For the first time in forever...I'm not in WDW! July 2014 Dland DR; UD 12/16

[rachel09985]

Hello fellow dining friends!

Not sure if I am supposed to post non WDW pictures in this board but I wanted to give a brief update on my California & Disneyland trip/dining! It was very enjoyable, different, but still enjoyable. We loved California and can't wait to go back.

We arrived in California on Wed July 2nd, spent that night in Brentwood, CA then got to Disneyland about 2 on July 3rd. We stayed at the Best Western right across the road. It wasn't my favorite, but the walk was sure nice. We then left Disneyland on July 6th on a redeye back!

 

[Couchy]

Hi Rachel! ohhh California. I've never been but am very interested in hearing how it was. Looks like fun

 

[jabead]

Count me in! I was so happy to see that you are doing a DR from your California trip.

 

[elphie101]

I'll be here! I've really enjoyed your other dining reviews.

 

[MrsB1228]

Sounds great! Looking forward to reading about your DL dining adventures!

 

[MYD714]

We're heading out to DLR soon, so I can't wait for your reviews!

 

[rachel09985]

Hi Rachel! ohhh California. I've never been but am very interested in hearing how it was. Looks like fun

Hi! Hopefully I can provide good insight. I will definitely make a list of the pros and cons of Disneyland at the end.

Count me in! I was so happy to see that you are doing a DR from your California trip.

Hi Barb! Glad to have you! I did contemplate doing this/a trip report. I don't think I have enough time for a trip report so I will do this one and add some non Disney things in too.

I'll be here! I've really enjoyed your other dining reviews.

Thanks for joining!!

Sounds great! Looking forward to reading about your DL dining adventures!

Thanks!

We're heading out to DLR soon, so I can't wait for your reviews!

I gotta get moving then if you are leaving in a week

 

[rachel09985]

Let me begin by saying this trip was a trip of firsts; almost everything we did was a first!

First time to disneyland, first time to california, first time leaving our car at the airport, first time renting a car together, and corey's first time out west! He was just so incredibly excited because the last time we experienced a first time destination together was our first time to WDW in 2008!

Our flight landed at 9:45 then we took a shuttle to Avis and got our car pretty quickly! We got a brand new Toyota Camry which was so nice!

We drove to our hotel which was called the Brentwood Inn. It was a boutique hotel with a small amount of rooms. I LOVED this hotel. I highly recommend it! Unfortunately, our room wasn't ready so we had to leave our bags in the office which I wasn't entirely comfortable with, since it wasn't locked.

Then off we went to lunch: which was at In N' Out. This is essentially the west's version of Five Guys. We love Five Guys so we were excited to try the infamous In N Out!



I ordered just a regular cheeseburger and Corey got a double double. We both got a side of fries. I got everything on mine and Corey just got cheese.



I really liked the burger! Probably better than Five Guys. I liked the sauce on the burger and the toppings were good. It reminded me of Culver's. However, I didn't care for the fries. They are supposed to be fresh cut but they weren't the greatest. Five Guys definitely wins on the fries. However, In N Out won on the price! It is so cheap there surprisingly. Overall, Five Guys still wins in my book. Also, In n Out gave me horrible heartburn for the rest of the day! No bueno!

After lunch it was time to go on our excursion around SoCal! First we went to Hollywood which was hard to find a parking spot. I didn't realize that parking would be so expensive in LA. There was really no free public parking. We parked at a ramp attached to CVS.

This was a crazy area. I am not sure I would ever go back here if I was in SoCal again.

No food on this stop but here are some photos.

So excited to find his star





In front of the disney/ghirardelli store.



At this point we didn't think we would see the Hollywood sign so we were excited to see it now.



Then we saw the chinese theatre and all the handprints!





Mickey Mouse- hard to see!



We got stopped by the Jimmy Kimmel show asking us to answer a question for their live show. Of, course, I wanted to do it, since it sounded funny. Corey talked me out of it THANK GOD because we found out it wasn't really answering questions,they wanted us to sing the national anthem!!! OMG I would have been so embarrassed if I did that.

This is right outside the disney store.



We went through Hollywood pretty quickly then we wanted to check out the rich area of Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive. I LOVED this area. Granted, I couldn't afford to buy anything but it is just so cool to walk around. Unfortunately, we didn't see any celebrities.

One of my must do's was to get a Sprinkles cupcake and it was in this area.







This was very good but messy! There weren't any seats so I had to stand while eating which wasn't enjoyable but it was fine. The red velvet had a great flavor. This wasn't as good as Magnolia Bakery but I still liked it.

They even have a cupcake ATM outside!



After this Corey wanted to get his treat which was at the UCLA campus, a place called Diddy Riese. After a horrendous time finding a parking spot we finally got there.



He got an ice cream sandwich and I got a shaved ice. His sandwich was $1.75 and mine was $1.00! Talk about cheap!!






He was OBSESSED with this. That is all I can say! We also got some cookies for a midnight snack.

Coming up- dinner in Malibu

 

[goodeats]

So fun seeing a tourist's perspective on LA! Curious where you went in Malibu? I have a few guesses...

I went to UCLA and know Diddy Reese well!

 

[rachel09985]

So fun seeing a tourist's perspective on LA! Curious where you went in Malibu? I have a few guesses...

I went to UCLA and know Diddy Reese well!

You will soon find out!

I loved UCLA campus!

 

[Couchy]

So fun We recently got a five guys here in buffalo and I love it but try to ignore it I have always heard about in and out and have always wanted to try.

My DH goes to Cali once a year for business and I think I will join him next year

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

I can't wait to see what you thought of Disneyland. After an amazing visit last year, we don't have another visit on the horizon, so it'll be nice to live vicariously and see what your highlights were (both the food and the rides)!

And it looks like you had some great food stops on your first day. I tried a Sprinkles cupcake this year while visiting a friend in DC - it was lemon meringue with a lemon curd filling and graham cracker crust. So good! Diddy Riese also looks amazing, especially considering those prices.

 

[sunnysideup3]

Subbing in! Can't wait to read more, I'm in the info gathering phase for our 2016 Disneyland/ SoCal trip, so this is perfect!

 

[rachel09985]

So fun We recently got a five guys here in buffalo and I love it but try to ignore it I have always heard about in and out and have always wanted to try.

My DH goes to Cali once a year for business and I think I will join him next year

Yes, you definitely should tag along with him. We really loved Cali and Corey is trying to plan in another trip there sometime soon.

I can't wait to see what you thought of Disneyland. After an amazing visit last year, we don't have another visit on the horizon, so it'll be nice to live vicariously and see what your highlights were (both the food and the rides)!

And it looks like you had some great food stops on your first day. I tried a Sprinkles cupcake this year while visiting a friend in DC - it was lemon meringue with a lemon curd filling and graham cracker crust. So good! Diddy Riese also looks amazing, especially considering those prices.

That Sprinkles cupcake you had sounds amazing! I love lemon curd!!

Subbing in! Can't wait to read more, I'm in the info gathering phase for our 2016 Disneyland/ SoCal trip, so this is perfect!

Perfect timing! Glad to have you!

 

[MrsB1228]

Great start! We have a Five Guys here and it's delish! We don't go very often but when we do ... heaven!

I'm drooling over your cupcake! Corey's ice cream sandwich looks ah-mazing! What kind of ice cream did he choose, it looks seriously delicious.

 

[rachel09985]

Since it was dinner time at home it was dinner time (for us) in California. Our destination was a stop on the Pacific Coast Highway- called Malibu Seafood. Corey planned out this part of our trip and he really wanted to have an authentic seafood joint.

I though the traffic would be a lot worse in California. Everyone talks about how bad it is. I did not think it was too bad and this was about 5 pm on a Wed night. Maybe it is because we are used to driving in traffic to downtown Minneapolis every day? It was worse driving in the city than driving on the highway there.

Our first glimpse of the Pacific ocean was heaven! We both have never seen that ocean before.



Our destination overlooking the pacific ocean



All seating is outside here but it all has an ocean view!





You order inside this little building and then you are given a pager and then they call you when your food is ready. We were starving so it felt like it took forever. But we finally got our food.

Corey got blackened tilapia with french fries and a salad.



I got swordfish with coleslaw and a baked potato.



I was also being a piggy and got one fish taco.



It was all good! Corey really liked his blackened tilapia and I liked that more than my swordfish. I guess I like more flaky fish and not such thick and meaty fish like swordfish. It had a good flavor but I think I prefer lighter fish more. The coleslaw wasn't great. However, the fish taco was delicious!! It was so fresh and full with fish. It was huge! I should have just got two fish tacos.

All in all dinner was great! I truly felt like I was on vacation. Next time we go to California we want to go to Disneyland followed by a beach stay.

After dinner it was time to drive further on the PCH and go to Venice Beach.

This is where the traffic started getting worse. It also was very hard to find parking here.



Venice Beach is very eclectic. There were a lot of weirdos and lots of illegal drug activities going on! Lot of "medical" shops. It was still kind of fun and we loved seeing Muscle Beach and the skate park.

I liked this dog!



The skate park was so fun to watch!



Ocean!



Next stop was Santa Monica Pier. I liked this much better than Venice Beach. I felt more safe here. Haha!





We watched the sun set here which was beautiful! It was so cool to see it go behind mountains. Where I come from there are no mountains whatsoever so the mountains here were a treat to see.





I also got coffee here because it was chilly. Someone warned me about it being chilly at night and I didn't really believe them but they were right!

The Coffee Bean is the big coffee shop here and it was everywhere. I have never heard of it before this trip but it is a local California coffee shop.



I ordered a white mocha. It was expensive! I think this medium white mocha was $6 or $7!

I did not like this as much as Starbucks. I was watching them make the drinks and they use powder for everything! Whereas Starbucks use white chocolate syrup here they use white chocolate powder. I thought that was odd.



After this we headed to the promenade and walked around there for an hour. I wish I had more time here!! There were so many stores and I wanted to shop but the stores were almost closed. Definitely recommend this area.

 

[superme80]

I'm in! Disneyland is my home park! I love first time visitors view! Loving the report already! And love love LOVE the title!

 

[vettegirl]

Yay DL is my favorite!! Love the cupcake ATM, that's right up my alley. I have never had any luck with in and out, but they are building one down the road from my house, will have to try it one more time Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[elphie101]

Hooray for Cali! We had planned to try an In-N-Out when we were on the West Coast for the first time but never managed to make it over there. Ah well. There's always next time!

I like your Hollywood pictures and it's awesome you got to see the sign! We missed it on our day cause I was so foggy.

Mmmmm seafood by the Pacific - doesn't get much better than that.

 

[rachel09985]

I'm in! Disneyland is my home park! I love first time visitors view! Loving the report already! And love love LOVE the title!

Thanks so much! Glad to have you along.

Yay DL is my favorite!! Love the cupcake ATM, that's right up my alley. I have never had any luck with in and out, but they ate building one down the road from my house, will have to try it one more time

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

Yeah, I will never crave in-n-out again but it was good to try once.

Hooray for Cali! We had planned to try an In-N-Out when we were on the West Coast for the first time but never managed to make it over there. Ah well. There's always next time!

I like your Hollywood pictures and it's awesome you got to see the sign! We missed it on our day cause I was so foggy.

Mmmmm seafood by the Pacific - doesn't get much better than that.

I was soo surprised how foggy it was every day especially in the morning. It was neat.