Disney Gals: Goofy's Travels to Chicago

When you go to Germany you don't expect to come home with Goofy! Now when I say Goofy I don't mean a small stuffed Goofy like you would take home from Walt Disney World, I mean a 4 foot tall Goofy.

Here at Goofy Teddy-Paradise - See his friend Pooh?

Let me start at the beginning; we arrived in Frankfurt, Germany and took off for Römer - Frankfurt City Hall Square. Within that square is a store called Teddy-Paradise, which is a wonderful Teddy Bear store this store as one of a kind Teddy Bears, Steiff's (which are carried at the Germany pavilion in Epcot) and many other kinds of toys. As I was eyeing a hand-made Teddy Bear in a antique purse, (yes along with Disney plates, Art Classic pieces, Disney art work, Disney dolls and a few Disney pins I also collect a few teddy bears, yes and this would also be thanks to the Disney Doll and Teddy Bear Weekend), I hear my husband in another room say you need to come here! As I turn the corner I see him standing there in the corner holding a tray in in his hand, the biggest Goofy I have ever seen and the look on my husbands face, it was something to see. My husband said to Volker, the owner of the store, (this was the second time we had been to the store), was Goofy for sale? Now I am looking at him like how in the heck are we going to get Goofy home?? He said yes and that he would be sorry to see him go, but happy he was going to a good home, and I am still looking at him wondering how he is coming home with us.

As my husband is mulling over purchasing Goofy, I purchase a one of kind Teddy Bear in a antique shoe, next thing I see Paul (my husband) is buying Goofy and he is confirming the fact that he will ship him via DHL to our house. Our friend had also purchased some Teddy Bears and he said he would send my bear along with hers over to our hotel that we will be staying at the night before we head back home.

Goofy in our hotel room in Germany

We arrived at our hotel at the Frankfurt airport and the desk clerk said they and a package for each of us, that is good we were expecting one. The next thing we see is the desk agent wheeling out on a luggage carrier about 5 boxes one of them being a little larger then Goofy! OH NO! As our friends are laughing at us, I am getting upset, what the heck are we going to do with him. We take our boxes to our room, Paul's large one and my small one, mine actually had a handle and was a little larger then a women's high heel, I was laughing for once it wasn't me who bought too much! My package would fit in the overhead! Now we are scrambling trying to figure out what to do, we tried to take him to the nearest DHL, they were closed. The next morning we are going to load in the mini van to go to the airport and here came to the test, were to put Goofy, he wouldn't fit in the van with the 5 of us and all our luggage (we had gained another person along the way from and conference we were attending for my work). Across the driveway I see a large van taxi pull up I yelled at Paul to take Goofy and get in the van I would meet him at the airport.

After arriving at the airport we checked our bags and asked were we could check in Goofy, now I am thinking I am going to have to buy a seat for this darn thing. They directed us to the large package counter, who knew! When it was our turn, as luck would have it as Paul was filling out the form the girl noticed Paul had a Chicago Fire Department pen, she told him that she collected pens and did not have one like that, so he handed over to her and the price of shipping Goofy home suddenly went from 250.00 to 100.00, YES! Goofy rolled away on the conveyor belt.

My Teddy Bear in the Shoe and the one in the Antique Purse

We arrived in Chicago and they told us large packages arrived in another area of customs and if it did not arrive in the next 10 minutes they would deliver it, after 10 minutes we started to leave and I hear, beep, beep, beep, dang, hear comes Goofy. Now we have to figure out how to take Goofy the rest of the way home. We carry the box out to the limo and guess what Goofy doesn't fit. We had to take him out of the box, now we have an audience watching us empty this large box. Two women come up to us after we get him out of the box and say"Did you get him at Walt Disney World?" Now lets think we are standing in the International Terminal, nope not Walt Disney World. So we get him in the limo and now I am trying to find somewhere to throw the box away, I don't want to leave it and have the airport call in a strange box someone left, it has our address on it, that is all I need! I finally got someone from the airport to take the box and we were on our way home.

I am happy to say Goofy made all the way to Chicago without a scratch on him and has been happy to be part of our household for over 8 years now (he comes in handy during partys) and a good conversation piece too.