The most fantastic, magical things can happen ............... Day 03 Update/July 18

[dizneeat]

Joining Karin! Love all your cruise TRs! They are so epic and I'm sure this trip will be as well!!

I am glad you enjoy the cruise TRs. We love to take those cruises.

We were at WDW a few weeks before you this year. It looked like you had an amazing time!

I hope you had a magical time too! We have not been in a year and really enjoyed our time so much!

Checking in! Thanks for the bat signal! Looks like fun!

Tammie!
Great that you came over. We love sharing our experiences with friends!

 

[dizneeat]

Day 1, March 20

Here we go again …….. - Part 1

It had been a year since our last visit to WDW and that had been a short visit of 3 half days only.
So we were really looking forward to our 10 day vacation.

We had brought Pixie, the cat, to the cat hotel the day before, so after we got up and got ready we had a leisurely breakfast, closed up everything behind us and around 9.30 we loaded our luggage into the car and off we went.
Since we left on a Sunday traffic wasn’t an issue and soon enough we found ourselves in front of our tiny little airport and we headed inside to send our three bags on their way. It was just a minute job as no one was in line, we had checked in online and all the bags needed was their tag to send them off. Once we had got rid of the three big pieces of luggage we headed back out to the car, went to the car park and parked the car.
And soon we were rolling our carry-ons inside the airport and going through security. There is not much to do there, so we walked through the tiny duty free shop and then sat down and waited for departure. Tom sent a few texts to friends letting them know we had made it to the airport and then the ground staff arrived and tickets were checked and we were allowed to walk over to the plane.
We quickly found our seats and settled in and within 10 minutes we were rolling towards the runway. No delays at our tiny airport as there are just a few planes leaving a day. And as soon as we were reaching cruising altitude,

we were served some drinks and a

Corny cereal bar. To be honest, I am not a big fan of those, but having had just a smallish breakfast because of a bit of nerves I started to get hungry, so the Corny bar it was. Since It is only a 55 minute flight and soon we were reaching Frankfurt airport

where the plane was parked at one of the furthest out places and we were all picked up by bus.
Once in the terminal we checked where our departure gate was and it was quite a way away and since we were flying to the US there are always extra security checks, so we decided that we better made it to our gate rather sooner than later. We made good progress even though we stopped at the Duty Free store to have a look around, but we never bought anything. Soon we got to passport control and then we had made it to our terminal. We looked at the board and it said it was a 10 minute walk to the gate, we had more than an hour to spare, so we started looking around the shops there. When we walked past a bakery we decided to pick up a snack to have before take off as we thought lunch would still take a while. Snacks in hand we walked further towards our gate and came across a bookstore. Let’s look in there, maybe we can find something for Tiffany. Tiffany is a friend’s daughter and she was born in Germany so we wanted to get her something “German”. Funnily enough there was a book called, “How to be German” and we picked it up for her. Then we made the long track to our gate. Finally we arrived and were looking for somewhere to sit, when they actually started boarding families with small children. Okay, so we knew there was no need to sit down as we would be boarding soon as well.
A few minutes later boarding for everyone started and since we were flying premium economy we knew our seats would be pretty close to the entrance door. We were pleasantly surprised at the space between the seats and the seats were much bigger as well. We settled in and even before we left we were handed a welcome juice,

orange and maracuja, which was really delicious. About 15 minutes later everyone was seated and the plane started to push back

and then go towards the runway for take-off.
And off we went.

About 10 minutes into the flight the flight attendants got antsy and started to prepare for service. Soon they came through handing out hot and cold towels and soon after we were served some

drinks and a packet of

crackers and pretzels. So we snacked away on those, while playing around with the personal screens and finally we started to watch movies. I picked a movie about the Trapp family, which was pretty interesting as it was like a biography without most of the Hollywood details.
About 20 minutes into the movie we had to stop it, as lunch was served. They had sent us the menu via email about two weeks earlier and we had been handed a printed menu as well and it was nice, that even lunch was served in those little airplane containers, they were china containers.

Lunch was very good. We both had chosen the same menu and now we had a Seasonal Salad with Radish Julienne accompanied by French Dressing as a starter, followed by

Grilled Chicken Breast with Barbecue Sauce, Corn Mash and stewed Pumpkin and

Chocolate Mousse with shaved White Chocolate for dessert. There were even warm rolls, some butter and Brie cheese to finish the meal. Tom had a beer with his meal while I had a

glass of white wine. Once we had had our lunch we went back to watching movies, dozed a bit on and off and watched an episode of Hell’s Kitchen on Tom’s tablet. After about 6 hours on the plane we decided, that even though we were not hungry at all we would have our snacks now or we would have to bin them on arrival.

To be continued ..........​

 

[pas130]

Jeanette!
Flower and Garden was awesome, but I can hardly wait for our next trip and I really hope that you are going to be a part of it. I learned a lot of you - I am changing resorts like crazy!

Funny you mention changing......we will now be at the Poly Just one stop away from you (if you're still at Bay Lake )

I always enjoy your airplane food reviews and pics!!

 

[cajunfan]

Thanks for sharing your international flight cuisine! I for some reason find them fascinating! (maybe I need a life, lol!) I am really amused by the "Happy Mix" ...I need to have a stash of those at my office to hand out randomly to fellow co-workers...especially during busy season!

Lynn

 

[chunkymonkey]

Always enjoy your detailed experiences even on the flights and in-flight food! It's great to see what is served on international flights since nothing is served on domestic flights here anymore (except on Hawaiian airlines to Hawaii).
Looks like you had a nice flight so far!

 

[Pinkocto]

I'm here! I must come back and read, looking forward to hearing about this trip

 

[YukiPhnx]

I'm here! So excited to read about your trip!

Looking at your teaser pictures got me so excited to read this!!

Looks like you're off to a great start. I need to remind myself to have food on hand when I read your TR because your food pics make me so hungry!

I love hearing about the details of you trip

 

[jedijill]

You are off to a wonderful start!

Jill in CO

 

[Flossbolna]

Oh! I totally forgot that you were flying Premium Economy. I remember when you booked it just after it became available!! What did you think of it? I am booked on Premium Economy on my next trip (using miles and I had the additional miles and decided it was worth it to try it). Which row did you sit in? I am flying again to Miami, that is on a A380, but back is from Orlando, so that would be the same plane as yours. Any tips? The one thing I am a bit conscious about is that it looks like the seats recline very much and I am afraid that all the space that I gain will be lost if the person in front of me reclines all the way back!

By the way, I flew to Lisbon recently with my parents and I took them for lunch at the Tim Mälzer restaurant in the airport that you had talked about in previous reports. Lunch was very good!! I am now determined to try breakfast there as the food you had looked delicious!

 

[starousse]

Joining in. Looking forward to another awesome trip review!

 

[dizneeat]

Funny you mention changing......we will now be at the Poly Just one stop away from you (if you're still at Bay Lake )

So we will be pretty close to each other as we need to stick with BLT. I borrowed most of my 2017 points to make this happen and there is not much wiggle room left.

I always enjoy your airplane food reviews and pics!!

Glad you do, as there will be many more food pics.

Thanks for sharing your international flight cuisine! I for some reason find them fascinating! (maybe I need a life, lol!) I am really amused by the "Happy Mix" ...I need to have a stash of those at my office to hand out randomly to fellow co-workers...especially during busy season!

Lynn

I vividly imagine the times when there was food served on US carriers. But I don't remember it being very tasty. But honestly, we were pretty happy with what was served on this flight. Wait for my review of the food on the way back to Europe.

Always enjoy your detailed experiences even on the flights and in-flight food! It's great to see what is served on international flights since nothing is served on domestic flights here anymore (except on Hawaiian airlines to Hawaii).
Looks like you had a nice flight so far!

Many of our European carriers serve snacks (sandwiches) on flights over two hours, on shorter ones it is really just a snack, like the Corny, but it is always better than nothing at all. And we did have a really nice flight. We really enjoyed the extra space and extra attention of the flight attendants.

I'm here! I must come back and read, looking forward to hearing about this trip

Pam!
It was such a fun trip, but it was only 10 days, so it was over in a flash!

 

[dizneeat]

I'm here! So excited to read about your trip!

Looking at your teaser pictures got me so excited to read this!!

Looks like you're off to a great start. I need to remind myself to have food on hand when I read your TR because your food pics make me so hungry!

I love hearing about the details of you trip

Yuki! It is great to have you back!!
Not so great that we will miss you by a few days this summer.

It was such a fun trip and we had lots of new things planned for it. So it was exciting in the best possible way.

Yes, we were off to a great start and with a few small hiccups it stayed that way. We had so much fun, but that seemed to make the time fly by even faster! Oh, and you are right, get a snack while reading, as there will be quite a bit of food involved.

You are off to a wonderful start!

Jill in CO

Yes, we really were!

Oh! I totally forgot that you were flying Premium Economy. I remember when you booked it just after it became available!! What did you think of it? I am booked on Premium Economy on my next trip (using miles and I had the additional miles and decided it was worth it to try it). Which row did you sit in? I am flying again to Miami, that is on a A380, but back is from Orlando, so that would be the same plane as yours. Any tips? The one thing I am a bit conscious about is that it looks like the seats recline very much and I am afraid that all the space that I gain will be lost if the person in front of me reclines all the way back!

We actually really liked it! We had seats A and B (or C, can't remember) on the left side (looking forward) in the second row, which I think was 24 or 25. We were pleasantly surprised that the seats were wider than usual and there was enough space. The only thing that needed "ajustment" was, when the guy in front of me really reclined his seat quite a bit - not a space issue, but you could no longer watch TV without any reflections in it. I reclined my seat too - not that much and it worked again well. Hope you like it too! Our summer flight is Premium Economy too, same seats and I am actually looking forward to it. The food on the flight to the US was really nice, on the way back not so much, but it's the same every time, no matter which class you fly. Lots of entertainment too!

By the way, I flew to Lisbon recently with my parents and I took them for lunch at the Tim Mälzer restaurant in the airport that you had talked about in previous reports. Lunch was very good!! I am now determined to try breakfast there as the food you had looked delicious!

I had such a laugh with your comment as I first thought ..... we have never been to Lisbon and I didn't even know there was a Tim Mälzer restaurant in Lisbon until ...... I realized you were actually talking about the one in Frankfurt. I guess I need to read more carefully next time.
But glad you enjoyed it, as we have always had good food and good service there. It can get hectic though.

Joining in. Looking forward to another awesome trip review!

I hope you will enjoy this one just as much as the others, we had a ton of fun on this trip!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Hi Karin. I always love reading your trip reports. Joining in on this one too.

 

[heaven2dc]

Joining in! Always have fun reading all about your adventures

 

[Tink2Day]

Finally a new Trip report from Karin and Tom! I usually lurk but love reading your reports and have missed them.

I love reading about your and Tom's adventures, I lost my dear brother recently and know how special trips with brothers are. Even though we hadn't been to Disney together for many years, since our children were small, the memory of that trip and those when we were children in Disney are some of my fondest memories, your reports rekindle those memories. Can't wait to read more (love the food pictures).

 

[YukiPhnx]

Yuki! It is great to have you back!!
Not so great that we will miss you by a few days this summer.

It was such a fun trip and we had lots of new things planned for it. So it was exciting in the best possible way.

Yes, we were off to a great start and with a few small hiccups it stayed that way. We had so much fun, but that seemed to make the time fly by even faster! Oh, and you are right, get a snack while reading, as there will be quite a bit of food involved.

It's great to be back Karin! I started a PTR for my trip and the link is in my siggie.

This is the second time we'll JUST miss each other. Do you ever do trips in the Fall? I'm already planning my 30th birthday trip during F&W/Halloween/Christmas season for 2018.

I noticed that you didn't pop in a sleeping pill on your flight this time. Was that to better enjoy premium economy? I've been on premium economy too but all it was were a bit of extra leg space and ice cream with our meal. I guess every airline's definition is different, eh?

I'll need to stock up on some healthy snacks then!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Off to a nice start with your premium economy! I haven't heard of that category before.

 

[dizneeat]

Hi Karin. I always love reading your trip reports. Joining in on this one too.

Great that you came over here as well. It was such a great trip, we are happy to share it with you all.

Joining in! Always have fun reading all about your adventures

Great to have you reading here again!

Finally a new Trip report from Karin and Tom! I usually lurk but love reading your reports and have missed them.

Yes, finally a new one and I really hope one that will be finished before the summer trip!
May I say that I am very happy you came out of lurkdom. Please, join in here!

I love reading about your and Tom's adventures, I lost my dear brother recently and know how special trips with brothers are. Even though we hadn't been to Disney together for many years, since our children were small, the memory of that trip and those when we were children in Disney are some of my fondest memories, your reports rekindle those memories. Can't wait to read more (love the food pictures).

I am very sorry for your loss. But I agree with you, brothers are special.
I guess our special bond comes from the fact that neither of us is married and we really share a huge love of Disney.

 

[dizneeat]

It's great to be back Karin! I started a PTR for my trip and the link is in my siggie.

I will head right over to your PTR, Yuki!

This is the second time we'll JUST miss each other. Do you ever do trips in the Fall? I'm already planning my 30th birthday trip during F&W/Halloween/Christmas season for 2018.

We cannot travel in the fall, Yuki. I am stuck with school holidays until I retire which might be still a few years away. I really wish we could make it for your birthday trip, but that I will still not have retired then.

I noticed that you didn't pop in a sleeping pill on your flight this time. Was that to better enjoy premium economy? I've been on premium economy too but all it was were a bit of extra leg space and ice cream with our meal. I guess every airline's definition is different, eh?

Travelling to the US we sometimes go without the sleeping pill. And we were so looking forward to this trip, I guess it would have been hard to sleep anyway. We really enjoyed premium economy. The seats were wider, you had more leg room, a foot rest and food was better than in economy. We actually booked it for the extra space, which helped with arriving more rested (after a 10 hour flight) and we were quite far up front for immigration as well. That always helps.

I'll need to stock up on some healthy snacks then!

You better do!

Off to a nice start with your premium economy! I haven't heard of that category before.

It's between business and economy and we were really looking forward to it. It gives you more space and it helped tremendously with arriving much more rested, than being squeezed in in economy for 10 hours. I think Lufthansa only started offering it a year ago.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 1, March 20

Here we go again …….. - Part 2

After about 6 hours on the plane we decided, that even though we were not hungry at all we would have our snacks now or we would have to bin them on arrival.
So, while still watching TV Tom had his Prosciutto roll and I nibbled on my Pizza roll.

And after finishing those we dozed a bit until it was time for another hot-cold towel and then drinks were served again. This time we both opted for Coke as it was going to be a really long day for us. Then it was time for dinner. Again, we were served a nice tray of yummy nosh.

Usually I have the pasta dish for dinner, but the chicken dish I had had for lunch had been really good, so we both went for chicken again and so we indulged in

Fried Chicken Breast on Mustard Sauce served with mashed Broccoli and mixed Vegetables and

Berry Cake with Cream for dessert. Again, there were warm rolls and butter to complete the meal. There were even small

nougat bites as an extra treat. We were now getting close to our destination and excitement grew immensely.

And soon the airport was in sight and we touched down. It had been a year and we were so looking forward to what was to come. Once we had reached the terminal everyone started to get up and remove luggage from the overhead bins until there was an announcement from the captain, that three British carriers had arrived just before ours and we had to wait for at least 20 minutes until we were allowed to disembark.
Tom and I were already standing in the galley and while everyone went back to their seats I could not bear any more sitting down. So we asked the purser if it was okay to keep standing where we were. No problem.
We chatted with the purser and found out that he was Austrian as well and had been with Lufthansa for quite a long time. And with that, time went by fast and the phone call to open the doors came sooner than we had expected. And since we were standing right there at the door, the purser, walking past us towards the rest of coach class told us to sneak out with First and Business class and to have fun. Score! Big time!
The further up in the line you are the sooner you will be through immigration.
We were then directed towards the “do it yourself” machines and soon we were in line for an officer and then were sent
towards the luggage carousel. We could find two pieces right away, but must have missed the third one as it took a whole round on the belt before we actually noticed it. We put our luggage on a cart and headed towards customs, were directed towards a short line for second inspection as I had marked that we brought some food/chocolate into the country, but within a few minutes our luggage had been scanned we were on our way out, just to hit a roadblock.
We did not want to send our luggage off on the belt again, we wanted to take it with us, but there is no elevator, so what to do with 5 pieces of luggage and only 4 hands? Well, my new carry-on has a handle that can be fixed at different heights, so I got it to medium, put Tom’s carry-on handle over it and rolled those two with one hand and grabbed another piece of luggage with the other hand. Getting up the escalator was challenging, but once we were on the regular level it was okay. We dragged everything over to the elevator and went down to the rental cars. There was a long line at the Hertz counter and I was happy they had been far too expensive and we had chosen Budget this time.
And while we walked along we noticed that there was quite a line at every counter, just not Budget. They had three agents who helped three customers and just as we got in line one customer left and we were next. We always use AutoEurope for our rental car, as they have really good contracts with all the insurances we need. So we handed her the rental paperwork and within minutes Tom signed the contract and was handed a key. Now to get the luggage over to the parking garage.
It was quite something to roll it all over and up the escalator again, but we did it and then Tom went ahead and checked out where the car was parked. I followed with the rest of the luggage and we were pleased to see a Chrysler 200

with a nice big trunk. In went the big suitcases and one of the carry-ons, the other went in the back seat and with the GPS placed on the windscreen we were ready to roll. Soon we were on the freeway and on the way to our first night’s stay, the Wyndham at Disney Springs.
About 20 minutes later we left the freeway and headed towards the hotel, but not without a short stop at the former Hess gas station to pick up a few drinks and some snacks. By now it was past 9pm, but what can go wrong now?
We drove up to the hotel looking for check in parking and there was none. So we asked where we should park and were directed towards an area just off the entrance. Okay, paperwork in hand we headed inside and it did not take long until we were handed a key and given directions to the room. There was no map or anything, but we planned on parking the car in self parking and then went to explore where our room was located. So, off to self parking we went, punching in the code numbers and then we wondered where to park as the car park was so full, cars were even parked in the grass. We drove around for about 10 minutes looking for an empty space but there was nothing available. In the end we gave in and went for valet parking, it was the same price as self parking anyway, but it left us with 5 pieces of luggage and two shopping bags.
Well, we would have to ask bell services to help us. There was no one in sight when we drove up and unloaded the car, so we asked for bell services and were told that no one was available.
Which left us struggling with our luggage over the thick carpet and not exactly knowing where to go.
It took us a few minutes to figure out where to go and then we slowly but surely were on our way.
We finally made it to the elevator and went up to the fifth floor, but where to go from here. Tom went ahead, while I waited with a lot of our luggage and it seemed like forever until he returned.
Our room was right at the other end of the hotel.
So we schlepped everything there and it seemed like an endless journey. Once in the room it looked a bit old, even though there was crisp white bedding, but the lights were not really bright and it added to the oldish look. Tom tried to close the curtains and they would not close, so we were kind of in a shop window with the lights on.
Thank god we were at the end of the outside walkway. We freshened up a bit, had a drink and then headed out, over to Disney Springs for dinner. By now it was past 10pm and we had been up for 22 hours.
But soon we were on the bridge over to Disney Springs and within a few minutes we were in front of what we had been missing for a long time, a meal at Wolfgang Puck’s Express.
And a few minutes later we were sitting at a table, a glass of

beer for Tom and a Diet Coke for myself in front of us and the vacation feeling was finally really kicking in. Soon after we were served the food we had been looking forward to for such a long time. Tom had ordered a

Barbecued Chicken Pizza, topped with smoked mozzarella, Cilantro and caramelized onions, while I went with the next best thing to my beloved Four Cheese Pesto Pizza, which was no longer on the menu, the

Pesto and Goat Cheese Pizza. And while it was not exactly what we remembered, it still hit the spot and we enjoyed our dinner.
When we left the restaurant, it was just a few minutes past 11pm and everything was already closed, so we just strolled around a bit before returning to the hotel.
Once back in the room we were far too tired to watch some TV, so we just went to bed, turned off the light and drifted off to sleep right away.

To be continued ..........​