Bringing the crazy to SoCal (pre-trip) August 7-19, 2017

San Diego

In the morning I picked up the rental car while they got ready for the day. The drive to San Diego was fairly uneventful. The highlight of the trip for the kid was our stop at Subway for breakfast. Apparently, breakfast was THAT awesome. She spent the rest of the ride reading an Archie comic book instead of checking out the scenery. In her defence, she is seven. I had to keep reminding myself of that as we saw the mountains and the ocean.

We arrived at our hotel - Best Western Plus Blue Sea - at around noon. Hubby was not impressed. It looked like a dive initially. We quickly learned, that is just the way it is. The inside of the hotel was gorgeous and it was great to have a view of the ocean from our balcony. I also appreciated the heated pool and hot tub located steps from the ocean. We could watch the surfers without having to get chilled to the bone.
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While we waited for our room to be prepared, we headed over to the Wave House so that the kid and I could try surfing in a controlled setting. It was a bit of a fail. The kid lost the bottom half of her bikini but I kept my top on. We had fun and I’m glad I can say that I tried surfing and body boarding. Even if I didn’t go in the ocean to do so.

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Our room was ready when we got back to the hotel. So, we unpacked and walked across the street to Tony Roma’s for a nice steak dinner. Followed by a long dip in the pool/hot tub. And sleep. Glorious sleep!

View from our balcony
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Sea World Day

Our first full day in San Diego was spent at Sea World. We had dinner at Denny’s first and then headed off to see how Sea World compares to Marineland.

There is no comparison. Marineland is laid out so that everything is miles apart. Or so it seems. You have to walk forever to get anywhere. That is not the case in Sea World. And there is a lot more to do in Sea World.
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We saw the One Ocean show with Shamu, watched Cirque de la Mer, got drenched in the Shipwreck Rapids (yes, I have a new pair of pants to prove it). We went on the Wild Arctic ride, Manta! (although I skipped this one thanks to nausea) and the Bayside Skyride. We checked out the penguins, freshwater aquarium, Beluga whales, etc. It was a busy day. We even went on Journey to Atlantis which is just a flume ride. A flume ride with a freakin’ elevator.
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We headed back to the hotel to jump in the ocean and relax in the pool. After hearing that California has no humidity, I was shocked and dismayed to discover that we were visiting during two atypical weeks with high humidity.

After destinking ourselves, we went to the Gaslamp Quarter for dinner and to wander around. I decided to leave the car with a valet located on the road. Luckily, he was legit and we got the car back at the end of the night.

We ended up having a delicious Mexican dinner at Fred’s Mexican Cafe. Our new rule is, we will eat somewhere provided they have other customers at 5pm. We had dessert at the kid’s favourite – Pinkberry – and wandered around the stores. I discovered I love Bettie Page clothes (and I think they love me back). We thoroughly enjoyed checking our Chuck Jones Gallery. If only I had an unlimited art budget.

We then returned to the hotel, packed and got organized for the next day – our trip to the San Diego Zoo and Hollywood.
 

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San Diego Zoo and off to Los Angeles

We spent Tuesday at the San Diego Zoo. It was cool but not much better than the Toronto Zoo. We saw the 4D version of Ice Age (15 minutes but it kept snowing!), took the guided bus tour and took the Skyfari. Sadly, the Skyfari didn't really let us see the animals.

I am really glad that we did the Discovery Tour - an enhanced version of their guided bus tour. I would have liked to try the Backstage pass but there wasn't space for the three of us. The Discovery Tour teamed us up with seven other people and took us on a 60-minute tour of the exhibits we chose. It meant we got to see the Pandas! And a pregnant giraffe. And cheetahs, etc... It was pretty cool. But very, very hot.

We must have brought the humidity with us to Southern California. People kept telling us it was way hotter than normal.

At about 5 pm we left the zoo for Hollywood. We didn't get to our hotel until about 8:30 pm. Partly because my GPS lied and told us to go right instead of left in Los Angeles. Also, because I wasn't paying attention to the gas gauge and ended up begging for gas at Camp Pendleton. Yes, my evil GPS told us where the nearest gas station was and it turned out to be a Marine base. Good thing we had our passports and that the Marines had a sense of humour about this stupid Canadian.

And I got a migraine while driving. Apparently, in Southern California when you drive North on a highway you actually drive North. Several hours of staring at the sun gave me a killer headache. So, when we got to the hotel, Loew's Hollywood Hotel, hubby and the kid ended up going for dinner at Trastevere Ristorante Italiano while I "recuperated".

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Los Angeles - Day One

Hubby and I woke up early on Wednesday. The kid, she slept in.

For breakfast we had "craps" at French Crepe Company. We struggled to get her to realize that Crepe actually rhymes with grapes. However, I must admit, mine tasted a little crappy so....

After breakfast we wandered around the Hollywood and Highland area. Looked at the Walk of Fame, etc... and experienced a bit of Hollyweirdness. It had a lot of similarities to Cliffton Hill. Crummy stores, weird people hitting you up for money and lots of tour guides selling their stuff.
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We did decide to sign up for the Warner Bros. VIP Tour with Starline Tours. It was the same cost as booking it through Warner Bros. but we got transportation. It seemed like a good deal. It wasn't. We waited forever for the bus to pick us up. It wasn't air conditioned. The drivers didn't do anything but hit us up for tips - except for the one time he blasted music and rocked the bus back and forth in time to it. He dropped us off and didn't tell us where to go or anything. Good thing the Warner Bros. tour guides knew that we had no idea where to go. After the tour, our bus driver ended up leaving without a couple of the people in our party of 14. They were a little late coming back from the gift shop so they were out of luck.

The Warner Bros. tour was cool. We didn't see anyone famous but we toured the Mentalist set and saw all sorts of cool things - props from the Harry Potter movies, parking spots for the staff at The Big Bang Theory... It was cool and well worth it!

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After returning to our hotel at Hollywood and Highland we had lunch at Disney's Soda Fountain and prebought tickets to see Brave at El Capitan that night. We went back to the hotel for a nap and then walked back across the street for our 7pm show.
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The movie was awesome. So, was the LIVE preshow. Although the kid was pretty anxious for the movie to start. She kept telling me that she wished they'd stop singing and dancing and just show the movie. Kids.

After the show we wandered around for a bit and then had a late dinner at Mr. Koji's. The hubby loved his sushi. The kid enjoyed her roll and white rice drenched in soy sauce. My shrimp tempura was pretty good but a little soggy.

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Street Food

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View from our room
It was a good day.
 


Hollywood - Day 2

For some bizarre reason, I decided that we should do the Starline Tour Hop On, Hop Off Bus Tour on Thursday. I guess I didn't learn anything from the previous day? Or I really didn't want to drive in Los Angeles?

Either way, we braved the streets of LA in the worst bus(es) ever! But, we did get to see Hollywood and Beverley Hills. We tried to go to Millions of Milkshakes but it was closed. Kitson was disappointing. Most of the time we stayed on the bus but we did walk around parts of Beverly Hills, the Beverly Centre, The Grove/Farmers Market. We also decided to take the kid to the Harry Potter store, Whimsic Alley, which she loved. We had lunch at a random restaurant in Beverly Hills, Pinkberry at the Beverly Centre and cold beverages at the Starbucks in the Barnes and Noble at The Grove. Did I mention it was hot?

We took a bus back to our hotel from Whimsic Alley because it wasn't on the Hop On, Hop Off Bus Tour route and we couldn't find a cab. We made it back in one piece. Oddly, the LA buses, although crowded, were still better than the Starline Tour buses.

We had a late lunch at Johnny Rockets followed by some shopping. We really wanted to see Spiderman at Grauman's Chinese Theatre but it was no longer showing. We weren't interested in any of the other shows so we just wandered around for a bit longer. The kid wanted to see famous people so we (okay, I) told her that the people we saw inside the theatre getting interviewed were famous. They might be. They were there for the Hollywshorts Film Festival. We had dinner at California Pizza before packing and heading to bed.
 
The last day of our California Adventure

On Friday we came home. I finished up packing our suitcases and we headed downstairs for breakfast. We tried to have breakfast at the Hard Rock Cafe. The restaurant opened at 9 a.m. We were there at 8:59 a.m. The hostess was very confused when we walked up to her. In seemed to blow her mind that we wanted to have breakfast. She led us to a table. We were the only patrons. I asked if we could sit in the booth next to the table she was going to sit us at. She refused because there was no one to serve the table. I am not joking when I say the two tables were right next to each other. Since we were already annoyed with her attitude towards us we left.

Yes. We did.

And went upstairs to Johnny Rocket's for essentially the same breakfast at a lower price. We walked around the mall for a little bit and then returned to the hotel so that I could return our rental car. Once that was done, we headed to the lobby to wait for our airport limo to arrive. He arrived promptly at 11 a.m.

I wish I had realized at the beginning of the trip that they were giving away the tastiest lemonade in the lobby. I must have drunk two glasses while we waited for the car. It was so delicious.

And then we were off to LAX. We were quite early for our flight because I had heard that security is a nightmare at LAX. It wasn't that bad. We had quite a few lines that we had to wait through but we finally got settled at our gate. The kid and I wandered around the airport while Hubby read his book at the gate. I must admit that LAX is super boring. There were three stores and a couple of restaurants. Not much to see and do. We were very happy to get on the plane.

Hubby was seated separate from the kid and I. The flight was delayed a little bit while the flight staff rearranged the passengers so that a mother could sit next to her 6-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter. They ended up sitting right in front of us. And yes, all three of them reclined their seats for the entire 5 hour trip. The lady sitting next to me actually volunteered to relocate for the family.

The journey was fairly uneventful although the flight was a little delayed because of a storm in Toronto. We actually got to see lightening from the air. That was pretty cool.

After getting our bags and going through customs we went to wait for our airport limo. It was well past midnight and I was feeling a little cranky. So, I may have called out the woman who was smoking in front of the nonsmoking sign (literally, 2 steps in front of the sign) at the airport limo station. She informed me that she just didn't care. Good thing our car arrived then.

We got home safe and sound. And were we ever happy to be home!
 
The countdown is on! Only 19 more days to go!

Yesterday I cancelled our reservation at the Howard Johnson and booked at the Grand Californian. I was having too much anxiety about how DH was going to react to the hotel. We discussed it and decided to just stay at the same hotel we stayed at before. There won't be two bathrooms but we'll get all those extra park hours.
 


Following along. We're Canadian too coming a week after you also mixing LA and Disney. So nice you're staying on site (but have heard great things about HoJo)...and I would have loved to have booked the Magic Castle as you keep hearing really good things but it was a bit above our budget. (We'll be at Hollywood Orchid or Hollywood Celebrity int he same area). Would love to hear on your Hollywood days too.

Nice that you are returning and can enjoy again!
 
I've been planning like a mad woman! I have figured out our Disneyland plans.

We arrive at noon Monday, August 7. We will arrange an airport limo (that allows us one stop at a grocer) from LAX to Grand Californian. We will spend time at the parks and play the details by ear.

On Tuesday we will also go to the parks but take a nice long mid-day pool break. I expect we'll have lunch at the hotel.

Wednesday will be more of the same - except I have booked the World of Colour Dessert party in the evening.

On Thursday we will enjoy time in the parks and at the pool. We have a 7:40 p.m. Blue Bayou Fantasmic dinner booked. We'll be seeing the second show

On Friday I imagine we will sleep in. Then more parks and pool time.

We'll have breakfast at the hotel on Saturday morning before heading to Hollywood.

We will probably get MaxPass so that we can get the PhotoPass.

Other things that I have to work in include a visit to Trader Sam's and the Cove Bar. I imagine we will also eat at Carnation Cafe and Cafe Orleans at some point. We didn't really enjoy Carthay Circle that much on the last trip. I would have loved to visit Club 31 but failed. Ah well. #futuregoals I think this trip is already shaping up nicely.

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We will be staying in Hollywood for part 2 of our trip - at the Magic Castle Hotel. I expect that we will check in around 1 p.m. on Saturday, August 12. I have kept our schedule fairly loose and have identified a selection of restaurants we may want to try.

On Saturday we will wander around Hollywood and Highland in the afternoon. I suspect we will have lunch at Mel's Drive In. Dinner will probably be at one of the restaurants at the Hollywood Roosevelt. We are going to do the Paramount Pictures After Dark Tour that evening.

On Sunday we have brunch at the Magic Castle Club at 10:30 a.m. In the afternoon I think we will go on the Warners Brothers Tour. DH and I are fans of the Big Bang Theory and the kid loves Fuller House. It sounds like we are more likely to get a tour of the sets on the weekend than on the weekdays - especially since they are filming that week.

On Monday we will visit La Brea Tar Pits and then head to The Grove. I think the family would enjoy Umami burger. We'd also like to check out Necromance and Spitfire Girl. Dinner may be at Musso and Frank Grill.

On Tuesday we'd like to visit the Griffith Observatory and go on the TMZ Celebrity Tour. We booked a groupon for a Haunted Ghost Tour at Hollywood and Vine that evening. It's a walking tour.

The kid is really big into STEM. We'll spend Wednesday at the California Science Centre and the Natural History Museum. That evening we will check out the Yamashiro Night Market and have dinner there.

DH would like to try out The Edison for a meal sometime. They're only open for dinner. He and the kid are into steampunk. I'd also like to take him to Carney's at some time (since Sheldon loves it.) :)

We'll check out around 11 on Thursday morning and take an Uber to Santa Monica for the final portion of our trip.

Do you have any other suggestions? We decided to skip Universal Hollywood since we're passholders at Universal Orlando.

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I looked at Hollywood Orchid and Hollywood Celebrity as well. DH really wanted to visit the Magic Castle Club and that was the only way I could see getting in.

Have you checked out lmtclub.com? I've been able to call in the past and get free memberships. To see if it is worth your time, check out the secret hotels for your dates at lastminutetravel.com. Lmtclub has the same rates but they tell you what hotel you're getting.
 
It harips been a crazy week. I haven't even started packing yet. This week has been shot because we just found out my husband is going to relocate to New Brunswick for about a year. o_O He'll get to come home every few weekends but it has thrown my vacation plans to the side. He'll be leaving two weeks after we come back from Southern California. We haven't told the kid about this yet. We'll share after the trip just in case she takes it poorly. :idea:

And so now back to our Santa Monica plans.

We will be checking out of the Magic Castle on Thursday and heading over to Santa Monica. I booked us a room at The Shore Hotel.
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The plan is to spend Thursday at the beach and pool. We'll also do a little shopping at Third Street Promenade. I imagine we'll also check out the pier. It is likely the next day will be more of the same. Except in the afternoon. Then we're going to head back into town for a tv taping. I was able to get standby tickets for Fuller House. After realizing that we would have to spend the day waiting and hoping to get in (and still likely not get in) I got us guaranteed tickets for a taping of a new Netflix show, Alexa and Katie. Kid is excited because it stars the girl who played Sky in Mighty Med. DH and I are amused that Tiffani Thiessen from Saved By The Bell and 90210 is playing her mom. Now I feel old.

We have to be at the lot by 4 p.m. and it sounds like we won't be done until 9 p.m. I think we'll have dinner at the Pacific Dining Car before our last sleep. Our flight leaves around noon the next day.

Any suggestions from the peanut gallery? :stitch:
 

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