The last time we used this summation we were in Luxembourg on one of the final few days of our 2019 road trip as the kids had tremendous fun in the Parc Municipal pirate themed water play area, and today there was also a pirate ship involved, plus a lot, lot more at the Playmobil FunPark in Zirndorf, close to Fürth on the outskirts of Nuremberg where we stayed last night.
Today was the last day of our holiday with Jana, Petr and family before they made the drive home to the Czech Republic late afternoon, so we decided on an early start to maximize the time at the Playmobil FunPark. Celebrating 20 years since first opening on part of the site of the Playmobil factory in Zirndorf, the FunPark is a life-sized kingdom of Playmobil where kids (and adults) can play on the toys that they would normally play with at home. One of the highlights has to be the Pirate Ship that includes climbing activities and a large tunnel slide for exiting the ship. Normally there would be free-flow for the kids on and off the ship, but due to COVID-19 restrictions access was controlled to ensure numbers onboard were low enough to maintain social distancing. This was the only major COVID-19 restriction in place and with other smaller ships and boats to explore the kids didn’t seem to mind the limited time on the big boat.
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| Petr and Matty on the paddle raft. |
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| Amber and Paloma on the drag raft. |
One of the biggest challenges over the last week with Forrest, Matty and Paloma all having their own opinions and at times being quite stubborn in deciding what to do. Today was no different with Matty and his family moving ahead before our kids wanted to move on, but after a diversion to play on the triple slide slope we finally managed to get Forrest and Paloma to catch-up with the reminder that it was their last chance to play with Matty.
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Splashing in the Tree House and Dinosaur area. |
As alluded to above there are a number of water play features, some incorporating the Playmobil themes, others designed more for the Playmobil toys to played with in the water and the brand new for 2020 Mermaid Kingdom was where we spent the majority of our time. The area included many different water-based activities including pumps and locks that both the boys spent what seemed hours playing with (often trying to boss around natives and other foreign tourists who probably understood very little of what they were saying) and beach areas with sand that Paloma loved to play in.
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Kids playing together in Mermaid Kingdom. |
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The boys making sand dams. |
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Paloma enjoying the wet sand. |
With the clock ticking and a 4+ hour drive ahead of them it was soon time for Petr to gather his troops so we said our fond farewells before we explored a few other areas of the park. We then decided it was time to get the kids some food whilst mama and daddy enjoyed a nice cold alcohol-free beer. Paloma had been asking for pasta for a few days and she enjoyed her very simple pasta with cheese that also came with a Playmobil figure as part of the deal. Unfortunately, Forrest didn’t heed to my suggestion not to try to make his figure at the table and both the arms of his firefighter ended up lost in the decking under our table. I'm all for having play figures with disabilities, but a firefighter without arms is probably not one of the most realistic!
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Paloma loves her slides, this time in the Farm. |
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But she did have time to give the bull a wash! |
After food the kids got to decide where to visit again with Paloma picking Pirates for the slide and Forrest the Tree House Dinosaur area. With 7pm fast approaching we made our way towards the shop so the little ones could spend some of their holiday money from the grandparents and despite a little panic that we’d not have time to get in the shop due to the entrance queue before it closed, we now have Playmobil to add into the boot of the car Tetris with all our other bags and boxes when we next move on.
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Paloma was scared of the Troll, so nominated daddy instead! |
We managed to keep the kids awake during the 20-minute drive back to our hotel thanks to the Perform Fairytale Forest Album, and having spent all day playing and running around their bedtime wasn’t too bad (although it still wasn’t great)! With the kids eating earlier at Playmobil it was a takeaway for Amber and myself tonight and we have just finished a very good Pad Thai from the restaurant opposite the hotel!
Tomorrow we have the relatively short drive to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, so plan to have a little explore of Fürth in the morning before setting off. We have also been firming up our plans for returning to the UK and will now be staying in Aachen very close to the Belgium border on Friday night before making a non-stop journey in accordance with the advice from the UK Government from Germany to the Eurotunnel terminal in Calais on Saturday. We should be able to complete all the Eurotunnel formalities staying within the car and this should ensure that we are quarantine-free on arrival back in the UK (although of course we will be extra vigilant and take precautions once home).
Blogged by Matt.
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