Disney Feast West&East Day 6: Reagan Museum & LA

[WileyCoyote]

It is August 1st today - and we have a whole month still stretching ahead of us - that really does feel nice

We are awake again around 0530 and all up around 7. We load up the car and head to breakfast which is busy and the waffle making machine a great hit and the source of a queue. Its good fun though and a nice breakfast with sausage,egg, muffins, cereal toast etc. The boys had a real thing about me taking buffet meal pictures so I had to sneak a few in when they weren’t looking . I take some pics round the hotel – it’s a bit foggy and looks totally different in TinkTattoo’s pictures bathed in sunshine ! As we are checking out , Andy meets the couple that he was sat next to on the plane as they have just arrived – well, as they say, it’s a small world and it clearly is !















Jamie checks out the latest stock market price for minecraft shares





Andy wonders what to have next



We are on our way around 0945 which is good. We plan to stop in Santa Barbara at lunchtime. We hope to do the Reagan museum but haven’t booked tickets in case the roads are bad and we don’t get there.

We get to Santa Barbara much quicker than expected and well before lunchtime so we stop for some “we were here” photos and decide to push on .











We were fascinated to see the oil platforms all along the coast line here




Is this where the big fella has his vacation then ?

[WileyCoyote]

And so , on our way here



A bit later the boys say they are hungry so we just pull into the next available town and (eventually) find a Subway which has them squealing in delight ( easily pleased) , they are really impressed when the Sheriff comes in and he has a Taser AND a gun . I didn’t take his picture though, in case he decided to use them on me. So lunch has been a paltry $26 for 3 foot long subs, some sodas and cookies . Fine dining at its best.



We get to the Reagan museum around 1pm, fully expecting to be in and out by 3.



The boys are reminded of the “no whingeing” rule as tomorrow we are spending the day at Six Flags where Andy and I have promised not to whinge all day so in return they can remain whinge free for a few hours this afternoon – and they are as good as gold – even though they don’t actually know who Ronald Reagan was and are not the least bit impressed at the thought of seeing an AirForce One. Tsk, tsk, I blame the parents myself.

We hadn’t expected much from this and really had only wanted to see the said AF One. We paid our $87 entry fee for the 5 of us and set off with fairly low expectations.

What can I say, we were utterly absorbed. Neither of us are Reagan devotees but it was a really , really interesting place – we learned loads . Everyone who works there had worked with Reagan at some point and they were so knowledgeable and genuinely enthusiastic that it became quite infectious.

As we went round we recognised a lot from our childhood – the assassination attempt, the world events like the Achille Lauro hijack, the rescue of the air hostages, the treaty with Russia . We were totally captivated and learned a great deal about him , Nancy and their family. By the time we reached the end , his battle with Alzheimers, his funeral and the piece of the Berlin Wall, we were both quite humbled and overcome. Totally recommend it - picture overload to follow





His book of quotes that he collected for his speeches



WE have a go at the teleprompter





The shooting





replica oval office





The secret service secret door !

[WileyCoyote]

This was fascinating , apparently the secret service requisitioned Al Capones car as it was the most bullet proof one available













It was fasinating to learn all about Air Force One and also how this building had been built around it

We stopped for a quick snack to admire the view and purchase our AF one photo – giving the “first family” presidential wave at the door before having a look round. It’s a great pic – I must upload the code so I can add it to photobucket.

The section on world affairs was really poignant - look at this quote





This did bring a lump to our throats - there is a section honouring American heroes and this is a girder from the Twin Towers





This really touched us too

[WileyCoyote]

It was such an incredible place - just a few last pics







This beautiful magnolia by the piece of the Berlin Wall



The added bonus was discovering that the museum was also hosting the Disney archives so just as the boys thought they were escaping – no such luck as we hauled them off to look at some Disney exhibits , including Walts original plans for DisneyLand and film props and costumes as well as Disney presidential memorabilia. Im not entirely sure that the sculpted presidential heads hall of fame that was at the end of the exhibition really needed to have JFK with a hole in his head though – I thought that was really tacky

[WileyCoyote]

I have a ton more pics from the Disney archives but dont want to over do it so please let me know if you want me to post any more on here !

Amazingly its now almost 5pm and the museum is about to close so we set off for LA. OMG the traffic is crazy, lanes and lanes of it all going really fast and clearly no rules on over or undertaking . Andy is a bit nervous and has quite a lot of lane drift ( i.e me bumping over the cats eyes) as he still getting used to the size of the jeep. It gets a bit jarring in the end though. Fortunately the hotel is on the north side of LA so we wont have to brave the city centre traffic. Which is good, as there is clearly a lot of it. We get to the hotel around 6pm , grateful for the valet parking . Its another Holiday Inn Express and we are again impressed with the spacious room and best of all it has a laundry – yay .












We head out to the Walk of Fame – a few minutes away , there is a big Scientology do at the Loews hotel on the way – lots of men in black suits but no sign of Tom Cruise.

Hollywood is crazy busy , packed with people and I get a bit nervous about losing the children so grab hold of Jamie while Andy looks out for the other two ( the advantages of being tall). We are in truth a bit bewildered and don’t really know where to go.

Thankfully we spot Mel’s Drive In and being a place I recall from the Dibb we set off for dinner . We do laugh as we take our seats, Andy is wearing a white England shirt and we overhear an American guy whispering not too quietly “ hey, do ya think he’s friends with David Beckham” – Well, if he was mate, we wouldnt be in here ! We found this doubly funny as when leaving the Cheesecake Factory in San Fran , another American couple had mused rather unquietly in the elevator as to whether we were an Italian family or not. I am not sure what we must do to attract this attention . They do need to learn the art of whispering properly though

We all have some nice burgers, Andy’s chilli fries are a bit disappointing , but the rest of the meal is fine. Its $87 in total so $100 with the tip – which we think is ok given its Hollywood , we had expected it to be a lot more.



















We have a long day ahead at Six Flags ( mind you, they all feel like long days at the moment) so we head back and I set off to to some laundry which is a tad pricey at $4 for the wash, $3 to dry and $1.50 for the washing powder . The hoodies are crestfallen that they are not in the first wash – sorry chaps, no can do yet. Socks and pants get priority as there wont be a lot of washing going on here at that price !

We manage to catch up on some of the Olympics – we have been so busy that we seem to have missed so much of it and the tv coverage really does focus on the sports dominated by the Americans .

SatNav Sabotage Count : several today , mainly missing the Reagan museum exit a number of times but it did get us to Hollywood first time, phew. Must be up to at least 9 by now
Shopping Count: AF one pic $28 , still v v poor effort - Never mind, Beverly Hills in a couple of days.

[Guest]

Aw what a great day! Thanks for the museum pics as we can't get there on our trip!

[kimmy]

What an amazing ,and interesting day ! Really enjoyed this, thanks for sharing !You can never have too many pics...! LOL.

[TinkTatoo]

You really packed a lot in today and LOL at the Santa road sign, we have the exact same picture

[Guest]

Please can you upload some more pictures from the Disney archives?

[WileyCoyote]

Originally Posted by TinkTatoo

You really packed a lot in today and LOL at the Santa road sign, we have the exact same picture

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We had a really, really good day , an unexpected gem and one that we talk about alot. We did laugh at that sign - I seem to take alot of road sign pics this trip

Originally Posted by princess_chazy

Please can you upload some more pictures from the Disney archives?

See more...

More than happy to oblige