Our First Trip West pt3 About This Page:

[maggiemay]

Monday--Today was really yucky--weatherwise. It was chilly and really rainy. This didn't bother us too much though. You know there is no such thing as a bad day in Disney. It did cause us to buy warmer sweatshirts though. LOL
We spent the whole day doing everything that we missed yesterday. Since the weather is so bad, the park is empty again. Woo-Hoo!!
I did some things by myself, while the girls went off to do "kid things". I went to the Tortilla Tour(was just okay, but the warm tortilla at the end was fantastic). I did the bakery tour too. This was really just so-so. I also went to the wine tour. Unfortunately, since the weather was so bad, the outside portion was closed. Plus I was the only person inside. That was a little weird...having the guide talk directly to me, and ask if I had any questions. Very strange. I wouldn't do them again, but I am glad that I did them once.
I met back up with the girls and we had dinner(fast food), and then headed to Downtown Disney. I would have loved to have spent another night here. It was so much fun. There are so many cool shops, but we weren't prepared to shop(not enough money with us). I absolutely loved that make your own candle and soap shop(can't remember the name). I could have spent all my time in there. We had ice cream, and decided to call it a day.
Tuesday--Today is our Universal Studios Day! This is where downloading those directions came in really handy. It is a long drive to Hollywood from our hotel. (at least an hour) I must say that the Carpool Lane is da bomb! In California, if you have more than one person in your car, you can travel in this far left lane. Apparently, nobody in CA has any friends or relatives because we were the only ones in it most of the time. What a major timesaver! I wish we had that in PA! Anyway, the weather is sunny but cool. Perfect for park hopping, I think. This Universal, compared to Orlando, is very small. We did every ride and saw every show, before 7pm. Some standouts were definitely The Mummy, Terminator, and Jurassic Park. If you do nothing else there, do these!! The Mummy is a walk through, sort of haunted house. I can not say enough times---this is sooooo scary. I came out with tears in my eyes! Jurassic Park is a log flume ride. I didn't want to get wet, so we watched people coming off to see the severity of their wetness. When I saw that it wasnt too bad, we bought the cheap rain ponchos that the gift shop sells(way less than Disney, but with no cool picture). This kept us very dry, and we were in the front row. This ride was awesome! The drop is amazing, and the theme is really cool. Terminator was a show/attraction. I saw it in Orlando, but it was still worth it to go here. Very realistic, entertaining etc! We were going to go to a taping of some new show, but we decided to go to City Walk and shop and eat instead. We had a good time. This was a cool area too. They have a lot of unique shops there. We were exhausted, and had a long drive back, so we called it a night.
Wednesday--We slept late today, and had a big breakfast. Today is our day to Beach it and tour Hollywood. I picked a beach at random and got directions from the front desk. This was a major mistake! We picked Long Beach. It was nice, but not the best. I dropped the girls off on the beach, and went to sightsee at the Queen Mary. She was a really cool ship. I wasn't so enamored with her that I wanted to pay the $25 to tour her though. So, luckily I had brought a book. I kept my cell phone turned on(to wait for the girls call) and sat in the car with my book. It was a beautiful day, and this was a much needed quiet time for me. LOVED IT!
The girls called at lunch time and we had lunch at another fast food place(Jack In The Box) Then we headed to Hollywood. We parked at a mall, did some shopping, and then headed to Graumann's Chinese Theater. We took all the appropriate pictures of stars' handprints, and then went to see the Ripley's museum. That was corny, but we had tons of laughs in there. Then we walked up and down Rodeo Drive(obviously we were just window shopping). Amazingly, it looks exactly like it does on TV. I can't say the same for Hollywood Blvd. That street is dirty, and old looking. That is not to say that we didn't have fun, just that it was not what I expected. We went back to mall and had coffee and dessert. We have to get up early tomorrow to leave, so it is early to bed tonight!
Thursday--So sad!!! We leave today. Up early, showered, had breakfast, and checked out. Our flight is at noon, and I have at least an hour drive to the airport, and I still have to turn in my rental car. We left the hotel before 8am, dropped off the car, and checked our baggage. Now it is not even 10am. Oh well, better early than late right? Our flight home was relatively uneventful, and we arrived home safely. All in all, this was a really great trip. I think that next time, I would like to spend more time in the cities(San Diego, San Francisco etc), and less time in parks. I would love to go back to DD again too.

[Flower and Baloo]

Next time try Venice. It's close to the hollywood area and you can see some 'interesting' individuals there. You might want to try the CBS tour and go to the Farmer's Market shopping center (can't remember the name). They are trying to make the area look better, but a lot of people travel through that area at all times of the day/night.

The diamond lane is DA Bomb!
We use it on every trip and just set the cruise control. It's very nice in the middle of rush hour too!

Come on down to San Diego and see the Zoo and Sea World and San Francisco is beautiful no matter what the weather is.

Glad you had a nice trip!
Angela

[dsnytina]

Thanks for taking the time to share your memories! I loved reading [img]graemlins/read.gif[/img] your report!
Tina
God Bless America [img]graemlins/usa.gif[/img]

[tikibird]

Great report - really enjoyed hearing about the beach and Hollywood!

Thanks for sharing your trip with us! [img]graemlins/love.gif[/img]

[maggiemay]

Thanks everyone for all the encouragement...
I really enjoyed writing all about my trip. Next time, I will take better notes so that I can be really specific.
Definitely "going back to Cali..." to quote some rapper whose name escapes me...LL Cool J?
Anyway, thanks for reading, and looking forward to reading all your posts!

Margaret~