Munich Beer House

Jen246

As part of a whirlwind 2-week Eurail trip, our family landed in Munich, Germany on New Years 2013. We love Germany and especially love this city! We took a touristy bus tour and one of the stops was the grounds of the majestic Nymphenburg Palace.

Munich is beautiful and awesome
she’s not too pleased with me here!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Because of the time of year, we were unable to book a trip to the Bavarian Neuschwanstein Castle in the few days we had – one reason to return. My other reason to return, a regretful experience, for I did NOT take the train to see this beautiful, gorgeous yarn in person. What is wrong with me?? I have few regrets in life, and this is one – I should have gone!!! I think as a family we were just getting used to this kind of open-ended free-spirited travel and I felt “not right” deserting my husband and kid for a long afternoon; she, though a very good traveler was not up for another train day. I think next time we go on this type of trip, because I have made some strides in communicating my needs we can be even more flexible than in the past, and I can take a side trip to look at yarn, if I want to!

Getting Caught up in the Disney Dream

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Mickey Ears
What if the reality can be just as good if not better than the dream…
My logical, business mind registers all of the marketing wrapped up in Disney – the selling of dreams, magic, family togetherness, fun, memories of a lifetime. What could be more perfect?
A part of me rejects that.
Disney doesn’t have the solo key to happiness. There are plenty of folks who simply can’t afford to take a trip to Disneyland or Disney World, let’s face it, it’s not cheap!
In the California parks, for a family of four with young children, a 3-day ticket will run you $996.00.  That is $255 each for the adults, and slightly less for kids under 10  (under 3 is free).  That kind of ticket allows you access to one park per day.  You can easily enjoy at least 3 days at Disney, with at least one of the days at California Adventure Park – which features awesome rides at Radiator Springs and Grizzly Peak.  We paid slightly more for the Park Hopper tickets to freely go between each of the parks.
The point here is, it is expensive.  So the experience better be worth it!
Being a fortunate person who has been able to visit, both as a child (Disneyland and Magic Kingdom) and as an adult with my own child (Disneyland twice), I get it.  I get why this is a dream vacation for many.  Why it is worthy of our dreams and schemes on how to make it happen.
Disney is a company that usually gets it right, in my experience.  They are selling the dream to parents and kids – and – they are delivering.
Disneyland with a Five Year Old Girl
I’ll never forget my five year old at the time standing up to Darth Vader with her light saber.  She had already seen the Star Wars movies and was gung ho to participate. Her dad and I bought a light saber and a Padawan bathrobe for her.
These were pricey mementos.  Yet four years later – she still wears the bathrobe. The light saber still gets played with.
The things, however, simply don’t compare with the memories, captured in photos and videos.
DREAMING OF TRAVEL TIP: Some families budget for ONE special toy from the park.  A technique I heard of was to spend the day in the park and take pictures of your child with each of the toys they find, and at the end of the day (or end of the vacation) they can decide on their favorite. Setting up that expectation ahead of time can avert meltdowns.  We found our kid experienced the magic, the rides, the treats, the shows with a happiness and love we were thrilled with.
As a feminist mom, I was also slightly proud that she really wasn’t into the “princess thing” – though no offense to princesses I could easily be swayed over to the glamour!
At five years old while she had a long, hot few days (in May) exploring the parks. She was not tall enough for all of the rides, so we enjoyed what we could, took lots of pictures, and made notes of what we’d like to experience next time around.
Disneyland as a Family Reunion
My mom was able to spring for a reunion trip to Disneyland for me, my sister, and our families in 2013.  Two cousins – ages seven and six – had the time of their lives.  We visited in October, right before Halloween.  Because of this we had the benefit of an extra spooky Haunted Mansion, a pumpkin-head Mickey, and an additional-charge extra evening hours visit where the girls got to go Trick or Treating in Disney park!  With another night time parade!
Our family stayed in a budget friendly condo hotel with included breakfast. The crowds at breakfast confirmed this was a popular option with many families.  Transportation to the park was a hop onto the park bus.  Dining outside of the park was a long walk to some options like The Cheesecake Factory and P.F. Changs and McCormick and Schmicks.

How to Plan a Disney Cruise

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Cruise Ship

While we are generally not cruise enthusiasts, the Disney Cruise has been on the family bucket list for a few years now. I have gathered information from various reviews and travel agents online and have distilled down some of the basics to consider.

Basics

Where do you want to sail?

What ship do you want to experience?

What port do you choose to sail from?

In our family planning – by watching videos found on YouTube, we decided really quickly we wanted to sail on the Disney Dream (because of the AquaDuck, mostly!). And, because we live in a cold place, we knew we wanted an escape to somewhere warm.  A four-night Bahamas trip fit the bill and the Dream makes this trip regularly.  We also wanted to experience Castaway Cay – (pronounced “key”) Disney’s private island. Pt. Canaveral was a better choice for a port as it is a short ride from Orlando Airport.  It is also “in the neighborhood” so to speak of the Magic Kingdom so if we could tack on some park visits to the front or back end of the cruise, this can be arranged with Disney (transfers, etc).

Making the Experience Yours

Next we needed to figure out the type of room we wanted and how we wanted to create this trip of a lifetime for ourselves.  So many choices!  It can be overwhelming. There are some great travel agents and you can call Disney Cruise Line directly to ask questions about transfers, logistics, food, room, times, special-needs, and more.

In terms of rooms, it is said in terms of cruises, Disney Cruise line has larger than average rooms compared to other ships.  But the berths are still small. Inside rooms on the Dream have magical portholes, the next step up have circular windows, then there are the verandah rooms, and then there are the suites.  Despite it being a $500 difference more for the four nights, knowing ourselves, we decided we would book a family Deluxe Verandah room.  For our own quiet oasis away from the crowds.  We would spend enough time in our little room to make this investment worth it.  Stay tuned for our critiques of the experience!

When you plan your cruise, think about this:

  • Where on the ship do you want to be located?  Midship? Front? Aft?
  • What access points (spa, pools, theaters) are most important to you?
  • Is motion sickness a potential issue?

We came to the conclusion we wanted to be close to the pool deck and the buffet food area.  We wanted quiet, not busy traffic in front of our room, not crowded elevators. We found that if we were on Deck 9 we would be two floors below the pool and we could zip right up the stairs to make that happen.

I was told that midship upper decks are better for less motion, however, midship is the most congested with activity.

I also wanted to be at one end of the ship to avoid getting mixed up in the halls and easier navigating back to the room.

We will report back on these choices to help you in making yours!

The Best Place for Coffee in Helsinki

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Regatta

The Finns love their coffee and this is evident by the many cafes found throughout this charming city.  It is easy to find coffee, pulla, and other goodies as you stroll through the many parks throughout Helsinki.

Cafe Regatta

My number one absolute favorite cafe is: Cafe Regatta.

And my family spent a lot of days walking around the city.

We visited many cafes. We drank many cups of coffee and cocoa.

It gets cold in Finland!  We needed those hot drinks and friendly cafes!

Regatta

Cafe Regatta is the neighborhood cafe with the most charm.

What is not to love with the little red cabin on the shore of … in the … area.  Family oriented and unique.  There is outdoor seating for the heartiest of Finns in the dead of winter where you can sit around a bonfire and even roast a reindeer sausage.

We had some of the best traditional Finnish goodies here and the atmosphere and its closeness to where we lived made this a top choice.

Swing at Cafe Regatta

 

A simple plan for Disneyland first-timers

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Disney Princesses in Parade

It can be overwhelming to visit this destination without having a few tricks up your sleeve for managing the crowds, the kids, the expectations.

Here are a few helpful tips. 
You will find advice and opinions in a lot of corners of the web. Ours is offered in the spirit of helping you be able to get the most out of your visit by planning ahead in a few areas.
How much time do you have?
We budgeted TWO VERY FULL days in May. Our family of three spent nine hours each day, and did not ride all the rides but we covered the entire park. Our kiddo was wiped out by the end of both days and fell asleep in her dad’s arms and couldn’t be woken up! So she missed part of the park (but she didn’t have any expectations going into it).
We bought entry into California Adventure Park but barely had time to explore it (and it was partly under construction when we visited). It was wasted money for us; we preferred our first two days to be all about Disneyland.  However, since that visit we have been back for a longer THREE days, and for that visit we knew a little more and explored a bit more and found that we LOVED the rides in California Adventure Park, especially all the rides in Cars Land and the Grizzly Peak area.
KNOWING the rides you want to hit can help you prioritize your approach.  To that end, your research pre-trip can help you with that.  Blogs like this one and YouTube videos featuring the rides and the parts of the parks can help you decide your top priorities. As for timing, ideally you would give it THREE FULL or TWO and a HALF days for your first visit, at least.
Knowing your priorities
To assess the parks and the layout on your first day consider taking the railroad first thing – it circles the perimeter of the park so it is a good way to see where everything is and quickly and easily get from section to section.
A separate but equally good approach when you first walk in is to stroll down Main Street U.S.A. and on to your adventures of the day.
Need a stroller? There are stroller rentals at the entrance and many use them. There are dedicated parking areas for the strollers throughout the park.
Character greetings – play it by “ear” or plan ahead
In the Disney iphone app you can “friend” your favorite characters and it claimed to tell you when they were doing appearances… but I was so caught up in the park itself I wasn’t using the app that much. We did use it a lot for the map part (when we needed to find a bathroom for example). The only characters we met were Mickey, Goofy, and Pinocchio/Gepetto. (We saw all the characters in the parade).
Speaking of the parade – set up early for your vantage point…we luckily stumbled upon a great spot – right where all of the floats come out in the beginning, we saw two views of the floats because they go around a rotary in the front of Main Street. Just get there early enough to stake out your spot so that you are comfortable and can see… we were there 20 min. before the beginning of the parade and people were already set up (sitting on the curbs). If it is a more crowded time when you go you might set up even earlier..

Fast passes – a good tool to use when you have a list of your top must-ride rides

Some people swear by fast-passes…you basically go to a ride that qualifies for fast passes, go to the Fast Pass kiosk, and it will give you an estimated time to come back by, then it stamps your tickets.  When you come back they check your tickets and you are whisked through the fast pass line – many times a much quicker wait than the regular line.

We didn’t have big requirements about what rides we *had* to go on so we didn’t use this exclusively on our first visit.  But in future visits it came in quite handy. You should have seen the line for the line for the line for the Radiator Springs ride in Cars Land.  We waited to get assigned a time to stand in line (fast pass) for this ride and we are so glad we did.  LOVED this fun ride.
Star Tours was the one ride the five year old loved and we did this one several times… I didn’t think it was that scary (it was a 3-D thing) and I’m not even sure that we needed seat-belts. She also loved the gift shop the ride spilled out into when we were done (shameless merchandising) and that was where she eventually chose her toy.  A light saber.
Light Saber at Disney