Roadtrippin

We spent the entire day at Disneyland. I’m not going to sugarcoat things and I hope everyone reading this blog appreciates my honesty and doesn’t take offense.

Disneyland stinks!!

I’m 100% all things Disney, but I’m definitely spoiled with DisneyWORLD! DisneyLAND is very small. In Orlando, we could spend a good 10 – 12 hours at each park and still not have gotten through everything we wanted to do. In Anaheim, we were done after 7 hours (and it would have been sooner if the wait times weren’t so long).

There would have been a lot of time wasted sitting in long lines if we hadn’t purchased the fast passes. That being said, there were only about 9 rides that even allowed you to use the fast passes. In addition, you could only book 1 fast pass at a time, on the day of, as opposed to booking up to 3 at once, 6 months in advance in Orlando. While it was nice to arrive to the park and not already have all of the fast passes booked up, after you booked 1, the next one might not be available until 4 hours later. We probably only got good use of the fast passes on 2 rides total. By the end of the day, the wait times we’re close to 190 minutes.

As if long wait times weren’t bad enough, the majority of the rides were entirely kid based. I know what you’re thinking; Disney IS for kids, but I 100% think that’s a lie. You’re never too old for Disney, unless you’re going to DisneyLAND in Anaheim! Out of the 40 some odd total rides, I’d say only 10 of them were for adults. Don’t think that doesn’t mean we squeezed ourselves on the slow-moving Snow White or Pinocchio ride, though!

All of the rides were much smaller than the ones in Orlando. The castle alone was more like a townhouse compared to Orlando. It’s a Small World (one of my all-time favorite rides since I was 5) was about half the size and quality as the one in Orlando. The landscaping in the line to get in was still beautiful to look at.

I was surprised at how small the park was because Eddie and I totally drove through about 4 states that were entirely empty desert land that could be used to build Disney parks on! Lol!

Now, don’t get me wrong, there were a few positives. In Anaheim, the characters were all over the park and very easily accessible. It reminded me a lot of when I was a kid and I had my autograph book, praying I’d catch a glimpse of a character while walking around the park. In Orlando, there are specific times and places where you can see each character. They are staged photos and the lines are usually very long. In Anaheim, the characters were pretty much walking around freely and you could bump into them anywhere; literally. At one point, I practically walked right into Donald Duck because I wasn’t watching where I was walking.

The other thing I liked was that the fast pass add-on included the photo pass. Any official Disney photographer could take your picture and easily sync it to your Disney app for you to save to your phone. I remember this option costing over $100 in Orlando. Unfortunately the only pic we decided to take was in the teacup outside Alice and Wonderland’s spinning teacups ride, but we plan to take full advantage of this option on Monday when we go to Disney California Adventure.

I bought a cool bottle of sprite in Star-wars land. It almost looks like a mini cannon/bomb and it says sprite in Aurebesh. I’m not fluent in Aurebesh, but I could tell it was sprite by the colors on the bottle, plus it tasted like sprite too. This was very exciting for me as I was able to walk around Star-wars land like I knew something. Everyone else had a light saber or a cloak (even in the 95° sun) but I had a cool bottle of star wars sprite.

One major negative about Disneyland was that they don’t serve alcohol in the entire park! Not that we needed to get drunk, but a cold beer would have been nice towards the end of the day.

When we left the park, we walked out to Downtown Disney to find a place to eat. There wasn’t much to eat IN the park. There were only 2 sit down places and they were both completely booked for all 3 meals. The other places were all fast food carts that didn’t even have seating areas.

In Downtown Disney, we found a place that looked like New Orleans so we decided to eat there seeing as how this time last year were we in New Orleans. The place was called Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen and the food was amazing! Eddie’s meal came with crawfish mashed potatoes and they were so good! Everything we had there was delicious.

After dinner we took the shuttle back to our hotel and enjoyed a few dink’s in the hotel pool and hot tub. We’re off to bed early because we have a big day tomorrow. We splurged and got VIP passes to Universal Studios Hollywood. It’s about an hour away so we need to get some sleep. All of the reviews of the VIP option have been very positive and we’re both very excited!

Hope everyone is enjoying their night!

We made it to Disney! Our hotel is just steps away from the entrance to the park. We watched the fireworks tonight from right outside our hotel! I’m trying to go to bed early so I’ll be well rested for tomorrow, but I might be too excited!

We finally got to eat at an In N Out Burger. It was so delicious! I’m a little happy we don’t have them by us because I’d eat them all the time!!!

We finally made it to California!! Unfortunately we don’t have too much time here before we have to start our trip home, so we had to cut a few things out.

We approached Baker, CA and had to stop at a Chevron to get gas. We needed gas, but if we didn’t, we would have stopped. Gas was $4.999 per gallon!! We had a 1/4 of a tank and the car took 15.917 gallons for $79.57!

We continued driving until we saw a sign for a place called Eddie World! Could there really be such a place?! We had to find out. But, of course once we got off the exit we were sidetracked by a large wooden cutout of a miner inviting us to follow him 3 miles down the road to the Calico Ghost Town. Eddie seemed to think that meant it was haunted so imagine his surprise when we pulled up to a mini town with a train, a saloon and an old wooden jail.

It was really hot outside under the sun, but we walked through the entire town. It used to be an old silver mine. It was a cute little place to stop.

When we left, we drove back over the highway to get to Eddie World. They had cheaper gas (go figure, it’s Eddie) and very clean bathrooms. They sold every kind of candy known to man as well as a very large variety of stuffed Animals. Clearly Eddie was already married to Annie when he decided what to offer in his world! 🤣😂

We’re back on the road now. We’re going to try In N Out Burger for dinner on our way to our hotel in Anaheim. We’re staying a block away from the Disney parks! I can’t wait!

We took an Uber to the Stratosphere hotel and casino which is all the way at the end of the strip. It’s so far down the strip that it’s actually not considered to be apart of “the strip” and noted as the beginning of Northern Las Vegas which includes the Frémont Street area.

We found that it costs $40 per person to take the elevator to the top observation deck, but our Uber driver told us if we tell them we are going to the top floor for drinks we wouldn’t have to pay. The plan worked and we didn’t have to pay to get up the elevator. It was even better since it was happy hour and we only had to pay $8 for drinks!

While we were on the observation deck, we got to see someone jump off the building. It was pretty scary even though they were secured by harnesses. I would never be able to do something like that, even if I had 20 of those $8 drinks 🤣

I have to be honest, the views were beautiful, but it wasn’t of the strip. You could see all of the Las Vegas area except the strip. The views from Paris Las Vegas really captured the whole strip.

After the Strat, we took another Uber (I think we took 6 today!) to The Mirage. The Mirage is another stunning hotel and casino. We stopped at the front desk for about 30 minutes to stare at the 53 foot long aquarium. Eddie used to grow coral and had a few salt water tanks so he is very interested in fish tanks.

We continued through the hotel and casino until we found the Siegfried and Roy’s Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat. It was $22 to get in but it was worth every penny. The dolphins were so playful! They were giggling and throwing a ball around and playing in the fountain. I’ve never seen such playful, happy dolphins in a zoo-like setting. There was even a young baby dolphin who was about one year old.

After you walk through the dolphin area you get to the lions and tigers. (And bears, oh my! There weren’t any bears but I had to finish the saying lol) Again, these animals were happy and playful. It was nothing like the sleeping animals you typically see at the zoo. The lions and tigers were swimming and playing with the rubber ball in their pools. We wound up watching the animals for over an hour and there was only 4 of them! This was one of the best attractions we saw at the hotels and casinos out here.

By now it was about 7pm so we walked over to The Terry Fator Theater for the show. Eddie and I have seen Terry Fator on America’s Got Talent, but he was so much funnier in person. It’s no wonder he won the show and wound up with his own show and theater in Las Vegas. I had no idea that he had so many different dummies and could do so many different voices. He was really impressive and the show was hilarious.

It was another great day and the perfect ending to the Las Vegas portion of our trip. Tomorrow we link back up with Route 66 and head to the end, the Santa Monica Pier and Mel’s Drive In!

We slept pretty late this morning and didn’t end up leaving the timeshare until around 1pm. We took an Uber to Excalibur because we hadn’t explored there yet. It was not exciting at all. There was some stained glass and a poor attempt at a moat around the outside. It seems like a pretty decent place for kids. They have a medieval times-like dinner show, an arcade and a smaller sized casino.

We walked across the skyway, which is basically a walk bridge over 8 lanes of busy Las Vegas Blvd, to get to New York, New York. I guess we’re a little homesick as we hung out there for over an hour. We saw familiar sights in the Hershey store and Coyote Ugly bar. We discovered an electronic, automated roulette table game which turned out to be pretty awesome. Eddie learned how to play roulette and we sat there for a while.

We attempted to walk around on the street to get to our next destination but it was impossible to find a sidewalk. We gave up and booked an Uber to take us down the street to Pin Up Pizza. The slices were HUGE and delicious! The garlic knots were huge too! It was totally worth the Uber ride!

We had to head back through the Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino to get to the Uber pickup section and on the way we stumbled upon the Kris Angel theater. We saw the Kris Angel Mindfreak show at Foxwoods a few years ago, but Eddie was drawn to the theater because they had some of Kris Angel’s motorcycles on display. One in particular, the skeleton bike, was pretty impressive. It was hard to get pictures because it was inclosed in a glass case and had a lot of lights pointing at it, but the body of it is basically a skeleton that’s modeled after a real person. I think it was Eddie’s favorite part of the day.

After the show, we finally went to Frémont Street. Frémont Street is a lot like Bourbon Street in New Orleans. There’s a lot of street performers, intoxicated people and homeless.

We went to the El Cortez Hotel and Casino because it’s one of only five casinos in Las Vegas that still has coin operated slot machine. We ate at a Bugsy Siegel inspired restaurant and then watched a live band. We attempted to do the zip line. I truly had every intention of doing it but they told us the wait was 2 hours and 15 minutes and we just couldn’t see wasting all that time standing in line.

I didn’t realize the lights turned off at midnight and I was pretty bummed about it. I was tired, but I could have spent the whole night staring at all of the bright lights.

My favorite street characters were the clown from IT, the half naked nuns and the guy who was begging for money for a penis enlargement. It’s pretty crazy to see the things people will do to make a buck.

We came back to the timeshare after our Frémont Street experience and immediately jumped into the shower. I felt as scuzzy as I did last night after the bath bomb debacle. lol!

Off to bed to get some sleep before our last day in Vegas. Friday morning we pick up Route 66 again and head to California!

WOW! Cirque Du Soleli never disappoints! I don’t even know what else to say!! Treasure Island was pretty cool too, but it’s in need of an upgrade. Eddie is pretty humbled that they don’t do the pirate show anymore. They stopped suddenly in 2013.

We slept in again this morning, which felt great after a long night of scrubbing away the remnants of that bath bomb!! We ate our traditional breakfast of cereal and watermelon along with beer followed by shots of bourbon.

We have been using Uber a lot out here. It’s been great getting us wherever we want to go without having to pay for parking or deal with traffic. We used the Uber app to get us a ride from the timeshare to The Flamingo hotel and Casino.

If you didn’t know, mobster Bugsy Siegel was the one who designed and built the original Flamingo Hotel and Casino in 1946. Unfortunately, there is nothing remaining of the hotel and casino that he built.

We wandered around the hotel and walked through the wildlife habitat. It was basically just a walkway of palm trees and waterfalls with a few flamingos, koi fish and turtles.

We found an outside bar called Carlos N Charlie’s where we grabbed a beer and a mojito and laughed at all of the signage around the bar. We decided not to eat there. Eddie really wanted Mexican food so I found a place outside the Flamingo and the LINQ.

After lunch, we walked through the LINQ hotel and Casino, looked at the High Roller and decided to head to the Venetian. There was a man in a stretch limo golf cart sitting outside of the LINQ. I figured it couldn’t hurt to ask if he could give us a ride. He gladly took us on a behind the scenes tour to get us to the Venetian.

The Venetian. WOW! Another beautiful hotel and Casino. We strolled through the shops and hotel area and bought tickets to go on a gondola ride. I don’t know what it’s really like to go on a gondola ride, but our gondolier sang songs to us in another language and told us jokes. It was beautiful.

Go figure, we’re on a gondola ride in the Venusian hotel and casino in the middle of the Las Vegas strip and as we approach a bridge, we hear people calling our names! My parents and their friends, Nancy and Joe (who let them here from New Mexico) were waving and calling out our names from the bridge! Small world, huh?!

After we got off the ride, we helped my parents and their friends book dinner reservations and Eddie and I continued to explore. Shortly, we’ll be meeting up with them again at Treasure Island to go see Cirque Du Soleil Mystere.

Right outside of the gondola ride, there was a Godiva shop. Eddie knows what I like and he went in right away to buy me a cone of milk chocolate covered strawberries! He’s the best ❤️

From there, we found an ice bar. We’ve never been in one but everyone knows how much I love to eat ice, so we had to go in! We were given jackets and gloves and bought drinks that came in ice glasses. We took shots out of an ice sculpture. It was pretty cool; literally! 🤣 In case anyone was wondering, I ate the entire ice glass my drink came in!

We continued to walk around the casino a bit more and now we’re trying to figure out how to get across the street to Treasure Island to see our show.

More to come….

After our tour, we drove over to Paris. I don’t know how each hotel/casino can be better than the last, but they have been. Paris was magnificent. I’ve never left the country other than to go to Canada, but I imagine that looked pretty close to real life Paris, minus the flashing slot machines!

We walked through the whole place and looked at every restaurant menu before settling on the Eiffel Tower Restaurant. The views were jaw dropping. We were sitting by the windows and had a beautiful view of the Bellagio fountains. As we were finishing dinner, the sun was setting and neon lights began to fill the sky.

After dinner we went checked out the Eiffel Tower Experience. Eddie and I had free tickets for it that we got (among many other goodies) when we went to the timeshare presentation.

There was no line to go up the elevator and to the top of the Eiffel Tower, and only about 10 people up at the top. It was dark out by this time and we had a stunning view of the nighttime Bellagio Fountain Show. The weather was gorgeous, only 94° with a slight breeze. I could have stayed up there all night but we were pretty tired after running around all day.

When we got back to the timeshare I was really looking forward to relaxing in the jacuzzi tub with a fizzy bath bomb. That turned into a complete disaster……

I brought a bunch of bath bombs with me in case we stayed anywhere that had a jacuzzi because it really helps my knees and hip to soak. One particular bath bomb that I decided to use tonight was one that someone gave me as a gift for Christmas. I’ll leave that person nameless. (It wasn’t Eddie) The bath bomb was apple cider scented, light silver/gray in color and it looked like a dinosaur hatching from an egg. It was pretty cool and I was looking forward to it.

I dragged the tv out into the middle of the room, turned off the lights and climbed into the jacuzzi to relax and catch up on some tv shows. I noticed that there was a faint ring forming around the tub. I knew it wasn’t me, I showered this morning! I tried rubbing it with my fingers and it began smudging all around the tub and on my fingers. I finally turned the lights on and found that the entire tub was black and so was I!

I was a little nervous and felt I needed to clean everything, including myself! My relaxing soak turned into a one hour deep scrub on the tub with a washcloth and a bar of hotel soap. It’s not like I had bleach handy in this room! After I felt somewhat satisfied with the tub, I hopped in the shower for another 40 minutes where I practically scrubbed my skin raw. I still feel kind of yucky, but I’m too tired to scrub anymore. I’ll revisit this situation in the morning.

The moral of the story is don’t use colored bath bombs. It has the same effect as eating the colored icing on grocery store cupcakes. If you absolutely must use a colored bath bomb, don’t do it when you’re on vacation and don’t have access to cleaning supplies. I know what you’re all thinking; only Annie….. 🤣🤣

Goodnight for now! 💤💤