theDIBB - California Halloween Spooktacular!

I'm so ridiculously excited for this trip. I've always dreamt about going to the original Disneyland in Anaheim and I am finally going to do it with two of my best friends! I've always wanted to do a trip report but I always forget so here we go!

The Cast -

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This is us! We met on the Disney International College Program in 2013 and we've spoken every single day since. I can't get rid of the pair of them no matter how hard I try :d: Here's a little bit about us;

Rach (me!) - The only first timer for Disneyland and California. I will probably breakdown and cry when I get through the gates. I worked at Hollywood Studios on the ICP and it's my absolute favourite park in WDW. I've been to Disneyland Paris a few times but WDW is absolutely my home park. Outside of Disney, I'm most excited for Universal Studios and Hollywood. I'm a big film fan so it's all so exciting for me. I'm also a Gryffindor! My favourite Disney films are Mary Poppins and Beauty and the Beast.

Hayley - She's been to California before but she's always excited so she'll almost definitely get overexcited and probably start making really high pitched noises that only dogs can hear. She's also the world's clumsiest human which always provides a few laughs. She worked at World of Disney in Downtown Disney (now Disney Springs) on the ICP but she's an Epcot fan. She's never been to Paris but has been to WDW a lot. She's a Ravenclaw. Her favourite Disney films are Lilo and Stitch and The Lion King.

Jane - She's been to California before but not since 2013. She vlogs everything but she has strict vlogging rules she has to follow this trip so there's no surprise shots of me stuffing an entire pancake stack in my mouth. She worked at Magic Kingdom on the ICP but she loves Animal Kingdom too. She's been to Paris a few times (with me! and other people but they don't count because they're not as cool as me ;)) Outside of Disney, she's most excited for Santa Monica and the Griffith Observatory. She's a Slytherin (boo hiss). Her favourite Disney films are Tarzan and Sleeping Beauty.

The Details -

We are flying from Manchester Airport on the 22nd October 2016 with Thomas Cook to LAX.
We are staying in Anaheim from the 22nd to the 25th October. We were booked to stay in the Carousel Inn and Suites but we got an email a few months after I booked saying that the hotel was getting demolished! We instead booked next door at the Camelot Inn and Suites.

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We are then moving on to Los Angeles for the rest of our stay. We are staying at the Best Western Plus Hollywood Hills. I nearly booked the Stay on Main hotel because I thought it was such a good bargain. Turns out it was formerly known as the Cecil Hotel where a few notorious deaths have taken place and was the inspiration for the American Horror Story Hotel series. Oops.

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We are hoping to get in Universal Studios and Halloween Horror Nights, Hollywood, Griffith Observatory and Santa Monica.

We then fly back home :cry: on the 29th October.

The Plan:

Friday 21st October

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The night before our flight we are staying at the Clayton Hotel near Manchester Airport so we can start our holiday early and also because I'm always paranoid I'm going to be late so it makes me less anxious! We have to change trains at Manchester Piccadilly so we're going to pick up a little picnic to have in the hotel while we presumably just sob because we're so excited.

Saturday 22nd October

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We fly at 11:55 and land in LAX at 14:55 local time. I'd be lying if I said I was looking forward to an 11 hour flight! The longest I've done is the 8/9 hours to Orlando. We're sat near the back of the plane where it goes into a 2-3-2 seating so we didn't end up with a random next to us (no offence randoms). I've booked a hoppa transfer to our hotel in Anaheim. We'll be dropping off our bags, having a quick freshen up and then straight into the parks where we're going to have a little wander about and then go for an explore around Downtown Disney and pick up an Earl of Sandwich and as this has become a bit of a tradition for us, buy a mug from World of Disney so we can have a nice cup of tea in the room. (Could we be any more British? :pgig:)

Sunday 23rd October

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For our first full day, we’ve booked a character breakfast at the Storyteller’s Café in the Grand Californian Hotel. I’m not really one for character breakfasts but Jane and Hayley are really excited for this. We’re also going to be Disneybounding as Minnie, Donald and Oswald! We’re hoping to go straight into Disneyland Park and do a few character meets before heading to the rides.

Monday 24th October

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This is the day I’m so excited for! We’ve got tickets for Mickey’s Halloween Party! I’m so excited to see everyone’s costumes and attempt to eat my own body weight in candy. We’ve currently making our costumes so hopefully I will be going as Mary Poppins, Hayley will be Megara from Hercules and Jane is going to be the Pumpkin King himself, Jack Skellington! Pretty natural trio there. We’re going to use our Extra Magic Hours this day and have an early start in the parks before going back to the hotel to change into our costumes.

Tuesday 25th October

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Our last Disney day! This will be a bit of a bittersweet day as we’ll be leaving Disneyland but heading on to Los Angeles. We’re going to spend the day at Disney. We’ve got a table booked at Carnation Café and then we’ll leave after World of Color and head on to our LA hotel. If we’re not too tired, we might have a little wander around Hollywood. Hopefully, I won’t get picked up by Richard Gere because I’m not that kind of girl but you never know.

Wednesday 26th October

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Our first LA day! These LA days haven’t really been all that organised so these may change order. This is going to be so exciting for me because I would love to be so fabulous that I lived permanently in LA and I love Hollywood. I think we’ll be fitting the Observatory in here somewhere too. I want to put my hands in all the handprints and try and find my hand twins. I have two already. One’s Danny DeVito and the other is Daniel Radcliffe so I don’t know what that says about me. I’m also the exact same height as Daniel Radcliffe so Daniel if you’re reading this, I think we can make an act out of this. Call me.

Thursday 27th October

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Universal Studios day! It turns out Universal Studio tickets are really quite expensive so as we wanted to do Halloween Horror Nights as well we opted for a combo ticket so we will be entering the park at 2pm and experiencing the park during the day (mostly Harry Potter probably) and then once it gets dark and HHN starts, we will be running around screaming and crying and probably regretting our decision to do such a thing. Yay!

Friday 28th October

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If you go to California and don’t do something beachy are you really in California at all? This will be our Santa Monica, Venice Beach etc day. I want to get a hot dog. I’ve heard good things about hot dogs in Santa Monica. I’ll probably blend right in with all the bronzed blonde babes with the perfect bods.

Saturday 29th October

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Our last day. Sad. I’m not sure what we’ll do here. I suppose we’ll just do whatever we’ve missed or just have a little wander or a little shop. Maybe I’ll do a little cry. I probably will. Maybe Daniel Radcliffe will call me and we’ll start our world class act and I can stay in LA forever. Who knows? I don’t want to think about this day. This day makes me sad.

So that’s our holiday. It will be two weeks on Saturday until we fly. Ahhh! Let’s do this!