Us Again- But A Different Mouse! #1

Poohshoney

<font color=6666CC>Ya-ya sister!<br><font color=gr
Joined
Dec 12, 2001
Messages
1,155
The players –

Carol (41, British) – dangerously Disney obsessed.
Roland (36, German) – puts up with me somehow.

I wrote a WDW trip report called Mickey & US – if you missed it you might have trouble with some of the references!


27 August 2002

`Hey up, Gromit! Shall we see what’s on the wireless?´
We’re big Wallace and Gromit fans but you’d never have guessed it from my reaction to Wallace’s dulcet tones (my alarm clock) at 5:45 am. Groan… But hold on a minute… isn’t it my birthday?! And aren’t we going to the Europa Park for the day? YES!!!!!

A new world speed record for hurling yourself under the shower was promptly broken. The plan was that Roland would mosey in after me (he doesn’t do world speed records at that time of the day) and we’d be on the road by 7:30. I know, that’s not exactly quick but we like to savour breakfast – a healthy if slow habit - and both of us being contact lense wearers slows us down. I have piggy eyes at the best of times and finding my eyeballs at that time of day isn’t easy. And we didn’t make it anyway – I hadn't allowed enough time for that great institution, unwrapping the presents! Did you get that? ENOUGH time – I don’t think I've had that many since I was five! For the Disney-afflicted amongst us (that should be everyone!) the pertinent presents included a Lilo and a Stitch from my friend Nancy – oh wow!!! And then there was the L&S key ring and the Mickey and Pooh bookmarks – more wows!! A Disney-heart rejoiced! Oh yeah – and my beloved Aunty Doreen and Uncle Peter also included a beanie Tigger with their presents – Aunty Doreen’s the one who gave us Mickey, our precious little friend. We’d decided not to take him with us today – we were going to the Europa Park and it’s the home of a different mouse.
Now I don’t suppose there are many of you who’ve heard of the Europa Park, I know I hadn’t till my SIL and family went there a few months ago. They came back with glowing reports and as praise isn’t all that forthcoming from my BIL, we decided it was worth looking into. It’s near a town called Rust and is down at the bottom of Germany, near the borders of Switzerland and France (can you tell geography isn’t my strong point?). If anyone’s really interested in what the park looks like, they have a nice map of it on their website – europapark.de. If you click on the Union Jack it will show you it all in English. I know this because with my usual dedication (tactful way of putting it) to planning, I studied this and a few other websites until I felt like I knew what we were doing – I like a plan!
The strangest thing about looking at the map was the feeling of déjà vu. I'll give you a couple of examples – the park’s divided into different countries; it has a `golf ball´; there’s a Peter Pan ride as well a spinning teacup ride, a runaway train ride, a monorail… See what I mean? It looks just like someone shuffled the Magic Kingdom and Epcot and a few of the bits dropped into Germany.

Back to Tuesday morning: we ate breakfast in semi-darkness. This was because the awful weather Germany’s been having (and I'm so glad to say we don’t live in the east which has been so disastrously affected) was in full swing. Thunder, lightening, the heavens were open full throttle. We watched the weather forecast and it didn’t look good: they promised the same everywhere, no let up all day. We looked at each other and realised we didn’t care – we were going to enjoy today whatever happened!
We set off at 7:50, crawling along through the deluge. We turned the radio on so that we’d hear of any traffic problems but what we heard was worse – there was thick fog nearby, visibility down to 50 metres (for those of you who aren’t metric – that translates as not a lot on a motorway!). I peered around anxiously, convinced it was going to sneak up on us. Only it didn’t. Not only that but as soon as we cleared our area, the rain stopped. Ok, it wasn’t what you’d call summery but to two people who’d been expecting the worst it was magic and we cheered! And do you know what – our luck held. We had some very light drizzle as the evening approached but that was it – we even had a little sunshine in the afternoon. Never trust the weather forecasters…
Roland had anticipated bad traffic jams along the way but we moved along nicely. It wasn’t a thrilling ride but I kept myself occupied with the bag of sweeties Roland had bought me – if you can’t make yourself sick on your birthday, when can you!
The park has just built a new motorway exit for itself so finding it was a doddle. We turned off, cursing all the other cars that were doing the same. Our state’s schools are still on holiday but we were hoping the fact that it was a Tuesday would work in our favour – time would tell.
And then we saw it. Only it was minus the top six stories. We looked at each other and both yelled `Tower of Terror´! The park has two hotels and I swear, one of them looks just like someone’s hacked off the top of the TofT – weird!
We parked in D49, only I remembered it as being D51 – I've made worse mistakes. The wind was a little chilly, the sky a little grey, but it was dry and we were there!

To be continued…
:wave:
 
Glad to see you back, Poohshoney! I'll have to pull out my globe tonight and see where you were. Happy birthday, too! I have my birthday while we are in WDW and am most excited. We leave on the 15th for our long awaited first trip.

Keep the posts coming! :p
 
I'm so excited - For once it will be my husband reading trip reports on the PC tonight :teeth:

THanks for posting!
 
Hurray! You're back. I can't wait to read your report. You are off to a great start.
 

Happy belated Birthday!! :) Can't wait for more!
 
I was tickled to see another one of your trip reports up! It will be interesting to see how you liked this Disney knockoff. Oh, and Happy Birthday to the sweetest lady in Germany!
 
Hi everybody!

Thanks for the kind words, it's nice to see you all again too.

Ramelle - 30 September if I remember rightly? I'll be thinking about you!

Music Mole - thanks for the PM, I'll be in touch soon, promise!

Hi Nanajo - glad you're still there!

You got in a bit earlier this time dandave, great!

Jennymouse, I've gone all pink! I must admit, I think the title should go to my SIL - you'd all LOVE her. She's like Roland but chattier!


:wave:
 
Thanks Greg, it is interesting, isn't it! It isn't Disney but it's not a bad little park with something for everyone.

:wave:
 
Hip, Hip, Horah:Pinkbounc :bounce: :Pinkbounc :bounce:

She's back;)

Welcome back Carol, I knew I could count on ya for another great report series!

What's "doddle"? (I always have to have translations, don't I LOL)

Thanks for the great start! And happy birthday:jester:
 
Thanks Yepod, nice to see you again too!
If something's a doddle then it's easy. I love it when you ask - I learn too! I've just finished a book I think you'd like - Made in America by Bill Bryson. Take a look at it if you get the chance, it's ever so interesting.
:wave:
 
well its not disney but I so enjoyed your last reports that I just have to read these

happy birthday - what was your birthday breakfast - bagels and cream cheese?
 
No, just toast. But I did have bagels the following Friday - they're MUCH nicer on Fridays then they are on Saturdays! And I've frozen some in case of emergency withdrawal symptoms...

:wave:
 














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