LOS ANGELES
Mum was leaving us she could only come with us, for 3 weeks, so LA and the rest of the holiday was just Dad and I. We stayed in LA 5 nights, originally was going to be 4 nights, but we had to drop Mum off at the Airport, so it became 5. As you can image 5 weeks of hotels and food, we were on a budget, and choose to stay at the Safari Inn, Burbank over 20th July to 25th.
Safari Inn: We originally had 4 nights booked, here then added an extra night at the beginning of stay. We had requested a non-smoking room, and this room we were given reeked of smoke, and we were assured this was a non-smoking room; we couldn't change room as the hotel was at capacity.
Thankfully we were able to change rooms for the last 4 nights, this room was soo much better, no smell and more comfortable beds. The rooms are old, and have marks etc... in places, but the room was a bargain, compared to rooms in Hollywood & WeHo areas.
It's not a bad location either your close to all the Studios, avoid the traffic for Six Flags [further north]. We went to a few concerts as well, one at the Staples Centre, the other at the Hollywood Bowl, and we just drove to the Universal City Metro Station, parked and took the metro -- easy and avoided all the traffic.
Hollywood is only a 5-10mins, if no traffic. Parking was free, and if the lot was full, you could parking at the sister hotel, just across the street, which we used as the lot was full most nights we came home late. Breakfast was free as well, we had one morning, but there wasn't a lot of choice though. Wi-Fi was free, we never used the pool, and we had a fridge. Would stay again, probably unless we could get a deal in the city.
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Tues 20th July: We didn’t get to our hotel in Burbank, until gone 8pm, we have travelled from Cambria, and had done a tour of Hearst Castle. Anywho, we had dinner that night at Mo’s in Toluca Lake, nothing to write home about.
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Wed 21st July: Today was Mum’s last day, her flight left LAX at 5:35pm; we started off the day a Warner Bros, and ended at Hollywood and Highland
Warner Bros Studio Tour: To sum up WBST in one word Mehh, I wasn't overly impressed by the Tour, I had been looking forward to it for months and went we got there, it was like 'Mehh...' Basically you’re being driven around in a golf cart, while the guide points out where various films/shows had/are being filmed. We were on the first tour of the day [8:20am], about 5 carts left at the same time, it felt scripted, unreal, and not as if you were a VIP.
I'm a big fan of most shows filmed at WB; Friends, Gilmore Girls, Big Bang Theory, Two & Half Men, but the lot was just empty and soulless when we visited, nothing was happening, whether we were there too early in the morning or what, I wasn't expecting filming to be happening, here there and everywhere, but just something to be happening, everything was last week, the other day, later today, next week. We didn't get out of cart much, only for the scripted stops.
I enjoyed seeing the exteriors of my loved TV shows, but I expected more -- not to see Charlie Sheen across the lot, but may you could add something new, the inside of trailers, seeing more of live sets, we did get to see the set of 'The Mentalist' -- I would have much rather visited 'Two & Half Men' set. It needed more time to stop and just look around, inside driving past a building and saying 'Big Bang' is filmed in there, let’s go inside, I wanted more. Disappointed, not worth the $50.
We had brought at GPS for this roadtrip, and today was the first time we opened it up, out of its box, after travelling for 3 weeks, through Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and Northern California, LA is where we needed it.
Quickstop at the H&H, for Mum to see the Hollywood sign, wasn’t overly impressed it was clouded over, you could hardly see it, yet even make it out in photos.
Onto Beverly Hills, found a lot with 2hrs free parking – had a walk up and down Rodeo Drive, like the little pedestrian area behind Tiffany’s. Had lunch off Rodeo Dr at a place called Panini’s Cafe – had some very nice sandwiches, this place though was heaving with Dr’s and Nurses!
Dropped off Mum, at LAX. Headed back to hotel, chilled we had a Rihanna Concert later that night, I don’t know why I didn’t realise this earlier, but we planned to get the Metro to the Staples Centre from H&H and park at the H&H for $10, then 2 nights later we parked at the FREE Universal City Metro Station, to get to the H&H. Why didn’t I realised we should have just gone to Universal City Metro Station, that night as well – I don’t know, we would have missed out on a ton a traffic, to drive the mile or 2, from W Olive Av, Burbank to H&H.
Anywho, it took us forever to get to the H&H, we parked up, grabbed the Red Line towards Union St, there are quite a few characters on the Metro, was interesting to people watch, we got off at 7th, and walked down to the Staples Centre.
Rihanna Concert was good, we were up on the top level, the sound didn’t sound soo good though, Ke$ha was supporting, and Eminem even came out! After the concert, we got back on the Metro to H&H, checked out all the stars in peace, the place was empty. It was nice to be able to read all the stars, and check out the hand/footprints in your own time. So guys, if you’re looking for at good time to visit the Walk of Fame, 12am should do! In bed, by 2am
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Thrus 22nd July: Today, we were supposed to go to Six Flags, but we ended up sleeping in til 10:30am, I wanted to be at opening for 10:30AM!! Never mind, we changed the plan, and decided to hit Santa Monica and Venice Beach area. We took Sunset Blvd to SM, but got stuck in lots of traffic, there was some roadwork’s going on.
Found some 2hr free parking in SM, had brunch and checked out the Pier. Going on holiday with your Dad isn’t always the best option, I wanted to go 3rd St Promenade, but Dad’s aren’t really interested in shopping, instead we drove along Montana Ave, and the headed towards Venice Beach.
Found some parking, we didn’t really like Venice Beach, a lot of homeless people, and people trying to get your to listen to their CD’s, some got quite pushy at you. We walked along the beach for awhile and left. SM and Venice felt like very touristy areas, all trying to sell you tacky clothing, and souvenirs, you DON’T want.
We headed up to Malibu, and checked out the Malibu Country Mart, had a coffee and a cupcake at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. We tried to get on the beach, but we couldn’t find anywhere to park on the street.
We wanted to drive along Mulholland, and took Topanga Canyon Rd to it, saw a lot of residential areas, all different kinds of houses – I love all the different styles of houses the US has, compared to Britain. We avoided a lot of traffic, the roads were free flowing, and we had some good views of LA, stopping at some of the overlooks along the way. Saw the Hollywood Bowl from a bird-eye view, and got a much better view of the Hollywood Sign.
Picked up Dinner and Supplies up from Fresh n Easy in Burbank.
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Fri 23rd July: Today we went to Universal Studios and a show at the Hollywood Bowl in the evening.
Parked at US by 9:30am for $14! USH is very similar to Florida, but Florida has the edge, more rides, less chaotic, and better friendly staff, but LA is a working studio/theme park. We got our SoCal CityPass changed inside the park, and rode Shrek 4D first – same as FL.
Did the Studio Tour, which already had a long wait, would be soo much quicker if employees actually filled up the trams! And if one guest didn’t hold a space in the queue, for another 5-10 people!!! Lots of Annual Pass holders, were in the park today. I enjoyed the 360 3D King Kong experience, very cool! Wasn’t again overly impressed by the tour, again it’s just seeing a load of empty sets, was nice to see Wisteria Lane though.
Simpsons was next, another long wait with technical difficulties. To the lower lot, and rode Mummy, getting your bag back from the locker was chaotic. We had lunch at 3pm at Panda Express and there will still large queues for lunch.
Back to the Upper Lot, watched T2-3D, this shows need upgrading, it’s soo dated. Watched Waterworld, funny preshow, good ending, weak middle.
Like the European and British areas of US. We weren’t going to but, we headed back to the hotel after US, as our camera battery had died, quick charge, and we parked at the Universal City Metro Lot, and got the Metro to H&H, and got on the FREE shuttle bus to the Hollywood Bowl.
That night, it was the BBC’s Planet Earth Live! no fireworks. The concert was good not really my style, but my Dad enjoyed it. We had good seats, behind the Superseats section, N1...I think, on the aisle dead centre. We did missed the 1st three parts, of the show though as the Will Call queue was huge!!!, turns out none of the locals want to pay the extra charge Ticketmaster charge, to get your tickets mailed, and would rather queue at the Will Call for free, our only choice was Will Call, being International Visitors. Got the shuttle bus, back to H&H, and were back at the hotel by 12am.
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Sat 24th July: We made it to Six Flags. Breakfast at 8am and on the road to Magic Mountain by 8:30, arrived just before opening. Rode the Sky train, Tatsu [great flying ride, 20min wait], Déjà Vu [amazing, thrilling, scary, no wait], Terminator [long pre-show stuff before the ride, make wait time longer, alright ride], Riddler’s Revenge [standing ride, Dad was too big to ride, I didn’t want to ride along, especially after a guy just got off the ride, with sick all down his front!], Batman [Dad too big, rode alone, alright nothing amazing], Colossus [wooden, good ride], Scream, Goliath [good], Viper [neck breaker], and finally X2 [long wait, worth it, AMAZING ride!!!] Great theme park, loads of great rollercoaster’s, though the park map, should show which rides have larger seats, and which rides riders might struggle to fit on.
Dinner at In-n-Out, in Burbank, this location was literally just In and Out, no indoor seating, sat outside, had a GREAT chocolate milkshake. We skipped lunch, didn’t want to bring it up on the rides, lol!
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Sun 25th July: Last day in LA, checked out of hotel, on to our next location, Anaheim not before checking out a bit more of LA. Had a lie-in, out of hotel by 10:30am, and went to The Grove/Farmer’s Market, had breakfast at Phil’s at the Farmer’s Market, did a bit of browsing around both places, our parking was free with validation. The Grove was a nice shopping area.
Onto Downtown LA, saw the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and Angel’s Landing. My Dad had decided he wanted to see the Queen Mary in Long Beach, so we headed there cutting our stay short in Downtown LA, and ended up driving to Long Beach, before heading to Anaheim. Got gas, downtown, quite creepy store, the cashier was behind a glass counter [not strange], but wore surgery gloves!?
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Overall LA was good, I would had liked to stay longer just to chill, and mooch around the place, browsing but we basically spend 2 of our days at Theme Parks, hopefully there will be a return visit one day.