Frozen2014
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2014
Intro and Summary
They say 'time flies when you're having fun' and after returning from our trip, I sure can vouch for that! Our 10 day trip to LA area and Disneyland felt more like 4 days max. I'm a planner, and started the planning this trip a year ago and then bam, it's over. But of course not complaining, that means that all went smooth and we had a blast! Here is a link to my pre-report:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/c...sneyland-in-aug-2017-sounds-great-eh.3573054/
Why do a report? While waiting for our trip to come, I love reading other people's trip reports, so I thought I'd do one as well to share with others. (Also love reading them afterwards to compare to our own experiences). Moreover, it helps with those post-trip blues, and helps keep the memories fresh.
As a background, we have been to Disney World once in 2014 and this was our first trip to Disneyland and CA. Our trip was from Thurs Aug 24 - Sat Sept 2.
Contents
Day 1 - Hollywood
Day 2 - Universal Studios
Day 3 - Part 1 - LA Tour
Day 3 - Part 2 - Dolby Theatre
Day 4 - Part 1 - Warner Brother's Tour
Day 4 - Part 2 - Santa Monica Pier
Day 5 - Part 1 - Goodbye Hollywood. Hello Disney!
Day 5 - Part 2 - Downtown Disney
Day 6 - Part 1 - Disney Parks - Getting Ready for our First Day
Day 6 - Part 2 - Disney Parks - Magic Morning
Day 6 - Part 3 - Disney Parks - Explore Adventureland, New Orleans Square and Critter Country
Day 6 - Part 4 - Disney Parks - Disney California Adventure
Day 7 - Part 1 - Disney Parks - Tomorrowland and Repeat of Favorites
Day 7 - Part 2 - Disney Parks - Return to DCA
Day 7 - Part 3 - Disney Parks - Café Orleans and RSR Back Online?
Day 8 - Part 1 - Disney Parks - DCA Start This Time
Day 8 - Part 2 - Disney Parks - DCA is Heating Up
Day 8 - Part 3 - Disney Parks - Over to DL Before Evening Activities
Day 8 - Part 4 - Disney Parks - WOC Dessert Party
Day 9 - Part 1 - Disney Parks - Our Last Park Day
Day 9 - Part 2 – Disney Parks - Hitting Our Favorites One Last Time at DCA
Day 9 - Part 3 – Disney Parks - Fantasmic Dinner Package
Day 9 - Part 4 – Disney Parks - Disneyland at Night
Day 9 - Part 5 – Disney Parks - Fantasmic and Fireworks
Day 10 - Return Home
Disneyland or Disney World Fan?
FastPass+ vs Legacy FastPass vs MaxPass
Did We See Everything in 4 Days?
Conclusion
The Players
There’s me (the planner), DH (makes fun of me but is easy going and goes with the flow), DS12 and DD8.
Day 1 - Hollywood
Our flight from Toronto, Ontario to LAX was uneventful (which is a good thing!). We planned to use uber to get to our hotel in Hollywood but a taxi was right there and we didn't know where to go for Uber so we just got in the taxi. This probably was a bad idea since the drive took so long due to traffic. It amazed us all the cars that were out at 1pm on a Thursday! Don't people work?
After a 1hr drive, we checked into Hollywood Orchid Suites. We were quite happy with the motel. Our room was quite wide and it had a separate kitchen. Now, I wasn't going to be cooking while on vacation, but the extra space was nice. We also got lucky and had one of the few rooms with a balcony on the main level that overlooked the pool. Breakfast was included each morning and helped to get us going (with the nicest lady helping out).
After settling in, we checked out the area. Our hotel was basically at Hollywood and Highland with the walk of fame, Dolby Theatre, and a bunch of tourist attractions. The walk of fame is fun to see how many stars you recognise (while at the same time, not bumping into anyone). I didn't realise that it went on so long....for blocks and blocks on both sides. Note that this photo isn't that common as Hollywood Boulevard is typically wall to wall people - including annoying people dressed up like 'warped' characters trying to charge you for photos, or other trying to scam you by selling cds, or even some with snakes around their neck. Gross. We pulled our kids as far away from those as we could.
We were all hungry so we made an important stop - to Guidarelli Ice Cream shop. (From what I remember, that was our lunch).
After that, we decided to check Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. We had seen it before in NY and Buffalo but it's still fun. When else do you get to meet Angelina Jolie, Pierce Brosnan, Simon Cowell and Spiderman? They are all pretty nice and not divas at all...lol.
We finished with dinner in the area and were pretty tired. Ontario is 3 hrs behind California so at say 7pm, it was 10pm for us....which is quite late for our kids, especially for the 8 year old. So off to bed for us.
They say 'time flies when you're having fun' and after returning from our trip, I sure can vouch for that! Our 10 day trip to LA area and Disneyland felt more like 4 days max. I'm a planner, and started the planning this trip a year ago and then bam, it's over. But of course not complaining, that means that all went smooth and we had a blast! Here is a link to my pre-report:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/c...sneyland-in-aug-2017-sounds-great-eh.3573054/
Why do a report? While waiting for our trip to come, I love reading other people's trip reports, so I thought I'd do one as well to share with others. (Also love reading them afterwards to compare to our own experiences). Moreover, it helps with those post-trip blues, and helps keep the memories fresh.
As a background, we have been to Disney World once in 2014 and this was our first trip to Disneyland and CA. Our trip was from Thurs Aug 24 - Sat Sept 2.
Contents
Day 1 - Hollywood
Day 2 - Universal Studios
Day 3 - Part 1 - LA Tour
Day 3 - Part 2 - Dolby Theatre
Day 4 - Part 1 - Warner Brother's Tour
Day 4 - Part 2 - Santa Monica Pier
Day 5 - Part 1 - Goodbye Hollywood. Hello Disney!
Day 5 - Part 2 - Downtown Disney
Day 6 - Part 1 - Disney Parks - Getting Ready for our First Day
Day 6 - Part 2 - Disney Parks - Magic Morning
Day 6 - Part 3 - Disney Parks - Explore Adventureland, New Orleans Square and Critter Country
Day 6 - Part 4 - Disney Parks - Disney California Adventure
Day 7 - Part 1 - Disney Parks - Tomorrowland and Repeat of Favorites
Day 7 - Part 2 - Disney Parks - Return to DCA
Day 7 - Part 3 - Disney Parks - Café Orleans and RSR Back Online?
Day 8 - Part 1 - Disney Parks - DCA Start This Time
Day 8 - Part 2 - Disney Parks - DCA is Heating Up
Day 8 - Part 3 - Disney Parks - Over to DL Before Evening Activities
Day 8 - Part 4 - Disney Parks - WOC Dessert Party
Day 9 - Part 1 - Disney Parks - Our Last Park Day
Day 9 - Part 2 – Disney Parks - Hitting Our Favorites One Last Time at DCA
Day 9 - Part 3 – Disney Parks - Fantasmic Dinner Package
Day 9 - Part 4 – Disney Parks - Disneyland at Night
Day 9 - Part 5 – Disney Parks - Fantasmic and Fireworks
Day 10 - Return Home
Disneyland or Disney World Fan?
FastPass+ vs Legacy FastPass vs MaxPass
Did We See Everything in 4 Days?
Conclusion
The Players
There’s me (the planner), DH (makes fun of me but is easy going and goes with the flow), DS12 and DD8.
Day 1 - Hollywood
Our flight from Toronto, Ontario to LAX was uneventful (which is a good thing!). We planned to use uber to get to our hotel in Hollywood but a taxi was right there and we didn't know where to go for Uber so we just got in the taxi. This probably was a bad idea since the drive took so long due to traffic. It amazed us all the cars that were out at 1pm on a Thursday! Don't people work?
After a 1hr drive, we checked into Hollywood Orchid Suites. We were quite happy with the motel. Our room was quite wide and it had a separate kitchen. Now, I wasn't going to be cooking while on vacation, but the extra space was nice. We also got lucky and had one of the few rooms with a balcony on the main level that overlooked the pool. Breakfast was included each morning and helped to get us going (with the nicest lady helping out).
After settling in, we checked out the area. Our hotel was basically at Hollywood and Highland with the walk of fame, Dolby Theatre, and a bunch of tourist attractions. The walk of fame is fun to see how many stars you recognise (while at the same time, not bumping into anyone). I didn't realise that it went on so long....for blocks and blocks on both sides. Note that this photo isn't that common as Hollywood Boulevard is typically wall to wall people - including annoying people dressed up like 'warped' characters trying to charge you for photos, or other trying to scam you by selling cds, or even some with snakes around their neck. Gross. We pulled our kids as far away from those as we could.
We were all hungry so we made an important stop - to Guidarelli Ice Cream shop. (From what I remember, that was our lunch).
After that, we decided to check Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. We had seen it before in NY and Buffalo but it's still fun. When else do you get to meet Angelina Jolie, Pierce Brosnan, Simon Cowell and Spiderman? They are all pretty nice and not divas at all...lol.
We finished with dinner in the area and were pretty tired. Ontario is 3 hrs behind California so at say 7pm, it was 10pm for us....which is quite late for our kids, especially for the 8 year old. So off to bed for us.
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