Dar! A Southern California/Disneyland Trip June 2011

[Fairywings]

Hi everyone! Before I start, I just want to say thank you for reading, I hope you enjoy it. Now, this is my very first trip report, so if you have any tips or suggestions I would be grateful if you posted them. Here we go!

Hi, I'm Wings. It's not my real name, but it's my nickname, and not just because it goes with my username, though that is part of it. My trip began on June 3rd, and we ended on June 8th. Most of the trip was going around Southern California, but we took two days to do Disneyland.

The cast of characters:
Me:
DBrother:
DMom:
DDad:

Now, I probably should explain the significance of the title, since it's not really a word. We live in an area where there aren't any sea lions, and I hadn't seen any in real life outside of pictures and that one scene in The Little Mermaid where Scuttle rounds up the animals and attacks the wedding ship. So on our first day when we got to the place where we stopped for the night, there were sea lions there and it was a novelty to see them and hear them barking. We ended up hearing them all night and we didn't really mind. To us, the barking sounder like Dar?, because it sounded more like a question, but sometimes it would be Dar! And so when it got quiet, someone would start barking like a sea lion. Dar? became the catch phrase of the trip.

So, I'll write an update later starting on the first day, and I hope you enjoy.

[LionKingDramaQueen]

I am first, I am first, I am first!!!

[Fairywings]

Originally Posted by LionKingDramaQueen

I am first, I am first, I am first!!!

Lol.

And to all, welcome Widerness Explorers, fairies, pirates, princesses, mermaids, jedis, knights, witches, soldiers, sorcerers, talking animals, genies, superheroes, Lost Boys, monsters, aliens, princes, kings, queens, robots, toys, Muppets, and anyone else I missed.

[Disney~Cutie]

I'm in! I can't wait for more :)

[Fairywings]

Originally Posted by Disney~Cutie

I'm in! I can't wait for more

Good to have you!

[Fairywings]

Next update will come tomorrow.

[MickeyisBeast]

Subscribed (:

[CowboyErin]

Subscribed :D

[Fairywings]

Good to have you with us!

Day One, June Third, Part 1 (Isn't it so exciting?!)

So, I was woken up on Sunday morning at about 5:30 am to the surprise that I had gotten a decent amount of sleep and didn't stay up too long in excitement, though there was a lot of that. I got ready and packed last minute items and headed to the kitchen. We ate french toast sticks for breakfast, and soon after that we were on our way to the airport!

We eventually arrived at the car place, where we parked our car and took the shuttle to the airport. We checked in our suitcases and got through security with ease. Our plane was scheduled to leave at 8 am. When we got to the gate, it was 7ish so we had about an hour to kill before the flight, so I played my DS. The plane pulled up to the gate, and we were soon boarding. I sat in the middle of one row between DDad and DMom, and DBrother sat on the end of another row right across the aisle. In my family, our ears always bother us during takeoffs and landings, so we broke out the Twizzlers, a family tradition for both movies and flights.

Okay, quick riddle here. The flight begins at 8 am, and it ends at 10 am. Yet the flight was four hours. How could it have been four hours?

Answer is wriiten in white: It was a time zone change!

During this flight I amused myself with listening to my iPod, read over DDad's shoulder at his WIRED magazing, read over DMom's shoulder at her book, and looking out the window. We had a stopover, and among the groups that came on was a Rock Band! At least, I'm pretty sure it was a rock band. They all had long hair and were wearing jeans and t-shirts and one of them was carrying a guitar case. I don't know who they were, but it was pretty cool.

So we continued on with the flight and eventually landed in Los Angeles at 10 am California time. We got off the plane and went down to Baggage Claim and spent about ten to fifteen minutes waiting for and getting the suitcases. The we took a shuttle to the place where we got our rental car. It was wonderful weather outside, and the car was very nice. If my memory serves, it was a Chevrolet 300. Finally, we got our stuff in the car and drove off! The journey had begun.

As we were driving, I noticed that the gas prices were very high - shockingly high in fact. DDad said that the gas prices in California were the highest in the nation.

We also drove by lots of oil rigs. At the time I wasn't really sure why, but seeing all the rigs made me sad. Now I think I felt sad because it's probably not very good for the environment and animals probably used to live there and all of that.

But, we were getting closer and closer to our first destination, the place that a lot of people have talked about and wanted to go.......Hollywood!

[Fairywings]

Okay, so, I've been lazy, so it's about timre I updated my TR!

Day One, June Third, Part 2

So we finally made it to Hollywood. DMom had heard about this place called Mel's Diner, so we planned to stop there for lunch. The original place we had planned on parking in was full, so we went around looking for garages, and a few minutes later we found one. Unfortunately, it was valet parking, which DMom wasn't crazy about, but we had to make do.

We got the car parked and headed over to the restaurant. Hollywood was crowded, but we still were able to get over there. Just before we got to the restaurant, DDad took a picture for this group of people so they could all be in the shot. DDad is a bit of a photographer and he does this for people whenever we're on vacation. Then we went inside the restaurant.

It was a sandwich/burger place, and it was pretty good. The milkshakes were apparently supposed to be good, but they were way more expensive than we were willing to pay for. Our meal was great. I had the smoked ham anfd cheese sandwich, DBrother had the "Famous Melburger", DMom had the french dip, and DDad had the cheeseburger.

After lunch we started walking along the sidewalk. We saw several of the stars, including The Muppets, Alan Menken, Burt Reynolds, Cary Grant, and a bunch of others, though I don't remember most of them. We saw the El Capitan theatre, as well as the Disney shop next door which was very cool. We also saw Grahm's Chinese Theater, also very cool. We walked around and saw some cool stuff, and it was very neat, but I don't think I'd go back again.

We didn't see any movie stars (and most likely I wouldn't have cared if I did) but there was a loit of people dressed up in costumes. Apparently these people dress up as characters and hang around, and people can take picture with them for a price. They ranged from good to so horrible looking it's unbelievable.

At one point we walked by a couple of guys dressed up as characters played by Johnny Depp, and I was wearing my Queen shirt. Well, asd I walked by the one dressed as Willy Wonka burst out singing "Mama, I don't wanna die!" It was kinda cool and kinda funny, so I grinned at him and laughed, though we didn't stop.

After a few hours we decided to leave as we'd seen enough and we went back and grabbed our car. Fortunately everything was as we left it, and we drove off, going to visit the Griffith Observatory......

[WDWJonasGirl]

I'm here!! I live in Southern California