From Europe to Africa in America - A Sisters' Expedition

[marvali]

I'd call it an educated guess, having narrowed it down to only 2 resorts.

SWAG maybe.....educated.....

I am soooo excited for you- the first DVC reservation is the BEST! But, I have to tell you, all the rest of them you will make will be exciting, too! I booked our Novemeber trip today as well, and I still am thrilled every time I call Member Services. Looking forward to seeing you across the lake- we'll be at BCV!

I know what you mean. Even though it wasn't a totally new trip I was booking, I was even excited when I called back at the 7 month window and changed our trip next June to OKW!

 

[Minnie&Nana]

Yup we went to the Wurzburg Residence! It was gorgeous! Here are some pictures.

Wendy, thank you for the pictures of the Residence - wow, it certainly is HUGE and looks very fancy! What must they do with all those rooms!

Just noticed you are in WI (love it there!!) - the religious community I mentioned, who have a Motherhouse in Wuerzburg, have a convent in Racine I've visited them several times as a dear friend is one of the Sisters.

Thanks again - love the pics!

 

[mom3sonstt]

Totally unofficial - but we might just miss you. The last two years we have gone down during the Children's Miracle Network Golf Tourny. Next year the tourny is Oct 17 - 23. So if we go like we have been we would be heading home on the 22nd.

Like I said, though, it's unofficial. DH also records the plays at the local Jr. College, this year the last night of the play was the night before we left. A couple years ago, the play fell on Halloween week-end (I was at the play when my mom called to tell me my brother was called for a kidney). So DH will probably have to get with Susan to see when the play will be next year.

Or we may not go at all. Last year he enjoyed the golf tourny, but it was so cold he didn't stay very long. This year there weren't that many golfers that he knew, and due to a foggy start the schedules were off and he didn't see much. So who knows if we will try it again next year.

 

[lovealldisney]

Wendy, thank you for the pictures of the Residence - wow, it certainly is HUGE and looks very fancy! What must they do with all those rooms!

Just noticed you are in WI (love it there!!) - the religious community I mentioned, who have a Motherhouse in Wuerzburg, have a convent in Racine I've visited them several times as a dear friend is one of the Sisters.

Thanks again - love the pics!

You are very welcome. Actually there are only a small amount of rooms that have been historically restored. The Residence was heavly damaged during WWII, they had photos of before the war, and after and photos of how the rooms were restored. It took some VERY talented people to do this because the rooms we saw were just beautiful.

And don't even get me started on how beautiful the gardens were!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

You just need to PM me your adress and I will happily send you a postcard!

You are very sweet! Thank you!

 

[Flossbolna]

There actually is a kind of movie reference in Magdalene's last post....

Well it looks like our readers don't know that movie - just like me! But I would have thought that it would have been just the thing for some of them...

Yup we went to the Wurzburg Residence! It was gorgeous! Here are some pictures.

Wendy, thanks for the pictures! It is very pretty. Just one thing that always bothers me seeing things like that: there were some very rich people who could afford all this gold (and this case even a bishop) while normal people were living in poverty... I am really glad that we no longer have a monarchie where your position in life was fixed from the moment you were born!

What a cool tradition! We never had much involvement with Advent until recently. I wonder if it is more of a Catholic tradition???

No, I think advent is celebrated amongst lutherans as well as catholics... Actually the advent wreath was "invented" by a lutheran pastor in Hamburg who was the head of a home for poor boys. Do you have advent wreaths as well? those are wreaths which you lie flat on the table (or hang from the ceiling) and put four candles on them. Every Sunday in advent you light one more candle. Christine (Minnie&Nana) has one in her signature.

Advent seems to have a long tradition here, it is also considered to be the beginning of the church year. My prayer book for example has a different chapter with advent songs and one with christmas songs. There are some songs which I love a lot:

Macht hoch die Tür: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXpqoP4PLxg
This video is of the St Thomas Choir from Leipzig of which once the director was Johann Sebastian Bach

Tochter Zion, which uses a melody from Georg Friedrich Händel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TICwSaqsyz4&feature=related
Brass orchesters are very common in lutheran churches here.

So bad luck in my case, dumb luck in Glenn's???

Well, perhaps your luck changes next time??

Yes, but rewards from Liesa can sometimes be a risky proposition (whips, camel poo,.....)

I was thinking about the whip as well when I wrote that! But to Liesa's defense: she never gave anyone camel poo, it was some cheese!

Hooray for booking your first DVC trip!!!
Hooray for a new PTR AND being so close to the double digit dance!!!

Thanks! It is all very exciting... Need to get this TR done!!

 

[Flossbolna]

Oh boy another trip booked! We'll have lots to read now. How exciting to be there for both the Halloween and Christmas celebrations. I'm sure you'll be there when lots of other Diser are there. Just think of all the meets.

Yes, I already have the first meet lined up with Ellen! I am very excited about that!

Congratulations on your first DVC reservation! That is exciting! I'm glad that Katharina may be able to come along for part of the time.

Yes, I think she was bitten with the Disney bug quite a bit herself.

I narrowed it down to these 3 based on your PTR comments, but I knew you had recently had dinner at Whispering Canyon, so eliminated that one. I was torn between CSR and POFQ, but luckily went with POFQ.

Liesa chose the other one, she guessed CSR - which with hindsight I would have loved to visit as well. But we originally had thought to take the boat to DTD from POR, but then did not have the time for that...

I'd call it an educated guess, having narrowed it down to only 2 resorts.

Well done!!

I am soooo excited for you- the first DVC reservation is the BEST! But, I have to tell you, all the rest of them you will make will be exciting, too! I booked our Novemeber trip today as well, and I still am thrilled every time I call Member Services. Looking forward to seeing you across the lake- we'll be at BCV!

I think I can understand what you mean! I spent some time on the member website yesterday and loved looking at my account and see that I have all these points there....

Having you across the lake will work out great for our Dismeet!

What exciting news!!! Such perfect dates too. As you mentioned, you'll be there for the end of Halloween and for the beginning of Christmas decorations. I would love that! When I was there this year in October, when we were leaving on the 28th, they were already bringing out the Christmas stuff. I was so sad we didn't get to see the castle lit up in all those pretty lights. But you will!

I think it is really funny how I will be there for the one week "between the seasons" - I think it will make for an interesting TR. Perhaps "Going from Orange to Red" might be a good title??

 

[vamassey1]

Just wanted to comment on the Advent wreath. We have them here too. I'm Catholic and it plays a large part in the season. This Sunday we'll light the pink candle (joyful Sunday). Our readings also start over with the first Sunday of Advent.

 

[Flossbolna]

I know what you mean. Even though it wasn't a totally new trip I was booking, I was even excited when I called back at the 7 month window and changed our trip next June to OKW!

I am already thinking about calling again to change my room requests and am getting excited about that! But the best thing is the toll-free number: I can actually use Skype to call them for free which is great!

Wendy, thank you for the pictures of the Residence - wow, it certainly is HUGE and looks very fancy! What must they do with all those rooms!

I understand that bishops in that time used to live rather like kings, supposedly the English word would be prince-bishop. But I guess a lot of the rooms were also used as offices and such?

Totally unofficial - but we might just miss you. The last two years we have gone down during the Children's Miracle Network Golf Tourny. Next year the tourny is Oct 17 - 23. So if we go like we have been we would be heading home on the 22nd.

Like I said, though, it's unofficial. DH also records the plays at the local Jr. College, this year the last night of the play was the night before we left. A couple years ago, the play fell on Halloween week-end (I was at the play when my mom called to tell me my brother was called for a kidney). So DH will probably have to get with Susan to see when the play will be next year.

Or we may not go at all. Last year he enjoyed the golf tourny, but it was so cold he didn't stay very long. This year there weren't that many golfers that he knew, and due to a foggy start the schedules were off and he didn't see much. So who knows if we will try it again next year.

Yes, I realized that I just missed the golf-tournament, but since I am not into golf, I did not really care about it - of course now knowing that this brings other DISers into town, I view it differently... Perhaps we will get a chance in 2012 - I am thinking about getting an AP this trip, so my 2012 trip would be most likely some time in October 2012...

You are very welcome. Actually there are only a small amount of rooms that have been historically restored. The Residence was heavly damaged during WWII, they had photos of before the war, and after and photos of how the rooms were restored. It took some VERY talented people to do this because the rooms we saw were just beautiful.

And don't even get me started on how beautiful the gardens were!

I have been to the gardens, but never inside. They are wonderful!

You are very sweet! Thank you!

 

[Flossbolna]

Just wanted to comment on the Advent wreath. We have them here too. I'm Catholic and it plays a large part in the season. This Sunday we'll light the pink candle (joyful Sunday). Our readings also start over with the first Sunday of Advent.

I just read that catholics have three purple and one pink candle - the liturgical colours fo the Sundays. But I have never seen anyone who does that at home here. Mine has dark red candles this year, but I also love to get ones made with real bees wax because they smell so lovely!

I think Lutherans and Catholics actually have a lot of similarities in how they celebrate. There are some theological differences (and one or two very large ones), but having grown up as a Lutheran in a predominately Catholic area, I always wondered why these two churches don't get along better.

 

[vamassey1]

We should all be friends!

 

[Flossbolna]

February, 2

I never experienced the “old E.P.C.O.T. Center” which had attractions like Horizons, World of Motion and the Dreamfinder in Journey into Imagination. However, I picked up references about them, sometimes spend an enjoyable evening, reading this or that post and the podcasts I listen to refer to them a lot. One line which is pretty famous is: “And it rains, it rains, it rains .... The Deluge!” This is from the pre-show of the old Living Seas pavillion, before Nemo arrived. As I said, I never experienced it myself, but if you want to know more about it, check out this video.
The bit about the deluge starts at about 9:10 minutes into the video.

And this line just seems to fit to this day...

It all started pleasant enough! After our early night the day before Katharina voluntarily got up at 6:05 am, the alarm was set for 6:15 am... The first thing we had to do that morning was giving our mother a call to say Happy Birthday! Her birthday is one day before Katharina's... Since it was already after 12 pm in Germany, we wanted to get our birthday wishes in as early as possible.

The weather was much warmer again on that day, even though it was overcast, and we had our breakfast outside on the balcony. We shared one cinnamon roll:

Which was not very nice, but very stale! I loved those rolls last time I stayed at AKL, but this time not so much.

Since we got up so early, we had no problem being at the bus stop at 7:45 am in order to wait for our bus to DHS! I was so much looking forward to this day, You might remember that we have only had one brief visit so far!! This was going to be the morning were Katharina would be able to show what she had learned about moving fast at rope drop! We were going to be part of the TSM dash!!

As I frequented the Disboards already before our trip, I was a little bit afraid of waht might be happening. Some TR described the dash quite drastically and I’m not a crowd person at all...

Since I had admired the POFQ coke machine so much yesterday, I took a picture of the AKL one:

The bus for DHS arrived immediately and we arrived at the DHS turnstile at 8:05 am!!

This is walking towards the DHS entrance:

We were first at our turnstile! And then had a long wait with this lovely view ahead of us:

This was the view behind us:

And then after our long wait we got into the park!! Since the guy opening our turnstile was a bit slow, I had to speed up in order to get the last open spot right at the rope, Katharina was just behind me. The waiting continued with this view:

Then it started to drizzle... And we got our umbrellas out which we had brought today:

I think I told Katharina that she looked much too happy for all this waiting and rain, because that's the next picture I took:

I do everything my big sister tells me to do...

I never had managed to be at rope drop at DHS and therefore I was really excited to have a front row spot for their opening show!! In my excitement I took another picture of the hat – nothing changed much in the last 5 minutes!

Wow, but then it started and this was the view one minute later:

It wasn't the rope drop show, which started, but the downpour!! And we were all standing there in the pouring rain, nobody was moving an inch to search shelter!! Of course not, we all had one goal only: Toy Story Midway Mania!!

Next to us there was a family, which had neither ponchos nor umbrellas, and they were soaked! The downpour stopped after some minutes and then the cast members from TSM arrived, told us that fastpasses are to the right, standby to the left and that there was to be no running! So a crowd of dripping people started the mad dash towards TSM. I was able to keep at the front and was the second person at one of the FP machines and by the time I had the FPs Katharina was already waiting at the standby line entrance. In we went, we walked directly past Mr Potato Head and then finally had to wait when we reached the loading platform. We were so early, that when we loaded, we got a car, which still came out of the ride without the first riders on!! I was sooo proud of us!!

We had a lot of fun on the ride and I enjoyed it especially because my score was slightly higher than Katharina's – but we both got the same prize!

Yes, great ride!!!

Continued in Next Post!

 

[Flossbolna]

One headliner down, two more to go – so off we are to Sunset Boulevard for some drops on Tower of Terror and then on to Rock n' Roller Coaster! My first ride on a coaster with that name was in DLP in 2003. After my first trip to WDW in 2004 I was so surprised how much better the same coaster (they have the same layout and the same music) is so much better in WDW than in DLP! The theming in DHS just makes so much more sense compared to Paris. After Katharina's first ride that morning, she agreed with me! We had a great ride to that concert and got front row seats in the Limo, which was great! I think I might have to ask for that in the future.

After these thrills we really needed a snack – another one of those we read about on the DIS and which we had to try. This time it was the Butterfinger cupcake at Starring Rolls Bakery. It was 10 am by now and just the right time for a second breakfast after the half stale cinnamon roll which we had had before. We also got a hot tea each. Still pretty expensive at 2.09 $, but here you got a choice of Twinnings tea bags.

The cupcake was delicious, but it was way too much, even when shared between us. We felt like we had been dipped in sugar ourselves after eating it, so we had to off set this feeling with a packet of chips:

Obviously they were either unbelievably good or drugged – can’t explain my expression otherwise.

From Starring Rolls we headed into the Animation Building (at least according to my pictures. It is not in my trip notes...) where we met Sorcerer Mickey:

And saw this poster for the newest animated Disney film: “Rapunzel”

Which has now been renamed to “Tangled” - so this poster must have quite some curiosity value now! We were quite excited about Rapunzel as this is a classic German fairy tale. Her name “Rapunzel” is one of the names used for lamb lettuce in German and she got that name because her mother had a craving for lamb lettuce when she was pregnant. I wonder how this works translated into English???
I didn’t know this!

From there we continued on to use our TSM fastpass and got a new one as well! Another fun ride!

When we left TSM we were in search of a restroom and it had started to rain quite steadily. We used the bathroom at the other end of Pixar Place, close to the Backlot Tour opposite of the Studio Catering Company. While we were there the rain started to pour down again.

So we decided to stay under the roof there for some time. As you can see from the pictures – a lot of other guests did the same... But the rain really made for very low crowds on that day!

We checked out the tiny gift shop, which is there, searched for the drinking fountain, which we expected to be close to the restrooms. That took us quite some while because it was hidden around the corner. And then we saw that there was a character greeting area with Mike and Sulley from Monsters Inc. There was quite a line, but we really did not want to go out in the rain, so we got in line to meet the two friendly monsters with quite a few other dripping tourists. Actually the roof over the monsters wasn't the best and it was still dripping down on us at some places. Somehow this line was configured in a strange way and we had trouble to get into the line between the chains...

We were amused by some of the signs in the queue:

Finally it was our turn and we had a lovely visit with Mike and Sulley:

As you see, we were paired quite correctly: Katharina with the green Mike and me with the fluffy Sulley!

After a while the rain got less and we continued to tour the deserted Streets of America.

Of course we had to be Singing in the Rain:

A poor CM tried to convince us to go into a soundstage building to listen to Mulch, Sweat and . A band which is normally providing some entertainment on the Streets. But today had to play inside. I think they did not have a crowd watching them. There was more or less nobody around.

Katharina also took a short side trip to New York City:

I think her picture looks much more believable because she is not wearing summer clothes and there isn't a blue sky! But then I think you would never see a street in the real New York that empty!!

We ended our tour with a nice 3D film: The Muppets! We just missed one show so we got to see the full pre-show which was actually quite fun! The film was cute as ever. I really like to watch out for what is going around the screen as well.

This was really fun! And there was so much to see while waiting for the show.

And then it was time to drive to lunch!


Go to: Chapter 27: Drive-In Lunch

 

[vamassey1]

Oh boy do I remember the TSM dash! You did really well, especially since you got rained on too. I think I might have had to dash into one of the stores.

We loved this ride!

 

[Flossbolna]

We should all be friends!

Oh boy do I remember the TSM dash! You did really well, especially since you got rained on too. I think I might have had to dash into one of the stores.

We loved this ride!

It was amazing how few people moved! It really wasn't that cold, bit still, I rather would have lost a few minutes instead of getting soaked... TSM was great and I was very proud of being so fast to get to the FP machines, but wait until our other DHS day!!

 

[englishrose47]

Congrats on the first DVC booking Magdalena !!! I havr noticed in England that many things they sell are not as I remember !! AND they don't have PEARDROPSwhich are my favorite hard candy!!!! I have to check if they have the Flower Fairy Books as I loved these as a child !!!

I continue to be fascinated by all the Different Holiday Traditions !! So I will add more English ones !!
Christmas TEA I think I have mentioned it before on one of the threads !!
It was served around 6 pm and consisted of finger foods such as little sandwiches of various sorts, potted meat, cheese and cucumber etc . sausage rolls , and mincepies and Christmas cake which was fruitcake with marzipan and Royal icing and then decorated with Christmas figures and a Festive Paper wrap around the side !! Afterwards we would roast chesnuts and play monopoly!!!

 

[podsnel]

I just read that catholics have three purple and one pink candle - the liturgical colours fo the Sundays. But I have never seen anyone who does that at home here. Mine has dark red candles this year, but I also love to get ones made with real bees wax because they smell so lovely!

I think Lutherans and Catholics actually have a lot of similarities in how they celebrate. There are some theological differences (and one or two very large ones), but having grown up as a Lutheran in a predominately Catholic area, I always wondered why these two churches don't get along better.

I am Presbyterian, and we have the three purple and one pink during advent, also. To confuse you some more, I am actually a descendant of Martin Luther, and yet I am not lutheran (never have really understood that one!).

 

[englishrose47]

I am Presbyterian, and we have the three purple and one pink during advent, also. To confuse you some more, I am actually a descendant of Martin Luther, and yet I am not lutheran (never have really understood that one!).

Wow ellen i am NOT a descendant of Martin Luther but i am Lutheran !!!

 

[marvali]

No, I think advent is celebrated amongst lutherans as well as catholics... Actually the advent wreath was "invented" by a lutheran pastor in Hamburg who was the head of a home for poor boys. Do you have advent wreaths as well? those are wreaths which you lie flat on the table (or hang from the ceiling) and put four candles on them. Every Sunday in advent you light one more candle. Christine (Minnie&Nana) has one in her signature.

Advent and the wreath/candles wasn't something we included as part of our Christmas celebration growing up. The past few years, though, it has become a part of our Christmas celebration at our church, which is Baptist. We have a different family each Sunday light the next candle and tell the significance of that particular candle prior to the main portion of the service. We always decorated the church with garland, wreaths and candles, but never a standard Christmas tree due to its ties to the "world" and commercialism. Now, however, we also have a tree in the church that is called a Chrismon (sp?) tree, where all the decorations are things like crosses, Star of David and other Christian symbols.

Advent seems to have a long tradition here, it is also considered to be the beginning of the church year. My prayer book for example has a different chapter with advent songs and one with christmas songs. There are some songs which I love a lot:

Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year, so learning about the different traditions is always really fun!

I was thinking about the whip as well when I wrote that! But to Liesa's defense: she never gave anyone camel poo, it was some cheese!

Yea, but any cheese that is described as camel poo will always cause me a less than small amount of hesitation.....

I am already thinking about calling again to change my room requests and am getting excited about that! But the best thing is the toll-free number: I can actually use Skype to call them for free which is great!

I guess I'm going to have to get my DS18 to bring me into the 21st century and teach me to use skype. He had to have a webcam not long after he headed off to college so he can talk face to face with some of his friends.

Back later to comment on your latest update! Since everyone is gone for the next couple days, and I have the house all to myself, I need to get on cleaning the carpet and putting up the Christmas tree! Always easier when I don't have anyone to work around or walk all over my hard work before it dries. BTW, check my update from yesterday on Jen's "Don't touch that" thread. I had some more info for you on the Stollen cake we were discussing.

 

[englishrose47]

Marv will wooden spoons be featured in your decorations ????