8 Parks in 9 months aka my 1st attempt at a trip report (with part one deleted) III

[alyssa810]

Thursday morning had us up and ready to leave the resort around 9:30. It's always a little sad to leave, but we really had a great time, and we still had a few more days of vacation left. we were meeting one of Mike's interviewers who lived in LA, and we were having lunch in Venice Beach. We weren't sure how traffic was going to be and we wanted to have plenty of time, and we did get to the area with plenty of time to spare. We met Barbara, and walked along the boardwalk (or whatever you call that area) for a while, checking out the locals and the shops. I bought a few postcards, sunglasses for Joel and I, and a magnet before we headed back to the restaurant for lunch. We ate at a place called the Figtree Cafe, and it was really good! I wanted to get something California-ish, so I had a chicken sandwich with sprouts and avacado- it was delicious! Joel had a chicken & cheese quesadilla, which was really a grilled cheese sandwich with chicken, but he ate it. Mike had an omelet, as they serve breakfast food all day. As we were walking out, a gentlemen sitting behind us stopped us and said he comes here all the time, and there are so many wild, unruly kids that come in, and that Joel was probably the best behaved kid he'd ever seen in there. It was really nice to hear, especially since he was starting to get a little restless.
Anyway, we parted ways with Barbara, and decided to spend a little time on the beach. It was a little overcast, but the views were still amazing. The water was cold, and we weren't really swimming but Joel managed to get hosed by the waves. From there we decided to head down to the Santa Monica pier; we squished some pennies there, and rode the ferris wheel. By the time we were done there, we were ready to check into the hotel. We started heading over toward Hollywood, and Mike decided we should see where Pink's hot dogs was so we could go there for supper. We found it, and since there was no line, we went. Joel -mr. hot dog at home- decided he wanted a cheeseburger, but Mike and I got hot dogs. I got the Today Show dog, which was 2 beef dogs with chili & cheese, onion and guacamole. It was kind of gross to look at but really good! Mike got much more tame dogs; I think one was a straight chili dog and the other had cole slaw on it. We thought we saw a guy who looked like Dave Chappelle walking buy, and there was a girl sitting behind us who was talking about having a speaking role in a movie, but we didn't know who she was.

From Pink's we did go to the hotel. There was traffic getting by the hollywood bowl - i believe soul asylum was playing- and then traffic getting to Universal as it was some Alice Cooper halloween night thing. We checked into the Universal Sheraton, and it didn't seem too different from when we stayed there in 2006. We decided we'd head over to Citywalk to check stuff out, and maybe get a snack. We trekked over and popped in and out of stores, and got ice cream from Ben & jerry's before heading back to the room. Joel got a bath when we got back to the room- he was so sandy from the beach he left a ring around the tub!
Friday we're off to the park!

 

[alyssa810]

Friday had us up early and ready for Universal! We headed over to Citywalk to hit up Cinnabon for breakfast (does anyone ever eat these anywhere but at airports or on vacation!?!?), and then over to the park with our coke rewards tickets! Neither of us had done much reading up on the park, so we were a little ...unprepared? We had pictures taken as we walked in, and right off the bat we saw Dora- Joel was thrilled, and we took a picture. Then we headed over toward the Simpsons ride. The plan was that Mike would ride first, and I would take Joel over to the Curious George area. We took pictures with George and SpongeBob; I was surprised at how disorganized the picture "lines" were; people were hanging all over George while I was trying to take Joel's pictures....no respect for the line!! Also, as it turned out, the play area didn't open until 11, so Joel and I went back to the Simpsons area and took a picture with Marge, and checked out the Quik-e-mart. There was cool stuff in there, but I didn't buy anything. Mike finally came out -5 minute wait my butt- and I took my turn. He said -and keep in mind he is a HUGE Simpsons fan- that it wasn't that great; he thought the jokes in the queue were better than the ride. I disagreed. I thought the scenes in the queue were great too, and the inside of the line had me cracking up. Keeping in mind that we are both not fans of simulators, I was Ok with the ride; I thought it was really neat, but I'd much rather be on an actual roller coaster than a fake one. All in all though, I did think it was a cool ride.

I met the boys in the CG area. Joel was having a ball; we took him into the ball jungle, and then we heard someone mention shrek was starting soon, so we decided to check it out. I thought it was funny; Mike thought it might have been a little inappropriate for the younger crowd...we're not prudish with Joel, but we could see where some people might be a little offended. We went back to CG so Joel could run around- the kid got HOSED! I did too, actually, chasing him around, but it felt good.

From there we hit our longest line of the day, the backlot tour. The sign was posted for 25 minutes, but it was more like 45. It was a great ride though! The special effects were awesome, and driving down Wisteria Lane is a thrill for any desperate housewives fan! I was also keeping my eyes out for the cast of Parenthood, my other show, but just saw the buildings where they film. More great views of the area on the ride too! By the time we were done with the tour, it was late in the afternoon, so we decided to eat at Mel's. Would you believe the shake machine wasn't working!? We just had usual fare- burgers for us and chicken nuggets for Joel. We saw the animal actors show from there- Joel was impressed! And then we caught WaterWorld, which was a terrible movie but a cool stunt show! We were ready to head out after that.

All in all, I was glad we didn't have to pay to go to the park. It didn't really have much for Joel, besides the animal show and the curious george stuff. All the scary halloween stuff was out too, which he was unbothered by, but most of the attractions were too intense for him, or he was too short. Universal Orlando definitely has the advantage when it comes to kids Joel's age.

After we left the park, we decided to take a drive- and hope Joel would take a short nap! We drove up to Griffith Observatory to check out the views, and Joel did fall asleep. Then we decided to drive down Rodeo drive to see the stores we never shop at Our last stop was Hollywood Blvd so we could go to the Disney soda fountain. I thought we'd get a snack there, but we didn't We walked down the boulevard a little bit for some penny squishing, but we didn't go too far before heading back. we went back to the room for the last night of vacation, and to start to pack.

 

[alyssa810]

So every good vacation has to come to an end We got up early so we could finish packing and head to the airport. Mike never bought a Universal penny book, so he decided to take a walk up to citywalk and buy one before we left. While he did that, I finished packing and got Joel up and ready to leave. We checked out and decided we'd try to find a starbucks close to the airport. I thought I remembered seeing one near the car rental so we put that in the GPS as our point of reference.

While on the way to the airport, Mike said to look for Randy's Donuts; we'd breakfast there! We got there, picked out some donuts, got the car gassed up, and decided we'd hope for a Starbucks on the other side of security. We returned the car ($134 for a week for our HHR- not bad at all!!) and headed on the bus to the airport. There was a short enough line at the check in...we paid our $30 for our 2 checked bags (I made sure to see that carseats did not have a charge), and headed toward security. While in the line, there was a lady a few people in front of us that I think might have been La Toya jackson. Mike thinks it wasn't her. Also while in line, and non-English speaking woman decided to cut the line. It was like customs at CDG all over again! The people behind me where like ***?? as was I, and then Mike got all belligerent and said "excuse me, there's a line here!" There was another Australian woman behind us with a baby who also was upset and exclaimed "are you serious?! I have a baby here! How rude can you be!?!?" The security guy checking IDs said nothing, and the cutting woman moved back behind the baby-lady. I was trying not to laugh. Mike continued to shake his head. Anyway, we were excited to see starbucks just on the other side of security Mike sent me ahead to look for milk for Joel, and we met up by the AirTran gate.

Here's where our AirTran once again showed us how sketchy they are. It was about 45 minutes prior to takeoff when they started boarding. We had just settled in to finish our donuts and enjoy our frappachinos. Mike went up to the gate to see about getting a gate check for the stroller, and no one was at the gate. There was another woman also waiting at the gate. It appeared that the only person working in the area was the guy calling people to board. We were in zone 1 so we boarded right away. We told him we wanted to gate check the stroller and he said where did we want to get it? We said Boston was our final destination, but given how chaotic the boarding area was, we said we wanted it in Milwaukee. The guy was like "just tell us where you want to pick it up and it will be there,' filling us with oodles of confidence. They tagged the stroller and we boarded. While we were on board, enjoying our donuts and frappas, Joel started messing with his milk cap. Long-story-short, he put it in his mouth, started choking, I whacked him on the bag and he proceeded to throw up (cap included) all his milk and the donut and a half that he ate all over himself, the side of the plane, and the floor. We hit the call button -at this point the plane was just about fully loaded, but we weren't leaving yet- and it took Mike getting up and saying basically "we need some napkins or something- we have a thrower-upper" before the flight attendant casually strolled over. The attendants on the flight were not friendly, they seemed quite unhappy to be on board (and not just because there was throw up on board), and not very helpful. With it being the end of vacation, i didn't have a change of clothes for Joel, so he had to stay in his pukey clothes. he couldn't have cared less though. We got him cleaned up as best as we could, and threw a bunch of paper towels on the floor to help absorb yuckiness. The flight itself was fairly uneventful (phew!) I do feel sorry for the people who would be sitting in our seats next though!

We got to MKE a little early, and luckily the gate we flew into was next to the gate we were flying out from, and the stroller was waiting for us too. We had hoped to have enough time to get something to eat (we just had pretzels and those biscoff cookies I LOVE on the plane) but since they board so early, Mike gave me Joel and my boarding passes and he was going to hunt and gather. Being Wisconsin, he came back with 4 cheese sticks and a giant bag of cheese puffs. Better than nothing, right? The attendants on this leg were like night and day from the earlier leg. They were friendly and seemed happy to be there.
We also got to Boston a little early. It's always cool to fly into Boston where I can recognize stuff. The Red Sox were playing the 2nd game of their day-night doubleheader with the Yankees, and we flew over Fenway. Once we finally got our luggage, we waited and waited and waited for the 88 bus that goes to the economy parking lot. We had hoped to be home before 11, but it was closer to 10:30 by the time we got to my car. I couldn't believe how far out the lot was- it's been a long time since we've parked at Logan. Traffic was on our side, and we did get home shortly after 11. Joel had fallen asleep in the car so I carried him in and tried to keep him asleep when I changed him -failed- but we got everything in and settled in for the night.

 

[alyssa810]

All in all the trip turned out well -no major catastrophes, with the exception of our pass trouble- and that's always a good thing.

I really, really loved the hotel (GCV, that is); I'm so glad there are DVC rooms in Disneyland now- but I might be spoiled for other resorts. Our room was bigger than I expected, and like I mentioned earlier, the view was unbeatable! While we didn't do too many TS meals (was it just the 2???), the food overall and the parks, and especially in White water Snacks was really good. I really liked that we were able to walk to both parks; I was bummed that we didn't get a chance to take the monorail though. I liked that MK wasn't as big as MK in WDW, it seemed like we did so much and didn't have to walk as far; I particularly liked that we could ride POTC over and over again too!

As far as the crazy, record-breaking heat, well, I'd much rather have it be really hot than really cold. Plus, as Beyonce says "a little sweat ain't never hurt nobody!" Also, it's a lot easier on our pale skin to go swimming in the evening, rather than during the middle of the day- although my ride on Splash Mountain was like swimming in my clothes. While I did miss my 2 favorite desserts, ice cream cookie sandwiches from the bakery, and creme brule, the cookie skillet we shared at the BBQ was right up there!

I did decided (again) that I like seeing the parks better with no holiday decorations, but the HM was really cool with the Nightmare overlay. We did miss Space Mountain, which I was a little bummed about, but we were *lucky* enough to see Captain EO. Yikes! I am super excited about Cars Land (as is Joel of course), and the little mermaid ride too!

The only real problem I saw with our time at DLR -besides the pass debacle again- was that there didn't seem to be too many photopass photographers in the early morning, or even around the park in general. I was doing a share, and my thoughts on shares is always that they're worth it as long as you get 2 good shots. I believe we took 2 pictures at MK and 8 at CA, and the CA pictures are just of me and Joel.

At Universal, we were pleased to have our free tickets from Coke points. I just didn't find it that great of a park for Joel. I was also annoyed with how long we waited for the back lot tour, and how people didn't line up for character pictures- it was just a free-for-all. I was also annoyed that the shake machine at Mel's wasn't working. I did like the 10% off discount that we got with the AAA card though.

All in all, a terrific trip, and I'm looking forward to the next one!

 

[alyssa810]

here's where our story continues~

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2520221

Thanks for reading!