Lebkuchen: Lochmühle Amusement Park

I blogged last year about taking Emilie and Rebecca to this local amusement park where many rides are parent-powered and the vast majority are unmonitored. The kids had another day off school today and though the majority of activities at this park are for little kids, I thought there would be enough there to keep big kids Micaela and James amused.

The Double Butterfly tic-toc ride. It was the first ride of the day for us and Becca screamed bloody hell until the little car finally came to a stop.

Emilie, on the other hand, enjoyed it.

Becca got a hold of herself and handled the rest of the rides with no problem. Here they all are on the Squirrel Minicoaster.

Em enjoyed that ride, too. In this photo, they just passed a sign for the coaster reminding people that their dogs are not allowed on this particular ride.

Pedal helicopters

Sailing over the park

The "Shoot the Chutes" ride. You climb into the boat and click the safety bar in place; the next person waiting in line pulls the gate shut and pushes the "Ready" button; you tug on the rope to start.

A cable pulls you to the top of a high incline and then....

...WHOOSH! You fly down the incline and over a ramp, fly through the air and land in the water with a big splash.

James and a mysterious looking hand

A pretty cool ride that has been around since 1884.

Bex on the parent-powered ferris wheel -- someone needs to be pedaling an attached stationary bike to make it go around.

James and Bex

While the kids waited in line for this spinning tulip ride, 8 little girls cut in front of them. When I said to them, "My children were here first," one the girls replied, "My friend was holding a place for us."

Ahh, the old one person holding a place for all of their friends/family thing. This happened so often to us at Disneyworld a few years ago, I was ready to file an official complaint. Do you know how disheartening it is to stand in line for 45 minutes, trying to judge how many more runs of a ride it will take until you can get on, only to have 15 people cut in front of you, all with a smug expression on their faces, because one person from their group was in line? I know these people think they're simply being smart, but I can think of plenty of other names for it: bad-mannered, inconsiderate, discourteous, selfish, obnoxious, mean-spirited, repulsive, loathsome, contemptuous, and just plain rude.

We went back and forth a few times with the group of little girls, and I realized that I would get nowhere with my poor German. In the end I declared them "Not nice!" and dropped it. I vowed to myself, before our next trip to Disney, that I would send an inquiry to the the power that be on what our rights are when we are standing in line and a group of 15 people cuts in front of us. Maybe they actually have a rule where one person can only hold a place for 2 or 3 people and we could notify an attendant. But these people get away with it because no one is willing to say anything.

Rise up, nice people who don't cut and stand in line in a fair manner! Rise up, I say! If twenty other people who have been waiting patiently would shame such other people, make the rest of the wait miserable for them, it may make them think twice about cutting again. Or it might cause a fist fight. I would probably be passive-aggressive and say to my family in a loud voice, "We would never cut in front of other people who have been waiting such a long time, would we? It is so rude and disrespectful to everyone else. People who do that should be ashamed of themselves!" It won't make any difference though. They'll just laugh all the way to the front of the line. On second thought, we'd be better off flying back to Europe and going to Park Astérix or Legoland where we never stood in line for more than 10 minutes.

In any case, stay silent no longer, for the common good! Say something!

The simple rides, like this big slide, are always a big hit.

Another big slide

I lost count of how many different playgrounds this place had.

Jumpy thingy

The Luna-Loop: strap yourself in and get flipped upside down over and over again as the capsule makes its way down the track.

Can you see the hair? Micaela and Emilie were upside down at this point.

Spinning disk

Another tilted spinning disk. Once Becca sat down on it, it started spinning faster and faster and she freaked out.

On a rotating see-saw thingy with a German girl

At the trampoline complex

Crêpes for lunch

Micaela getting a workout powering the little merry-go-round

Huge jumpy thing

The last time we were here, every child that tried this wooden wheel fell and hurt themselves, including my own.

Giving it a try....

...and wiping out.

Digging in some dirt

Donkey ride

James trying his hand at milking a fake cow

There were lots of structures to play in, like this windmill.

At the petting zoo area

Very patient donkey

We all fell in love with the rabbits and have to research keeping bunnies.

Pull on the rope to make your swing work

While we were waiting for our turn on the swings, two boys came out of nowhere and tried to jump to the front of the line. A German mother said sternly, "Das geht nicht!" ("That's not OK.") and the boys backed off. Way to go, Mutti!

James and Micaela making the swings go 'round

I told Becca, "It's time to go home," at which point she cried, "But I don't want to go home!" and then ran into this little house and hid. Micaela and James had to pull her out by her ankles.