Sorry for the late post.... but here is the coles notes of this trip.
The reason for this trip is while AA and Lola were in Hawaii, they were talking about people on their "bucket list" they want to see live. One of the people on Lola's list was John Mayer. As they came home from their trip, it was announced that he was starting a Solo Tour... it was fate. She was unsuccessful during the 2 days of pre-sales, but got seats to the concert in LA on the day they went on sale to the general public. It is also convenient that Westjet now flys from Winnipeg to LAX direct.
April 14, 2023
AA and Lola flew to LAX, and got their rental van and headed for some food. They went to the Deny's near the airport, where the space shuttle drove by (historic moment), and photos all over the restaurant. After full belly's of breakfast, we headed to the Griffith Observatory, but not to go inside just to do a little hiking and explore the grounds. We parked at the bottom of the Griffith Park and walked up the big hill as it was free parking and a beautiful day outside. When we got to the top there were police horses at the top mingling with the people at the top, talking about the horses. We walked around the top, and then headed back down to get a few groceries and check into the hotel.
As we were getting groceries, our friends were sending us messages that they were heading to the airport which was super exciting. We headed to Shake Shack for supper before getting ready for the concert. Lola loves a good double shack burger on a gluten free bun!
We took an Uber to the concert at Kia Forum. The venue was very neat with all the food and drinks and merchandise around the outside. Lola scouted out all the merchandise areas to find the perfect T-shirt. Our seats were on the side of the stage, but it was about listening to the music more than seeing the front of John Mayer. The concert was awesome. We had some drinks and enjoyed the solo acoustic music. Our friends arrived and went to bed before the concert was over. When we finally got back to the hotel it was pretty late, but it took a long time for us to get an Uber back to the hotel. They had a special parking lot for the uber drivers, but there were just a lot of people and our phones were hard to find a driver to pick us up. There were also some very drunk "moms" that hadn't been out in a long time that had a few too many to drink. Also they were selling hotdogs for all the people waiting which was quite interesting.
Once back at the hotel we went straight to bed, as we had an early morning planned.
April 15, 2023
Our friends and us got up really early to make it to Universal Hollywood for early admission of Super Nintendo World. It was worth getting up for. We arrived just before 6:30am. I am not sure who was the most excited but I think it was DD. MbMell and Lola stopped at the gift shop to get a themed shirt before heading to the gate!
Once in we had a long walk, and a few flights of escalators to arrive at the new world. You could see it from the upper levels. Once inside Lola made sure to register for a lunch reservation at Toadstool Cafe. We looked around the world in ahh of all the cool Mario World features, before heading to the only ride, Mario Kart: Bowsers Challenge. The features as you walked to the ride were pretty neat. All the trophies, suits and statues. Lola's favorite was the "vacuum" from Luigis Haunted Mansion.
We finished the ride and only DD "won" the race with enough points.... while the rest of us just got the hang of the concept by the end, so we decided to go right back on it. It was a great decision, as this was just before the world opened for general admission. We got right back onto the ride, and we all enjoyed it much more the second time, as we knew how to work the controllers and not to waste your shells (as there is a limited amount).
We got photos with Princess Peach, Mario and Luigi and then headed out of the world to do some other rides before re-entering the Mario world for lunch.
Lola, AA, DD and B went on the Jurassic World Ride, while MbMell and T enjoyed the play structure, as T didn't want to get wet. The ride was very good, and we didn't get too wet. Before lunch we tried to go on a roller coaster in Hogwarts, but the line took too long, so we went to a 4D show, and headed back the Cafe for lunch. The theming was great, but Lola was disappointed that she couldn't get much food, a bowl of soup and fries, as the burger had to come with a bun... (theming we guess). The food was good, and the atmosphere was awesome. DD had the biggest meatball every!
After lunch, AA, DD and Lola went on the Mummy Returns ride, which we all enjoyed.
B really wanted a wand , so away to Hogwarts we headed. B was pretty overwhelmed but luckily a kind person helped her pick a wand. She got her named engraved on it, so we had to do something else before we could 'play' with it.
Headed for a studio tour, the line was long, almost all of us enjoyed the tour, especially when we got to the part where we all got to 'enjoy' the Fast and Furious ride (that a few of us did in Orlando the last time we there). The Studio Tour is like 4 rides in 1... with rushing floods, car racing, and seeing the studio sets from movies and tv.
We picked up the wand and away B went in all the windows following the map, and different ways of waving the wand. We all had our turn trying to get them to work. Kids got some butter beer and Lola a Pumpkin Juice and we exicted the park for some dinner. It had been a long day. We also had done most of the rides in Orlando earlier that year, so we didn't feel like we needed to "do it all" we were there for mainly the Mario World.
Bubba Gump Shrimp for supper which we all enjoyed. Headed back to the hotel for some rest before the next busy day!
April 16, 2023
This morning we headed to Disneyland, to partake in the Disney 100 celebration. We arrived just before 9, and had park hopper so made sure we could enjoy the highlights of both parks.
California Adventure was first:
First up was Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout for AA and B, the only ones that wanted to try and enjoy the ride without the scaredy cats (especially Lola). Then we headed to Spiderman: web slingers. It was exciting that we played boys vs girls, and the girls did really well compared to the boys. We then went on a fan favorite, soarin', which was actually "Over Califorina" which AA had never done before. Oh the smell of the forest and the oranges!
AA purchased a wine and food festival ticket, so we enjoyed some of the cusine and drinks that went along with that. Lola's was the steak, DD enjoyed the taco mac and cheese and AA the hotdog.
Next up we headed to Toy Story Midway Mania, where we all tried to beat our scores and get a new animal. Not sure any of us were sucessful. We tried to count how many times we have done that ride, and we really aren't sure but it is a lot. Right next to that was Incredicoaster, Lola's Favorite. 4 of us headed there while T enjoyed the Critter Carosel. Lunch at Flos Dinner in Carsland before heading to the other park.
Disneyland:
When we arrived we just happened to find 100 Mickey and friends walking around. We then headed to starwars land, to test our skills on the Millenium Falcon and enjoy some milk. The line wasn't too long so we went to Rise of the Resistance. Good thing we did, as the last time we went at Disneyworld, we didn't actually get the whole experience as we skipped a section. It was very good, and the story of the ride made way sense.
We went on Whinny the Pooh ride, while waiting for our time to go on Splash Mountain. This will be the last time we get to go on this ride as they are re-theming it. T didn't want to get wet, so DD stayed with him. It was just as we remembered and wow did we get wet. But took in the sites as we will never see it again like that again.
We then headed to find a spot for the parade, which was newer than the last time we say it. It was worth the wait. Lola and MbMell sure love a good parade. Magic Happens was amazing, so many great floats, and dancers with awesome costumes.
We had supper at Docking Bay 7. The food was good, but we were sure tired, by that time. Headed to the fireworks. The castle is so small that they put projections on the buildings so more people can see them. It was hard to watch all of it at once, but it was still pretty good.
We got back to the hotel after 11, and we tried our best to keep the kids awake in the van on the 30 minute drive back.
It was a crazy busy weekend, and everyone did so well. Sad to be going home tomorrow.
April 17th, 2023
We got to the airport and headed home, same as our friends, just to different airports. It was a busy and packed weekend but we sure had a great time, and got to see what we wanted to.
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