Wednesday May 15th: The first day of our mega
vacation and I woke up in an ecstatic mood. As I first woke up I watched the
Little Mermaid and Aladdin as the final movies I needed to watch to prepare for
the vacation. Dad got home about lunch we finished packing and off we went to
the airport. Our flight took off on time at 5:15; we got to fly over the
mountains which I thought was so cool considering I have never in my life been
out this far west before. It was very difficult getting through a four and a
half hour flight, but some snacks that included jelly belly’s helped, and I
also watched, without listening, to dad watching Life of Pi on his ipad while I
listened to my music. Once we finally ended it was very interesting seeing all
the slot machines like there was a casino in the airport. After getting our
rental car we drove down the Vegas strip just as it was getting dark and seeing
all the lights and different casinos was very exciting. We checked into our
hotels the next two nights, the Orleans, and after getting settled in walked
down to get dinner at Fuddruckers. After dinner I just relaxed around the hotel
room while dad gambled a little bit. Eleven months ago this dream started and
now we are finally here in Vegas, it’s almost surreal.
Thursday May 16th: First and only full day in
Vegas until next week, we started out around 9:00, and headed straight for the
stratosphere. Unfortunately, the observation deck doesn’t open until 10:00, so
we walked to Circus Circus, in the already very warm weather, before heading
back to the stratosphere. The view from the top is pretty incredible, and goes
all the way around. Im glad I bought a ticket for the Big Shot before we got to
the top, so I didn’t have a choice once I got up there. It ended being an
exhilarating experience, although not nearly as thrilling as Doctor doom in
terms of dropping sensation. After the stratosphere we headed back to the hotel
for sunscreen. Then we headed to Excalibur, walked around for a bit before we
realized they don’t have simulators anymore. We then headed to Luxor, which I
find to be the coolest looking one from outside. Then we went to New York,
where I rode the Coaster, which was extremely rough and I would even say
painful for the neck and shoulder. We then walked to the MGM, where I found a
Fat Tuesdays and got pretty buzzed off of the drink, a feeling not all that
welcome in the hot weather. After a quick peak in the Tropicana, it was back to
the hotel and dinner at Fridays. At night we went to Downtown Vegas, which
included some good music, a wacky dancer, and a cool canopy show to end off the
night. Tomorrow it is off to Disneyland.
Friday May 17th: The big day, off to Disneyland!
It was a long three and a half hour drive, but we finally reached Disneyland
around 1:30. I was ready to dive head first into the rides, but dad was
determined to eat first so we did that at Flos café. Then it was time for the
first ride, Radiators Springs Racers, which we waited 80 minutes for. After
that we did the Little Mermaid on only a five minute wait. After that dad left
and I headed over to Disneyland. I quickly realized the walkways were narrow in
Disneyland and it created a nightmare trying to walk around. It was kind of an
early damper seeing the massive crowds, and the effect of it being a grad night
only made it worse. I finally settled on Matterhorn as my first Disneyland
ride, a ride I absolutely fell in love with. I moved over to New Orleans square
where I did Haunted Mansion, which I was pretty disappointed in, much shorter
than the Magic Kingdom version. I decided to head back to the matterhorn for a
second ride since the single ride line was short and simple. After that it was
back to DCA where I did Its tough to be a bug while waiting for dad. After
meeting with dad we rode Soarin before lining up for World of Color, which was
absolutely amazing, the videos of it I watched don’t do justice to how awesome
this show is. After that it was back to Disneyland where we did Star Tours and
Space Mountain with fastpass. Space was definitely different than the Magic
Kingdom version, and in some ways better such as music and multiple lift hills.
I found it slower however, and prefer the single file seating in Orlando. After
that it was a second ride on the Haunted Mansion, and we closed on Pirates,
exhausted. Pirates is definitely far superior in Disneyland than in Orlando. A
long day that saw us leave the park around 11:35. We picked up Carl Jrs since I
had only eaten a tigger tail and mickey pop the whole day, and headed to the
hotel. A long, but fun day, and tomorrow will be just as awesome.
Saturday May 18th: Day two of four at Disneyland,
and a little bit of a later start than I would have hoped for. After some
debating as to what time and how I would get to Disneyland, we finally settled
on dad dropping me off, then him coming back later. I believe I was in the park
by around 9:30 and immediately got fastpasses for Tower of Terror. I ended up
walking around before using the fastpasses at 10:10, I enjoyed this version of
tower of Terror although it is not quite as amazing at the Hollywood Studios
version. I then went on California screamin’, which I found to be an incredible
coaster, albeit not the most thrilling in the world. I had pulled another fastpass
for Tower of Terror before I went on it the first time, so I was able to do
that again right after Screamin, at this point I met up with dad and we rode
Monsters Inc after about a twenty minute wait which was a pretty decent dark
ride, but the cars move so slowly which detracts from it a little bit. I then
went back to ride California Screamin’ a second time before we moved over to
Disneyland after seeing that Toy Story Mania was closed at the time. We got
fastpasses for Roger Rabbit, then I went single rider on the Matterhorn and we
went back to use the fastpasses for Roger Rabbit, I had been told this ride
would be a disappointment and it somewhat was, but I still found it a decent
dark ride, definitely on I wouldn’t mind having at Magic Kingdom. Then dad
left, and I walked through Tarzans treehouse, which was pretty bad, Swiss
Family treehouse is better, than rode the single rider line for Splash
Mountain. I ended up waiting about 45 minutes in the single rider line, and the
Splash Mountain here ended up being significantly shorter than the Magic Kingom
version and therefore disappointing. There is one cool scene in this version
not found at the Magic Kingdom however, that comes in between Brer Fox catching
brer rabbit and the drop. After this I went back and did the Matterhorn
Bobsleds yet again, yes, I am absolutely in love with that ride. At this point
dad picked me up and we went to eat dinner at Red Robin. After dinner we rested
at the hotel for about twenty minutes before heading in to the park at about
5:45. We had fastpasses for Indy at 7:05, and had time for one ride before them
so we rode Buzz which had broken down when we were in line earlier in the day.
This version I found superior to the Magic Kingdom version, because for one it
is longer and also because you can pick up the guns instead of being planted
into the vehicle, so its easier to shoot. Then we used our fastpasses for Indy
but still waited about a half hour, even in the fastpass line. Indy is simply
an incredible ride, similar to Dinosaur at Animal Kingdom only fifty times
better, and right up there with Matterhorn for my favorite ride in the park. At
this point it was about 7:45 and we had decided to use Saturday night to tour
Fantasyland and the large amount of rides it had to offer. We started with Snow
White and waited about ten minutes for it. I found this version to be better
than the no longer running version in Orlando. Then it was onto Pinocchio, a
ride not found in Orlando. It was only a 5 minute wait, and it wasn’t a great dark
ride, especially compared to the other fantasyland classics. After this we did
Peter Pans Flight which was about a half hour wait. This version I found to be
pretty inferior to the Orlando Version, and the nostalgia factor isn’t there
unlike the one at Magic Kingdom which I have fond memories of riding as a
little kid. After this we went on to It’s a Small World, where I found this
version to be slightly better than the Orlando version, at its longer and
included actual Disney characters throughout the ride. It was also cool because
it features outdoor portions unlike the Orlando version. After this we took a
break from Fantasyland to go back and ride Pirates, which has become my third
favorite ride in the park. I will never be able to enjoy the Magic Kingdom
version as much after riding the Disneyland version, which is twice as long and
includes a second drop to the Magic Kingdoms one drop. Then it was back to
Disneyland for a ride on Alice In Wonderland, another dark ride not found in
Orlando. It was a very cool ride, and would definitely be something welcome in
the Magic Kingdom, although the line moves painfully slow. Then it was onto a
ride that I knew would be emotional for me to ride, Mr Toads Wild Ride. My
favorite ride in Orlando as a little kid, had been shut down for good there
when I was 8. Now after 13 years I finally had the chance to ride it again. It
was just as fun as I remember it being, although Im told the Disneyland version
isn’t as good as the Orlando version was it was still a lot of fun to get a
chance to ride Mr Toad again. We just had one more Fantasyland ride to try, the
Matterhorn Bobsleds, which dad had yet to do. We waited about 20 minutes for
it, and off we went, my fifth ride on it in two days. The roughness of the ride
is starting to take a toll on my back as its starting to get sore and I know
this ride is the cause of it, but I just don’t care, the ride is way too much
fun to let it bother me. After this we left and were out of the gate at 11:25,
and back in the hotel a little after midnight. Another great day in Disneyland
with two left to go.
Sunday May 19th: Day three at Disneyland, and
this day I decided to sleep in a little bit and wait for dad and go in with
him. We left the hotel about 9:30 and at the parking gate were told we were
going to be guests of the day. The way we were told it seemed like we were in
for a day full of treats, which I was hoping included some fastpasses, but all
it really was was free parking and a closer parking space. Nice, but not as
nice as fastpasses. We immediately headed into Tomorrowland to get fastpasses
for Space Mountain then rode the Finding Nemo subs, which we waited about ten
minutes for, not bad since the line moves slow causing lines to be more than an
hour in the middle of the day. The ride was nice but I think dad enjoyed it
more since it gave him memories of riding the 20,000 leagues subs in the Magic
Kingdom. We had time for one more ride before our Space fastpasses and settled
on Matterhorn of course, for the sixth time on this trip for me. We then used
our fastpasses for Space Mountain, which is by far the most difficult ride to
decide which version I like better between this one and Orlandos. Theres so
much I like better about this one, but the large fact that I love the single
file rows in Magic Kingdom, and the Orlando version seems faster makes it very
nearly a tie. We then rode Jungle Cruise after a 20 minute wait, this one was
easy as the Magic Kingdom version is way better, as this version is missing the
cave scene found in Orlando and therefore is significantly shorter. We then
grabbed fastpasses for Indiana Jones, did the treehouse, dads choice not mine,
he wanted to see it, rode Winnie the Pooh, I ride which I found the Orlando
version to be much better, although dad strongly disagreed and found this
version much better. We then went back and rode Indy, and I was amazed by it
yet again. AT this point dad left, so I went and did the single rider line for
Splash, this time only waiting about five minutes. I then went to Fantasyland
to do the walkthrough castle attraction which I found to be rather lame, so I
didn’t have to worry about doing it again with dad later on. I went back and
rode splash after this because of how short the single rider line had been, and
again only waited about five minutes. I then decided on the Matterhorn Bobsleds
again, ride number seven of the weekend on it. I was now beginning to become
very tired and worn out from over 30 hours in the park in a short span of time,
so I did two 3-D movies, Captain EO and Mupper Vision before meeting up with
dad for dinner. Both movies are exactly the same as their Orlando Versions so
not much to report there. For dinner we walked to ESPN zone in downtown Disney,
I had the Salmon which was very good. We went back to California Adventure to
see the 6:20 showing of Aladdin. The show receives incredible reviews, but the
45 minute show time, as long as the suggestion to line up 45 minutes early
makes it a long time commitment so I was strongly considering skipping it. In
the end I decided we’d check it out, so we lined up at 5:40 for the 6:20 show.
We got very nice seats and I was blown away by how great the show was. It
honestly was so good Im surprised they don’t pay extra to see it, it was a full
scale broadway like show, and the actor who plays the genie was known for his
improve throughout the show and was absolutely hilarious. It absolutely blows
any show in any Orlando theme park completely out of the water. So I was very
happy I decided to not skip out on the show. By the time we got out it was 7:30
and we decided to spend the rest of our night at California Adventure which
closed at 10:00. I used the single rider line for California Screamin’ then we
got in line for Toy Story Mania. We quickly got out of line as we realized we
wouldn’t get off the ride in time to use our Tower of Terror fastpasses. We
went over and I was so happy to see dad decided to try it with me, after strong
persistence from me, I had finally got him to go on this. As expected he said
it wasn’t nearly as bad as he thought itd be, and even asked if I wanted to do
it again later in the night. We then walked around to Cars Land to explore it
at night a little more, and then used the single rider line for Radiator
Springs, which we waited about a half hour for. To close the night we finally
did get on Toy Story Mania, where I kicked dads butt 152,000 to 89,000. We were
off the ride by 10:10 and back in the hotel around 11:00. One more day at
Disneyland, Im not as upset over that as I thought Id might be. Three long days
in a row has kind of left me exhausted and sick of the large crowds and loud
noises that come from those large crowds.
Monday May 20th: Fourth and final day at
Disneyland, and while Im partially upset, I am also exhausted and happy after
tonight Ill be able to relax more on this vacation. Another short night of
sleep as I woke up at 7:30 to get to the park early. I was inside Disneyland by
8:45, though the park didn’t open until 9:00, so the crowd was stopped at a
rope in front of the castle. In all my years and trips to Disney, this was the
first time ever I was at the park for the opening moment. After a spiel the
rope dropped and the crowd scurried out to their various first rides. I
immediately headed for Mr Toad and was the first person of the day on it. After
that I headed to Alice In Wonderland, which was still without a wait, and then
on to Pinocchio also without any wait. Three rides done by 9:20, I decided to
head to a different part of the park, I did Haunted Mansion and Pirates, again
both with no wait, I then went to do Roger Rabbit to make it six rides
completed by 10:00, getting there at opening sure is nice. I then decided to
move to California Adventure to get one more ride in on Tower of Terror and
California Screamin.’ Besides those two I also did Goofys sky school and Its
tough to be a bug again. Having ten things completed by 11:30, and a half hour
until dad would be here, I decided to just walk around the park a bit and enjoy
the atmosphere. After meeting with dad we went on haunted Mansion and Pirates
for the last time. Then we went back and did Pinocchio and Mr toad for the last
time. We had fastpasses for Indy, a ride we both fell in love with on the trip,
but in the middle of the fastpass line the ride broke down, so now there was a
question on whether or not we would get one more ride on it in. We decided to
do Buzz and after that I got in one last ride on my beloved matterhorn. We then
decided to head back to Indiana Jones to see if it was back up, and lucky for
us it was. So for the last ride of our Disneyland trip, it was Indiana Jones,
and we were out of the park by 5 and headed to Burbank. The trip was only 36
miles but took us a little over an hour and a half with traffic. We then got
dinner at KFC and relaxed at our hotel before taking a night time drive through
Hollywood and past the Chinese theatre. Today was by far the hottest day of our
vacation, I don’t think the temperature got above 77 before today, but was up
to 84 today. It was still another cool night though; all four nights in
California have required sweatshirts to be worn by both myself and dad.
Disneyland recap: My
favorite attractions on the resort were 1. Matterhorn Bobsleds 2.
Indiana Jones Adventure 3. California Screamin’ 4. Pirates of the Caribbean 5.
World Of Color
Head to head Disney World vs Land
Rides far better in Orlando: Haunted Mansion, Winnie the
Pooh, Peter Pans Flight, Tower of Terror, Splash Mountain
Rides far better in Anahaim: Buzz Lightyears space Ranger
Spin, Pirates of the Caribbean, It’s a Small World
Too close to call: Space Mountain
Even though Orlando wins in the “clone” rides, Anaheim wins
by a long mile in the “similar” rides, meaning the Matterhorn Bobsleds are
better than Expedition Everest, Radiators Springs Racers is better than Test
Track, Indiana Jones is better than Dinosaur, and California Screamin’ is
better than Rock N Roller Coaster. The Aladdin show is also far better than any
show offered in Orlando and World Of Color is better than any night show in Orlando,
although Illuminations is close.
Tuesday May 21st: The first of two full days in
Hollywood and probably the day I was least excited about on this vacation. Not
that I was dreading the day at all, it just didn’t excite me as much as the
other days. We were out the door a little before ten and parked near the
Chinese theatre. After checking out the Chinese theatre we hopped on a two hour
bus tour through Hollywood. There were definitely some cool sights along the
tour, including Johnny Depps apartment, and Iron Mans house. We also drove
through Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive and saw other famous spots like Pinks
Tacos and Mels Drive in. The tour lasted from 11:00-1:00 and we sat on the open
air top level of the bus, directly in the sun baking for two hours, its was hot
and drained me of a lot of energy. I was ready to head back to the hotel
already but dad wanted to do the bus tour through downtown LA, which was 2.5
hours. I gave in and we did it from 2:00-4:30. The only sight I was really
interested in seeing was the Staples Center but there were a few other
interesting things as well. After 4.5 hours sitting right in the sun I was
exhausted, and dad and I were both burnt pretty badly. We picked up Taco Bell
for dinner and headed back to the hotel. I took a long nap then pretty much
relaxed in the room the rest of the night. After four straight long days at
Disney it felt great to just relax for the night, and now I am reenergized to
fully pick this vacation back up tomorrow.
Wednesday May 22nd: Today was our day at
Universal Studios Hollywood. I was very excited about seeing how the opposite
coast Universal was, even though I knew it was much smaller than in Orlando. We
started out at house of Horrors which is a year round haunted house, I really
wish we had one of these in Orlando. Walking through it really got me pumped
for Halloween horror nights to come back, which is only four months away now.
After that we did the world famous studio tour, which was pretty neat. We saw a
lot of famous Hollywood sets, my favorite of which was Bate Motel from Psycho.
After the tour we did Shrek which was exactly the same as in Orlando with a
couple extra effects thrown in. We then headed down to the lower level of the
park (the park is separated into a lower and upper level, separated by four
long escalators you must take to get between the levels, very interesting.)
Down here we started at Transformers, with a posted twenty minute wait but we
ended up walking right on. It was a great ride and Im very excited it will be in
Orlando now with its opening next month. Then we did the Mummy with a posted 20
minute wait that actually was 20 minutes. The Hollywood version of the mummy is
much different than in Orlando, and I prefer Orlandos much better, dad said it
was basically a tie for him. Then we did Jurassic Park which was very similar
to the one in Orlando. We headed back up to the upper level to see their stunt
show which I was expecting a lot out of after reading rave reviews, but in the
end I was disappointed. Maybe I was just expecting to much because dad enjoyed
it. After the show we did the Haunted House one more time and decided to leave,
being in our car by 4:30. We ate dinner at Outback and headed back to the
hotel. After watching a great Heat/Pacers game I decided to try the workout
room. I speed walked/jogged for two and a half hours on the treadmill. After
eating pretty much nothing but junk food the past week it felt great to get
that exercise in. Tomorrow we head back for Vegas for three nights as the last
leg of our trip.
Thursday May 23rd: Up early for another long
drive back to Las Vegas. So far this trip has featured a five hour plane trip
and two separate 4.5 hour car rides, and still has another five hour plane ride
to go. It was about 2:00 when we were approaching Vegas which dad thought would
be too early to check in, so we decided to check out the Hoover Dam in the
meantime. It was pretty cool but unbelievably windy, I literally felt like I
could blow away at anytime and I had to take my glasses off so they wouldn’t
fly off. After five days in temperate weather it was also not so nice to step
back out into the desert heat Vegas had to offer. We finally checked into our
hotel about 3:30 and relaxed a bit before heading for dinner. We decided on the
buffet at our hotel for dinner, since dad insisted I needed to try a vegas
buffet before we left. In the end Im glad we did, I felt like I was eating a
kings feast with the unbelievable amount of options. I had plenty of salmon,
shrimp, pizza, roasted potatoes, rotisserie chicken, and lobster tails and
probably more I cant think of. Before I even got to desert I probably consumed
a full days worth of calories, and I probably doubled it at the desert station.
Key Lime Pie, Red Velvet cake, gourmet cookies, cheesecake shooters, banana
cream pie, and mini cupcakes headlined the deserts I stuffed myself with. After
dinner dad and I walked the strip to try and work off some of the 5,000
calories we had just put upon ourselves, the funny thing is I think I ate light
compared to most of the other people at the buffet. We walked through Ceasers
palace which I think is my new favorite casino, it is absolutely stunning the
detail put into it. We then checked out the Bellagio fountains which were also
very cool. We headed back to the room and then dad went down to gamble about
9:00 and a little after that I went down to explore the strip some more. As I
learned in New York there is something fun and adventurous about exploring a
foreign city by yourself. Walking the strip was absolutely jam packed with people,
and its only Thursday, its sure to get worse as the weekend arrives. I finished
off the night watching the 10:00 showing of the Volcano eruption in front of
our hotel which was an amazing sight.
Friday May 24th: Today we tried to get a somewhat
early start to head out to red rock canyon this morning, but ended up getting
out around 10:30 or so. We got to red rock canyon around eleven, a little later
than we would have liked because by this time the temp was already hovering
around 85 degrees, a little to hot to enjoy hiking or rock climbing. We started
at the visitors center where the highlight for me was seeing a 130 year old
tortoise. We then stopped at the first hiking point, we climbed some rocks and
did a little hiking but never did a full path, but it was still pretty
strenuous. On the second stop however, we got more than our moneys worth. We
started climbing a very steep and very high hill/rock, and just ended up not
stopping until we got near the top probably about a 200 feet climb. The climb down
was much harder than going up, and more scary, and by the time we got to the
bottom we were so hot and tired we didn’t make any more stops the rest of the
canyon, just driving along it. We got back to the hotel around 2:00, and
decided to head down to the pool. We spent about five minutes in the pool,
which was more like an ice box, im surprised the water wasn’t frozen, then
lounged beside the pool for about an hour, predictably ending in both of us
getting burnt. After so much running around the last week, it was great to just
relax in the sun for an hour by the pool. We got back to the hotel room and dad
took a nap, and woke up around 6:00, and we headed out for dinner. We had
dinner at Applebees tonight, I always love their tilapia and potato fingers. After
dinner dad headed out to gamble and I headed out for another walk along the
strip. I watched a couple showings of the Bellagio fountains, the mirage
volcano, then back to the hotel for the night, just one more day left on the
vacation.
Saturday May 25th: Last day of the vacation, and
with nothing really planned until tonight, it was just going to be a relaxing
day. Dad went down to gamble around lunchtime, and I decided to take one last
walk along the strip while our room was being cleaned. After that it was just
relaxing until about 6:00 when we left to see the cirque du soleil show across
the street. The show started at 7:00 and ended at around 8:30. It was a good
show, although not exactly my type of show, I did enjoy the stunts done. After
the show I watched the mirage volcano show one last time, then got Mcdonals for
dinner. I hadn’t eaten Mcdonalds in at least 10 months, and was surprised to
see they didn’t have chicken strips anymore. So I got the nuggets then headed
up to the hotel room for the night. It was a fun vacation, but after eleven
nights away, I am ready to go back home.
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