Danica's Thoughts :): Germany

Showing posts with label Germany. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Irrland - Germany

This summer we had a weekend of fun family activities in Germany. Besides Movie Park we also visited Irrland. It's a huge park, I mean massive! There's everything from swimming pools & slides to mazes & bouncy houses. And it only costs €5 per person!!! There is no way to truly experience the park in one day, but due to the low entry fee and the fact it's actually not so far from Eindhoven we'll definitely return.

We set up shop in Irrland North, in a centralized spot so the kids could find us. Since there is limited food in the park we brought out own. Almost every table includes a bbq grill, so we were sure to stop off at the grocery store on the way. We made a day of it, eating, drinking, and playing at our leisure.

Things to keep in mind, again the place is huge. Be sure to rent a wagon to load all of your items in because you can't just pop back to the car. And the walk from one section to the other is quite long. Like I said, bring your own food. You can buy drinks there but if you've already packed food you might want to pack drinks also. There is tons there to rent, from little boats to bikes, so be sure to bring cash. Don't forget your towels & bathing suits, because someone is bound to go in the water. And bring sunscreen too, well, that's if you're going in the summer. Most of the park is out in the open, and nobody wants to go home sun burnt. Get a map on your way in because finding your way around at first can be overwhelming. There are plenty of bathrooms, loads of parking, and endless activities. There are also two towns close by if you do happen to forget any supplies. Also, if you visit their website there is a great virtual map, my daughter loved looking through it before our trip.

We highly recommend a day (or two) at Irrland! (FYI - it's also great for b-day parties.)

(Wish I had some original pics from the park but they're all full of family & friends, and I doubt they want their pics plastered on my blog!)

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

Sunday, August 31, 2014

Movie Park Germany

During the summer we like to make a trip over to Germany and spend a day at Movie Park. It has fairly reasonable prices, and there is generally some kind of coupon or discount if you look for it.

Besides the decent prices there is plenty for the adults and adventurous kids. There are at least 7 fast rides including roller coasters that even the little ones can go on. Our daughter went on her 1st intense roller coaster at Movie Park when she was 3! (She's a bit of an adrenaline junky... she went on Space Mountain at Disney when she was 4!)

Our daughters favorite part of the entire park is Nick Land of course and the Dora log flume is top of her list. For the less adventurous kids there are slower rides, two playgrounds, and a handful of shows. The parade is on the weak side, but the character show & stunt show are worth it. And of course there is plenty of yummy treats along the way.

For the adults there are 3 large roller coasters and 4 other intense rides. And for the entire family a couple 3D/4D rides. My favorite ride is definitely the Van Helsing rollercoaster, it's fast & partially in the dark so you never know which direction you'll go!

The park tries to convince you to return for a 2nd day, but I feel you really can do everything in 1 day if you're willing to buy a Speedy Pass. Instead of waiting 1 hour per ride, you can whip through the park not missing a thing. We highly recommend the Speedy Pass, we've tried both Silver & Gold... you just have to read the details and decide which one works for you.

This time at the park my husband convinced me to go on one of these trampolines that soars you high in the air thanks to harnesses. He would have done it himself but he weighed too much, see it's actually for kids but I met the weight requirements and convinced them to let me on. And to be honest, wow, it's a little scarier than you imagine. I pictured Cirque Soleil, and instead I flew around uncontrollably for a while. Then went I attempted front flips, I ended up just screaming and wimping out halfway through. But then I built up the nerve and finally did a back flip! Once you get the feel of it the back flips are pretty easy. (You can use your arms to pull yourself up & over.) I would do it again, and definitely recommend it to the older kids!

So if you're ever in the area and looking for a fun summer day out, head over to Movie Park Germany! (Only say summer because of the fun water rides, not something you want to miss out on because of the winter cold.)

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

Sunday, December 22, 2013

XBOX ONE (Germany)

The new XBOX ONE is finally out in Europe but it's not being sold in every country... what did this mean for us... it meant two trips to Germany before actually getting a hold of my husbands Christmas present! And of course, the trips didn't go flawless, but inevitably worked out. The first trip to Krefeld was a complete disappoint, we (inc. our daughter & dog) drove around an hour to get to a shop where a friend of ours had managed to get a hold of an XBOX ONE, just to find out they were sold out. Of course they were sold out, they hadn't even been on the market for a week. After the unsuccessful trip and couple other incidents with some people in Krefeld my daughter was done with Germany and never wanted to go back (keep in mind she is 4 yrs old, ha-ha!) My husband claimed he was going to give up on the XBOX ONE until 2014, but considering he had the next week off work and his friend kept calling over Germany to find us one, the mission was far from over. Out of nowhere on a half day of school we decided to load the family back into the car and return to Germany, this time headed for Monchengladbach (another hour drive). Our friend swore he had reserved one for us, and since he can speak German we had to trust he made the right arrangements. When we arrived, my husband picked a shady parking garage to leave his car (and dog). See my husband does this often, randomly parks and then gets to listen to me complain about for a hour afterward. The parking garage was clearly not a public lot, but we knew we were just running into the store and would be back in less than 30 minutes. Everything went great, the XBOX ONE was waiting on us, they had the soccer game and the extra controller, and even our daughter found a Hello Kitty book. Happily we all take the hilly walk back to the car, we didn't have long to get back home before our groceries would be delivered. But uh oh, the garage door was now shut and there was no way to get back in the parking garage without a key. We obviously didn't have key. We called the number on the side of the building, Wico Modehaus, and the woman basically said it was our problem because she was in Dusseldorf and had no intentions of coming that way. O.k., no problem, we remembered seeing an entrance to the garage through a shop on the other side. We walked back along the hilly path and started checking out the shops, none of them looked like what we needed. We stopped in a store and explained to the German in English of course that our car and dog were locked in a garage and we just needed to cut through the building, as you can imagine, no one was helpful. Our daughter is starting to panic, I'm talking about calling the police, and my husband is considering breaking into the garage. We called the Wico Modehaus one more time, and they sent us to voicemail, can you believe that, how rude! (I really should send her a nasty email!) We returned to the parking garage a little frazzled and contemplated our options. My husband had just removed his jacket and was about to scale the wall when someone pulled up and opened the garage with a remote. We grabbed out things and chased after him, everyone thankful. I waited at the door holding the emergency stop button so the garage door wouldn't shut again and my husband and daughter rushed to get the car. In the end, the dog and car were fine, we made it home in time for the delivery, and my husband has spent endless hours on his new XBOX ONE! And I'm pretty sure our daughter never wants to go to Germany again, oops!

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica