Another wet, dull morning had us fearing that the baseball game, we were due to attend this evening, would be cancelled. Before that, we had some areas of LA to explore, and do some celebrity spotting. Checked out of the hotel and on the road once again, we drove towards Beverley Hills. There were definitely no celebrities in sight, - yes, we didn’t actually expect to see any, but we did expect to at least see some people. Driving past the impressive houses (and hedges and gates) on Sunset Boulevard, and even passing the shops on Rodeo Drive, we hardly saw anyone, let alone a celebrity. The place was practically deserted at 10.30 on a Saturday morning.
We did, however, find plenty of tourists on Hollywood Boulevard. Knowing we weren’t planning to stay long, the $20 parking cost of one car park felt rather steep, so we drove to the multi-storey, just off Orange Drive. Here, they charge $2.50 per 12 minutes, up to a maximum of $20 - so at least you have the option of paying less. Infact, we payed $12.50 for the amount of time we were parked there.
A short walk from the car park brings you right into the heart of the action. We purchased a Star Maps, from one of the automatic dispensing machines dotted along the sidewalk. Well, I say automatic dispensing - having paid our $5 for the map, we then partook in a game of tug-of-war with the machine, to manoeuver the map out of it’s clutches. We won, although the map did have a few battle scars. It was also significantly out of date. Despite the machine advertising that these were the latest maps, the heading of 2014 Fall Issue, Revised Every 90 Days, led us to believe we’d been slightly duped. It makes for a good souvenir and does give a rough indication of where most of the celebrities stars are, so we didn’t feel too conned.
Map in hand, we hunted down some of the stars then spent a fun 20 minutes at the TCL Chinese Theatre, standing in the footprints of some of the movie greats...literally:
We actually enjoyed this part more than the Walk of Fame. It was interesting to read all of the inscriptions to ‘Sid’ (Grauman), remark on how small those famous ruby slippers must have been, and how much Zachary’s feet have to grow until they are as big as one of his favourite actors.
Just under an hour from when we parked, we were back in the car and on our way to see the Hollywood Sign from the Griffiths Observatory viewpoint. This is classed as one of the best locations to view the sign from up high. Unfortunately, many others had also heard this, and it was extremely busy. Parking spaces at the very top of the hill were not to be found, so we cruised down one of the side roads, searching for a space. We spotted one on the opposite side of the road, did a quick U-turn and parked up. DO NOT DO THIS. Unlike here in the UK, if you park in the opposite direction to the flow of USA traffic, you will be issued with a $63 fine - as we discovered when we got back to the car. Not the kind of souvenir we were hoping for, but c’est la vie.
A 10 minute trek up the hill brought us to the Observatory, where we took the obligatory photographs (at least the clouds weren’t covering the hill)
Back in the car, we drove the 90 minutes to our home for the next 4 nights - The Marriott Courtyard Theme Park Entrance. As our room was ready when we arrived at 3.30pm, we headed straight upstairs to unpack.
The Fireworks View room we'd booked had a King bed in the main area, plus a separate area housing bunk beds for the children, separated by a double bathroom. There are 2 showers, 2 sinks, a corner sofa with a table, plenty of storage space, plus a coffee machine, fridge and microwave.
We were allocated room 601, which was on the top corner of the hotel, and I have to say, it must be one of the best rooms for the view. In Disneyworld, you pay a small fortune for rooms overlooking the parks, and here we were, not even in a Disney hotel, with a fabulous view of Space Mountain, Matterhorn, the monorail, Mickey’s Fun Wheel, California Screamin’ and The Tower of Terror, all from our own balcony.
An added bonus of this corner room was the children’s sleeping section overlooking the pool area. The whole hotel had a great vibe, staff always warmly greeted guests when returning to the hotel, and all areas were spotlessly clean. There are two marketplace shops, from which to buy various food and drink items, plus one also sold a selection of souvenirs.
For a sit down meal, there is also a Bistro, which we didn’t use due to it’s opening times and our schedule. The Bistro serves breakfast items: fresh fruit, smoothies, granola, oatmeal, eggs on toast, and bacon. In the evening, soups, salads, sandwiches, pizzas and burgers are on the menu, plus a selection of cocktails, wine and beers. The Bistro closes in the middle of the day, so if you return from the park for a break, wanting something more substantial to eat than the offerings in the marketplace, you might be best picking something up from the many eateries on your way in from the park.
Another big plus point to the hotel is the waterpark on site, which we used daily for a mid afternoon break. The main swimming pool is very small, but the children were more than happy on the 2 big slides and the great splash zone. Despite the pool area being consistently busy, we always managed to secure sunloungers. Towels are provided, and your room key is required to gain access. At check-in, we were issued with bright green wrist bands to wear around the pool, but, a word of warning: once you snap them together they are not designed to be removed easily. I’m not sure whether you are expected to wear these the whole time, but we certainly didn’t want to walk around with bright green bands on our wrists for 4 days, so we ended up snapping 2 in our attempts to remove them from our wrists. Rather than going to reception to ask for replacements, we simply kept the broken bands with us when visiting the pool. No-one challenged us, so I guess that was ok.
It was all very exciting, and so tempting to go rushing in to the Disney parks, but we had other plans for the evening.
After unpacking, dropping off the hire car at Alamo in Downtown Disney, then grabbing a quick bite to eat, we ordered an Uber taxi to take us to Angel Stadium, the home of the Los Angeles Angels Baseball team.
Now I have to admit, as I’m not a huge sports fan, I wasn’t really looking forward to the baseball. So, it was a pleasant surprise to experience such an enjoyable evening. The game itself, although easy to follow, can be rather boring. It goes on for hours, with only a few runs scored. Expect many strikes, lots of switching over of players and changing over of teams. However, the atmosphere is fantastic. The mix of people watching include families, couples, large parties and same gender groups, all spanning the generations, which really adds to the overall feeling of fun.
After each inning, there’s some sort of entertainment with members of the crowd displaying genuine excitement when they appear on the big screen - dancing, kissing and swinging the rally monkey around their heads! Make sure you learn the 7th inning song lyrics, so you can join in when the crowd stands to sing as loud as they can. It's also a good idea to take warm clothes and a blanket, as it did get rather chilly when the sun went down.
There are plenty of places serving food and drink (you’ll need deep pockets, it is expensive), or you can utilise the service of the servers walking around, who will deliver your order to your seat.
As we were there on a Saturday evening, further entertainment was provided by fireworks after the game. We then grabbed a taxi from the taxi line outside the stadium, back to the hotel, perfectly timed to enjoy the Disneyland fireworks from the balcony of our hotel room.
We also got a fine for parking on the wrong side of the road in LA. Expensive lesson learned.
Oh no! Sorry that happened to you too – as you say, it was an expensive oversight.