First Stop......LA!
Disneyland
With the "precious things"...passports, tickets, Teddy & Raffie securely locked in the hotel safe in was on to breakfast at "the diner" on the way to Disneyland...pancakes, sausages, bacon, coffee......serious fuel for a big day ahead! The hotel is about ten minutes walk away from Disneyland. Once fed, we were ready to attack! Two days of rides,long lines, fast food & people everywhere!!! It was pretty incredible though....no rubbish anywhere, no pushing & shoving in the lines for rides(some of which you could stand in for up to an hour??!!! A true test of patience & perseverence!) and still enjoyable!?
The first day was marathon ...in the gates at approx 9,30 am...crawled out around 10 pm..........shuffled back to the hotel to collapse...and get ready to back & do it all again. Day one was the Disneyland side, day two.....Californian Adventure side ...more rides.....less princess' & "kid stuff" as Josie said. She was itching to get on the HUGE rollercoaster aka 'California Screaming'. Josie & Vin rode it a few times.....Till & I watched & went on the dolphin carousel....brave aren't we??! We did face our fear on a smaller rollercoaster, that was similiar to the Wild Mouse at Luna Park.....enough thrill for us! By the end of the day we had all had enough...shuffled out around 6pm...starting to feel like the holiday Olympics!!
Day three.....Universal studios......rides, shows....fun! Day four ......a tour of downtown LA......Venice Beach, Santa Monica Blvd ( no swimming..it was freezing!), Rodeo Drive. Hollywood Boulevard....keep you hands on your wallets!!?? LA is a crazy place and HUGE! Took an hour by car to get from Anaheim to downtown. Stuck our hands & feet in all the famous peoples hand/footprints outside the chinese theatre. People walking around dressed up as movie characters. If you took their photo you needed to pay them. Some looked really good & some....well...shabby is the kindest way I can say it! I guess everyone has to make a living somehow?! Our tour guide was a guy called Johnny, originally from the Bronx....I am not making this up! He had his patter down & did not stop talking....& droppping names whenever he could. By the end we all wished he would STOP!!! Still, we got to see a bit in one day, more than if we had tried to do it ourselves. Favourite place was Venice Beach....lots of crazy people to look at, street performers & buskers. Could have spent the whole day there!!!
Up at 4am the next day to get the plane to Canada.....by this time we were all looking forward to a good sleep!!!!
The first day was marathon ...in the gates at approx 9,30 am...crawled out around 10 pm..........shuffled back to the hotel to collapse...and get ready to back & do it all again. Day one was the Disneyland side, day two.....Californian Adventure side ...more rides.....less princess' & "kid stuff" as Josie said. She was itching to get on the HUGE rollercoaster aka 'California Screaming'. Josie & Vin rode it a few times.....Till & I watched & went on the dolphin carousel....brave aren't we??! We did face our fear on a smaller rollercoaster, that was similiar to the Wild Mouse at Luna Park.....enough thrill for us! By the end of the day we had all had enough...shuffled out around 6pm...starting to feel like the holiday Olympics!!
Day three.....Universal studios......rides, shows....fun! Day four ......a tour of downtown LA......Venice Beach, Santa Monica Blvd ( no swimming..it was freezing!), Rodeo Drive. Hollywood Boulevard....keep you hands on your wallets!!?? LA is a crazy place and HUGE! Took an hour by car to get from Anaheim to downtown. Stuck our hands & feet in all the famous peoples hand/footprints outside the chinese theatre. People walking around dressed up as movie characters. If you took their photo you needed to pay them. Some looked really good & some....well...shabby is the kindest way I can say it! I guess everyone has to make a living somehow?! Our tour guide was a guy called Johnny, originally from the Bronx....I am not making this up! He had his patter down & did not stop talking....& droppping names whenever he could. By the end we all wished he would STOP!!! Still, we got to see a bit in one day, more than if we had tried to do it ourselves. Favourite place was Venice Beach....lots of crazy people to look at, street performers & buskers. Could have spent the whole day there!!!
Up at 4am the next day to get the plane to Canada.....by this time we were all looking forward to a good sleep!!!!