Nalshersmom
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2012
- Hi everyone! Our family spent 20 days on our West Coast Adventure. My family consists of my husband and I and our 3 kids, AL, Nat, and Asher. My brother also joined us after our 1st week. The last time we were in California my girls were 1 and 3, and I was 20 weeks pregnant with my son. Our Disney part of our trip consisted of visiting a few places that where magic occurred that helped make Disneyland what it is. We also spent a fabulous 4 days in the parks!
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This is my brother
Our schedule:
Day 1, June 9- Fly to LAX, WB Studio Tour
Day 2, June 10-Griffith Park Observatory, Merry Go Round, Tam O'Shanter, Santa Monica Pier
Day 3, June 11-OUE Skyspace, Disneyland Hotel concierge
Day 4, June 12-California Adventure
Day 5, June 13- Disneyland
Day 6, June 14- Disneyland
Day 7, June 15- California Adventure
- We took a 5:20 flight to LAX and arrived at 10:20. We then rented a minivan from Alama which was super easy to pick up and headed to our scheduled WB tour. We had to eat at a food cart outside the studios due to lack of time. Looking back, it would have probably been easier to eat at the airport. Our tour guide was not the friendliest at first and seemed annoyed at waiting for the group to take a picture every once in a while. I learned a lot about Warner Brothers and really enjoyed seeing where several movies and tv shows I enjoy have been filmed. The biggest things they focused on were Gilmore Girls, Friends, and the Big Bang Theory. We got to actually see the set of Big Bang Theory, but no pictures were allowed. I am not a big fan of the show, but it was still interesting to me. We tried to get onto the set of Fuller House, but sadly we could not since they were setting up for the newest episode to be shot. We did get a picture with the facade. I also enjoyed getting to see lots of Harry Potter stuff. After our tour we ate at the Saddle Ranch Chop House in West Hollywood close to our hotel.
Fuller House
Friends
Harry Potter
LaLa Land Cafe
Gilmore Girls
- Day 2-There's so much we can do
We visited the Griffith Park Observatory when it opened for views of the Hollywood sign and LA. We then went to the Griffith Park Merry Go Round when it opened at 11am. My husband and kids went on it, while I watched since I am prone to motion sickness. It was fun to be at the same place as Walt was while he thought of Disneyland. After playing at the park some, we went to our 1:15 appointment at the Tam O'Shanter. We asked for Table 31, but since we were 5, they sat us right next to it. We did sit at it for a little while and felt the etchings. The finale of The Office and an episode of Man Men were also filmed here. After lunch, we went to Santa Monica Pier to visit the aquarium and to get our legs wet. The kids loved the aquarium, and it was hard to get them to leave the touch tanks.
The Merry Go Round/carousel
A Bench There
The Tam O'Shanter
Table 31
Santa Monica Pier
Touch tank
- Day 3- It's Just You and Me
We woke up from our stay at the Intercontinental Los Angeles Century City and walked to breakfast in Beverly Hills. The location was nice and has been featured in several tv shows including Modern Family. It is right next door to Fox Studios which is the Nakatomi Plaza from Die Hard.
We then drove to the OUE Skyspace LA. It was Sunday Family Fun day, so it was $20 apiece for all of us. Adults just got to ride the slide once, but kids had unlimited slides. My kids went on it about 15 times each.
We also walked to the Disney Concert Hall to peek at it's gorgeous architecture. From there we went to Anaheim with a stop for Dragon's Breath at the Chocolate Chair on the way. They have cereal infused with liquid nitrogen when causes you to breathe smoke.
Our next stop was the Disneyland Hotel!! We stayed 1 night concierge level, and it was awesome!! We ate there for heavy hor d'oeuvres and then ate delicious desserts while watching the fireworks. The pool was also super nice! Our room was very Disneyfied, and it was an overall wonderful experience.
- Day 4- I Can Give You More
We awoke and ate breakfast in the E-Ticket lounge which was very good before we said our goodbyes to the Disneyland Hotel and headed out to our extra magic hour at Disney's California Adventure.
view from our room on the 10th floor of the Adventure Tower
The Summer of Heroes was in full swing. Our first stop was Guardians of the Galaxy Mission Breakout. We also pulled a fast pass for the next hour. The music and excitement was awesome, and I grinned from ear to ear from the beginning to exiting the ride. Our first song was "Hit Me With Your Best Shot." Our second ride was the Jackson 5 song. I was slightly nauseated after the second ride, but it subsided soon after.
Our favorite Guardians pics from the 1st and 2nd days in CA Adventures
We brought a Tower of Tower bell with us.
Our lunch at Carthay Circle was was a slight disappointment. I was so excited to try the cheese biscuits but found them underwhelming. We barely ate any of them
The building itself was gorgeous and fun to learn the history of. Our food took longer then they hoped so our server gave us a fast pass for Toy Story. My favorite part was that it was signed by Oscar!
Cars Land was gorgeous! The last time we were here they were building it.
We also tried out Avenger training. They gave the kids Avenger slap bracelets at the end, and they all enjoyed it.
We then explored the park, ate at Carthay Circle for lunch, ate corn dogs from Corn Dog Castle for snacks, and rode so many rides. We then ended our night with the World of Color Dessert party. It was the perfect end to our night. The only downfall was the drop in temperature. My girls used our napkins to cover up. The cheese and dessert plates were so much food that we took home to go plates of our leftovers. They also served us cute little cups of hot chocolate. The kids got beautiful glowing World of Color cups for souvenirs. The show was also amazing! We then were super exhausted as we checked into our next hotel, the Courtyard Marriott Theme Park Entrance.
Great Pictures ! 
