For the first time in like ever I'm going to Disneyland a Nov 14 TR... updated 8/17

[petals]

How magical to get off the ride just as the fireworks started. You did good with the Nemo submarines. I love that ride, but hate the slow moving lines.

Corinna

It was great. We were kind of stuck on the ride as the fireworks started so had a nice seat on a boat for the start of them as well. The wait time had been 40-50 minutes for Nemo all day so was happy when I saw the wait time was 20 minutes.

 

[petals]

Day 7:
Sunday, 23rd of November.

So this morning I woke up feeling worse than I had all week. Spent half an hour coughing up a lung but I wasn’t about to let that stop our fun, as today we were heading to the outlets. We stopped at CVS to pick up something else to try get rid of the cold I had before heading over to a nearby hotel to wait for the bus to the Citadel outlets. While we were waiting I took a few pictures of the pretty flowers beside us:

I wandered into their lobby to take pictures of their Christmas decorations:

I also spotted some Disney:

When we got to the outlets we used this dude as our marker for where we would find the bus at the end of the day:

We did a lot of shopping. I got lots of new clothes and finally got a new coat since I couldn’t find one in Ireland! Of course we also found the Disney Outlets so had to make a stop in there:

They had a sale on their plushies:

And OMG the store was insane. It was like rats to the last bit of food, complete and utter chaos and a massive mess but hey it was a Disney store and there was Olaf:

Anna and Elsa:

I found a little Kevin:

Best of all… remember way back on the first Disney day I posted about a little 2014 Duffy that was 30 dollars in the park… Yeah well I found the same Duffy hiding on the top shelf of the furthest corner of the shop for half the price:

Of course I also got some plushies, it would have been rude not to while they were on sale. I had a problem though because I couldn’t decide between some of them and then Momma wanted one so I may have ended up getting three:

After the Disney store we browsed about for another while before it was time to head back to the bus. The outlets claimed to have the world’s tallest Christmas tree, I had a feeling the ones in Walt Disney World were taller though or at least the same height. I read this was 40ft but I thought the Disney trees were 45ft high?!:

I loved the Palm trees done up in ribbons and lights for Christmas as well:

We had booked the bus back for 6 and felt we could have done with more time there, we were going to ask if we could get a later bus but the outlets were very busy that day and the crowds were making me feel worse so we decided to head back to the hotel for an early night. When we got back we had a rest before heading to the shops nearby to get food. We took a look in a few of the little souvenir shops where I saw this t-shirt:

Didn’t get it but thought it was cute, I did get these though:

Momma wanted to go to CVS again for snacks for the next day, this was at their checkouts

We went to Subway and got a meal deal each to bring back to the hotel for dinner:

Then we had a much needed early night.

 

[KatMark]

LOVED your pictures as you left the park (sorry...I skipped It's a Small World pictures).

I'm glad you got to the outlets, and that' quite a deal on the plushes...I couldn't pass that up either. I'm guessing because it was the holidays people were stocking up on presents for people at the outlets.

I'm sorry you were feeling even worse. I hope that early night might have made the next day at least a little better.

 

[petals]

LOVED your pictures as you left the park (sorry...I skipped It's a Small World pictures).

Had to get many night time pictures. That castle and the tree is to pretty at night time.

I'm glad you got to the outlets, and that' quite a deal on the plushes...I couldn't pass that up either. I'm guessing because it was the holidays people were stocking up on presents for people at the outlets.

We got many good deals in the outlets that day. I got two pairs of converse for 42 dollars one pair were only 12.50. Compared to Ireland like where they cost about 70 dollars lol! The place was busy but Disney store was the worse. It was a weekend as well and never thought about the fact Christmas was a month ish away that time as well!

I'm sorry you were feeling even worse. I hope that early night might have made the next day at least a little better.

I think the mornings were the worse but that day I was bad as trying different tablets for it and they hadn't kicked in yet I think.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I am sorry that you felt even worse that day. Looks like you had a successful shopping day though.

Corinna

 

[petals]

I am sorry that you felt even worse that day. Looks like you had a successful shopping day though.

Corinna

Yeah we always have to have at least one outlet day because the stuff is soo much cheaper in America than over here and we shop til we drop

 

[petals]

Day 8, part 1:
Monday, 24th of November.

Today we had a L.A. Movie Star homes and Warner Brothers Studios tour booked with the Anaheim tour company so we got up early and headed out to wait for the guide. Anyone that doesn’t want spoilers for the tour should probably look away now as I have many pictures to share!

Anyway at 8.30 our guide arrived. His name was Rick and the bus was so over packed it was unreal… there was Momma and myself and nobody else on the tour so we pretty much landed ourselves a private tour for the day! As we drove in L.A. the guide again explained everything as we went and pointed out every building and said what movie it was in, he also spent a bit of time asking us what our interests were and of course I went Disney, Disney, Disney.

So as we got to L.A. he told us we were a little bit ahead of schedule so he drove into this little graveyard to show us. It was a bit bizarre really because it was the middle of L.A. all the roads were packed with traffic and the streets full of people and then he drove in there and it was this quiet, calm place in the middle of the hustle and bustle. He pointed out some of the stars graves and crypts. The one that is a different colour with the red flowers is apparently where Marilyn Monroe was buried.

Anyway after that brief drive through the graveyard we headed back into traffic and this car caught my eye. I thought all the bears in the back window were cute. It seemed to be as if they collected a bear in each State they visited:

Next stop was on Rodeo Drive. The guide parked up and we got out for some pictures and you know you’re in the posh part of town when they have chandeliers for street lights:

Rick did say that these were just for the Christmas season but still…

We wandered along taking a few more pics as we went:

As we were going down the steps I stopped to check out the prices in a café out of interest. Tea was 5 dollars, expensive but not as crazy as I was expecting. Next we went over to the Beverly Wilshire Hotel which was used in the movie Pretty Woman:

After a bathroom break we wandered up the far side of Rodeo drive for some window shopping:

Once we got back in the van we headed off to see the movie star homes. He showed us loads but the ones these were the ones that stood out:

The gates to Michael Jacksons home where he died:

A former home of Mr. Walt Disney:

Tim Burton’s mailbox:

Bill Cosby’s house had a little match of greenery with various statues in it like so:

This one was David Beckham’s house:

This was funny the guide pointed it out and told us it was David Beckham’s house and Momma goes, he needs to get his roof fixed it looks a bit shabby! We all loled at that. Next was Christina Aguilera’s house, which used to be owned by Sharon and Ozzy Osborne was used in the TV series they filmed for MTV:

Next we headed to Greystone Manor, a massive mansion used in several movies including the following:

Neither Momma or myself were particularly interested until I read further down that list that it was used in the Witches of Eastwick movie then I was like woo let’s go explore. The musical society I was a member of had just announced a few days before that, that the next show they were going to do was going to be The Witches of Eastwick so I was all interested now. We wandered around the grounds for a bit taking in the mansion and views. We couldn’t go inside but we nosied in the windows and the guide told us about some of the rooms we were looking in at:

In this area he showed us the house actually has a bowling alley underneath it and everything:

There was a few other people hanging around the grounds that day as well and the guide told us it was a bride and groom and wedding planners as people often hire the mansion out for wedding receptions.

 

[petals]

Day 8, part 2:

Once we left Greystone Manor we travelled back along Sunset Boulevard towards our next stop:

Next it was time for lunch. We were eating in Carney’s Rail Car which is apparently Sheldon from Big Bang Theory’s favourite restaurant. It was kind of cool. It was an old train car that is made into a take away place.

I was amused by the names on their drink sizes:

We got our food which was super yum. I got a cheese burger and chips:

Momma got a chicken, apple sausage and sweet potato fries:

Once we were all fed we headed off towards our next stop again the guide pointed out anything in a movie along the way. This house was used in the X Men and Charlie’s Angels movies:

Next we had a short stop at the Walk of Fame. It was only a 30 minute stop so if it had been our first time there I think it would have been disappointing as we wouldn’t have seen all the stars we wanted the previous day but this time we went to Disney Soda Fountain for the Pin Trader Delight Sundae’s and got Bo Peep and Quasimodo pins and then had a little time left to walk the opposite way we had the previous day we’d been there.

I thought this was funny. No matter where you go in the world there always seems to be a McDonald’s even on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame:

Momma wanted to stop and get pictures with Elvis:

We also found these cute cookie storage containers they even had Mickey and Minnie Mouse:

Next we headed to the Warner Brothers Studio because it was time for our studio tour:

The guide brought us in and got our tickets and then we just waited until it was time for our tour to start:

The tour started with a movie showing the history of the Warner Brothers Studios before we went out to our little carriages and were brought to a forest they use for any movie requiring forest or wood scenes. There was a few buildings there as well like this one which was used as the paintball shed in Big Bang Theory:

Next we drove to one of their permanent town sets which has been used in movies like the Gremlins and in shows like Gilmore Girls, 2 broke girls, pretty little liars… I think these were the favourite shows of the girl that was showing us around because it was pretty much all she talked about:

This church was used in Witches of Eastwick and a bazillion other movies:

Next we made a quick stop at the Gellor House, the home of Monica and Ross from friends:

This was the staircase used in the scene where Ross was going to prom with Rachel:

 

[dolphingirl47]

That is amazing that you ended up with a private tour. It looks like you covered a lot of ground. Yay for getting the pin trader sundae. I love the Christmas decorations in your photos.

Corinna

 

[petals]

That is amazing that you ended up with a private tour. It looks like you covered a lot of ground. Yay for getting the pin trader sundae. I love the Christmas decorations in your photos.

Corinna

It was pretty cool. They offer private tours on their website but I'd imagine they would cost alot more than the group tour and I was a little surprised they didn't cancel when there was only the two of us but it was awesome cos it meant he was able to bring us to see things that mattered to us like showing Walt Disney's former house stuff like that.

 

[petals]

Day 8, part 3:

So once we left the Gellor House the guide drove us around to a few more of the permanent buildings. As we drove we saw them putting together the set for a new movie but we weren’t allowed take pictures of that in case there was any spoilers. We did see these also though:

Then this, the café from 2 Broke Girls:

This is apparently the front of the building to Sheldon and Leonard’s apartment in Big Bang Theory although the apartment isn’t really in the building:

Next we headed to a museum area that had Harry Potter and Batman props. First I went to look at all the Harry Potter props:

Death eater and Bellatrix costumes:

Sorting hat:

There was a lady there so you could be sorted into Hogwarts Houses. Momma got Slytherin, which she wasn’t happy about and I loled at. I got Hufflepuff. The girl explained it was Cedric Diggory’s house and means a lot of stuff like you’re a great friend etc. We watched a few others get sorted and I may have figured out how it works but I won’t ruin it for anyone else that may be going to do the tour. We wandered around looking at the rest of the props and costumes then for a while:

Information and drawings about some of the characters wands:

Horcruxes:

After that we took a bathroom break and while Momma was still in the bathroom I took a quick look around the Batman props and costumes before we were called back to continue our tour:

Next we moved to the front lot where she showed us some of the stages where they build sets and we passed some extras for 2 Broke Girls that were in to film wandering around. She told us this stage was where they filmed Friends all the time so it’s now called “The Friends stage”

These were apparently some of the Oscars on the stage for the Academy awards:

Next we went to visit Central Perk and it was all decorated for Christmas as well:

We got to sit on the Friends couch before the guide brought us to see all the super cool Batman cars:

Driving to the next stage we passed by where the Ellen show films:

That was funny because as we were driving by the front doors open and everyone gasped obviously hoping for a glimpse of Ellen but it was just her producer who told us Ellen wouldn’t be there for another hour!

 

[dolphingirl47]

That tour looks very interesting. I would have loved all the Harry Potter stuff and as a big The Big Bang Theory fan, I would have loved to see the apartment building as well.

Corinna

 

[petals]

That tour looks very interesting. I would have loved all the Harry Potter stuff and as a big The Big Bang Theory fan, I would have loved to see the apartment building as well.

Corinna

We both loved this tour from start to finish. We weren't sure about it when we booked it first because the Anaheim tour company seemed more expensive than anyone else and everything seemed to be "photo stop" but the whole thing was brill.

I think if we ever went back I would definately do another tour with them. The have one called "the Walt tour" that visits sites like Griffith Park and stuff that meant something in Walt Disney's life.

 

[jenseib]

I would love to do a tour like this. Super fun and so interesting.

 

[petals]

I would love to do a tour like this. Super fun and so interesting.

It was great. I wasn't sure about it when we booked it but so glad we did.

 

[petals]

Day 8, part 4:

So we were driving past Ellen’s studio:

After that we visited the set for Two and a Half Men but we weren’t allowed take pictures there. The guide explained to us all how the film the sitcom shows and what the audience would be doing etc during the recording. After that we headed back towards the main building again:

We browsed their shop for a while before we left. They had a section for Harry Potter items:

I wanted this but they only had them in tiny sizes:

Momma got these for my nephew:

He thought they were hilarious especially the ones that tasted like booger and vomit lol! They also had sections for most of the more popular shows like Friends, Big Bang Theory etc:

We made our purchases and as part of our tour with the Anaheim Tour company we got 20% off whatever we bought. Once we were finished shopping we headed for the Hollywood hills again. This was another reason that this tour caught my eye, they said they can take you closer to the Hollywood sign than anyone else. So up the hill we went and well they weren’t lying:

There was a small photo stop area up near the top of a hill that we stopped at for photos. The guide took photos for us and we stood admiring the view and enjoying the sun for a while. The guide explained to us that at the bottom of the hill was a dog park where people could walk their dogs. We watched the dogs playing for a while thinking of my own two at home and how much they’d love it!

We did a bit of plane spotting as well:

This dude was at the stop as well:

I asked the guide what he was about and he said it’s something that California has to encourage children to be environmentally friendly or something of the sort?! Once we had taken all the pictures we wanted or rather I had taken all the pictures I wanted as Momma has no interest in pictures we headed back to Downtown L.A. and again the guide pointed out many buildings used in movies and radio stations etc along the way:

At one point, knowing I was a big Disney fan, the guide said in about 3 minutes you’re going to want to have your camera ready because we’re about to pass the Disney Studios. A few minutes later I spy the hat through the trees and get snap happy:

Once back in L.A. the guide took us pass the Walt Disney Concert Hall again:

Then there was two hotels we were meant to visit as part of our tour the Biltmore and the Bonaventure Hotel. The guide gave us the option of just heading back to Anaheim and skipping the hotels if we wanted. Momma was all for that because she wasn’t interested in either of them but I thought we should go simply because we’d paid for the tour and they were included. We decided to just stop at one though and picked the Biltmore… The first musical I was in with the local musical society was Guys and Dolls and there’s a song with the first line that goes “The Biltmore hotel wants a grand..” that was all that was going through my head when we picked that one. The guide said it was where the Academy Awards used to be filmed though and he was glad we picked that one as he had something else in there he wanted to show me. So we stopped off and woah the ceilings in that place were just amazing:

I don’t think photos capture the beauty of them well enough. Our guide then led us down a side corridor to show me this picture from the 1937 Academy awards and point out Mr. Disney in it:

This one was across from it:

He then showed us the room that the Academy Awards used to be held in and we were a little shocked by how small it was. We could only take pics of one side of the room though as someone was having a photoshoot for something in the other side of it:

We took a look in a few more side corridors on our way towards the exit:

On the way back to Anaheim Momma kept asking me if there was anywhere in Downtown Disney that I would like to go to eat and attempting to stop hints to the guide that maybe he should drop us there. It didn’t really work out for her though at about 6.30 he dropped us back to the hotel.

We were to tired to walk far for food so we got some pizza slices in the nearby take away places and brought them back to the room with us:

After that we had an early night. The tour was great all day and I was super impressed by how the guide almost went out of the way here and there to point out things related to Walt Disney because he knew I was a fan. Now though we had only two more days left in Disney before we had to go home and I for one, sick or not, wanted to make the most of it so an early night was much needed.

 

[petals]

Day 9, part 1:
Tuesday, 25th of November.

Today we slept in until 7am lol, got up and headed out by 9am! This week according to touring plans the parks would be busier as Thanksgiving Day would be that weekend and they weren’t lying there was even a crowd at the pedestrian crossing which I didn’t take as a good sign. As we were walking in I noticed cast members wandering around as well heading into work I presumed. I pointed this out to Momma as in WDW you never seem to see cast members outside of their jobs but in Disneyland they were wandering around outside and in different areas like on Buena Vista Street Momma stopped a guy in a Carsland uniform to ask him a question one night. I know they obviously have to get to work somehow but it was just something I noticed as I went along. Anyway our first stop this morning was in Disneyland and it was so crowded and the lines were moving so slowly it took about 30 minutes to get in through the gates alone!

Once in I spotted a photopass photographer and we stopped for a photoshoot. We got a few magic shots as well including one dancing with this guy:

Photoshoot done we headed towards the tours area. I had the Walk in Walt’s Footsteps tour book but Walt Disney’s apartment was down for refurbishment. When I booked it I was told that it should be finished by the time my tour was on so I went ahead and booked it but the week before I left it still wasn’t finished and I wasn’t really interested in much else on the tour for the price of it so I wanted to check before I got up early and wasted the next morning if the apartment was going to be on the tour. They said it still wasn’t ready and that the Dream Suite would be shown instead. I said I wasn’t interested and that I’d booked to see the apartment so I cancelled the tour and they gave me my money back. Once that was sorted Momma had a 20% voucher that was burning a hole in her pocket so we headed back out of the park and to World of Disney. Since you had to use the vouchers before noon or something we decided to split up to get what we both wanted quicker. Of course I took pictures around the place as I was browsing as well:

Love Duffy:

And Eeyore:

I thought it was cool that you could own your own mini partners statue:

And the artwork around the walls was fabulous:

While I was in this room I was looking at Vinylmation which were close by the check-outs and I overheard an argument the CM’s were having with two customers. The man was getting fairly aggressive whatever they were saying and the CM’s kept telling him if he didn’t stop they were going to have to get security to remove him from the store. Whatever else he said to them I didn’t hear but he was buying several bags of the Disney Tradition ornaments and one of the CM’s said to him you are in hear every week and always buy several bags of these, what are you doing with them selling them on eBay I suppose and quite aggressively back at her he went I have a large family then grabbed his bags and stormed off! It was quite strange really anyway more Disney goodies:

Once I had everything I wanted I paid and went to find Momma. Both of us managed to put a large hole in the last of our dollars and were happy with our purchases. I got a few pins and Vinylmation, a t-shirt, Disney, sweets to take home and another plushie because I didn’t have enough already but really baby Pegasus was to cute to leave behind lookie:

How could you say no to a face like that lol!!! Momma got one of my nephew’s a big hero 6 figurine set:

Big hero 6 wasn’t going to be out in Ireland until the following February and my nephew was 4 in December so we figured he might think it was cool to have the figurines before anyone else. It was quite funny though because we gave him the set for his birthday and two weeks later we were in his house for Christmas and the red Baymax had lost an arm and a wing. I asked him what happened Baymax because it was hard plastic so seemed like it wouldn’t break easy and he told me that he melted in the sun?! Ireland has rain most of the year especially in December so I’m still trying to work that one out lol! Anyway once all our shopping was done Momma went to LABrea Express for breakfast and I went back to the hotel with all the bags. Of course I had to take a few more pictures around the hotel while I was there since it was our second last day:

Bags dropped off I headed back to find Momma taking pictures along the way:

I found Momma and by 12.30 we were headed in here:

And our first stop was to watch the Red Car Trolley News Boys because we only caught the end of the show the first day we were there:

 

[jenseib]

That's Smokey the Bear. He teaches you to prevent forest fires. I think he's kind of faded away now, but when I was a kid everyone knew who he was.

 

[petals]

That's Smokey the Bear. He teaches you to prevent forest fires. I think he's kind of faded away now, but when I was a kid everyone knew who he was.

I've never heard of him. The guide said he was to do with the environment or something.. I just thought he looked cute lol

 

[jenseib]

I've never heard of him. The guide said he was to do with the environment or something.. I just thought he looked cute lol

Sounds like the guide didn't know who he was either. LOL.

http://www.smokeybear.com/