A rainy afternoon at Playmobil Funpark

This past weekend the kids attended a Society of Creative Anachronism event.  When we picked them up late Sunday morning, we realized that we were quite near Playmobil Funpark--so, naturally, we decided to pop in there for the afternoon, have some lunch and play around a bit--even if it was rainy (since we were not making a special drive down just for that).

The rain kept most other people at home, which gave us a chance to play on some of the more popular things, that have limited capacity--which we always leave for young kids when there are little ones there wanting to use them.

Over half of the rafts were floating around unused--and those are always so fun (and, can you imagine in the US, having these water rides unattended by park staff, and allowing free use of them?  Yes, the water is only about 2 feet deep, but it still would just not fly back home, I don't think):

I had the chance to get some nicer photos of one of the larger and prettier water play areas--apparently none of the few park visitors wanted to get wetter than the rain was making them:

It was the first time we ever had the chance to throw balls at the "liquor" bottles in the saloon in the Wild West section, as well as dinking around in some of the other spots there:

The newer balance course parks, which were jammed packed on our last visit, were totally empty, and surprisingly not too slippery to play on.  I finally got some good photos to show what that is like:

And here is another of the water play areas, where you can see the backside of water without hearing any bad jokes (a reference to the Jungle Cruise at Disney, for those of you who may be confused by my comment):

(NOTE:  I did not take photos of the more impressive, castle, ship, treehouses, etc, because I have many of those in my prior blog posts about this park, and those were harder areas to negotiate in the rain).  

Eventually, we headed to the indoor, HOB center.  I am always amazed at what a good job the company does at keeping the playmobil sets that are out for playing with in tip top condition (this is the most heavily staffed area of the park--and items are always clean and in good repair).  Some of the remote control items have to be checked out and have a time limit--though there were no waitlists this weekend.  Dave and Rio checked out the crane and looked like little kids on Christmas morning:

There was a special display up on the top level of the HOB, which I gather will be there through the summer--celebrating the 40th birthday of Playmobil toys this year.  There were three very impressive displays that personal collectors have put together and loaned to the park.  We really enjoyed looking at the details of these.

African Safari (using pieces from many series, including Ancient Egypt, Wild West, and the Zoos):

A vacation resort (which incorporates several of the newest sets):

and our favourite by far, a medieval scene with tons of details:

--Hadley

A stroll through Regensburg

On the was home from our Easter adventure, we stopped in the town of Regensburg, for no other reasons than we wanted to get out of the car a bit and we had heard it was a cute town.   It was, in fact, cute.  I have little to say about it, having only spent about 45 minutes there, and not having read up on it at all, but here are some photos:

--Hadley

#regensburg

#regensburgphotos

Easter Sunday at Familypark Neusiedlersee, Austria

As I mentioned in my last post, our Tripsdrill annual passes provide entry into a number of "partnerparks" including Familypark.  Familypark is the largest amusement park in Austria, which only really means that Austria doesn't have big amusement parks.

We knew going in that the park would be smallish and that it is aimed more at younger children than teens--which was exactly the case.  I wouldn't recommend this park to most families with teens, but then, we are not most families, and Marika and Rio certainly aren't most teens, so we were good with this.

The park is not visible until you are right up on it, and there are no signs indicating it is nearby until the very last turn, less than a kilometer from the entrance.  It felt odd to pull up to a theme park having not even had a glimpse of a ride from the road.

Here's Marika out front near the ticket windows:

and the gang right in the entry posing with one of two Easter bunnies that were roaming the park, hadning out treats and even riding rides all day:

We chose to go on Easter Sunday, thinking that the crowds would be light while most people stayed home with extended family--and the crowds were very light; it was perfect.

Here is Dave with the other Easter bunny, this one was on stilts and we all got a kick out of how close in height the stilted bunny was to Dave:

The park itself is very sweet, with lots of natural forest left in tact (even the coaster built last year had many large trees near the track--it was clear that an effort had been made to cut as little as possible while building).

One of the first things we happened upon was this awesome, and sprawling (through many trees) play area:

The kids fully explored it (hardly anyone was there yet--and I promise they are good about giving little ones the right of way!) and thought it was very well done.  There is also an excellent water play area next to it, which would easily entertain a younger child for a good hour.  Sorry, I failed to get a photo of that.  I did, however, get a photo of the park's dragon who hangs out in the cave behind the water area:

The first actual ride we rode were the Temple Slides in the mythology section.  They were a heck of a lot of fun and we ended up riding several times in a row, and then looping back and riding again a few times throughout the day:

The mythology theme was a little different and was quite cute.

 The Pegasus coaster was smooth and fun.  As you can see, the ride was running with empty seats, so while Dave and I only rode once, the kids stayed on for three turns:

This is also the section of the park where the only place that sells the park's signature Twisted Potato snack can be found (hint, it is right next to the Flying Fish ride).  Yes the freshly deep fried potatoes, with a bit of batter on them, are as yummy as they look!

After we exhausted the options in the Mythology section, we headed to the other side of the park, mostly farm themed.  Along the way we got a laugh out of the Pirate Bears, which look a whole lot like Disney's Country Bears:

and we really had to wonder about the pervasiveness of the problem that caused dozens of these signs to be posted all over the park:

Hmmmmm, should I worry about those Austrian boys????

There were plenty of trees in the farm section--and you all know I love trees!  Here is a shot of the typical landscaping throughout:

There were many rides and play areas in that side of the park.  Several were for only young children, but we rode the swings and the tractor and the scarecrow drop ride that sways from side to side while yoyoing you up and down:

and then we took a ride on the Mouse Coaster--well, RAT coaster actually!  It was a fun little coaster, and there was no line.  So, while I went for one round with them, the kids stayed on for 13 trips around without even changing cars!

After riding, the kids had to try out the really cool swings down in a "rat hole" behind the ride (there is also a tunnel near the exit called The Rat Hole that leads up and around and eventually lets out into an "outhouse" midway through the queue area for the coaster.  What a fun way to end up in line!

It was starting to cloud over and looked like we might get a severe late afternoon shower, as had been happening every day--so we decided to make a quick loop through the "Fairy Tale Forest" and then head out:

Hmmmm--no idea what story this is, but we were all sure we had seen this overly busty animitronic lady at Tripsdrill before. . .

though at Tripsdrill her bra is not out on the line!  Is there really a fairy tale about this?!

Here's Marika trying to look frightened outside of the very mild haunted house in the forest:

Did we climb a beanstalk without noticing?:

Before I close this post, I should take a moment to say that all of the food we had was very good, with a good variety of offerings, and the prices were quite reasonable (soda was high, at 3 euro per bottle, though that is not uncommon and everything else was a bargain--even wine was 1.10 a glass).  I also want to note that the park was spotlessly clean and the staff we encountered were all extremely friendly.  

All in all we were really impressed with this sweet little park.  If you happen to be in the area near Vienna with a child 10 or under, I would highly recommend taking a day to visit.

--Hadley