It's finally happening! A first ever visit to DL trip report

[KiwiMouseGirl]

First EVER trip to Disneyland!

​

Well, it's been a sad few months since returning from the happiest place on earth, so to lift my spirits I thought I would start writing my trip report! I'm really looking forward to re-living the memories and sharing them all with you! So grab your popcorn (I have mine ) and we'll start the magical journey together ​

​

Day Zero​

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=45288332&postcount=5
http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=45288584&postcount=6​

Day One​

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=45291235&postcount=7
http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=45300079&postcount=13

Day Two

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=45301466&postcount=14​

Day Three​

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=45321808&postcount=15

Day Four

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=45346983&postcount=18​

 

[Escape2Disney]

Subscribing!

 

[Minnie Sue Oz]

I'm here!!!

 

[DisneytheKid]

Cant wait to hear more!

 

[KiwiMouseGirl]

Welcome to the first instalment of my Trip Report, and thank you for coming along for the ride!

We'll start the story off on Day Zero! I'd pretty much had my bags packed for two weeks prior to our trip, so all I had to do to get ready to leave that afternoon was get up, get dressed, zip my bag up and move it to the kitchen. My Nan came to pick myself and my younger brother(15) up around lunch time. After waking up rediculously before my alarm went off I set out on taking as long as physically possible to get dressed and do my hair and makeup. An hour later and I was left twiddling my thumbs trying to find things to do, and settled on packing my carry on bag. Because id packed everything bar the kitchen sink into my checked luggage I wasn't left with much except afew valuables like my phone and camera, and being the compulsive planner that I am (planning 2013 Halloween already ) I had a book full of tips, tricks and touring plans to help me get through the Disney days! So in the backpack that went! Although thinking about it now I would much rather have a lot of time up my sleeve than be running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to get things packed and ready!

Nan arrived right on time (which is a rare occurrence) and into the car everything squished. We didn't have a hugely eventful afternoon. Stopped at the bakery on the way to Nans place to get some delicious baked goods for lunch, ate, and then left for the airport. We were due to depart Auckland at 7.40pm and were aiming to arrive at 5.30ish to check in 2 hours before departure. We left just after 3pm for the 2 hour rather uneventful drive to the airport, in which I listened to the World of Color soundtrack twice...what else are you going to do when your leaving to go to Disneyland

We stopped on the way for compulsary ice creams in Pokeno

We arrived at the airport pretty much when we had planned to and grabbed the luggage out of tightly packed car.

We found our check in line (the longest out of all of them) we quickly jumped in and tried to make it go as quick as possible. About 30-40 mins later we met back up with the travel party (David, nan's partner who drove and my younger brother) And decided to get some dinner. Somehow McDonalds ended up being the unanimous decision, and I settled on just getting a drink because for some reason I wasn't hungry and we were getting a late dinner on our flight. After dinner we went up to the viewing deck and tried to pick which plane we thought would be hours. Me and Nan decided to make a quick toilet stop before we went through to duty free, and told the boys to stay where they were. After our quick loo break we went back to the viewing deck and found nobody there, because males being males, had not heard us and moved. After walking around the airport panicing because our flight had been called to go though security and we didn't want to leave without saying goodbye. We eventually found them at the block of toilets furtherest away from the viewing deck -.- ...men.

It was then time to say our goodbyes and me and Nan headed on through to security and then on to duty free. We had a little look around, got some free perfume samples (score!) and I sprayed one of my favourite perfumes on me for Nan to smell...which for some reason smelled really funny and kind of like cologne. (I eventually realised on later in the flight that I had indeed sprayed the male versioin of my favourite perfume on myself. No wonder I thought there was a good smelling man on our flight...it was actually me -.-) Dinner on the plane was delicious! Butter chicken with jasmine rice and tripple chocolate kapiti ice cream for dessert! 11 and a half restless hours later we arrived in L.A! I thought I would be more excxcited, but I was so tired at that point to do anything really. Getting through customs took for ever! There were only 3 desks open, and a flight from Paris had just landed and were coming into the line behind us. That's when they started taking the families with children out of the line and letting them go through the domestic terminal. A nice customs officer let us go in that line too, and slowly they started to open up more desks so that they wouldnt be stuck with a backlog as more flights came in. We picked up our luggage which had been put on the floor next to the carousel and made our way upstairs. The first stop was starbucks for a drink as me and Nan were both dehydrated and I really wanted a starbucks branded thermis with Los Angeles on it, but they didn't have them We made our way out to the bus stops and struggled to find the one marked for the Disneyland Express which we had recieved passes for as part of our package deal booked through the travel agent. We asked one of the airport staff if we were waiting in the right place and he assured us that we were. Sure enough about 40 mins later the shuttle pulled up. Thats when I started to feel the disney magic. After driving about 15 mins through the airport (which is where I discovered that not many people are curteous drivers, In New Zealand we just let people merge if they have their indicator on, especially in a busy situation like that) we were on our way to Anaheim. The drive took about an hour (if I remember correctly) but it flew past really quickly! Our hotel was about the fifth stop (thankfully, as there were about 13 different hotels on the shuttle) We hopped off and went to check in to the Best Western plus pavillions. I cannot sing enough praise as to how much we loved this hotel. The reception staff were amazingly helpful and did anything they could to help us find our waya round the area. The rooms were clean every day when we returned from the hotel and there were always nice fresh towels!

Here's our room one of the nights we returned from the parks:

Coming up next: Downtown Disney!

 

[KiwiMouseGirl]

After getting settled into our room, we decided to head over to downtown disney to have a look and do abit of shopping. It took about 15 mins to walk from our hotel at a slow pace. We walked through the Grand Californian entrance and I knew where our first stop was going to be! World of Disney! I could have stayed in that store all day looking at everything! I got an autograph book to use the next day so I wouldnt be caught out and miss any characters autographs. I also got a sparkly pair of minnie ears and a normal pair for my brother (at his specific request) I was looking around for the pin trading sets, but couldnt find them so decided to have a look for them in the park the next day. Because I wanted to get to the parks at opening the next morning, we decided to go and get our vouchers exchanged for park tickets. My ticket had Donald on it we wandrerd around DTD for a little longer, taking in the atmosphere. We decided it was time to grab some dinner and get an early night, so back to the hotel we wandered. Best Western Pavillions is conveniantly right next door to Denny's so we decided to check it out. The portions there are H U G E !!! We both got burgers and fries. I ate most of my fries and half of my burger. I would have been happy with the fries alone. Nan got the sweet potato fries, which I am still craving to this day -.- So, tummies full we quickly headed to the little superette next door and grabbed some snacks, milk and cereal for the next day. Then it was off to sleep for us in preperation for the big day we had planned!

 

[KiwiMouseGirl]

Day One- Disneyland​

Our day begins at around 7am when the annoying alarm on my phone goes off telling us to wake up. I was up and doing my hair and makeup faster than you could snap your fingers, Nan on the other hand chose to sleep in for a little bit (after all, it was only me that took 1 hour+ to get ready in the mornings) By the time we were both dressed and ready it was about 8.00, and I had planned on being at the park by at least 8.30 am for the 9.00 am opening. Factoring in that it took about 15-20 mins for Nan to walk from our hotel to the park meant that we only had 10 mins to get moving. We got the cereal and milk out to have breakfast and went to grab a bowl....but alas...NO BOWLS! Went to grab a spoon...NO SPOONS! Now coming from us Kiwi's, this was complete madness! Nowhere we have ever stayed at in New Zealand was crockery and cutlery-less. It was a strange feeling. We had a little laugh about it with baffled looks on our face and with no means to eat our breakfast, we set out on empty stomachs deciding to try and grab something on the way to the parks. We started wandering to the parks (Being a compulsive power walker by nature, I found it hard to walk slowly!) And got to DTD at around 8.20am. Because we used the Grand Californian entrance, we pretty had to walk the length of DTD to get to the security check, and I was trying to hurry Nan along (she never really understood the importance of trying to get there before opening) Because the parks weren't actually open, neither were any of the shops in DTD, besides the little La Brea bakery cart which we stopped at and got some gianormous tasty looking blueberry muffins. Being in the hurry that I was, into the bag the muffin went and out came the wallet holding the magical ticket what would get me into the gate. Now, having never been to Disneyland before and not knowing that you can enter the parks 30 mins early for MM, you can immagine my shock when I didn't see any lines winding away from the gates, rather people walking up and going in! After power walking and dragging one poor Nana who was trying to eat her yummy blueberry muffin across the Esplanade we reached those glorious gates! I handed over my (Donald) ticket and heard the swish. In we went!!! Now I don't know why at this point we didn't stop for a photo infront of the Mickey flowers, because there was nobody around! We would have had a completley un obstructured photo but I was obviously in a franzy panic of excitement and didn't think to stop We walked around to the left hand side and grabbed a park map each on the way to City Hall! I was on a mission to score myself some badges! There was no line going into city hall and I walked straight up to the counter where a nice young guy helped me. I politely requested a birthday badge for me and first visit badges for me and Nan. He asked how onld I was turning, in which I replied 18. (My birthday was actually in March, and I would have actually gone on my birthday if it wasn't for the spring break crowds lingering around) So out of City Hall we walked, badged proudly pinned! Walking down mainstreet was surreal for me. There was so much to take in! I would have loved to stop and look in all of the stores but I was determined to get as many rides done as possible. As we walked towards the partners statue we were greeted by cast members wearing mickey gloves waving at everybody. One even wished me a happy birthday, wich made me feel special

We arrived at rope drop just in time to hear the little welcome message and safety instructions (run, dont walk to your next destination) And we were on our way! I had hired from our local library the unofficial guide to Disneyland 2012 and planned to use the touring plans available in the back of the book. Step one was to ride splash mountain. So that's where we headed. We kind of wandered our way through NOS, as I had a fair idea of where everything was but seeing a map of something in comparison to the actual sizes of everything is quite disorienting. We ended up at Splash and started through the line (which was empty) and stopped where nan would have a perfect view to take a picture as I went around (she didnt want to ride because of the drop.) I skipped through the queuing area until I arrived at the loading area. I walked straight on. I was in a log with a man and his two daughters. We went around the first bend and there was Nan waiting to take my picture The music on splash makes me so happy! if I had been in a log by myself I would have been singing along, but thought i'd look mildly creepy if I did it now. We started to go up the ramp to the drop and let me tell you, i was a little nervous. Not going to lie! Im a bit of a thrill seeker, so I was excited but it looks pretty scary from the outside. let's just say that me and the Dad were screaming more than kis kids were After going through the exit I decided I wanted to get a pressed penny of every ride that I went on. tried to use the machine and couldn't get it to work. I asked one of the cast members if he could help me and even he couldnt get it to work. Turns out i was trying to put a dime in instead of a quarter...the next day the machine was broken. Oops. We headed over to Winnie the Pooh to ride that. It's got to be one of the cutests rides ever! Me and Nan both loved that one. Be even got our own honey pot And because the ride was so quiet, we asked to get our photo taken.

Next on the list was The Haunted Mansion, and with a 5 min wait, I wasn't about to refuse. We walked straight up and the only waiting done was while they cleared the lobby. In we went, and we were shortly greated by our 'ghost host' and started our tour. I LOVE THIS RIDE! I was a little dissapointed that we didnt get to ride it more during our trip.

We came out to this group of performers singing pirate tunes, and stayed to watch for a little while

Off we went to the next attraction on the list which was the jungle cruise. This is probably the longest line we waited in all morning, which was about 15 mins. Our skipper was pretty cool, I don't remember her name but she had an interesting sence of humour. Im glad we did this ride, but it's not one that I could see myself doing over and over. Then I popped next door to Indiana Jones. One of the things I didn't like was that rides with single rider entrances weren't sign posted, like they were a secret for insiders only. I vaguely knew what rides had single rider but didn't want to be grabbing the guide book out at every attraction I went to. So I ended up in the normal line, which was only around 15 mins so it wasn't too bad. And I managed to fit onto a row with a man and his two kids so that made the ride shorter. I wasn't too sure what to expect after the horror stories my Nan had told me after her first 'real' vist I don't know how many years ago. But I LOVED IT! I love jumpy jerky rides so this was right up my alley! After riding Indy and locating Nan once I had finished, we walked back over to NOS to ride pirates. I also wasnt too sure what to expect here, but I was greatly surprised! Floating past the Blue Bayou was amazing! It looked so pretty! Although Nan did get afew surprises going down the small drops (which I was unaware of) But all was well for the rest of the ride! We walked through fronteirland to the partners statue and Nan snapped this pic of me infront of the castle.

We werent really sure what to do after that because there were 3 or so rides on the touring plan we didn't want to do, so we had theoreticaly finished the plan in about 2 hours! We walked through fantasyland to see the Princess Fantasy Faire, but the wait time was 90 mins! We definately weren't waiting for that so hopped over to toon town to have a look. We wanted to tour Mickey and Minnies houses but they were quite busy so didn't ened up doing this. Which is a shame because we didn't get a chance during the rest of the trip. We did however see Goofy outside his house posing for photos, so grabbed a picture with him while we were there.

We started walking back towards It's A Small World, and decided to do this for a chance to sit down and because our plan had run out we were a little confused as to what the best move would be. It's quite a cute ride, but for some reason I got really cold (Which I noticed in all of the dark rides actually) But that's hardly something to complain about We were pretty hungry at this point so went on the hunt to find some food. We passed a churro stand at the entrance to Fantasyland and were curious to try one. THEY ARE DELICIOUS! Like a crispy crunchy donught Im so sad we don't have these in New Zealand We wandered up main street and reached town square where I saw...MINNIE MOUSE! I quite literally jumped up and down like a child! I was so excited! We quickly jumped in line to get a photo with her.

We also saw Mickey and Donald!

We saw Gepetto aswell!

Pluto, chip and dale were also out. But their lines had closed, so we would have to catch them another time!

One of the things Nan really wanted to do last time she was at Disneyland was take a round trip on the train. So that's what we did next! it was nice to have a chance to rest our feet and have some natural air conditioning as we were quite hot from all the running around

Next up: California Adventure

 

[Minnie Sue Oz]

Ooooooh you started your report!!! And what a great job you have done too!

I just love the photo with you and Minnie, and you and your Nan look so happy!!! The Haunted Mansion is my very favourite, so I am glad you enjoyed it! Wait til you see it all done up with next year when you go for Halloween..........amazing!!!

The dates are out for the Halloween parties now, so I will finally be able to finish our itinerary and I hope to get a new big post done tomorrow night!!!

Looking forward to more of your report and I can't wait to hear what you thought of DCA!!!

 

[miss.potatohead]

Love it so far! The best part about reading TR is that everyone is always happy! I mean, you can never NOT be happy when you are at the Happiest Place on Earth but I love the smile on your faces in every pic!

 

[Velvetia]

Hey KiwiMouseGirl

I'm loving your trip report - you managed to do so much and meet so many characters! I love the picture of you on the Winnie the Pooh ride, you and your Nan both look like you're having a great time.

I'm going to have to face an 11 hour plane ride too when we visit in October, not looking forward to that but I guess you just have to keep reminding yourself its taking you to the happiest place on earth!!

Looking forward to the next instalment...

 

[DisneytheKid]

Great trip report so far! Is nan the NZ term for nana?

Can't wait to read more!

 

[KiwiMouseGirl]

Hi all! I'm glad your enjoying it! I'll be adding more photos from my camera (these ones are Nan's) when I find where my sd card has mysteriously wandered D: I'm
Glad your enjoying it and I do apologies for the picture sizes, I don't know how to make them smaller on photobucket :/ MinnieSue! I can't wait for the next installment in your ptr! DisneyTheKid, we do use nana in new Zealand, I've just always called mine Nan

 

[KiwiMouseGirl]

Day One Part Two​

I did fully write this chapter and try to post it but I took to long and when I posted it Disboards removed the content and told me to log in. Grr. So we will start again!

Part two begins with me and Nan heading over to Disney California Adventure. I know some people have a love/hate relationship with park, and some plain love OR hate it and I have to say, I LOVE IT! I didn't know my way around this park as much as I did Disneyland so we kind of followed the flow of the traffic until we ended up around Grizzly River Run. I made a mental note to do this ride later at some stage and we kept walking around to Paradise bay. As we were wandering along we say Duffy the Disney bear with no line! So jumped in for a quick cuddle and photo with him Unfortunately I can't find his photo and hope I haven't lost it Because his hands are to fluffy to sign an autograph book he gives you a sticker instead Our first ride at DCA was Ariel's undersea adventure! I absolutely love this ride (The little mermaid was one of my favourite movies when I was little) We kept walking and saw Mickey in his sailor costume with a small line, so quickly jumped in to grab an autograph and photo with the big cheese.

Now I don't know if anyone here pays attention to the beauty community on YouTube, but if you do I met Ingrid aka MissGlamorazzi Shes such a lovely person and im so glad I got to meet her!

We decided to hop on over the bridge to Paradise Pier and go on Mickey's Fun Wheel, when we saw Woody taking pictures! We hopped in the line but Woody was shortly changed for Buzz Lightyear. I didn't complain as I wanted photos with all of the Toy Story characters anyway, but trying to get them all did prove a mission as they had quite a quick turnover. Just as I was getting to the front of the line they changed But we got there in the end!

We snagged our pic with Buzz then continued to walk down the pier to the fun wheel. We both decided on a stationary gondola and got seated with a nice young american family who's daughter loves Disneyland and they try to take her as much as possible. Here's afew pics of the ride.

We didn't really know what to do after that so started wandering our way back when Nan suggested I try California Screamin'. It only had a 20 minute wait time so it wasn't super long. But 20 minutes in a line by yourself always manages to tick by as slow as possible. I hopped in the que anyway and only tooka bout 15 minutes to get to the loading dock where I asked the cast member if they had a single rider entrance, which they do. Im going to make habbit next time to ask at all rides, just to make sure I LOVE THIS RIDE! It's definately one of my favourite thrill rides at the resort! I loved the ride soundtrack aswell, I know it's a hit and miss with some people

We managed to grab photo's with Woody and Jessie before we left Paradise Pier.

We made our way around to Hollywood Backlot just in time to catch the end of the Pixar Play Parade! We were on our way to Tower of Terror, which had just broken down The castmember said I could still hop in line or grab a fastpass. I passed and decided id make sure to catch it later on during our trip. We still had over an hour to kill before our World of Color dinner reservations at Ariel's grotto so walked back towards GRR and decided to stop in to see if Russell was out for photo's. The cast member that I asked said that Russell had gone home for the night as it was getting late and close to his bed time But we managed to catch pics with Dug the dog, who I absolutely LOVE!

I talked Nan into coming on Grizzly River Run with me, so we jumped in line. We were talking to an American family of 6 who said we were brave for going on with no water protective gear and promptly pulled out their poncho's. To be honest it had completley slipped my ride. Seeing as I had been on Splash that morning and didn't get wet, I thought GRR would be the same. BIG. MISTAKE! The Dad, Mum 4 kids and I hardly got wet at all. But poor Nan who was sitting next to the step got completley soaked down her right hand side, and promptly insisted that we go back to the hotel to get changed. At this stage we were getting close to needing to get to our reservation, so I agreed on the condition that we be as quick as possible. We discovered where the ART buses pick you up from the parks so waited there for our bus. Luckily we were one of the first stops! We hurried to the room and Nan got changed while I found the emai with our confirmation on it. Apparently I had missed reading the part that tells you to check in approximately 15 minutes early, which was pretty much right then. And we hadn't even left yet! I hurried Nan along and we were quickly out the door walking to the park. (I didn't want to take a chance waiting for the bus) I started my usual powerwalk to try to get there within reasonable time, but Nan stopped and said that she couldn't go that fast and to run ahead and she would meet me there. So run is what I did. All the way up West Katella, up Disneyland drive, through the Grand Californian, Through Downtown Disney while unzipping my backpack so I could run through bag check, through DCA all the way to Ariel's Grotto. Where I then sat and died, table buzzer in hand waiting for Nan to arrive. Our table was ready about 10 minutes later and Nan wasn't there yet! I waited at the door trying to see above all of the other peoples heads, and saw her coming up the bridge I checked us in and we walked down the stairs to the resturant. We were seated at an outside table which didn't bother us as we didn't actually request an inside table and it was warm enough to sit outside. I actually enjoyed it as the view was beautiful! We were promptly served a bread bowl which tasted absolutley delicious and was nice and warm I could have eaten the whole thing, if Nan hadn't of reminded me to save room for dinner It just tasted so good! We were then brought our entree's, which consisted of a three tier platter of seafood, salad, grilled vegetables and cheeses. We helped ourselves to a little of everything, making sure we tried it all. (except the seafood for me, iick) The salad had some kind of delicious dressing on it, so I settled on some of that! Our waitress must have been keeping quite a watchful eye on our table, because as soon as we slowed down on our entree's our mains were served. The portions are HUGE! neither me or Nan managed to finish ours. Nan got the baked chicken breast and I got the italian pasta. Both were delicious! We were going to get our left over dinner in take away boxes, but didn't want to carry the around for the rest of the night, so moved onto dessert. My heart melted when I saw the little white chocolate film strip . We nibbled on afew of the mini desserts but had no room left in our tummies, so got them to take away. I looked over my shoulder at the WoC viewing area and saw people being let in! You can immagine the horror when I had planned on camping out for a good spot and people were already being let in! We payed the bill, made a quick toilet stop and hurried over to ty and grab a good spot. We managed to secure a relatively good spot at the top of a small set of steps, as im quite short and wanted to take some videos. Which was great until a tall man and his two teenage daughters squeezed themselves infront of me -.- (I don't even thing they did the dining package because they walked over from the blue area -.-) So I stood on my tippy toes to video over his head

The show was amazing! I was speechless and had tears in my eyes by the time it finished. The Disney imagineers did an amazing job with this! MinnieSue and Laura, I can't wait to hear your thoughts when you go, and would definately reccomend doing a dining package at Ariels or WTT. The atmoshpere is amazing and it's nice to have a good hour or so to rest your legs before standing for the show

After the show we tiredly walked along past a group of castmembers waving and saying in unison thanks for coming, hope you enjoyed the show etc which was pretty cool. We walked under the giant sign that said see you soon! In which I replied, yes, yes you will

Up next: A day of relaxation and shopping!

 

[KiwiMouseGirl]

Day Two​

When planning out holiday we tried to have one full day of activities then one day of relaxing. As it was too cold to go swimming, we decided to spend the day doing some retail therapy. We walked to the front desk at the hotel and asked what the easiest way of getting to The Block at Orange was. We ended up getting a taxi which picked us up right outside our door. I think the total fair including tip from the Best Western Pavillions to The Block was around $15. We spent the day shopping and saw Titanic in 3d. We got lunch at a pizza place (I becaus eobsessed with the bread sticks at the pizza places in America) I found this random picture and thought id throw it in, (I love my cheesy grin)

They had a pretty good variety of shops at The Block, (forever 21, Bath and Body Works, Victoria's Secret) Which were a bit of a novelty as we don't have those stores in New Zealand.

Well, that was a short but sweet post, but like I said, the main focus of this day was relaxing!

Up next: Universal Studios!

 

[KiwiMouseGirl]

Day Three​

Our second day of adventure-ing begins at around 7am, when we woke up to get ready in time for the Southern California Greyline shuttle to pick us up from our hotel and take us to the depo around 8am, where we would then take a bus to Universal Studios Hollywood! The bus was as close to being on time that a bus can be and we were soon aboard and on our way. Now, when you get dropped at the depo (which isn't large) Everyone makes a bees line for the ticket counters to exchange their printer vouchers for tickets. Once we made our way through the line we went outside to where all of the buses are parked. They were clearly marked with signs as to which bus goes where, so there was no need to worry about ending up at seaworld Once everyone was on the bus and accounted for, our driver Starla started us on our tour. About 15 minutes into our journey and the bus's right hand mirror fell off. Everyone on the right hand side had to look out and tell her when it was safe to change lanes and pull us over to the side of the road. While we waited the 20 minutes for the repair man to come and fix the bus, she gave us her 'inside tips' on Universal studios and gave us a mini touring plan for getting all of the rides done before it gets busy, which made the time fly by. She gave us cool little facts about the area as we drove along and pointed out landmarks and popular destinations and it wasn't long at all before we were driving up to Universal. Starla gave us detailed instructions as to where she would be parked, what time she would be there and the last digits of the bus licence plate to look out for when we had to hop back on the bus at the end of the day. She was very helpful and even though we broke down we still bet the other bus there and made it before opening. Me and Nan hopped in the ticket line to exchange our vouchers, where we caught the opening music and were quickly moved through the turnstiles and given a park map each and entertainment guide. Starla had told us to go straight to the lower lot where all of the rides are, because everybody looks at the map first, and the map tells you to begin at the studio tour which consequently gets busy in the early morning. As we walked up we hit a little plaza area where they had afew characters out and about. This slowed the crowd down a little bit, and because we were some of the first ones in, we managed to snap pics without having to wait in a line.

We kept walking through heading towards the elevators to go to the lower lot, when we saw Homer and Marge Simpson out for pictures. These two were being pretty silly, pretending to strangle me with my scarf and Homer was trying to put his fingers up Nan's nose HAHA!

There are three huge elevators that go incredibly slow that you take to get to the lower lot.

Now, being a Wednesday?? It was QUIET! And because Nan wasn't keen on riding any of the fast/thrill rides I basically got to run around by myself jumping in single riders lines to skip non existant ques! It was great! The first ride of the day was Jurassic Park. I went through the single rider line and got to ride in a boat by myself (not like there was anyone in the line to hold up) I quite liked this ride, and ended up riding it once again later on in the day (with a not even half full boat) Seeing as I had all the choice of seats in the world, I chose to sit bang in the middle about 3 or 4?? rows from the front to try and avoid any water soakage This plan kind of worked, but I did still end up getting kind of wet.

I found Nan at the exit and we walked over to Revenge of the Mummy, where I had my pic snapped with this creepy looking guy :s

There was no line at all, bar a family of 3 infront of me who were walking pretty fast. So I flew through the que and made it straight to the loading bay and got straight on the ride. Let's just say, I was not expecting this ride to be like this but OH MY GOSH I AM IN LOVE WITH IT! I rode, hopped off, ran straight around the the entrance again and literally skipped through the que where I got the front row seat with 3 guys. We rode it, asked to stay on because there was no one in line, and then rode it again!! If you are the roller coaster type. I would highly reccomend this! If I remember correctly I rode it 7 or 8 times in total that day! Nan and I were sitting down having a rest when the mystery machine with Shaggy, Scooby and Daphne drove past. I had to stop and get a pic! My cousin loves kombie vans so I knew that he would love this! I got them to do a little video saying hello to him which i'll show him on his birthday next month! (I'll post the link here when I get home)

While we were there, they were doing technical testing for the transformers ride due to be opening in May. I asked the guy standing out front of the ride if they were doing this today, he told me that they were and to come back at 12.00. So, afew rides on ROTM later and I hopped in a semi long line where they had these guys out and about to entertain people

If you haven't had the chance to ride Transformers yet and you are going to be in the area, I would highly reccomend going to Universal for the day to experience it. It's kind of like Star Tours...but BETTER! I won't spoil it for those of you that havent had the chance to see it yet. But i'll definately say it's at the top of my to do list when I go back!

We were a little tired of the lowe lot so decided to head up to the simpsons ride, and snapped this panorama of the view while we were on our way.

When we got up there, Bart and Lisa were under the shade of the Kwik E mart talking photos.

Nan decided to sit in the shade and have a cup of tea while I rode the simpsons ride. This was the longest ride I waited for, and there was no line. it was standing in the 'holding area' that took the longest while you wait for the rides to be free. The whole process took about 20 minutes which makes me wonder how bad it would be on a busy day. We then headed on over to do the studio tour, which had about a 20 minute wait. It's pretty good cover from the sun, which was good because it was a pretty hot that day. Starla reccomended that we sit in the 2nd or 3rd cars, as they have the best view of everything, so thats what we did I took afew videos, so once I upload them to youtube ill post them here I can't quite remember how long the tour goes for, but it was nice to be able to sit in the cool for abit!

We headed back to the entrance area and snapped some pics with some more characters!

On our way out, we stopped by one of the cartoon artists and I got myself drawn It was really fun and a cool souvenir to take home. Ill take a pic of this and put it in

We had a look around the citywalk and grabbed some dinner at Panda Inn. (It was either Inn or express, I can't remember) it was the best asian style food ive ever had in my life!! We wandered around for a while longer, looking at the hard rock cafe and such, just taking in the sights. It was time to head back to the bus to continue the rest of our tour!

Without realising it our Travel Agent had booked us in for the tour that included Hollywood by night! We were excited to see Hollywood blvd with the lights on, but we were already booked in for a Hollywood tour so knew we would end up doubling up on seeing things. Starla took us around the outskirts of Beverly Hills and past the famous Beverly Hills sign. She showed us some night clubs owened by celebrities and stopped to let us walk down Hollywood blvd and also Rodeo drive. It was a nice ending to the day, although it did add an extra 2 hours including the drive back after an already long day! But well worth it of you want to snap some pretty Hollywood photos

Up next: L.A/Hollywood tour

 

[miss.potatohead]

Grayline Tours certainly make it easier on tourists who don't plan on driving the scary roads of LA. Universal was a ghost town too when we went, except for a few Japanese tour groups. And those massive esculators...yeah I thought it would be a good idea to RUN UP THEM considering the disgusting but oh so delicious foods I'd eaten the past few days. Never. Again. My legs were hurting for the next 24 hours!

 

[Velvetia]

Really enjoying your trip report - I am so excited that you loved Transformers, I can't wait! Thanks too for the tips about doing lower level first and sitting in the second or third carts for the studio tour

 

[KiwiMouseGirl]

Day Four​

Today was our tour of L.A and Hollywood. We met the bus around the same time that we did for Universal studios tour and were taken to the depo. Exchanged our vouchers for tickets and were shortly on the bus. Our fears were realised when we started going around all the same places that we had seen yesterday on our night time tour of L.A. That part of the tour lasted about the same amount of time. We had an hours stop on Hollywood blvd and were trying to decide if we should rush through madam tussauds or wander around and look at the walk of fame. We chose the walk of fame deciding to return to Hollywood for a whole day to walk through the wax museum and see any sights that we didn't have a chance to on our short hours stop. Nan snapped afew photo's of me with some of my favourite stars! Including Walt Disney! I made a bee's line for the M.A.C store and had a pretty big spend on makeup! It's so much cheaper in the states compared to Australasia! We had time for a quick look at the hand prints infront of the chineese theater before making our way back to the bus. Nan wanted to grab something to eat before hopping on even though I was sure we were sheduled for lunch at the Grove, but we went to a little sandwhich bar anyway. My sandwhich took about 10 minutes to be cooked and when I walked outside the bus driver was waiting for me. Oops! Had I known I had to wait for my sandwhich to actually be cooked I never would have ordered. We then made our way to the Grove where we were SUPPOSED to have lunch. I had a pretty bad headache and wasn't in the mood for shopping through large crowds, so we stopped at the starbucks that was there for a Venti passion iced shaken tea with sweetner We hopped over to the CVS?? across the road, where we brought more makeup had a quick look at a clothes store and then went back to meet the bus. From there it was over to Santa Monica where you could look around the thirs street promenade or go for a walk to the pier. We chose to take a look at the pier, not realising how long the walk was! It wasn't everything that I thought it would be I guess because it coming out of winter there werent as many people out selling stuff. I got a pressed penny but didn't go on any rides or anything. We walked back to where we were meeting the bus and were the first ones back from there it was back to the hotel, and the conveniant thing was that our hotel was the first stop for all of the Southern California Grey Line tours. Score!

We had a pretty relaxed day, just taking in the sights and sounds of L.A. Im glad we did this tour but will not be doing it again. I didn't like the fact that we spent more time on the bus than what we did looking around. If you really want to see the Hollywood sights, i'd reccomend getting a personal driver top take you to the places you want to see. Our hotel reception told us about this on the day we wanted to see Madam Tussauds, im not too sure of how much it costs. But will most likely be doing this when I go back.

 

[Disneydreamsdancer]

Loving reading your report so far! great photos!

 

[bellaally]

Can't wait for the rest going to California for the first time in may of next year fingers crossed. Hope it's as empty as when you went. How was the weather when you went?