Summertime and Disneyland .Oo-De-Lally!!

[thornton0511]

The Grove

So we were now headed inland a bit to have lunch. It was supposed to take about an hour's worth of driving but in the end took about an hour and a half.

This proved to be too much for my exhausted little ones. Our lunch destination was located at the Grove which is an outdoor type mall in Fairfax. And yes for us it was going to be worth the drive lol.

We arrived, parked in the multi level parking garage, and woke the children. Then we took the escalator (love) down to the entrance. This place was gorgeous! I wish that I had the time and the funds to do some shopping here! I could do some major damage lol.

We stopped for a quick picture in front of the fountain and made our way to where we needed to go.

The Grove reminded me of what I think Italy would be like if I ever get the chance to go there. I was loving this place. Finally we had reached our destination.

Maggianos!!!!!
​

 

[thornton0511]

Lunch at my Family's Fav


So we drove an hour and a half to have lunch at Maggianos. Yeah we love it that much lol. If you have never experienced the awesomeness of this food then I feel bad for you. It really is that good IMO. This is hands down our family's favorite place to eat. The bad thing about that is that the closest one to us is in Dallas, which, is a two and a half hour drive so unfortunately we do not get to eat here as often as we would like. The other thing that makes this place so awesome for us, other than the food obviously, is that I get 50% off. Yup. I work at Chili's as a daytime hostess/admin assistant and the company that owns my restaurant also owns this one so I get half off for both. I have worked for this company for my entire working life (which is almost 17 years) and there are three reasons I am still there. I get to make my own schedule (a perk for being there longer than anyone including my bosses lol), great health and dental insurance, and half off my food lol. But I am seriously in love with everything about this restaurant, even the atmosphere. It is very old world Italy that you could easily imagine Frank Sinatra or Al Capone walking into. Plus Italian food is the bestest. So enough of that let's get on to the food shall we?

First they start you off with the house made bread. It is served with oil and balsamic vinegar.

Both kids went with Ziti pasta with Alfredo sauce. Clean plates equal no complaints!

DH went with the Rustic Chicken and Shrimp which is also Ziti pasta with prosciutto, Asiago cheese, and a red pepper cream sauce. Yumm!

And since I was saving room for something other than an entrée I went with a pepperoni flatbread which was amazing!

Since the kids' meals come with dessert they both also opted for the lemon cookies which are out of this world. I'm not making this up people these cookies are amazing!

The DH and I decided to split the mini dessert sampler which gives you a bit of everything. You get crème brulee, chocolate zuccotto cake, cheesecake, tiramisu, and an apple crostada. Its heaven on a plate lol.

So while we were waiting for the check I went for a bathroom break. Yes I took a picture of the bathroom. It was pretty. And apparently the kiddos were acting a bit goofy while I was away.

We paid the check and left with our bellies more than satisfied. Total bill with discount and tip was $50. Oh I forgot to add that we also took with us an extra order of lemon cookies to enjoy later lol! Up next was a little window shopping before moving on to our next adventure.

​

 

[amandaw]

That Hyatt hotel looks really nice! And that upgrade is awesome!

Sounds like y'all were having a really nice start to the vacation! Sorry your DS's ears weren't feeling well but I'm glad you found something quick & relatively cheap to help him feel better.

That lunch looks delicious. Who doesn't love Italian food?!? YUM!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

On the one trip I had to Cali I did get a Go card and it was worth every penny. And it did indeed include Universal.

You know all things considered, at least you weren't at Disney when you had to drive all the way back to LA to simply sign papers. That would have royally sucked.

No worries Jenn. Believe me, I told everyone who would listen (and many who wouldn't) about the freeway traffic lights. So yeah, I was fascinated as well.

End of Route 66. Ok that's cool.

Funny, Santa Monica makes me think of Three's Company.

Haha, arachnophobia. Well, I have no idea what acrophobia is, so at least I know what arachnophobia is.

Oh my goodness I am so glad to hear (no pun intended) that the eardrops worked.

 

[BellaBaby]

The Pier looks fun!

I live in Colo. (burbs basically) and we have those lights getting on the highway but they are usually just on during rush hours. At least where I've seen them. Sometimes they let 2 cars go at a time.

That meal at Maggianos looks delish especially the lemon cookies!!

 

[crystal1313]

Loving your TR so far! You have an adorable family!! Can't wait to read more

 

[luulu1999]

Love Santa Monica Pier!! I am thinking of a place to go when we drive in from Vegas since it will be fairly early in the day...I don't want to just waste a day doing nothing!! Maybe we will make our way there!!

 

[thornton0511]

That Hyatt hotel looks really nice! And that upgrade is awesome!

Sounds like y'all were having a really nice start to the vacation! Sorry your DS's ears weren't feeling well but I'm glad you found something quick & relatively cheap to help him feel better.

That lunch looks delicious. Who doesn't love Italian food?!? YUM!

Yes thank you! So far we really have yet to find a Hyatt that we have not been impressed with. The upgrade was a really nice bonus too! Yes I was so thankful that we were able to stop his ears from hurting. I was so worried that we were going to have to go another route with that and it would have cost more that $15 for sure. Italian food is hands down our favorite and yes it is hard to go wrong when it comes to pasta

 

[thornton0511]

On the one trip I had to Cali I did get a Go card and it was worth every penny. And it did indeed include Universal.
that's what I was thinking...good to know
You know all things considered, at least you weren't at Disney when you had to drive all the way back to LA to simply sign papers. That would have royally sucked.
This is so true.
No worries Jenn. Believe me, I told everyone who would listen (and many who wouldn't) about the freeway traffic lights. So yeah, I was fascinated as well.
Rob I am so glad to hear we are not alone lol
End of Route 66. Ok that's cool.
Right?!
Funny, Santa Monica makes me think of Three's Company.
Bahahahaha! "Come and knock on my door....I've been waiting for you...." now I can't get that song out of my head lol. Thanks!
Haha, arachnophobia. Well, I have no idea what acrophobia is, so at least I know what arachnophobia is.
Me either. All I know is that if you have it you probably should not ride any of these rides lol. Fear of spiders....you're good to go
Oh my goodness I am so glad to hear (no pun intended) that the eardrops worked.

Yes! I don't know what was in those drops but it was like pain relieving nectar for Cory. So thankful! Otherwise this day could have easily gone in another (bad) direction.

 

[thornton0511]

The Pier looks fun!

I live in Colo. (burbs basically) and we have those lights getting on the highway but they are usually just on during rush hours. At least where I've seen them. Sometimes they let 2 cars go at a time.
Ha! That is so interesting. I guess that Texas just does not have the population or the traffic to warrant these lights. I have to admit I really do think its a great idea.
That meal at Maggianos looks delish especially the lemon cookies!!

Oh my goodness the lemon cookies....

Loving your TR so far! You have an adorable family!! Can't wait to read more

Awww thank you so much! Glad to have you here!

Love Santa Monica Pier!! I am thinking of a place to go when we drive in from Vegas since it will be fairly early in the day...I don't want to just waste a day doing nothing!! Maybe we will make our way there!!

It was definitely the highlight of the day for us! I don't know how much time you would want to spend here but a little while was good for us

 

[thornton0511]

Hollywood…bum bum bum bum bum bum Hollywood…..

So after eating lunch we started to head back in the direction of our car. This is when DD noticed an American Girl Doll store.

So obviously we had to stop.

We gave her a few minutes to look around. Looking not buying is what I kept telling her….over and over again. This one was pretty much exactly like the one close to our home. I guess if you have seen one you have seen them all lol. There was one difference upstairs that I found pretty neat that we do not have in our Dallas store.

They have an entire floor dedicated to their historical dolls. Each one has its own little area with displays and things. Yeah okay enough of that. We headed down the escalator and after my kids got in trouble for playing on the escalator we made our way out and back to our car.

Once we had gotten back to the parking garage we put the ticket we had received when entering into the machine and paid the $5 for parking. Then it spit out another ticket that we had to put into another machine when exiting to allow us to leave. Easy enough.

We got back on the dreaded LA roads and headed toward our next destination before heading back to Long Beach……Hollywood CA!

I have to be honest I was really a little apprehensive about even doing this at all. I had an idea in my head of how it would be and the kind of people we would see and I was not too thrilled. But at the same time we were closer than we would probably ever be to this iconic location so we decided that we could park, take a few pics to prove that we had been there, and leave. Kind of a been there done that situation. Mark it off the bucket list and move on…..as quickly as possible. The first task was finding a place to park. I had heard that the best and cheapest locations were at the corner of Highland and Hollywood. There seemed to be so much chaos surrounding us that when we made the turn we headed down into the first parking area we saw. And it was $15 bucks to park. Whatever. We went down this really, really steep hill to an underground parking area. Then some guys come to your car, give you a ticket, and take off with your car to park it. Then you are told to go into the very sketchy elevator in the corner that smells like pee that takes you up to street level. As we were going up I remember thinking what have I gotten us into? Too late now though, we had already paid for parking lol. The elevator spit us out right by the wax museum area and we proceeded to our first spot.

Grauman's Chinese Theatre. For a brief moment I stood here and though about being in Hollywood Studios in WDW….and I felt safe. Then I noticed a guy dressed in drag, followed by Spiderman whizzing by and what I think was a ninja turtle and knew I was not where I wish I was. The combination of that and hundreds of people all squished into one little sidewalk made me feel very vulnerable. But I was determined to at least get some pictures!

I quickly snapped a shot of Indy and Star Wars. This was no easy task. There were so many people here! Goodness gracious!

The only other one I had a chance to get was signed by Bing Crosby who I love. Shout out to White Christmas y'all because it's my faves.

When then quickly made out way to the other side of the street where Jimmy Kimmel is taped. But that's not the reason for us wanting to go there.

But rather what was right next door.

Ahhhh. El Capitan.

The outside of this theatre is just amazing and one of the few pretty things to look at on this street lol. I can only imagine what it looks like inside. And to top it off Maleficent was playing. That would have been so freaking cool to see. We actually did humor the idea catching the next show but it was a few hours away and there was really no way we wanted to hang around Hollywood any longer than necessary. But that would have been really freaking cool.

We made our way next door to the Disney soda shop….oh wait I'm sorry….I almost forgot that they turned it into a Ghirardelli. Boo. Hiss. I just want to say that I love Starbucks and I love chocolate but I am a bit sad that it seems that Disney keeps changing the "brands" on some of their stuff. I have always wanted to have lunch in the Disney soda shop and it seemed that now that will go left unchecked on my bucket list…..forever. Waah.

It did not even look like the videos I had stalked and watched on you tube before the takeover. This made me even more sad.

Goofy seemed as confused as I did as to why this transformation needed to happen. On a positive note we did each get a free sample of chocolate. Whoo hoo!

We made our way out and I was on a mission to find Walt's star. I admit that I did not do the research beforehand to know where it was and never did find it. I would have assumed it would be close to the theatre and the store but I just could not find it. We did find Tinkerbell for Sydney, which she was happy about.

I did manage to find good old Michael Eisner and Mickey Mouse however so that was kind of cool. Apparently I caught a bit of Spidey's shoe also in this picture. Thankfully he was unaware and did not make us pay him for taking a picture of his leg.

We were just about to our limit but there was one last place we wanted to capture. Dolby Theatre. Did this not used to be the Kodak Theatre? Either way it's were the Oscars is held and that makes this place awesome.

Okay there you go. Mark it off the list. Done.

On the way out we saw this ad which made me think…."That moment when you get photobombed in your expensive ad by a giraffe" lol. Give me a break people at this point we were just grabbing for straws.

We made our way back to our car by means of the scary pee elevator and waited for the man to bring us our car. The kids entertained themselves by playing some game. They also managed to entertain us as well as the other 10 people or so that were standing around waiting for a cars. What else were we going to do in a parking garage? Finally they brought our car around and we were out of there quicker than you can say….well whatever you want we were out of there and out of Hollywood. Glad we did it. Was not worth the money paid to park. Will never feel the need to do that again….so help me.




​

 

[amandaw]

In thinking of possible excursions for our trip next year, Hollywood did pop into my mind. Only for a brief second though. And now you have pretty much helped push that thought even further away from my list of possibilities. If it were just myself & DH, I'd might be more likely to go but the thought of going there with a child makes me .

But, at least you can say you've done it! And you did get some cool pics!

 

[thornton0511]

In thinking of possible excursions for our trip next year, Hollywood did pop into my mind. Only for a brief second though. And now you have pretty much helped push that thought even further away from my list of possibilities. If it were just myself & DH, I'd might be more likely to go but the thought of going there with a child makes me .

But, at least you can say you've done it! And you did get some cool pics!

Lol please don't let my experience keep you from not going. I have read several trip reports here where people did Hollywood and seemed to enjoy it. It just was not for us. You just have to be aware of where you are and play it smart. The elevator did smell like pee though lol

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Oh Lord the Hollywood title alone brings back such annoying memories... UGH!

Seeing the Chinese Theatre itself is a treat for sure, not to mention the iconic handprints. But OH MY GOD I hated Hollywood.

Thankfully I did find Walt's Star. Sorry you weren't able to. In fact, I think there might be two of them, one for movies and one for TV. But hey, you found Tinker Bell and Eisner.

Yes, it did indeed use to be the Kodak until they had their financial issues. I still find it facinating that the famous staircase is surrounded by stores, lol. (or at least it did).

And UGH Again to Hollywood. I could not wait to get out of there and back to the friendly confines of Disneyland. So yeah, I am totally with you on that. Nice to say I did and saw it... now I never have to go back.

 

[kelmac284]

Hello I am following along and am enjoying your report. We have done many of the things you did but on different trips. We did Long Beach and stayed on the Queen Mary a few years back and that is amazing. They have really neat tours and we too explored the area across the way that you did. Long Beach too can be seedy in areas but we liked that part with the little harbor. I had to laugh about your hollywood stop. We are from Nor Cal and have been there several times and while I completely agree that area around Graumans is pretty seedy usually if you go during the day when it is full of tourists it is pretty safe. And as long as you stay in that one section of Hollywood blvd. There is a lot of cool stuff there and you are right inside the El Cap is amazing. We took my daughter to see the Santa Clause there for her birthday and they do a little show with Disney characters before hand and had an organ that they played and upstairs were several props and costumes. It was very neat. And I am sad to hear the Disney Soda Fountain has changed to Ghiradelli. We are going in Nov and I was hoping to stop but not sure now.

I have to add though that one time when we stayed at universal there is a subway that takes you down to Hollywood and we got on and a couple of guys got into an argument and one threated to kill the other and said he had a gun. Um yea won't be doing the subway EVER again. I have been on the one in NY and DC and wasn't worried a bit and then I get on one in LA and YIKES.

But we also did a tour of the Dolby theater and that is super cool and we did a tour in the buses which is also really fun. So there are fun things to do you just have to be careful.

Loved the Grove as well and we were just there this past march.

Loving your report so far and anxious for your next installment.

 

[thornton0511]

Oh Lord the Hollywood title alone brings back such annoying memories... UGH!
Glad to see I am not alone on this one Rob! Annoying memories....you made me snort laugh when I read this. I think you need to do a trip report and tell us about these annoying memories! I would love to hear it from your point of view and what happened
Seeing the Chinese Theatre itself is a treat for sure, not to mention the iconic handprints. But OH MY GOD I hated Hollywood.
Ugh! No kidding. I just wanted to tell everyone to take 20 steps back and please let me see the freaking handprints and signatures lol
Thankfully I did find Walt's Star. Sorry you weren't able to. In fact, I think there might be two of them, one for movies and one for TV. But hey, you found Tinker Bell and Eisner.
ugh he has 2? and I could not even find one lol. Do you remember where they are? I swear we walked up and down both sides of Hollywood Blvd looking for it!
Yes, it did indeed use to be the Kodak until they had their financial issues. I still find it facinating that the famous staircase is surrounded by stores, lol. (or at least it did).
Ha! Yes the stores are still there and it did seem odd that this is where the celebrities walk.
And UGH Again to Hollywood. I could not wait to get out of there and back to the friendly confines of Disneyland. So yeah, I am totally with you on that. Nice to say I did and saw it... now I never have to go back.

lol. Yeah never ever again!

 

[thornton0511]

Hello I am following along and am enjoying your report. We have done many of the things you did but on different trips. We did Long Beach and stayed on the Queen Mary a few years back and that is amazing. They have really neat tours and we too explored the area across the way that you did. Long Beach too can be seedy in areas but we liked that part with the little harbor. I had to laugh about your hollywood stop. We are from Nor Cal and have been there several times and while I completely agree that area around Graumans is pretty seedy usually if you go during the day when it is full of tourists it is pretty safe. And as long as you stay in that one section of Hollywood blvd. There is a lot of cool stuff there and you are right inside the El Cap is amazing. We took my daughter to see the Santa Clause there for her birthday and they do a little show with Disney characters before hand and had an organ that they played and upstairs were several props and costumes. It was very neat. And I am sad to hear the Disney Soda Fountain has changed to Ghiradelli. We are going in Nov and I was hoping to stop but not sure now.

I have to add though that one time when we stayed at universal there is a subway that takes you down to Hollywood and we got on and a couple of guys got into an argument and one threated to kill the other and said he had a gun. Um yea won't be doing the subway EVER again. I have been on the one in NY and DC and wasn't worried a bit and then I get on one in LA and YIKES.

But we also did a tour of the Dolby theater and that is super cool and we did a tour in the buses which is also really fun. So there are fun things to do you just have to be careful.

Loved the Grove as well and we were just there this past march.

Loving your report so far and anxious for your next installment.

Hi Kelly! So happy to have you join!! Oh my goodness you actually stayed at the Queen Mary? You are brave my dear! There is no way on God's green earth that I would stay, even if someone paid me, overnight. Nope. No way! I does sound exciting though I have to admit. Yeah I gotta tell you I kind of thought SoCal in general seemed kind of sketchy.....not all of it. There are some places that were amazing but then some not so much. I really had mixed feeling about all of it. That is so cool that you guys saw Santa Clause there! I have seen pics of the inside and it look awesome! Oh my goodness your subway story I cannot even imagine! That is so much worse than an elevator that smells like pee lol. I think overall if we had paid to do some of the tours and things in Hollywood it would have been much better and worth the trip but just to pay to park and walk around for a bit was not so much. Anyways glad you are here

 

[thornton0511]

Getting Back to Long Beach and a Late Dinner

We were glad to be in our car and driving off of Hollywood blvd. We came to the end of the road and I saw this familiar place.

The Magic Castle! Now that would be a cool thing to experience. It looked a lot nicer than it does in pictures too. So anyways we continued ahead and we were soooo ready to be back at the hotel and out of LA.

We were on I-10 and seemed to be doing pretty good with time and traffic until we came to an abrupt stop.

There was some sort of wreck or something because it caused the entire interstate to be shut down. Thankfully after sitting there for a good while we were able to maneuver our way out and around. The problem was that we did not know enough about the roads in LA and had no idea how else to get back to Long Beach….except to drive all the way back to Santa Monica and get back on the 405 that way. So that is what we did. And yes it took forever too. But we made it.

We got back and they were already serving desserts on our floor. We were soooo hungry by this time but since we had not had dinner yet we once again took some goodies back to our room for later. We then made our way over to the pier for dinner. Tonight we decided on something easy going. Chili's. This is the restaurant I work at. Well not this exact one but you know what I mean. It's usually hard for me to eat at one of these because I feel like I am still at work and find it hard to relax, and so for that reason I usually will just bring Chili's home with me when I work late and that is how we get our fix, with a discount.

It had been a long day I was so tired. I apologize for not taking pictures of stuff. I forgot. Sometime after we ordered chips lol. But I will tell you that the kids each had the kids grilled chicken platter with a dinner salad for their side and the hubs and I just split a triple dipper with eggrolls, boneless buffalo wings, and honey chipotle chicken crispers. Total with discount and tip came to $28.

The kids did enjoy playing games on the ziosks they put on the tables. If you have not been to a Chili's in the last several months you should go. This is a new technology and it does some really neat things to enhance your experience. Our store was selected to be a test store so we have had these for a while but I believe most if not all Chili's have them now. I will not do my spill here about what all they do, so go find out for yourself lol.

After dinner we made the peaceful walk back to our hotel and up to our room to shower and relax before going to sleep.

To go with our desserts we had waiting in our room we had our chocolate samples

And our box of lemon cookies…..mmmmmmm.

That's a whole lot of dessert. Fortunately we put away the lemon cookies and the chocolates for another time and settled for a few cookies before exhaustion took over and we were asleep….dreaming of Disney to come.
​

 

[amandaw]

Glad y'all finally made it back to the hotel. That traffic....YIKES!!

And Chili's is always a good option, IMO. I really like those new electronic things @ the table, especially just for being able to pay your ticket when ready.

That box of lemon cookies looks sooooo delicious!!

 

[kelmac284]

LOL yes there are quite a few areas of LA that are sketchy I agree. Staying on the Queen Mary was actually really cool. Would you not like it because it is a boat or because of it being "haunted" LOL. We had actually gone down on a multi day trip that included San Diego and Disney and we had decided to stay at the Queen Mary and ended up getting upgraded into a suite. It was GIGANTIC and after doing the "haunted" tour I was kind of keyed up. Then that night we were sleeping and I started hearing dragging noises above me. Between the anticipation and the noises I thought I was going to have a heart attack but then found out the next day we were under the kitchen LOL. But I love old kind of creepy stuff as long as I don't actually get spooked by ghosts LOL. It is really beautiful and it was very cool to stay there.

Anywho loving your report and anxious for your next installment