Poohshoney
<font color=6666CC>Ya-ya sister!<br><font color=gr
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2001
The players
Carol (41, British) dangerously Disney obsessed.
Roland (36, German) puts up with me somehow.
I wrote a WDW trip report called Mickey & US if you missed it you might have trouble with some of the references!
27 August 2002
`Hey up, Gromit! Shall we see whats on the wireless?´
Were big Wallace and Gromit fans but youd never have guessed it from my reaction to Wallaces dulcet tones (my alarm clock) at 5:45 am. Groan But hold on a minute isnt it my birthday?! And arent we going to the Europa Park for the day? YES!!!!!
A new world speed record for hurling yourself under the shower was promptly broken. The plan was that Roland would mosey in after me (he doesnt do world speed records at that time of the day) and wed be on the road by 7:30. I know, thats not exactly quick but we like to savour breakfast a healthy if slow habit - and both of us being contact lense wearers slows us down. I have piggy eyes at the best of times and finding my eyeballs at that time of day isnt easy. And we didnt make it anyway I hadn't allowed enough time for that great institution, unwrapping the presents! Did you get that? ENOUGH time I dont think I've had that many since I was five! For the Disney-afflicted amongst us (that should be everyone!) the pertinent presents included a Lilo and a Stitch from my friend Nancy oh wow!!! And then there was the L&S key ring and the Mickey and Pooh bookmarks more wows!! A Disney-heart rejoiced! Oh yeah and my beloved Aunty Doreen and Uncle Peter also included a beanie Tigger with their presents Aunty Doreens the one who gave us Mickey, our precious little friend. Wed decided not to take him with us today we were going to the Europa Park and its the home of a different mouse.
Now I dont suppose there are many of you whove heard of the Europa Park, I know I hadnt till my SIL and family went there a few months ago. They came back with glowing reports and as praise isnt all that forthcoming from my BIL, we decided it was worth looking into. Its near a town called Rust and is down at the bottom of Germany, near the borders of Switzerland and France (can you tell geography isnt my strong point?). If anyones really interested in what the park looks like, they have a nice map of it on their website europapark.de. If you click on the Union Jack it will show you it all in English. I know this because with my usual dedication (tactful way of putting it) to planning, I studied this and a few other websites until I felt like I knew what we were doing I like a plan!
The strangest thing about looking at the map was the feeling of déjà vu. I'll give you a couple of examples the parks divided into different countries; it has a `golf ball´; theres a Peter Pan ride as well a spinning teacup ride, a runaway train ride, a monorail See what I mean? It looks just like someone shuffled the Magic Kingdom and Epcot and a few of the bits dropped into Germany.
Back to Tuesday morning: we ate breakfast in semi-darkness. This was because the awful weather Germanys been having (and I'm so glad to say we dont live in the east which has been so disastrously affected) was in full swing. Thunder, lightening, the heavens were open full throttle. We watched the weather forecast and it didnt look good: they promised the same everywhere, no let up all day. We looked at each other and realised we didnt care we were going to enjoy today whatever happened!
We set off at 7:50, crawling along through the deluge. We turned the radio on so that wed hear of any traffic problems but what we heard was worse there was thick fog nearby, visibility down to 50 metres (for those of you who arent metric that translates as not a lot on a motorway!). I peered around anxiously, convinced it was going to sneak up on us. Only it didnt. Not only that but as soon as we cleared our area, the rain stopped. Ok, it wasnt what youd call summery but to two people whod been expecting the worst it was magic and we cheered! And do you know what our luck held. We had some very light drizzle as the evening approached but that was it we even had a little sunshine in the afternoon. Never trust the weather forecasters
Roland had anticipated bad traffic jams along the way but we moved along nicely. It wasnt a thrilling ride but I kept myself occupied with the bag of sweeties Roland had bought me if you cant make yourself sick on your birthday, when can you!
The park has just built a new motorway exit for itself so finding it was a doddle. We turned off, cursing all the other cars that were doing the same. Our states schools are still on holiday but we were hoping the fact that it was a Tuesday would work in our favour time would tell.
And then we saw it. Only it was minus the top six stories. We looked at each other and both yelled `Tower of Terror´! The park has two hotels and I swear, one of them looks just like someones hacked off the top of the TofT weird!
We parked in D49, only I remembered it as being D51 I've made worse mistakes. The wind was a little chilly, the sky a little grey, but it was dry and we were there!
To be continued
Carol (41, British) dangerously Disney obsessed.
Roland (36, German) puts up with me somehow.
I wrote a WDW trip report called Mickey & US if you missed it you might have trouble with some of the references!
27 August 2002
`Hey up, Gromit! Shall we see whats on the wireless?´
Were big Wallace and Gromit fans but youd never have guessed it from my reaction to Wallaces dulcet tones (my alarm clock) at 5:45 am. Groan But hold on a minute isnt it my birthday?! And arent we going to the Europa Park for the day? YES!!!!!
A new world speed record for hurling yourself under the shower was promptly broken. The plan was that Roland would mosey in after me (he doesnt do world speed records at that time of the day) and wed be on the road by 7:30. I know, thats not exactly quick but we like to savour breakfast a healthy if slow habit - and both of us being contact lense wearers slows us down. I have piggy eyes at the best of times and finding my eyeballs at that time of day isnt easy. And we didnt make it anyway I hadn't allowed enough time for that great institution, unwrapping the presents! Did you get that? ENOUGH time I dont think I've had that many since I was five! For the Disney-afflicted amongst us (that should be everyone!) the pertinent presents included a Lilo and a Stitch from my friend Nancy oh wow!!! And then there was the L&S key ring and the Mickey and Pooh bookmarks more wows!! A Disney-heart rejoiced! Oh yeah and my beloved Aunty Doreen and Uncle Peter also included a beanie Tigger with their presents Aunty Doreens the one who gave us Mickey, our precious little friend. Wed decided not to take him with us today we were going to the Europa Park and its the home of a different mouse.
Now I dont suppose there are many of you whove heard of the Europa Park, I know I hadnt till my SIL and family went there a few months ago. They came back with glowing reports and as praise isnt all that forthcoming from my BIL, we decided it was worth looking into. Its near a town called Rust and is down at the bottom of Germany, near the borders of Switzerland and France (can you tell geography isnt my strong point?). If anyones really interested in what the park looks like, they have a nice map of it on their website europapark.de. If you click on the Union Jack it will show you it all in English. I know this because with my usual dedication (tactful way of putting it) to planning, I studied this and a few other websites until I felt like I knew what we were doing I like a plan!
The strangest thing about looking at the map was the feeling of déjà vu. I'll give you a couple of examples the parks divided into different countries; it has a `golf ball´; theres a Peter Pan ride as well a spinning teacup ride, a runaway train ride, a monorail See what I mean? It looks just like someone shuffled the Magic Kingdom and Epcot and a few of the bits dropped into Germany.
Back to Tuesday morning: we ate breakfast in semi-darkness. This was because the awful weather Germanys been having (and I'm so glad to say we dont live in the east which has been so disastrously affected) was in full swing. Thunder, lightening, the heavens were open full throttle. We watched the weather forecast and it didnt look good: they promised the same everywhere, no let up all day. We looked at each other and realised we didnt care we were going to enjoy today whatever happened!
We set off at 7:50, crawling along through the deluge. We turned the radio on so that wed hear of any traffic problems but what we heard was worse there was thick fog nearby, visibility down to 50 metres (for those of you who arent metric that translates as not a lot on a motorway!). I peered around anxiously, convinced it was going to sneak up on us. Only it didnt. Not only that but as soon as we cleared our area, the rain stopped. Ok, it wasnt what youd call summery but to two people whod been expecting the worst it was magic and we cheered! And do you know what our luck held. We had some very light drizzle as the evening approached but that was it we even had a little sunshine in the afternoon. Never trust the weather forecasters
Roland had anticipated bad traffic jams along the way but we moved along nicely. It wasnt a thrilling ride but I kept myself occupied with the bag of sweeties Roland had bought me if you cant make yourself sick on your birthday, when can you!
The park has just built a new motorway exit for itself so finding it was a doddle. We turned off, cursing all the other cars that were doing the same. Our states schools are still on holiday but we were hoping the fact that it was a Tuesday would work in our favour time would tell.
And then we saw it. Only it was minus the top six stories. We looked at each other and both yelled `Tower of Terror´! The park has two hotels and I swear, one of them looks just like someones hacked off the top of the TofT weird!
We parked in D49, only I remembered it as being D51 I've made worse mistakes. The wind was a little chilly, the sky a little grey, but it was dry and we were there!
To be continued
I'm off to the next installment..............
