Christopher Rowe

We arrived in LAX just after 3.30pm in the afternoon on Friday 3rd of July. Our plan for the rest of the day was simple, drive ourselves to our accommodation in Anaheim, dump our bags and jump across the road to Disneyland til close (12AM).

We arrived at the hire car pickup point where we had a SUV reserved for us – something along the lines of a Rav4 – small yet maneuverable for the LA roads but with height clearance a sedan could not match. We got our hire papers signed and were shown the door, “you can pick up for SUV in row 4” the Alamo employee said, gesturing us to the door. We left, still with no key in hand, wondering how we would spot our car. Was the car rego written down on our papers? it didn’t appear to be. We arrived in row 4, there was only one Rav4 parked there, already in the process of being loaded up with another drivers bags. Had they just taken our car? We had specified a Rav4 in our hire and confirmed this with the Alamo employee. The rest of Row 4, which incidentally was marked ‘SUV’ had a few other small 4×4’s and larger 4x4s which I wouldn’t call a SUV. I then noticed all the keys were in the doors of the car, and it finally twigged, just as another couple raced past me knocking me in the shoulder in the process and snatched the keys for one of the remaining small SUVs – it was a free for all. Quickly I picked up our bags and raced for the last remaining small SUV, a Buick, and started throwing our luggage in the back and racing for the drivers seat as if I was fighting for last place in the Amazing Race. With the GoPro mounted on the bonnet and the TomTom routing our path for Anaheim, we were on our way!

I was pleasantly surprised how natural driving in the US came the second time around. Thinking back to the first time in Hawaii in the Wrangler, I was speeding (unknowingly), drifting to the wrong side of the road and occasionally turning into the wrong lane – It took a lot of concentration. This time however, we pulled out and took off, cruise control set, and just followed the TomTom as it took us up and over various freeway ramps towards our accommodation.

Disneyland had changed considerably in the 10 years it has been since I was last there, for one thing, a whole new theme park ‘Californian Adventures’ had opened up directly across from Disneyland, and between the two, Disneyland Downtown, a collection of shops, restaurants and bars available to the public without a ticket. We started our adventure (fittingly) at California Adventure – since this park closed at 10pm, 2 hours earlier than Disneyland which was open til midnight – heck yeah!

Our logic was simple, other than scoring a few additional hours at Disneyland once California Adventure closed, both Michelle and I were hoping by 10pm a lot of the young families would have also left. Stepping into California Adventure was just like stepping into a Pixar movie. The main road took us down Route 66 where the film ‘Cars’ was set, there we dined at a local garage, with the tire shop and fire station across the road – just like in the movie. Various characters or ‘cars’ were also cruising the streets, including the fire engine, a DJ car busting some beeps and dancing along with its super suspension and of course, the star, Lighting McQueen – the red race car.

To me, California Adventure is what I imagined a modern Disneyland park would look and feel like, although it kept to the same style and formula, you could tell it was a lot newer and slicker. Also in the park were a number of rides for the older Pixar films, including my favorite, Monsters Inc. In addition to the rides, California Adventure also featured a re-creation of some of California’s more popular landmarks, including the Santa Monica Pier and the San Fran’s Fisherman’s Wharf.

Across in Disneyland, things had not changed so much, everything was just as I remembered from my previous visit 10 years earlier. What did catch us by surprise was how much quieter the park was compared to California Adventure. In the two hours we were there, from 10pm -12pm, Michelle and I had done the Indiana Jones ride in Adventure land, the Star Tours (Star Wars simulator) in Tomorrow Land, the icy bobsled ride Matterhorn, Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion.

In fact, in a matter of two hours, we had pretty much done everything in Disneyland that we had planned on doing – and we still had all day Saturday July 4th in the park. Saturday was busy in the park, and although Michelle and I knew this would be the case going in, that July 4th would be bound to be one of the busiest days in the year, we were really put off by the wait time for the rides, especially since the night before, rides which were taking 15 minutes to queue for were now taking 50 or 70 minutes. FORTUNATELY we managed to do all the rides we wanted the night before, so it didn’t really bother us, and we spent the day exploring the park, cruising on the Mark Twain steam boat, shopping and a few more rides when queue levels were down – we had all day to wait for the optimum queue time. One surprise was bumping into former ‘The Block’ contestants (and winners) with their two children just outside of ‘its a small world’ (ironic right!). I think they were both a bit shocked and quietly disappointed to be recognized, but they very politely made chit-chat with us for a few moments and were happy to have a photo taken.

With Disneyland behind us, it was time to hit the road again and head for Hollywood. Along the way to L.A. we got our first taste of LA Traffic – and it still seemed to flow better than peak hour traffic in Perth – for one. It is incredible how much better traffic flows when drivers merge properly! As luck would have it, we made it to our accommodation in Hollywood with no wrong turns, and more importantly managed to secure a parking space in the hotel’s car park (a big deal for us, as the hotel did warn that spaces were limited and that public parking would otherwise be the only alternative). Once again, we threw the bags in the hotel and started exploring the Hollywood strip, following the names of the stars on the pavement from one side, all the way down the other.

Of course, the real excitement of Hollywood Boulevard is up towards the Chinese Theatre, where out the front, all across the sidewalk are a variety of cosplay characters, from Spiderman, through to Darth Vader and his Storm Trooper posse who will happily pose for a photo with you for a small ‘gratuity’ fee. Some of the costumes were rather good, others looked like something you would buy from the kids section at Big W..In general though, the CosPlays at Perth Comic Con were considerably better than the ones on the Hollywood strip.. so kudos Perth!

Amongst the CosPlayers, souvenir shops and more souvenir shops was Hooters Hollywood. The thing I love most about Hooters is its consistency, which can speak volumes when traveling, whether its state to state, city to city or even hopping between countries across Europe as I did in 2012. Just like you can always guarantee consistency with a hotdog at any Bunnings you go to back home, the same can be said for the Chicken strips, the cold beer and attractive waitresses, the trifecta that makes Hooters such a welcoming place. Once we were rested, with a cold beer or 3 as it turned out, and a light meal we made our way to the Metro, next stop, Universal City!

Universal City is massive! Much larger than Downtown Disney, full of a variety of gift and novelty shops and places to eat, including a Hard Rock, which is where we had dinner our first night in Hollywood.

Universal Studios itself was incredible, as it always is, and well, just as I knew it would be. Knowing that this was going to be a special stop, both Michelle and I splurged a little bit and bout VIP tickets to universal, $1000 for the pair, for the day – the BEST $1000 ever spent.

From the moment we set foot in the park we were treated like royalty, seriously now, since we were VIP we had a red carpet entrance into the park, whereas everyone else had to walk on the ordinary path. Upon check in we were invited to a VIP breakfast while we waited for our very own tour guide to meet us. In a small, intimate group of eight, we set off into the park – the morning schedule included the rides, and then after a buffet lunch in the VIP lounge, an exclusive behind the scenes tour of the infamous back lot, used not only by Universal, but by Warner Bros. and Paramount as well.

One of the benefits of VIP is express entry to the front of any ride – this continues on after the 8 hour VIP tour, where after this time you can still skip the hour long wait lines and go on the ride instantly. I laughed my way (laughing on the inside of course) past the lines for Jurassic Park and The Mummy, I must have walked past hundreds of people in long snaking queues and instantly jumped on the rides. Our VIP tour took us to the front of all the major rides in Universal, including Jurassic Park (otherwise known as the Shower), The Mummy (otherwise known as the Dryer), Transformers, Minions and The Simpsons roller coaster. We also got an exclusive Q and A with the cast of Water World after the show.

After our buffet lunch (think prawns, crab, ribs, premium beef etc) we started the second component of our tour, the back lot tour. Although there is a ‘free’ version of the back lot tour available to all visitors, unlike the free one which only lasts 30 minutes, we disappeared amongst various sound stages for just over two hours. Stepping onto the sets of ‘The Voice’ and walking down Wisteria Lane (Desperate Housewives). To be honest, I wasn’t sure what I enjoyed more, walking past all the houses in Wisteria or watching the look on the faces of the passengers in the ‘free tour’ which were strapped and caged in, with no possibility of taking a stroll through the back lot like we were.

Another highlight of the back lot tour was venturing through the costume and prop warehouses – where if you can dream it, chances are they already have it in supply or are currently working on making it. With Jurassic World still fresh in memory, the Universal prop staff were not quite ready to pack and wrap the raptors, instead turning them into something of a mascot for the costume and props department, dressing them in different outfits every week. This week was Star Wars week, with the larger raptor dressed as a Jedi and a smaller one as Princess Leia.

It was a fantastic experience, and still remains one of my favorite tours to date.