2 Big Kids in America: Aussie's take on WDW and DL! (Sept / Oct 2016) Update 9/26 Complete

[harddrive]

Day 12 – Universal Hollywood

So today was our first park day in LA, and because we wanted to end our trip with Disney, it meant that today was our Universal day. We were up nice and early and waiting out the front of the hotel just before 7am to catch our bus. Traffic is insane in LA, and especially in peak hour! It took us about 2 hours to travel to Universal, but luckily our driver kept the ride interesting by pointing out interesting sights and locations along the trip. We even got to see the Hollywood sign!

We arrived at the park around 9:15, just after they had opened.

After taking a couple of pics we made our way straight to Hogsmeade to see Hogwarts, and to ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.

The ride queue was very detailed, especially once you were inside and walking around the halls of Hogwarts. There were also plenty of interactive pictures on the walls too! The ride was fun and had some good technology used in it, but like Escape from Gringotts, we thought it was too overhyped. And Steve (not being a fan of spiders) did not enjoy coming face to face with Aragog and all the other spiders!!

After returning from Hogwarts we toyed with riding Flight of the Hippogriff, but the ride was down, so we decided not to wait for it. We instead made our way down the StarWay to the lower lot to get through the rides down there early in the day before the crowds picked up. We started with The Mummy, which was very similar to the one in Orlando, but still fun. Up next was Transformers 3D. Neither Steve or myself are big fans of rides that rely too heavily on 3D, and although this one was done well, it just wasn’t that memorable for us. Our last ride down here on the lower lot was Jurassic Park. Having ridden this ride at Universal Singapore I was looking forward to it, and it didn’t disappoint. It was a lot of fun and we managed to not get too wet after the last big drop!

After making our way back up the StarWay we decided to jump in line for the Backlot Tour. The line was already about an hour long when we joined, but we didn’t mind the wait. The tour was a lot of fun and very informative. It was cool to be able to drive through all of the backlots and see sets for different movies and shows we enjoy. The only downside of the tour were the King Kong and Fast and Furious sections. Whilst these 2 bits were fun, we didn’t think that they really fitted in with the rest of the tour, it would have been better had they been extended and turned into their own attractions. I guess we will have to wait until we get back to Universal Orlando to experience the full Kong attraction!

Lunch was next on our list as we were both feeling quite hungry! We got our staple food for the trip, burger and chips, and they were actually quite nice. After lunch we hit a few more of the shows and attractions on offer at the park. First up was the Animal Actors show, which was a bit of fun and was great to see how well trained all of the animals were. Next was Despicable Me – Minion Mayhem. It’s a nice family centred attraction, but once again was another 3D ride, which were very quickly growing old for us.

From here we made our way to The Walking Dead attraction. It is very much a huge change of pace to the rest of the rides and attractions at the park! Steve jumped quite a few times as we were walking through it which was amusing to watch There was a group in front of us that spent most of the time screaming whenever someone would get remotely close to them.

After this we had a look in a few of the shops to kill time before seeing the Water World show. It was great to have a chance to sit down inside the amphitheatre! The pre-show entertainment of soaking audience members was great, and luckily we were far enough back that we didn’t get wet! The show itself was quite fun and very high energy. The stunt actors were giving it their all, and there were some impressive stunts and pyrotechnics used throughout the show.

To cool down we each grabbed an ice cream sundae after the show, before checking out the last show in the park, the Special Effects show. This one was once again quite enjoyable and had plenty of humour, also it was inside so Air Conditioning!!!

After the show finished we still had a bit of time before our bus came to take us home, so we went back to Hogsmeade to have a look around and also to see the wand experience at Ollivanders. Steve ended up buying himself a wand after the show, and in the candy store we got some treats for people back home, and Steve got a chocolate frog.

After boarding the bus it was time for another long ride back to our hotel in Anaheim, around 1.5 hours, but it was great to see LA at night. There were so many lights everywhere!

When we made it back to the room we were both exhausted from the day, so we just grabbed some room service for dinner before heading to bed.

 

[harddrive]

Day 13 – Disneyland and Mickey’s Halloween Party

So here we are on the home stretch with the final 3 days of our trip! I want to apologise for the lack of photos over the next few updates. I think both Steve and I were a little over the traveling by this point in our trip and we just got lazy.

We were up early again to head out for our first day at Disneyland and our breakfast reservation at the Plaza Inn. We caught the complimentary shuttle from the hotel again, and it’s nice that it is only a 5 minute drive!

The breakfast was standard Disney buffet food, but still very nice. What made this breakfast memorable were the character interactions. We met Chip and Dale, Captain Hook, Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger, and of course Minnie Mouse. Tigger spent quite a bit of time with us which was nice, and on another pass he even made Steve jump by banging on the glass from outside the restaurant as we were sitting next to a window

After breakfast we finally stopped and got a photo in front of the castle, it’s not the Magic Kingdom castle, but it will do!

Disneyland is so much smaller than Magic Kingdom! Although it does make the park cute and very quaint, you really do notice the crowds a lot more, and you feel as if you are crammed in together.

Our first ride of the day was the Haunted Mansion, and we got to enjoy the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay. It was great walking through the queue for this ride, especially with it all decked out for Halloween! The actual ride overlay was cool and it was great to see Oogie Boogie at the end.

After this we scored a fastpass for Big Thunder Mountain with a return time of right away! After not being able to ride it at Disney World due to refurbishments, it was great to actually get to to ride it! We loved it that much that we jumped in line again straight away!

After this we headed over to Fantasyland and rode a couple of the dark rides that aren’t at Disney World anymore, Snow White’s Scary Adventure and Mr Toad’s Wild Ride. It was great to be able to ride these classic rides. Across our 3 days at Disneyland we decided to skip quite a few of the rides that we had already done in Disney World like Pirates, Tower of Terror and Soarin’ etc., especially if their wait time was over 30 minutes.

We were both feeling a bit peckish by now so we went to the Red Rose Taverne (although it was still called Village Haus when we were there) for lunch. We both had our standard burgers here.

From here we went to the open air theatre to catch Mickey and the Magical Map. I had been waiting to see this show in person and it didn’t disappoint. I loved all of the animations they had on the giant LED screens and also how it could split into multiple levels! Also enjoyed how you got to see some characters you don’t see much at the parks like King Louie.

After the show finished we made our way to It’s a Small World as it was just around the corner. It was nice seeing the outdoor theming of the ride, which is so impressive and visually striking. For Steve the song was still annoying but it was nice to try and pick out all of the Disney characters that have put into this version of the ride.

Once the children stopped singing and staring at us we made our way over to Toon Town and rode Gadget’s Go Coaster and Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin. Both were cute rides, but definitely aimed more at kids.

We made our way back to the hotel after this to have a little rest, and to get ready for Mickey’s Halloween Party!

For this party we both wore the same costumes as last time, but as Anaheim is a little cooler than Orlando we were both much more comfortable!!!

We kicked off the evening with a ride on Space Mountain with the Halloween Ghost Galaxy overlay. It’s still a great ride and the overlay was fantastic, really made a fantastic difference to the ride. We ended up having to wait in line about 40 mins for the ride, but it was worth it.

By the time we got off trick or treating had started, so we went and got a load of candy! It was during the party that we really noticed that there is a lot less to do at the Disneyland party when compared to Disney World, but in saying that the crowds are more manageable.

With the slightly lower wait times we took the opportunity to jump on the Indiana Jones Adventure ride. Not having had the opportunity to ride Dinosaur in Animal Kingdom due to refurbs, I was really looking forward to this ride. The queue was so detailed, and the ride was really fun and definitely threw you around in the car a bit.

From here we went through a couple more trick or treat spots and then jumped on the Jungle Cruise. It is such a different experience at night, and I actually prefer it in the dark! Our skipper was terrific again.

After this we jumped onto BTMRR for another ride. Like the Jungle Cruise, this ride is more exciting in the dark. Side note: we tried to ride this as many times as we could during our time here!

After this we were feeling hungry as we hadn’t had dinner yet. We went past the Jolly Holiday Bakery Café to get some food. By the time we had ordered and then eaten our food we were in a great spot to view the Halloween Screams Fireworks! It wasn’t a perfect view as we couldn’t see the large globe they raise into the sky and project on, but we could still see the castle and all of the fireworks. It’s not as spectacular as Hallowishes, but still very enjoyable with a great soundtrack!

We had a bit of time after the crowds dispersed before the 10:30pm Frightfully Fun Parade so we got some more candy at the trick or treat stations and rode the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. It was a nice slower ride, although it did feel a bit claustrophobic at times, especially in Halloween costumes.

Once we were back on dry land we went over to It’s a Small World to stake out a spot for the parade. Whilst the parade was good, it didn’t really compare to Boo to You in Disneyworld. It was a lot shorter and there wasn’t a lot of variety in it, but some of the floats were still cool, especially the vampire characters from Nightmare Before Christmas.

We finished off the night with a ride on the Matterhorn Bobsleds. It was probably a good thing we did this last as Steve got rather wet! Nevertheless it is still a great ride!

We made our way back to the hotel with all the candy and went straight to bed. Although during the night Steve did have an altercation with one of the walls in the room, and ended up cutting his forehead open a bit! The reception staff were great and gave us some medical supplies to bandage him up!

 

[harddrive]

Day 14 – California Adventure

After having a bit of a sleep in this morning (due to the late finish at the Halloween party) we made our way over the Disney’s California Adventure. We were both a bit excited as it was a brand new park to visit!

As soon as we got there we rushed to Cars Land to try and get a fastpass for Radiator Springs Racers, but they were already all out for the day! We spent a bit of time walking around Radiator Springs and looking at all of the cool shops and theming before grabbing brunch at the Cozy Cone Motel. We both went for one of their Bread Cones, and they were delicious.

From here we made our way to Grizzly River Run to cool off a bit, even though it was only late morning, you could tell today was going to be a hot day! It was great that most of the queue was in the shade for this ride. The actual ride was good too, very similar to Kali River Rapids. And we both got a little wet too, although not as wet as some people in our ring.

We made our way over to Paradise Pier to get a fastpass for California Screamin’, and to look around a bit. We didn’t have to wait too long before it was our ride time, which was nice. The actual coaster itself was great and really fast. It is definitely the most thrilling coaster that Disney has on offer.

Once we got off we made our way over to the Hyperion Theatre to grab a fastpass for the last Frozen show of the day.

Because we both wanted to ride Radiator Springs Racers we decided to jump into the standby line for it, and ended up waiting about 2.5 hours to get on. It appeared that there were a lot of ride stops and temporary breakdowns whilst we were in line. This was the longest line we waited in all trip. The ride itself was good, the Cars animatronics were great! But for us it wasn’t worth waiting over 2 hours for, and we would only ride it again if we could get a fastpass.

After being outside for the last 3 hours we made our way to Monsters Inc. Mike and Sulley to the Rescue!, as we were in major need of some air con. The ride was very cute and a nice retelling of the movie.

After enjoying the air con, we decided to seek out some more and so made our way to the Animation Hall and decided to take a class at the Animation Academy. We both enjoyed this quite a bit. We got to draw Jack Skellington! It was a nice relaxing change of pace compared to the rest of the day.

On the way out we spent some time browsing through the Sorcerer’s Workshop. If we had more money we would have bought so much Disney art! We still had a bit of time to kill before we had to get in line for Frozen, so we made our way to Pacific Wharf to grab some dinner. Both Steve and I had one of the Stir Fry’s from the Lucky Fortune Cookery, which made for a nice change from burgers and chips!

We made our way over the Hyperion Theatre to line up for Frozen and ended up having to wait about 40 minutes or so to get in. The show started about 20-30 minutes late, which didn’t help the fact that Steve wasn’t feeling the best at this point.

The show itself was really fun and enjoyable, and it had some spectacular technical moments in it. I loved the Sven and Olaf puppets they used in the show! It was great to finally see it live despite all the screaming kids around us

Once we got out it was starting to get dark, so we made our way over to check in for the World of Colour dessert party. This was the last of the special events that we had purchased for our trip.

It was great being able to sit down to enjoy the show. Once again because we were only a party of 2, we were sat with another group of 2 ladies who were lovely to chat to whilst we waited for the show to start. They were fellow Disney fanatics who had been to the various parks many times. They preferred Disneyland over Disney World, whereas both Steve and I prefer Disney World. The desserts on offer were quite nice and even had things like bread sticks, cheese and fruit along with the sweeter items.

World of Colour was beautiful! It’s such a different and unique show compared to all of Disney’s other night-time spectaculars. It was a little windy by this point in the night, so some of the image projections weren’t the clearest to look at, but it was still great. It was definitely worth the extra money to enjoy the show without standing around for ages to get a good view.

Once the show was over we made our way out of the park to Downtown Disney to get the last of the gifts for our family and friends back home. I am terrible when it comes to buying gifts for other people, so we spent a lot more time than we should have walking back and forth between shops

Once we were done we made our way back into Disneyland to order one more gift before making our way back to the hotel.

The sadness was starting to sink in as we packed our bags in preparation for check out tomorrow, but at least it made for a relaxing evening with more Food Network on the tv!

 

[harddrive]

Day 15 – Disneyland Day 2 and Heading Home

Today was the last day at Disney, and the last day of our 4 week holiday!

After getting up early, packing the last of our luggage and leaving it with the hotel reception, we made our way back to Disneyland.

We arrived just after park opening, so we hightailed it over to BTMRR because it was a walk on at the start of the day. We ended up riding it 3 times in a row! It’s such a great coaster.

From here we stopped and had a quick snack before heading over to Matterhorn Bobsleds. We didn’t get wet this time!! After this we ticked off a couple more dark rides, being The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and Alice in Wonderland.

It was now time for our lunch reservation at the Blue Bayou. The restaurant itself has some amazing theming, the food however was a little too different for us. Still an enjoyable experience though.

After lunch we went and rode Peter Pan’s Flight. This had a bit of a wait and unfortunately the outside lines at Disneyland can be a bit unbearable and uncomfortable in the sun.

We then crossed over to It’s a Small World again to get a shady spot to watch Mickey’s Soundsational Parade. This was quite a fun parade with some great different characters you don’t see represented in parades that often. It was nice to see Mary Poppins and Bert!

Now came the time we were both dreading, it was time to say goodbye to Disney and head back to the hotel to catch our shuttle to the airport. We slowly made our way down Main Street looking in a few shops and making a couple of purchases before waving goodbye to Disney.

Back at the hotel we chilled in the lobby until our Supershuttle to LAX arrived, and before we knew it we were at the airport and all checked in for our flights home. The 2 flights were long, but uneventful and when we arrived home we pretty much just wanted to go back to Disney right away!

We arrived back in Melbourne early on Sunday morning and I was straight back to work the following day, so I didn’t have too much time for the Disney blue’s to set in!

Looking back at our time at both Disney World and Disneyland there are some things that we would definitely have changed. Things like scheduling in more rest time, and not being in such a rush to get to every attraction, but hey you live and learn. One thing that neither of us would have changed would be all of the additional events that we booked for our time in the parks, such as all of the dessert parties and Halloween parties. We both really enjoyed these experiences, getting to eat all the dessert offerings and candy from the parties, and also the special viewing areas for the various fireworks shows. Yes, the costs for them can add up very quickly, but for us the value of these experiences certainly outweighed the cost. Particularly if you don’t handle large crowds well, the dessert parties / viewing add ons can make a HUGE difference!

Thank you for those that have been following along with this report! It really was an amazing trip and when we were there wandering through the parks we never thought that we would be coming back to Disney so soon. But here we are pretty much a year to the day later, and we are checking into our accommodation at the airport the night before we fly back to Orlando for another 7 nights at Disney World. Stay tuned for another trip report from us in the near future, where we have hopefully learned from all of our rookie mistakes! We will make sure we take notes this time, and a tonne of photos to share with you. We have reservations at a whole new bunch of restaurants that we didn’t get to try last time we were there, and loads of new experiences we’ll be able to share with you!

Brenton and Steve

 

[theseacallsme]

Wow @harddrive , what a great trip report! I cannot believe all the things you did on your trip---and with jetlag!!! I am very impressed!

Side note--I have been to Melbourne (I studied abroad in Wollongong & traveled a bit) and one of my favorite silly things I did was visit Dracula's Cabaret! Have you ever gone?

 

[aussiejen]

Im a fellow Aussie & i really enjoyed reading your trip report Loved all the pics

DH & I have taken the kids to WDW & DL a few times & were are actually heading back over to DL in Jan 2018 for a short 2 week trip.
so excited to be heading back to Disney!