Los Angeles and Disneyland
We arrived in LA on Friday and are now at the Marriot Downtown Hotel. A pretty nice place, but we did find it odd that there was no fridge in the room. When we queried that they wheeled one in! Hmm.
We took a walk to familiarise ourselves with the area. Downtown is very much a commercial area with little in the way of shops, so we had to walk several long blocks to the nearest shopping centre. At least Starbucks were fairly common . We found a supermarket and bought some milk and other supplies. To our surprise we were able to get complete hot dinners there and even eat them at tables set aside for that purpose. An interesting concept – this proved to be very convenient.
Disneyland:
On Saturday we took a bus with three other Aussies (from Perth) from the hotel to Disneyland. What an awesome place! We started at Fantasyland, at Toontown where we met Mickey Mouse (see attached photo) but failed to pin down Goofy despite several attempts. In Frontierland we took the Mark Twain paddle steamer along a depiction of America’s great rivers, and waited in line for an hour to get into the “Star Tours” ride. This is a new attraction that involves riding in an apparently moving starship in 3D and nearly colliding with numerous objects. Phil enjoyed the ride but Sue kept her eyes shut the whole time.
The Grand Parade was spectacular. It is a new one that only started on 27 May. It features many Disney characters and floats depicting Disney films such as Aladdin, Mary Poppins and The Little Mermaid. The costumes were extravagant, and the choreography of the dancing was terrific.
We decided to have a light snack before we left (at 8pm) so we went to one of the numerous cafes. We ordered the loaded potato soup, which we thought would be of modest size only to find that it was HUGE! So we decided to share a banana split for dessert. It contained only one banana, however it also consisted of three ENORMOUS scoops of ice cream and half a can of whipped cream, little Mickey Mouse lollies scattered all over it! These people do not understand the idea of small serves.
We arrived home very tired little vegemites with quite a few presents for all between us.
Santa Monica:
Today we took the train and bus out to Santa Monica. (We had intended to go shopping in Beverly Hills but could not locate the shopping centre we wanted.) We enjoyed a stroll and a coffee / hot chocolate stop on Santa Monica Pier, and felt strange sitting by the Pacific Ocean with so much distance between us and Australia.
Tomorrow night we meet our fellow travellers on our Globus tour of the West. Should be fun.
We arrived in LA on Friday and are now at the Marriot Downtown Hotel. A pretty nice place, but we did find it odd that there was no fridge in the room. When we queried that they wheeled one in! Hmm.
We took a walk to familiarise ourselves with the area. Downtown is very much a commercial area with little in the way of shops, so we had to walk several long blocks to the nearest shopping centre. At least Starbucks were fairly common . We found a supermarket and bought some milk and other supplies. To our surprise we were able to get complete hot dinners there and even eat them at tables set aside for that purpose. An interesting concept – this proved to be very convenient.
Disneyland:
On Saturday we took a bus with three other Aussies (from Perth) from the hotel to Disneyland. What an awesome place! We started at Fantasyland, at Toontown where we met Mickey Mouse (see attached photo) but failed to pin down Goofy despite several attempts. In Frontierland we took the Mark Twain paddle steamer along a depiction of America’s great rivers, and waited in line for an hour to get into the “Star Tours” ride. This is a new attraction that involves riding in an apparently moving starship in 3D and nearly colliding with numerous objects. Phil enjoyed the ride but Sue kept her eyes shut the whole time.
The Grand Parade was spectacular. It is a new one that only started on 27 May. It features many Disney characters and floats depicting Disney films such as Aladdin, Mary Poppins and The Little Mermaid. The costumes were extravagant, and the choreography of the dancing was terrific.
We decided to have a light snack before we left (at 8pm) so we went to one of the numerous cafes. We ordered the loaded potato soup, which we thought would be of modest size only to find that it was HUGE! So we decided to share a banana split for dessert. It contained only one banana, however it also consisted of three ENORMOUS scoops of ice cream and half a can of whipped cream, little Mickey Mouse lollies scattered all over it! These people do not understand the idea of small serves.
We arrived home very tired little vegemites with quite a few presents for all between us.
Santa Monica:
Today we took the train and bus out to Santa Monica. (We had intended to go shopping in Beverly Hills but could not locate the shopping centre we wanted.) We enjoyed a stroll and a coffee / hot chocolate stop on Santa Monica Pier, and felt strange sitting by the Pacific Ocean with so much distance between us and Australia.
Tomorrow night we meet our fellow travellers on our Globus tour of the West. Should be fun.
Sue and Phil ... Disneyland is fun for us oldies as well as the youngsters. There is just so much to see and do that the day just vanishes. I'm glad you both had a fun day.
ReplyDeleteWhich Globus tour are you doing? Is it the Western Explorer? Bryce Canyon is one of my all time favourite spots. We have seen in covered in snow (which I hope you don't) as well as during the summer. I'm sure you will have fun in Vegas. Enjoy!