Hooray for Hollywood!....Literally!

Boo hooo, it's over already??

I know. That trip went way too fast!

Glad you and Claire got some park time that morning! I love that shirt you were wearing. I saw it on the ships but I didn't care for the colour but loved it still.

I love that shirt. I wear it all the time

Sounded like a rough journey home but you made it, you didn't kill Skip and you're safe and sound.

Yeah, those last few hours were hard and I had a lot of not so nice thoughts.

Tell Skip, next time you go back, it will be with a friend.

I'm all for that!

Hope you're feeling a little better by now and your ankle is healing.

I am doing a lot better now. But I do think my ankle is never going to be normal like it was again. It still has a small lump on the side.

Oh gosh, that sounds like an exhausting trip home and then Skips' comments.....grrrrrr.....I bet your own bed felt wonderful that night!!!

grrr is absolutely right!

Wow - so exhausting! But I guess that is the way when you travel with family!

Yep! They require a lot of work. Claire is pretty good to travel with alone.
 
Final Thoughts

We had our ups and downs and it was a totally different trip and vibe than when Claire and I go alone, but I am glad he did come with us. I do know that cruising would be a better option for us as a family. He can go off and do what he wants more easily, yet not too far away that he would totally be lost. Plus most everything is included on a cruise, so he wouldn’t be having a fit over the price of food, etc.

I know I did some major complaining at times, but we had a lot of fun. I would love to vacation with my husband again and as a family…..but I need a while to recuperate from that. LOL! He’s just not as travel savvy and Claire is not perfect, but she’s usually pretty good. But she has her stubborn moments as well, believe me. She gets it from both of us.

If I had a choice, I would have stayed longer and had some complete rest days in between. In my original plans, the Universal day was going to be just a little time at DL and mainly resting or checking out Disney Springs. I am glad we went to Universal though and I would love to go back again.

The Hollywood day was so much fun. Again, if we had stayed longer, I would have probably not gone to the park that night and just rested up. I am not opposed to doing another tour like that in the future.

Claire loved Disneyland and wants to go back. She prefers Maxpass over fastpass WDW style and I have to agree.

We were happy with the Fairfield Inn. I would pick Disneyland Hotel any day over it, but for the price, it was good and was basically the same exact distance from the parks as DL Hotel.

Food wise, we didn’t have many fabulous meals as I was working with one who is very picky and one who is cheap! LOL! But we survived and ate more than enough.

Currently I don’t have any more vacations planned this year. We really lucked out with getting the Disneyland one just a month and a half after our Jan/ Feb cruise. So I can’t complain there either.

We have something planned for next summer and we are pretty excited for that, but I need to start saving up and maybe I can fit another small trip in before that!

Thanks for reading!
 
Great report! We are headed to LA next month for my son's water polo tournament and turning around to go back again in August with Adventures by Disney so all your info was very useful!

I love your sense and humor and tell it like it is style! Many of your comments had me laughing out loud. Hoping you put another trip together so we can enjoy another report.
 


Great report! We are headed to LA next month for my son's water polo tournament and turning around to go back again in August with Adventures by Disney so all your info was very useful!

OOOH! I would love to do Adventures by Disney!

I love your sense and humor and tell it like it is style! Many of your comments had me laughing out loud. Hoping you put another trip together so we can enjoy another report.

Thanks
I do have my recent report about our January cruise too if you haven't read that one. (We put the DYS in Functional).

Our next planned trip is a year away! I hope I can sneak something in before that.
 
Great trip report! I really enjoyed all your pictures and you have a great sense of humor! I have a question about the Lyft or Uber that you took to Universal from Disneyland? Just wondering what time of day you left and if it was during the week and how long it took to get there? Thanks!
 
Great trip report! I really enjoyed all your pictures and you have a great sense of humor! I have a question about the Lyft or Uber that you took to Universal from Disneyland? Just wondering what time of day you left and if it was during the week and how long it took to get there? Thanks!

It was during the week. I want to say we left around 10:15ish and it was just under an hour. I really didn't pay attention to the time.
 


I always live reading your cruise trip reports! Great to see your take on my hometown! So many great details, these are handy when I have guests come to visit. Can't wait for your next trip!
 
I always live reading your cruise trip reports! Great to see your take on my hometown! So many great details, these are handy when I have guests come to visit. Can't wait for your next trip!
Thanks for reading!
I can't wait for my next one too. Currently that is not till June of next year, but hopefully I can sneak in something before then. I might possibly have a work trip to Universal in Jan.
 
We arrived at Monsters Inc now.



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I think the line was about 40 minutes, but we waited as we knew this was probably our best chance and time to ride and include Skip in it.



We had a good time and all enjoyed it. I have to admit, the first time I rode this with Cass, I knew NOTHING about Monsters Inc. Since then, my family has seen the 2nd one and really enjoyed it. I have only seen parts of the first one, but Claire has seen it a few times. Since this ride is based on the first movie, I am still not 100% sure on everything, but it made a lot more sense this time around.



While in the park, I had a friend keep messaging me to get some caramel toffee thing. I thought she was saying churro and though I am not big on those flavors, I thought it might be good with a churro. She was directing me where it was and I kept telling her I don’t see a churro place.



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Then I finally realized it wasn’t a churro, but a candy that she said was divine! Nope! I am not much of a toffee fan at all. I can eat a few things, but for the most part….gag! And I do eat caramel but for the most part only on apples or on its own. I am super picky on which candies have caramel in them that I will eat.



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My friend was disappointed I didn’t try it, but I just had no desire to spend money on something I probably wouldn’t like.



We ran into Clarabelle.



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We were all tired now and decided to walk Skip back to the hotel and take a break. I think he had been dropped off at the Esplanade so he wasn’t 100% sure on how to get to Disneyland Hotel.



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We pointed out things as we walked through and told him there were a lot of food choices here.



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I told him this is where I planned to get food for dinner for me.



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And back to our home.



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And then we headed to our room. They both had been in there, but this was my first time seeing our room. I took pics quickly…and I have no clue what Claire is doing. Hahahaha.



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I took a really bad video of the lighted headboard piece.






I actually took several over the course of our short stay because every time I would take one, Skip would talk really loudly in the background. I swear he was doing it on purpose.



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early232 by Jenseib, on Flickr



Claire just graduated 8th grade a few weeks ago. I got her a new set of her own matching luggage and now she can’t wait to go on vacation to use it. Hahaha. She keeps telling me to plan one….well we have one planned for a year from now….and you sort of need money to plan a trip. She has been spoiled by taking a cruise the last 2 summers and as much as I want to, I don’t think it is going to work out for this summer.



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And the view out the window…which I got terrible pictures of.



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Did you get Claire her own set of Samantha Brown Luggage? If so, what color. You and I both have the aqua blue ombré. I see you also have yellow and I recently got the koi orange. I also bought the blush pink for my daughter and she was so excited to have luggage like mine for our cruise and trip to Europe last summer. Love that luggage!
 
Did you get Claire her own set of Samantha Brown Luggage? If so, what color. You and I both have the aqua blue ombré. I see you also have yellow and I recently got the koi orange. I also bought the blush pink for my daughter and she was so excited to have luggage like mine for our cruise and trip to Europe last summer. Love that luggage!

We have several different extra pieces now. The yellow carry on and then a teal medium size one and I also have a maroon full size in tweed.
But when Claire graduated 8th grade this past May I got her her own set of Samantha Brown hard sided luggage (full size and carry on with tote bag) in a dusty blue color. She loves it and I actually debated keeping it for myself because it is so nice. LOL
 
We have several different extra pieces now. The yellow carry on and then a teal medium size one and I also have a maroon full size in tweed.
But when Claire graduated 8th grade this past May I got her her own set of Samantha Brown hard sided luggage (full size and carry on with tote bag) in a dusty blue color. She loves it and I actually debated keeping it for myself because it is so nice. LOL
Her luggage is almost as addictive as Disney Cruises. That hard side set is really pretty too.
 
Are you watching HSN for her TSV? So glad I got it three years ago with the other tote. :)


I did watch off and on. I didn't like the current offer at all. And though the change to the bag is nice I think they look too fat. I am not sure I could get that in an overhead. My current bag sometimes doesn't slide in easily if it is too full in the front part.

I looked at the crocco backpack as I thought it was good in theory, but that is too bulky too. I think they made it too big.
 
I did watch off and on. I didn't like the current offer at all. And though the change to the bag is nice I think they look too fat. I am not sure I could get that in an overhead. My current bag sometimes doesn't slide in easily if it is too full in the front part.

I looked at the crocco backpack as I thought it was good in theory, but that is too bulky too. I think they made it too big.
I was very happy that I purchased the sets that I did in the past. My daughter and I did order the backpacks. The peacock for me and the rose for her. (She still had a little Christmas money left over :) ) I hope they are a good size for us and good for our travels and not too bulky as you said.
 
I was very happy that I purchased the sets that I did in the past. My daughter and I did order the backpacks. The peacock for me and the rose for her. (She still had a little Christmas money left over :) ) I hope they are a good size for us and good for our travels and not too bulky as you said.


Let me know how you like them. I got the other backpack she had a while back and I love it and it's not bulky but I think that is because of the material too. Claire thinks the one I got is ugly though. LOL
 
Let me know how you like them. I got the other backpack she had a while back and I love it and it's not bulky but I think that is because of the material too. Claire thinks the one I got is ugly though. LOL
I am hoping they are here by Friday. Will let you know. Good thing you did not buy the backpack for Claire! :)
 
Great TR! Thanks for sharing! I’m living vicariously by reading TRs, since I miss traveling so much!
 

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