Two Sisters finally get to go to WDW together! - TR has started!

[manntra]

I have really enjoyed reading your PTR I just read through the whole thing today at work!
So wonderful that you are planning a trip with your sister...and it's fun having you both on here commenting!
Your plane is huge! Looks nice and comfy for a long flight
I really enjoy seeing your pictures from Germany....a country I have longed to visit. A friend of mine was there when the Wall was torn down.
You have great ADR's at many of my favorite restaurants and of course you are staying at my favorite hotel!

Thanks for keeping me company today at work!

Tracy

 

[Flossbolna]

Finally we are getting around to post something about oour excursion to the Heidepark in Soltau in early September... (replies will follow shortly, too)

The Heide-Park is one of the few larger amusement parks in Germany. Nodnol and I never got to go to lots of amusement parks as kids, it wasn't our parents' cup of tea... So, mainly the only parks we know are Disney parks. Of course we are now accustomed to a pretty high standard!!

Nodnol's DH (since he just informed us that his favourite Disney character is Remy from Ratatouille we will just call him that in this post) is from a small town in Northern Germany in an area called Lüneburger Heide in German, the English name is Lunenburg Heath (don't worry if you have never heard of it). Just a 15 minutes drive from his parents' house is the Heide-Park. So he grew up with it. Katharina thought it would be fun to take me along to a visit when they were at her parents in law in September. I took the train from Berlin and three hours later they picked me up from the train station. I got to change trains at a very special train station in Uelzen. It used to be an ordinary train station which was remodeled by an Austrian artist called Hundertwasser (the name means hundred waters). He is famous for not using any straight lines. The station is really lovely now. This is what the front looks like, you can still see the parts of the old station mixed with the newer parts:

We tried to follow all our important Disney rules: arrive for rope drop, do the head-liner first etc. Well, we did not really get there for rope drop (don't know if they had any) but just 10 minutes or so after opening and got on their most famous roller coaster first. It's a wooden coaster with one of the steepest drops in Europe. It does look impressive:

The last picture is the view from afar. The Heide-Park is extremely wide spread and it has lots of these long vistas. Which is beautiful in its own way, but soooo different from the Disney Parks where you only see things that really fit together. So here you have picture of the statue of Liberty mixed in with a steamboat and the coaster...

Well, we were pretty impressed by the coaster and were discussing about chickening out while we waited in line. We really don't have much experience with wooden coasters and thought it couldn't be much worse than DLP's Space Mountain or Rock'n Roller Coaster, since these both take you upside down. Oh, were we wrong!! This was the most horribel coaster experience!! And it went on and on and on and seemed to never stop. Every time we were in one of the „valleys“ we were pressed down into the seat. Not pleasant! Nodnol just mentioned that she was ready to leave the train already after the first hill...

So 30 min after we arrived at the park we already felt like we needed a break...

continued in next post...

 

[Flossbolna]

We decided to try an old favourite of Remy:

I had a lot of fun taking pictures of Remy and nodnol:

Looks like Remy was having a lot of fun – nodnol might have wanted something a bit more relaxing.

By the way, the bear on top of the ride is the official mascot of the Heide-Park. His name is Wumbo (pronounced like Voombo)

He is also available as a walk around character and can be found all over the park:

We continued on to the next bigger attraction, but this time a rather tame „coaster“ it is actually a bob sled and it doesn't pretend to be one like the Matterhorn in DL. It doesn't go on tracks but like a real bob-sled in a chute as seen here:

The bob sled was quite funny, we all had lots fun on that ride!

Along the way we came across this little train:

It was kind of a monorail, or perhaps more like the old DL peoplemover. But it was tiny! I think each of us would have needed his or her own car – that might be one of the reasons why we did not go on it. Also it moved very slowly!

They have a huge free fall ride there, but it wasn't working that day. So we were very courageous and went on the kiddie version:

I realized that with the ToT experience I don't mind free falls that much anymore even though I am normally very much afraid of heights (there are fun stories of me climbing down from church towers sitting on my backside... ). Nodnol was feeling rather apprehensive after the experience with our first coaster. She had never been on a free fall and therefore did not know what to expect. But in the end she liked it. So I have hope to get her to go on the ToT multiple times while at WDW!

 

[Flossbolna]

Our next ride was a flume ride. It was supposedly in a mine and they had attempted a themed queue:

The queue was quite neat, but if you are holding it to the Expedition Everest standard it paled in comparison! The ride was ok, not much happening. Once again, Splash Mountain rather spoils you for other flume rides. This is the big drop:

At the exit there was a photo op with Wumbo which nodnol and I wanted to make use of:

We also tried the looping coaster as seen here (only in the front, behind you can see the track of the inverted coaster, we did not try that after our wooden roller coaster experience):

It was actually looping around a walk way so later on we got some neat pictures of the cars:

There really was a huge variety of rides, here you can see a raft:

There was a pirate show:

And there was a tower with a viewing platform:

Notice these dark clouds? It was alternating between clouds and sun all day. We had a brief shower in between, which was not too bad. We just waited until it past under shelter. When we were nearly done for the day we decided to go once again on Remy's favourite ride (see picture story of nodnol above). When it was our turn to get on a few drops started to come down. I got out my poncho which I had used for the flume ride and gave one to nodnol, too. Remy did not want to have anything to do with such girlish things. Nodnol and I managed somehow to get at least parts of us covered by the poncho before the ride started. Once we were in the air and spinning the ponchos were unfortunately very difficult to keep from flying around. And then the rain started seriously. It was raining buckets of water on us while we were spinning really fast. We were getting wet – and then we got even wetter and finally we were soaked, poncho or not! It was hilarious, we were laughing so much that it hurt. When the ride stopped we were dripping water. Fortunately we had more or less concluded our day there anyway and after a 15 minutes drive we were home and got ourselves into dry clothes!

All in all I was still very impressed with the park. It was much more park-like than any Disney park. It had beautiful landscaping, it was well maintained and offered an interesting mix of attractions. Definitely worth the admission for a fun day. But it isn't a destination in the way Disney parks are. The thing I noticed most was the difference in theming. Here it was more of a decoration while Disney really creates a new world! Oh and I missed fastpass sooooo much!!

 

[tiggrbaby]

What a lovely side trip! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Lady Lallie]

Sounds like you had a great day! I love that nodnol was wearing her Kermit the Frog tshirt! I love the picture of the two of you in the log !

 

[manntra]

Thank you for sharing your trip to the park. It looks like such a fun place. There is a park in Pennsylvania that has a ride like the bobsled. They have been building it for about three years!! It looks kind of frightening because
there is no track!! They also have a two very wobbly wooden rollercoasters.

Tracy

 

[If U Had Wings]

It looks like you guys had a great day.

 

[mickeysmyboy]

Sounds like you had a great time at the park!! I love the picture of you two sitting in the flume!!!

 

[Flossbolna]

Nodnol just reminded me that I had promised replies (I think she wants to read them, too! )

Oh no! I'm so sorry about nodnol's husband. I'm glad he is finally starting to feel better.

TWO MONTHS!!

Nodnol's DH is really improving a lot! And as of today it is only 57 days!!!

Oh no!!! I hope he's feeling better soon and nodol stays healthy! And to only two months!

nodnol is still doing fine and her hubby is really improving! And: 57 days!!!

I'm so glad that nodnol's husband is finally starting to feel better. Let's hope that she stays well.

Kathy

thanks for the pixie dust! things are finally to start looking better.

Oh dear! ......what a lot of illness to deal with...I am glad that Nodnol's DH got a diagnosis though and it sounds like he is on his road to recovery... (I will keep my fingers crossed for Nodnol...but it sounds like she is going to be ok...she may have developed an immunity...-

(Just be aware...I had walking pneumonia two years ago...after a couple of other illnesses -and it took a bit to feel like myself...even when DH is better...it may take him a month or even more to build up his strength to his usual self...pneumonia really can beat you up...so don't be worried if he still feels tired and not 100%...he may still be a little more tired than usual even at Christmas...BUT he will get back to normal-just slowly...)

Thank you for showing the springerle molds... They are very charming...

(We have a bakery near us that makes German cookies for Christmas and I sometimes buy some springerle because I think they look so pretty (I've never cared for the taste so much but I always thought it was just this bakery......now I know maybe they all taste like that...

that was interesting to read about your experience with pneumonia. I am glad that you got over it! Nodnol's DH is improving a lot, but still rather weak. Yesterday he told me how he was exhausted from just getting the mail. I think part of it is from the lungs not working properly and therefore not bringing enough oxygen into the blood.

How interesting that there is a bakery in the US which makes springerle! Nodnol and I agreed that it really must be an acquired taste. For us it's so much part of our family's Christmas tradition, so I guess that's why we like them so much! I am afraid, you really can't blame the bakery!

I have really enjoyed reading your PTR I just read through the whole thing today at work!
So wonderful that you are planning a trip with your sister...and it's fun having you both on here commenting!
Your plane is huge! Looks nice and comfy for a long flight
I really enjoy seeing your pictures from Germany....a country I have longed to visit. A friend of mine was there when the Wall was torn down.
You have great ADR's at many of my favorite restaurants and of course you are staying at my favorite hotel!

Thanks for keeping me company today at work!

Tracy

Hi Tracy!! It's always great to get new readers! I am glad that you liked our PTR. I have been planning to post more pictures of Nuremberg for ages and really should do that soon! I guess when I go home for Christmas I need to make a photo tour of the Nuremberg Christmas Market, which is pretty famous.

Good to hear that you approve of our ADRs and our hotel. I am so excited about staying at AKL again. I really missed it when I stayed at the Poly last January. And it will be wonderful to explore it again with a first-timer! And I am still amazed that we ended up having most of our ADRs at signature restaurants! But we are both really looking forward to them!

 

[Flossbolna]

What a lovely side trip! Thanks for sharing!

Glad you liked it! It was kind of a dress rehersal for our TR after this PTR!

Sounds like you had a great day! I love that nodnol was wearing her Kermit the Frog tshirt! I love the picture of the two of you in the log !

That's a great t-shirt, isn't it? She got it as a present from WDW from a very nice sister this past January! I realized that this really is a very nice picture of the two of us, too!

Thank you for sharing your trip to the park. It looks like such a fun place. There is a park in Pennsylvania that has a ride like the bobsled. They have been building it for about three years!! It looks kind of frightening because
there is no track!! They also have a two very wobbly wooden rollercoasters.

Tracy

Actually the bobsled ride felt very safe! It wasn't too fast and not very jerky. It was a lot of fun! Much better than wobbly wooden coasters.

It looks like you guys had a great day.

It really was a fun day! I am thinking about making a repeat visit next later summer.

Sounds like you had a great time at the park!! I love the picture of you two sitting in the flume!!!

Thank you, I really like it, too. We look like we are having fun!

 

[PracPerfPatricia]

Thanks for sharing your experience at Heide-Park...it looks like it was a lot of fun but I have to say that first roller coaster really did look scary...

I think that the flume cars having carved owls on the front is a really nice detail...

Love the train station...I love when architects blend old and new...

We have a few local amusement parks-one is Hershey Park (after the chocolate...I don't know if you have it in Germany...it's very popular drug store candy...the peanut butter cups are tasty... anyhow it is also a nice park but nothing really compares to Disney for the theming and magic...

Sending good wishes for Remy to regain his strength...

 

[Flossbolna]

Thanks for sharing your experience at Heide-Park...it looks like it was a lot of fun but I have to say that first roller coaster really did look scary...

I think that the flume cars having carved owls on the front is a really nice detail...

Love the train station...I love when architects blend old and new...

We have a few local amusement parks-one is Hershey Park (after the chocolate...I don't know if you have it in Germany...it's very popular drug store candy...the peanut butter cups are tasty... anyhow it is also a nice park but nothing really compares to Disney for the theming and magic...

Sending good wishes for Remy to regain his strength...

I have heard of Hershey park and I know Hershey chocolate. My aunt in California used to send our family this huge Christmas parcel with presents and sweets. And it always included Hershey chocolate in some form as well as something which included peanuts for my father. We loved those boxes from a different world!

 

[Flossbolna]

Others have plans 2.0, We have a new discount code!

Disney came out with a 40% off deluxe resorts code this Monday and my travel agent was able to apply it to our reservation at AKL! We had the 4+3 deal previously which for us worked as a 6+3 deal since we are staying 9 nights. Therefore so far we were saving a third of our room costs and hence the 40% off was even better! We get to safe another 150$ - a nice addition to our spending money!

I think WDW must really have a hard time selling their rooms for early 2010. I have been going in this time frame for the last 3 years and it was never so easy to get a discounted pool view room at AKL that late in the year. Pool view rooms are rather popular since they guarantee a nice view and are not much more expensive than standard view rooms. We are now paying 150$ per night for it which I find quite a reasonable price for hotel room of that quality! It's about the same we would have payed for POFQ for rack rate!

Will post a shopping update soon as well!

 

[tiggrbaby]

Others have plans 2.0, We have a new discount code!

Disney came out with a 40% off deluxe resorts code this Monday and my travel agent was able to apply it to our reservation at AKL! We had the 4+3 deal previously which for us worked as a 6+3 deal since we are staying 9 nights. Therefore so far we were saving a third of our room costs and hence the 40% off was even better! We get to safe another 150$ - a nice addition to our spending money!

I think WDW must really have a hard time selling their rooms for early 2010. I have been going in this time frame for the last 3 years and it was never so easy to get a discounted pool view room at AKL that late in the year. Pool view rooms are rather popular since they guarantee a nice view and are not much more expensive than standard view rooms. We are now paying 150$ per night for it which I find quite a reasonable price for hotel room of that quality! It's about the same we would have payed for POFQ for rack rate!

Will post a shopping update soon as well!

Wow! You just keep upping the magical factor for this trip! Way to go!!!

 

[Lady Lallie]

WOO HOO for a discount code!

 

[manntra]

That's such great news!
Everything is coming together so nicely!

Tracy

 

[If U Had Wings]

That's wonderful that you got a 40% off code! I'm so happy for the two of you.

 

[Flossbolna]

Wow! You just keep upping the magical factor for this trip! Way to go!!!

WOO HOO for a discount code!

That's such great news!
Everything is coming together so nicely!

Tracy

That's wonderful that you got a 40% off code! I'm so happy for the two of you.

Thanks everyone, I am still so excited about the great deal we got!

And as a bonus for everyone: go and check out this post on the Disney Parks Blog: http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/bl...pcot-exclusive-disney-parks-tilt-shift-video/

I promise you, you will love it!!! I just came across it and I think I will need to watch it again before I can go to bed!

oh, and view it on full screen - much better!!! :

 

[manntra]

Very cool video!!
Thanks for posting the link!

I love Epcot...so much to do there...I love all the parks and am hard pressed to ever find a favorite so I always say my favorite park is where ever I am at the moment!

Tracy