This is a trip I took almost two months ago. It was awesome, so I’m writing about it just so I can look back at this post in a few years and think to myself how awesome the trip was. This took place right after my return from Beijing and Taiwan, so the drive down was quite a blur as I was adjusting my jetlag. Rest was cool, though. Here’s what went down.
It was a week long vacation planned by Michelle and I (mostly Michelle) to catch up with a few friends and ride as many roller coasters as we can. A’s where we took off..
B’s Disney, C’s the Getty museum, and D’s magic mountain. Everything in between’s the sacrifice this trip required to bring us across.
Day 1’s all about the 6 hour drive, jetlag, pit stops, and McDonalds. Everyone whose driven up or down is familiar with this (except the jetlag.)
The carpool crew.
Deon is one of Michelle’s best friends in college. Joe’s her man. They flew up to SF for a quick sighting and decided to spend some quality time with us through the drive down. Time well spent.
The sign’s much larger in person. And I look like my shirt’s too short.
We brought our handy, yet chubby, fuji instax camera with us to capture moments like the one above.
Her name’s 豆花 (Google translates it as “Tofu Pudding”.. you can just call her Do-Hua.)
Ah, the McDonald.
Cut right to the chase, Day 2 – Disneyland.
We bought the 2 day pass through a So-Cal resident (Joey [thanks]) because it reduces the price by a good chunk. The only catch for these passes was that we can only visit one park per day (Disneyland Park vs California Adventures.) Fine with me.
The popular we-must-take-a-picture-in-front-of-the-Mickey’s-face-garden picture.
The happiest place on earth meant differently for us.
The mermaid princess’s professional. She looked exactly the same for all her picture, even her hand was raised in the same exact angle. Mad props.
FASTPASS. These saved us hours. Time’s money.
A quick round at the Buzz lightyear’s space ranger shooting game.
I wasn’t good, but I asked for the medal anyway.
The big ears crew. Now that you’ve noticed, you’ll never ignore those big ears again.
It’s tough to have quadruplets.
Cute Pooh..
Not really.
Splash Mountain? Slept through it like a boss, son.
Space Mountain? Conquered.
Disney’s the only place that anyone can be a prince. But not anyone’s prince charming.
Butter corn + Lemonade = best snack ever.
While waiting for the next round of rides, a talented dude started drawing Disney characters on the floor with a wet broom. SICK:
Turkey leg’s a must!
Next stop, Mickey’s place:
Look:
Mickey’s got game.
Moving onto Day 3, the day of California Adventure:
We first thought this part of the park would take an entire day. We were wrong. With little rides they offered and having part of the park closed for renovation (Car’s land, which is now open) we quickly rode through all the possible rides in a mere 3 hours. For the new comers, be advised.
Goofy was not looking at the camera. bummer.
..I’m starting to see that most characters have major eye problems.
The Paradise Pier roller coaster:
…we ended up riding it 3 times since this was one of few intense rides in this side of the park.
Pricey dogs. Costco Dogs were much larger, juicer, and cost only $1.50 with drinks. This is Costco, this is only the happiest place on earth…for the stock owners.
Shoes wet? Give me two plastic bags and consider the problem solved.
Last but certainly not least, one much wrap up the day with “The World of Color.” Spectacular stuff.
Back at the hotel. Due to a small lamp failure from our original room, we were UPGRADED to a 1 bed room club house!
alll to us. Wooot.
Post-Disney:
How fierce the sun was.
Day 4 and 5 was spent around downtown LA. Thanks to the kindness of Kerry and Steve for the place to stay. (They have one kickass place, by the way.)
A quick grunion run. Interesting, but didn’t see much.
Michelle picked up a medic’s bag at an army surplus strore recommended by Steve.
Getting the So-Cal friends together for a quick meal:
..then hit up the shooting range at 10 in the evening.
The shotgun Benelli was epic.
This is Steve and Kerry. They’re cool. (just look at Steve’s shades and Kerry’s jacket) Y’all besta recognize.
After a 20 minute drive from their apartment, we arrived The Getty, beautiful architectural galleries sitting on top of the hillside. Splendid view free from its balconies free of noise and LA traffic. Delighting spot to hang:
No photography allowed in the building, sorry guys.
Concluding the trip with our final destination – Six Flags, Magic Mountain.
X2 was mind blowing, literally. I almost had a stroke while I was up there. To me, this was definitely one of the funnest ride of all time. period.
Didn’t bring any bags with me this time…way soaked from the Grzzly bear water. The intensity of the rides here at Magic Mountain makes the ones from Disney look like they’re designed for infants.
Goliath – done.
On the other hand, the detail craftsmanship for decorations from Disney makes the buildings in Magic Mountain look like they’re built for cavemen.
Ninja, check.
By the end of the day, we rode 12 different rides (I think that’s all of them) and 3 water rides. I’d say we nailed it.
7 days, 81 pictures, 23 roller coaster rides, 6 breakfasts, and 3 turkey legs later, we wrapped up one happy trip to LA.
’til the next adventure,
-Benson|| Twitter || Facebook || 365. || Shop of Imagination ||
