Two Sisters finally get to go to WDW together! - TR has started!

SHOES!! YAY for buying shoes!! I just bought a pair of tennis shoes that I'm breaking in but I'm not liking them very much so I might return them and get a pair of New Balances!!

Love the sandals I have heard amazing things about the Teva Mush flipflops!! I'm still looking for a good pair of sandals...hopefully will find them soon!!

Congrats though finding shoes is half the battle and you have won YAY!
 
Love your new shoes! I'm so glad you were able to find some new comfy shoes.

The store sounds really neat. I love that you can actually test out the kayaks. Very neat!
 
Those Keens sneakers are so cute! I haven't ever seen those! I wonder if they have them at our outdoors store...hmmm....:rolleyes1

I can't believe your store has a pool to test kayaks! :eek: That is really cool though, I bet it's a lot of fun just wandering around in there.

Glad the return trip home was easier than the trip getting to the store-I know public transit can be convenient, but sometimes....:headache: :goodvibes

I really hope you are able to get a code, I thought I have read things about Disney giving discounts to UK tourists - so I don't know why they wouldn't extend that beyond just the UK? :confused:
 


Love the new shows and I especially love how excited you are about them. I wish I could do shoes like Teva's, but I can't do anything in between my toes :confused3

At the store they actually had Tevas that were very much like the Mushs, same bottom but more sandal like, not flip flop. It was called Kena. I was very tempted to get that as well!!

I've been neglecting my other trip report - it's like it's too soon and I don't have enough time for it. Which makes no sense, but there you have it. :) I have wanted to stay at AKL ever since I knew such a place existed. My husband is pretty much a monorail resort kind of guy, so being there with just the girls and my mom is a perfect excuse to try it out.
And I agree that standing still is harder than walking.

AKL is absolutely amazing. :love: I can understand the appeal of the monorail, but personally I preferred the busses for everyday transportation. The boat from Poly and GF to the MK however is the best mode of transportation WDW has to offer!! And arriving at Epcot by monorail is very special, too!

SHOES!! YAY for buying shoes!! I just bought a pair of tennis shoes that I'm breaking in but I'm not liking them very much so I might return them and get a pair of New Balances!!

Love the sandals I have heard amazing things about the Teva Mush flipflops!! I'm still looking for a good pair of sandals...hopefully will find them soon!!

Congrats though finding shoes is half the battle and you have won YAY!

Finding shoes can be difficult, hope you are successful! You will need them much sooner than me! :rotfl:

Love your new shoes! I'm so glad you were able to find some new comfy shoes.

The store sounds really neat. I love that you can actually test out the kayaks. Very neat!

The store is great, it really is a bit of a destination! :goodvibes

Those Keens sneakers are so cute! I haven't ever seen those! I wonder if they have them at our outdoors store...hmmm....:rolleyes1

I can't believe your store has a pool to test kayaks! :eek: That is really cool though, I bet it's a lot of fun just wandering around in there.

Glad the return trip home was easier than the trip getting to the store-I know public transit can be convenient, but sometimes....:headache: :goodvibes

I really hope you are able to get a code, I thought I have read things about Disney giving discounts to UK tourists - so I don't know why they wouldn't extend that beyond just the UK? :confused:

The store is very cool! Also the gadgets they have there are so fun to look at. They have freeze dried meals, different cooking pots, mosquito nets and so on. You really could buy everything for an expedition to the Himalayas! :thumbsup2

General public codes are no problem, I can book those. Actually every trip so far we had a code, so I am counting on getting at least something. :goodvibes But those special pins that are sent out to people I have never received. Disney is really strange in its marketing. The UK website actually has quite different prices from the US website and different deals. And I think you can only book on the UK website if you are from the UK. But I can book on the US website... But I can't order a planning DVD! Those are only available for residents of the US, Canada and the UK. I really don't understand that. Postage within Europe is not expensive, so why they don't let me order the DVD via the UK website I don't get. But it seems like Disney for some reason has no desire to tap into the huge German tourism market. Germans have by law at least 20 working days of vacation, but most actually have more, e.g. I have 29. Germans love to travel and spend a lot of their annual income on travelling. So whereever you go on holiday you are bound to meet lots of Germans. But not at WDW. Disney does not market its parks in Germany. Not even DLP!!!

Sorry for going off on that... :rolleyes1

I love the Keens! They are super cute! You have put thoughts of more shoe shopping in my head! :rolleyes1

Sorry for that, but isn't that how these PTR work... :lmao: I can report that I wore the Keens today for my trip to work and they were great! They actually are rather wide in the front of the shoe which I found very comfortable as I have a wide foot. And the arch support was very noticeable when walking and felt good! I am planning on walking to work tomorrow (about 30 min) in them and will report back!
 
Hi I am here! :cool1:

Great updates so far! It sounds like you and your sister are going to have a wonderful time! :woohoo:

And nice shoes - great!! They are super cute. That's on my list of things to purchase as well - the list is getting larger every day! :rotfl:
 
Joining in!! It sounds like you and your sister are going to have a great trip!

I hope a great discount comes our for you! We got realllllly lucky with the 4 and 3 deal last Jan! It worked out so well for us we were able to extend our stay! I bet good things will come out for this coming Jan too!

All this talk about the Tevas in making me really, really want to check them out! I'm trying to be good and stay away but I don't know how long that will continue!!
 


Hi I am here! :cool1:

Great updates so far! It sounds like you and your sister are going to have a wonderful time! :woohoo:

And nice shoes - great!! They are super cute. That's on my list of things to purchase as well - the list is getting larger every day! :rotfl:

Just read about your swim suit purchase, sounds like you were able to make the list shorter already!! :goodvibes

Joining in!! It sounds like you and your sister are going to have a great trip!

I hope a great discount comes our for you! We got realllllly lucky with the 4 and 3 deal last Jan! It worked out so well for us we were able to extend our stay! I bet good things will come out for this coming Jan too!

All this talk about the Tevas in making me really, really want to check them out! I'm trying to be good and stay away but I don't know how long that will continue!!

Welcome! I am quite confident that some sort of code will become available, it has always in the past three years, but the 4+3 was really fantastic. We will see what Disney will feel they need to do to get people coming... :confused3
 
Once again events prevented the Sunshine Season update (I should stop telling you about that, because you all will expect something spectacular about Sunshine Season... :scared:)

Ok, let's start at the beginning (as K will tell you, that's something I am known for, and she does not mean that in a good way...:duck:):

I am a curious person and one of the things that I find very entertaining are rumors about Disney parks. :listen: Thanks to a recommendation by the Unofficial Guide I a lurker on wdwmagic as their news and rumor forum is always very much in the know. It is a fun forum, filled with Disney geeks, or perhaps better nerds. It's not the pixie dust community you have here, but more nerdy for lack of better words. :crazy:

Two days ago a thread was started about a MK Fantasyland refurbishment which would alter the whole land. :faint: The rumor was more or less confirmed by a few of the regulars who in the past have proven to have pretty good sources within Disney. Interestingly this was supposedly ordered by “corporate” which seems to mean Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney, himself. While the people in charge of WDW did not want the project. This already sounded very intriguing.

Then, today at work I needed a break and checked wether there were any new developments on that rumor. Actually someone had just posted a blueprint of the planned refurbishment. :banana: Just after I had looked at it in detail I realized that the post which had the picture in it had disappeared. :scared1: The owner of the site said that he had to take it down. So everyone over there is now convinced that this was a real Disney plan! :scared1: Fortunately I printed it off to show it to Katharina, so I still have it.

If you look at a map of the MK, this would totally change the whole right hand side of Fantasyland (but all rides that are there now will remain) and Toontown. Toontown will disappear (only the Barnstormer remains, which is odd as it does no longer have a land), the train station will be renamed “Fantasyland”. The new area will also incorporate the old 20000 leagues under the sea area and even some area that is backstage right now. Dumbo will be moved to next to the train station and there will be two Dumbo rides next to each other, which also will have an interactive queue area. There is the Little Mermaid ride which is already being built in Disney's California Adventure. There will be new restaurant called “Be Our Guest”, so it will be Beauty and the Beast themed. There are a number of meet and great areas as well as something called “Aurora attraction” and “Cinderella attraction” which look not like rides, but perhaps walk-throughs with meet and greets and the end, as well as an extended Pixies Hollow It looks like there will be lots of interesting landscaping, the rumored name of this project is Enchanted Forest. The whole purpose of this refurbishment is to make Fantasyland prettier. And in my opinion that's needed very much! Especially compared to DLP, WDW's Fantasyland looks like a poor excuse! :rolleyes:

And to make my point, just look at these pictures :snooty: (even though they were taken on rather grey mornings):

FantasylandDLP1.jpg


FantasylandDLP2.jpg


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FantasylandDLP4.jpg


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Ok, so why am I posting this in my PTR?? Thinking about when will they actually work on that... :idea: Ok, I assume they would like to get started as soon as possible as it would be great to have the new Fantasyland in place for WDW's 40th birthday in 2011. So they need to get started asap. But Space Mountain is down at the moment, so they can't do anything until that is available again, because otherwise they would cut too much into the parks capacity. But then closing a chunk of Fantasyland and Toontown down for the extremely crowded holiday season does not make sense. So my guess is that they will do as much preparation work behind the scenes as they can do and then the walls will go up in early January!! So the big question will be: do we get to see Toontown and will I finally get a ride on the Barnstormer??? :confused:
 
That is interesting. It seems like an odd thing to be doing though when the economy is such a mess, and they are already cutting back on so many things around the parks.

I hate the thought of so much being shut down though. I would think that a total refurb. would be a very lengthy renovation.
 
That is interesting. It seems like an odd thing to be doing though when the economy is such a mess, and they are already cutting back on so many things around the parks.

I hate the thought of so much being shut down though. I would think that a total refurb. would be a very lengthy renovation.

Actually the people on that board have been talking about that now is the very best time to actually pour a lot of money into the parks for various reasons: 1) to be prepared with a great looking product when the economy is better, 2) make use of cheap prices for building works right now, 3) make use of the fact that Disney is actually doing well under the current economic climate and finally 4) Harry Potter at Universal Studios might make WDW look stale to the casual customer.

Also wanted to say that I got some non-sulfate shampoo and some non-silicone conditioner today, we will see how that works. I haven't got around to read much on the page you send me the link for, but I thought that's a starting point!
 
Very interesting rumor. And wow are your DLP Fantasyland pics pretty even on a grey day. I guess it will be interesting to see. I'm intrigued by a new restaurant - MK so needs a good table service restaurant. A bit distraught at moving Dumbo and apparently duplicating him? But overall I've been pleased with the changes they've made. So guess we'll wait and see. I'll definitely make it a point to explore Toon Town in Sept just in case!!
 
That is a fascinating rumor! I read what you posted a few days ago and I have been mulling it over and I think it would be great if they freshened up Fantasyland a bit. I'm all for change...in a good way. MK really does need another TS establishment!
 
Very interesting rumor. And wow are your DLP Fantasyland pics pretty even on a grey day. I guess it will be interesting to see. I'm intrigued by a new restaurant - MK so needs a good table service restaurant. A bit distraught at moving Dumbo and apparently duplicating him? But overall I've been pleased with the changes they've made. So guess we'll wait and see. I'll definitely make it a point to explore Toon Town in Sept just in case!!

DLP is really such a pretty park - and while I don't want to bash the French, it does lack the American charm of DL and WDW. From a European perspective, Americans always appear much more positive, friendly and customer service oriented. And that's the side of the Disney experience I really miss at DLP.

By the way, it was designed to look great even on rainy days. I think Paris has more days with an overcast sky than sunny days. That's why they went for rather dark, strong colours and the pink castle. :goodvibes

That is a fascinating rumor! I read what you posted a few days ago and I have been mulling it over and I think it would be great if they freshened up Fantasyland a bit. I'm all for change...in a good way. MK really does need another TS establishment!

Yes, I think the addition of another TS would be great. Supposedly there even is an empty restaurant in Adventureland that is unused. I never understood why they would not open that up again! :confused3

By the way, the plans for that new restaurant sound really interesting. It might have elements of a dinner show with audioanimatronics of the beast's servants that were turned into household items if I understand correctly. That's what the Tiki Room was originally planned to be in DL: a dinner show with audioanimatronic birds.
 
I have always loved the fact that the Tiki Birds were supposed to be in a restaurant. It would be GREAT for there to be audio animatronics at the Beast's restaurant. :cloud9:
 
That is so strange about WDW not advertising to the German market! Very, very strange... If you would like a planning DVD, just let me know-I'll order one and can mail it to you! :goodvibes

The rumor for Fantasyland is really interesting! I read just a tidbit on it in my RSS reader from Touringplans.com but didn't look into it. It certainly is a wise time for Disney to build being that labor and materials can be had very cheaply due to the economy. DLRP's Fantasyland is beautiful! I would love to see something like that!

In whatever happens, I do hope you somehow get to ride Barnstormer!!!
 
Flossbolna-

I followed you over here from Brook's thread-I too went and bought some Keens on her recommendation and hooked DH up with some too...:goodvibes

You are very lucky to have a sister...I was almost 5 when my brother was born and my mother tells the story that when she went to the hospital before he was born that I told her to only bring the baby home if it was girl...:confused3...I can't believe I said that-horrid-but I did always want a sister...fortunately I am happy with my brother now and my own daughter was thrilled when her brother was born...she is obviously a much more gracious child than I was...

The AKL and the WL are both stunning hotels...the lobbies are amazing...both they and the Grand Californian were all designed by the same architect and when you look at them-you can tell...

I think the Fantasyland at WDW could use a little refurb but I hope for you it doesn't happen during your trip...I personally like the one at DL in Ca. very much...-I like the Alice ride there, the Matterhorn and now they have the Nemo subs...:thumbsup2...Disney must be in a refurbish mode because they are also doing a whole overhaul to their California Adventure Park-which from everything I read about what they are doing-will be amazing when done...

I was curious about your feelings about DLParis-I've heard some people feel it to be the prettiest park...We may have have an opportunity to visit Paris next Spring for a week and I was already thinking about a least doing a daytrip from Paris or whether I should try to add a couple of days...:rolleyes: I'm not sure if DH would go for more than a daytrip since we'll have been in WDW this summer *next month- and I think his philosophy is that Disney is an American thing culturally and while in Paris we should concentrate on French things...maybe he's right-but its tough knowing its so close...

Anyway good luck with your planning...it is one of the best parts of the trip...:surfweb:
 
That is a very, very interesting rumor! It sounds like it would be wonderful if they did it!

You DLP pictures are BEAUTIFUL!!! Holy cow! So pretty! I'd love to visit there someday!
 
I have always loved the fact that the Tiki Birds were supposed to be in a restaurant. It would be GREAT for there to be audio animatronics at the Beast's restaurant. :cloud9:

I think if this restaurant would be themed that way it will be by far the mots difficult ADR to get, especially if you can also dine with Belle there!

That is so strange about WDW not advertising to the German market! Very, very strange... If you would like a planning DVD, just let me know-I'll order one and can mail it to you! :goodvibes

The rumor for Fantasyland is really interesting! I read just a tidbit on it in my RSS reader from Touringplans.com but didn't look into it. It certainly is a wise time for Disney to build being that labor and materials can be had very cheaply due to the economy. DLRP's Fantasyland is beautiful! I would love to see something like that!

In whatever happens, I do hope you somehow get to ride Barnstormer!!!

Oh, I really hope we will make it on the Barnstormer. So far I never yould be bothered to wait for it, but Katharina and I share a love for kiddie coasters as those got me riding roller coasters when I was 15 for the first time in my life! :goodvibes

Thanks you very much for your nice offer to send the DVD! I will send you a PM!

Flossbolna-

I followed you over here from Brook's thread-I too went and bought some Keens on her recommendation and hooked DH up with some too...:goodvibes

You are very lucky to have a sister...I was almost 5 when my brother was born and my mother tells the story that when she went to the hospital before he was born that I told her to only bring the baby home if it was girl...:confused3...I can't believe I said that-horrid-but I did always want a sister...fortunately I am happy with my brother now and my own daughter was thrilled when her brother was born...she is obviously a much more gracious child than I was...

The AKL and the WL are both stunning hotels...the lobbies are amazing...both they and the Grand Californian were all designed by the same architect and when you look at them-you can tell...

I think the Fantasyland at WDW could use a little refurb but I hope for you it doesn't happen during your trip...I personally like the one at DL in Ca. very much...-I like the Alice ride there, the Matterhorn and now they have the Nemo subs...:thumbsup2...Disney must be in a refurbish mode because they are also doing a whole overhaul to their California Adventure Park-which from everything I read about what they are doing-will be amazing when done...

I was curious about your feelings about DLParis-I've heard some people feel it to be the prettiest park...We may have have an opportunity to visit Paris next Spring for a week and I was already thinking about a least doing a daytrip from Paris or whether I should try to add a couple of days...:rolleyes: I'm not sure if DH would go for more than a daytrip since we'll have been in WDW this summer *next month- and I think his philosophy is that Disney is an American thing culturally and while in Paris we should concentrate on French things...maybe he's right-but its tough knowing its so close...

Anyway good luck with your planning...it is one of the best parts of the trip...:surfweb:

Welcome to my PTR!! :goodvibes What a sweet story about you not wanting a brother! But I think kids just have strange ideas. I was rather dissappointed that my little sister was not someone I could play with immediately but a rather useless baby. She is lucky that she grew up and became more usefull to me! :lmao:

I really love DL. I have only been there twice, but I think it really is a very beutiful park. And the Matterhorn was our favourite ride when Katharina and I were there in 1992. We admired the cast member uniforms which were lederhosen made from velvet! They looked so cheesy!!

If you are in Paris for only a week, I think your DH really has a point when he wants to stay immersed in French culture. There is so much to see in Paris! DLP really is very beutiful and great to look at, but as I said before, it lacks a bit of that magic. If you want to go, I would suggest to really concetrate on experiencing the eleborate theming and those rides that are better there (BTM, Peter Pan, Space Mountain and PoC come into mind first). It can easily be done as a daytrip from Paris as the commuter train only takes 30 mins or so. But it would be a very exhausting day and it would make your other days more intense as well because you would want to see all the other sights as well. I think there is much to be said for having more time for browsing french shops and drinking coffee or a glass of wine in a café (just be prepared for it being extremely pricey!!). I guess it really is a tough decision to make!!

That is a very, very interesting rumor! It sounds like it would be wonderful if they did it!

You DLP pictures are BEAUTIFUL!!! Holy cow! So pretty! I'd love to visit there someday!

I really hope they will do something to Fantasyland, to me it always seems so unfinished and small.
 
Last Saturday two friends and I went to the outskirts of Berlin, to Köpenick. This used to be a town of its own until it became part of Berlin in 1920. It even has a small palace which belonged (as a hunting “hut”) to the Hohenzollern, the family that were the kings of Prussia and later the emperors of Germany:

Koepenick9.jpg


Köpenick's old part is on an island and still has a very quaint feel to it.

But that was not the reason we went there. One of my friends had seen a report on local TV about a café there which specialized in old-fashioned cakes. And to go with the old-fashioned cakes, the owner had made the whole place old-fashioned looking, too.

I was really impressed with the level of detail she used to decorate the place. I felt reminded so much of the Main Street Bakery and that's why I am posting this mini-TR here. I am sure you all will appreciate it!

So this is what the main room loked like, even the waitresses had those white caps!

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And this is the cake display:

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As you can see these were not plain cakes, but rather fancy ones!

Every table had an individual sugar container:

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And these were our choices: I had a piece of “Frankfurter Kranz” I guess you might translate that into “Frankfurt Wreath”. It is vanilla cake layered with butter cream and with butter cream icing covered with brittle. I actually ordered only half a piece of it, so that's why it looks so small!

Koepenick8.jpg


Friend 1 had two half pieces, a blueberry cheese cake and the “house cake”. I only remember that it was covered in marzipan which I don't like, but friend 1 really liked both cakes.

Koepenick7.jpg


Friend 2 chose something which has an extremely politically incorrect name. It is called “Mohr im Hemd” (meaning a black person in a shirt) and it is a small chocolate bundt cake with ice cream and vanilla sauce. Friend 2 said that is was very good!

Koepenick6.jpg


Hope you enjoyed that! The rest of my weekend by the way was spent reading Harry Potter 6 so that I will understand what's going on on Wednesday!
 

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