DAY ONE
Woke up around 11, got ready and such. It was a really cold day in NY and I was anticipating California weather. The flight was about 4 hours and we got to California about 9ish. Boy was I wrong it was COLD. It was too late to do anything so I got my coffee at the airport and went straight to the hotel. We stayed at the paradise pier hotel; never again will I stay here. Staff was utterly rude and it took forever to get the 2 rooms we booked. Our itinerary did say adjacent rooms, they didn’t comply.
DAY TWO, 1/2 DAY THREE -Universal Studios Hollywood
After a great night sleep, we got up a bit early due to still being on NY time and headed straight towards universal. We opted for the California city pass which also gave us park hopper tickets. I believe the new 08 attraction was the horror walk through set. I forgot the actual name but anyway it was really fun! Gave me lots of scares and it was really interesting to see props from old universal movies. Next up was Shrek; same thing in Florida. As we made our way to the skywalk, the Simpsons attraction was still under construction. They were working on painting it; I got a pic of the outside banner they put out for the crowd. From the skywalk the view is AMAZING! You can spot the Warner studios and other southern California landmarks. Next up was mummy, I loved the Florida version and this version was just a big disappointment. The launch was great but it was just too short and rushed. They really need to rehab the ride and just make it more thrilling. It was about late 50s so I skipped Jurassic and went straight to back draft, didn’t really care for it, just another twister. After that we went back to the hotel which reeked like cigarettes. :thumbsdown: The next half of day 3, we went back to the park mainly for the studio tour since we had VIP passes. The tour was GREAT!! The best universal ride ever. I learned allot from it and the tour guide was fun.
DAY FOUR-Hollywood Blvd, Sunset Blvd, Melrose
We definitely needed a break from parks so we decided to do some sightseeing around Hollywood. We parked at the Hollywood and highland and explored. Some blocks were shut down due to preparing for the Oscars. I got to hold one. the walk of fame was a little disappointing, it looked all over the place, just wasn’t what I expected. It started to rain shortly after so I quickly jetted to the Chinese theatre to take pics and left. Overall Hollywood is deffintately overrated. I’ve been itching to visit fredsegal/ronherman, a store on Melrose, and finally got my chance. Boy that made my day got some major shopping done.
DAY FIVE-SIX-Disneyland, Disney’s California Adventure
We decided that our last two full days were going to be devoted towards Disney. The weather was not great, cloudy and rainy at some times. We got to the main gate and went straight to California Screamin'. It was a moderate ride; the sound system was great though. As soon as we got it all hell broke loose and rain poured like no tomorrow. Go figure they closed mostly everything so we headed to downtown Disney, got some food at the rainforest cafe and did some shopping around the Lego store. Rain finally stopped around 6 and we went back to California Adventure. Tower of Terror surprised me, very good ride. The Muppet 3D show was cute but it needs an upgrade, moving seats, something. Everyone crowded Monster's Inc till the point it became a 3 hour line so I skipped it and went straight to Soarin, one of my new favorite rides. Grizzly was open but it was down to the high 40s so I didn’t opt to get wet. At that time it was around 8 and the park was closing so we headed back to the hotel and got sleep. The next day we went straight to Disneyland, it’s a small world was closed for rehab. Matterhorn was a classic, I wouldn’t call it a thrilling coaster but enjoyable. Indian Jones was a great ride as well, reminded me of dinosaur at Animal Kingdom. Haunted Mansion was just about the same as Florida. After that I went straight towards pirates, the line was insane as Big Thunder Mountain. The weather got colder which meant no splash mountain for me. I headed towards space mountain and star tours. What to say about California space mountain? Ill have to go with Dainan, it ultimately sucked! The music really just ruined everything new about this ride. After that I noticed I had just about an hour and half till California Adventure closed so I jetted there to get my last ride on mailboomer and California Screamin. Overall Disneyland Resort looks like a small ant compared to Walt Disney World, BUT! Disneyland is the first disneypark and you can see the detail in the park that makes the statement. My review on California Adventure is that its just not a disneypark to me. The lack of rides and just the spacing of the areas suck. Disneypark to me just have that special magic added to them, didn’t feel that in California adventure. And what brings that on? The price of the park. Why would anyone pay so much for something that has so less to offer? Even with revamping the park I don’t see how shifting the names in paradise pier, possibly other areas to Disney-named attractions will help it. I stand by my theory that with the renovation this park will become a clutter mess of Disney themed attractions and the California themed attractions. Just my two cents.
DAY SEVEN-Airport and Back to New York
The flight was around 940ish so that meant everyone had to get up around 5, boy did that do a number. Checkout again was a nightmare with the rude staff; NEVER again will I ever book at this hotel again. I asked for the address of the hotel and made sure with the manager that they will hear from me with a lengthily complaint letter because the treatment was crap. The plane ride was just the same, about 4 hours. I returned to New York to find I’ve missed one of the biggest snowstorms but I still had a great time on my trip.
pictures comming soon .
