A Quick Minute in LA

Exploring la la land...Disneyland... DCAP... & The Urban Lights of LACMA

Traveling by yourself can always stressful, especially for a perfectionist like me. I always joke and say that I'm an professional worrier. Even with my unrealistic anxieties that are completely out of my control, I love to travel!

I love exploring new places, for Winter Break my best friend and I did just that. We decided that it would be so cool to leave for an extended 4 day trip to Los Angeles in January.

"I totally recommend spontaneously going on a trip with your girlfriends it's a fun way to explore and have an amazing time!"

This trip was at the perfect time for both of us, it was a great way to unwind and just enjoy each others company; sometimes its hard when you get super busy to just get together and talk- which is why this trip came at the best time. We were able to just catch up and have fun!

JAN 20

Our first night in LA was chaotic to say the least, we both had never flown into LAX before and had absolutely no idea what to expect. Luckily LAX had our backs, the whole airport was so organized and made everything effortless for us. Also we didn't originally check our bags, to try to save some time. However that backfired because the plane was booked and they had no more overhead room so we ended up having to check our bags anyways (Oh Well... At least it was free) Anyways once we got our bags we exited the airport and a shuttle showed up to farry us to the Uber & Lyft pickup/dropoff locations. It's genius the way LAX does it no Ubers or Lyfts can come into the airport to help keep traffic flow going so they have a designated spot that is clearly labeled. It made our trip so much easier. The chaotic part was trying to ORDER the Uber. When we first tried my best friend found a great priced one priced around $50. But it was too close for us to get there in time so we cancelled it (BIG MISTAKE)

Then we tried again to order another Uber when we were at the pickup point, and Oh Mi Gosh was it expensive the price DOUBLED in on 2 minutes! We both thought that was crazy, even though I understand that rates are calculated by the demand of the ride but still. It was really unbelievable that it doubled in just 2 minutes and then the rain started. Yes, I said rain. In LA they rarely get bad weather and it just so happened that today was that day. Even with the rain and the Uber fiasco we were able to get a ride and drive 1hr and 30 minutes to our Embassy Suites in Anaheim.

The ride went on without a hitch even though both of us were exhausted it was around 1am LA time but for us jet lagged people it was more like 4am. We checked into our hotel and checked out mentally for the night.

JAN 21

The next morning we headed to Disneyland! My best friend and I are huuuuuge Disney fans (I even worked for Disney World for a spell) and we were both suuuper excited to see Disneyland for the first time. We headed out early in the morning and began our magical day!

We had the amazing chance of getting to ride Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. Since this ride is new it has a maximum rider count it only allows the first 1,100 to 1,500 people who get boarding passes to ride, they only allow around 105 to 115 boarding groups a day. Which means they fill up fast, and when I say fast... I mean FAST! Disneyland opens boarding for the Rise of the Resistance right when the park opens (9am); we got early admittance (8:30am) to wait at Adventureland which leads to Galaxy's Edge. Waiting at the rope to get in, I kept refreshing the disneyland app hoping to get a boarding group. Right at 8:45 the park opened. We ran to Star Wars Galaxy's Edge (because we read that if you are in Galaxy's Edge while trying to get a boarding group you are more likely to get one) I refreshed the app once more and BAM! we got a boarding group! Boarding group: 57

Thats how fast they fill up I got this boarding group right at 9:00am which is when they open them up and we still got boarding group 57!

After all that excitement we began to explore Star Wars Galaxy's Edge. It was amazing! everything is so detailed it feels like you've been teleported into the Movies! Now, Confession time, I'm not a huge Star Wars fan... in fact I haven't even seen most of the movies but I have mad respect for this land. The detail and time that the imagineers and Disney took to create this stunning land is impressive. Not that I'm surprised everything Disney does is creative and expertly thought out and this land was no exception.

BTW: If you go, you HAVE to try the Blue Milk (Featured in Photo of my friend, Faith. SWIPE RIGHT FOR PHOTO) And I adored the Toydaria Swirl. (Featured below) Which consists of Green Milk swirled with savory Lime seasoning and mango Jelly with a dash of chili powder

Featured in pic below is my geeking out in front of the Millennium Falcon!

After exploring Star Wars Galaxy's Edge for a bit we moved on to Adventureland to ride Indiana Jones Adventure, which turned out to be my favorite ride in Disneyland! (Besides Space Mountain of Course) I loved Indiana Jones Adventure so much that we went on it TWICE! After Indiana we explored Tarzan's Treehouse which was a blast to swing around in!

Around 1pm we decided to grab lunch: I was craving Bao Buns so we went to The Tropical Hideaway to find them (I got the Lime Chicken Bao.... Aaaaand they were SO good!) and we were at the Hideaway, we couldn't resist getting some dole whip!

After food we explored Toon Town and Fantasyland. We found Snow White and Prince Florian out taking a stroll

We also found the infamous Flynn Rider's Wanted Poster which is behind the Arabian bazaar

We then began to explore TomorrowLand- which features an amazing cool new mutli-colored luminescent metal wall. That is a great and unique photo op spot! This land also features amazing pizza from Pizza Planet. If that name rings any bells it's featured in Toy Story (the breadsticks are delicious!)

JAN 22

After our Disneyland day and the lack of sleep from traveling, we both decided to sleep in a bit before heading out to DCAP: Disney California Adventure Park. We got to DCAP around 10:30. Its not a vacation without a few hiccups and the first one started right when we got there. I had forgotten my Disneyland ticket in the hotel. Unlike Disney World, Disneyland still uses paper tickets and paper fast passes; (which I think adds to its charm and Walt's original vision) however without my paper ticket I could not acquire fastpasses, which are a necessity to go on rides like Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout (which used to be Tower of Terror). So we headed to Guest Relations feeling nervous, slightly embarrassed and stressed that they may not be able to help.

These thoughts were unnecessary since Guest Relations was more than happy to help. They said this happens all the time, but also brought up that it happened mostly when kids were involved which initiated a snide remark from Faith but it all worked out- my bruised ego aside.

We began our trek back to Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout. We now faced a conundrum. My fastpass ticket worked but now FAITH'S didn't! So back to guest relations we went, who felt terrible, because they made a mistake. When reactivating my new ticket, Guest Relations had accidentally deactivated Faith's ticket. They then gave us free fast passes that were redeemable at any time for Radiator Spring Racers, which is SUPER popular and almost never has any fastpasses avalible... so we really lucked out!

We got our fastpasses for Mission breakout and waited in the short line. The ride was amazing! I'm a BIG Marvel fan and an even BIGGER fan of Guardians of the Galaxy! Faith hates rides that go up just to drop you, but she said she'd go on it because she "dragged me around Galaxy's Edge for 3 hours" (her words not mine)

After the Mission Breakout, Faith and I trekked over to soarin' to get a fastpass to come back and ride later. Then we walked to Pixar Pier. And I have to say, besides Mission Breakout, this was my favorite place at DCAP. I loved the theming and the boardwalk aspect that Pixar Pier brought in. We also got fastpasses for the Incredicoaster. We LOVED this coaster so much that we went on it TWICE! To End our day we took a sunset photoshoot in front of Pixar Pal-A-Round Swinging Ferris Wheel. (do not recommend going in the swinging gondolas) And of Course we had to watch the Wonderful World of Color. Which was SO beautiful! A great way to end our days at Disney

JAN 23

This was the day that we decided to explore all LA has to offer. To start we went on a whale watching tour in Newport Beach. IT was so cool to see this tour and I highly recommend Davy's Locker Tours. Although we did not see any whales we saw tons and tons of dolphins (Bottlenose Dolphin, Common Dolphin, and the illusive Pacific White Sided Dolphin). Seeing all three of the Dolphin breeds made our day and the tour totally worth it!

After our Davy's Locker Tour we decided to grab a bite in Newport. We found this authentic Mexican Restaurant that was so so so good we shared guac and chips and a bruschetta plate. We decided to walk along the pier and just bum around for a bit.

But soon it was time to get into an Uber to go see The LACMA's Urban Lights. It wouldn't be a trip with faith and I without another bump in the road. Quite literally this time, because our Uber driver got a flat tire on the Interstate and preceded to DRIVE on said flat tire for 10 Miles! By the time he found a car service center the car sounded like thundering monstrosity. The mans fender was practically dragging on the road. Now we were stranded in some borough of LA with no idea where we were.

We walked and found a adorable artisan milkshake place. I got a ginger lotus Milkshake from The Straw and we proceeded to hail another Uber. This Uber ride was nice and smooth (pun intended)

I've seen these all over Instagram and HAD to see them for myself. (1st pic featured in blog) I loved them there are 212 lamp posts that all are functioning and they were collected from t 1920s & 1930s. it was like stepping into the past with the help of art and sculpture.