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Old 4 Apr 12, 12:37 AM  
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#21
chelseyleigh
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Update 4 - The day before and departure

I thought i'd start to plan each area of our trip in more detail. So firsts first is the 20th and the 21st, the day before and the day we leave. 2 of the most exciting days for me!

Seen as its a monday I wont be at work (part time waitress only work sat and sun) and obviously ill be off uni for summer, my mum and dad will most likely book this day off work. knowing me I will have packed and repacked 2 weeks in advance to this but today will be spent; checking any last minute packing details, meeting up with the girls for a goodbye coffee/lunch and cleaning the house. Ryan will be coming over whenever he finishes work, if hes doing a night shift this could be as late as 2am. For dinner we will most likely be having a nice and easy take away, probally chinese!



Yummy!

Now I'd imagine everyone will be getting an early night, but me being me will be too excited to sleep and seen as I dont usually go to sleep till around 3am anyway theres not much point when I'd have to wake up at 4am! So the night through to morning for me will be spent watching disney movies most likely regularly interupted by little moments of excitment on my behalf!

So at 4.30am, Im sure I'll be waking Ryan up the same way I awoke him for our last Florida trip, by kindly jumping on him and screaming WE ARE GOING CALIFORNIAAAA or maybe ill choose a california related song, they have been flying around a lot recently! Everyone else should start stirring by now and we should be all ready and packed in the car by 5.30am. We haven't sorted our lifts yet but should be able to get a kind friend/family member to help us out!

So assuming traffic is clear we should arrive at Heathrow by 7am, ready to check in and head through to Terminal 3.



Now this may seem strange but I absolutely LOVE airport departure lounges! The excitment is always so present no matter what time of the morning it is! I love seeing the hyper kids running around screaming about there upcoming holiday, ofcours its a different story for the trip home but we shant talk about that! Now Ive checked out what restaurants terminal 3 has to offer and I have to say I am not impressed. With our limited restaurants options I would imagine we will be going for Bridge bar for the last bit of English cuisine for the next 2 weeks!



We will spend the next couple of hours doing the usual airport rounds - WH smiths for flight mags and sucky sweets to stop the ears popping and then a lovely bit of duty free shopping for me. Looking at the shops in terminal 3 I would imagine I'll be spending a bit of time in Kurt Geiger, MAC and Zara. Now I could say I'd spend the time in Chanel and Burberry but then we all no what would happen to my spending money for the next 2 weeks right?!

If all goes to plan and fingers crossed theres no delays we should be boarding and taking off by 11.05am onto this baby...



Hopefully after a smooth flight with some yummy (PAH!) flight meals, decent IFE and ALOT of sleep to aid jet lag at the other end and we will be arriving in LAX by 14.20 local time. Now Im well aware security at this end is going to be mental so hopefully by 5pm we will be through and picking up our ride for the next 2 weeks!



We will then be heading onto Marina Del Rey for our home for the next 3 nights, The Marina International hotel and Bungalows. We should arrive here by 6pm (2am our time EEK!), just enough time to freshen up and walk down to the marina to grab a bite to eat. Im sure we will all be fallen asleep pretty early tonight to be up fresh and ready nice and early tomorrow for our first full day!

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Edited at 02:10 AM.
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Old 4 Apr 12, 09:41 AM  
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#22
MFras23
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I can't comment on the hotels as a WC holiday is a mere dream at the moment! But they all look lovely
I too loveee airports, and service stations!
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Old 4 Apr 12, 01:32 PM  
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#23
chelseyleigh
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Originally Posted by MFras23 View Post
I can't comment on the hotels as a WC holiday is a mere dream at the moment! But they all look lovely
I too loveee airports, and service stations!
Service stations? Lol never thought about them but yeah i can see where your coming from!
Airports are just such happy places! I dont think i'd like them if i worked in them though! Constantly watch people go on holiday!
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Old 4 Apr 12, 02:29 PM  
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chelseyleigh
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Update 5 - Los Angeles

So our first 3 days will be spent exploring and enjoying Los Angeles. Like I've said previous we don't plan this trip down to every little detail and would like to wake up and do as we feel like that day, But saying that I do love a bit of planning and feel that it doesn't hurt deciding exactly what we want to do and where we want to go!

So nothing is set in stone yet but in no particular order heres how our stay in Los Angeles will go!

Option 1: Universal Studios Hollywood!



I no this park is ALOT smaller than in Florida but theres still a few things im really looking forward to, first being the studio tour which ive heard is great, Can't wait to visit Wisteria Lane! Im also quite looking forward to the transformers ride, although im not a fan and ive never actually even seen the film, but its a new ride and has had quite a lot of hype! and lastly the simpson ride, i no its pretty much the same as in Florida but its one of my favourite rides so cant wait to get back on it!



(Me and Ryan Outside the simpsons ride in Florida, 2011)

I am not sure how long this park will take but ive heard that it can easily be done in a day so I am hoping we will have the late afternoon to explore...



and perhaps a bit of my favourite sport - Shopping! (Pretty women stylee )

Option 2: Exploring Hollywood!



We would like to do a hollywood movie star homes tour and also a warner brothers tour which must including a visit to my all time favourite show...



F.R.I.E.N.D.S!

So if anyone can reccomend me some tours that will defintely visit the friends set that would be great, Id also love to see Two and a half men, Big bang theory and The fresh prince of Bel Air!

We will then spend the afternoon walking around Hollywood boulevard and taking a peek at those infamous stars!

I would imagine the afternoon will be followed by some more of my favourite sport - Shoppinggg, perhaps in a center of some sort, not sure where yet!


Option 3 Beeeach day

This day will most likely be saved for the day we move to Anaheim (24th) as it will only take a couple hours and is only a short trip from our hotel in Marina Del Rey. I am not 100% sure which beach we will choose but at the moment I am leaning towards Santa Monica..



None of us are huge beach fans but we can't possibly come to California and not visit 1 or 2 of there beautiful beaches! So after a couple of hours of soaking up the lovely californian sun we will head on down to our next destination - Anaheim to visit our best pal Mickey!
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Old 4 Apr 12, 08:47 PM  
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Kara
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Exciting updates, all of your hotels look lovely, especially the view of the fireworks from your Anaheim hotel.

The Warner Brothers VIP Studio Tour, definitely visits the friends set. We did it 4 years ago and saw that set, plus the mentalist set, we also saw them filming pushing daisies. We did all of the studio tours and we thought it was by far the best one. I have looked on their website for you and it's $49 pp, and currently sets include the big bang theory, they update their website with things filming at that time so it's worth checking out just before you go

Edited at 09:38 PM.
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Old 4 Apr 12, 08:50 PM  
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chelseyleigh
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Originally Posted by Kara View Post
Exciting updates, all of your hotels look lovely, especially the view of the fireworks from your Anaheim hotel.

The Warner Brothers VIP Studio Tour, definitely visits the friends set. We did it 4 years ago and saw that set, plus the mentalist set, we also saw them filming punching daisies. We did all of the studio tours and we thought it was by far the best one. I have looked on their website for you and it's $49 pp, and currently sets include the big bang theory, they update their website with things filming at that time so it's worth checking out just before you go
Wow that sounds great and so reasonably priced! Thanks so much for checking that out for me!
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Old 5 Apr 12, 09:31 AM  
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Definitely do the Warner Bro Tour. Try and get one early in the morning as they are less busy. We were booked on the 10:00 am one, but arrived at 09:30 and got on that tour. Just the three of us and another Swedish family of 4! Plenty of time to wander when off the cart. The carts coming in were busy when we left the tour.
It’s not far to the Grove and Farmers Market from there. We always pop there for lunch. Pastrami on rye!
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Old 5 Apr 12, 01:19 PM  
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Post 6 - Anaheim & DISNEY

So on the 24th after spending the morning at Santa Monica, taking in the beautiful sun we will drive down to Anaheim and hopefully be checking into the Carousel Inn and suites by 3pm.



We will then freshen up, extra freshening will be nessesary due to the beach! Eurghhh i hate how the sand gets EVERYWHERE no matter how much you try to cover up from it...
We will then spend the evening exploring and soaking up the disney atmosphere of DTD, including my favourite shop...ever



We will then move onto dinner at Ralph Brenans Jazz Kitchen after lots of positive reveiws from you lovely dibbers.



Depending how sleepy we are and also what tickets we get we might head over to one of the parks to either grab the last couple of hours of rides or catch one of the shows, I definately wanna watch Fantasmic and World of Colour during out stay.

Not sure which order we will do this but one day will be spent at Disney land park -



We will definately be enjoying breakfast either in the park or in one of the resorts and will book it nice and early to make to sure to get to the park for opening, it will be a saturday/sunday so will definately have to make the most of our time here. Does anyone no if restaurants inside the park can be booked before park opening? and also any suggestions would be great either within Disneyland park or in one of the nearby resorts, would love a character meal for the first morning The plaza inn looks great but I haven't heard too much about it? I am aware there are plenty of other restaurants in the surrounding area but we can eat in these sorts of restaurants during the rest of the holiday but we cant eat with Mickey during the rest of the holiday!

Just had a look through the rides in Disneyland and tbh there isn't one ride I dont wanna do! But theres one ride i will be making sure to do! Its gotta be the classic... ITS A SMALL WORLD



We will then finish of the day with dinner somewhere - again need recccomendations - either within the park, the resorts or DTD. I no a lot of people enjoyed Blue Bayou but it might be a little pricey for all 6 of us. And after dinner we will hopefully head back into the parks to watch the other fireworks to the ones we watched on the first night.

The other day will be spent enjoying Disney land california Adventure park -



Again would like to start this morning with a lovely disney style breakfast in either the park or a nearby resort (reccomendations please!)
Looking over the attractions in this park i gotta say they look a lot better than the disneyland park! very excited for this park!
Again need reccomendations for a lovely dinner in the park, resorts or DTD.

Dinner wont be too late on the night of the 24th as we will be hoping to leave by 7pm to head down to San Diego!
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Edited at 01:46 PM.
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Old 5 Apr 12, 02:22 PM  
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LOVING your pre-trippy!

As you can see from my countdown we overlap a few days!

I've been to California once before a couple of years back about the exact same times you are going!

LOVED IT and so decided after we get married in August we are going back! Just booked my flights today and trying to work out a plan of action regarding where to go first!?

We are flying in and out from San Diego...staying in San Diego city, Coronado, La Jolla, Anaheim, La and possibly somewhere like Santa Barbara.

We're going for 18 nights!

LOVE your itinerary, that was like ours last time but sticking to So-Cal this time as it was our favourites and as it's our honeymoon i want it more chilled.

Have you booked car-hire! I'm waiting for some voucher or something...wishful thinking! x
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Old 5 Apr 12, 04:34 PM  
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chelseyleigh
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Originally Posted by merkat View Post
LOVING your pre-trippy!

As you can see from my countdown we overlap a few days!

I've been to California once before a couple of years back about the exact same times you are going!

LOVED IT and so decided after we get married in August we are going back! Just booked my flights today and trying to work out a plan of action regarding where to go first!?

We are flying in and out from San Diego...staying in San Diego city, Coronado, La Jolla, Anaheim, La and possibly somewhere like Santa Barbara.

We're going for 18 nights!

LOVE your itinerary, that was like ours last time but sticking to So-Cal this time as it was our favourites and as it's our honeymoon i want it more chilled.

Have you booked car-hire! I'm waiting for some voucher or something...wishful thinking! x
Oh yeah we do! glad you enjoyed it! What was the weather like?

yeah we have booked car hire through virgin

thanks for reading!
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