Los Angeles - Downtown

We were stoked to find how flash our hotel in downtown LA was. A good choice was made.

We made full use of the gym and the pool after all the food we’d eaten at Disneyland.

On Saturday we went on a bus tour of LA which we highly recommend. It is such a huge city that without a tour we wouldn’t have known where to go, or seen half of what we did. Highlights include Venice Beach, Beverly Hills and Hollywood. We saw various buildings used in movies (eg the Daily Planet and a few action blockbusters) and a number of locations used in Pretty Woman which Lou enjoyed. We were a bit disappointed not to see any stars’ homes, but got a good feel for the city and learnt some interesting trivia.

We’d booked tickets to a basketball game before leaving NZ so had a great time watching the LA Clippers v Portland Trailblazers that night (the Lakers were playing the next night but were way more expensive!). The stadium was huge and the entertainment amazing * cheerleaders, kids dance squads and the spirit crew (guys and girls, like off the cheerleading movies).The home team lost the game but it was really fun to be part of it. We reckon that if you are going to a game, try and go to one where the crowd will be closer to sold out than 1/2 full, would really add a lot to the experience.

Sunday it was back on a plane and onto London. After such amazing hot weather we were a little shocked to arrive to snow!!! Dean foolishly decided to arrive in shorts and a tee-shirt, but we survived.

Los Angeles - Part 1 - Disneyland

On the way to the UK we stopped into Los Angeles for a short break and a chance for us to do some of the things we had always dreamed about. Lou was pretty keen on doing Disneyland so 'Happiest Place on Earth' entertained the von Yarralls for 2 days.

Without a doubt, Disneyland is a well organised place, with some of the friendliest staff you could find. In the week before Easter we thought we would escape most of the queues. Hmm, not really, one day saw a crowd of 58,000 go through the gates out of a total capacity of 68,000.

All in all the park is really well laid out and the queuing is done efficiently, and you don't really mind waiting too long. What was disappointing was the large number of "obese" yanks on their mobility scooters who bypassed the queue, with their large family in tow, only to spring out of the scooter into the ride. If only I had no morals, I would have hired a scooter in a flash :)

It is a pretty amazing place, with lots of nice touches. The fireworks at 9pm each night are cool, with the music taking you through some of the more famous rides around that park, and then a suspended Tinkerbell comes across the top of the massive crowds.

Adjacent to Disneyland is the California Adventure Park, run by Disney but with a California theme. The rides are slightly more adventurous, but still have the familiar Disney efficient queues. Nowhere near as crowded as Disneyland, but still some rides saw queues of up to an hour.

Disneyland hint and tips:
FastPass is an absolute must. Keeps your sanity by avoiding most of the queues on the big rides.

On the strong NZ dollar, eating isn't as bad as you might expect, and the portions are typically generous so don't worry too much unless you are looking for a healthy option.

If possible try and get 2 days at the park. We got 1 and 1/2 days which was pretty much spot on, did all the major rides once, and got in a couple of double rides.