Another Auld Lang Syne: The TCD Gang Rings in 2014 @ The Fort!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I call it the Dirndl Paradox.  

 

I didn't know it had a name.  It certainly is a paradox.

 

We all love the COP too, and take in the show every trip!

 

Looking forward to hearing about your dinner!

 

The dinner post is coming up.  Right after the next update.  And that will be the end of the bonus content.

 

Stay tuned.  I found an amazing coincidence when I was researching something that I wanted to mention about our Biergarten experience.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

The end is near.

 

This is the second to the last batch of bonus content.

 

And then this TR will finally be done. 

 

So enjoy it while it lasts.

 

We left off on the Epcot monorail.  I love the Epcot monorail.  Especially the part where you loop through Future World on the way in.  I always like looking around to see what the crowds look like.  Back when they still put up the Lights of Winter display, we would ride the Epcot monorail just to see that display.  Unfortunately, that is not something you can do anymore.

 

And here we are approaching the Big Golf Ball.  We can also see that the parking lot is not very busy, which is a good thing:

 

 

There aren't many people in the tombstone area.  Also a good thing:

 

 

Over to the west, we can see that the sky is finally clearing.  Hopefully the rain is done.  Also, if you look below, you can see that there are small colored stakes in the grass below.  Sometime in the next few weeks, all of that grass is going to be replaced with huge beds of flowers for the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival:

 

 

As we pass over the walkway that leads to the World Showcase and look back at the Golf Ball, we can see that it isn't very crowded here this evening at all:

 

 

The low light and moving monorail made this photo blurry, but you can kind of see the colored markers in the grass here- they're getting ready to plant those big flower beds that are an icon of the Flower and Garden Festival:

 

 

I always like how the sun reflects off of the Golf Ball.  We got to see that as we passed right by:

 

 

This big flower bed at the Epcot entrance will soon be filled with topiaries themed for this year's Flower and Garden Festival.  A couple of years ago, it was Toy Story characters.  Last year, it was Mickey and friends.  This year, based on the cover of the Mickey Monitor I just received, I think it might be Muppet characters.  You know, there's a new Muppet movie to promote?:

 

 

Our Biergarten ADR was for 7:10.  It was just a bit past 6.  We had an hour to kill before we could check in. The girls suggested a stop at Ice Station Cool, and then a visit to Norway.  OK by me.

 

As you should know by now, they replaced a lot of the soda flavors in Ice Station Cool.  They got rid of some of the good ones, like Mezzo Mix, and replaced them with all fruity type sodas.

 

I don't know the names of the new ones, and I don't think I've tried them all yet.  This one is from Russia.  It's called Sochi Water:

 

 

Actually I made that up.  I don't know what that was.  One of the girls handed it to me.  You see, it was really packed in here, and it was hard to get to the machines, because people just parked themselves in front of the machines:

 

 

You know what's gross?   How people take little sips and then stick the same cup with their saliva and worse all over it right up to the nozzle to get the next flavor.  On the Disney Cruises, they make a big deal about each guest using a new cup for each drink dispensed at their beverage stations.  But that isn't what happens here.  And here, it's worse because everyone is just sipping and refilling the same cup over and over.

 

We had to stand off to the side and one of the girls would try to break in through the masses to get a drink.  A CM was standing there off to the side too.  He was supposed to be restocking cups, but it was too packed at the moment.  We didn't know it, but this was a big BTG that had come in all at the same time.  That's why it was so crowded.  And why there were no common courtesies or manners being observed.   The CM struck up a conversation with us.  He asked how we liked the new flavors.  I told him I missed Mezzo Mix.  Which really isn't that true, but I was trying to make conversation.  That launched this guy into a pretty impressive rant about how much he hates all the new fruity flavors and how much he misses the Mezzo Mix.  He also insulted the Vegetable drink (from Japan, I think), and especially slammed Beverly.  He said we wouldn't believe the huge shipment they had in the back.  Etc., etc.  The guy cracked me up.  He needs to move to a new position.  The funny thing is that as we were walking out, my oldest DD asked if the CM had used the "S" word when he was talking to me.  She thought he said something else when he said shipment.  LOL.

 

When we got outside, we headed toward the World Showcase.  This big BTG was assembling for a group photo.  I wanted to jump in with them.  That would make a funny photo, right?  But the girls forbade me:

 

 

 

Have you ever heard these BTG's chant?

 

Good Lord.

 

The group that we shared the soda machines inside Ice Station Cool was lined up over there on the left waiting for their turn to take a group photo.  They started some loud chant while waiting .  Charming.  The group that had just posed for their photo added a chant of their own:

 

 

I was hoping that the big group posing for the photo was taking a photo on the way out of Epcot.  Wrong.  They all started moving toward us.  Nice.  It was kind of like that stampede scene in the Lion King.

 

As the Brazilians filed by, we took in the sights.  We weren't in a particular hurry to get to Norway.  This flower bed, which is covered with a cranberry bog for the Food and Wine Festival, will undoubtedly have some new topiaries in it the next time we see it:

 

 

That clearing sky meant that we were in for a pretty sunset tonight.  I kind of liked how this bare tree looked against the pretty sky:

 

 

The sun was setting there behind the Imagination Pavilion:

 

 

I can't remember when the last time was that we visited there.  What reason is there to?  The Figment ride is OK, but not something we are interested in doing every trip.  And Captain EO?  We saw it once.  It was shocking how bad it was.  I want to go back and see it at least once more.  But the TCD girls refuse.  I wish they felt that strongly about the MK Starbucks.

 

There were people in that last shot, so I tried one more:

 

 

That's a pretty good photo if I do say so myself.

 

The trees here on the walkway have all lost their leaves.  Winter in Florida:

 

 

On the way to Mexico, I just had to stop for another sunset photo:

 

 

All of the Illuminations stuff was in place out in the lagoon:

 

 

We walked a little more, and I had to stop again.  The sky was so pretty tonight:

 

 

 

There was no more stopping until we arrived in Norway.

 

None of us had been inside the Stave Church there since they added the display from the Frozen movie.  We have been in there a few times to see the Viking stuff they used to have on display.  I always liked going in there.  Mainly because nobody else ever did.  It was always a quiet, calm place to escape the madness of the World Showcase.  I was worried with the popularity of Frozen that it would now be packed and crazy all the time.  Well, let's see if my concerns were valid:

 

 

There was just a couple of people in there when we entered.  The inside is just one small room, so there isn't room for a lot of people in here anyway.  It looks like the Frozen stuff has not drawn any crowds inside.  Here's one of the displays:

 

 

There are two mannequins in here.  A girl:

 

 

And a boy:

 

 

And some informational signs:

 

 

 

There is also a model of a stave church:

 

 

And this sign, explaining what a stave church is:

 

 

That's it.

 

Not very interesting at all.

 

Someday, I would like to know more about these churches.  So far, all I know is that they were built some time around the Middle Ages.  Supposedly, they were Christian churches, but to me they have a pagan temple feeling to them.  I'd like to know more.  But, there is no more to be told inside of that display. 

 

We walked around to take a look at the line to meet Anna and Elsa.  Long. 

 

I didn't know they changed the name of the Puffin's Roost.

 

The Puffin is still there, though:

 

 

The stand-by wait time for Maelstrom was 20 minutes.  The line wasn't out the door, but there were a lot of people heading in there.  It was just past 6:30 now.  I didn't want to risk being late for our ADR, so we skipped it.

 

Next stop Germany.

 

We would be early, but better early than late.

 

Right?

 

TCD

[BigTom 76]

Really enjoyed those sunset photos.

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Great sunset pictures!

[Memphis 105]

I always love how the people go up to the drink machine take a minute to look it over and then go to the next machine and do it all over again and again and again. How long does it take for people to realize the stations are all the same pick one get your drink and go.  

 

I am anti fruity drinks in general unless they have little umbrellas in them and enough liquor to not be able to taste the fruitiness so I'm afraid I will;l be disappointed in the new flavors.

 

Cool sunset photos.  I'm always surprised at how fast the cool sunsets are over.  You really need to just sit down and watch the colors change and sip one of the umbrella drinks I was talking about.  

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Really enjoyed those sunset photos.

 

Thanks.  Glad I took a lot.

 

Great sunset pictures!

 

Thanks to you too.  I love sunsets.  But I like sunrises better.

 

I always love how the people go up to the drink machine take a minute to look it over and then go to the next machine and do it all over again and again and again. How long does it take for people to realize the stations are all the same pick one get your drink and go.  

 

I am anti fruity drinks in general unless they have little umbrellas in them and enough liquor to not be able to taste the fruitiness so I'm afraid I will;l be disappointed in the new flavors.

 

Cool sunset photos.  I'm always surprised at how fast the cool sunsets are over.  You really need to just sit down and watch the colors change and sip one of the umbrella drinks I was talking about.  

 

I hear you.

 

Of course, where we live, it's not hard to get a drink with an umbrella in it and enjoy a nice sunset.

 

Those new flavors in Ice Station Cool definitely don't cut it. 

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I just realized that I forgot to mention something important about our Space Mountain ride.

 

As you may recall, we putzed around for two hours waiting for our return time.

 

We are not Those People who arrive early and block the scanners.

 

We arrived right on time, and were pleased to see there wasn't a long FP+ return line.

 

Twin #2 went through the scanner first.  It turned blue.  Which means she was rejected.  You don't want blue.  You want green.

 

The unfriendly CM at the scanners told her to step aside.  I told the CM that I was certain that we had 4 FP+ reservations for this ride, and I would like to scan my band to show her, she told me to step aside too.  There was a male CM to the side and he said we would need to show him our reservation on the MDE app, or go find a FP+ CM to fix the issue.  A screen cap was not acceptable.  Twin #2 got on her phone, and began the process of pulling up the reservation.  Let me say that these particular CM's were not feeling the magic.  I kind of feel bad for them.  Imagine if you had to stand there all day dealing with all of the problems and glitches with the system plus clueless guests. 

 

As Twin #2 worked on getting the app to show our FP+'s, I watched other people approach the scanners.  There was a family of four who came up, tried to scan their MB's, and got denied.  The CM asked if they had reserved FP+'s for this time.  They had no clue what she was talking about.  How is that possible?  These people had MB's.  Color ones too.  So, they had to order those.  How could they have shown up at Space Mountain at 5 pm on a Saturday and have no clue about FP+'s?  They got sent away.  Some more people came through their MB"s worked. Then some more came, and they got shunted to the side with us. They also had to go through the process of pulling up the app. Then I saw a woman show the CM a small folded pamphlet-type thing that had lines on the inside with handwritten notations.  What was that?  Is that what they use for guests with disabilities now?

 

Then I saw something highly suspicious.  A couple of young ladies in their 20's came up and showed the CM a rectangular piece of blue paper, about the size of a business card.  She let them through.  Hmmmm.  What was that?

 

It was here that Twin #2 pulled up our reservations and showed her phone to the unfriendly CM.  No apology for the inconvenience, but she told us we could come in now.  I went first this time.  I thought she would have to do something to validate my band, but it worked fine with the scanner. Probably would have worked fine before that too.  But she didn't give me a chance.  Oh well, we were in.  All of our bands worked this time.  Even Twin #2's which had originally been rejected, causing our brief delay.  So, it was an issue with the scanner of some type.

 

No big deal. 

 

In fact, as I forgot about it and didn't even mention it in my post above.

 

But, here's what I did want to mention-

 

When we got to the loading platform, there were two different 20-something young ladies in front of me.  The CM's on the platform knew them and gave them a hug.  They got in the rocket right in front of us.  When they did, the CM who works at the little podium there recognized them and walked up and said hello.  And, THIS IS THE IMPORTANT PART- the CM handed one of the girls seated in the rocket a little rectangle of blue paper, just like that one I had seen those other two young ladies use to enter the FP line.  The recipient of the blue paper thanked the CM and slid it into her backpack.

 

So what is going on here?

 

I gathered that the two young ladies who were in front of us were off duty CM's visiting the park.  The other CM's knew them.  That blue piece of paper is something that tells the CM's working the FP line to let them in.  So, are CM's giving each other a hook-up?  That's what it looked like to me.

 

Be on the look-out for this.

 

I need to get my hands on one of those little blue pieces of paper.

 

And a copy machine.

 

Then I'll be in business.

 

TCD

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Love the sunset pictures!

 

I know what the blue paper is.... It's a parent/child swap pass. And I might have one in my winter jacket at home. I will check.... I've always assumed they change the color, but maybe the color is just coded to the ride. Some have preprinted ones, but our Space ones for our trip were like what you describe. Also, we got one in July when Jason was on the scooter. They wrote a time on it for us to return. 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Love the sunset pictures!

 

I know what the blue paper is.... It's a parent/child swap pass. And I might have one in my winter jacket at home. I will check.... I've always assumed they change the color, but maybe the color is just coded to the ride. Some have preprinted ones, but our Space ones for our trip were like what you describe. Also, we got one in July when Jason was on the scooter. They wrote a time on it for us to return. 

 

Aha!

 

Thanks.

 

So those CM's were abusing the system then.  There's no reason for a couple of 20 year olds traveling together to be handed a parent/child swap pass after they were already seated on the ride.  That's a pretty crappy thing for them to be doing. But, I'm sure that kind of thing goes on all the time.  And, then the grouchy CM's treat us guests badly?  Maybe the FP+ lines wouldn't be so long if there weren't a bunch of cheating CM's in them.

 

But knowledge is power. This project will be more difficult than I thought.  But not impossible.  I just need to see what one looks like and all the possible colors they use. Then hang out at the FP return to see what color I need that day.

 

Since FP+ stinks so bad, I could probably make some money selling these paper passes.

 

TCD

[AC in A2......Aaron 693]

Please hook me up with some colored paper triangles when you figure it all out.

Love the sunset pics.

I am a bit disappointed that you didn't get in the BTG picture.

The twins are not the boss of you.

[devores 382]

I just realized that I forgot to mention something important about our Space Mountain ride.

As you may recall, we putzed around for two hours waiting for our return time.

We are not Those People who arrive early and block the scanners.

We arrived right on time, and were pleased to see there wasn't a long FP+ return line.

Twin #2 went through the scanner first. It turned blue. Which means she was rejected. You don't want blue. You want green.

The unfriendly CM at the scanners told her to step aside. I told the CM that I was certain that we had 4 FP+ reservations for this ride, and I would like to scan my band to show her, she told me to step aside too. There was a male CM to the side and he said we would need to show him our reservation on the MDE app, or go find a FP+ CM to fix the issue. A screen cap was not acceptable. Twin #2 got on her phone, and began the process of pulling up the reservation. Let me say that these particular CM's were not feeling the magic. I kind of feel bad for them. Imagine if you had to stand there all day dealing with all of the problems and glitches with the system plus clueless guests.

As Twin #2 worked on getting the app to show our FP+'s, I watched other people approach the scanners. There was a family of four who came up, tried to scan their MB's, and got denied. The CM asked if they had reserved FP+'s for this time. They had no clue what she was talking about. How is that possible? These people had MB's. Color ones too. So, they had to order those. How could they have shown up at Space Mountain at 5 pm on a Saturday and have no clue about FP+'s? They got sent away. Some more people came through their MB"s worked. Then some more came, and they got shunted to the side with us. They also had to go through the process of pulling up the app. Then I saw a woman show the CM a small folded pamphlet-type thing that had lines on the inside with handwritten notations. What was that? Is that what they use for guests with disabilities now?

Then I saw something highly suspicious. A couple of young ladies in their 20's came up and showed the CM a rectangular piece of blue paper, about the size of a business card. She let them through. Hmmmm. What was that?

It was here that Twin #2 pulled up our reservations and showed her phone to the unfriendly CM. No apology for the inconvenience, but she told us we could come in now. I went first this time. I thought she would have to do something to validate my band, but it worked fine with the scanner. Probably would have worked fine before that too. But she didn't give me a chance. Oh well, we were in. All of our bands worked this time. Even Twin #2's which had originally been rejected, causing our brief delay. So, it was an issue with the scanner of some type.

No big deal.

In fact, as I forgot about it and didn't even mention it in my post above.

But, here's what I did want to mention-

When we got to the loading platform, there were two different 20-something young ladies in front of me. The CM's on the platform knew them and gave them a hug. They got in the rocket right in front of us. When they did, the CM who works at the little podium there recognized them and walked up and said hello. And, THIS IS THE IMPORTANT PART- the CM handed one of the girls seated in the rocket a little rectangle of blue paper, just like that one I had seen those other two young ladies use to enter the FP line. The recipient of the blue paper thanked the CM and slid it into her backpack.

So what is going on here?

I gathered that the two young ladies who were in front of us were off duty CM's visiting the park. The other CM's knew them. That blue piece of paper is something that tells the CM's working the FP line to let them in. So, are CM's giving each other a hook-up? That's what it looked like to me.

Be on the look-out for this.

I need to get my hands on one of those little blue pieces of paper.

And a copy machine.

Then I'll be in business.

TCD

Oh TCD,

Always the conspiracy theorist.

I can shed some light on this very easily. What you saw was a group of CMs testing the system. It's called NGE testing and those CMs were on the clock and being paid to ride the rides. Their job for the day was to ride all of the major attractions and test the my magic+ systems. The testing has been going on for a while now. The paper is used to ID the testers to the attractions cast. They had probably rode space 10 times before you saw the transaction.

[sherryberry 35]

 

When we got outside, we headed toward the World Showcase.  This big BTG was assembling for a group photo.  I wanted to jump in with them.  That would make a funny photo, right?  But the girls forbade me:

 

 

 

Have you ever heard these BTG's chant?

 

Good Lord.

 

The group that we shared the soda machines inside Ice Station Cool was lined up over there on the left waiting for their turn to take a group photo.  They started some loud chant while waiting .  Charming.  The group that had just posed for their photo added a chant of their own:

 

 

TCD

I think you should have joined the group photo. But, then again, I travel with a photo-bomber.

And, the chanting.......O......M.....G! I sort of lost my temper at a chanting BTG on Pirates once. My sister was the only one with me at the time. The group started chanting, in the boats in front of and behind us. I screamed for them to shut up, at the top of my lungs. My sister thought I had lost my freaking mind. After running into these groups a few more times, she totally understood.

And, I love the sunset pictures. When we were there in January, I was taking pictures every time the sun was setting!

[dblr....Rennie 224]

Great sunset photos!!!!!!! Thanks

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Please hook me up with some colored paper triangles when you figure it all out.

Love the sunset pics.

I am a bit disappointed that you didn't get in the BTG picture.

The twins are not the boss of you.

 

They're rectangles, Bro.

 

Triangles aren't going to get you anywhere.

 

You're wrong about the twins not being the boss of me.

 

I have a lot of bosses.

 

Oh TCD,

Always the conspiracy theorist.

I can shed some light on this very easily. What you saw was a group of CMs testing the system. It's called NGE testing and those CMs were on the clock and being paid to ride the rides. Their job for the day was to ride all of the major attractions and test the my magic+ systems. The testing has been going on for a while now. The paper is used to ID the testers to the attractions cast. They had probably rode space 10 times before you saw the transaction.

 

It could be that there are CM's testing, but I don't think that's what I saw.  These young folks were passing around those blue pieces of paper like they were something good.  Which apparently they are.  The two I saw come through the scanners just showed their blue piece of paper- they didn't scan anything.  So how would they have been testing anything?  And what test could there possibly be which involves a CM leaving her post and fishing a blue piece of paper out of her pocket and handing it to a guest (off duty CM) already seated in a ride vehicle?

 

And what kind of billion dollar system is this if it can be overridden by some kids with scraps of paper?

 

I think you should have joined the group photo. But, then again, I travel with a photo-bomber. And, the chanting.......O......M.....G! I sort of lost my temper at a chanting BTG on Pirates once. My sister was the only one with me at the time. The group started chanting, in the boats in front of and behind us. I screamed for them to shut up, at the top of my lungs. My sister thought I had lost my freaking mind. After running into these groups a few more times, she totally understood. And, I love the sunset pictures. When we were there in January, I was taking pictures every time the sun was setting!

 

You travel with a photo bomber? As the young people say:  Pics or it didn't happen.

 

Great sunset photos!!!!!!! Thanks

 

You are welcome.

 

Glad everyone liked those sunset photos as much as I did.  I appreciate a nice sunset.

 

TCD

[Seals 111]

  It's called NGE testing and those CMs were on the clock and being paid to ride the rides. 

 

And where do I sign up for this job? 

[Laura 17]

Wow, another awesome update. The sunset pictures are so warm and nice looking! I thought about the cup issue at the drink stations too...Kind of disturbing...I wish they would put a good flavor in there, at least it would make it sorta worth catching the bubomic plague.  Do people around the world really drink that crap? I agree you should have photo bombed, I bet if you started a chant they would let you right in! They must be a happy friendly bunch. Next time, do it first and ask for forgiveness later with the Twins lol.  You know they love it.

I'll donate the copy machine and Dave, you get a hold of some of those cards...Work it!

 

Carry on.

[kampfirekim 260]

All caught up!  Love the rooftop and sunset photos.  Great bonus features but I have one problem....

 

I will never again walk the streets of Frontierland without thinking twice .... ;D

[Hotmamac aka Misty 11]

I don't buy the whole "testing the system" explanation Devores gave us. Sounds like some kind of propaganda CM's are trained to recite if any paying guest should happen to see behind the curtain and catch them at something like this. 

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Devores, you are awesome, but I think TCD is right here.

 

Those cards sound exactly like what we get when we swap or get a return time due to medical issue. Almost a tealish blue, right? I think TCD is right about what they were doing. TCD, I checked my jacket, and the card isn't there. Sorry! What's weird is that I don't remember throwing it away. Maybe it will turn up. I googled and can't find what one looks like either.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

And where do I sign up for this job? 

 

Really.  How sweet would that be?  Getting paid to ride Space Mountain 10 times in the FP+ line?

 

Wow, another awesome update. The sunset pictures are so warm and nice looking! I thought about the cup issue at the drink stations too...Kind of disturbing...I wish they would put a good flavor in there, at least it would make it sorta worth catching the bubomic plague.  Do people around the world really drink that crap? I agree you should have photo bombed, I bet if you started a chant they would let you right in! They must be a happy friendly bunch. Next time, do it first and ask for forgiveness later with the Twins lol.  You know they love it.

I'll donate the copy machine and Dave, you get a hold of some of those cards...Work it!

 

Carry on.

 

I don't know about that soda.  If I ever meet a real Italian person from Italy, one of the first things I'm going to ask is if he drinks Beverly.

 

 

All caught up!  Love the rooftop and sunset photos.  Great bonus features but I have one problem....

 

I will never again walk the streets of Frontierland without thinking twice .... ;D

 

You know a thread is getting old when you don't get a reference to something posted earlier.  I totally wasn't getting what you meant about thinking twice in Frontierland. Then I remembered- the rivers of poop.  How could I forget that?  Plus, it wasn't even that far back in the thread.  Maybe the thread isn't old.  Maybe it's me.

 

I don't buy the whole "testing the system" explanation Devores gave us. Sounds like some kind of propaganda CM's are trained to recite if any paying guest should happen to see behind the curtain and catch them at something like this. 

 

I have to come to the defense of my man, Devores.  He's a straight shooter.  So, if he says that it could have been testing, then maybe it was.  That's not what I thought I saw, but what do I know?  Maybe they were testing to see what an old man would do if some college kids were abusing the system right in front of him?

 

Devores, you are awesome, but I think TCD is right here.

 

Those cards sound exactly like what we get when we swap or get a return time due to medical issue. I think that's what they were doing.

 

TCD, I checked my jacket, and the card isn't there. Sorry! What's weird is that I don't remember throwing it away. Maybe it will turn up. I googled and can't find what one looks like either.

 

As I said above, Devores carries a lot of credibility with me, so I don't think he would intentionally try to mislead.  If this was really some kind of big secret, I would more expect him to not say anything.

 

The way everyone was acting, though, I don't think it was a test.  I think it was just some kids screwing around.  As I said earlier, I've seen CM's giving each other small hook-ups before.  It's the way of the world.

 

I find it highly suspicious that your card is missing.  Who took it?  Did Disney send somebody to take it back when you weren't looking?  I am a conspiracy theorist, you know.

 

TCD

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

You missed me above!

 

Edit: Never mind, I see the comment now.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

You missed me above!

 

Edit: Never mind, I see the comment now.

 

Yeah, don't know what happened there.  Some of what I typed originally didn't post.

 

Maybe Disney has hacked into my computer and is taking control?

 

Good thing I'm not wearing my Magic Band.  They might try to terminate me.

 

I know too much.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Wow.  32 pages.  Those folks who had first page bragging rights did pretty good on this one.

 

And this is it, folks.

 

We are at the bottom of the photo bucket.  Which means no more bonus content.

 

This TR is going to be put to bed after this post.

 

It was fun.

 

But we're done.

 

Let's make this last post a good one, then.

 

I am not going to go out with a fizzle.

 

We have arrived at the Biergarten.  It's around 6:40.  Our ADR is for 7:10.  I decided to check-in early and see what would happen.

 

A couple of days before this trip, GDF was reporting on her visit to Biergarten in her TR.

 

Several other Fiends chimed in to say how great Biergarten is.

 

We had never been.

 

So here we are.

 

I am one of those apparently unusual people who have the nerve to ask what a dining experience will cost before I go.  It's one of my biggest complaints about the Disney website.  Just try to find out what you are going to be paying for a meal.

 

Here's what it told me on the official Disney site:

 

 

Now that's helpful, isn't it?

 

I might be paying $30 a head.   Or maybe $59.99.  Who cares?  What's $29.99 among friends?

 

But, I'm obviously in the minority to complain about this.  Nobody else seems to care.

 

On GDF's thread, the consensus seemed to be that dinner at Biergarten would set me back about $35 a person.  That was a lot, but I was willing to splurge just to see if it was as good as everyone says.

 

The first thing I found out was that I wasn't going to be paying $35 a person.  It would be $38:

 

 

The Disney sit down restaurants change prices more than some Fiends change their underwear.  So, I looked to see if the price sign here was one of those deals where they could swap out the prices.  It doesn't look like it is:

 

 

They must just have a bunch of different signs in the back and put out the appropriate one each day.

 

There was a small concern about the posted menu.  There is no mention of pretzel rolls or cheese soup.  Those were two items I specifically mentioned to the girls as being available.  I knew that GDF had just eaten some of both a couple of weeks before, so I was reasonably confident that there would be pretzel rolls and cheese soup inside.  But, I was a little worried.  If there wasn't, I'd catch it for sure.

 

I had to wait on this short line just to check in:

 

 

When I got to the front, the CM told me I couldn't check in this early.  If I came back at 6:55 (15 minutes early) I could.  So basically, "beat it old man."

 

At that point, we only had 10 minutes to kill.  Not enough time to do anything.  The girls decided to go in the gift shop and color Perrys and Duffys on a stick:

 

 

It was slow in the gift shop, so the German CM's joked with the girls.  But mostly they just goofed off.  I took a bit of German in school.  I believe the German word for what the CM's were doing is grabassen:

 

 

After 10 long minutes of coloring fun, I went to check in.  I was given a beeper and told to step aside and wait.  Those Germans are very efficient you know.

 

It was kind of crowded in the waiting area.  About half the floor space was taken up by strollers.  This is the sign over the doors that we were waiting to go through:

 

 

There's a small seating area over here near the hot dog stand.  I didn't know there were tables in here.  That would be good to know on a rainy day:

 

 

It was kind of crowded in the waiting area, so I handed off the beeper to one of the girls, and I walked around the courtyard outside for a bit.

 

I believe this statue is called St. George and the Dragon.  But that's about the lamest dragon I've ever seen.  Are we suppose to be impressed?  It's basically a big snake:

 

 

You can get a good view of the Golf Ball across the lake from here:

 

 

Then we had to wait some more.

 

I hate to complain, but the dirndls were not as impressive as some dirndl photos I've seen:

 

 

That is for the best, I suppose.  Less opportunity for me to be the creepy old man.

 

There was more waiting.

 

So I had to take a photo of this light fixture.  Which I believe is another German depiction of a dragon:

 

 

Again, I hate to complain, but that's a pretty lame dragon.

 

Finally, our beeper went off.  At 7:29, if you want to know.  I guess that's not so bad.  But, we were ready to eat.  I hoped they had plenty of pretzel rolls ready.

 

I forgot about how they seat folks here.  We were seated a table for 8.  I think everyone is.  Our dining companions were a younger couple with two kids- a girl who I would say was 8, and a boy who was about 5.  There wasn't much interaction with them.  The Dad was mad about something.  And the boy didn't want to be there.  He was overtired.  It was tense on that half of the table.  The mom barely spoke.  The Dad mostly nagged the kids and threatened them first is was no dessert, then it was that they would be leaving and going back to the hotel.  I really wanted to take the dude aside and tell him to chill.  But I didn't get that chance.

 

On our end of the table, though, everything was fine.

 

The bier menu was presented:

 

 

I had no idea what to order. This whole fancy beer craze that is going on now is something that has snuck up on me.  Back in my day, if you wanted a foreign beer, it might be a Heineken.  Or a Lowenbrau.  Anyone remember Lowenbrau?  That's about as fancy as it got back in my big beer drinking days.  Now everywhere you look they serve craft beer.  I just mostly drink Bud Light.  I'm an animal.

 

I picked the Radeberger Pilsner.  And ordered the liter.  Go big or go home.

 

The girls loved the little glass steins their soft drinks were served in:

 

 

We liked where we were seated too.  I would have maybe liked to be at a table right on the dance floor, but we were on the next tier up, and right by this nice fake tree and water wheel.  It was like being in the Motherland:

 

 

I found this nifty photo on the Disney site.  We were the last table you see on the second tier on the right.  Right next to the window where the servers picked up the drinks:

 

 

Speaking of which, here's my bier:

 

 

That was a pretty nice bier.

 

A big bier like that is Gut.

 

Sehr gut.

 

I know my good friend from Tennessee would love to see photos of the food from Biergarten, so I brought my camera along when we first hit the buffet.  Like all buffets everywhere, they have the salad and other less expensive food items first.  But, I couldn't resist a little potato salad and pickled beets:

 

 

 

So that's the salad department.

 

Next came the soup and rolls.

 

There were pretzel rolls.

 

I needed another plate.

 

I had to put the camera away.

 

And away it stayed.

 

Sorry Dave.

 

We ate.

 

And ate.

 

Those pretzel rolls?  Ach Du Lieber!

 

I could not stop eating them.

 

Which was dumb.

 

I would never eat more than $40 worth of pretzel rolls.

 

Don't worry, though, I also enjoyed everything else they had on the buffet.  I especially liked the spaetzle.  I had a great grandmother who came from Hungary and was married to a German.  That woman would make us Saurbraten and spaetzle when I was a kid.  I don't think I've had it since.  It was good.

 

Dessert time came, and the girls found the Black Forest Cherry Cake.

 

Which prompted a tale from the old man.  Back when I was in Junior High, in the 9th grade, I took German.  My teacher was Herr Meyer.  One of the few things I remember is how that man raved about Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte.  That's what they call Black Forest Cherry Cake in Germany.  He told us that he would give an A to anyone who would bring him one.  I think he was serious.  So,  I kept on going on about the Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte.  The girls cracked up every time I said that.  Plus I shared my stories about Herr Meyer, and the way things were in Junior High back in the age of the dinosaur. And let me tell you, Herr Meyer was a unique individual.

 

And that led in to me telling tales about how I took German in college.  From Doktor Helga Kraft.  I'm not sure if she could speak English, because she was one of those language teachers who refused to speak English.  If anyone tried to ask her anything in English, she would snap "Auf Deutsch!," and you would have to stumble trying to ask her in German, when you really didn't know any German in the first place.  But the thing about Helga was that she was a load of fun.  She had our class meet in the Rathskeller on campus.  Which was a German pub.  And, yes, they served bier.  And yes, Helga not only allowed us to drink, but encouraged us to.  Another time, she had us meet at a wine shop, and we got a lesson on how to select German Wine.  It was actually very interesting, and the Germans have an elaborate and helpful way that they label their wine.  I remembered enough about that to impress Mrs. TCD on our first date when I ordered a bottle of wine in a restaurant.  A bottle of wine with a cork in it.  That impressed her so much that the rest is history.  I shared that story with the girls too as we ate our meal.

 

As I prepared to write this last update for this TR, I started thinking about old Helga Kraft.  So I googled her.  I found an article about a current UF German professor which mentions Helga's unique teaching style: http://people.clas.ufl.edu/jshoaf/2013/01/25/christina-overstreet/

 

As we ate, the German musicians came out and did their little show.  We enjoyed that.

 

Then it was time for the bad news:

 

 

Even though I knew it was coming,  It still shocked me to see it.

 

And to pay that much for what we had eaten.

 

Fortunately, I did get a 10% passholder discount on the food part.

 

But still, that was a lot of money for one pretty average meal.  And I gave our server the recommended 20% tip.  She worked hard.  So, that meal set us back two large ones.

 

I knew that I had failed on the food photos, so I did the creepy old guy thing and asked our server, Janica, if she would pose for a photo:

 

 

I pretty much ruined that photo.  And for the record, Janica's eyes did not glow red like that.

 

My final opinion was that I am glad we went.  We had a great time, and the food was good.

 

But that price.

 

That's going to keep me away.

 

Well, in truth, we will be back.  Next time it's going to be for lunch, though.

 

We made it out of there right before 9.

 

I mean right before.

 

I took this light fixture photo at 8:59 pm:

 

 

We almost missed the Fuego:

 

 

But we didn't.

 

We got to watch Illuminations.

 

And then headed to the exit.

 

This is my last photo from the evening:

 

 

From here, we made it to the car and returned home.

 

The girls all headed back to school on Sunday.

 

And that's all I have.

 

The good news is that there is another trip to the World being planned.

 

And if all goes according to plan, it will be sometime reasonably soon.

 

Until then, please enjoy the other wonderful trip reports here on ff.net.

 

We may need to wake the Troll.

 

TCD

[dblr....Rennie 224]

As always great trip report and thanks for all the info, my wife picks on me a lot because I am on here a lot but when we find that next great thing she likes when we are there I always tell her to thank The Fiends. Hope to see you again for a longer visit sometime on one of our trips, we will be at the Fort over the 4th of July, just incase you are wondering around then.

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

Great trip report TCD!

I actually laughed out loud about that German word grabassen I didn't know I understood German. Haha

I have those same feelings at a lot of Disney restaurants, we have a great time and enjoy it but those prices are rough.

WBI