from coast to coast with your host – Westbound Panama Canal Cruise About This Page:

[cruising_Minnie]

From May 10th – 25th 2008 my husband and I were on the spectacular Westbound Panama Canal Cruise.
Before the cruise I found many helpful information in the Passporter books and in the forum. Now I want to share my impressions with you.

We are a couple from Germany, we are both in the early/middle forties. Most of our vacation we spent in the US or in Canada. Usually we plan an itinerary by our own and tour by a rental car.
Since we were so enthusiastic about our first cruise, we were so happy that we got a reservation for the Panama Canal cruise. Being on a Disney cruise is so special but in combination with the canal - this would be an event of a lifetime.

Our journey started about a week before the cruise. Our first flight took us from Nürnberg to Frankfurt, the second flight from Frankfurt non-stop to Orlando. We wanted to have some time before the cruise to get used to the time zone (-6 hours). Also we wanted to see what was new in the last 2 years or what we have missed on our last visit in WDW.

So here I start with Animal Kingdom (2008/05/02):

One of our stops was the new attraction Finding Nemo – the musical. That was very nice.




But I was very curios about Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade, which we missed last time.
This parade I loved very much because of it’s ethnic style, wonderful customs that remind me of the Musical ‘The lion king’, great music and the characters in their outdoor outfit.





Always a must is Kilimanjaro Safaris for us. Since one tour is never exactly the same as the other, there is always something different to see, like these mud covered rhinos.



At the end of our day in AK the whole gang (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy) where waiting at entrance area for the personal meet & greet. What a perfect end of the first day at WDW.




will be continued …

[Colexis Mom]

Great start More please

[DrDolphin]

Petra!!! I am SO glad to see you posting!! Tell Peter I said Hi - and I am sure Lesley will chime in here real soon!!!

[mcc0313]

Great start...can't wait to read more.

[WDWfan]

Petra - your pictures! Especially the one of the two of you with Mickey! I almost didn't recognize Peter - he hadn't been in the sun much yet.

[DyanKJ130]

Great start!! Can't wait to hear more

[NanaTink]

Wonderful start! Can't wait to read more!

[chezp]

Great start - I can't wait to read more.

[Disneybine]

Welcome to the boards, fellow German Disney fan!

I can't wait to hear more about your trip! How fun that you got to meet Lesley and Terri on your cruise!

[Kenny]

Great beginning! More, please!

[cruising_Minnie]

Thanks for your welcome and encouraging !

Hi Lesley and Terry!
It is so wonderful, that we can share our memories of this fantastic cruise that way.

In the beginning I had some trouble posting my pictures. I hope that now they are between the text and visible.

from coast to coast with your host – Part 2

Since we had tickets with the park hopper and the water park fun & more option we used the possibilities. On 3 days we went to my favourite water park – typhoon lagoon. That is the perfect playground for me. I even like the way to the parking lot with the signs along the way
where you can read the story of the lagoon. Then after passing the entrance , you have your first viewpoint overlooking the big wave pool and see ‘Miss Tilly’ on top of a rock – that’s cool. I enjoy so much swimming in the wave.s The further you go into the pool (the closer to the rope), the better it is. But I love the rides too. They are not just simple tubes, they are embedded in the scenery and in the story about the typhoon. Here DH and I were just coming out of crush’n’cusher:



The next theme park we visited was EPCOT, with the flower and garden festival.
Since we’ve been to the flower and garden festival 2 years ago, I was curios what there would be this time. And again there were lovely topiary but newly styled for the motto ‘fun in the sun’.








Unfortunately we had to interrupt our first day in EPCOT, because our camcorder broke down. We had to buy a new one. We were not happy about the fact, but it was better that way than it would have happened on the cruise. Now the post-processing is more complicated, because in Germany we use PAL instead of NTSC as TV-code and so we have to transform our video in some way. However there will be a solution, we are happy that we had our video at all. So EPCOT became the practice area for our new camcorder.
Among the many things we did in Future World, I want to highlight the new version of ‘spaceship earth’, where we could even choose our language for the interactive part, and ‘soarin’. It is such a breathtaking ride. For Mission:SPACE we prefered the ‘light’ version, though it was sensational.
At Worlds Showcase we enjoyed the new ride in ‘Mexico’. Caballero Donald was already waiting.



Of course we also went to ‘Germany’. It is interesting to see what kind of German products they are selling. Most of them are really typical. The architecture really reflects a style that is still to be found especially in small Bavarian villages. Here is my Bavarian DH with a Bavarian-styled Mickey:



In ‘Canada’ we saw the new movie and listened to the dynamic music of ‘Off Kilter’.



The visit of EPCOT ended with the spectacular firework of IllumiNations.




will be continued …

[NanaTink]

Great update! Your photos are beautiful! Hope you are able to solve the NTSC to PAL conversion issue! More, please!

[Kenny]

Great pictures! Too bad about the camcorder, but I'm glad you were able to continue on.

[WDWfan]

Petra - It's been a long time since I went to any of the water parks. You and Peter look like you're having so much fun that I may have to try it again soon!

[chezp]

It looks like you had a great time at Typhoon Lagoon - I love that photo, that really just says enjoyment all over it!