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Showing content with the highest reputation on 08/12/2023 in Posts
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Took my teen daughter to our local family entertainment center, Sonny's Place (Somers, CT). I was surprised that their carousel has some historical info setup in the corner courtesy of the New England Carousel Museum. Equally surprised that they are keeping up with maintaining this 1925 beauty! It has zero missing lights (it is indoors, of course), the paint is nearly all perfect with the exception of the bench which is in the process of being repaired, and it has a working (but electrically powered) Wurlitzer!! No piped in music here! Enjoy the pics. I was inspired by Bert riding carousels around the world. ^ The museum itself is near Lake Compounce. Sonny's Place is on the road from my house to SFNE. ^Cool little display of the actual scroll for the band organ. ^Anatomy of a pole dancer ^Nice little corner display. Can't believe no one messes with it! ^Carousel sits in a very nice specially constructed pavilion. ^Horsies ^A holdover control lever from yore ^Music1 point
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Day 5, June 7th part 2: Ferry to Germany, bus ride, the incredibly odd Hotel Gremersdorf, and forced Schnitzel! after a very fun day at Bakken, we settled in on the bus as we headed towards the Ferry, where I believe we were going to cross the Baltic Sea? it wasn't a terribly long crossing (I think a little over an hour?). . . but passengers are not allowed to stay on the vehicles, so we had to leave the bus down in the hold, and relax on the ferry as we made the crossing. some folks ate, or had coffee - but most of us were still full from lunch, so just browsed the ship or the store onboard. Many also stocked up on snacks, as the hotel we were headed to didn't have a lot of food options nearby, and as we were arriving ~9:00pm it was going to be close as to getting food later. bye-bye Denmark a ferry coming the other way, from Germany to Denmark a mirror of our ship. . if you were curious what ours looked like. . soon, the announcements were made, and we funneled back down into the hold and onto the bus. hello Germany! shortly after getting on the road tho, we hit some major construction going on - on the bridge from the ferry!. . that pretty much brought us to a standstill for over an hour + but at least we got to see a beautiful sunset from the bus on the bridge: tho eventually we did get moving and made our way to the hotel Welcome to Hotel Gremersdorf. . .a very funky/odd hotel. the rooms all are slightly different. .and some in different buildings. It's kinda like an odd little self built commune, crossed with Winchester house. Some rooms had windows that opened into nowhere, some had slanted walls that you had to be careful not to bump your head when getting into bed. .and some had doors that you couldnt' open if a drawer was pulled out, or if the bathroom door wasn't completely closed (no space for the main door to swing open). It was so weird.. . I loved it! maybe has some of "the Overlook" from the Shining mixed in too! I took all of these pics after dinner. . . dinner? yup. . . the very, VERY kind folks who run the hotel? when we arrived so late due the construction, they kept open the dinner/buffet for us, and would not check us in until after they had fed us, because they felt bad we had arrived so late. so instead of checking in, we were directed to dump all our luggage into a dark corner of the lobby, and led into the restaurant. Where we were seated and they insisted on feeding us. yup. . forced schnitzel! (no shade.. was really good, even tho most of us ween't that hungry, we all ate. . . because. . . such kindness!) I had to take a quick potty break (while they were setting up the buffet for us), and this amused me: but on the way back remembered to take a pic of the offerings they had stayed open late (and awake) for us: as noted. .was really good! and that it was such a kind gesture made it taste all the better! once we had all eaten, room keys were handed out, and we were able to go into our rooms to crash for the night. as noted, pretty much every room is slightly different in this Hotel, but AJ and I lucked out with a very nice room: that had a "sleeper sofa" included. . . since I had been snoring, I figured I might be able to get some space so he could sleep better, so I took the sofa: large bathroom here too.. tho you had to be careful what you had open, otherwise you couldn't open the door to get in. . LOL I recall having a pretty good night's sleep here, even tho the window right behind where I was sleeping (which when slanted open gave a great cool breeze), opened up into a weird little courtyard that despite not seeing any way to get INTO the courtyard. . I still heard noises of people/things out there all night. LOL. . like I said. . funky hotel. i really did like it. soon enough tho it was time to get up for breakfast, and I got a good look at the lobby in the daytime: quirky! breakfast was great: and then we checked out, loaded back onto the bus, and headed off to what was once the original LegoLand. . know known as Hansa Park! (to be continued on Day 6 with Hansa Park)1 point
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Brace yourself for dinosaurs and pirates at Djurs Sommerland, me hearties! No, I’m here FOR lunch. I am NOT THE lunch. “Dinosaurland” is owned by “Dino Inc.” As Mr. Spock might say, “Logical.” This is “Spinosaurus,.” which means "spinning lizard," I guess. I suppose it could also be pronounced “Spine-o-saurus” as you’re riding back and forth over a dinosaur’s backbone. OK, the name of this ride isn’t as imaginative as "Spinosaurus," but it gets the point across. “Hello, I’m Rex. T. Rex. I hope your family enjoys my ride.” A Mack powered coaster, a Gerstlauer, and three Intamin coasters. There are two Zirer kiddies, as well, so this is a very well rounded park. Despite the sign saying “Do not the feed the dino,” there is, in fact, more than one dino on this ride. Which one in particular are we not supposed to feed? “DO NOT FEED ME!” This is a lousy photo, but it shows a nice callback to an old attraction. This ape head was once part of a giant ape animatronic on the old “jungle cruise” that used to be here. A giant mammal doesn’t really fit in with a bunch of thunder lizards, but it is a nice Easter egg. “Oh, you’re quite safe. I’m a vegetarian. Well, I guess I could step on you or something.” “Oh, you’re gonna feed THIS dino, sign or no sign!” Djurs defies Disney’s lawyers and shows you the backside of water. Have fun risking terrible injury, kids! When in Denmark, do as the Danes do. Ahoy, mates! Shiver me timbers! Avast! All that piratical nonsense! “I craps treasure, I does!” This place wouldn’t be very “piratey” unless you had the chance to get soaked next to a giant rock skull. Welcome to your ERT on Piraten, mates! We’ll not be lootin’ the ticket booth today. That were just Cap'n Robb havin' a wee bit 'o' fun. Ye’ll find that this here Megalite rocks like a ship in a typhoon. And remember, ya scurvy swabs! Pirates don’t say “whee” . . . . . . they say “arr”! Why, thar be Miss Sarah, lookin’ so prim and proper like . . . . . . while this be goin’ on behind her. “Arr! Someone done unleashed an air kraken here, sez I!” Here be a rousing game of “Pass the Sword,” while Miss Kristen works on her “Bride of Frankenstein” impression. I think all you sea dogs can agree that any day that ends with ERT on Piraten is a great day!1 point
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Nice report. That’s cool that they’re alerting guests of changing elevations. If only there were some kind of ride that could magically take guests up or down that steep hill near Lickskillet on like a cable or something... that would be some crazy sh*t, right?1 point