we go indirect via one of the US airports.

Michael and I really want to plan a trip to Asia and some Disney parks in the near future as well!

24 hour travel time seems still really long! But if you can get a comfortable plane for a good price (I assume there are employee fares), it might be worth it

I've enjoyed reading along on your other trip reports. Joining in on this one too.

And thanks for letting me know that you enjoyed the previous reports!! I love hearing from my readers!

 

[Flossbolna]

Hi--joining in. Your trip reports are some of my favorites so looking forward to this one.

And how nice to hear that you like my trip reports!

 

[Flossbolna]

Off to Rural Florida!

November 28:

Today was the day we started the Disney portion of our trip!

We had already packed the day before, so theoretically we were set for an early start. However, we were in no hurry, so it took some time until we really got started. We also had to make a stop at the post office as I needed to mail something and we had to get gas. But then we started our drive northwards. First we drove through one city after another. This whole area in Southern Florida is so populated. And in between there is a little bit of swamp left over. Very strange. At some point you could tell that the area started to become much less populated and we decided that before we were really out in the country, we should have some lunch and ended up with a McDonalds. After a short break we continued the drive and suddenly the landscape got far more empty. We left the highway to drive to Vero Beach and there were farms, orange groves etc. I really liked it! It was a bit quaint and less shiny than the populated Southern Florida.

It took us about 2.5 hours to drive up to Disney’s Vero Beach Resort.

There we parked the car in the check-in parking lot and went into the lobby where we were greeted by a large Christmas tree:

The lobby was really nicely decorated:

We had a very nice CM at check-in. We chatted quite a bit while she was setting us up. Before my very first trip to WDW I had read all about how wonderful CMs are at WDW and then when we checked in we had someone really grumpy and I was so disappointed. Ever since I found the check-in CMs mostly very average and not magical at all. Strangely enough we had someone really nice when we checked in at Disneyland and now again at Vero Beach. Maybe Michael is my good luck charm for lovely front desk CMs??

Our room was ready even though we arrived before 4pm! Yeah! The good thing about our room category was that the room was in the main building. And the main building (maybe also the other buildings?) has parking underneath the building. So, we moved the car underneath the building and from there it was an easy trip to the elevator to take us up to our room. Such a convenient feature! I know that Kidani Village has this as well, but there it looks so ugly from the outside. Here it was really so well hidden that you would not have known without being told.

First thing I had to do in the room was taking pictures of course!

The room was very pretty and in great shape, but I could not understand why the provide a miniature TV:

I have since heard that VB will get a full refurb in the next two years. So I guess they will improve the TV situation! I don’t even own a huge TV myself, but I think this was smaller than my iMac screen!

Our balcony did not have the greatest view, but we knew that this was the category we booked:

We had a room on the second floor and walking back to the lobby I took a picture from the Christmas tree from above:

I should warn you already at this point that there will be a good share of Christmas decoration pictures in this trip report. I thought it was fun how different the décor was for different places. And I tried to document the Christmas aspect of our trip with special care. First of all it was something special for me, but also because I thought that this would give this trip report an angle that is a bit different from any other trip report. So, if you don’t like Christmas decoration, you will have to do a lot of scrolling in this trip report!!

We only dumped our bags in the room and then went out to explore and enjoy the sunshine. It was actually not very warm that day and there was a strong wind that added quite a bit of wind chill. But it was sunny and far far nicer weather than end of November in Germany ever would be!

We first walked through the bar, the Green Cabin Room. It was very dark inside, so pictures did not turn out. They have a nice deck on the second floor overlooking the ocean:

We really liked the space and decided that we would come back later.

Our next stop was the pool area:

And then we had a closer look at the beach:

Lot’s of shade there in the afternoon. As you can see, it is also not a wide beach at all! I can imagine that it would get very crowded during the high season. But on this winter afternoon I thought it had a lot of charm because it was not this wide expanse of sand, but dunes with vegetation.

We walked through the resort and looked at the Beach Cottages:

These are the VB version of the Grand Villas and they look absolutely charming! The whole resort is not big at all. I think it was original supposed to be double the size, but they never built the second phase and instead sold off the land.

Up Next: The most magical butter ever!

 

[kid-at-heart]

Magical butter? Was it made from unicorn milk? So much fun to read your report and to have the opportunity to see the US from the perspective of someone from a different country. My mother's family is from Florida so we have spent many a vacation traveling around the rural areas of the state. Back country is very different from the big cities.

 

[Steppesister]

"Wiener" is the German word for "from Vienna/Viennese". And a Wiener Melange ist a coffee mixed with milk

^^^ I ummm... love your German slip up there.

 

[schmass]

Vero Beach looks like a really nice resort! The beach does look pretty tiny, though. I bet you are right that it gets really crowded when it's actual beach weather.

Looking forward to all the Christmas decorations!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

So, we did not get to try out the Magical Porthole, but I got to experience a balcony.

That doesn't sound like a bad trade-off. I'm fascinated by the magical portholes, though. Such a neat idea.

But then I remembered the DVC at Vero Beach and looked it up and saw that it is not that far from the port at all.

Brilliant!

We actually ended up getting a pre-cooked Thanksgiving dinner in a box from Publix that turned out to be very delicious! Michael’s mother was very sorry that my first Thanksgiving was so untraditional.

Not exactly the Thanksgiving we dream of!

My newfound love for extensive shopping trips:

We like to call it, "Tar-zhay", just to make it sound more sophisticated.

Maybe Michael is my good luck charm for lovely front desk CMs??

I don't know, but I'm sure he is willing to take all of the credit for it!

The room was very pretty and in great shape, but I could not understand why the provide a miniature TV:

Wow, can you even see the screen from the bed?

We had a room on the second floor and walking back to the lobby I took a picture from the Christmas tree from above:

The lobby is very impressive! It looks like a worthy part of the Disney resort family.

So, if you don’t like Christmas decoration, you will have to do a lot of scrolling in this trip report!!

There are people who don't like Christmas decorations?

 

[glennbo123]

I'm so glad that I didn't have to wait long for the Vero Beach portion of your trip report. I was eager to see what you thought about it.

Yes, the other buildings at Vero have underground parking also, not just the Inn. I agree with you -- Kidani's parking is a little unsightly. When I first saw pictures of it back when they were completing construction, I thought, "...but they're not finished yet, right?".

Glad to see pictures of the Inn rooms, I hadn't seen those before. They look nice, but yeah, that tv is small.

Look at those poor people...huddled together for warmth!

Wow, I never saw the water come up as high as this when we were there a couple of years ago. I sure hope that was high tide! That little ledge area was as far as anyone put their beach chairs; I never saw anyone go above that. And contrast that with the beach picture from the chapter I recently posted on my HHI report, where it looked like a loooong walk to the water (of course that was at low tide).

Yes, don't those cottages look great! I think it'd be amazing to stay in one of those.

All right. Looking forward to this magical buttah.

 

[franandaj]

Vero looks like a nice resort. I'm not sure we'll ever get there though, we're not beach people. We live in a beach town and never go, the closest we get is dining at a restaurant with a waterfront view!

I love Christmas decoration pictures! Especially Disney decorations! Bring it on!

 

[eandesmom]

Oh my goodness what a lead up to Thanksgiving, that sounds stressful for all but especially Michael. How lovely that a vacation was already scheduled, it was definitely needed!

I have never seen Vero at that high of a tide either. I don't know if there was more beach erosion since we visited or if that time of year, high tide is especially high but there was a LOT more beach when we were there. Looking forward to reading more!!!