The ABC's of Trip Reporting- PLEASE JOIN US ON THE NEW THREAD!

[onelilspark]

Yay for a new car! I just got one too...and it has ABS! (Yes, because of Test Track!)

 

[All7OfUs]

Yay for a new car! I just got one too...and it has ABS! (Yes, because of Test Track!)

I'm not sure we bought the car because of the ABS, but I do know what stopping with them should feel like because of TT!! Ha. Funny how in real life so many things come back to Disney!

 

[Millie12591]

The topic of discussion around the pool was would it be safe for everyone else if it went off while he was in the pool?

I never would have thought of that! I'm sorry, I guess I have just enough sick humor in me to find this as a funny mental picture.

They gentleman who had a defib device inplanted said his went off while he was carrying suicases up the stairs at his daughter's house. He was mid stair and the device fired. Pretty much knocked him off his feet but just to a sittting position. That was his cue to slowdown. Some cue.

I'm thinking that ended up being pretty self correcting, I think if I was shocked off me feet I would think twice before over doing it again. I would probably push myself any way, but I would have thought twice about it before doing it.

I'm with you Magdalene and Marv -- this one took me longer than I thought it should, considering the limited possibilities of a name with "Q" in it.

Tell me about it! I knew there had to be only a few places. But still has me some what stumped since I'm not finding a sign with a close-up to be sure. I guess I'll have to guess by deduction...Since I couldn't find a sign for Liberty Square River boat and nothing else with a q in it matched font wise, I pick on a total guess...Cirque de Soleil. I really looked hard for this one, I looked hard for the last one too, but never did find it.

WE FINALLY BOUGHT A CAR!!!!!

More later after I get some pictures of it!!! It's just one of those pee your pants moments here in the life of a DISer!!!

Yes!! I'm so glad you finally found something. I'm curious...why did you go with a car instead of a Mini-van, aren't there still six of you at home to drive to and fro?

Considering that we aren't competitive, we still take this pretty serious!

Actually, I think it is a very entertaining scavenger hunt through the Disney websites!

I totally agree Magdalene, With this go around I've been taking it more seriously, don't know why since I don't normally have a competitive bone in my body.

Looks like a nice car! I am glad you finally found one and now you can use your time for nicer things - like preparing your gigantic feast for the holidays!

Well, Dad had definitely decided NOT to come up to the mountain; he just really doesn't want to that far away from a "real" hospital. Ah well, we've decided to go up for Wed. Thurs. nights, and then go down to Salem for the rest of the weekend along with SIL and her family! I wonder if he knew when he made the decision not to go that he'd end up with company of 12 for 3 nights!!?? DSIL and I talked on the phone today, and we'll each take a dinner to make, and the grocery store isn't too far...


I could always suggest a new song to drive you crazy. Seen any dancing dolls lately from a boat??

Actually, the funny part was the fact I had the song already in my head before you all mentioned anything about The Who's in Whoville. But thanks never the less because now I do have the dancing dolls song in my head , which happens to be one of mine and DH's favorite rides at DL. I know, I know, this isn't normally a ride people like, but I really dig history and this happens to be part of the history (of Disney) before Disney Land was even built. The DL IASW is MUCH better than the MK IASW, just sayin.


Dad still hasn't gotten in to see the cardiologist. I think he needs to stage a sit in over there.

I'm thinking your right, sometimes it's hard to get an older generation to do the thing that's best for their health. I'm even starting to notice myself not wanting to go in to the doctors for routine things due to not wanting to hear the doctor nag me about stuff. I haven't had my cholesterol or other blood tests done since I had it come back slightly elevated a few years back, the doctor started harping on me about going on medication almost right away. It would have to take much higher numbers for me to be convinced to go on any kind of medications. I realize docs are CTOA when it comes to this, but I think they do happen to jump the gun on these things a bit because of liability. If I knew I was at serious risk I wouldn't mess with my health, I've had tests come back one stage away from stage 1 female type cancer so I do know when to take things seriously. Those four and then eventually twice a year appts. were taken very seriously for 5-6 years. I've been green lighted to once a year again, have been for a while now Praise you Lord!
All this blather to say....I think as we get older it's harder to walk into a Dr.'s office not knowing what's going to be said to you out of fear. I think it may have to come down to accountability to help us to do what we know we need to do. It worked for me to get into these last batch of tests I needed done. I confessed to friends I wasn't making it a priority and they helped me stay on task to getting there, one friend took off of work to meet me at one appt. because she thought I didn't need to be alone while finding out results. Everything turned out okay, and I'm glad I have my family/friends to help me be brave. Getting older is for the birds I tell ya!

Yeah for new comfortable wheels!

So where will your first road trip be to?

TEXAS! Okay it probably will really be to Salem or the Mt., but you can't blame a girl for tryin!

Duh! You already said it would be the Mt.

 

[eandesmom]

Well, Dad had definitely decided NOT to come up to the mountain; he just really doesn't want to that far away from a "real" hospital. Ah well, we've decided to go up for Wed. Thurs. nights, and then go down to Salem for the rest of the weekend along with SIL and her family! I wonder if he knew when he made the decision not to go that he'd end up with company of 12 for 3 nights!!?? DSIL and I talked on the phone today, and we'll each take a dinner to make, and the grocery store isn't too far...

oh wow, what a crazy few days, I'll be thinking of you. But also glad he isn't too far away from a "real" hospital. Sounds like he needs to get his behind to the doc still though.

A BRICK!!? I guess if they've been taught well, they shouldn't have a problem with it. RIght? I'll check out your FB page; I'm sure Mik will want to see it.

well........ yes and no. I've seen some higher level adult black belts (3rd and up) break their hands. It's NUTS! I really really REALLY can wait on the brick. The competitions are even scarier, in their own way.

I think the most Evan has done is about 2 1/2" thick in total combined boards which would be a combination of mediums (1/2" and large 1"). The video on FB I think shows him breaking through 4 of the mediums but he went for a lot more on his international test (which I didn't post, may or may not have video'd it). For the mystery break I think on the international he had a few that might have been 1 1/2-2....

 

[englishrose47]

Congrats on the New Car Liesa !!!!!!

 

[All7OfUs]

With hearts full of gladness for all we were able to take in, despite the majority of us being flat on their backs, or worse yet, leaning over the bed heaving into a plastic lined receptacle most of the time, it was time to begin to say goodbye to the warmth and hospitality of Franconia. Of course, that warmth continued to come only from glad tidings and beautiful scenery- definitely NOT from the continued dreary, and unusual weather for August.

And yet, there were a few more things we could see on our way out. Let’s finish up by taking a walk with us back to the train station…)


Once again we scarfed a phenomenal breakfast- once again I enjoyed the tender liver of an animal slathered on fresh, hot bread- so soft in the middle, and crunchy on the outside. Coffee was consumed, (and I should have known better), our bags were stuffed again, this time with more dirty clothes than clean, and a few extra souvenirs traded out for those we had brought to give away. A VERY fair exchange I’d say; Bavaria treated us well in that respect!

We said our goodbyes to the moose head on the wall, the odd chandelier in our boudoir, the coffee I wished I had had time for one more cup of, and headed out clickety clacking down the cobblestone streets towards the Central Market again. After 2 wrong turns, we finally, and probably accidently found our way there only to find the big souvenir shop closed!! DOH!!! How could I have made the most perilous and STUPID mistake of putting off buying the ONE thing I had seen earlier that I ReAlLY, REALLY wanted??!! Double DOH!! I had spied this complete set of like 24 straw ornaments in various shapes that I thought would be so cool on our tree this year. Alas, we could not wait for them to open; only one more chance to find those souvenirs- the Handicrafter’s Yard just across from the train station.

Clickety-clack, clickety-clack, down the streets we went. Why is it that to me it sounded like six A380s taking from SeaTac?? Mikki was mortified and chose to carry hers, rather than be seen with a horde of loud, obnoxious American tourists, hanging back about 30 yards. Funny how they have no qualms if you offer to buy them their gingerbread box at the next stand we see! And that we did. She chose a lovely box (shown in the last installment) filled with spicy goodies. I know what we’re having with coffee on the train ride back!

Thankfully, the Handicrafter’s Yard was open(ing), and we wound our way through each looking for that special last something. I split off knowing that what I found might work its way into a few Christmas stockings- clandestine shopping is the best kind, isn’t it? I was sad not to find any straw ornaments, but super excited to find those little tin ornaments I showed you last time, one for each of the kids, and a bigger one for Mike and me. The man who painted them was so proud of his work and took time to show me his shop and help me pick out each one. He said he’s been doing his craft for over 40 years!!! Wouldn’t you love to have a job here??

Oops time for one last photo,

and it was time to be off, across the street. When you feel that tension of having to say, “hurry up!” then you know vacation is at its end. And now was when that feeling struck.
We had to laugh at how we were now entering the land of:

AND

The Land of rush, rush, rush. UGH.

Once again we boarded one of these: (but ICE)

And headed off through the countryside amazed at how lovely it was:

Right about here the coffee caught up with me, but I knew right where to go. I saw the world had restocked its supply of train “bags”, and was I glad to know we didn’t cause a pandemic of low quantities. And what would go best with those gingerbreads?? More coffee of course!! Believe it or not, the family unanimously agreed the best of the 3 gingerbreads out of the box was the one for diabetics. Go figure.

Everyone feeling pretty chipper and ready for another long haul flight, we wistfully joked that nothing could be as bad as the last one. Surely it would go better than the first one…. Surely.

 

[Flossbolna]

Wow, it really seems to me that now your TR really starts for me. So far I knew quite a bit of the story (and especially of the last updates), but now we venture into the part of your trip where I know as much (or even less) as your other readers!

I had a good laugh at the fact that one of the pics you posted with lovely German landscape is a picture of a sewage works!! The one with the round ponds...

And Mikki should not have worried about the noise her luggage made - Katharina did exactly the same thing last Sunday!

 

[marvali]

Considering that we aren't competitive, we still take this pretty serious!

Actually, I think it is a very entertaining scavenger hunt through the Disney websites!

Yep, no competitive people in this crowd! This is the first time I've really cared about the sign on the outside instead of what awaits on the inside.......

Looks like a nice car! I am glad you finally found one and now you can use your time for nicer things - like preparing your gigantic feast for the holidays!

Ditto!

I"m so glad you are all enjoying the game. Just when you thought you knew it all, someone comes up with something you hadn't thought about at all re: Disney- I love that! That's why I totally love Jack's blog over on allears.

Enjoying??? It's driving me bonkers.....

Speaking of feasts... I need to get to the grocery store today for soem things for THanksgiving before this snowstorm hits. I guess within the next few hours, we'll be getting 1-3 inches of snow.

Just like Blankistan......

Nice update! Sad this part of your trip has come to a close. Only on the DIS would people hang on every word of someone who went to a train station and rode a train.......

 

[lovealldisney]

First off CONGRATS on the new car!! Or what we like to call new to us car! And you'll be ever so grateful for the Anti lock brakes!! Especially with winter coming! Really your getting 1-3 inches of snow already???

We have had some weird weather here lately. It was in the 60's the last two days, there was a cold front coming from Canada, it was pushing against the warm front from the south and caused all kinds of THUNDERSTORMS not heard of in November here in Wisconsin. There were two TORNADO's too that were reported south of where we live! Crazy! Now the cold front has come through, we went from 60 degree weather to 20 degree weather all in a matter of hours!

Second great update! Looking forward to more and your next flight. Are you flying from Munich? I could tell you a story about that, we flew home from there it was a little crazy let me tell you. We almost missed our conneting flight to the US!

 

[carissanboys]

Congrats on the new car, Liesa! Looking forward to the Disney stuff. Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[glennbo123]

Oh, you gave me that feeling of when it's time to leave a place, but you just don't want to. Nice update.

I had a good laugh at the fact that one of the pics you posted with lovely German landscape is a picture of a sewage works!! The one with the round ponds...

I was going to comment on that too! Liesa and sewage.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Leather interior makes for a comfy ride on my posterior, and the sweet sound system gives me the ability to really embarrass my kids as I cruise down the freeway conducting the Boston Symphony air band style. Yes, I really do that.

Any chance to embarrass the kids, you have to take it. You can threaten them with the air accordion if they really start mis-behaving in the back seat.

Anyway, sweet new ride! I'm glad the process is finally over!

Some of you may be wondering just WHEN I"m going to just get on with the Disney stuff. I assure you- it IS coming... I promise!! Hang in there with me; you WILL be rewarded! I imagine with the holidays coming up, the Boards will be a bit slower, but I imagine in the next couple of weeks, the Disney stuff will debut in all its glory. Meantime, I'm having myself a pretty magical day.

Disney stuff? Does anybody on this message board really care about Disney stuff?

OMGosh!!! YOU ARE NOT going to believe this:

Mike gets under the hood today checking fluids and for oil leaks, etc, etc.... and get this...

wait for it...



He finds bird SEED!!!

Apparently, this guy kept the car in the garage almost all the time, and we all concluded that probably mice (or hamsters )had gotten up there under the hood and made a little stash in there. I was laughing my hiney off (wouldn't that be really, really cool if one could actually DO that?!) when I read you post, and totally thought of it when Mike showed me the bird seed!!

Apparently they were very well fed, so the car should run great!

We had to laugh at how we were now entering the land of:

AND

NOW this vacation is starting to look a little more familiar to me.

Everyone feeling pretty chipper and ready for another long haul flight, we wistfully joked that nothing could be as bad as the last one. Surely it would go better than the first one…. Surely.

It will go better. And stop calling me Shirley.

Thanks for sharing the beautiful sewage treatment pictures! Oh, and Germany looks nice, too.

 

[dekkerdisneydreamer]

I was sad not to find any straw ornaments, but super excited to find those little tin ornaments I showed you last time, one for each of the kids, and a bigger one for Mike and me. The man who painted them was so proud of his work and took time to show me his shop and help me pick out each one. He said he’s been doing his craft for over 40 years!!! Wouldn’t you love to have a job here??

Yes Please!!

Oops time for one last photo,

Nice Photo Opp!

We had to laugh at how we were now entering the land of:

AND

The Land of rush, rush, rush. UGH.
Even under normal circumstances, these places aren't where I'd like to go!

And headed off through the countryside amazed at how lovely it was:

So beautiful, even from the window of a speeding train!

Everyone feeling pretty chipper and ready for another long haul flight, we wistfully joked that nothing could be as bad as the last one. Surely it would go better than the first one…. Surely.

Okay, way to TEASE your audience..... Please tell me that everyone is now over the hump and on the mend. No more sicky sicky......

CONGRATS ON THE NEW CAR!!!

 

[lovealldisney]

NOW this vacation is starting to look a little more familiar to me.

Thanks for sharing the beautiful sewage treatment pictures! Oh, and Germany looks nice, too.

Captain_Oblivious

Here are a few inside pics of a Mcd's while were in Germany. Much different than here.

It looks simalar.

How about a Big and Tasty Bacon or a Big Chili?

Or a wrap? Wings, potato wedges or a veggie burger??

My kids had the biggest kick out of this! I even brought coupons home for my DD (she's taking German in school) Her class had a fun time reading and looking at them!

 

[Flossbolna]

Wendy, I see that you mastered the art of posting pictures!!

McDonalds in Germany has really changed for the better during the last 10 years or so. They used to be heavily critized for their junk food and made a lot of effort to improve their product and included more interesting and also healthy food, e.g. you can substitute a salad for fries. They also added the McCafé coffee shops which are giving Starbucks a hard time here in Germany. And they refurbished most of their restaurants to look very stylish.

 

[lovealldisney]

Wendy, I see that you mastered the art of posting pictures!!

McDonalds in Germany has really changed for the better during the last 10 years or so. They used to be heavily critized for their junk food and made a lot of effort to improve their product and included more interesting and also healthy food, e.g. you can substitute a salad for fries. They also added the McCafé coffee shops which are giving Starbucks a hard time here in Germany. And they refurbished most of their restaurants to look very stylish.

We noticed the McCafes as well. That is non-existant here in the US, well at least in Milwaukee. We do have what they call McCafe but not a whole separate area/part in Mcd's where you can also buy a pastry ect.. We don't have stylish Mcd's at all! and none with two levels! We got a big kick out of the Euro menu! Just like our dollar menu here! We had planned not to stop at any while there, we did end up going though mainly to have a snack like fries or a soda. It was really handy especially when we were in bigger cities and we wanted a place to sit down.

Yes I did figure out how to post pictures! I'm very proud of myself! Thanks for noticing!

Here's a photo I found on the web this is our local McD's. Typical of what you would see here in the US.

 

[englishrose47]

Loved the LEAVING Germany update !!!Can't wait till The DC Meet pix come up!!!

 

[mom3sonstt]

It will go better. And stop calling me Shirley.

QUOTE]

Wrong TR - but "Airplane"





My brother was in Germany in the mid-80's in the Army. When he came home he said the thing he liked about McDonalds over there was you could order a Big Mac and a beer. Another memory of my brother was that he would order his sandwiches from McDonalds drive thru then he would pull over and scrape all the ketchup and mustard off and pile a layer of french fries on the burger. He did that once when he was taking me back to college and asked me if I knew why he didn't just order the burger plain. I said because if you did you would have to wait while they made you a special one. He said I was the first one who knew that....all his friends always asked why he just didn't oder it plain. I told him all of his friends weren't the ones who had to wait when we were kids for his "plain fish sandwich". Friday will be 2 years that he has been gone.

 

[lovealldisney]

It will go better. And stop calling me Shirley.

QUOTE]

Wrong TR - but "Airplane"





My brother was in Germany in the mid-80's in the Army. When he came home he said the thing he liked about McDonalds over there was you could order a Big Mac and a beer. Another memory of my brother was that he would order his sandwiches from McDonalds drive thru then he would pull over and scrape all the ketchup and mustard off and pile a layer of french fries on the burger. He did that once when he was taking me back to college and asked me if I knew why he didn't just order the burger plain. I said because if you did you would have to wait while they made you a special one. He said I was the first one who knew that....all his friends always asked why he just didn't oder it plain. I told him all of his friends weren't the ones who had to wait when we were kids for his "plain fish sandwich". Friday will be 2 years that he has been gone.

Interesting, I didn't order anything special either while there. Because they have it set up differently then they have here in the US where when you order something it's made assembly line how you want it. There its like how it used to be here (like when I worked there in the 80's). If your old enough like me to remember back that far!

Oh and we did see people drinking beer there to!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Captain_Oblivious

Here are a few inside pics of a Mcd's while were in Germany. Much different than here.

How about a Big and Tasty Bacon or a Big Chili?

Or a wrap? Wings, potato wedges or a veggie burger??

My kids had the biggest kick out of this! I even brought coupons home for my DD (she's taking German in school) Her class had a fun time reading and looking at them!

Cool! Thanks for posting these. I always wondered if that "royale with cheese" line from Pulp Fiction was actually true...and it is!

I'll take the Big and Tasty Bacon with the potato wedges, please. I love how it's listed as "Farmkartoffeln". Sounds like, "Stuff that fell off the farm truck, but we fried it up anyway."