If your heart is in your DREAM a Aug/Sept 2011, NEW - links to dining/trip report

[dizneeat]

More updates!

On Monday this week Tom got off work at a decent time and we went out to lunch again. No photos this time. What was I thinking?

And since it was a beautiful day we decided to drive to Germany and visit Passau. Passau is a small town located very nicely right where three rivers meet each other.
During the drive there we discussed next summer's vacation, but that is an update in itself.

I took my camera, so you get an impression of the beautiful little town.

When we went shopping to a large drugstore this is what we came across ...........

and since we did not have dessert with lunch we decided to have some ice-cream.

Tom had the Cassata, an ice-cream bomb, well, at wedge of it. It's layers of Vanilla and chocolate ice-cream and in the middle there is vanilla mixed with candied fruit - very yummy.

I had the Cherry "Split"! Vanilla, cherry and stracciatella ice-cream, cherry brandy, lots of cherries, whipped cream and sprinkles. Yummy sundae, but I could have done without them. I only eat Mickey sprinkles!

Once we had finished our sundaes we did some more shopping. There is a spice shop where we picked up some spices. A bit expensive but soooo good. And then we walked to the

Bears and Friends shop. They sell "gummybears" and "gummyfruit". And believe me, they are delicious!!!!!! We had picked up a bag of sour fruit and mango and peach the last time we went and they just seem to disappear in front of our eyes!

Continued in the next post!

 

[dizneeat]

More updates!

We walked the streets a little more, exploring this cute town.

All the houses are pretty old, look at the size of the door!

We walked for quite a while and in no time it was time for dinner. And guess what we found .......

..........

the perfect spot for a bit of American food!

Tom had a turkey and ham sandwich, while I chose the

tuna sandwich. Both were the perfect start to my summer vacation week!

We then walked back to the parking garage and drove home. I took a few more photos driving through Passau.

On the outskirts of Passau we stopped and did some grocery and beer shopping.
The drive home is about 90 minutes and summer vacation 2012 was on the agenda again!

Summer 2012 plans revealed in the next post!

 

[tinacaplan]

What beautiful pictures and a

BIG CONGRATULATIONS​

on being done with the school year. I know how you feel...by the end of the year, I am just so DONE!

It seems to so funny to us Americans that you can just drive to Germany for an afternoon. Lovely pictures, by the way and nice to see a picture of my friend Tom.

180 FE gifts? Wow! I don't think I'd have the patience for that. I barely thought I'd survive getting us all packed for our seven day trip.

Can't wait to hear about your plans for next summer.

 

[dizneeat]

And yet another update!

As I mentioned before, we used the time it took us to drive to and from Passau to discuss next year's vacation. I really wanted to have an idea on what we want to do, so I can decide on which cruise to book while on board the DREAM. (Can't leave a little discount behind! )

So here is what we decided on.

August 11, 2012
Fly into Miami and stay for two nights
Drive to Key West and stay there for 4 nights
Drive to Key Largo to spend the night
Head to Disney for 7 nights at a Value resort (Movies?)
Spend a week on the Disney Fantasy for an Eastern Caribbean Cruise
Spend another 8 night at Disney at a Value resort (Pop?)
Due to the fact that we stay at OKW twice this summer, are going on 3 cruises and bought two cars we need to cut back on hotel bills, hence the value resorts. But we don't really mind, as long as we will be able to go to WDW in the first place.

So, what do you think?

And MORE news!! (I am done soon!)

The paperwork and luggage tags for our first cruise arrived today. Well, Tom's arrived yesterday and since they are delivered by FedEx and I wasn't home yesterday, I had to reschedule and received them today!

I also called Disney UK today to ask for a room request to be noted on my reservation and to confirm my preferred fireworks viewing times. Everything worked out fine and I am now done with news! I can finally think about posting some more daily plans for this years vacation.

Oh, and please note that I have a new ticker!

 

[tinacaplan]

Nice ticker! And good for you, visiting another part of Florida. Perhaps someday I will have visited Disney often enough to venture beyond Orlando... My mom went to Key West about ten years ago and still talks about how beautiful it was.

 

[dizneeat]

What beautiful pictures and a

BIG CONGRATULATIONS​

on being done with the school year. I know how you feel...by the end of the year, I am just so DONE!

It seems to so funny to us Americans that you can just drive to Germany for an afternoon. Lovely pictures, by the way and nice to see a picture of my friend Tom.

180 FE gifts? Wow! I don't think I'd have the patience for that. I barely thought I'd survive getting us all packed for our seven day trip.

Can't wait to hear about your plans for next summer.

Thank you, Tina!
Only a teacher can understand how drained one feels at the end of the school year. But at least I have 9 weeks of perfect school"less" bliss ahead of me!

We are really lucky, Austria sits smack dab in the middle of Europe and we can go to quite a few countries in no more than 3 hours!

It's 180 gifts times 3 and then I still have the back to back cruisers and the ones on the 4 day cruises! We have checked the lists about 50 times yet and I cannot wait for the cutoff date for people to sign up for the FE exchange. We give small gifts and they should all fit into a small box easily. I'll post pics lateron, but I know that some of my fellow cruisers read my pre-trippie!

Are you excited? Not much longer and you'll be on your way. I will try to follow you on the net! Have the most magical vacation! :hug:

 

[dizneeat]

Nice ticker! And good for you, visiting another part of Florida. Perhaps someday I will have visited Disney often enough to venture beyond Orlando... My mom went to Key West about ten years ago and still talks about how beautiful it was.

Thank you for noticing my new ticker! Not that I haven't advertised it.

We went to Key West 2 years ago and stayed at the Southernmost on the beach! It was WONDERFUL - we loved it so much. So relaxing ........ and can you think Key Lime Pie on a stick?

The balcony went all around the room

and this was the view from our balcony.

And here's Tom ON the balcony!

 

[KatMark]

Congratulations on the new ticker!

 

[dizneeat]

Congratulations on the new ticker!

Thank you, Kathy!

 

[disney67]

Karin ,
I want to say Congradulations for the end of the school year
But I also want to say you always amaze me your pictures from your trip should be in a magazine or better .
And i promise not to say anything about the food for 5 seconds
1 - 2 - 3- 4- 5 OMG that dessert that you and tom had i wanted to eat it thru the screen . And you had to mention one of my favorite candies Gummi bears enough said
I do not know why i do not take my camara everywhere like you but i should cause it really can tell a story in pictures but my wife and mom would think im weird taking food pictures but i really need to do this cause this last few mionth reading your thread and everything to go along with it was just magical and a big Thanks for sharing and Teaching me a few lessons along the way . THANK YOU
Jeff

 

[cbg1027]

Yay for Summer vacation!

Passau is really beautiful! I miss Europe.

2012 Plans look great! I love that you're taking some time to see the non-Disney part of Florida.

I would say you should come stay with me and see North Florida....but there really isn't anything to see. I travel to central and South Florida when I want a vacation. I think we should really just be part of Georgia...except that I want to keep my Florida resident discounts at Disney!

 

[Wicket's Mom]

Congrats on the new ticker. I don't know when I wil be able to post a new ticker, probably not until at least fall of 2012.

Glad that Princess has someplace to be while you are on your trips. Our little Wicket will be going to the kennel. I call it his spa, he loses a little weight because DH isn't giving him table scraps. It is really a nice place, they have tvs with animal movies & play classical music all day for the dogs.

 

[Teri1]

Congratulations on the start of your summer! I hope your leg is getting better, I hated to hear you got injured. Loved the pics of Germany!!!! Nice to see Tom's smiling face again! Great to hear your plans for next year, it's funny I was just checking tonight the prices for the 7 night Eastern Caribbean Fantasy cruise. Mick would really like to go on one of those!

 

[dizneeat]

Karin ,
I want to say Congradulations for the end of the school year
But I also want to say you always amaze me your pictures from your trip should be in a magazine or better .
And i promise not to say anything about the food for 5 seconds
1 - 2 - 3- 4- 5 OMG that dessert that you and tom had i wanted to eat it thru the screen . And you had to mention one of my favorite candies Gummi bears enough said
I do not know why i do not take my camara everywhere like you but i should cause it really can tell a story in pictures but my wife and mom would think im weird taking food pictures but i really need to do this cause this last few mionth reading your thread and everything to go along with it was just magical and a big Thanks for sharing and Teaching me a few lessons along the way . THANK YOU
Jeff

Jeff, I am happy you enjoy my photos! I love taking photos.

As for the food - I love taking photos of that too and I do it ALL the time. I felt a bit out of place when I started doing it, but I have grown into it!

Not much longer and we will be off on our cruise. Tom and I can't wait to meet you and your family!

Yay for Summer vacation!

Passau is really beautiful! I miss Europe.

2012 Plans look great! I love that you're taking some time to see the non-Disney part of Florida.

I would say you should come stay with me and see North Florida....but there really isn't anything to see. I travel to central and South Florida when I want a vacation. I think we should really just be part of Georgia...except that I want to keep my Florida resident discounts at Disney!

We love to "squeeze in" some non Disney days and South Florida is just beautiful. As for Northern Florida, we have been to Jacksonville and St. Augustine, but never ventued anywhere near Tallahassee. But maybe .... one day!

Congrats on the new ticker. I don't know when I wil be able to post a new ticker, probably not until at least fall of 2012.

Glad that Princess has someplace to be while you are on your trips. Our little Wicket will be going to the kennel. I call it his spa, he loses a little weight because DH isn't giving him table scraps. It is really a nice place, they have tvs with animal movies & play classical music all day for the dogs.

I just LOVE having 2 tickers. Gives me a lot to look forward too and we are pretty much set on when we will travel, it was just a matter of where, as we were discussing maybe going to California next year. (It all comes down to the fact if we use the tickets we get with our uk booking towards renewing our APs or pay for the non expiration option, as these tickets do expire, even if we do not use them!)
And I really hope you'll be able to add a new ticker too!

 

[dizneeat]

Congratulations on the start of your summer! I hope your leg is getting better, I hated to hear you got injured. Loved the pics of Germany!!!! Nice to see Tom's smiling face again! Great to hear your plans for next year, it's funny I was just checking tonight the prices for the 7 night Eastern Caribbean Fantasy cruise. Mick would really like to go on one of those!

Thank you for your well wishes. My leg is still swollen, but no longer hurts when walking, so at least that's a start.

Teri, what time of year were you looking at for your Eastern Caribbean Fantasy cruise? Wouldn't it be fun if we could go at the same time? We will go on the one starting Aug 25. Any chances you could go then too?

 

[annmarieda]

I am so sorry to hear about your leg. Injuries are not fun. Hopefully you can take care of yourself a bit and rest now that school is done.

Your day out looks so nice. What a quaint town. The sundaes look yummy!!!

And... very cool plans. I agree with you. Values are not at all bad.. after all it is still WDW

 

[dizneeat]

Trip planning:

Day 7, August 19

We will try to get up early, grab a breakfast snack out of the fridge and head to Disney’s Hollywood Studios for rope drop.

I guess if we make it we will join the mad dash over to Toy Story Mania to pick up a Fastpass

before heading over to get into the standby line. Once we have ridden Toy Story Mania we will head over to the Tower of Terror and ride that.

Guess we might even get in line for Startours if the wait isn’t too long.

If we get hungry we might just grab a bite to eat from Starring Rolls, before we head to ride Toy Story Mania with our Fastpass again. Then it will be time to leave the Studios and head over to Pop Century for our next DISmeet with Rosie, the pole dancing escort!

With Rosie in tow we will drive over to Downtown Disney for a leisurely lunch and lots of laughs at Wolfgang Puck’s Express.

I guess we will stop by Ghirardelli’s for some chocolate sampling and maybe another visit to the World of Disney before we head back to our resort for some pool time and some relaxation and packing.
In the evening we will drive to the Contemporary Resort for dinner at the California Grill.

We have a pretty early ADR so depending on the pace of dinner we will either hang around the Contemporary Resort to head back up to the restaurant for the fireworks,

or just walk over to the park and watch the Main Street Electrical Parade

and watch Wishes from my favourite spot, Main Street. The park will be officially open until 11pm and then there are Extra Magic Hours, so we will hang around until 2pm.

Maybe we will meet Rosie there again! Once the Extra Magic Hours are over we will head back to our resort and fall right into our beds.

 

[dizneeat]

I am so sorry to hear about your leg. Injuries are not fun. Hopefully you can take care of yourself a bit and rest now that school is done.

Your day out looks so nice. What a quaint town. The sundaes look yummy!!!

And... very cool plans. I agree with you. Values are not at all bad.. after all it is still WDW

My leg is NOTHING compared to what you and Zoe had to go through! But thanks for the well wishes! It means a lot.

We have stayed at the values before and always enjoyed them, but over the last few years we were so spoiled by the british offer of 42% off of OKW AND the Free Dining, that we have always stayed at the villa resorts. But so far our choices are not to go at all, or stay at a value and I gladly take the value over not going at all!

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

Loving your plans Karin!

Congrats on school being done for the summer.

And a new ticker!!!!

 

[annmarieda]

Ah... I have yet to eat breakfast... so guess what your latest planning does for me??? Yum!!!!

I love how you use the pictures to help show what you plan to do. It really brings the planning to life.