Huxwolds California Dreaming (Aug 23) - Day 7: Move to Hollywood, Warner Bros Studios & City Walk

[HEMANCLOFTY]

Huxwolds California Dreaming (Aug 23)
Day 7: Moving to Hollywood, Warner Bros Studios & City Walk (Thurs 24/08)

Index
Day 6: Disney’s California Adventure

On the move to Hilton Los Angeles Universal City…

(I think) I woke up around 5am, but dozed off and on until about 6. I checked the daily Sooty update (he was fine and being spoiled by the cat sitter) then posted my daily Insta update for yesterday - I needed two reels today as there were too many pics to choose from (I didn’t realise until later in the week that I could use more than 10 pics in a reel).

At around 7am, I had a shower and got dressed, then I made a start on the packing as we were checking out of the Clarion and heading up to Hollywood today.

I got through 2 lobby coffees (which Rich got for me) whilst I was packing.

I managed to fit all my clothes into one of the medium cases (now expanded), which freed up space in the other medium case for Rich and Mine’s swag (along with the toiletries). Rich and Tom’s clothes fit into the big case. As Tom had his new new bag he’d bought at the outlets, we used his black hand luggage bag for the leftover snacks and waters.

We were all done, and had checked and double checked the room and were ready to leave at 9:50.

One final pic of The Clarion lobby…

I checked us out then booked an Uber XL ($87.98) which Uber said was 2 mins away but took 5. When the driver arrived he told us he hadn’t seen that we were going to Hollywood when he accepted the fare, and couldn’t take us as he had an appointment, which was a bit frustrating.

Uber took a few mins to match us to another driver - which turned out better as it was a 7 seater so we had more room. We left Anaheim at 10:08.

I filmed our final drive up S Harbour Boulevard, then took a couple of pics as we were passing the Knott’s Berry Farm exit.

By 10:45 we could see a very hazy Downtown LA skyline, and 10 mins later we were passing through it…

At 11:07 we saw the first signs for Hollywood and Universal…

We also saw our first glimpse of the Griffiths Observatory and Hollywood Sign, but I wasn’t quick enough to get any pics.

We arrived at the Hilton Los Angeles Universal City at 11:15 (so just over an hour after leaving Anaheim). We tipped 15%...

Rich went for a smoke whilst Tom helped me bring the cases and bags into the lobby (which was very nice).

I was checked in by a lovely lady called Linda who said she could listen to me talk all day as she loves the Royals and watches BBC News as it’s more interesting than US news. Check in wasn’t until 4pm, but Linda said we could have our room now, and explained that the pool was open till midnight. There was a $60 per night deposit held on my credit card, and Housekeeping was by request only. We were all sorted by 11:25.

Tom went to find Rich in the smoking area, but went to a different one (there were plenty).

By just after 11:30 we were in our room - 456 overlooking the pool and with a nice view of the hills opposite…

It was a really nice room with loads of space, “Welcome Emma” on the TV, a very nice bathroom with Crabtree & Evelyn products, and a decent sized fridge…

The only thing missing was a towel rack as there was nowhere to hang the wet towels after a shower.

We unpacked the waters and snacks (there were enough drawers to have a snack drawer). The safe wasn’t working so I rang down to Guest Services and they sent up Security Guy within 5 mins to do a reset - it was fine after that.

Lola’s Remi plush…

12:00 - We left the rest of the unpacking for now as we were heading to Burbank for lunch at Bob’s Big Boys Burgers and then to the Warner Bros Studios Tour. I took a few pics whilst Rich and Tom were having a smoke / vape…

By 12:05 we were in the Uber to Bob’s, which took 7 mins ($7.57 +$3 tip)…

We took some pics of Big Boy…

There was a 10 min wait for a table so we went back outside and took a few more pics…

The interior was very cool, just as you’d expect an old school diner to be, with lots of photos and memorabilia on the walls…

They had lots of great menu options to choose from - I had planned to get something from the breakfast menu, but ended up choosing the Burbank Beef Dip and a Coke with Cherry syrup...

Tom had a Patty Melt with Dr Pepper…

Rich had the Albacore Tuna Melt with Dr Pepper….

They all came with Fries and refillable drinks. We were also offered a salad each but we all declined - we’d thought it Would be a side salad but everyone else in the diner seemed to be having theirs as a starter.

12:30 - Whilst were were waiting for our food, we booked our Warner Bros slot for 2:30pm ($70 each + Tax), which gave us plenty of time to eat and for the walk over to the Studios.

Tom spotted that the guy sat behind us with his dog was in one of the wall photos with Danny Trejo - we heard a few servers call him Mikey, but we are not sure if he was a celeb or a regular.

The food and service was excellent - my no 2 meal of the trip so far…

By 1:10 we were all done and settling the check ($59.96 + $15 tip).

We checked out the merch on the way out - getting some Bob’s Fry Seasoning (which we’d had on the table and was really nice), a pack of postcards, a Pin Badge for Rich and 2 stickers for Tom (Total $?)…

1:25 - We had a look around the back of Bob’s at the old-school drive in area, where they have a classic car event every Friday…

Then we mooched in the general direction of the WB water towers…

Google Maps wasn’t very clear and kept changing direction, so we made our own way there, stopping to get a couple of drinks from a gas station on the way…

We also stopped to top up our Sun Spray as it was very hot…

2:00 - We arrived at Warner Bros…

We used the restrooms and had a mooch at the Barbie display in the lobby area…

We got some pics with these pair…

…then scanned in for the tour at around 2:15…

It was a few mins wait for the next tour - which started with a quick intro video then our guide Jorja came to take us to our tour cart…

NB - To save my phone battery, I used the camera for the main part of the tour

We drove around the production buildings and sound stages, through the Jungle where lots of films and TV scenes including Jurassic Park and ER were filmed…

We passed some offices that get used as hospitals and other various things, and the Backlot streets…

Jorja showed us lots of Gilmore Girls references - I haven’t watched it, but apparently this gazebo is a big deal…

Jorja didn’t mention it, but I’ve seen on Moosha’s trippies that this is the church from The Lost Boys…

We stopped at the house that Jorja said had been used for Gilmore Girls and was now used as a frat house for the show All American…

More importantly (to us) it’s also the house in Gremlins where Mrs Deagle flies out of the window on her stair lift…

Tom volunteered to be sent to bed, to demonstrate that the stairs lead to nowhere…

Jack and Judy Geller’s house was just across the street…

And we got a glimpse of the Full / Fuller House house…

We briefly saw the Friends Fountain…

Jorja explained we’d get to come back for a photo opp later - she also told us that the Friends “Red Ross” rugby scene was filmed on the small patch of grass behind the fountain…

Abbott Elementary…

The Batman City Hall steps…

The Friends sound-stage…

You can just about see the iconic Stage 16 up this alley…

I didn’t manage get a photo when we’d passed it earlier, but the story of how it was lifted up and extended from underneath to make it the tallest soundstage in the world is pretty cool.

Here’s some Google pics..

The Pirate Ship scene from of our favourite films The Goonies was filmed in here…

We drove through the scenery department…

And around a few more sound stages…

We stopped at Sound Stage 27 and got to walk through the sets for All American (cameras weren’t allowed in here)…

I’ve watched a couple of episodes of All American since we got back. It’s quite good, but it’s on ITVX so the constant adverts are a bit annoying - I will watch more at some point though.

3:15 - Jorja said goodbye and dropped us off at Stage 48, where the Central Park Coffee shop is…

There was also a Friends merch store, with lots of props - I got loads of pics…

I sat on Chandler’s Barker Lounger…

I resisted the merch, but had to get myself a Cappuccino (c$6)…

We grabbed some stools whilst I sat and drank my coffee, then we walked through the Script to Screen section…

Rich surprised me by joined me for some pics on the Friends couch…

Tom and I also did the Big Bang couch photo opp (we didn’t sit in Sheldon’s spot)…

Tom did the Bat Cycle green screen video, but cameras weren’t allowed in this part. We didn’t buy the official pics as they were $20+ each, or $135 for everything (a bit steep) and we were able to take our own pics of everything except the green screen section.

4:35 - We briefly got back on a tour cart, getting a closer view of the Full / Fuller House house and Batman steps…

We stopped at the Friends Fountain for some pics on the plastic couch…

This side of the fountain area is where Rachel And Phoebe went running in Central Park…

4:45 - Our 2nd guide dropped off for the final bit of the tour. The DC and Wizarding World displays. Both of these were really cool but seeing Tom enjoying all the Batman props, vehicles and costumes was the best part of the whole tour….

It was vey dark in the DC part so my pics don’t do it justice.

Some of Tom’s Insta stories…

Harry Potter…

We noticed that the plug sockets were upside down in the Cupboard Under The Stairs 🤣

Tom and I did the Sorting Hat (Hufflepuff for me and Griffindoor for Tom), and I did a silly pop up out of Newt Scamander’s suitcase.

Potions…

Herbology (Rich had no idea what a Mandrake was)…

5:10 - We had a mooch around the merch store. I got a few bargain magnets - only 99c for the Batman one and $1.99 for Fuller House. Tom got some pin badges that were really cheap in the sale too (99c each)…

I also spotted a Walley World t-shirt, and convinced Rich to let me buy it for him for our visit to Six Flags Magic Mountain tomorrow (Total $? )…

We resisted the mugs to save the suitcase weight…

I took a couple of final pics in the lobby…

By 5:30 we were all done. Tom and Rich had a smoke / vape and we chatted for a bit. We all agreed that we’d really enjoyed the tour and displays, but thought it was a bit pricey at $70 each just over 3 hours...

We also realised we hadn’t seen the Spider-Man kiss alley, or the China Town steps where Billy’s Dad goes to buy Gizmo in Gremlins.

I ordered our Uber back to the hotel ($12.98). Our driver Michael said he was going to avoid the traffic and would take us a “back way” through Toluca Lake, which is an exclusive location where lots of celebs live including Miley Cyrus. He also told us that the Hollywood Tour vans aren’t allowed to drive through this area…

Michael pointed out Kelly Clarkson and Steve Corall’s houses (no pics) and said that the Golf Club fees are a whopping $80,000 a year! It was a rally nice area, and a nice touch - earning him a $10 tip…

We arrived back at the hotel at 5:55pm. I popped to the desk to add WiFi to our room. The receptionist said that we could have for free if I signed up to Hilton Honours so I did (saving us $7.95 per night).

We took some pics of our swag, connected the WiFi and unpacked.

6:30 - We bought our Six Flags tickets for tomorrow ($63 each, total $199.92 Inc Tax). We decided to leave the Flash Passes for now and judge the queues when we get there (which ended up being a very good call as we didn’t need them).

7:15 - We had a quick freshen up and change and were ready to head out to City Walk by 7:40. I actually put on a dress and flip flops as we didn’t have too far to walk tonight, and I used my new little Loungefly bag too…

We took some lovely pics of the sun setting over the hills, then set off to City Walk at 7:45, arriving at the neon Universal sign by 7:50…

We took some quick pics by the sign and the Globe, then headed into City Walk, which looked fab all lit up at night…

We started off with a mooch in the Universal store, then went into Dodgers…

I really liked this Loungefly, and was tempted but I wanted to hold out for our visit to Funko HQ…

Rich popped to find a restroom whilst Tom and I looked in Tilly’s, then we met up in Hot Topic. They had loads of cool stuff in here.

Not a Loungefly, but very awesome…

Tom was still browsing in Hot Topic so I had a quick look in Sephora…

Then we all went in the Super Nintendo World Store, where we could’ve spend a fortune on popcorn buckets but resisted for now…

I tried on some ears and hats…

I ended up getting the Mushroom Ears, which were very reasonable at $20 + Tax…

Tom got a tin of sweets, and a blind box which I think was more sweets or mints ($? )…

We had a look in Los Angeles Sock Market, and It’Sugar…

…where the Nintendo sweets were cheaper than the Nintendo Store…

The we just mooched around the restaurant section, as quite a few stores were closing and we wanted to save some for another visit…

We ended up (as planned) at Firehouse Subs by just after 9pm…

I wavered a bit as I quite fancied Panda Express Orange Chicken and I’d had a sandwich for lunch, but I went with Firehouse Subs in the end as it was awesome last year and was on the A-List.

Rich had a Large Turkey Bacon Ranch, Tom had a Large New York Steamer and I went for a Make Your Own Tuna with melted cheese. We upgraded 2 as Combos (crisps and drinks, choosing Lays and Cheetos, and Dr Pepper & Grape Soda). Total $69.30.

The server (Emma) called me back to apologise as they had run out of Tuna so I swapped to Ham, Turkey and Cheese with lettuce, tomato and mayo, which turned out to be really tasty…

The pics are a bit rubbish, but the sandwiches were awesome. Mine was jam packed with meat and very filling - I ended up taking about 1/4 back to put in the fridge.

9:50 - We took a few pics by the now empty Globe and park entrance on the way out of City Walk…

Then we walked over the footbridge / walkway to the hotel, arriving at just after 10pm…

We called this the Instagram lighting…

Tom went off to call Lola, and I sat in the Lobby for a few mins whilst Rich had a smoke. I realised we were on floor 4 but the lobby is 3 so we could take the stairs to the room as it was quicker than waiting for the lifts. Rich and I were back in the room by 10:15.

It had been a great first day in Hollywood 😀

A bit less walking, and only 11,209 steps today 👣

Day 8: Six Flags Magic Mountain - aka Walley World

[HEMANCLOFTY]

Morning - Camera pics from the Warner Bros tour now added 😀

[dismamx2]

Glad you enjoyed Warner Bros, my girls love it there, always something new or different.

Nice evening mooching around Citywalk, we've stayed at the Hilton and it's a perfect location for strolling to and from Universal/CW.

[Cinderella]

Great time at Warner Bros tour.