California Adventure-- Disneyland

Going to Disneyland has always been a dream of mine. When we knew we were heading out to California it was a must that we had to go to Disneyland. In one word it was AWESOME. So fun, and my sis was the perfect person to go with for the first time! 

We went to California Adventure the first day. 

I'll let the pictures do most of the talking. 

We really didn't know there were 2 separate lines for the ferris wheel. We got in the swinging gondola line and it definitely was a wild ride we weren't quite expecting. 

Cars Land was pretty cute. I recommend getting the fast pass for Radiator Springs Racer which is the big attraction here. We did single rider and still waited probably 30 to 40 minutes, which was probably the longest we waited for any ride in either park. You have to go immediately to get the fast pass though or they will be gone. 

We are so mature. :)

After riding/seeing a ton of stuff in California Adventure we used our park hoppers and went over to Disneyland. 

The first site of the castle was crazy. It is so small compared to Disney World. We were a little shocked. We knew it was smaller but the difference is crazy. The first day we just hopped on Pirates of the Caribbean since the line wasn't too bad and got the lay of the land for the next day since we would be heading there first thing.  

We dinner at Carthay Circle in the evening and then had priority viewing for the World of Color show that evening. 

We had a great day exploring California Adventure and Disney Land. We saw and rode everything we wanted and really enjoyed our experience. 

The next morning we were up bright and early for the park opening. We planned to spend the whole day at Disneyland. 

Walt Disney had a personal apartment for his family above the fire station on Main Street. Pretty amazing to know that he actually walked around this park. 

We got fast passes for Indiana Jones then went to Fantasyland. We were able to ride and see pretty much everything in this area since it wasn't packed yet. 

We had lunch at the Blue Bayou in New Orleans Square. It's neat because the Pirates of the Caribbean ride runs straight through the restaurant. We also had to get our pictures taken outside of the secret Club 33. 

We had so much fun and pretty much rode every ride we wanted to. The only thing we missed out on was the Nemo submarine ride. I think the key is to definitely get there when the park opens and get fast passes for the rides you definitely want to ride. We didn't have to wait in very many long lines and were able to walk on to stuff in the morning that had super long lines in the afternoon.

And for your entertainment, a super unflattering picture of me. I'm not sure if it's getting older or what, but I can't seem to stomach the roller coaster like I used too. 

After eating dinner in the park we had to head back to our hotel and pick up our luggage to head to the airport. We took the red eye and that was definitely an experience.

 I missed my sweet girls so much and can not wait to take them back to Disneyland! 

Our California Adventure-- Day 1 & 2

So back in March my sister and I went on a girls trip to California! It was an amazing trip. We had so much fun and I loved having time to spend just with my sis. 

We left WV on wednesday around 4pm EST and arrived in LA around 8ish pacific time. We had a shuttle service from the airport to our hotel in Hollywood. I snapped this picture of the Staples Center as we drove by downtown LA. 

We arrived at our hotel The W. Did I mention my sister won this trip? She won it through Facebook and Veggie Patch. Awesome. We never win stuff. This is the specific contest she won. She got to pick one person to take and she chose her lovely sister! Sister trip for the win. 

The trip included airfare for 2, a 2 night hotel stay, private yoga session, hair and makeup at a salon, transportation for the day, dinner and $150 for each person to spend on whatever they want. It was a nice little prize. 

A couple shots of the hotel lobby. The night we got there and the next morning. 

We were so close to lots of sites. Capital Records and The Pantages Theater were right outside our hotel.

We had a private yoga session on Thursday morning then walked down a couple blocks and had lunch at Cafe Gratitude. They offer fresh healthy vegan/vegetarian options. It was really yummy. 

We basically knew nothing about the layout of the city or where the parts of LA were located so we were pretty surprised to look over from our table at lunch and see the Hollywood sign. 

After lunch we had some time before out salon appointments so we headed back to our hotel and checked out the rooftop pool. It was pretty amazing. 

The views were awesome too. 

Our hair appointments were in Beverly Hills so we got to check out that area too. Pretty fancy for sure. We walked down Rodeo Drive and it was amazing to see all those fancy stores. 

We also went to a little Television display at a museum in Beverly Hills. It's been so long I don't remember the name, but they had some neat props/clothes, etc. from some of my favorite TV shows.

Stuff from Fringe. 

Pretty Little Liars

Michelle Tanners Honey Bee outfit from Full House!

I did get yelled at not to touch stuff when checking out an outfit that Loralie Gilmore wore on The Gilmore Girls. But in my defense there were no signs and the person who greeted us at the entrance didn't say anything about it! They watched us pretty closely after that. Ha Ha. 

After checking out Beverly Hills we headed back to the hotel to change and head to dinner. I guess I don't have any pictures buy we ate at a place called Mohawk Bend. They specialize in craft beers and unique food options. They had tons of vegan/vegetarian options but they had other stuff too. We got some awesome vegan crab cakes there. The food was so good. I really enjoyed it. 

Friday

We had a reservation to tour Paramount Studios. It was a really neat tour and we were really hoping to see some celebs but we did not. They film Glee on this lot. 

After the studio tour we went to the touristy area with the Chinese Theater and the Kodak Theater. It reminded me of Times Square in New York City. It was so crowded. There were people dressed up like super heroes, etc that worked for tips. A lot of the Hollywood tours left from that area too. 

This was the view from the area around the Dolby Kodak Theater (where they have the Oscars). 

It was basically a shopping center with a theater attached. Not at all what I would have pictured but cool none the less. 

 

After spending a couple hours in this area we headed back to our hotel to pick up our suitcases and catch our shuttle out to Anaheim for our Disneyland adventure!