Winter Break 2024. Chapter 2. A Ride on the 'Merican Round.
Is there anything like a cruise ship terminal on boarding day?
Six thousand people filled with nothing but hope and excitement. The vacation hasn’t yet begun. The children haven’t yet started whining. The ship hasn’t yet started rocking. Nothing has gone wrong yet, and everyone just wants to get to the buffet.
We approached the check in area hesitantly. Tzvi scoped it out, trying to figure out which agent would be most lenient. Would the matronly Southern grandmother be nice and let Inbar go? The crew cut gray haired veteran in his fifties certainly wasn’t the right choice. Well, in the end it didn’t matter because it wasn’t our choice. They directed us into a line and we ended up with Pedro. I don’t know if that was really his name, but he was a Hispanic guy in his late twenties with a peach fuzz mustache and a little mullet and kind of looked like the character from Napoleon Dynamite. He fumbled through his script asking us a few basic questions, then took our passports, scanning them each with his tablet. After me, Tzvi, Hallie and Madeleine the whole screen went green with a huge check mark.
When he got to Inbar’s passport, he flipped the pages and landed on her visa. Her expired visa. He tried scanning it with his tablet, but nothing happened.
“Are you trying to find the first page?” Tzvi asked after a moment, realizing something was wrong.
Pedro nodded and Tzvi helped him find the right page. He scanned it.
Green!
Check mark!
He handed us back the passports and said “enjoy your cruise.”
We walked forward, kind of stunned, kind of confused. We crossed the length of the terminal, scanned our boarding passes and then walked the ramp up to the ship. [Soundtrack from Titanic plays in our heads.] And then we all stepped aboard and started our cruise.
That was it. No one really checked anything or asked any questions. It felt crazy and we couldn’t actually believe that she had made it on that easily, which caused Tzvi to wonder (unfortunately, out loud) whether that meant they were going to be checking things on the way back into the US. That brought us all down momentarily, but we managed to push that aside for a week and enjoy the cruise!
Stepping onto the ship we were immediately thrust into the crowds just trying to navigate the entrance and make their way in. We entered at the Royal Promenade. I remember feeling like I needed to orient myself to the lights and just stepping into this place for the first time.
We managed to find an elevator and headed toward our rooms, but there was a sign saying they wouldn’t be ready until 1:00pm and it was only around 12. No bother, we would go upstairs to the Windjammer buffet. Well, that’s where we encountered the first of many buffet lines. It was a line just to get into the hand washing area. I don’t understand why a ship for 6500 people only has like 8 sinks total, while the Celebrity ships have like 20.
Anyway, we finally found a table and sat down. That’s when we saw it. All around us. Covered heads, covered elbows, and a whole lot of plastic wrap. Did I mention we decided to sail out of Galveston to avoid the Yeshiva week crowds? Anyway, lunch was a bit rough to navigate, but we managed. Initial thoughts on the buffet is that there’s less variety than there was on Celebrity and the food definitely isn’t as good. Also, there’s no pizza at the buffet which is a huge let-down for Hallie.
We went to our rooms, which are surprisingly spacious (in terms of cruise rooms). Our luggage wasn’t there yet, so we decided to explore the ship. A bit about the ship. We’re sailing on Royal Caribbean Harmony of the Seas, which is an Oasis class ship. Tzvi and I were on Allure of the Seas, a ship of the same class, so we remembered the layout (or at least I did). The ship is pretty massive and has several “neighborhoods” including the Boardwalk and Central Park (yes, a park with trees). There are three pools and a kids splash area, four water slides, a huge non-water slide that swirls around over the back of the ship and an outdoor “aqua-theater”. Unlike our most recent cruises, drinks weren’t included in our cruise fare, so Tzvi and I got the deluxe beverage package. One nice thing to find out was that the milkshakes at Johnny Rockets are included in the Deluxe Beverage Package. Starbucks Coffee on the other hand, is not (there is an actual Starbucks on board – not a ‘we proudly brew Starbucks’ (though they have that too), but an actual Starbucks). There are only two places to get a decaf cappuccino on this ship. I don’t get it.
I went to the dining room just to mention about allergies and ask about kosher food. Of course they have the packaged stuff (have you seen who is on board this ship?) but I asked about fresh stuff like we got on Celebrity too. Nope. I also asked about the dining times, because we were scheduled for 5:00pm. Early bird special? The only set dining times on this ship are 5pm and 7:45pm, and turns out if you come later than 5:15pm they give away your table. This is also where I saw two old men yelling at each other because one cut the line. Happy vacationing.
We went back to the room, found our luggage, and started to unpack. We met our stateroom attendant Made (which is an ironic name for a housekeeper), and I asked him for 20 extra hangers, which seemed to surprise him. Do people not hang things? Eventually he had to switch me to wire hangers. We explored the ship a little, checking out the kids club and some other areas. We got our first milkshakes, but it was too cold to walk around outside so we went back to the room and unpacked. Tzvi got some kind of rum punch and we tried to watch sail-away from the balcony, but it was freezing.
We changed for dinner and made our way to the dining room for our 5:15 reservation. We were sat at a table right next to a table of our kin. They had paper plates, plastic silverware and lots of airplane meals. We overheard them talking to the maître de, who said that there were 250 people that had requested kosher food on this cruise. If there’s only 250 of them, why do we see them everywhere?
Before taking this cruise we had read that the included food (i.e., no extra charge) is sub-par, and the food you pay extra for is very good. That was certainly true. I still love the idea of eating in the grand-three-level dining room and having the same waiter every night, but even I have to admit the days of this cruise standby are probably coming to an end. It just wasn’t what it used to be, especially when it comes to the food. On Royal I think they really don’t put too much effort into the dining room food because they want you to eat in the specialty restaurants. We had a tomato soup, which kind of just tasted like tomato sauce. Tzvi had halibut and I had salmon. Madeleine ate all of the noodles.
After dinner we walked around and saw more of the ship. I took Hallie for her first strawberry daquiri at one of the bars and Tzvi and Madeleine checked out the Boardwalk where Madeleine discovered the carousel. Except, she didn’t call it a carousel or merry-go-round, she called it “the ‘Merican Round.” And none of us corrected her. For seven days. And yes, there really is a full size carousel on this ship, and I think Madeleine’s mind was blown by the fact that she could just ride over and over again for the whole cruise.
We decided to go to the ice show. We didn’t have a reservation (if you recall, they were all cancelled), but we got in no problem. It was a solid show, thought I didn’t actually understand any of the storyline. Cool ice jumps though. Hallie kept asking Tzvi what was happening, but he didn’t understand either. Eventually he got tired saying “I don’t know” and started making things up.
During one scene there was some kind of projections of fire. “What’s happening?”
“They’ve made it to the center of the earth and she got burnt by the lava because it’s really hot, and now she’s hideous but it’s okay because it’s all mole people down there and they’re all ugly too.” (In the next scene Hallie pointed out that the skater didn’t look burnt.)
When the main female skater left the ice, “Where did she go?”
“To get some cheese.”
After the show it was bedtime for the girls. We went back to the room where we found they had left us chocolate covered strawberries.
Tzvi and I figured that this would be like our last cruise, where we would end every night drinking cappuccino and kahlua and cream, eating whatever the dessert of the day is and discussing the day’s events. Unfortunately, there’s just nowhere to do that on this ship. We had to get the cappuccino at the Café Royal on the Royal Promenade, which is the one place that makes decaf cappuccinos (the other being the spa, which was closed). Then we had to go to another bar to get a Kahlua and Cream, which was delicious because you can’t screw that up. But there was nowhere to get cake. Café Promenade did have some desserts but they just did not look good.
So we got pizza instead.
Good day.
Winter Break 2024. Chapter 1. Liftoff.
Well here we go!
Thursday, January 18
This morning we were all up bright and early ready for our 7:45 pickup. We decided to forego Uber in favor of a scheduled pickup, because we always have issues with getting an Uber big enough to fit all of us. We were actually pulling away by 7:50 which is extremely impressive. We were off to LaGuardia (which in and of itself is a trip). Because Jet Blue only has one flight to Houston a day, we had to opt for Delta, apprehensively. Check in was no issue, but we had to pay for bags which was like paying for another flight. At security the pre-check line was very long, so they put us on a “family line” which I’m pretty sure took longer than the pre-check line because it was actually a family and ADA line, so they kept letting people in wheelchairs cut the families, and of course all of the families were moving at a snails’ pace. But hey, at least that meant we could take our sweet time at that conveyer belt. We made it through, walked a mile to the gate, and got coffee and a bagel. The flight had a 15 minute delay, but we boarded and got settled.
We were nervous about flying Delta, but I have to say they won us over. We had comfort plus seats, which were very comfortable and possibly even better than Jet Blue even more space. Boarding was easy, we left on time, the flight attendants were lovely (and unlike JetBlue flight attendants didn’t seem like they hated their jobs), and the pilots even invited the girls into the cockpit before the flight. The flight itself was uneventful. I sat with Hallie, Tzvi sat with Madeleine and Inbar. Many iPads were watched. I actually watched Bring It On and Miss Congeniality and I have to say, the movie selection on Delta is unparalleled. I mean, how often do you see Grease 2 available? You know they are appealing to a niche market. We landed and got our bags before Tzvi even got back from the bathroom at baggage claim. Well done Delta.
We Ubered to our next destination, the Four Seasons Houston. We saw an anti-Hamas billboard on the way. Pulling up to the hotel I was unimpressed; from the outside the building looks more like a Westin (no offense Westin) but on the inside we were met by a typical beautiful, ornate, shiny Four Seasons lobby. This building must have been something else before. We checked in and headed upstairs. They said they upgraded us to a Corner King, connected to the kids’ room. I think our room is bigger than the two rooms we are going to have on the ship combined. Hallie was starving so she and Tzvi walked across the street to Phoenicia Market, a huge specialty food store, and brought back some pizza, fruit and coffees. We unpacked, showered, and headed to dinner.
Of course Tzvi rented a Tesla, as he does when we have a 3 day weekend before a cruise, but of course it takes him 3 days to figure out how to drive it. Dinner tonight was in the Jewish area of Belaire, so we first stopped at HEB, a regular supermarket (and I mean super) with a large kosher selection (but to be clear, not a Jewish market despite the name). We got a plethora of snacks and berries, and some challah and grape juice for tomorrow. We did not buy the giant vat of potato salad, which to me just screamed “Texas!” In the store Hallie managed to spill all of the blueberries on the floor, and then we had to get the wagon off of it but it kept crushing the blueberries. It was awkward.
From there we drove to dinner. On the way we passed by many large houses that would rival back Lawrence. These were truly gorgeous, and probably go for a fraction of the price. Dinner tonight was at Casa Bar and Grill, a kosher meat restaurant. It was empty when we walked in and we were seated immediately. The place was nice, but you could tell immediately you were in an “out of town” restaurant. There was just something off – like the menu was a mix of southern and Spanish, but the music was Israeli, and the décor was just like a modern restaurant. The food was all excellent though, and of course we ordered way too much. We started with short rib tacos, pesto ravioli and cauliflower. For mains we shared a dino rib, a lamb shank and a pastrami burger. The kids had chicken nuggets and fries. For dessert we ordered the chocolate mousse, the warm chocolate cake, and the churro donuts. I think the first two were frozen. The mousse was truly awful. The chocolate cake was meh, and the donuts had that fried taste like metallic in a way (do you know what I mean?). But overall good meal.
We made our way back to the hotel and the girls were way overtired. Madeleine couldn’t stop crying that her kid robe kept opening, and it was hilarious but also so annoying. We finally convinced her to just put on a pajama instead.
After they went to sleep I went to the gym, because who knows when the next time I’ll be able to do that is. It was empty, which was great.
I’m tired. Good Day.
Friday
We woke up this morning bright and early. And by that I mean Hallie came in at 5am up for the day (and that was after at least 2 wakeups overnight). This is going to be fun. We just kind of laid there for a while but I think we were out the door by 8am, a rarity for us. Because we were up so early we decided to go out for breakfast to an authentic Texas establishment. So we drove to a boujee neighborhood and ate at a place called Dish Society. It wasn’t waiter service (we ordered at the counter and then the food was brought to us). Tzvi and I both had really good egg dishes. Madeleine had pancakes and Hallie had French toast bites. It was a cool vibe. They had a scrabble board on the wall with magnetic tiles and a chalkboard too. Good breakfast.
From there we made our way to the Space Center! We missed the entrance and tried to get in where the actual employees enter, but that didn’t work for us. At the entrance are two rockets with fake people in them, and Madeleine thought they were real. We entered and were kind of lost in space. We weren’t sure where to go or what to do, so we kind of just walked around. At 11:30 we went to the theater to hear from a real astronaut, which was very cool, but we had to leave at 11:45 to make it to the tram for our Mission Control Tour.
This was a tour where they took you to the actual Mission Control room from the Lunar landing in 1969. We were seated in the observation room behind mission control (which was the real observation room where people were sitting and watching in 1969, in the same seats). They tried to simulate the experience of watching it happen in 1969, playing audio of mission control and the astronauts, and putting the same things on the video screens and little TVs in the corner of the room as were on in 1969. It was very cool. What I found peculiar though was the amount of rules they kept repeating. No eating, drinking, gum chewing, baby food, large bags must be left downstairs, if your baby makes noise or you have to “take an important phone call” go outside, and enjoy the show as your “sit GENTLY” in your seats. And please don’t touch the ashtrays.
After the show we tried to get the kids some food, “tried” being the operative word. Madeleine wanted the Mac and Cheese but said it was spicey (it smelled gross) and Hallie did not love the pizza. Madeleine ended up making her own salad – basically a bunch of veggies, cheese, tofu, corn and tortilla strips, but no lettuce or dressing.
We went to a replica of Space Shuttle Independence and then the actual plane that carried the space shuttles, which was cool. We saw a bunch of original lunar modules, and then obviously finished at the gift shop where Hallie broke a gem. They didn’t charge us, thankfully. There was a lot of cool stuff, and even a t shirt that said “Uranus – the original gas giant” but Tzvi opted for a boring NASA shirt instead and the girls wanted squishy balls.
We started our drive back, but not without stopping at a Starbucks to get a Texas and a Houston mug. THEN we had to stop for coffee. Tzvi missed the exit and it added another 15 minutes to the already 45 minute drive, so he almost went into Tzvi mental breakdown mode, but he managed to pull himself together. The coffee was great and we also had a delicious brownie. We went back to the hotel, hung out for a little and got ready for shabbat.
We did kiddush and motzi in the room, and then went for dinner downstairs in the “gastropub” restaurant. We had a cool table in an enclave surrounded by bourbon bottles. I had a great salmon salad and maybe one of the top three Onion rings I’ve ever eaten. Hallie was falling asleep at the table, which made sense considering she’d been up since 5am, so we skipped dessert and took them upstairs to bed.
When I say skipped dessert, I mean they skipped dessert. After the kids fell asleep, I went back downstairs and ordered a coffee ice cream sundae, salted caramel ice cream, and a chocolate cake and brought them back to the room. Tzvi, Inbar and I sat eating it while she regaled us with tales of her Israeli college experiences. It was fun.
Saturday, January 20.
Today’s wakeup was at 5:53am. We’re making progress! We moved very slowly and eventually went to breakfast around 9 at the main restaurant, Toro Toro. I got a delicious avocado toast. The girls were a bit wild and kept using their squishy balls from NASA to make fart noises, except I don’t think other people in the restaurant saw the squishies and just thought it was us. Keep it classy. Our server asked if we were from New York and told us that there were a lot of people there from New York that morning. Just exchanging one frigid temperature for another. One thing I should mention is that it’s cold here. Like 30s and 40s cold. Not only did it make packing difficult (we had to bring winter coats!) but it also messed up our plans. When we booked this trip we had been expecting to spend Saturday at the pool. Shabbat wasn’t over until 6:30, so we had to figure out how to fill the hours. After breakfast we played lego in the room for a while, and then around 11:30 we decided to take a walk. We walked to a place called The Post, a gutted old post office that now has food stands and some shopping stands. It was a long walk (probably about ¾ of a mile each way). Madeleine fell asleep in the stroller but Hallie did great. We walked around for a bit and saw all of the food and the shops. Then we sat for a bit. Tzvi fell asleep on a couch, and then just as we were ready to leave Madeleine woke up, so she and Hallie ran around for a while before we finally got the strength to walk back.
Back at the hotel it was snack time. We went back to the lobby gastropub where we got some hummus and pita, chips and guac, and Hallie got fish and chips (interestingly she ate only the fish inside and not the fried coating). The place was filling up as people were coming in to watch the Houston Texans game. Spoiler: they lost, badly.
We went back to the room and spent some time packing. We panicked for a moment when we realized that an entire bag of the girls’ laundry was missing. We feared that it had been thrown away, but that just seemed absurd. I went down to the front desk and found out that housekeeping had actually taken the bag, assuming that we were using the Four Seasons laundry bag because we wanted it done, and sent it all to be washed. I informed the front desk that I would not be paying $100 to have my children’s clothes washed and they assured me it would be removed from the bill.
We showered, and eventually it was 6:30. Before we left, Inbar and I took advantage of the luxury bag rental program. The Four seasons has a partnership with one of those bag rental companies, so you can rent bags for the length of your stay free of charge. We both opted for Chanel for the evening. It was fun. I have now tasted luxury and I can never return.
Dinner tonight was at Coltivare, an Italian place in the same area we had breakfast yesterday. We shared two pizzas, cauliflower and a delicious cabbage dish. We also got an order of focaccia, which turned out to be a huge plate of bread. It was very good. The pizza had this weird, huge, puffy crust, but it was actually delicious. And Madeleine ate all of the noodles.
After dinner we went for ice cream at Sweet Bribery. I actually didn’t love the ice cream, but it was fun. Tzvi had a cinnamon toast crunch flavor, which he enjoyed.
From there we went back to the hotel and put the girls to bed. Someone from housekeeping arrived with the girls’ laundry, which was beautifully done and came in a basket nicer than any of our laundry baskets. It also came with a bill for $87 (which we weren’t actually charged for).
I got in a quick workout at the gym, then we packed up a bit and went to sleep. Tomorrow we get on the ship!
Sunday January 21, 2024
We woke up this morning at 7:15. So much improvement! We ordered room service for breakfast which everybody enjoyed, and called an Uber to take us to the Port of Galveston. A woman who didn’t speak much English arrived in a Chevy Suburban, which usually would be fine, but she had a giant cooler (I didn’t ask what was in it) in her front seat, so we actually were really packed in there. It was like a puzzle arranging everything. The ride was about an hour as we finally got a glimpse of our ship, Harmony of the Seas.
We said goodbye to our bags and headed up to the check in.
We were all very nervous, and Hallie just kept saying, loudly, “Is Inbar going to make it on the ship?”
We need to teach that kid about discretion.
Winter Break 2024. Prologue. What is Automatic Revalidation, Anyway?
Welcome to a special pre-vacation edition of the Kaplan Family Follies.
You may ask what warrants such a special edition? You may be thinking ‘they didn’t even finish posting Disney World from November, why are they wasting their time on an extra post?’ All valid inquiries. I have no answer. Here we go!
For our loyal readers, you will know that last Yeshiva Week we had a lovely cruise on Celebrity Beyond. After returning, we decided we must do another cruise, only this time something bigger and more kid-friendly. We didn’t want to be with 1000 of our closest friends and family, so we called Tzvi’s uncle (our travel agent) and said “put us on the ship without the kosher package.” (For those who don’t know, there are multiple ships that sail during the week in January when all Jewish schools have vacation, that offer special kosher dining packages, and the ships are filled with religious Jews.). That’s how we ended up booked on Royal Caribbean’s Harmony of the Seas out of Galveston, Texas. We decided we would fly into Houston the Thursday before and spend the weekend there before getting on the ship on Sunday. My parents decided to join us, and Sherry opted to book as well. We had to book Delta flights because the JetBlue flight times weren’t great. While we aren’t thrilled about that because we have zero Delta status, we’ll survive. We were all very excited.
Fast Forward to November 2023. And so it begins.
1. Inbar’s Visa.
As we were compiling documents and checking in for the cruise on the Royal Caribbean app, it occurred to us that Inbar is a 2nd year Au Pair, which means she is limited in where she can travel. She is currently on an expired J-1 visa; she’s allowed to stay in the U.S. and continue working, but if she leaves then she loses her J-1 status and gets kicked out of the au pair program. The only exception is Mexico, Canada and “Adjacent Caribbean Islands.” That was great news, since our cruise stops in Mexico and the Caribbean Island of Roatan, right? Wrong. Roatan is an island in Honduras and is specifically not on the list of Adjacent Caribbean Islands. Obviously this was bad news. Tzvi spoke to the au pair agency multiple times, but it wasn’t looking good.
Can’t she just stay on the ship, you ask? No, that’s not how it works.
But wait, Israeli’s don’t need visas to come in and out of the U.S., right? Right, but if she enters the U.S. on anything other than her expired J-1, she’ll be kicked out of the program and won’t be allowed to work.
This is how we came up with the Mexico plan. Inbar couldn’t go to Honduras, but she could go to Mexico, so we decided she would spend the weekend with us in Houston, then fly home on Sunday, then fly to Mexico on Wednesday where a car service would pick her up at the airport and drive her for four hours down to Puerto Costa Maya, where she would stay overnight in a hotel before getting on the ship on Thursday morning, all while hoping to avoid being kidnapped by a cartel. Sure, she’d miss half the cruise, but her booking isn’t refundable, so anything is better than nothing. If it sounds like a crazy plan, that’s because it is.
It may have been crazy, but it was a good plan, at least until Royal Caribbean informed us that she cannot join the ship late because there is no one to process new passengers in Mexico.
So where did that leave us? Basically, after Tzvi’s fifth phone call with the au pair agency, they said the decision is up to the discretion of the people checking you into the ship, and in their experience, au pairs usually have trouble getting on the ship, because that’s usually when they check your passport. They said that if she makes it on the ship, then she should be fine. So we can get there and have someone who is nice and clueless, or we could have a stickler that says “well, I see an expired J-1 and this ship goes to Honduras.“ Either way it’s paid for, so we’ll try! I’m not so hopeful, but what can you do.
TLDR: we may not have Inbar with us on our cruise vacation.
2. Babi died.
A little more than a month ago Babi (my grandmother) died. My father has been planning for this for years. It feels like Babi has gotten sick before almost every vacation, and several times he has expected to have to cancel. Well, sadly, it finally happened, and now he can’t go on the cruise because he has to stay home and daven. (For those who don’t know, Jews say the “mourner’s kaddish” (a prayer) for their parents for 11 months following death. Kaddish needs to be said three times a day with a “minyan” of 10 men.) Also, I guess he didn’t feel right about going on a cruise vacation while still in the first thirty days of mourning (I guess that’s valid). I proposed a girls’ trip (Tzvi included), but my mom didn’t go for it. So, Lisa and Sheldon were out.
3. The Kaplans.
I really thought Sherry would come, but alas, she cannot. And there isn’t much more to say than that.
4. If that wasn’t enough, cancellations.
The Friday morning before the cruise I opened my phone to 47 emails from Royal Caribbean saying every single thing we had booked on the ship was cancelled. Shore excursions, shows, dining reservations, all of it. Tzvi had spent hours pre-booking every second of this cruise, planning every meal and show, and now it was all gone. I had to call Royal Caribbean, which took a while. First someone told us that the ship changed the order of the ports of call and therefore that cancelled everything. Obviously we knew that was wrong because there’s no way it would cancel everything, and because the ports didn’t change. Finally we got in touch with someone who was able to tell me he didn’t know why it happened. He said he was customer support and that he would look into it and call me back. It was refreshing to hear that because he actually seemed to know what he was talking about. Eventually he called back and said that even though everything was booked under Stephanie’s account, for some reason Sherry was the primary person on each reservation, so when she cancelled her cruise, every reservation cancelled as well. He apologized and told us what while he couldn’t rebook us, he would give us a $75 credit per person. It was so frustrating. We managed to rebook our dinning reservations and shore excursions, but we couldn’t book any of the shows because it was all “sold out.” When we get on the ship new spots will open up, but obviously its ideal to have things booked in advance. We’ll survive. But still frustrating.
What’s next?
Disney World. Day 3. Around the World and Up to Space.
Today was the largest pro-Israel Jewish gathering in Jewish history.
We were in EPCOT.
We woke up this morning and made it out by 9:20. We arrived at EPCT and parked so close that there was no tram for us, which actually worked out better because folding up the stroller we rented is an endeavor (it’s the Double Bob, which for regular use seems like a nightmare, but is perfect for two kids at Disney – Tzvi curses every time he has to lift it in and out of the car).
This morning Avery had an interview, which left me in charge of Lightning Lane purchasing. At 7am I booked our first LL of the day, Remi’s Ratatouille Adventure for the adults and Frozen for the kids. Yes, you read that right, I booked Frozen for the kids, and only the kids. So, our first stop of the day was Guest Services to ask them to switch me to Frozen so at least one adult would be riding with my children. The man was very nice and said he would just get me a LL for Frozen, and not take me off Ratatouille. Good start.
Then it started to rain.
We made it to Norway and I took the kids on Frozen while Tzvi and Inbar got on line to meet Anna and Elsa. Hallie enjoyed it, I think Madeleine was still scared. When we got out it was pouring, so we ran over to Tzvi and Inbar and met Anna and Elsa! I think the kids were starstruck. Madeleine had a whole list of things she wanted to ask Elsa but when she got there she could barely speak. She did tell Elsa she had the same dress as her though.
From there it was a game of how to get out of the rain. We finally gave in and (mom) bought ponchos from the China pavilion (ironically, made in China). That helped. The problem was there was just dead time because we couldn’t really go anywhere. We ended up in Germany where the kids did some coloring. One of the German workers said she loved my Chanukah backpack. Can always count on the Germans. Then it was time for lunch at Space 220.
Space 220 is a relatively new restaurant near Mission Space, themed like you are in space. You take an elevator ride to Space, which was pretty cool. It took about a minute, but in reality I’m not sure we actually went anywhere because from the outside it didn’t look like the building was more than one story. Once you are “up” in space there are huge windows (ginormous screens) looking out into space. The girls enjoyed seeing different spaceships flying around and even a space dog. The food was pretty good. I had fried cauliflower and then a pad thai with tofu that was delicious. Tzvi got the salmon and said it was one of the few times where he regretted his order (it’s usually my dad). [Tzvi: the salmon was good, but it was just one of those meals where you look around and everyone else’s plate looks so much better.] It was a nice experience (they do a good job of making the space fully immersive), and now that I’ve done it, I don’t need to do it again.
When we got out, the rain had stopped! Our feet were soaked so we stopped into Creations to buy some new socks. Then it was off to the Land! We did Soarin’ and Living with the Land, always a fan favorite. [Tzvi: Fan = Steph. Living with the Land is nap time. While they all rode Soarin’, Madeleine and I walked around The Land and bought water bottles. The cashier gave Madeleine a Mickey Mouse sticker, but Madeleine asked if she had any Minnie Mouse. When the woman said no Madeleine asked the cashier, “Next time can you buy Minnie Mouse?”]
We did Nemo, and then the Journey of Water, which was a Moana walk through with different water activities. The girls loved it. Then we rode, and met, Figment. He was oddly large with a tiny head. Then it was time for the best ride of the Resort, Guardians of the Galaxy. There are no words other than “it’s the best.” We got Disco Inferno (IYKYK) and I was so happy they hadn’t changed the music over to Christmas music yet. My parents had never been on it and had no idea what to expect, so that was fun to see.
Then we hit Test Track, and finally started making our way to France for Ratatouille. My parents, Inbar, Avery and Gabs did it first, and then Tzvi, Hallie and I went. In the interim, the girls got ice cream from France. Tzvi tried to order this toasted brioche ice cream sandwich he had seen on Instagram. First they said the allergy was no problem, but only after we had paid did a different worker come out to say they make peanut butter ice cream sandwiches on the same press and there was no way he could have it. He was pretty disappointed.
Dinner tonight was in Mexico (because, where else, really). Dinner was delicious. We started with chips and guac and then I had some fried Masa with beans and who knows what else. [Tzvi: Nothing else. Steph barely even had the dish. It was called Huarache Vegetariano and had fried corn masa topped with beans, grilled queso fresco, nopales (which is like cactus) and pea tendrils served with a side of salsa verde. Lisa and I also added Mahi, and it was absolutely delicious. Steph basically just had the fried corn cake and some beans.]. Our server was great. When we asked him if the chocolate dessert was good, he told us he didn’t know because he’s allergic to chocolate and then taught us all about his allergy. He even used visual aids, showing us photos of a rash he breaks out in if he eats it, which was fun for the doctors but not the rest of us. We also got to hear about his motorcycle accident and hip replacement. He was a fantastic server though. Anyway, for dessert we got the 100 year anniversary dessert which was a chocolate pyramid with tres leches ice cream and churros underneath. Well done.
Inbar, Madeleine and I ran out just in time for the fireworks, but everyone else missed it because they had to pee and evidently move very slowly. The show was Epcot Forever, which was after Illuminations but before Harmonius. They got rid of Harmonius because everyone hated it, but I think a new show is debuting next year.
After that we began our walk out, but not without stopping for one more shopping trip at Creations. Inbar asked if we’ll see the same stuff tomorrow at World of Disney. I said yes, but it doesn’t count unless you’ve seen the same merchandise at least 3 times.
Great Day.
Disney World. Day 2. A Borscht Belt Jungle Cruise.
Monday. The one with the Jewish Skipper.
Good morning princesses!
At least that’s what we heard at 8am when our two Fairy Godmothers arrived. Normally I would book the Bibbidy Bobbidi Boutique, but since Covid the one in Disney Springs closed and it’s impossible to get a reservation for the one in Magic Kingdom. Instead, we opted for one of the services that come to you! It was two young women dressed as fairy godmothers and they basically spent 45 minutes pampering the girls. It was the cutest thing and the girls really enjoyed it. We had let each girl decide in advance which princess they wanted to be. Madeleine chose Elsa and Hallie chose Sleeping Beauty, but the Sleeping Beauty costume never arrived and Hallie decided she just wanted to wear a black tutu. Then they each picked out the unicorn hairstyles, so they ended up being unicorn princesses.
We made our way out around 915, and headed to the Magic Kingdom! Today was going to have to be strategized, as we had to leave the park by 6pm because there was an evening holiday party. Over the past several years, these night time holiday parties have grown in popularity. They basically enable Disney to kick everyone out of the park by a certain time to be able to let in a whole bunch of new guests at $160 a ticket, for an evening. I’m sure it’s fun, but I’m not there yet. Thankfully, Avery is here, so we put him in charge of bookings.
We headed inside, took some castle photos, and made our way to our first ride. Avery, Gabriella, and Inbar went to Peter Pan. Tzvi and I rope dropped that last December, so I’m good for the next decade or so. The rest of us opted for , the Jingle Cruise (normally Jungle Cruise, but they theme it X-mas from November to January). For those who don’t know, Jungle Cruise is a slow moving river boat ride through a fake jungle river. The “skippers” that drive the boats are usually comedians and they narrate the whole ride in a humorous way. For Jingle Cruise, all of the jokes are Christmas themed. Anyway, getting on line my mom spotted a Skipper wearing a kippah. I went over to him to ask him about it and he started telling us that last year, amidst all the Christmas hats another cast member made him a Jungle Cruise kippah. Also, he said that per Disney guidelines, they’re required to have at least one multi-cultural joke in each cruise, so he always did one Chanukah joke, but last year he decided to flip that and do a cruise that’s fully Chanukah themed. He said most of his feedback has been very positive. He took us off the line and commandeered a boat to do his Chanukah version of the cruise for us. It was so nice. Very 1960s, Borscht Belt humor. When we got off we took a photo with him. Thanks a lot Skipper Joey from Philadelphia! Keep up the good work!
From there we headed to Pirates, except Madeleine was too scared so Tzvi stayed off with her and somehow by the time we got off Pirates Madeleine had a new Mickey Mouse light-up bubble wand. Then we did Big Thunder, which Hallie loved. I love that she enjoys coasters now.
We stopped for lunch (salmon for me, a fish sandwich for Tzvi) and then did Haunted Mansion. It was Hallie’s first time and she was a little scared but ultimately loved it. As we walked out of Haunted Mansion it started to rain, so that was pleasant. Like everyone else, we headed over to Small World where there was a long, but covered, line. Madeleine loved it. We got some Mickey Ice Cream Bars, then went to Philharmagic, which was great, especially the addition of Coco.
Then it was time for Tron. It’s always so fun going on new rides. I definitely saw the movie, but really have no clue what the whole thing is about, nor do I think most of the people there. Tzvi and I got the front row, and thankfully fit in the seats (there’s drama about that ride – you can google it, but basically you need to be a certain size to fit in the seats). The ride was insane. Well done. Tzvi screamed the entire time and was ready to collapse when he got off.
We hit Winnie the Pooh, the Carousel, and Little Mermaid. Then Avery and Gabs and my parents left (Avery had a med school zoom thing to get to). We got a Mickey Pretzel, did Dumbo, Goofy’s Barnstomer, Buzz Lightyear, and then capped the day off with the People Mover. I’d say we did pretty well considering we had to leave the park at 6. We couldn’t do the Mine Train because of the rain, and I would have liked to have done Space Mountain and the Railroad, but I guess you have to leave something for next time.
Before exiting the park I got my standard popcorn candy mix from the confectionary, and then it was time to go. Except it took forever because we had to wait for the monorail, and then take the tram. This is why people stay on property.
We drove over to Disney Springs and had dinner at Raglan Road, a fan (Kaplan) favorite. The girls were so exhausted, but the Irish dancing kept them alert. We ate some irish food, but really you come here for the (A) Irish Soda Bread and Guinness reduction and (B) Bread Pudding. We ended the day with a stop at World of Disney (one of many I’m sure) where the girls both bought Stitch stuffies.
Good day.
Disney World. Day 1. And so it begins.
Hello from Orlando!
I should address the elephant in the room. Is it weird to be in Disney when the whole Jewish world is grieving? Yes. Was this trip booked almost a year ago? Also yes. Will we miss a historic march on Tuesday? I certainly hope so. Am Yisrael Chai.
Now let’s begin.
As some of you may know, I grew up going to Disney annually, staying at our timeshare at the Sheraton Vistana Resort in Orlando. Ever since Tzvi came into my life, we have taken additional trips, staying at other hotels. Well, I have returned to my roots. We are spending this week at Vistana, with us in one unit and my parents and Avery and Gabriella in another. Austin and Rachel aren’t here, which is sad.
Our flight was at 12pm today, which meant we didn’t have to leave the house until 10am. Thank God we didn’t have to wake up super early, because after last night’s rager (read: Jesselson engagement party), it wouldn’t have happened. After Tzvi’s usual panicked sweep through the house, we were out by 10:15. We ordered two Ubers, one XL and one regular, because usually the XL doesn’t fit all of us and all of our many bags. Well, when the XL got here the driver said no problem and that he could fit everyone and everything. The XL driver told the other Uber driver that we would give him some cash and pay the cancellation fee, which he seemed okay with. The XL driver told us to get $10 cash, which we did, but then when we gave it to the other driver he wasn’t happy. It was like no one understood what anyone was saying.
Check in was a breeze. We are Mosaic so we get infinite bags with a 70 lb weight limit each. We took advantage. For some reason Hallie didn’t get pre-check (we think her Global Entry renewal just didn’t kick in yet), so she went with Inbar on the Even More Speed line while the rest of us when through Precheck. If by speed they meant take a half hour, they nailed it. The rest of us got some coffee, snacks, and headed to the gate. They made it to us before boarding.
Of course boarding announcements always bring out the best in people. Another flight to San Juan starts announcing Group A, and a whole bunch of people on our flight get up, try to board, and our crew asks them why they are there and to sit down. Then they got all angry yelling “You called group A!” People just need to listen. I have no patience. Anyway, they started boarding us and we got on with our Mosaic level, right behind a family who had a young daughter named Madeleine.
The flight was uneventful, but very bumpy. Flying time was under 2.5 hours. I love flying here. We walked the long walk in the new terminal, no longer getting to say that the Orlando tram is the “first ride of the trip.” We got two Ubers (this time we took both) and headed to Vistana!
Check in was in the “Lakes VIP Area” except it didn’t feel very VIP. They made us shlep all of our luggage inside, only to make us shlep it back out so they could bring us to our room on a shuttle. While we were checking in, a woman (she must have been 70) with blue eyeshadow and huge fake eyelashes, came over and started talking to us about how much luggage we had and how she just couldn’t believe it! It was weird.
Usually when we do Vistana trips we do a Publix shopping to buy food for the week. This time we opted for Instacart, and Avery got the whole order before we even arrived. While I usually enjoy filling up two carts at Publix, there was just no time, and this was way easier.
The rooms in Vistana are two bedroom apartment type rooms. It’s a great setup. A master bedroom with a bathroom, a bedroom with two queens and its own bathroom, a kitchen, living room, and a dining room table set for 6. It’s our first time staying at Vistana with me and Tzvi in the master bedroom. When I was a senior in high school and came with friends for winter break (yes, my senior winter break trip was to Disney and I have zero regrets), I was in the master, but not since then! No more living room couches for us! The girls are sharing the second bedroom with Inbar. The couch does open in the living room though if we needed to fit more people! I’m telling you, it may not be a Four Seasons, but I was able to unpack everything we brought. That’s a win. [Tzvi: It’s definitely not a Four Seasons.]
We settled in, the girls bathed, and we headed out for dinner. We rented a car from the Turo app, a luxurious seven passenger 2021 Chrysler Town and Country. It was delivered to our hotel and waiting for us when we got there.
Now, normally we would have a Disney Springs dinner, but we opted to check out the Orlando Kosher scene at Kosher Grill. [Tzvi: When we visit “Orlando” I like to stay within the 25,000 well manicured and family friendly acres of Disney World. Kosher Grill is in real central Florida, in a strip mall with six shuttered stores with paper over the window and six gun shops within a 1 mile radius.]
The restaurant is comprised of two big rooms. The first was pretty full, and our table was in the second, which was entirely empty. Always love a room to ourselves. The food was a mix of Israeli and American. Large Jewish communities can support multiple kosher restaurants with different cuisines – Israeli restaurants, a hamburger shop, a chicken place, a Chinese restaurant, a sushi bar, etc. But when you get to smaller communities, like Orlando, there’s just kosher food, which is usually a mix of American and Israeli meat food. That was okay, because some of us were really in the mood for schwarma, except when we sat down they told us they ran out of shawarma.
The food was delicious. I really thought I’d get sick from it, but so far so good. We started with a few appetizers – hummus, felafel, fried cauliflower and some weird eggplant thing. Tzvi and I shared two dishes – a burger with pulled beef on it, and a makluba, which was basically a mixture of rice, schnitzel, mushrooms, caramelized onions, sweet chili and garlic pesto sauce. It was actually delicious. For dessert Hallie ordered chocolate cake, which we all shared. It was okay.
We got back to Vistana and realized we had no toothbrush for Madeleine. Tzvi said he was going to Walgreens and my mother started rattling off a shopping list that consisted of mustard, cottage cheese and some pots and pans. He came back with a toothbrush and a can of cold brew for himself for tomorrow morning.
The girls never went to sleep. Madeleine kept Hallie up and Hallie was upset. I think they fell asleep around ten, which will be great for tomorrow when they have an 8am princess makeover.
We watched the Jets lose, and went to bed.
Good first day.
Road Trip. Days 7 and 8. I don't Even Like Crayons Anymore.
We actually got up at 8 today, which was late for us. Hallie said we slept in because it was Shabbos.
We got dressed and went down to the buffet. We had to wait a half hour, so we played red light-green light outside but then Hallie got very upset because we didn’t want to play by her rules and then went and sat by herself pouting. At one point during breakfast Madeleine was being very annoying and made me spill coffee on myself. It was a bad scene.
From breakfast we went to the pool, which didn’t open until 11am. It’s a fantastic pool. They have several lifeguards, zero entry, water sprays, a splash pad, and two big water slides. We got great seats and spent 6 hours there. Tzvi left at 12 and got a massage at the Spa, and I got one later at 3pm. The Spa is massive – two floors – and has a nice quiet room with cocoa and muffins and chocolates. My massage was a lomi lomi massage, which is a type of Hawaiian massage. It was very nice and relaxing, but it wasn’t like a deep massage. I don’t feel like my muscles got worked on. More like my body was rubbed down. And it was very oily. They leave you towels at the end to wipe down because you’re basically soaking in oil.
Madeleine spent practically the entire day in the water. She made a friend named Julia, but they just kept calling each other “friend.” Madeleine asked if she wanted to come over to her house. Julia said yes, and then Madeleine came to tell us she’s having a playdate. It’s just so great that you can be 3 years old and go up to someone and say want to be friends? If you do that as an adult people think you’re creepy.
Hallie went on the water slide more times than I can count. At first she was scared, but once she went, we couldn’t get her to stop. I really think she went on it 40 times.
We got veggies and humus and chips and guac, but we didn’t eat a real lunch. When Madeleine finally got out of the pool she was so exhausted she just fell asleep on Tzvi’s lap. Eventually we got her up and headed back to the main building.
I forgot to mention yesterday they had a ‘guess-how-many’ tin of Jolly Ranchers in the lobby. Today they had Kisses. It’s kind of annoying – they won’t tell you the answer to the previous day because they reuse the same tin. So we didn’t win yesterday, and we don’t know how close we were.
We got ready for dinner and went to Trevi 5, an Italian place in the hotel. They put us in a side room, which was weird, and sunny. We got pizza and pasta. The kids got pizza and pasta. Service was slow, but there were Hershey Kisses in a bowl at the entrance, so the kids just kept taking them and eating them. We skipped dessert because nothing appealed to us and the kids were loaded up on Kisses. Don’t worry, we had dessert later.
After dinner we went to the kids area by the pool again. We played some ping pong and Madeleine played on the playground. As soon as Shabbos ended, we went to the smores making activity. I knew about this in advance and had called to ask if they were vegetarian marshmallows. They weren’t, so we brought our own, which was great, because we ended up burning some and if we’d have used their marshmallows we would’ve run out.
Then the girls played glow golf, which is like glow in the dark light up mini golf. It was cute. Madeleine insisted on participating, but she didn’t really want to do it correctly. She had a great time going around and dropping her ball in every hole though.
We went back to the room, put the kids to bed and ordered room service dessert. We had a chocolate cake, an apple crumble, and a Kahlua and cream. All delicious.
Good day.
Sunday we woke up and did some packing, then headed down for our third and final breakfast at the Circular. This time there was no wait. It was the same breakfast, all good and nothing new to report, but the woman behind me ordered a Diet Pepsi. Hallie asked if we could get Pepsi and I said no. When she asked why, I tried to explain it was because normal people don’t drink soda for breakfast.
After breakfast we finished packing and headed out. We were on the road by 1030. The kids thought we were just heading home, but we had planned to make a stop in Easton, PA, at the Crayola Experience. Once we were on the road we asked the kids if we should make another stop before going home. Lackluster response. When we told them we were going to Crayola, they started complaining that they just wanted to watch their tablets and drive home. “I don’t even use crayons anymore,” Hallie said.
I actually thought the drive was fun. A lot of it was very scenic – windy and hilly roads, houses, Amish people, farms, and antique shops.
We made it to Easton around noon and started going through the Crayola Experience. Back in my day, it was the Crayola Factory and there was probably more of a factory tour element to it, but it’s been converted to an “experience” and they have a few of them around the country. Like Turkey Hill, this “experience” was kind of like a museum/activity center. It’s very cute. They had crayon melting spin art, melt a crayon into a race car and a ring, make your own puzzle, painting, name your own crayon, and an indoor jungle gym. There was a show where they have the actual machines they use to make crayons, and they make crayons while you’re watching. It was cool, but you can’t get that close to it. We were there almost 2 and a half hours and probably could’ve spent even longer there.
We bought a huge box of crayons and then headed out because everyone was hungry. Easton is a lovely little town. We went across the street to the Easton Public Market, a great food hall with a lot of options. We got pizza for the kids at a place called Scratch, because it would be a crime for them to go a day without pizza, and I had one of the best dishes of my life, a vegetarian ramen from a place called Mister Lee’s Noodles. [Tzvi: Someone call the New York Times. Tomorrow’s headline: “White Lady Discovers Asian Food.”] It was delicious and loaded with veggies and egg and tofu. Tzvi had a tomato ramen that had fried eggplant and mozzarella. We also got cookies and a chocolate croissant from a bakery called Modern Crumb, as well as some delicious coffees.
We got back in the car around 330. I was driving home. The ride wasn’t bad, but we hit a lot of traffic getting on the Verrazano. It was supposed to take 2 and a half hours, but ended up taking a little over 3. We spent the last hour and a half having a Taylor Swift singalong, so that made it enjoyable. Finally we were home.
Great trip.
Road Trip. Days 5 and 6. ♪♪ Hershey: The Great American Chocolate Bar ♪♪
Thursday we got up and had breakfast once again at the grab and go place, except this time the line was longer. We had hard boiled eggs for a million dollars and the kids had cereal. Who’s even hungry anymore?
Our first stop of the day was the Turkey Hill Experience. They call it “experience” because it’s not a factory, it’s more of a museum. You learn about making ice cream and there are cute play things along the way. Madeleine enjoyed milking the pretend cows. They have all of the Turkey Hill Iced Teas for sampling. They weren’t great. [Tzvi: I liked the lemonade.] They also have a tasting room where you can taste as much as you want.
We started the walk-through but stopped mid-way for our 11:15 make-your-own ice cream class. We had to pay extra for this one. Basically they bring you into a classroom where they teach you about the flavoring process. I should mention once again the tour was full of Jews. Anyway, they give you a cup of ice cream, probably a sweet cream kind of flavor. Then in front of you are 10 or so different flavor extracts including coffee, maple, lemon, cotton candy, etc. You can try all of them and then decide what to put in your ice cream. Then you go to the wall of “Inclusions,” which are mix-ins, and take whichever you want. So basically it’s a very expensive make your own Hewlee situation. I succumbed to my lack of willpower and just got all the mix-ins (except for chocolate covered coffee beans because I forgot about them and I still regret it). Tzvi made a more normal flavor which was maple coffee with waffle cone. The kids obviously went overboard. After we were done and stuffed with our own ice cream we went to the upstairs tasting room for more ice cream. I tasted a graham cracker flavor which had chocolate covered marshmallows. It was delicious. Tzvi had cookies and cream and they actually opened up a new tub for him which was nice. When we were done we visited the gift shop and purchased bowls that will likely collect dust. Overall, a good stop.
From there we drove to the Cherry Crest Farm! Yep, it was a farm day for us. There was so much to do there. We started with a feed the animals situation where everyone but me fed goats and sheep. They were cute, and gross. Madeleine had the best time. We did a wagon ride where the driver pointed out how they raise broilers to be sent to Purdue. I thought of all the broilers we eat on shabbat (not from this farm). Poor chickens. Tzvi bought fresh roasted corn that Hallie took from him. We saw pig races, yep, three of them, one even involving pig swimming! There was a huge bouncy thing that Madeleine was on for a half hour and there was a big slide that Hallie did over and over. Also, lots of Jews. It was a great stop and we didn’t even get to everything. I will say though, it wasn’t so hot, and that made it tolerable. If it would have been hot I think I would have died there.
We didn’t have a real lunch. I had brought sandwiches that I made that morning, but by 5pm people were hungry and cranky. We drove back to Lancaster (the closest city near the Farm/Turkey Hill and about a 40 minute drive from Hershey) for dinner at a restaurant called Luca. It was a pizza/pasta place. We had delicious fried squash blossoms that didn’t have cheese, which is rare. We had three pizzas (one margherita, one spicy tomato pie with hot honey and one white pie with zucchini) and two pastas, all of which were delicious. Madeleine was exhausted and cranky. Tzvi had a drink made with gin that had been fat-washed in olive oil, whatever that means, and had a dash of olive oil in it. [Tzvi: fat-washing is a process whereby you mix a spirit with a fat, chill it, then skim off the fat. What you’re left with is a spirit that has a different texture, usually softer. This was delicious.]
We came back and got the girls to bed. Then Tzvi and I went out for a drink at the Iberian Bar in the lobby. I asked the waitress for the least offensive chocolate cocktail and she recommended the Signature Hershey Kiss Martini. It was a clear drink with chocolate around the rim and a Hershey kiss in the middle. It actually tasted like chocolate. It wasn’t like an amazing drink, but it did taste like chocolate and I had to try it. Tzvi had our signature Kahlua, Baileys, and cream. Always a winner.
Friday we got up and went to the Circular for breakfast, our first buffet breakfast at Hershey. The buffet is fine - the pastries aren’t great, they’re kind of like the mass produced pastries you typically get on a buffet. There was a very good omelet station though – they par cook the veggies, which is great. There was also a good pecan sticky bun. Our waitress was ridiculously nice, and she’s been working here for ten years. I don’t know how someone can be that nice, especially after dealing with annoying tourists for so many years. She was so friendly it was strange. We told them it was Tzvi’s birthday so they brought him a little chocolate thing with a candle.
After breakfast we left the hotel and went to the Hershey Story Museum. It’s a great museum and the tickets were included in our hotel stay. We spent about an hour walking around and learning about Milton Hershey and the history of the company. We learned a bunch of interesting things, like the fact that Hershey started out making caramels before he got into chocolates; he sold the caramel business for $1 million so he could buy chocolate making equipment. Before Hershey, chocolate was expensive and more of a luxury. His goal was to make chocolates accessible to everyone. We also learned that he had purchased the Reese’s company from Harry Reese in the 1960s. Hershey was friendly with Reese, who originally worked at the Hershey dairy farm, but saw what Hershey was doing and figured he could do it too. There was also a cute scavenger hunt for the kids, but at the end they just got a sticker, which was surprising because you’d think the prize would be chocolate. The man giving out the scavenger hunt sheets at the entrance to the museum was a kind older man. That seems like it would be a good job for my dad when he retires.
We also learned about Hershey’s personal life. When he was 41 he married 26 year old Catherine. They were married for 17 years before Catherine died of an “unknown disease” (according to the museum). They had no children. The internet says she died of syphilis, and that Hershey had a couple of illegitimate children that he refused to acknowledge. I guess that doesn’t really go well with the sweet love story.
After the museum we went to Chocolate World. Madeleine fell asleep in the stroller and slept through lunch. Inbar and I shared a Reese’s peanut butter cupcake. It was delicious.
Then we all went for the Make Your Own Chocolate Bar Experience. You start by putting on an apron and hairnet, which is kind of silly because then you go into a room where you “design” your bar on a computer, and then watch (through Plexiglas) your bar being made by machines. It was still very cool – you get to choose the chocolate bar base, the add-ins (chocolate chips, pretzels, etc.) and sprinkles, and then watch as it goes through the machines being filled, topped, cooled and then packaged (you also get to design your own package on another computer) – but the hairnet was just unnecessary.
From there we headed to the Great Chocolate Expedition, which is a 4D experience. It was very cute. It was basically a theater with screens on all walls and it shows you on a train, visiting different candy worlds. The kids loved it. Then we went on the free chocolate factory ride, which is always a lot of fun. Then we went shopping and bought lots of chocolate. We were there for three and a half hours.
From there we went to the outlets where we did some shopping. The girls went crazy at Janie and Jack, and then Tzvi started picking out hats and the next thing I knew we were leaving with holiday outfits for the girls that included a blue beret for Madeleine and a straw hat for Hallie (which is really like a beach vacation hat but she keeps tipping it and saying ‘howdy’).
Finally we went back to the hotel, showered and headed to dinner. Tonight’s dinner is at the Circular, which is the same place we had breakfast, but for dinner they take away the buffet and it’s a nice restaurant.
We sat down for dinner at 630, ordered and got drinks. That was the point where I found out that the prescription that Hallie needed was ready at the CVS 10 minutes away from the hotel and I needed to go get it before Shabbos started. Tzvi was all upset that I was going to miss the entire dinner, but what can you do. [Tzvi: Steph was gone for over a half hour, during which time Madeleine cried that she wanted mommy and needed to be taken outside, twice, and we received an amuse bouche. At one point the waiter looked at our table and just looked confused. I asked about the food and his response was, ‘I was just wondering that myself.’ Then I mentioned we were still waiting for the bread course, and it turned out he’d forgotten to put that in. Steph came back shortly after that and everything seemed to move okay from there.]
Tzvi had a cream of onion soup and I had a Caesar salad. I had a really good salmon and Tzvi had halibut. For dessert we got a chocolate tower and warm soufflé. It was actually a delicious meal.
After dinner we all walked around and went down to where the pool and kids club are. We played some ping pong and cornhole for a while, and then went back to the room where everyone passed out.
Good day.