From Europe to Africa in America - A Sisters' Expedition

[Flossbolna]

We knew we wanted to name her Catherine/Katherine/Kathryn/Cathryn... but none of those spellings "looked good" with our last name. So I started playing around with spellings and looked in baby name books and found that spelling. We both loved it and so it was done! For what it is worth, our lovely daughter does NOT like her name.

That's a shame that she doesn't like her name. I think it is a beautiful name!

Noooooo!

I may still have to verify that personally, just to be sure.

Well, who knows what you might acchieve. As far as I know Boma and Mara share a kitchen, so perhaps they will produce some Disney magic for you! Here is already some pixie dust to help you out:

They never specified what part of Berlin the apartments were in, but I'm guessing it may have been East Berlin, as the real estate agent was saying they had lots of empty places available since the wall came down and people moved out.

I think the places were mostly about 440 square feet, which I thing is about 135 square meters. I guess what was most surprising was the set ups. No closets, murphy beds instead of regular bed areas, and in a couple the places there was no oven, only a stove top. I do have to say I loved the combination clothes washer/dryer. I thought that was ingenious.

I guess I'm so used to the suburbs. I have a 750 square foot place, and where I live that's considered really small.

Ok, I did some calculations (convertworld.com is my recommended site) and 440 sqare feet is 41 square meters and that is a very small appartment!! My appartment in Nuremberg is about double the size and an average house for a family would be around 120 square meters, that's nearly 1300 square feet. And besides the no closets, the set-up sounds rather strange for Germany as well. I am wondering what kind of place they were looking for - were these students?

The washer/dryer combination is not common either, even though I know a few people who have them. Generally most people don't have dryers at all. And unfortunately those combos don't work that well, either...

I am caught up! And just in time for an update!!

I love your picture with Pluto, it's so adorable.

Hi LL, great to have you along again!! When I posted those Pluto pics, I realized that those really are some of our better photopass pictures!! I really like them, too.

That's too funny because I remember when some coworkers visited from Germany a few years ago, they said the same thing. They said their breakfast was more like dessert.

Yeah for an update. We also had the sunrising over our pool view room and it was so beautiful to watch each morning. We just love the AKL.

AKL is really beautiful!!

That's strange about your co-workers. I wonder what they got for breakfast, because mainly German breakfast is bread (or crusty bread rolls) with cheese, cold cuts or jam... and possibly a boiled egg.

My timing was great than because I used those links...... Links! lol

Thanks! It's great to know that all the work had a purpose!!

 

[Flossbolna]

It was still not very crowded around 10 am and we picked up a FP for the Safari for after breakfast. And off we went to Tusker House:

We checked in a bit early and were given a which was stamped with “Allergy” and with “Celebration”. But it also has all relevant info printed on it.

We had contacted Disney's Special Diets team about Katharina's food intolerances before our trip and had mailed them a list with our ADRs. As you can see, all the information we provided was noted in the computer as well as Katharina's birthday, which I had put onto every single reservation we had!!

There wasn't much of a wait and we were nearly immediately taken to get our picture with Donald taken. He does not walk around inside, but is only available outside. The CM also took a picture with our camera:

Which turned out to be much nicer than the official one, which we declined to buy later on...

Soon we were lead inside and there was a huge celebration parade going on with the kids and the characters inside (that was at 10:15am). So we waited in the room where the buffet is with the lady seating us. Tusker House is set up as many different dining rooms and one central market place where you go to get your food:

This is where we waited and watched the parade. It was actually a pretty good spot to watch from!

And this is one of the seating areas (when we left, it was that empty!):

Our server came pretty soon and she was a very nice lady. We got a thermos jug with coffee and I ordered some tea. We kind of liked the coffee. It was not very strong (American coffee never is, even Starbucks is known here in Germany for their weak coffee), but it was a very nice roast with a distinct coffee taste. We later found out that it was much better than the coffee at the Mara at AKL. We also got some juice, which is a tropical fruit mixture. I really liked it and we both had several glasses of juice. Our server was pretty good at toping them up.

We then had to wait for quite some time (probably about 5 minutes, but when you are hungry that appears to be a long time) for a chef to come and explain the buffet to Katharina and tell her what she could eat. I remember that I was really disappointed that there wasn't much she could eat and the chef didn't offer to make anything special for her either. The only thing he offered was to bring some pita bread, which he did and he brought enough to feed four people with it!


I wasn’t really disappointed, I was friendly and I found enough other stuff I wanted to try. And he also brought me some cookies. You might be wondering, why I shared the cinnamon role with Magdalene... As I don’t have real food allergies, I don’t keep completely to the diet. Small amounts of milk in bread etc. are okay. But I didn’t want to confuse the servers and chefs, so I stuck to what they offered me in the restaurants.


I really loved Tusker House breakfast last year, but this year it wasn't as wonderful as I remembered. It was an extensive buffet, but to me it seemed a bit boring. I have no idea why my perception of it changed...

Still the food was plenty and good! The ham which I had loved last year was wonderful again. Warm ham is not served in Germany normally. It is only used as a cold cut for sandwiches. So this is always a treat and the Tusker House ham was juicy and well seasoned! I loved the mustard sauce they serve with it.

We liked the breakfast potatoes which were well seasoned and the sweet potatoes casserole dish. The bacon was as tasteless as I had read in many dining reviews that the Disney bacon is. But we never got bacon as bad as this ever again on Disney property. We tried a sausage patty – we were really amused by this concept: looks like a hamburger, but is a sausage??? Well, for us a sausage has to have the form of a sausage!! And we didn't like it. There was something in the seasoning that we did not approve of. But then none of us ever met a sausage in an English speaking country they liked... Sorry, but there must be something the Americans and the British put into their sausages that tastes wrong for us. The French, Spanish, Italian, Polish etc... all make good sausages though!! Well, perhaps the Danes have to be excluded as well... theirs have the most unnatural red colour.

We thought the scrambled eggs were pretty good for a buffet. The quiche however was far too dry, we did not like it at all even though it looked delicious. We also liked the sweet taste of the corn bread (did nodnol try that??).

I have absolutely no idea.... I remember the eggs and the ham, which was really heavenly with all the chutneys


Part 2 in next post

 

[Flossbolna]

Here are pictures of the buffet which I took when we left after 11 am (our receipt is stamped 11:11 am). So they really keep the buffet stocked pretty well until the very end!

We also met the characters! And since I had trouble last time getting pictures of each of us with the character, I knew this time round that you really need to tell them what you want. I felt a bit mean "commanding" them around, but then I realized that they are rather limited in their ability to notice non-verbal communication.

The first to come around was Mickey:

And then we met Goofy:

We somehow missed out on getting a picture with Daisy – she had to run off to do the parade, but she posed for me very nicely!!

Just before the next parade started (at 11 am) our server appeared with a birthday card and a cup cake for Katharina. She said that she knew that Katharina could not eat the cup cake, but perhaps I wanted to and she still wanted for her to get a candle!

I am sure that the parade is fun for the kids and for adults it is briefly fun to look, but it could have been over sooner. This is the only decent picture I managed to get of the parade:

For some reason we never saw Minnie but we saw Mickey three times, and he was trying to make his best effort to entertain us.

In the end it was a successful meal. We had fun, good food, a lovely server. I really liked being there so late in the morning, it got really quite when we left. Our room was nearly empty and so were most of the other rooms: I think a later character breakfast is a really good idea, because you get a less hectic atmosphere and in the end we got a lot of interaction. Had we made a point to see Minnie, I am sure our server would have arranged that, but it wasn't our priority. I would certainly eat at Tusker House again!!

Me too!

Next: Chapter 9: So much to explore at Animal Kingdom!

 

[Lady Lallie]

I really love reading your food reviews, it's really interesting to hear opinions from people who don't live in the United States.

I think it's great that Disney puts all that information right on the receipt. Very cool.

 

[Disneymom3304]

Loving your trip report! Thanks for including your dining reviews at the same time...makes me feel like I am right there enjoying it too. We also loved the Tusker house breakfast...especially the juice!

You guys are a great writing team..love that you both are able to comment instead of 2 seperate reports...great idea!

 

[MRYPPNS]

I really wanted to add this breakfast to our plans for our next trip but my DS doesn't do well with characters and the noise from the parade so we might try dinner there. Hope it's as good as your breakfast was!

 

[Flossbolna]

I really love reading your food reviews, it's really interesting to hear opinions from people who don't live in the United States.

I think it's great that Disney puts all that information right on the receipt. Very cool.

Thanks! I think in a way it is kind of important to let the readers know about our background for the dining reviews. Since taste is such a personal thing, I always like those dining reviews best which give me a feeling for what this person is like.

Loving your trip report! Thanks for including your dining reviews at the same time...makes me feel like I am right there enjoying it too. We also loved the Tusker house breakfast...especially the juice!

You guys are a great writing team..love that you both are able to comment instead of 2 seperate reports...great idea!

Thanks for the complement. Tusker House was really a good breakfast and I liked being there for the last seating.

I really wanted to add this breakfast to our plans for our next trip but my DS doesn't do well with characters and the noise from the parade so we might try dinner there. Hope it's as good as your breakfast was!

It really is a rather noisy restaurant for breakfast, so I think you made the right decision. I really want to try lunch or dinner there one day, but so far Boma has always won over Tusker House for dinner for me...

 

[If U Had Wings]

Ok, I did some calculations (convertworld.com is my recommended site) and 440 sqare feet is 41 square meters and that is a very small appartment!! My appartment in Nuremberg is about double the size and an average house for a family would be around 120 square meters, that's nearly 1300 square feet. And besides the no closets, the set-up sounds rather strange for Germany as well. I am wondering what kind of place they were looking for - were these students?

The washer/dryer combination is not common either, even though I know a few people who have them. Generally most people don't have dryers at all. And unfortunately those combos don't work that well, either...

That sounds much more normal. The places they were looking at were so tiny! The wife was German, originally from Berlin, the husband was American. They owned a home in Florida and were looking to buy an apartment in Berlin, so they could have a permanent place to stay when they went back to Berlin several times a year.

The places did have small wardrobes. It was really the no oven thing that baffled me. That was the place they ended up buying too. It had a dishwasher instead of an oven. Really odd!

Your breakfast at Tusker House looks like it was a lot of fun. One day I'd like to try it there just because it's a Donald Duck meal, and he's my favorite. I have to agree with you about the sausages. I normally think most breakfast is kind of bland. Give me some good italian sausage anytime!

 

[manntra]

I saw that same episode of House Hunters! Loved the washer/dryer...what a great idea!!
I have had lunch at TH and found it very good.....so nice to have an air conditioned break at AK!
Great character pictures!

Tracy

 

[TyRy]

Thanks for the breakfast review. DH just recently saw the word "Donald" followed by brekfast and asked why we never ate there. I reminded him we did for lunch and swore to never go back (I get grossed out just thinking about that meal! ) But since it has Donald we are going in October. I love being able to see all the photos of the food.

I didn't realize you had to buy the photo with Donald and that he did not walk around, so I'm very glad you mentioned that. Hopefully we can get the CM to take a photo with our camera as well.

 

[All7OfUs]

Your dining reviews are so helpful and full of good pictures and info.!! Thanks for all the effort you put into them! I too LOVE the German perspective on the food and how things vary from place to place. So interesting that you didn't care for the patty sausage. Patty sausage uses a fair amount of spices that ARE different from what you'd find in link sausage. I like it myself- given a choice, I'd pick it over links any day.

Not being a breakfast eater generally, I'd probably not go there early in the day, but the decor has always excited me. Maybe someday for a later meal?

 

[Flossbolna]

That sounds much more normal. The places they were looking at were so tiny! The wife was German, originally from Berlin, the husband was American. They owned a home in Florida and were looking to buy an apartment in Berlin, so they could have a permanent place to stay when they went back to Berlin several times a year.

The places did have small wardrobes. It was really the no oven thing that baffled me. That was the place they ended up buying too. It had a dishwasher instead of an oven. Really odd!

Your breakfast at Tusker House looks like it was a lot of fun. One day I'd like to try it there just because it's a Donald Duck meal, and he's my favorite. I have to agree with you about the sausages. I normally think most breakfast is kind of bland. Give me some good italian sausage anytime!

I think it must be because it was meant as a secondary home... And perhaps they were looking for a rather exclusive location? Wardrobes are the way to go here in Germany. No oven is strange, but I know that some people get those tiny ovens if there isn't one fitted into the kitchen. They are about the size of a microwave. The fancier ones even have microwave and oven in one. Something like this:

Tusker House was really nice, I can absolutely recommend it. But keep in mind, that Donald isn't walking around!

I saw that same episode of House Hunters! Loved the washer/dryer...what a great idea!!
I have had lunch at TH and found it very good.....so nice to have an air conditioned break at AK!
Great character pictures!

Tracy

That's funny that you saw those weird German appartments as well...

I was never at WDW during the hot weather period, so AK for me never felt uncomfortable. But I can imagine what you mean!!

Thanks for the breakfast review. DH just recently saw the word "Donald" followed by brekfast and asked why we never ate there. I reminded him we did for lunch and swore to never go back (I get grossed out just thinking about that meal! ) But since it has Donald we are going in October. I love being able to see all the photos of the food.

I didn't realize you had to buy the photo with Donald and that he did not walk around, so I'm very glad you mentioned that. Hopefully we can get the CM to take a photo with our camera as well.

I think they willingly took everyones camera, it wasn't like they did it only for us. So don't worry there will be a picture for you with Donald. What I liked about that meeting him before getting seated was, that we could get a picture of both of us with Donald and also we were certain to meet him.

If you did not like the food served for lunch, I think there is no danger of breakfast being similar. It was mainly very basic American breakfast fare.

Your dining reviews are so helpful and full of good pictures and info.!! Thanks for all the effort you put into them! I too LOVE the German perspective on the food and how things vary from place to place. So interesting that you didn't care for the patty sausage. Patty sausage uses a fair amount of spices that ARE different from what you'd find in link sausage. I like it myself- given a choice, I'd pick it over links any day.

Not being a breakfast eater generally, I'd probably not go there early in the day, but the decor has always excited me. Maybe someday for a later meal?

Thanks Liesa! Writing this report is actually quite a lot of work (no surprise to you, a PTR like yours is a lot of work as well!). But I have enjoyed so many well written trip reports and dining reviews that I really enjoy paying it forward. I am sure someone else will find my reviews as helpful as I have found others'. And what amazes me really, is how many views this TR is getting! If the DIS statitistic is correct, it was over 1000 views in the last two days!! So there are many many lurkers out there!!

I had no idea that sausage patty and link sausage have different spices! Thanks for that information. Do you know what kind of spices are being used in them?

I am not so sure I would go to Tusker House just for the decor. It is nicely themed, but not so spectacular that this is the reason the eat there. I think Yak & Yeti looks like the prettier place to me.

 

[Flossbolna]

After breakfast we explored Africa a bit:

And then used our Fastpass for Kilimanjaro Safaris. We did not take any pictures on this ride because we just wanted to enjoy and watch. Unfortunately there weren't that many animals out... For example no rhinos at all. But for the first time ever I saw a cheetah all the way in the distance. We also saw some ostrich eggs – there is one nest which I am sure has been there since 1998! But there was also a second nest and I thought that this could be the real thing. After the trip I read somewhere that AK only has male ostriches...

After the safari we decided to hop on the train to Rafiki's Planet Watch. A place where I had only been once before as well!

We had to wait briefly and enjoyed the extensive theming of the railway station in Africa:

We realized that we had to be careful to check the destination of the next train – otherwise me might end up in Nairobi....

There was also a lot of luggage waiting to be loaded on the train:

On the way to Rafiki's Planet Watch the train passes the backstage area of the Safari ride and you can see the animal's night quarters. This time we saw the rhino!

Once we arrived there is a walk from the train station to the main building. There are some displays along the way, but we did not find them very interesting. At the main building our first stop was the restrooms. I knew from my previous visit (and before that from a trip report) that there are “poo facts” posted on the inside of the stall door. But when I entered my stall there weren't any. I was really disappointed that this had disappeared. And then Katharina came out and asked me: “Are there the same poo facts on every door?” Yeah! I only had a “broken” door, while she got the full experience. I think it is also very telling, that she doesn't just ask, what kind of facts I had, but already assumes that I know whether they are the same on every door! To be honest, I am not sure, but I think they are the same on every door...

We watched a bit the operating theatre they have there for veterinarian procedures. They were smearing black stuff on a sea turtle and it looked rather strange:

It turned out that this was a sea turtle, which had been stunned by the cold weather Florida had been experiencing. When it gets too cold they can't move anymore and then they are thrown ashore by the waves like pebbles. This one had damage to its shell and they were repairing that. There was a general effort by the AK veterinarian team to help the Florida wildlife.

We really liked Rafiki's as a place to get away from the hectic theme park life. It seemed so much quieter and relaxed.

On the way back nodnol told me to look out for the “dead” man lying on the ground... She was talking about this pattern:

And it really does look like a bit like the lines you see in films that are drawn around where a corpse had been lying. But it turned out to be part of a general design showing all kind of animals:

Once we got back we needed a little break and got some water before walking on to Asia on the walkway behind the Tree of Life. Which gave us this wonderful view:

We were welcomed by the village of Anandapur:

Because there was still some time until the Flights of Wonder show was due to start we checked out the Photopass location at the shrine with a view of EE.

Then the CM decided that he wanted to take the Tinkerbell shot with us (which Katharina dreaded!), but he wanted us to pose differently for it. So this is the result and I think it is quite fun:

Then we watched the Flights of Wonder show. I really like this show. It has a bit of a storyline (which is a bit cheesy), but still manages to give a lot of information. I am not very much interested in birds, but these were all great to watch. I had seen the show once before and I liked the presenters much better this time. And you can learn very valuable hints on how to cope if you have FOB!! . I like the stage very much, it is a beautiful setting:

And one of the absolute highlights of the show is when they bring out the eagle:

We needed another break after the show and visited the tea stand just opposite the show. I found it difficult to make up my mind, they had such a great list of teas:

We got Honeybush and a Silver Needle (I think the Silver Needle was mine) since it was still rather chilly, even in the sun and we felt like getting hot tea!

We took our teas to the small seating area behind the stand called Drinkwallah next to the river. It is a lovely spot (my notes say: small oasis!), but it was in the full sunshine and we were drinking hot tea – after some time we felt uncomfortably warm...

Next Chapter 10: When will we make it back to AKL?

Or enjoy the Bonus Feature: Airport Barbecue

 

[Flossbolna]

Sorry for some of the pictures in the previous update being soo large. I am really battling with phot bucket right now! I will try to get it all sorted tomorrow. In the meanwhile I hope you can at least see a little bit.

 

[glennbo123]

I like the large pictures!

What a great day you two are having at Animal Kingdom. Great updates!

I'm surprised you didn't take a picture of the "poo facts" for us. You know how thorough we DISers are.

 

[klacey1]

Great update! I love that Tink picture-- very unique! I also think it's great what the AK vets do to help out Florida animals.

 

[LuccaDrake]

Loving your updates. Now I know of one more place I need to visit at AK...the bathrooms! Poo facts do sound interesting.

~Beka~

 

[PNO4TE]

I loved your Tink photos!

Also, when we did the Sunrise Safari on our last trip, the guide told us that all the ostriches are female. I don't know if it is a real nest with real eggs but that would explain the fact that they are there. An interesting fact... male ostriches are black and females are gray. One of the females at AK has changed feather colors and is now black. They have no explanation for this change!

 

[eandesmom]

It was still not very crowded around 10 am and we picked up a FP for the Safari for after breakfast. And off we went to Tusker House:

As you will note it is stamped with “Allergy” and with “Celebration”. But it also has all relevant info printed on it.

We then had to wait for quite some time (probably about 5 minutes, but when you are hungry that appears to be a long time) for a chef to come and explain the buffet to Katharina and tell her what she could eat. I remember that I was really disappointed that there wasn't much she could eat and the chef didn't offer to make anything special for her either. The only thing he offered was to bring some pita bread, which he did and he brought enough to feed four people with it!

Still the food was plenty and good! The ham which I had loved last year was wonderful again. Warm ham is not served in Germany normally. It is only used as a cold cut for sandwiches. So this is always a treat and the Tusker House ham was juicy and well seasoned! I loved the mustard sauce they serve with it.

We liked the breakfast potatoes which were well seasoned and the sweet potatoes casserole dish. The bacon was as tasteless as I had read in many dining reviews that the Disney bacon is. But we never got bacon as bad as this ever again on Disney property. We tried a sausage patty – we were really amused by this concept: looks like a hamburger, but is a sausage??? Well, for us a sausage has to have the form of a sausage!! And we didn't like it. There was something in the seasoning that we did not approve of. But then none of us ever met a sausage in an English speaking country they liked... Sorry, but there must be something the Americans and the British put into their sausages that tastes wrong for us. The French, Spanish, Italian, Polish etc... all make good sausages though!! Well, perhaps the Danes have to be excluded as well... theirs have the most unnatural red colour.

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I am impressed that they tracked the food sensitivities at that level of detail but sad there weren't more options. I've heard so many great things about chef's going above and beyond for allergies, it's a little disappointing.

No warm ham at all? Not for dinner? Very common buffet dinner item or special event item, like Easter dinner or Christmas. I'll avoid bacon, that sounds awful. That said, buffet bacon as a general rule, anywhere, is pretty bad.

Yes, sausage patties are rather hamburger like, probably why kids love them so much and they do have a certain seasoning to them as Liesa mentioned. Very different from links and there are multiple kinds of links, some quite tasty and others not so much!

The patties can be quite good depending on the sausage and spices, or rather horrid. And the good kind is the kind of sausage many will use to make biscuits and gravy with, YUM!

Thanks for the breakfast review. DH just recently saw the word "Donald" followed by brekfast and asked why we never ate there. I reminded him we did for lunch and swore to never go back (I get grossed out just thinking about that meal! ) But since it has Donald we are going in October. I love being able to see all the photos of the food.

Oh no! What was awful about it? We have a dinner ressie there...

Once we arrived there is a walk from the train station to the main building. There are some displays along the way, but we did not find them very interesting. At the main building our first stop was the restrooms. I knew from my previous visit (and before that from a trip report) that there are “poo facts” posted on the inside of the stall door. But when I entered my stall there weren't any. I was really disappointed that this had disappeared. And then Katharina came out and asked me: “Are there the same poo facts on every door?” Yeah! I only had a “broken” door, while she got the full experience. I think it is also very telling, that she doesn't just ask, what kind of facts I had, but already assumes that I know whether they are the same on every door! To be honest, I am not sure, but I think they are the same on every door...

you ARE supposed to know everything!

On the way back nodnol told me to look out for the “dead” man lying on the ground... She was talking about this pattern:

And it really does look like a bit like the lines you see in films that are drawn around where a corpse had been lying. But it turned out to be part of a general design showing all kind of animals:

It does look like a corpse outline, yikes!

Some GREAT PP pics in this update!!!!

 

[Flossbolna]

I like the large pictures!

What a great day you two are having at Animal Kingdom. Great updates!

I'm surprised you didn't take a picture of the "poo facts" for us. You know how thorough we DISers are.

Well the strange thing is that this morning other pictures appear to be large than yesterday while for some the resizing seems to have worked. How bizarre! I will just leave it like that I think and won't bother...

It was really a great day at AK. Sorry about the poo facts!

I was trying to dig a picture for you and while doing that I came across this fantastic article about Rafiki's on allears: http://land.allears.net/blogs/jackspence/2009/07/rafikis_planet_watch_the_forgo.html

In case anyone is interested in more reading!

Great update! I love that Tink picture-- very unique! I also think it's great what the AK vets do to help out Florida animals.

I think it is always nice when the PP photographer has ideas about different poses and the Tink picture is actually much more interesting than the normal pose. Of course it makes me look a little less slender....

Loving your updates. Now I know of one more place I need to visit at AK...the bathrooms! Poo facts do sound interesting.

~Beka~

It is one of those hidden surprises! But remember it is only at Rafiki's Planet Watch!