A Hauntingly Merry Journey (10/17-11/8)-updated 11/18

[liamthompson]

I know this is disboards but would love to hear about strasburg and hershey! Currently thinking about swapping our disney trip next spring for hershey and am curious to hear your experience.

 

[suse66]

Joining in to hear all about the fun! You're experiencing three of my favourites; Halloween, Food and Wine and Christmas!

 

[mickey916]

I know this is disboards but would love to hear about strasburg and hershey! Currently thinking about swapping our disney trip next spring for hershey and am curious to hear your experience.

I will tell you all about Strasburg and Hershey very soon! I would highly recommend a trip to Hershey. We love it. When our sons were younger we went there almost every summer and they still request trips there every couple years. It's definitely more amusement park than theme park but it's really well done. If you're a coaster fan, it's awesome.

Joining in to hear all about the fun! You're experiencing three of my favourites; Halloween, Food and Wine and Christmas!

Happy to have you joining in! It was a lot to experience all in one trip!

 

[rdkeim]

Following!

 

[mickey916]

10/18 Two Separate Adventures​

After our late night, we slept in a little and then started our day by heading to the Shady Maple Marketplace in East Earl to introduce our sons to the wonders of this amazing marketplace. It truly is a sight to behold. It is a huge market with every imaginable food available. We, of course, were most interested in the donuts, which were actually recommended to me by a fellow DIS-er a couple years ago.

While my intention was to get 6 donuts to share, I was once again outvoted and we ordered a full dozen.



Starting in the upper left corner left to right, here’s what we ordered and our ratings: 2 jelly filled peanut butter iced long johns (very good), chocolate iced (just okay), caramel apple filled (very good), blueberry cheesecake (excellent), strawberry cream filled (excellent), cookies & cream (excellent), peanut butter blossom (very good), raspberry cream filled (excellent), blueberry fritter (okay, kinda dry), coconut custard (excellent) and lastly a second blueberry fritter, which we received instead of the blueberry filled donut we ordered.

These donuts were so fresh and reasonably priced. The dozen donuts only cost us $15.99. We shared 6 this first morning and the other 6 the next day. We expected to like the peanut butter ones best but surprisingly our favorites were the coconut custard, cookies & cream, blueberry cheesecake, raspberry cream and strawberry cream.

Helpful hint: Don’t grab a number at the counter until you’ve had a chance to decide what to order. There appeared to be a long line so I made the mistake of grabbing a number as soon as we walked up. Unfortunately my number was called immediately. I explained we needed a minute to decide but the woman behind the counter wasn’t wearing her “patient pants” so our ordering was a tad chaotic, with both sons chiming in on what to get. We intended to try a pumpkin donut but it got lost in the ordering frenzy.

After our sugar-filled breakfast, we drove to Ronks to drop off DS-27 and DH who planned to spend the day
exploring the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, across the street from the Strasburg Railroad and also do a shop tour at the Strasburg Railroad. For railroad enthusiasts the Railroad Museum is incredible. It houses many examples of Pennsylvania train equipment from early steam engines up to more recent diesel engines. If you’re a train lover this place is a must do. It is an easy place to spend four or five hours.

While I have visited this museum in the past with DH and DS-27, I was very happy to have DS-29 along so he and I could do something more in our realm of interest. Originally I had registered us for a walking food tour of Lancaster through Trip Advisor. Oddly though, two days before our trip I received an email confirming my reservation for a Greek Buffet instead of the Food Tour. I called the number on the email trying to confirm that we were in fact registered for the food tour and not a buffet. The person who answered was very curt and rudely responded, “the email was probably an error.” When I told DS-29 about this weird interaction he suggested we use AI to generate our own Lancaster Food tour instead. He pointed out it would be way less expensive and we could actually choose the foods we wanted to sample. So, I canceled my reservation through Trip Advisor and asked Gemini to suggest some places to eat on our own tour.

After dropping off DS-27 and DH, we drove to Lancaster. DS-29 and I started our tour at the Lancaster Central Market in downtown Lancaster. Established in 1730, this is the oldest, continuously running market in the United States. It is a large building with many different booths of vendors selling their produce, baked goods, meats, seafood, and prepared foods. It is only open on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.

We purchased our first item at Saife’s Middle Eastern Foods, a Meat Kebeh, which was a deep fried breaded ball of beef, onion, pomegranate and spices, and served warm for $4.95



After purchasing this item, we quickly discovered the only downside to this market. There is absolutely no place to sit. There are tables outside but they are reserved for nearby restaurants and a couple of benches. The market itself was wall to wall people so there was nowhere to even stand to eat. We finally went out into a back alley where trucks unload to enjoy our treat.

This was very tasty. It’s kind of like a hushpuppy or clam cake but filled with ground beef and onion. We both enjoyed it.

For our next treat we ventured over to a Polish booth and ordered four pierogies, two “jalapeno cheddar” and two “spinach, sundried tomato, feta” for $8.00. We had to wait about fifteen minutes for them to be cooked.



We found a bench outside to eat these on our “lap tables”. We tried to each get one of each flavor but I ended up with the spinach, sundried tomato, feta ones and DS ended up with the jalapeno cheddar ones. Neither of us have ever had pierogies so we can’t really judge their authenticity but we enjoyed them.

We stopped next at the Scandinavian booth, where DS purchased gravlax, which is raw salmon cured in salt, sugar and dill. DS has actually tried gravlax before and has even made it himself.



He really likes sushi and other raw fish delicacies. I wasn’t so sure I’d like it but tried a bite and it was very good. It had a very nice texture and flavor.

We picked up a couple of spring rolls next at the Thai food booth.



These were very basic, pretty much something you would find at any food court. They were not as good as the cheeseburger spring rolls from the Adventureland cart.

After snacking around the world, we walked around the downtown Lancaster area, stopping in the many unique shops. One store we visited had lots of dungeons and dragons type items for sale and even had elaborate rooms that could be rented out.



None of us have ever played dungeons and dragons but it seemed like a really cool place for people to do something like that.

After walking around for a while, we ventured down to the Southern Market, which was originally a market like the Central Market but reimagined in 2022 to have 13 chef stations with individual chefs around a central bar. It was like an upscale food court. It was a beautiful area with lots of ethnic food options and plenty of seating.



We decided to order from the Mekatos Eatery, run by a husband-wife chef team from Laos and Cambodia. It was a fusion of those two ethnic foods.



We purchased the Arepa con Carne and I got a Diet Coke for $19.95.



This was phenomenal, by far the freshest and most flavorful thing we had all day. The meat was so tender and full of interesting seasoning.

We highly recommend checking out the Southern Market if you’re ever in the Lancaster area. We had such a great day wandering around Lancaster, checking out the shops, and trying interesting food. We spent around $50 total and had plenty of food to share. The food tour I originally booked was going to cost $120 for the two of us, so it was a bargain!

Up next…reconnecting with DS-27 and DH, how they spent their day, and what they ate (spoiler: nothing as delicious as what we had).

 

[Wood Nymph]

After dropping off DS-27 and DH, we drove to Lancaster. DS-29 and I started our tour at the Lancaster Central Market in downtown Lancaster.

Your self-made food tour looks delicious. It was nice that your family could divide up on this day. I would have done the railroad museum.

 

[mickey916]

Your self-made food tour looks delicious. It was nice that your family could divide up on this day. I would have done the railroad museum.

It is definitley worth doing at least once. I do enjoy seeing all the trains but my knowledge of them doesn't nearly go as deep as DH and DS-27. After an hour or two of looking at the "pretty trains", I'm all set. DH and DS-27 spent about 5 hours there that day and would've spent more if they didn't go to the Strasburg shop tour.

 

[BellaBaby]

Glad to see your newest TR! We were in Disney 10/17-10/24 and attended our first MNSSHP, which we very much enjoyed.
However, last year we did our first MVMCP and that has the slight edge, as there's nothing like Christmas at WDW!
Looking forward to hearing about all your adventures including the road trip!

 

[mickey916]

Following!

Glad to see your newest TR! We were in Disney 10/17-10/24 and attended our first MNSSHP, which we very much enjoyed.
However, last year we did our first MVMCP and that has the slight edge, as there's nothing like Christmas at WDW!
Looking forward to hearing about all your adventures including the road trip!

Thanks! We've never attended MVMCP, I was a little bit wishing we had stuck around a couple more days to attend that too. I agree that Christmas at WDW is the best!

 

[hardcorestitch]

10/18 Two Separate Adventures​

After our late night, we slept in a little and then started our day by heading to the Shady Maple Marketplace in East Earl to introduce our sons to the wonders of this amazing marketplace. It truly is a sight to behold. It is a huge market with every imaginable food available. We, of course, were most interested in the donuts, which were actually recommended to me by a fellow DIS-er a couple years ago.

While my intention was to get 6 donuts to share, I was once again outvoted and we ordered a full dozen.

View attachment 1025607

Starting in the upper left corner left to right, here’s what we ordered and our ratings: 2 jelly filled peanut butter iced long johns (very good), chocolate iced (just okay), caramel apple filled (very good), blueberry cheesecake (excellent), strawberry cream filled (excellent), cookies & cream (excellent), peanut butter blossom (very good), raspberry cream filled (excellent), blueberry fritter (okay, kinda dry), coconut custard (excellent) and lastly a second blueberry fritter, which we received instead of the blueberry filled donut we ordered.

These donuts were so fresh and reasonably priced. The dozen donuts only cost us $15.99. We shared 6 this first morning and the other 6 the next day. We expected to like the peanut butter ones best but surprisingly our favorites were the coconut custard, cookies & cream, blueberry cheesecake, raspberry cream and strawberry cream.

Helpful hint: Don’t grab a number at the counter until you’ve had a chance to decide what to order. There appeared to be a long line so I made the mistake of grabbing a number as soon as we walked up. Unfortunately my number was called immediately. I explained we needed a minute to decide but the woman behind the counter wasn’t wearing her “patient pants” so our ordering was a tad chaotic, with both sons chiming in on what to get. We intended to try a pumpkin donut but it got lost in the ordering frenzy.

After our sugar-filled breakfast, we drove to Ronks to drop off DS-27 and DH who planned to spend the day
exploring the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, across the street from the Strasburg Railroad and also do a shop tour at the Strasburg Railroad. For railroad enthusiasts the Railroad Museum is incredible. It houses many examples of Pennsylvania train equipment from early steam engines up to more recent diesel engines. If you’re a train lover this place is a must do. It is an easy place to spend four or five hours.

While I have visited this museum in the past with DH and DS-27, I was very happy to have DS-29 along so he and I could do something more in our realm of interest. Originally I had registered us for a walking food tour of Lancaster through Trip Advisor. Oddly though, two days before our trip I received an email confirming my reservation for a Greek Buffet instead of the Food Tour. I called the number on the email trying to confirm that we were in fact registered for the food tour and not a buffet. The person who answered was very curt and rudely responded, “the email was probably an error.” When I told DS-29 about this weird interaction he suggested we use AI to generate our own Lancaster Food tour instead. He pointed out it would be way less expensive and we could actually choose the foods we wanted to sample. So, I canceled my reservation through Trip Advisor and asked Gemini to suggest some places to eat on our own tour.

After dropping off DS-27 and DH, we drove to Lancaster. DS-29 and I started our tour at the Lancaster Central Market in downtown Lancaster. Established in 1730, this is the oldest, continuously running market in the United States. It is a large building with many different booths of vendors selling their produce, baked goods, meats, seafood, and prepared foods. It is only open on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.

We purchased our first item at Saife’s Middle Eastern Foods, a Meat Kebeh, which was a deep fried breaded ball of beef, onion, pomegranate and spices, and served warm for $4.95

View attachment 1025609

After purchasing this item, we quickly discovered the only downside to this market. There is absolutely no place to sit. There are tables outside but they are reserved for nearby restaurants and a couple of benches. The market itself was wall to wall people so there was nowhere to even stand to eat. We finally went out into a back alley where trucks unload to enjoy our treat.

This was very tasty. It’s kind of like a hushpuppy or clam cake but filled with ground beef and onion. We both enjoyed it.

For our next treat we ventured over to a Polish booth and ordered four pierogies, two “jalapeno cheddar” and two “spinach, sundried tomato, feta” for $8.00. We had to wait about fifteen minutes for them to be cooked.

View attachment 1025610

We found a bench outside to eat these on our “lap tables”. We tried to each get one of each flavor but I ended up with the spinach, sundried tomato, feta ones and DS ended up with the jalapeno cheddar ones. Neither of us have ever had pierogies so we can’t really judge their authenticity but we enjoyed them.

We stopped next at the Scandinavian booth, where DS purchased gravlax, which is raw salmon cured in salt, sugar and dill. DS has actually tried gravlax before and has even made it himself.

View attachment 1025608

He really likes sushi and other raw fish delicacies. I wasn’t so sure I’d like it but tried a bite and it was very good. It had a very nice texture and flavor.

We picked up a couple of spring rolls next at the Thai food booth.

View attachment 1025611

These were very basic, pretty much something you would find at any food court. They were not as good as the cheeseburger spring rolls from the Adventureland cart.

After snacking around the world, we walked around the downtown Lancaster area, stopping in the many unique shops. One store we visited had lots of dungeons and dragons type items for sale and even had elaborate rooms that could be rented out.

View attachment 1025615View attachment 1025613

None of us have ever played dungeons and dragons but it seemed like a really cool place for people to do something like that.

After walking around for a while, we ventured down to the Southern Market, which was originally a market like the Central Market but reimagined in 2022 to have 13 chef stations with individual chefs around a central bar. It was like an upscale food court. It was a beautiful area with lots of ethnic food options and plenty of seating.

View attachment 1025616

We decided to order from the Mekatos Eatery, run by a husband-wife chef team from Laos and Cambodia. It was a fusion of those two ethnic foods.

View attachment 1025612

We purchased the Arepa con Carne and I got a Diet Coke for $19.95.

View attachment 1025614

This was phenomenal, by far the freshest and most flavorful thing we had all day. The meat was so tender and full of interesting seasoning.

We highly recommend checking out the Southern Market if you’re ever in the Lancaster area. We had such a great day wandering around Lancaster, checking out the shops, and trying interesting food. We spent around $50 total and had plenty of food to share. The food tour I originally booked was going to cost $120 for the two of us, so it was a bargain!

Up next…reconnecting with DS-27 and DH, how they spent their day, and what they ate (spoiler: nothing as delicious as what we had).

Nice market in Lancaster!

On that note… did you visit the Disney outlet not too far from here?

 

[mickey916]

Nice market in Lancaster!

On that note… did you visit the Disney outlet not too far from here?

No, I didn't know there was one, whereabouts is it?

 

[ddluvsdisney]

A food tour….Right up my alley! Haha
Looks like your tour was better than spending $120. My DH’s grandmother was polish. We have pierogies often. They are so good!!

Edit:That’s why I feel like I’m always saying pierogies and kielbasa on the what’s for dinner thread.

 

[mickey916]

A food tour….Right up my alley! Haha

It was really fun!

Looks like your tour was better than spending $120. My DH’s grandmother was polish. We have pierogies often. They are so good!!

We liked them enough to want to try them again!

Edit:That’s why I feel like I’m always saying pierogies and kielbasa on the what’s for dinner thread.

I feel like I'm always saying "salmon, green beans, and cauliflower", sometimes I do change up the sides though! To be honest, some days I think to myself, "oh I just can't say that again on the dinner thread, we'll have to have something else for dinner..." haha!

 

[ddluvsdisney]

To be honest, some days I think to myself, "oh I just can't say that again on the dinner thread, we'll have to have something else for dinner..." haha!

I feel the same way!!!
I’m just not a creative cook.

 

[mickey916]

DH & DS's Railroad Adventures​

DS-29 and I finished up our tour of Lancaster and headed back to meet up with DH and DS-27. Along the way we stopped in a couple huge antique shops right in Ronks near the Strasburg RR.

DH and DS-27 had a great day exploring all of the displays in the huge building and grounds of the Railroad Museum. Here’s some of their favorite photos:



For lunch they walked across the street to the Strasburg Railroad to pick up something to eat at the Cafe 1832. This is just a small counter service restaurant with a limited menu.

DH ordered the pulled pork sandwich.



He said this wasn’t great. He mentioned it was barely warm and didn’t have much flavor.

DS-27 ordered the barbecue chicken mac n cheese.



He also said this was just okay and not served warm enough. Both of them felt it was quick and convenient so that they could get back to the trains, but definitely not a memorable meal.

After their lunch, I had registered them for the afternoon shop tour at Strasburg Railroad. Strasburg RR’s shop not only performs all the maintenance for their own steam engines but they also contract out with other tourist railroads to repair and refurbish their engines. They do excellent work. A shop tour at the Strasburg Railroad is another must do for train enthusiasts visiting the area. After their shop tour they headed back over to the Railroad Museum to continue exploring until it closed at 4 pm.

DS-29 and I met them back in the parking lot and we went for a short sightseeing drive. It was interesting to see the crops all harvested. We’re used to being there in the summer when there are cornfields as far as the eye can see.

Eventually we stopped for dinner at the Casey Jones’ Restaurant at Paradise Station, which is also in Ronks and not too far from the Strasburg station. It’s a cute restaurant attached to the Red Caboose Motel where you can stay in a caboose. We’ve never actually stayed there. It looks very fun!

We have eaten at this restaurant before though and always enjoyed the food. You also get seated in a “train car” so that’s fun too.
I was not terribly hungry after our food tour so I ordered the Soup, Salad and Sandwich Combo: A miniature Ham or Turkey Sandwich, Cup of Soup and Small Salad. I chose a ham sandwich and the “Lancaster County Chicken Corn Soup” (more on that in a minute).

DH thought my soup sounded really good so he ordered a cup to start his meal. His soup came out first.



He proceeded to eat the soup without saying much. Keep in mind, he is about the least pickiest eater you could find. I finally asked him if his soup was good and he said “No. In fact, it’s awful,” He said, “It's barely warm, the broth has no flavor, there’s only a little bit of chicken and the corn is tough, cow corn". That didn’t bode well for my meal!

Finally my meal arrived:



He was right, the soup was bad. It looks okay in the picture but it was not hot and had no flavor and very chewy corn. The sandwich wasn’t any better. It was a hamburger bun with deli ham, an American cheese slice out of a plastic wrapper, and lettuce. There were no condiments on it at all, nor was I offered any. I tried putting some of the salad dressing on my sandwich but it didn’t help. The best thing on the plate was the salad which consisted of a couple not so fresh cucumber slices, iceberg lettuce, red onions and croutons. I left most of the sandwich and soup behind. Good thing I wasn’t hungry.

For his meal, DH ordered the Monte Cristo sandwich with chips: Sliced Turkey, Ham and Swiss Cheese with Dijonnaise on Sourdough French Toast and topped off with Raspberry Melba Sauce.



He thought this was just okay. He had recently had a fabulous Monte Christo at Michael’s Bridge Diner, which oddly enough is in Lancaster, Massachusetts so he had high hopes. Unfortunately this Monte Christo he described as average at best, not even in the same league as the one from Massachusetts. He also immediately regretted his decision not to upgrade to fries.

DS-27 ordered the Grilled Reuben: 8 oz of Corned Beef, Swiss Cheese, Sauerkraut & Thousand Island Dressing on Grilled Rye Bread.



He actually enjoyed his sandwich (and upgraded fries).

DS-29 chose the Shady Rest Shepherd’s Pie: Seasoned Ground Beef with Peas, Carrots & Tomatoes with a Demi-Glace topped with Real Mashed Potatoes & Shredded Cheese and baked to perfection.



He really enjoyed his meal and thought the added tomatoes were an interesting take on Shepherd’s Pie. So, overall we were 2 for 4 in enjoying our food.

Since DH and I are the ones who give the grades for the food, we gave it a D.

Up next..the evening is still young, haunted adventures to be had!