From Europe to Africa in America - A Sisters' Expedition

[Flossbolna]

Liesa, thanks for the link! That was really interesting, and I know that we once talked about the quality of airline food and how Lufthansa is researching it (I think Katharina once passed a newspaper article on to me about this).

I was wondering how the fact that noise makes food less flavourful also affects dining at Disney! Lots of the restaurants are very noisy around there, so perhaps the food is much tastier than we think it is?

And I have to admit I'm not sure now whether it's my turn or Magdalene's to work on the next update...

We both have work to do: you got half an update from me to read and I have to write the other half... So we are both to blame!

 

[manntra]

Wonderful, wonderful updates!! Love that you both have new tickers!! How exciting!!

Very interesting insight on the German platz at Epcot. I have never heard t-shirts discussed at such length but now it makes sense and I can see what you are saying...especially in the grey shirt.
I am looking forward to trying the new caramel shop this trip. I have seen pictures of the apples and treats and they look absolutely delicious. I think it just opened in September so I will give you a full report when I get back

Tracy

 

[All7OfUs]

I think it just opened in September so I will give you a full report when I get back

Tracy

Yes, yes!! Tracy, I want a full update on this when you get back!!

 

[lovealldisney]

Just giving you a friendly bump. Patiently waiting I know Katharina is busy I hope all is going well.

 

[Flossbolna]

Those pictures are beautiful! I think Garmisch-Partenkirchen may have to go on the list!

Well, you see, you really need to come back! I am glad that you enjoyed my little side trip!

Thanks for the history lesson! I would not have known this!
Sounds like you had a nice evening!

It was a great evening! And I am really happy that everyone seems to enjoy my history text. I was unsure wether I ought to include it, but then I thought that the German point of view is what I can offer to make this TR be different from others.

I found a Bavarian flag for you (with the Bavarina coat of arms in it, it is an unofficial one):

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6b/Flag_Bavaria.jpg/170px-Flag_Bavaria.jpg

 

[Flossbolna]

As everyone else has said - fantastic update! I loved, loved, loved walking through the Germany pavilion with you two! I agree with your assessment on it as a whole - the same can be said for the USA pavilion as well. It shows a tidbit of the country, not everything looks like that AT ALL (as you well know!), it's the "pretty" side of the USA. And boy oh boy, the food choices in the USA STINK! I mean really....!

Thanks for the compiment on our tour of Germany! I guess it is the pretty side for every country, who would want to experience hot and crowded underground trains from London at the UK pavillion or the Scillian mafia in Italy???

I want to see it too Katharina!!! Drirndl, dirndl!

I am sure, once she is settled in in her new appartment, we will get a picture!!

Is this basically a fruit cake? Is it good?

Lebkuchen - gingerbread is mainly made from nuts. Here is a recipe:

Nuremberg Gingerbread
(Elisenlebkuchen)

Ingredients:
5 eggs
400g (14 oz) sugar
zest of 2 lemons
3 tblsp lemon juice
4 tsp cinnamon (ground)
1 tsp cloves (ground)
¼ tsp of mace
¼ tsp of cardamom
(or 5 tsp of spice mixture, adjust amount of spices according to taste!)
650g (23 oz) ground almonds or half ground almonds, half ground hazelnuts
100g (3.5 oz) candied lemon peel (finely chopped)
100g (3.5 oz) candied orange peel (finely chopped)
round, very thin wafers (like the host for communion), they can be made without, but then you would need really good baking parchment paper to prevent them sticking to the baking tray

Beat the eggs and the sugar with the mixer to a cream. The cream should be light yellow and very smooth. Add all other ingredients to the cream. The mixture ought to be spreadable. Spread it on the wafers, about ½ inch thick. If you don't have wafers, form little balls and press them flat on the baking tray lined with baking paper. Let the gingerbread sit for a few hours so that they can dry on the surface.

Preheat oven to 150-160° C (300-320° F). Bake the gingerbread for about 20 minutes. It will still be soft and moist inside, but dry on the surface. It can be glazed with chocolate or with a simple and thin icing made from 200g (7 oz) powdered sugar and 4 tblsp liquid (water, rum or lemon juice). But they taste great without icing as well. In an airtight container they easily keep 4 to 8 weeks.


They are delicious! There are numerous gingerbread factories/manufacturers here in Nuremberg and they already started baking for the Christmas season. One is on my way to work and every morning I can smell the fresh gingerbread!

So funny! Most Americans would never, ever, ever know! (and Disney bank$ on that! )

Same with the new caramel shop at the Germany pavillion - Karamellen Küche. The only thing authentic about this is the name, it is correct German. But we nearly don't have any caramel in Germany, no fudge, toffee etc.

My Mom has an old lace ornament - I'm wondering if it's from Germany. I'll have to ask her this Christmas!

Yes, please, I would be interested to hear about it. I would love to see a picture of it!

Completely fascinating!!! Wow!

I am glad you thought it interesting!

Those look soooooooooo good. Drool!

They are fantastic, a bit like the After Eight chocolates, but more mint. For some reason they are a staple at every airport here in Europe it seems. The shops which used to be duty free now aren't duty free anymore due to the European Union (no duties charged between member states), but they still sell perfume, spirits, cigarettes and chocolates.

We had the same experience with those back seats in September! Henry loved to sit in the very back and the weird temperature issue didn't phase him one bit. I don't recall that issue from previous trips - or maybe we just never sat back there??? Who knows!

I don't like sitting in the back because I have slight motion sickness issues (in cars, busses, trains and planes, but never on WDW rides.... ), so I never experienced it before. I guess Henry was short enough to have only the warm back and not the cold air.

Lovely update!


Show us the drindl, Katharina!

Thank you, I hope Katharina will manage to get a picture soon!

Drindl!!1 Drindl !!!!!

Hi Rosie, we waited especially for your return before posting a Dirndl picture!!

 

[Flossbolna]

Love the updates! It's great to hear the impression of the pavillions at World Showcase by someone who is from there.

I am glad you enjoyed them! I think people from the same country can have very different opinions. Being from Southern Germany, I really thought the buildings looked similar to home, but someone from Hamburg might not think so.

I loved your update especially about the Germany Pavillion. I love hearing history from people that have actually experienced it.
What is marzipan and what does it taste like?
DDs had a friend that was an exchange student from Germany and the only thing I can remember is that he called a cell phone a handy.

Thanks! Marzipan is made from ground almonds, sugar and rose water. A town in northern Germany, Lübeck, is famous for making some of the best marzipan. It can be eaten pure, it comes as a filling for chocolates, you can cover cakes with it and it can be made into little figurines. For example for new years day it is a tradition to give away little piglets made from marzipan. I would say the liqeur amaretto tastes like marzipan. I really don't like it at all....

You are right, the German colloquial term for a cell phone is Handy - and we pronounce it like the English adjective.

What a fabulous update! I loved hearing your thoughts on all the souvies in the German pavillion.

I forgot about the hot/cold seats, that happened to us once too. UGH.

I too would like to see a dirndl picture.

Kinder is the big thing for my kids, from Germany. I'm not sure if they have it at the pavilion or not but they love it! Especially the advent calendar and easter eggs.

I am glad that you enjoyed the update! I think I would have forgotten about those hot/cold seats, too, if it had not been for my TR notes! They are really helpful when you write your TR more than half a year after the event. Actually, I find writing the TR extremely useful for planning a new trip, I am sure when you can go back and read what worked and what did not, you are much better prepared for the next trip!

Wonderful, wonderful updates!! Love that you both have new tickers!! How exciting!!

Very interesting insight on the German platz at Epcot. I have never heard t-shirts discussed at such length but now it makes sense and I can see what you are saying...especially in the grey shirt.
I am looking forward to trying the new caramel shop this trip. I have seen pictures of the apples and treats and they look absolutely delicious. I think it just opened in September so I will give you a full report when I get back

Tracy

Tracy, thanks for the nice comments! We are both very excited about the new tickers as well and we realized today that we already are at the less than 5 months mark already!

Well, I guess we Germans are rather know for our diligence as has been proven by out t-shirt discussion!

Did you enjoy the caramel shop? While I really love caramel, I am a bit dissappointed about this shop. It realy isn't authentic at all! I think nearly all the things being sold there look more American to me than German. Personally, I think a fudge kitchen would be a perfect fit for the UK, Canada or the US... But I am sure the stuff tastes very good, it does look delicious!

Just giving you a friendly bump. Patiently waiting I know Katharina is busy I hope all is going well.

Thanks Wendy! It is always nice to be bumped! And now it is update time!!!

 

[Flossbolna]

January, 31, 2010

Once again we got up at 6:30 am to get ready for rope drop at the Magic Kingdom! Personally this is might least favourite park at WDW. I still love some attractions there, but I just like Disneyland in California and Disneyland Paris much better, they are the more beautiful parks. And possibly because I know that this type of park is not exclusive to WDW, it is less special? Still there are two attractions I love at WDW's MK which cannot be experienced like this in the other parks: Splash Mountain (which in my opinion is much better at WDW, but which was closed during our trip for refurbishment) and the Tomorrowland Transit Authority, which recently has gotten its old name back: Peoplemover!

Perhaps my slight reduced level of enthusiasm was the reason that on that morning there wasn't any nice sunrise to watch: it was gray and overcast and rather dark outside. It was also not very warm... I just looked up the historical data for Orlando and while the day before had a high of 75, this day we would only have a high of 53! Just keep this in mind as the rest of the day unfolds!

We were actually really getting settled into our morning routine by now and were very efficient in getting ready, but then when we realized that we still had plenty of time, we of course lost it again... We were at the bus stop just after 8 am and then had a really long wait for the bus, about 20 minutes, and got the MK at 8:40, so still in time for rope drop. It was not crowded at the MK at all, so it really did not matter where we had to stand around and wait that morning freezing... But we used the time to get some pictures of us taken:

Quite horrible pictures...

And a picture of the train station so that we would be reminded for the purposes of this TR what we did that day...

Since it was so empty at rope drop, we were not in a horrible hurry to get on Space Mountain, but took the time to be briefly amused by the soap bubble trash can:

Then it was off to Space Mountain – of course not without picking up a FP for later! I think Katharina might have had some grand expectations?? If I remember correctly she was laughing her head off afterwards at this kiddie coaster!

I don’t remember anything and deny everything...

I love it that they did a refurbishment on the ride and everything looked rather new. But it isn't the greatest coaster in the world. I got the front seat in our rocket and I love that, because it is much less jerky in the front and you don't see that a turn is coming up. But I think the other two Space Mountains are much better.

I really liked the new things to look at the exit ramp and seeing yourself in the various vacation destinations was rather cute. The onride photo on the other hand just does not make sense to me at all!!

Next we headed over to Buzz, which we both know from DLP. And Katharina is just much more a video game player than me: she had 3 times as many points as me!!

Thank you DH, for your Playstation I and Crash Team Racing which introduced me to this kind of games

We had a brief look at the Astro Orbiter, which I love for the view you get from up there, but it was way too cold to consider flying through the air! We really wanted to head into a nice and warm attraction! So we continued our touring in Fantasyland. We had fun with Winnie the Pooh, checked out It's a Small World (it still amazes me that I really go on that ride voluntarily now, after our first trip to DL in 1992, Katharina and I thought this was the worst nightmare of an attraction!). We skipped Peter Pan which by now already had quite a line and we could not yet get new FPs.

Another nice and warm indoor ride was just around the corner – so we got on the Haunted Mansion. This is a ride which I think is much better in WDW than in Paris because of the ghost host which is missing in Paris. I think there might be someone talking to you in French, but I don't understand that, so any humor is lost on me there.

Our next stop was Big Thunder Mountain, where we got another set of FPs. And afterwards we were getting hungry, so we headed to Peco Bill for a hamburger. It was only 10:45 at that time, but we only had shared one bagel between the two of us for breakfast and we were just miserable because we were so cold all the time. So getting some hot food sounded like a good plan.

We got one cheeseburger without the cheese to share and lots of toppings, as well as two hot teas (which in my opinion were extremely overpriced at 2.09 each):

When we sat down Katharina and I had the first not so magical moment of the trip. I think we were both rather grumpy from being cold and hungry and we got into a stupid argument on how to arrange the food so that we could cut the burger in half. Pretty silly, wasn't it? Luckily we have known each other for long enough that a short outburst of unfriendlyness wouldn't go away very fast!

Nothing to add here, so true...

We also shared the first package of our Japanese fruit gummies – pineapple. They were pretty artificial and I think neither of us would buy those again... However there were some other Japanese candy which will feature at a later point in this TR!

We really were not looking forward to get outside again into the cold... So what is the nearest indoor attraction to Peco's? Pirates of the Caribbean of course! It was nicely toasty in there with all the fire burning! Our boat was stopped for quite some time at the end, but we really did not mind too much, we were enjoying being warm! Outside we were freezing again and we realized that we needed more fuel, one hamburger shared between the two of us wasn't really enough. So we decided that it was time to try one of the famous WDW snacks we read about on these boards. This one was to be served warm (very appealing to us on that day!) and came highly recommended by Brookelizabeth. Some my already have an idea what it might be: Casey's corndog nuggets.

So at 11:53 am we had our second lunch of the day. We shared one cup of corndog nuggets:

We did eat them with mustard, perhaps that was not the right way? They were really fresh and warm. But we could not really get used to the taste of them. What a strange combination of the sweet corn dough on the outside and then the mini hot dog inside. Also the mini hot dog did not live up to our standards. You see, we come from the country which invented these sausages!! And for us they tasted like canned sausages, not fresh ones... I know that Liesa once posted a recipe for making them at home and I think Katharina and I need to try this once with real sausages from a German butcher! But possibly, they just are too ethnic for us!!

Casey's was very crowded (due to others wanting to stay in a heated room as well...), but it has fun theming:

Our original plan had been to go back to Space Mountain to use our FPs. But we really did not want to spend more time walking around a freezing MK!! So we decided to slowly leave the MK by shopping through Main Street. And since we just had some savoury food, we thought something sweet would compliment the corn dog nuggets very well. Our next stop was therefore the Main Street bakery where we purchased our food at 12:10 pm! Three meals in 1.5 hours... Even though a lot of things looked good, I had known that I really wanted to try that cinnamon roll that they sell there since I love cinnamon. Luckily Katharina had the same plan, so another food item was shared between the two of us. We also thought about getting a coffee, but both of us felt that a whole cup was to much. We would not have had a problem just sharing a drink form the same cup if there wasn't the problem of milk: I can't drink coffee without it and Katharina can't drink milk due to her food intolerances. Truth be told, I ‘m sure there was milk in the cinnamon roll as well, but it still helps to cut down as much as possible on the milk... So I had the brilliant idea to order a cup of coffee and an additional cup and it worked perfectly!! I really loved how much you can actually adjust Disney meals to your needs by asking for additional cups (perhaps I should have asked for an additional plate for sharing the burger as well...) or for saving money by getting a single burger instead of the double burger etc. Ok, I guess all of you would like to see our lovely pastry:

And here you can see that all this good food really helped to cheer us up!

Even the Citizens of Main Street decided to spend time inside and entertained us for a bit. I really enjoyed that and I think I must spend more time hanging out on Main Street on my next trip. But this just wasn't the day for it. We also got a brief glimpse of the Celebrate parade which seemed nice, but we aren't parade people on the best of days. I tried to find a t-shirt at the Emporium and Katharina waited patiently while I tried them on, but none of them did suit me, so nothing was purchased.

However, I decided that we needed some photopass pictures before leaving the park!

More horrible pictures....

And asked for one with the balloons, which we got! In case you don't notice, I am desperately holding Katharina down because she would otherwise fly away since she is so skinny and I am so heavy!!

So in the end, we left the park to head back to our resort...


Next: Chapter 22: Where is the magic today?

 

[Flossbolna]

Some of you know already, but since it is now all signed and I am just waiting around, I thought, I'd share this with you as well. I know all of you will get why I am so excited:

I signed a contract on a DVC resale for Boardwalk Villas!

I paid my deposit and now the contract has been submitted to Disney, so they can decide wether they want to make use of their right of first refusal. That should take about three weeks and then closing can happen which then ought to be sometime at the beginning of December at the latest. This is all very exciting to me, not only because I am thrilled about the result, but also because it means more or less buying real estate in a foreign country - and I can tell you from a German lawyer's perspective, things are done very bizarrely in US law!! Well, mainly it is just a different system (which appears to work fine, though), it's like learning a different language.

Of course, it might be that Disney wants to buy this contract and then I would have to start all over again. But otherwise I might be a DVC member just in time to make a reservation when the 11-months reservation opens for my birthday in 2011 which I intend to spend in WDW. If I have to turn 40, I want to do it with the Magic Kingdom which is just one month and 5 days older than me!

When I started thinking about it, I asked Katharina wether she would think I was crazy if I bought DVC and her reply was: "I have been wondering for a long time, why you don't own DVC yet!"

My parents are also intrigued, but happy for me, and while they still have no desire to travel so far to experience WDW, I showed them the planning DVD. They decided that WDW was too crowded for them and the people were too happy/smiley there all the time. But I loved my father's comment when the DVD explained AK and there were dinosaurs - he said that he was only interested in one thing about dinosaurs: How would a dinosaur t-bone steak taste? We agreed that it would probably taste like chicken!

 

[MRYPPNS]

Sounds like you made the best of a chilly morning....rides , eating and shopping!

Congrats on your pending DVC purchase....how exciting!!

 

[tiggrbaby]

Some of you know already, but since it is now all signed and I am just waiting around, I thought, I'd share this with you as well. I know all of you will get why I am so excited:

I signed a contract on a DVC resale for Boardwalk Villas!

I paid my deposit and now the contract has been submitted to Disney, so they can decide wether they want to make use of their right of first refusal. That should take about three weeks and then closing can happen which then ought to be sometime at the beginning of December at the latest. This is all very exciting to me, not only because I am thrilled about the result, but also because it means more or less buying real estate in a foreign country - and I can tell you from a German lawyer's perspective, things are done very bizarrely in US law!! Well, mainly it is just a different system (which appears to work fine, though), it's like learning a different language.

Of course, it might be that Disney wants to buy this contract and then I would have to start all over again. But otherwise I might be a DVC member just in time to make a reservation when the 11-months reservation opens for my birthday in 2011 which I intend to spend in WDW. If I have to turn 40, I want to do it with the Magic Kingdom which is just one month and 5 days older than me!

When I started thinking about it, I asked Katharina wether she would think I was crazy if I bought DVC and her reply was: "I have been wondering for a long time, why you don't own DVC yet!"

My parents are also intrigued, but happy for me, and while they still have no desire to travel so far to experience WDW, I showed them the planning DVD. They decided that WDW was too crowded for them and the people were too happy/smiley there all the time. But I loved my father's comment when the DVD explained AK and there were dinosaurs - he said that he was only interested in one thing about dinosaurs: How would a dinosaur t-bone steak taste? We agreed that it would probably taste like chicken!

How exciting!!! What a dream come true! Congrats!

 

[jedijill]

Welcome Home!

Jill in CO

 

[Minnie&Nana]

Oh my goodness, how exciting!! Congratulations on the pending DVC purchase...and at my favorite DVC resort! Will be waiting to hear the good news from Disney on a few weeks.

Well, have a quite a lot of catching up to do, but very much enjoying the latest additions, especially your thoughts on the Germany Pavilion, which is my personal favorite .

By the way, I prefer DL MK as well - it is so pretty and being the original, holds something special for me. Hopefully will one day visit DLPR and be able to compare that one too.

 

[RachelTori]

That is fantastic news about BWV!!! Here's some pixiedust that everything goes through and we will see you again soon at WDW!!!

Welcome Home!

 

[Flossbolna]

Sounds like you made the best of a chilly morning....rides , eating and shopping!

Congrats on your pending DVC purchase....how exciting!!

Yes, we did. I think for the first time at WDW I realized what it must be like in the summer when you don't want to be outside because of the heat!

Yes, I am very excited about DVC as well! Now I just have to sit around and wait!!

How exciting!!! What a dream come true! Congrats!

Thank you! I still can't believe that I decided to do it!

Welcome Home!

Jill in CO

Thank you! It's funny, I was thinking the other day, that this slogan now really applies to me!

Oh my goodness, how exciting!! Congratulations on the pending DVC purchase...and at my favorite DVC resort! Will be waiting to hear the good news from Disney on a few weeks.

Well, have a quite a lot of catching up to do, but very much enjoying the latest additions, especially your thoughts on the Germany Pavilion, which is my personal favorite .

By the way, I prefer DL MK as well - it is so pretty and being the original, holds something special for me. Hopefully will one day visit DLPR and be able to compare that one too.

I was thinking a lot about where to buy, but BMV is cheaper than others in resale and it is a resort where I can imagine to stay often. So it made sense to buy there - even though I am a bit scared because I never stayed there before.

I am glad you enjoyed our walking tour of Epcot. It was really a lot of fun writing it up!

DL and DLRP both have more magic to me. I think the new Fantasyland at WDW will bring a bit of that magic to WDW as well!

That is fantastic news about BWV!!! Here's some pixiedust that everything goes through and we will see you again soon at WDW!!!

Welcome Home!

Thank you!! I must admit that I feel a bit guilty that I did not buy at AKL, but I just could not justify to spend about 10 $ more per point. Also, I think the more often I will be at WDW, the more I will enjoy spending time at the resort and while AK has a lot to offer, I am just more a person who enjoys lots of activity around than quiet. So BWV had a bit more appeal to me. But I do hope to be able to use my points regularly at AKL as well!!

 

[lovealldisney]

There will be a dirndl picture, but I guess only after we moved, I just don't have the time and energy to get dressed up and our old flat right now is no place to take pictures in

And I have to admit I'm not sure now whether it's my turn or Magdalene's to work on the next update...

Yes we all are waiting anxiously for the dirndl picture.

Lebkuchen - gingerbread is mainly made from nuts. Here is a recipe:

Nuremberg Gingerbread
(Elisenlebkuchen)

Ingredients:
5 eggs
400g (14 oz) sugar
zest of 2 lemons
3 tblsp lemon juice
4 tsp cinnamon (ground)
1 tsp cloves (ground)
¼ tsp of mace
¼ tsp of cardamom
(or 5 tsp of spice mixture, adjust amount of spices according to taste!)
650g (23 oz) ground almonds or half ground almonds, half ground hazelnuts
100g (3.5 oz) candied lemon peel (finely chopped)
100g (3.5 oz) candied orange peel (finely chopped)
round, very thin wafers (like the host for communion), they can be made without, but then you would need really good baking parchment paper to prevent them sticking to the baking tray

Beat the eggs and the sugar with the mixer to a cream. The cream should be light yellow and very smooth. Add all other ingredients to the cream. The mixture ought to be spreadable. Spread it on the wafers, about ½ inch thick. If you don't have wafers, form little balls and press them flat on the baking tray lined with baking paper. Let the gingerbread sit for a few hours so that they can dry on the surface.

Preheat oven to 150-160° C (300-320° F). Bake the gingerbread for about 20 minutes. It will still be soft and moist inside, but dry on the surface. It can be glazed with chocolate or with a simple and thin icing made from 200g (7 oz) powdered sugar and 4 tblsp liquid (water, rum or lemon juice). But they taste great without icing as well. In an airtight container they easily keep 4 to 8 weeks.


They are delicious! There are numerous gingerbread factories/manufacturers here in Nuremberg and they already started baking for the Christmas season. One is on my way to work and every morning I can smell the fresh gingerbread!

This sounds delishious! Maybe I'll make this for Christmas. My mother used to make a stollen that was so good made all by memory. Of course she never wrote anything down so I have no clue how to make this.

Some of you know already, but since it is now all signed and I am just waiting around, I thought, I'd share this with you as well. I know all of you will get why I am so excited:

I signed a contract on a DVC resale for Boardwalk Villas!

I paid my deposit and now the contract has been submitted to Disney, so they can decide wether they want to make use of their right of first refusal. That should take about three weeks and then closing can happen which then ought to be sometime at the beginning of December at the latest. This is all very exciting to me, not only because I am thrilled about the result, but also because it means more or less buying real estate in a foreign country - and I can tell you from a German lawyer's perspective, things are done very bizarrely in US law!! Well, mainly it is just a different system (which appears to work fine, though), it's like learning a different language.

Of course, it might be that Disney wants to buy this contract and then I would have to start all over again. But otherwise I might be a DVC member just in time to make a reservation when the 11-months reservation opens for my birthday in 2011 which I intend to spend in WDW. If I have to turn 40, I want to do it with the Magic Kingdom which is just one month and 5 days older than me!

When I started thinking about it, I asked Katharina wether she would think I was crazy if I bought DVC and her reply was: "I have been wondering for a long time, why you don't own DVC yet!"

My parents are also intrigued, but happy for me, and while they still have no desire to travel so far to experience WDW, I showed them the planning DVD. They decided that WDW was too crowded for them and the people were too happy/smiley there all the time. But I loved my father's comment when the DVD explained AK and there were dinosaurs - he said that he was only interested in one thing about dinosaurs: How would a dinosaur t-bone steak taste? We agreed that it would probably taste like chicken!

I am so excited for you and completely jealous! This means many more trips to Disney and many more TR!

 

[lovealldisney]

January, 31, 2010

Once again we got up at 6:30 am to get ready for rope drop at the Magic Kingdom! Personally this is might least favourite park at WDW.

Say it isn't so! I love MK it's my favorite park of all. Maybe because I went as a little girl the year it opened, I went with my aunt and parents.

But we used the time to get some pictures of us taken:

Quite horrible pictures...

I like your pictures!

Then it was off to Space Mountain – of course not without picking up a FP for later! I think Katharina might have had some grand expectations?? If I remember correctly she was laughing her head off afterwards at this kiddie coaster![/SIZE][/B][/COLOR]

I don’t remember anything and deny everything...

I love it that they did a refurbishment on the ride and everything looked rather new. But it isn't the greatest coaster in the world. I got the front seat in our rocket and I love that, because it is much less jerky in the front and you don't see that a turn is coming up. But I think the other two Space Mountains are much better.



You don't like SM?? I love it it's my favorite in MK! Maybe because this was the first coaster I was ever on?

Thank you DH, for your Playstation I and Crash Team Racing which introduced me to this kind of games

Katharina I didn't know you were a gamer? You should have talked games with DH when we met

checked out It's a Small World (it still amazes me that I really go on that ride voluntarily now, after our first trip to DL in 1992, Katharina and I thought this was the worst nightmare of an attraction!).

I must admit I had a fit of giggles with you mentioning this ride was the nightmare of an attraction! But yet we still continue to ride


We got one cheeseburger without the cheese to share and lots of toppings, as well as two hot teas (which in my opinion were extremely overpriced at 2.09 each):

Not to sound cheap but I am wondering if you could have asked for a cup of hot water (they give out free cold water) then you could have brought in your own tea bags? 2.09 is really overpriced.

When we sat down Katharina and I had the first not so magical moment of the trip. I think we were both rather grumpy from being cold and hungry and we got into a stupid argument on how to arrange the food so that we could cut the burger in half. Pretty silly, wasn't it? Luckily we have known each other for long enough that a short outburst of unfriendlyness wouldn't go away very fast!


Nothing to add here, so true...

I giggled again when I read this because after meeting the two of you I could picture this scene in my head.

So we decided that it was time to try one of the famous WDW snacks we read about on these boards. This one was to be served warm (very appealing to us on that day!) and came highly recommended by Brookelizabeth. Some my already have an idea what it might be: Casey's corndog nuggets.

So at 11:53 am we had our second lunch of the day. We shared one cup of corndog nuggets:

We did eat them with mustard, perhaps that was not the right way? They were really fresh and warm. But we could not really get used to the taste of them. What a strange combination of the sweet corn dough on the outside and then the mini hot dog inside. Also the mini hot dog did not live up to our standards. You see, we come from the country which invented these sausages!! And for us they tasted like canned sausages, not fresh ones... I know that Liesa once posted a recipe for making them at home and I think Katharina and I need to try this once with real sausages from a German butcher! But possibly, they just are too ethnic for us!!

I have to agree that Germany has the BEST sausages, then NEVER try packaged hot dogs when you are here. Corndogs are better when made fresh like at a fair where the hot dog is dipped in the batter then fried fresh. I do love corn bread on it own though!

However, I decided that we needed some photopass pictures before leaving the park!

More horrible pictures....

Once again I like them

And asked for one with the balloons, which we got! In case you don't notice, I am desperately holding Katharina down because she would otherwise fly away since she is so skinny and I am so heavy!!

Ummm you are not heavy!

So in the end, we left the park to head back to our resort...

Up Next: Chapter 22: Where is the magic today?

Thanks for the update. Sorry you had such a cold day.

 

[glennbo123]

I like the face the guy is making behind you.

When we sat down Katharina and I had the first not so magical moment of the trip. I think we were both rather grumpy from being cold and hungry and we got into a stupid argument on how to arrange the food so that we could cut the burger in half. Pretty silly, wasn't it?

Don't tell me Katharina wanted the top half?!

However, I decided that we needed some photopass pictures before leaving the park!

More horrible pictures....

Hmmm, a little out of focus, but at least it's level! Well, maybe it could be better even in that department.

And asked for one with the balloons, which we got! In case you don't notice, I am desperately holding Katharina down because she would otherwise fly away since she is so skinny and I am so heavy!!

I like this one!

Hooray on your upcoming DVC purchase! That is so exciting! I hope you make it through ROFR, I believe that Boardwalk is the toughest to pass right now....they must have a waiting list of buyers. For all of the other properties it looks like they're saving their cash and letting almost everything pass.

 

[If U Had Wings]

Congratulations!! I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for you that everything works out okay. I love that you bought BWV. Even after my recent trip to the Beach Club, it's still my favorite. It's just a great location for going to both Epcot and DHS.

 

[John's Mom]

I'm really enjoying your updates and pictures.

What wonderful news about your DVC purchase. Here's some pixiedust that everything goes well.

Kathy