englishrose47
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2007
Not sure if I subbed but am doing so now !!
Awesome that you got to stick your toes in the Pacific right at the start of your vacation.
We have yet to go to Huntington Beach, but we loved Santa Monica beach. I remember that very fondly.
So you are a Target shopper - hm, guess we will have to pay a visit in March, we have yet to make it to one.
Thanks for the pics of your GC studio. I am still torn between using my DVC or paying OOP for the Disneyland Hotel. Now you peaked my interest in the Paradise Pier as well. Thank you very much.
What a shame about the SIM card. But I guess it is a mistake easily made.
I'm here Magdalene! A bit late to the party, just got back from our awesome Disney trip ourselves. Great start and can't wait to read all about your new adventures.
I hear you on the transatlantic flight. I flew KLM from Amsterdam this time round and that was pretty good. I was impressed with the automated passport control. That is a great idea to head for the beach first to beat the traffic. The Grand Californian seems to be the worst of all the DVC properties for rooms not being ready.
Corinna
Not sure if I subbed but am doing so now !!
I thought I just subbed this will be either sub 1 or 2 or 3 !!!!!!
I am all caught up. I have to say Michaels has the most HANSOME Hand I have ever seen !!!My worse memories of passport are when Judy was 18months old and we had just landed at Gatwick and headed to Passport, me carrying a diaper bag and carry on , in one arm and trying to hang on to a toddler with the other . I let go to get out our passports and Quick as lightening she walked right thru and was on the other side saying "HI" to everyone . People in line let me go first and the Pasport guy sort of glared at me but did not stop me either .
Smart move not driving to Anaheim at rush hour. Michael is obviously a local, they don't call it the 4 or 5 hour freeway for nothing!
I was wondering why you ended up at the same place as last year, but Michael's explanation makes sense. I used to live in The Valley and when I get back there I have a few local haunts I like to revisit (if you can believe that The Valley has any highlights, Michael will understand that one).
Room readyness is a big pet peve at the VGC. I have almost never had the room ready early. Most of the time I get the text that the room is ready right at 4PM, but there have been a few times that it has stretched until later. Only once can I remember it being ready early.
The shots of the studio look nice. I have never had a pool view only PP and Grizzly Challenge.
I'm glad you were able to relax at the pool if only for a few minutes. Looking forward to hearing about the rest!
I have heard horrible things about KLM in the past, so I have always avoided them. Good to know that you had a good experience!
We had a not so good experience at the AKL when we stayed there in 2013 with our room not being ready. So, at the moment I really can't say that GCV is the worst.
But when you put them up against any American carrier, well, they give you the type of service that every airline should provide.
Somehow the machine took ages to verify that I was me, I think it was confused that I was wearing glasses while the picture in my passport does not have glasses. But then everything was fine and I was released. All in all I might have waited maybe a full minute or two. But others were through much quicker!
At some point I noticed that we were above Greenland and that you actually see the glaciers beneath us.
On my last entries into the US, they always required all my ten fingers, this time they just wanted the fingers from the left hand (no thumb).
All in all, the whole process took less than 10 minutes!!
Greatest country on Earth. GREATEST!
We tried to get there on the scenic route and drove along the coast for a bit – to admire a huge sewage plant and an oil refinery.
M in Target is sorta like me in Rewe or any German store.
I want to point out that my stuff were the light grey bag (my carry on) and the grey hard shell suitcase… And I am the girl!!
(yes, that’s Michael hiding there!)
Yay for getting to the Pacific Ocean at the start and shopping at Target. And yes, smart move not driving in peak hour traffic.
Despite the room not being ready at an appropriate time, that VGC room is lovely.
Glad you got time in the pool but what a pain about the SIM card!
ps. We not only cross the Equator but we go back a day when we travel to the US. It looks like you lose a day when you go and gain it on the way back. It's the opposite for the Aussies.
I flew back with KLM in 2011 and then I flew KLM this time and I could not fault them. I would even go as far as saying that on this flight they have come pretty close to the standards I am used to from Emirates.
I hope that we will have better luck at AKV.
I think your average cattle car is more appealing than most American airlines.
Are you sure you're not on a list somewhere?
Hey, that's pretty cool!
Wow, that's pretty demanding. How do you give them 4 fingers if they took all ten on the last trip?
What Michael said.
Crap. There goes that "greatest country" thing.
You do seem to love your Target stores.
Well, he's got a nice forearm.
And realized that I had made a mistake by not starting earlier. There was a steady stream of pedestrians walking towards the parks while I was running away from them (I was running South on Harbor Boulevard).
I was very conscious of the walkers and often slowed down and walked past larger groups, but I was also amazed how many kids, especially older ones, really are not aware of their surroundings at all!
I was a bit self conscious before getting in line at Starbucks all sweaty after my run, but then just after I had gotten in line another lady got into line just behind me and she had definitely been exercising as well, so immediately I felt a little less out of place! And then while I was there I even saw another person in workout clothes (and not fresh ones), so I guess I was really not so much the odd one out!
They even don’t fill out the side of the cups anymore, but instead a computer prints labels – also with your name. They got mine wrong:
They also were producing adobe, i.e. bricks made from mud, not to be confused with the people who brought you the pdf-format and Flash! Adobe tiles were very common building materials in colonial times.
Michael’s brother then suggested that I pass the other SIM on to Michael so that he could use it while we were on vacation. Since it came with unlimited calls, unlimited text and 500MB of data it really was quite useful and saved Michael fees from his plan. This created a bit of confusion as Michael suddenly was using a different telephone number during the vacation. And for me the plan was to visit a Best Buy later that day.
Our destination for the day was San Juan Capistrano, which is famous for its Mission. It is one of the missions that were founded by the Spanish in the 18th century when they colonialized “Alta California”.
On the table they were advertising their house margaritas for 5$ and I decided that we should try those. Michael and his brother did not disagree and I went off to get the drinks. The lady at the bar was very nice and at first I was a bit disappointed that the drink came from a very large pre-mixed pitcher, but the drinks ended up being really nice!!
The food was fantastic. You can't really go wrong with Mexican food in California. You can get great stuff from food trucks to little stands (like this one) to higher end restaurants. You do NOT find stuff like this in Florida, except perhaps at Antojitos at UNI City Walk.
On the way back we did find a Best Buy and I bought my SIM card finally! We then also ended up with a typical Southern Californian experience: We ended up in traffic. I even took a picture to commemorate this:
At the road crossing we then noticed a bride and bride maids standing around as well as a photography team and a videography team and we watched them. It turned out that the groom was standing on the other side and when the train went away, they walked towards each other. The groom had a team of photographers and videographers as well and I think all in all there were about 10 people then busy in capturing the couple walking towards each other and then posing on the tracks until a station person told them off for walking along the tracks. Quite a production. I just wondered how expensive just that one photshoot must be with all those people working!
Liesa! You managed to sign up - hope you will find the time to peek at this trip report now and then in between working hard for your last year of school!
I had pick ed up some Del Taco early in the afternoon
I also got a cinnamon swirl coffee cake,
Our destination for the day was San Juan Capistrano, which is famous for its Mission. It is one of the missions that were founded by the Spanish in the 18th century when they colonialized “Alta California”.
I just tried to figure this out... According to my iPhone you are 8 hours ahead of me and California is 9 hours behind me. So you are 17 hours ahead of them... So, if you leave at 12 noon for your 14 hour flight, you arrive at 9am while at home it is 2 am the next day??? Sounds crazy!! We do not really lose a day since we are not crossing the date line, but you could say that we have a very long day traveling to California and then a very abbreviated one traveling back. I better stop trying to get my head around your time issues between Australia and California, it makes my head hurt!!
But one question: How long of a flight is it from Australia to Hawaii or Japan? Those must be somewhat closer??