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
Part 6
Now anyone whos read Mickey and Us KNOWS how much we loved Norway. And what did we like best? (Sorry, no prizes here). Yes Restaurant Akershus! And what did we like best of all there Rice Cream! And did EP have it? No. Oh dear, another culinary delight missed. To be fair, the food did look very good, both the counter-service and the shop selling fish rolls but when youve got your heart set on Rice Cream, a fish roll just doesnt hack it. But Nor er, I mean Scandinavia, was very pretty. The entrance was spoilt a bit by the Speel Dell an amusement arcade but otherwise it was very pretty. Had possibly the nicest shops as well.
The very first thing we did was the same thing as in Epcot the Stave Church! The blurb I read said that it wasnt a 1:1 copy but it didnt make it clear whether that meant it wasnt realistic. The outside looked a lot like the one in Epcot but the inside was different it was much brighter with colourful murals. There were a few signs saying it was available for weddings and we thought it would be a lovely place to tie the knot.
My favourite attraction was next - a shark hanging outside the shops! Littlies stuck their heads in it and giggled for mum and dad to photograph.
We did Vineta next, a sunken village, possibly EPs lamest attraction. It had a very promising plaque outside telling the legend of a village which had been swallowed up by the ocean, only to reappear now and again for a tantalising glimpse before sinking once again beneath the seas oblivion. I liked the sound of that! It turned out to be a very rough model village beneath a glass plate. Blue light = sunk, white light = reappeared. There was a voice booming out something but we couldnt really make out what. We waited ages before accepting that yep, that was it. I presume we looked as puzzled and confused as everyone else in there.
We tried the Anderson (as in Hans-Christian) Tower next. Its a spiral stairway the central column is made of glass and filled with figures from his books. I recognised a couple of them but not all I think they may have chosen some of the more obscure ones as I know a lot of the stories. I'd love to know if thats because they had cheaper copyright as I cant think of any other reason. The view from the top of the tower was lovely and worth the climb.
And thats all we did in Nor Scandanavia. I bet youre thinking `thats not a lot, boring country´ but I hasten to leap to EPs defence. You see, its us thats boring. For one thing, we could have done the Vindjammer. Thats one of those big ship-swing-things, the ones that make me lose my Rice Cream (if I've had any). No way!!! I do not do going backwards Rolands ever so pleased!
The other ride we didnt do did look better, we just werent in the mood for getting soaked. Fjord-raftings dead easy to describe its Kali River Rapids! We think it probably lasted quite a bit longer though and from what we could see from the train and the ground, it wandered through lush greenery and past Scandinavian houses. It was VERY wet! (If youve read the part with Greece then you know what Roland kept saying). There was another reason why not doing it seemed like a good idea the queue looked horrendous. Obviously not everyone shared our phobia for staying dry. We moved on to Spain with a pit stop first.
Nancy was very upset to find out you cant get Britta water bottles in Germany so she leapt to or rescue and sent us one! (Thanks Nancy!) So we were well prepared when we left home, a filled bottle in my rucksack. Only we werent. What none of us had reckoned with was no place to refill the bottle. And what turned out to be the dearest thing in the park? Youve guessed it, water! We spent more on water than anything else. This was partly my fault and partly Rolands. He shouldnt have bought me liquorice sweets and I shouldnt have eaten them, they make you thirsty.
One of the nicest places in the park was the Colonial House where we had a couple of lovely cool drinks (same price as the stands even though it was sit-down). It was a sort of non-alcoholic bar and I think it was meant to be African but it reminded me more of the Polynesian than AKL. We sat on the terrace and watched littlies playing in the fountains relaxing for us, fun for them. But the show had to go on sometime so we dragged our weary feet on to Spain.
The park has two hotels next to it and you access both of them through Spain. We had intended taking a quick peek but time was moving on so we left it. The rooms featured on the website (see Part 1) are themed and look absolutely incredible but it doesnt make it clear if thats just the suites or the normal rooms as well. I wanna know! I quite fancy a night in a medieval palace or some such. Not for New Years Eve though I think the prices quadruple then, for little more than a good meal besides the norm.
We arrived in Spain just in time for the Flamenco show, something I normally enjoy. It was the only show we timed right all day and I cant for the life of me remember why we didnt watch it. We would have liked to watch the main show in the arena (Knights in Action) but wed have had to wait 40 mins why were we always 40 mins too soon? You could have set your watch by us. There were horses in the show and you could see them in their stalls. It was very atmospheric, if you get my drift. If you dont it was smelly. And it was right next to the flamenco dancers. We hoped for their sakes that the wind didnt change direction.
We were very relieved to see that although there were posters of toreodors, and a small exhibit about them, that was all. We both hate bullfights and would gladly see them banned.
We didnt go in the shop in Spain but I loved the window display. It was all flamenco dancing dolls and it took me right back to when I was 12 and we took our first holiday abroad. It was a coach trip to Spain we must have been mad and I brought back a small blue flamenco dancer who still pirouettes majestically round my mums shelves. And I still look at her through a 12-year-olds eyes and think shes beautiful.
We skipped the rides on offer in Spain a waltzer type ride and a Dumboish one, plus a kiddie train ride. We found a lovely little alley where we had a short rest instead it was full of beautiful flowering plants in boxes and hanging baskets, a real little haven we almost fell asleep! Then we walked through the Tapas bar but decided against them as we didnt know what we might find in Austria.
To be continued
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
Part 6
Now anyone whos read Mickey and Us KNOWS how much we loved Norway. And what did we like best? (Sorry, no prizes here). Yes Restaurant Akershus! And what did we like best of all there Rice Cream! And did EP have it? No. Oh dear, another culinary delight missed. To be fair, the food did look very good, both the counter-service and the shop selling fish rolls but when youve got your heart set on Rice Cream, a fish roll just doesnt hack it. But Nor er, I mean Scandinavia, was very pretty. The entrance was spoilt a bit by the Speel Dell an amusement arcade but otherwise it was very pretty. Had possibly the nicest shops as well.
The very first thing we did was the same thing as in Epcot the Stave Church! The blurb I read said that it wasnt a 1:1 copy but it didnt make it clear whether that meant it wasnt realistic. The outside looked a lot like the one in Epcot but the inside was different it was much brighter with colourful murals. There were a few signs saying it was available for weddings and we thought it would be a lovely place to tie the knot.
My favourite attraction was next - a shark hanging outside the shops! Littlies stuck their heads in it and giggled for mum and dad to photograph.
We did Vineta next, a sunken village, possibly EPs lamest attraction. It had a very promising plaque outside telling the legend of a village which had been swallowed up by the ocean, only to reappear now and again for a tantalising glimpse before sinking once again beneath the seas oblivion. I liked the sound of that! It turned out to be a very rough model village beneath a glass plate. Blue light = sunk, white light = reappeared. There was a voice booming out something but we couldnt really make out what. We waited ages before accepting that yep, that was it. I presume we looked as puzzled and confused as everyone else in there.
We tried the Anderson (as in Hans-Christian) Tower next. Its a spiral stairway the central column is made of glass and filled with figures from his books. I recognised a couple of them but not all I think they may have chosen some of the more obscure ones as I know a lot of the stories. I'd love to know if thats because they had cheaper copyright as I cant think of any other reason. The view from the top of the tower was lovely and worth the climb.
And thats all we did in Nor Scandanavia. I bet youre thinking `thats not a lot, boring country´ but I hasten to leap to EPs defence. You see, its us thats boring. For one thing, we could have done the Vindjammer. Thats one of those big ship-swing-things, the ones that make me lose my Rice Cream (if I've had any). No way!!! I do not do going backwards Rolands ever so pleased!
The other ride we didnt do did look better, we just werent in the mood for getting soaked. Fjord-raftings dead easy to describe its Kali River Rapids! We think it probably lasted quite a bit longer though and from what we could see from the train and the ground, it wandered through lush greenery and past Scandinavian houses. It was VERY wet! (If youve read the part with Greece then you know what Roland kept saying). There was another reason why not doing it seemed like a good idea the queue looked horrendous. Obviously not everyone shared our phobia for staying dry. We moved on to Spain with a pit stop first.
Nancy was very upset to find out you cant get Britta water bottles in Germany so she leapt to or rescue and sent us one! (Thanks Nancy!) So we were well prepared when we left home, a filled bottle in my rucksack. Only we werent. What none of us had reckoned with was no place to refill the bottle. And what turned out to be the dearest thing in the park? Youve guessed it, water! We spent more on water than anything else. This was partly my fault and partly Rolands. He shouldnt have bought me liquorice sweets and I shouldnt have eaten them, they make you thirsty.
One of the nicest places in the park was the Colonial House where we had a couple of lovely cool drinks (same price as the stands even though it was sit-down). It was a sort of non-alcoholic bar and I think it was meant to be African but it reminded me more of the Polynesian than AKL. We sat on the terrace and watched littlies playing in the fountains relaxing for us, fun for them. But the show had to go on sometime so we dragged our weary feet on to Spain.
The park has two hotels next to it and you access both of them through Spain. We had intended taking a quick peek but time was moving on so we left it. The rooms featured on the website (see Part 1) are themed and look absolutely incredible but it doesnt make it clear if thats just the suites or the normal rooms as well. I wanna know! I quite fancy a night in a medieval palace or some such. Not for New Years Eve though I think the prices quadruple then, for little more than a good meal besides the norm.
We arrived in Spain just in time for the Flamenco show, something I normally enjoy. It was the only show we timed right all day and I cant for the life of me remember why we didnt watch it. We would have liked to watch the main show in the arena (Knights in Action) but wed have had to wait 40 mins why were we always 40 mins too soon? You could have set your watch by us. There were horses in the show and you could see them in their stalls. It was very atmospheric, if you get my drift. If you dont it was smelly. And it was right next to the flamenco dancers. We hoped for their sakes that the wind didnt change direction.
We were very relieved to see that although there were posters of toreodors, and a small exhibit about them, that was all. We both hate bullfights and would gladly see them banned.
We didnt go in the shop in Spain but I loved the window display. It was all flamenco dancing dolls and it took me right back to when I was 12 and we took our first holiday abroad. It was a coach trip to Spain we must have been mad and I brought back a small blue flamenco dancer who still pirouettes majestically round my mums shelves. And I still look at her through a 12-year-olds eyes and think shes beautiful.
We skipped the rides on offer in Spain a waltzer type ride and a Dumboish one, plus a kiddie train ride. We found a lovely little alley where we had a short rest instead it was full of beautiful flowering plants in boxes and hanging baskets, a real little haven we almost fell asleep! Then we walked through the Tapas bar but decided against them as we didnt know what we might find in Austria.
To be continued
