Soarin Over California: Complete! Disneyland, Hollywood and San Diego!

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Then we came upon an old mine

We saw a lot of little sized lizards during our walk, but this guy was huge! He had one of those head circle things that I always associate with velociraptors...luckily he had no interest in eating us


disclaimer: not what we saw. phew.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Huh, this grows in the desert?!

We were back to the car around 9:30, a lot of other hikers/sightseers were just now showing up in the parking lot (I am very proud of our early rising hah).

It was about a 15 minute drive to the opposite end of the preserve than we'd come in at.

Before we say bye to Joshua Tree I have some panoramic shots.

Then we were on our way!

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Now comes the surprise detour of the trip. We decided since we had the $77 2 day ticket for Universal that we should go back and try to ride Transformers. So we took a different route back from the desert and ended up back in Hollywood. Ah Hollywood, I've drove back and forth to you so many times in such a short time.

saw this billboard everywhere

We did stop at a Del Taco for lunch on the way because I wanted to try it out. Brian said when he lived there it was worse than Taco Bell (he loves Mexican food and thinks Taco Bell is the devil). He said it definitely was better this time around, and I learned an important lesson. I can't eat tacos while driving. I can't eat anything while driving, really, actually, I can't eat anything at all without a huge mess. My friends always make fun of me and say that I store food in my hair for later. I thought it was on par with Taco Bell, I don't have the most refined palate so I probably just couldn't tell haha.

Wooo Game of Thrones bench!!

WB Water Tower (I was pretty such I saw Wacko)

Heart Care Bears

Oh my gosh, what a difference! Now that we weren't there on a weekend, City Walk was deserted and so was the whole park!

Transformers was open to everyone and we walked right on.

O-M-G!! Transformers is the best ride I have ever been on. Put Spiderman and Forbidden Journey together and its still not as good as Transformers! Its a motion ride that has a car like the Spiderman car, you are riding inside a transformer who is trying to get the All Spark to safety. Your transformer battles and runs down city streets and you get to interact with Optimus, Bumblebee, Starscream and tons more. It is just an amazing ride, we probably should have gone on it more than twice.

The queue was really nicely done but I could barely stop to look as we were racing through.

I got a bumblebee tshirt in the gift shop I was so impressed with the ride.

We then walked right onto the Mummy.

I forget the one in Florida, and I'm not sure if they are the same or not but
we were totally surprised by the slow start and then the immediate jump kick in speed. In fact, Brian had the funniest ride photo ever, and if it hadn't been $30 I would have totally bought it. His eyes looked like they were popping out of his head, it was amazingly funny. We couldn't snap a redneck ride photo of it either because the attendants were standing right there. I wish I had that picture.

Instead of the awesome picture you can look at this one instead.

We also walked onto Jurassic Park, which I think was exactly the same as Universal Florida.

We went back to the upper level,

we still wanted to see the Animal Show and one other show, neither of the times were showing anytime soon (Universal Hollywood has a some of the show times that are reserved for pass holder only, so its good to check the time guide at the start of the day).

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

I loved the design of this poster

Brian's favorite Doctor Suess book was the Lorax, so I forced him to get this picture

Oh Spongebob, as he was walking to his meeting place his little shorts were billowing up and blowing around his legs...either his air conditioning unit was working overtime or I don't know what was going on. Only you, Spongebob

Too true

Oh those eyes! I somehow managed to resist and did not purchase a Puss in Boots, also, side note, we watched that movie a few weeks ago and thought it was hilarious, a lot better than the recent Shreks anyway.

I also made Brian pose by this horse, since he likes horses

That's about how the days' pictures went...
Rachel: Brian, you like that! Pose with it!
Brian: I don't really need my picture with...
Rachel: I said pose with it!! Stop ruining the vacation!!

We slowly made our way out

cool little wave pool at one of the shops

then we stopped at a popcorn shop in City Walk for some barbecue popcorn, which was delicious!!

Even though we only stopped at Universal for a short time, I thought it would have been worth it just to ride Transformers once, such an amazing ride.

We decided that while we were still in the area we should knock off a few of the other extras we had wanted to do in Hollywood.

What in the world...

We got to drive past what I think of as the main part of Hollywood again (Grauman's Theatre, Kodak Theatre, those couple blocks).

I wish you could take tours of the Muppet Studios. Brian also loves the Muppets, luckily for him I did not demand that he tuck and roll out of the car for a photo opportunity.

About a ten minute drive past that area we found Pink's Hot Dogs. Apparently Pink's gets a lot of press and they had pictures up showing all the celebrities that like to eat there. They have queue lines set up on the sidewalk so we parked the car at a meter and got in line. The line was only about 15 minutes. All the hot dog choices had clever names. I got the Lord of the Rings Dog which had bbq sauce and onion rings, it was very good, but I ate all the onion rings separate. They were just too big to eat while on the hot dog. They have a nice area set up behind the stand with tables and shade.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

After our hot dogs we got back in the car and drove down the street another 5 or so minutes and found La Brea Tar Pits. We had to pay $7 to park in their lot (not happy about that, it was $7 after 4 pm, before 4 you paid by the hour, we arrived at 4:08 or so). We decided not to go in the museum since it closed at 5:30, the cashier did tell me we could get in half price at 4:30, but we decided to just walk around outside instead.

Wait...direwolves were real?!?! Game of Thrones reference again

Poor baby mastodon, that is totally a scene out of a Disney movie:

Dad nooooo! Then the baby ends up facing trials and tribulations and meets his one true love and then accepts his rightful place as Lion Ki...er. Yeah.

I loved the city buildings right behind something I've always thought of as so prehistoric

Tar pit for insects

There is the one pretty big lake that has the statues around it, then there are some smaller pits all over. There were even a few in the parking lot that were roped off. I thought the most interesting thing was the ongoing dig, you can stand outside the fence and watch and interact with the diggers. They have a whiteboard that is updated with all their finds, and a link to the website that says you can even set up a time to volunteer and help with the dig.

Don't worry bud, I won't let the tar pits get ya.

Come on people...these are tar pits, not trash cans. I guess to some the whole world is a giant trash can.


I thought it was interesting to see this, but not interesting enough to want to see it again.

Finally we were on our way out of Hollywood/LA for the last time (truthfully). We took the coastal highway again on our way to SD.

It was a very pretty drive, and I was super jealous of all the nice houses that got to border the beach.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

We arrived at Loew's Coronado Hotel around 8 pm. This was the hotel I'd been saving up for by staying at places like the Super 8 at Disneyland.

To be truthful, I really wanted the Hotel del Coronado, but I just couldn't justify $300 a night.

I got a good deal, they were renovating the lobby so it was closed off and I saved 25% a night! So my rates were approximately $130 a night, there was supposed to be a parking fee of $10 but it never showed up on the bill.

The temporary check in desk was near the hotel market place (had a tiny coffee shop and bakery and other little items). The two front desk employees were super cheerful and I think they could tell how excited we were to be there because...we got a free upgrade!! I acted suitably (or maybe more than was warranted) excited and we parked the car in their conveniently located garage (the garage had elevators that went straight
up into the hallways) and were off to check out our room!! It was as amazing as I thought, huge, and had a great view of the bay!!

Loved the shelf over the bathtub, I want one for my house

We ordered a pizza from Donatos (I don't really love their pizza, but it was the only place we could find that delivered). We each had our own box and ate in bed while we watched POTC On Stranger Tides (we are extremely classy, if you did not already know this).



UP NEXT: We go to the SD Safari Park and then hit up Old Town!! We were
supposed to go to Old Town this night and then go on a horseback
trail ride at night on Monday, but I guess that'll have to be saved
for next trip!


QUOTEABLE QUOTES: I don't think there were any quoteable quotes for these later days, at least I don't remember any. Very sad.

LOWLIGHTS OF DAY 8: all the driving back and forth. I reeeeally need to plan the next one better so we stay in the same area.

HIGHLIGHTS OF DAY 8: the amazing hotel room!! so so so nice and the view is lovely and we have a balcony!! And definitely the Transformers ride, so sweet.

 

[Khiori]

Are you SERIOUS?! You did all that stuff in one day?! That's amazing!

Thank you so much for the JTNP pics and report. Like I said before, I LOVE Joshua Tree.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Are you SERIOUS?! You did all that stuff in one day?! That's amazing!

Thank you so much for the JTNP pics and report. Like I said before, I LOVE Joshua Tree.

hi Khiori hows it goin?

And yeah, I don't really know how to relax on vacation. I really love to see new things and explore, so I will feel bad if I feel like I didn't get to see something that would have been awesome.

Joshua Tree was super nice, we really enjoyed it and probably could have spent another night at least.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

I very much liked my new vinylmation, Jack Sparrow -

Captain.

Whats that Jack?

That'd be Captain Jack Sparrow.

Ah, you are right. Ok, I very much liked my new vinylmation, Captain Jack Sparrow, so I decided to let him write a little report on his
experiences in the Joshua Tree Preserve.

So without further ado, here is Captain Jack Sparrow.

You can put me down now, Rachel, savvy?

There now, much better.

So then, I am going to give you Captain Jack Sparrow's tips on how to survive a trip to the desert!


Number 1: Pack rum

Where is the rum?

Number 2: Obtain a suitable traveling companion to do all your heavy lifting

Number 3: Try to avoid walking the plank. Yes, there are planks even in the desert

Number 4: Avoid nasty crawling...things

Number 5: Seek shelter for the night

I prefer a good hammock

Number 6: Stay hydrated

Why is the rum gone?!

Number 7: Seek out the treasure

Number 8: obtain suitable transport out of said desert as quickly as possible

Now show me that horizon

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Here are some daytime views from the balcony:

Tuesday was another sleep in day for us...nah, I'm totally joking of course we were up and ready to go around 7 am. Today's plan involved us going to the San Diego zoo and safari park, however, a few hours into the morning we realized we could never do both in one day so we decided to just concentrate on the Safari Park. I think we would have rather gone to the zoo, but I had purchased our tickets from that really awesome half off deal from Living Social (San Diego zoo/safari park tickets are exxpensive, geez).

We had some leftover pizza for breakfast and then we were on our way. For a long time. Brian forgot how far outside of the city the safari park was, so it took us about twice as long as we'd expected to get there.

We arrived about half an hour after the park had opened (it opened at 9) and we headed straight for the safari tram ride. We had gone back and forth on paying more for one of the more elaborate safari options, but it was just too much money.

We got on the first tram that pulled in and had our own row.

I feel like I should warn everyone, I am about to become a pretty big snob. I've been to Africa before and been on a real safari, I've been on WDW's Kilimanjaro Safari ride...that said, I did not enjoy this particular safari ride.

I like how KS makes it seem like you are actually driving through the African wilderness. This ride...oh look, there are some pretty big fences, I can see almost the entire layout of the 'safari' and a lot of the animals weren't even that close. You don't even go through the safari, you drive along the outskirts.

I do realize that this is to give the animals more peace, and I have read that them having this large of an area has equaled great success in breeding programs for a lot of animals that never wanted to 'get it on' in zoos before. Having said that...I was still disappointed. I wanted a more immersive experience.

Look! an awesome assortment of sweet african animals...behind a chain link fence

I love these guys, in Africa we nicknamed them 'bullseye butts'

This is the park's oldest rhino, our guide said she spends most of her time napping

Watching the giraffe drink was very cool

That safari jeep is in trooouble

When this shot was taken, there were about 20 people crowded around the small window and most
of them were little kids that were there with a school group. I am not sure if the lion was upset
at how many people where there or what, but he glared at us for a good couple of minutes, then he
turned around and peed all over the window. It was pretty darn funny, and of course Brian took a
picture, but I will not post it here

Look at that face. The lions were definitely the most entertaining animals of our trip

Here are all the giraffes...walking in the opposite direction of the feeding platform. Jerks.

There is a tiger in there, I promise

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

This park was also extremely confusing to us. I don't think the paths were marked very clearly, a few times we went down a road/path and ended up dead ending into an employee only area. We got lost and backtracked a lot, and we became pretty darn crabby after a few hours.

warthogs are one of my favorite animals, but these guys will have to do for now

Love the meerkats, look at the one guarding, and the other looks dead (but was not)

duck crossing!

The gorillas were pretty active

These guys were so interesting, I loved how tall they stood. They also blended into the background super well, we watched them for a while so we saw a lot of people glance into their pen, miss them completely and walk off

so cute

Those kids and their crazy 80's hairstyles...

Such good standing, good job buddy!

Paths, you are confusing and I hate you

I think kitty wants a belly rub
And yes, we walked by the lions about 20 times cause we kept getting lost. We didn't mind all the repeat visits though in this case.

The gorillas were another bright spot. I wish I could remember the name of the baby, it was something distinguished like Winston or Reginald.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

We had fun hanging out with this 'duck'

What a cool guy

Wish I could have got better pictures of the California Condors

I'll give the hits and misses. starting with hits:

-The lions were awesome.
-The condors were very cool.
-I loved the antelopes that stood up.
-The meerkats
-The gorillas

Misses:

-The tram, lot of variety of animals, not a very immersive experience
-The giraffe feeding. I wanted to do this very badly, we waited by the giraffe feeding area for about half an hour and the giraffes never came over.
Not the zoos' fault, but still disappointing.
-I found the park's paths confusing.
-We shared a lunch and I thought the food was outrageously expensive (this coming from a girl who just visited DL, Universal and numerous other tourist traps).
-Seemed like there was a lot of renovation, the whole tiger area was being redone.


We ended up leaving around 2. We were majorly crabby and burnt out, and our feet were killing us. I am not sure if I would have enjoyed the Safari Park more if I'd been rested, I kind of think it wouldn't matter. I was a little sad we'd gone to the Safari Park instead of the zoo, I'm sure I would have enjoyed the zoo more.

Goodbye!

that cactus is sweet

hugs

To further add to our troubles, we got lost trying to find a cheap gas station on the way back. Then Brian's phone (our gps) died and we got lost
looking for the hotel. We drove around lost for about an hour before we finally found our way back.

Cheapest gas we saw, but it was debit card only

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

We were supposed to be getting ready to head to Old Town for shopping and dinner, but we definitely needed a few hours to nap and recharge.

First we decided to explore the hotel (really we were looking for snacks and did some exploration on the way).

Only hotel with a bird house like this is awesome

The hotels' tennis courts

View from in front of the hotel looking across the water

This is from our room balcony, you can just see that really fun looking bridge (I'm sure it has a name, but I don't remember it)

hallway carpet was interesting

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Fast forward through nap and relaxation....and we actually ended up having one of the best nights of the trip!

It started with driving over the giant bridge, I didn't know we were going to drive over it and I was so excited! I am deathly afraid of driving over water,
I have nightmares of being caught in my car in water, but for some reason I really wanted to drive over it anyway.

I loved how low the planes got in relation to the city, and this was the best picture I could capture of that



There is free parking outside of Old Town, its under an overpass and in kind of a shady looking little area, but once you are across the street Old Town is actually real nice. We got there kind of late, around 5, so the little museums were closed, but it looked like most of the shops were open.

I needed to finish up my souvenir shopping. I still needed to get my dad something for pet sitting and I wanted to get my little sister something too,
not so sure she did any work with the pets but she was still there.

Sorry there are a ton of pictures here, I just loved the look of the town.

Old Town is pretty cool, it looks just like an old Mexican/wild west village you would see in the movies. I had fun looking around in all the shops, I
eventually ended up buying my mom a tin angel (cause I spent so much on my dad she needed something else), my little sister got a skull bracelet and I got my dad a hand made leather gun belt with spaces for the bullets (I knew this was the only gift for him when I saw it, even though it was pretty costly).

This is a very geeky yet somehow kind of cool saddle purse that was at the same leather maker's as my dad's gun belt

I love ridiculous stuffed animals

And I also got some jewelry for myself, I got to pick the stones then match it up with a necklace/band.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

We ate at Casa de Reyes which I loved.

I'm not a big Mexican food fan, but I loved the restaurant ambiance. We sat outside by a heater and I may or may not have got a bit tipsy off our one huge shared margarita (cough one and done cough).

Pictured: bucket sized drink

Seriously scary horse, he looks crazy

I don't really agree with tree or cactus writing/carving




Everything was closed by now, so we made it back to the car and the hotel, where we did a bit of packing and sitting on the balcony.

I was pretty sad cause it was our last night, but I think we were both ready to get home and sleep.

UP NEXT: USS Midway and then to the airport

QUOTEABLE QUOTES: None today

LOWLIGHTS OF DAY 9: getting horribly cranky at the Safari Park, and then getting lost afterwards

HIGHLIGHTS OF DAY 9: the ambiance of Old Town and going over the big bridge.

 

[Khiori]

Ok first off, SUPER COOL BIRD CAGE! I love that! Little finches are my favorites <3

I love old town San Diego. There are so many neat things to look at. Too bad they were closing when you got there. But still, there are a lot of things to look at when they are closed. The picture with the staircase and succulents - reminds me of the stair way in Disneyland. I think it's known as Angel's Flight? Neat pic.

Funny too - My name is also Rachel. Alright gotta run, doggie wants out *now*

 

[limace]

I've really loved your thread! Thanks for all the work you've put into it.

 

[Velvetia]

I've so enjoyed reading your trip report and all your great photos!

I'm so glad you did get to go on the Transformers ride after all!! I can't wait to do that...

p.s. loved Captain Jack's tips!!

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Ok first off, SUPER COOL BIRD CAGE! I love that! Little finches are my favorites <3

I love old town San Diego. There are so many neat things to look at. Too bad they were closing when you got there. But still, there are a lot of things to look at when they are closed. The picture with the staircase and succulents - reminds me of the stair way in Disneyland. I think it's known as Angel's Flight? Neat pic.

Funny too - My name is also Rachel. Alright gotta run, doggie wants out *now*

I know, right?! I want a bird cage like that...cept the bird's house would be bigger than mine.

Well hello other Rachel, nice to talk to you You should come over and join me on my pre trip report for WDW. I don't think anyone is there yet...probably cause I only made one post and then got distracted by this trip.

I've really loved your thread! Thanks for all the work you've put into it.

No problem! This was my first trip report so I hope I did a good job. I also think I'm going to really appreciate having made this trip report in the future when my memories of the trip aren't as fresh. You are also more than welcome to jump to my WDW pre trip report, its going to be a good one! MNSSHP with sweet costumes, the Tower of Terror 10 Mile race (my first race...probably should have went with a 5k, but I go big or go home).

I've so enjoyed reading your trip report and all your great photos!

I'm so glad you did get to go on the Transformers ride after all!! I can't wait to do that...

p.s. loved Captain Jack's tips!!

Feel free to drop by my new trip report too! Transformers is honestly the most incredible ride I've ever been on (and remember, I have been on Universal Florida's Forbidden Journey, which previously held the title of most awesome ride). When do you get to go??

Lol, I'm glad you liked Captain Jack's tips

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Another early morning!

I think we were both dragging this morning, but we knew we were coming down the homestretch so we trudged through final packing.

This is what Captain Jack occupied himself with while we were packing and cleaning up:

He thought he saw some rum down there but I convinced him not to jump.

The hotel exit

The big bridge again!

My Mom would always play the license plate game (find a plate from each state) when we were on vacation, so I took this in her honor.

The plan had been to stop downtown at a farmer's market on our way to the USS Midway. Brian had been to a school conference in San Diego a year prior and remembered a good farmer's market...except it wasn't where it was supposed to be.

Random downtown shot



So we gave up and made our way to the Midway. We had found coupons for $2 off admission online, so we used those.

The Midway seemed pretty busy, and in the next dock was the USS San Diego. The SD was a few days away from being commissioned, so there were drills going on all morning preparing for the ceremony. Most, if not all,
of the people working on the Midway seemed to be retired military and they were pretty excited about the SD.

The USS San Diego