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Watson's go West. May 2015. SF, LV, LA, PS & Disneyland 60th

RobynPrincess

Looking around
Joined
Nov 14, 2010
The Pre trip

I'll be honest right from the start here, I feel a little out of my depth. Actually that's an understatement, I feel completely out of my depth and totally overwhelmed. I know Walt Disney World like the back of my hand so this is all new to me and its a scary concept not to know pretty much exactly where I want to go/what I want to eat etc.


This report will be a little different to most on this forum as it will not only feature at Disneyland (inc the 60th Anniversary Celebration!) but San Fran, Vegas, LA and Palm Springs!


I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here. I better introduce who is going on the trip.


First up would be me, Robyn (as the name suggests). I've written a fair few trip reports on the UK boards so you may have read them but I'll introduce myself here properly. I'm a 30 year old Disney addict. I've been to WDW nearly 20 times since being a teenager. I'm a big Tinkerbell fan, I think she's tiny but fierce! In fact we named our cat after her :D I couldn't choose a favourite Disney movie, there are FAR too many to choose from, though the Little Mermaid was the first film I saw in the cinema so it holds a special place in my heart. I can't pinpoint when exactly my obsession began, Gummie Bears was a favourite tv show when I was little and the Disney Channel was a permanent fixture on our TV - much to my dad's disgust.


Next up would be my lovely hubby Simon or Sy. He first went to WDW on our honeymoon (which was actually his choice, I wanted to go somewhere and relax but he had never been so wanted to go, it didn't take much convincing lol). He's slowly turning into an even bigger Disney geek than me! I often say he's so laid back he's horizontal ;) He's very easy going and will pretty much go along with any plan I make. I like to think its cause my plans are so awesome ;) but most probably cause he will do anything for an easy life hahaha!


We finally took the plunge and became DVC members in 2012 at AKL and then we added on a month later at VGF. Our last trip to WDW together was in October/November (I went for a week with a friend in March), where we renewed our wedding vows on our AKL balcony. Here we are...





We are also kidnapping my best frient Jane :D She's the same age as me (well a month and a bit younger to be exact), we met at ballroom dancing class and bonded over the fact we were the only people in the class not retired hehe. We became friends and discovered we have a lot in common; The Little Mermaid was our first Disney love, we both have awesome taste in music, we love dancing, love cooking and eating ;)


I gave Jane the choice of which pic to upload and this is her choice...





Pahahahahahaha! That was taken Christmas eve at her house.


I was probably doing Jane a disservice before saying she doesn't 'get' Disney. Her favourite Disney character is Fidget, a bit of an off the wall one there! She likes Disney movies and went to Disneyland Paris once but she doesn't yet see what Disney theme parks have to offer grown up (a common mistake I think), plus you can't exactly judge other Disney parks based on Paris... She has an open mind though as she will be heading to Disneyland for the day with us and staying at the Grand California for 2 nights before she flies home.


Which brings me onto her dates. She will be flying out with us and staying 10 nights, visiting San Fran, Vegas and LA/Disney.



How did the trip come about?


There was a flight glitch online in the run up to our last WDW holiday. Sy was out when I saw it online, I quickly did a little more research and found that they would be perfect for our much talked about West Coast adventure. The flights were with Virgin Atlantic flying direct from London to San Francisco and flying direct home again to London from Los Angeles. Sy came home and knew from the moment he walked in the door something was up! First thing he said to me was 'What have you done?' Moi?! Nothing yet dear ;) You might find this hard to believe (or you may not) but I am actually the sensible one when it comes to money, Sy would spend like there's no tomorrow whereas I reign him back in (did I mention it was him who had to talk me into the VGF?!). So I think you can probably guess how long it took to get those flights booked... 5 mins later we were bouncing round the living room at finally getting our long awaited West Coast trip!


We have been planning and dreaming about our West Coast trip for many years, one of the things that put us off was the huge flight price, well with this glitch we paid less than what 1 flight would have cost us. It would have been silly not to book those flights really ;) at least that's what I keep telling myself when I looked at hotel prices and couldn't sleep at night...


We knew the West Coast was more expensive than Florida so we decided to go for 2 & ½ weeks, flying out on the 6th May and getting home on the 25th. We would have loved to stay for longer but we were worried about affording all the hotels and spending money. As it happens we still underestimated just how much more the West coast would cost. At one point we were looking at Super 8 hotels and fast food dinners.


The itinerary has changed *so* many times since we booked those flights. We had a list of places we knew we wanted to visit but kinda not enough time to see them all, still there's always next time ;)


The list began like this;

San Fran

Napa Valley

Yosemite

Last Vegas

Grand Canyon

Area 41

Palm Springs

Malibu

Anehiem

San Diego

L.A.


Napa was the first casualty, Sy wasn't that bothered about going there and it was in the opposite direction to Yosemite. As I knew we had so much to try and fit in, I caved pretty quick.


Next was San Diego. We wanted to go for the Zoo and Seaworld but we decided that there's only so much time to fit stuff in and Zoo's are worldwide and we can visit Seaworld in Orlando (obviously they aren't the same but close enough for us to not feel they were a 'must do' on our first trip west).


Then came Palm Springs, we were gutted but that's just how it goes.


Then came a huge change, Yosemite. First it went from 2 nights to 1 night, to give us 4 nights in Las Vegas. Then we decided it seemed a bit silly to drive for hours from San Fran to Yosemite, get there and sleep, and then get up early for another gruelling drive the next day. The hotels in Yosemite were expensive which helped sway our decision if we were only gonna get there, crash and get up early again. Plus I'm not the best in the car for hours on end. So we decided to fly from SF to Las Vegas.


Grand Canyon and Area 41, we only have 4 nights planned Las Vegas so there's only so much we can do. There's no way I'm getting in a helicopter to see the Grand Canyon so we would have to drive there and back in 1 day. Sy is really into Sci-Fi so he would love to go to area 41 to the tacky cafe's etc but there's just not gonna be time.


Then came Malibu, the hotel I was coveting shot up in price, it literally doubled so it went from quite expensive to lottery win so we had to drop it. The other hotels in the area weren't anywhere near as nice as that one and it was that specific hotel I wanted. So instead, Palm Spring got bumped back onto the list.


Last up to lose was LA. We were meant to be staying in LA for the last 3 nights before flying home but then Disney released all the exciting 60th Anniversay stuff... Well we couldn't miss that once in a lifetime experience could we?! Instead we will travel into LA a few times for a look around but stay in Anaheim.

Where are we staying?


The first hotel to get booked was the DVC at Grand California - which we got at 7 months no problems. The 7 month mark fell while we were in Florida so that was weird booking the next holiday while on the current one. We are staying 5 nights in a studio.





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The first hotel after the DVC to get booked was our Vegas hotel, the Trump. Someone on a facebook group for holidaying in the West Coast pointed me to a website to help me book the hotel. It's a bit complicated but basically the website works along side priceline so you can work out exactly which hotels you can get in their 'bid for your hotel' deals. I clicked on the area of Vegas I wanted, what star rating and then put in a price I was willing to pay. I knew the hotel would be 1 of 3 hotels, all of which were on our shortlist so we were willing to take the risk. We ended up with a 5* hotel for 60 pounds a night! The cheapest I could find the Trump elsewhere was 80 pounds per night so dead happy with it. There will be a resort fee to pay once we arrive but that's to be expected in Las Vegas.








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Next was Palm Springs, after a bit of research I booked the 7 Springs Inn for £65 per night with free parking and no resort fee.








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As I said, Disney released the official dates for the start of their 60th anniversary celebrations and so we decided to go for a hotel near Disneyland instead of LA. I did another priceline deal using the website to figure out which hotel it would be (this time it was a choice of 2, both of which looked nice). We ended up with the Hyatt Regency for £82 per night. There's a car parking fee and no free wifi, both of which are annoying but we will deal with it, it a 4* hotel for less than 100 pounds a night. We were looking at a Super8 in LA for the same price as we got the Hyatt so I still take it as a win. I've since looked at the price for this hotel for these dates and its £140 a night now, I assume that is something to do with the Disney 60th Celebrations.


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Last to be booked was SF, we decided to go for a 2 bedroom condo instead of 2 hotel rooms as it was cheaper, plus we went for one a little bit further out of the centre so we could get one with parking. We are 10-15 mins drive to Fisherman's Wharf in Richmond now, right by the sea and Golden Gate Park. I don't really have any pics of this place so I took some screen grabs of the place from HomeAway (or VRBO, both the same company).


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The plan is currently looking like this...


6th

Flight leaves London at about 11:30am

Arrive 3pm local time

Pick up car hire

Eat and try to stay awake till a normal bedtime


7th

Louis Cafe for breakfast (near our Condo, right on the seafront)

Disney museum

Part of 49 mile tour inc Lombard Street

Cable car


8th

Whale watching

Part of 49 mile tour

Find Pineapples on Ocean Ave as they sell Dole Whip!

Golden gate park - Japanese tea garden $8 each


9th

Change DVC from GFV to PVB

Alcatraz

Sausalito


10th

Fly to Vegas chill out by pool and a bit of exploring

Hash House a Go-Go dinner

Volcano at mirage


11th

Explore strip

Visit Venetian for shops and food court

Mandalay bay Mix for cocktails views over the strip


12th

Explore Strip

Show in the evening


13th

Bellagio fountains

Botanical gardens

Patisserie

Zumanity 9:30pm showing


14th

Drive to Disney, stop on the way at the Outlets

Dinner Downtown Disney, visit Tiki Bar in Disneyland hotel


15th

Disney both parks

Fantasmic evening


16th

Hollywood walk of fame

Rodeo drive

Melrose ave

Jane flight home


17th

Disney (open till midnight so will have afternoon break by the pool)


18th

Disney


19th

Universal daytime then drive to Palm Springs


20th

Palm Springs

Cheeky's for breakfast

Cable Car up mountain


21st

Leave Palm Springs and drive to LA in the morning

Check into Hyatt

Disney afternoon & evening


22nd

Disney 60th anniversary, gonna be crazy busy but we will power through!


23rd

Disney concert hall

Venice Beach


24th

Malibu & Santa Monica

5pm arrive at airport

Fly home


Disney and Universal tickets are bought (5 days Disney and 1 day Universal with extra day for free). Tickets to Alcatraz purchased, car hire sorted. I've exchanged gold coins on the My Vegas app for 1 free ticket to Zumanity and BOGOF tickets with Sy's coins (he doesn't play as much as I do). I've got some dollars exchanged and the creditcard at the ready. Summer clothes are down from the loft and I've started mentally packing.


There has been so much info released now for the 60th Anniversary celebration at Disneyland. As its a 24 hour event and fancy dress we are gonna take our Up costumes from Halloween last year.


I've got a plan of attack for the 1 day of Disney that Jane is coming to. We are gonna head to California Adventure first and ride RSR, Soarin', ToT and TSM before heading over to the Disneyland park and riding BTM, HM, SM, PotC, Jungle Cruise and watch the parade and Fantasmic (we will be there midweek in lowish season so I think we should be able to make it round these but if not we will prioritise). We plan on being there at EMH or whatever its called and staying till late, Jane knows to wear comfortable shoes haha. Food will be CS.


That's about it for now! Thanks for reading :)
 
Hi!

I'm joining in! We live 45 miles from San Francisco and you itinerary looks fun! I look forward to reading more!
 


Thanks! We can't wait!



I'm very jealous of you living so close to SF, I can already tell that I'm going to love it!

I may be partial but I think that's it quite possibly one of the most beautiful cities. The whole Bay Area is beautiful. I'm sorry to hear that you shelved Napa. That is some beautiful countryside. We are in the Suisun Valley, a lessor known wine valley. We are probably better known for Jelly Belly jelly beans, Budweiser, Travis Air Force Base than for our wine.

San Francisco is beautiful no matter what time of the year you're there. Be sure and visit Pier 39, this is a fun touristy place. Ghiradelli Square is pretty but, it's just shops. So is the Cannery but those are some cool shops. No matter where you go buy something to get your a discount on your parking. Parking in San Francisco is outrageous! My mom was in the hospital in San Francisco and I was paying $25 a day to park.

I'm very jealous of your trip. I love my state.
 
I've just read that DL 24 hour event is not dress up :( just wdw! Thankfully I thought to check before arriving and being turned away :O

I may be partial but I think that's it quite possibly one of the most beautiful cities. The whole Bay Area is beautiful. I'm sorry to hear that you shelved Napa. That is some beautiful countryside. We are in the Suisun Valley, a lessor known wine valley. We are probably better known for Jelly Belly jelly beans, Budweiser, Travis Air Force Base than for our wine.

San Francisco is beautiful no matter what time of the year you're there. Be sure and visit Pier 39, this is a fun touristy place. Ghiradelli Square is pretty but, it's just shops. So is the Cannery but those are some cool shops. No matter where you go buy something to get your a discount on your parking. Parking in San Francisco is outrageous! My mom was in the hospital in San Francisco and I was paying $25 a day to park.

I'm very jealous of your trip. I love my state.

I'm sad that we bumped Napa :( though I'm not a drinker I really wanted to see it!
Thanks for the tips re parking!
 


Your trip sounds super fun! Just some comments about SF. The Richmond area where you are staying can be super foggy, sometimes the fog will burn off, sometimes it won't. But, even if it's foggy out where you are, it can still be sunny in the more inland, eastern parts of the city. Bring a cardigan, or a light-weight jacket since SF can be chilly, especially in the summer. I know, it's weird. I live in the Central Valley now and it will be 90degrees here but only 60degrees in SF! And be prepared for outrageous parking fees.
If you are there on a Saturday, I highly recommend the farmer's market at the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero. It's so fun! There's a woman there who sells the BEST cannoli, chocolate and lemon filled, so good. Also, Gott's Roadside, the best burgers and sweet potato fries EVER! You can also take the street cars down to Pier 39 to catch the ferry to Alcatraz. The streetcars are vintage and so cool.
Have a great time!
 
The Watsons went west

Well we are home :( booooo! We had a great trip. Some places I loved and can't wait to go back to, some not so much. Disneyland. Hmm. I guess as a die hard WDW fan it had a lot to live up to. Anyway, here's a run down of our highs and lows though technically I wouldn't call them lows exactly, more like little niggles or observations.

Starting with....

San Francisco
I loved it. I REALLY loved it. I have to go back there.
Walt Disney museum was amazing! We spent 2&1/2 hours in there. (Though I think jane was a bit bored lol)
We drove the 49 mile drive which was really cool, we saw things we probably wouldn't have otherwise.
Japanese tea garden - so pretty!
Sausalito, wow! I want to live there!! I really felt at home there.
Alcatraz tour was surprisingly interesting. I was kinda just doing it for Sy but I really enjoyed it.
Martuni's gay piano bar, we had such a blast that evening with me even getting up to sing! Even a chest infection couldn't stop me (though I think it probably should have done when I listened to Jane's recording haha).
Some great food, ike's for sandwiches (ménage et trois on Dutch crunch please)
B patisserie, omg the croissant things (kouign amann), we had to get another each to take away!
The condo was beautiful and bigger than my house! It was right by the coast too so we went past the beautiful beach a few times.
Sadly though the fire alarm went off at 2:30am due to low battery (Same that happened to us in AKL last year, what are the chances?!). Luckily the owner lived downstairs but she was out on the town at first so it was going off a while before she came back and changed the battery.
I was shocked to see just how much homelessness there was in SF though I guess it's like any major city. Some areas I really didn't feel safe in at night. Martuni's was in a not so great area, it was okay in one direction but the other direction there were cars with smashed windows :-/

Vegas
I dunno, I was just expecting well, more. We aren't big drinkers or gamblers so we didn't partake in that part which I guess is some of the appeal.
The trump hotel however was AMAZING and I actually loved that it was ever so slightly set back from the strip and had no casino.
Flight to Vegas with Virgin America, can see why the airline is so highly rated, really nice flight.
The hotels were great to look around but full of unaffordable shops.
Zumanity cirque du soleil, amazing! And very naughty too ;) Sy enjoyed the boobies haha
Cakes from Jean Phillippe patisserie inside the bellagio.
Drinks up at MiX in the Mandalay Bay. The view was amazing however the bar tender really took the shine off when he came back to remind us that we needed to tip him, he had just handed over the check and was about to walk away when he turned around to tell us that we needed to tip him. I know British people get a bad name for being bad tippers (we don't really tip here in the UK for anything so people either don't know or do know but are cheap) but he just assumed we didn't know and needed reminding.
Bellagio fountains were of course wonderful.
The dolphin exhibit at the mirage. Beautiful creatures! We also got to meet Siegfried while we were there as he was out walking around the animals and chatting to guests, he was a lovely guy.
I feel like I've kinda done Vegas now. I'd go back if going away with others who wanted to go there but otherwise I'm in no great rush.

Los Angeles
I didn't love it. Specifically the walk of fame/Chinese theatre area. I knew it would be a tourist trap but I didn't really realise how much. It got to the stage where I had to be almost rude to the people trying to shove their CD's in my hand and then want money from me. We took to saying it was our last day and we had spent all our cash lol
The Weather. Whoever said it never rains and was always warm in Southern California, lied! I took warmer clothing for San Francisco but I ended up having to wear it in LA too. We spent the day in Disney in the pouring rain, Jane's only Disney day! (She was leaving the next day too so we couldn't change the day). I wasn't expecting to be cold for most of the trip.
I wasn't keen on Venice beach, we were told it was somewhere we had to go see... I just felt like I needed a good wash once we left haha
Instead we headed up the road to Santa Monica, much more up my street ;) I also loved Malibu too.
Universal studios, way better than universal Orlando! We rode the backlot tour twice in the hope we might see town square for Sy (where they filmed back to the future) but it was out of the tour due to filming. We watched Mario Lopez filming some sort of gossip show, he was really sweet chatting to the crowd in between takes.
LA traffic, yes it's bad. We knew that going into it, if anything we expected worse. It was annoying though.

Palm Springs
I loved it! Almost as much as SF! I loved the laid back approach, the tram up the mountain (yeah I got a bit ill at the top, such a wuss!!) wow it was so beautiful up there.
The HEAT! Finally we were somewhere HOT!
Food, omg the food! Thai smile and birba for dinner and cheekys for breakfast. The sandwich shop for sandwiches (twice it was that good) Dinah without avocado for me ;)
Hotel was lovely but the air con was so loud it sounded like a hair dryer being used in the room, I'm not even exaggerating! I can sleep through a lot (well I gotta be able to sleep through the planes taking off in my bedroom AKA Sy snoring) but this was actually keeping me awake. That was the only down side. Staff there were so sweet and nice, it was a shame cause I probably wouldn't go back there unless they sorted out the air con situation.
We drove around looking at the pretty houses, Sy studied architecture so he loves looking at different styles and we both particularly love modern housing. We found Elvis's honeymoon house of course, Liberace's old house, the Kaufmann house.

Disney
As I said, I think Disney had a lot to live up to, but we just didn't feel the same magic. It almost reminded me a bit of Disneyland Paris. We talked at length over why we thought that could be and decided that it was nothing that Disney could do, WDW has people coming from all over the world to work there, DL all (apart from 1) name tags said the CM were from CA. There were a lot of teen groups and lots of locals in the parks. WDW is more of a resort so that just gives it a different feel. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy it and I'd go back but it just didn't have the magic WDW has for me.
Grand California. I just wasn't wowed. It didn't feel overly Disney. Nice enough hotel, it just didn't wow me.
We had a not so great CM experience in California Adventure. We went to get a DAS for me and the guy just said no, they offer nothing to help me, it's only for children with cognitive behaviour problems. Point blank. Nothing they could do. Ending with me fighting back the tears as we left. We went over to DL (where they have a wheelchair pass which works in the same way) and later in the day went into guest services there to ask them about the DAS for CA and was given one no bother at all. I know people take advantage and lie which makes it hard for the CM's but the guy in the morning could clearly see me getting distressed, and I had the WDW DAS card with my picture on so he could see I wasn't just trying it on. It didn't get our stay off to the best start.
The new washing machines in GC leaving stains all over 1 load of washing. Disney did their best and sent the washing out to be dry cleaned (well Sy's shirts, I wasn't bothered by my pjs or underwear) but they didn't come out. Disney then credited our account with $200 to cover them as they were 4 Ralph Lauren polo shirts which more than made up for it. They bent over backwards to get it sorted so absolutely couldn't fault Disney, just a shame it happened and had to spend a good 2 hours trying to get it sorted.
World of colour. O.M.G. Wow! We were lucky to catch the old version and then the new 60th anniversary version with Neil Patrick Harris. Wow. To both! Though I have to admin I liked the new one the best ;)
The parades in both of the parks, though I did like the countdown to fun one just a smigde more ;) 5,4,3,2,1!
The 60th fireworks in DL, of course they could never match up to wishes however we watched them over the fantastic viewing area where they projected onto the water and set off low fireworks over the water right there, really clever way to get people off Main Street.
Mickeys magical map show, amazing! I loved it. Aladdin was very good too.
The new night time parade paint the night. OMG!! Wow! Nothing can describe it. Wow. Please please bring something similar to WDW, retire that sad old msep.
Being there for the 24hr event, we made it to 3am, by the time we got into bed it was 21 hours after we got up. I'll take that. The park was at stage 4 from about lunchtime however it didn't even feel as busy as a moderately busy day in WDW! Ride wait times were still only 30-60 mins. 35 mins on big thunder for most of the day.
Thunder ranch BBQ, it was very like hoop de doo food but without the fried chicken (it was grilled) or the mash. It was okay and a great place to sit down but I probably wouldn't do it again as all I ate were 2 mini corn on the Cobbs and 2 bits of chicken breast.
Radiator springs, it's every bit as good as people say, ride it at night ;)
Naples in DTD, owned by the same people as via Napoli, pizza was gooooooood!
Trader Sam's, really fun! Though there was no playing with the drinks, they are set up in a mix already so you can't ask for it weak or without a certain spirit :( so I had to go for a non alcoholic one.
Meeting Oswold! He was so fun and playful.
I had read that the food in DL was so much better than WDW, mainly cause there's no DDP there, I didn't find the food any better, possibly worse - but then I knew the best places to eat in WDW now ;) I've eaten in my fair share of rubbish food in WDW too.

A few other observations of the trip.
We had a great time with Jane and were really sad when it came time for her to leave, though as she said, it was nice for us to spend some time the 2 of us as well, best of both worlds ;)
We spent the 60th with our friend Steve who was on a solo trip of the west coast, we met up with him in Orlando on our honeymoon when he was on a solo trip then too. It was really nice to spend the day with him (we had met for a couple of hours a few days before too), he's such a sweetie.
We really noticed how much more expensive stuff was on the west coast compared to Florida. We didn't really shop at all and still went wayyy over budget :-/
Booking next year's cruise at 4am California time! October 17th here we come!
We flew home delta airline on a codeshare with Virgin. We both found the seats really uncomfortable, we had numb bums within half an hour of take off. Sy managed to sleep almost all of the way back but I only managed a few hours of broken sleep, which meant me going to bed at 10:30pm UK time and waking up and forcing myself to get up at 1pm UK time! I was awake for an hour or so at about 4/5am. I guess I must have needed it lol
Tink didn't seem too bothered when we got to my mums house where she was staying, and she was REALLY unimpressed at the car journey but as soon as she walked into her own house she purred her head off and hasn't left me alone since, sleeping under the covers with me all night.

Final thoughts.

Well I've always wanted to go to the West coast, it's been on the bucket list for years, would I go back? Hell yeah! I'll know which parts to go back to and where not to bother. Next on the bucket list is either Hawaii (which we will twin with some more west coast exploring) or a tour of New England. I've wanted to go to Hawaii since I was 6 years old when we did a school project on it, so I have a feeling that it could have the edge... But for now we have WDW this year to see the Christmas decorations and next year for the big meet up with the cruise too. So I think 2017 will see us visiting somewhere new.
 
Hi!

I'm glad to hear how much you like my city by the bay! What an awful experience with the CM in DCA!! Jerk!
 
Sounds like a great trip. We are going to Disneyland and San Fran in August...been to Disneyland in 2012 & 2013...been to World several times (most recently in Apr this year) and I think we prefer Disneyland. The California weather and being able to walk to the parks from your hotel are just so nice to me!
 
Well, we've been home over a week now and it already feels like the trip was a lifetime ago :( This was a first for us to visit the West Coast and we had a blast! Some places we loved more than others but that's to be expected (not sure I loved LA).


Day 1, Travel Day


We stayed the night at my parents house the night before for 2 reasons, 1 its closer to the airport and 2, they were having our cat stay with them rather than us having to put her in a cattery. We thought by staying over with the cat it would help get her settled in (which it did). We probably slept for about an hour though, I was on a mattress on the floor with the cat leaving Sy the single bed but he was working for hours and didn't come to bed till about 3:30am. I nagged him but he just had too much work on that he hadn't been able to get finished. He also fell up the stairs on his way up to bed and seriously hurt himself, so much so that we debated if he had broken his leg! What a start to the trip!


6:30am was soon here and it was time to get dressed and ready to go. Jane was dropped at mums by her brother while we were tiding up the spare room and covering everything that the cat might pee on :O She sat with mum chatting and by 8am (ish) the car was packed up and we were ready to leave.


We were heading towards London in the morning rush hour so it took a bit longer than normal but we arrived at Heathrow T3 at about 9am. We said goodbye to mum and made her promise to look after Tink and give her lots of cuddles, we in turn promised to text her when we arrived at the condo. We headed into the terminal to check in, Virgin had something going on though it wasn't clear what, they had loads of staff milling around out the front with balloons etc. We made our way past and over to the check in desk to start the lengthy process of checking in with my scooter. While we were checking in all of a sudden Uptown Funk starts blaring and Virgin staff are all dancing in a flashmob style. Sy went to grab a picture while I was dealing with the scooter.


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Check in all finished we made our way through security and off to find some food! We ended up with something from Pret. I went into Boots to grab some food for the flight as I'm a fussy cow and didn't think I would eat the plane food hehe. I also stopped in the Duty Free shop to grab some Clarins face cream that my mum asked me to get for her. It was then time to board! Off we went to the gate, the ground staff took my scooter off to be boarded and we then went onto the plane and up to the bubble (top deck).





We were surprised when we pushed back from the gate and it was so empty up on the top deck. Out of about 30 seats, there were maybe 8 of us up there! Once in the air we moved about and got comfy. We later ended up on a row of 3 each for a bit and slept, Sy and I had had such little sleep the night before it was great to be able to catch a few zzzzzz's.


While the crew were doing their in flight safety talks Jane spotted the girl in front of us trying not to laugh so she turned around and saw a guy making faces at her to try and put her off, she saw that Jane had noticed and came to apologise! We were giggling. She decided to get her own back on the guy though and told him Jane was really upset and offended and had made a complaint about it hehehehe! He came to apologise once we were in the air, Jane tried to hold her composure and pretend to be annoyed but we were soon in fits of giggles with him. All of the crew on the flight were great, really friendly and fun. I think it helps that there were so few of us up there, they took the time to chat and were generally really friendly.


Take off was smooth and I even managed to grab a pic. It was unusual for me to be in the window seat! I'm usually a bit claustrophobic but thought I would give it a go up in the bubble as there was a little shelf between me and the window. Jane nor Sy fancied the window seat (or at least that's what I thought, Sy just said he would have sat there).


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They soon came round with some drinks and pretzels, followed by lunch which I had chicken that had a tomato and cheese thing on top, it was surprisingly ok... The say cannot be said for the hot sandwich thing that they brought rounds later into the flight, BLEUGH! (I however ate my nice sandwich from Boots).











They also brought us the worlds smallest chocolate, I did debate not eating it and instead keeping it for when I wanted to feel like a giant holding it but my need for chocolate took over and it was gone in one swift chomp!





I missed out on the ice cream as I was asleep, I also missed flying over Iceland and seeing all the pretty views :( booo! But Jane snapped a pic I can share with you all :)





How pretty?! And I missed it. Boo. While I was sleeping Jane chatted to the couple beside us on the other side of the aisle, they were on their honeymoon, stopping in SF on their way home to New Zealand. We bumped into them later in the trip.


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The flight passed pretty uneventfully, I slept on and off throughout most of it, watched a few films and tv, read some of my book. The flight was 11 hours long, only 2 hours longer than flying to Orlando but OMG it took FOREVER! Eventually we were starting our decent. I snapped a few pics.


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The runway was right at the edge of water so it looked like we were about to land on the sea! I had read this already so I was prepared but I think it would have made me a bit panicky otherwise.


Off the plane we waited in a mahoosive queue at immigration, we had to wait to be last of the plane and then had to wait for my scooter and then we were right at the back :( no wheelchair line here like in Orlando! I guess there's not as much need for it. An hour later we were through and grabbing our luggage that had already been taken off the belt as we'd been there so long.


We made our way in search of the car rental, we had to get on a tram which went round the whole airport. We got on and realised there was a duffel bag alone with no owner, with airport security as it is we were really nervous and got off at the next stop - such drama queens that we are! But we didn't want to take the chance. The other people on there didn't get off but moved right up to the other end of the tram. We tried to find someone to tell them about the bag but there was no one in sight. We hopped on the next tram and got to the car rental without being blown up so we were happy lol


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Sy chose a black car (dodge he says), we loaded up the bags and off we went! I had downloaded Navmii for my ipad so knew which way to direct Sy and we arrived at the condo about 30-45 mins later (would have been quicker without traffic). Jane commented on how good Sy was at driving after such a long flight and on the other side of the road, and how well I was directing him. That peace didn't last long though hehehe.


We drove along the sea and we found the condo was just 2 blocks from it! Squee! It was so pretty :D





The condo was beautiful, as is often the case you see a place in pictures and while it does still look like the pictures its not usually quite as pretty on closer inspection, well this condo breaks the mould! It was even more beautiful in real life!!


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We unpacked and showered and went in search of some food. We first stopped at the supermarket to get some drinks and snacks before going for an explore. We were going round in circles a little bit and ended up deciding to get take away so we came back to the condo. Sy found somewhere online but then found out they didn't deliver and he wasn't sure about going out again. After a a bit of deliberation he ended up going back to the supermarket and grabbing some cooked chicken and potato wedges which we ate in front of the tv while we fought to stay awake.


When we could stay awake no more, we accepted the inevitable and crashed into a deep sleep at about 9:30pm, 5:30am UK time.
 
Day 2, San Francisco PT1


We were all awake and moving by 7am, and by moving I mean managed to drag our bums to the living area and put the coffee machine on ;) We sat round watching morning TV eating the bagels we bought the night before and decided what to do this morning.


We are Disney nuts, you can imagine where we wanted to go first... Walt Disney Family Museum of course! It didn't open until 10am and currently it was about 8am so we had a bit of time to kill before so we decided to do part of the 49 mile drive, starting the drive part way through at Golden Gate Park. We got dressed and ready to go and were soon on the road. What we didn't know at this time was that we were starting the drive at the most difficult part which was the most badly sign-posted. Damn. So we kinda just drove around for a bit till we got bored and then went off in search of the Museum. I dunno where my head was at this morning, but I left my ipad in the condo which had the Navmii app on for us to get around, i'm gonna blame it on the jetlag ;) so we were trying to navigate round using the useless map Alamo gave us. I knew the general area where the museum was so we headed in that direction, we stumbled across an amazing place to get some pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge so not to pass up a photo op we got out and took a bazillion pictures! I won't bore you with them all, just a couple of highlights.


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We then pulled round the corner and found an even better place to get pictures without the crowds so we took even more pictures...


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Back in the car we made our way to the museum and found it without too much trouble considering I only knew the rough area lol


Like any Disney nut, we loved the museum. We spent about 2 & ½ hours in there, though it got to the point where my brain was full and I couldn't take anymore in. Jane was a little bored at first but once it got onto the films she was more interested. I would definitely go back to look and take in more than I did this time. If we find ourselves in SF again (which is highly likely as we are thinking of stopping over there on the way to Hawaii) we will definitely make another visit.





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Prepare for picture overload, if you aren't Disney mad then feel free to skim past, I won't blame you ;) but for like minded people I'm sure you will enjoy!


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Whoa, that was a lot of pics! And that's not even half of them hehehe
 
Day 2, PT 2

Once finished we went for a drive to find some lunch :D Those bagels felt like a lifetime ago. Sy had a vague idea of a sandwich shop he wanted to go to, we drove past and it was packed which of course meant it had to be good but we were hungry and didn't want to wait so we went in search of somewhere else, and found Mel's Diner :)


A couple of pics of the hills we drove past, they have to be seen to be believed! Here's one of them.


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We were seated right away in Mel's and ordered some drinks.


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I got a chicken sandwich


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Sy got a french dip


Jane went for a hot dog


Jane and Sy loved theirs but I wasn't keen on mine, I didn't realise it would be chicken mush with loads of other stuff in it including raw onion. Ah well.


Jane and I went to use the restroom leaving Sy to pay the check ;) and we then made our way back out to the car. There was free wifi in Mel's so I was able to bring up the 49 mile drive on my phone and screen grabs of where we were going. First stop was the Palace of Fine Arts. It was very pretty! If we had time, I would have loved to go inside but we settled for a selfie from across the lake.


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We then drove along to Coit Tower. The view was pretty amazing from up there!








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We drove through Chinatown and Japan Town before finding ourselves on Lombard Street right by the famous zig-zag street. There were loads of people gathered there taking pictures. We actually found it by driving up rather than down the wiggly bit so we parked the car and got out with some difficulty. For anyone who hasn't been or doesn't know the road, its steep, its like really steep, scarily steep! The pictures don't do it justice at all. It felt like the car could roll over and roll down the hill! Took some pictures.


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We then drove along to the seafront, past Pier 39 and Fisherman's wharf and right beside the Bay Bridge. We turned around and parked up in Fisherman's Wharf and hopped out in search of somewhere to grab a drink. We ended up in a bar called Jake's.


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We felt much better with a drink inside us so we then went for a wander to Ghiardelli Square. The doorman on the Argonaut stopped us to chat and comment on Sy's sore looking leg (from where he fell up the stairs) asked us if we would like him to get a first aid kit for it - how sweet?! Sy assured him he was a big tough man and would be fine ;) He did point us in the right direction of the square though so we got there quickly.


We stopped on the way to get a picture of a cable car (which we never got round to riding :( boo! We just ran out of time)





There was some work going on in the square so it looked a bit meh. I certainly didn't see the appeal however we went into the chocolate shop to mooch around.


Not gonna lie, I wanted to stick my head under there...


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We got some ice creams and headed across the street to watch the water (and the crazy swimmers) while we ate them.





The view


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It was soooo much ice cream! We only had 1 scoop each!! I ended up feeding some of my cone to the pigeons and then we watched for ages while they fought over who got which bit LOL small things eh?! It was really funny at the time, must've been the jet lag and sugar combination LOL


When we had finished bird watching we made our way back to the car, I then gave Jane another giggle. I had rubbish that I wanted to put in the bin, only the bin had a lid on it and it was dirty... Jane said she could see the inner turmoil in my face, I didn't want to carry the rubbish but I didn't want to touch the bin, I stood there a few minutes debating what I was going to do before deciding to use the bin but then dive into my handbag for the hand sanitiser after hehehehe.


Walking back to the car a drunk man (homeless I think) came out of a liquor store and started yelling at me and Jane (Sy was walking slightly ahead of us) we just kept our heads down and picked up the pace but it did upset me and make me all nerves.


We drove round some more but we were all flagging a bit so before long we headed back to the condo. We stopped at the seafront and took some pictures of the sun setting across the sea, it was beautiful.


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The ruins of the old baths





We decided to skip dinner as we were all still full from ice cream but Sy got hungry a bit later and went to grab something from the supermarket. We managed to make it to 10:30pm before finally admitting defeat and heading to bed.
 
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I'm loving your trip report. It seems like forever since I played tourist in San Francisco. The last several times I was there was to be with my mom who had her open heart surgery done in a hospital there. I feel the itch to go!
 
I'm loving your trip report. It seems like forever since I played tourist in San Francisco. The last several times I was there was to be with my mom who had her open heart surgery done in a hospital there. I feel the itch to go!

Sorry about your mom! I hope she's okay now? SF is awesome, maybe you should go back so you don't think of your moms surgery as 'the last time you were there' make some less worrying memories :)
 
She's much better. We almost lost her more than once. Thank you. You're right, maybe I do need a fun trip with a visit to Fort Point and the beach.
 
Great news about your mum! My mum has heart problems also, she had full heart failure a few years ago (on my wedding anniversary no less), that was a fun day spent at the airport trying to get home from my vacation! Mothers eh? ;)
 

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