Everything Hurts & I Need A Bathroom! A First Timer's Guide to 2018's Disneyland (COMPLETE)

PlutosRHM55

Currently: No HHN Depression
Joined
Sep 14, 2010
~ Pack your suitcase and start the dreaming, the rest is up to you! ~



Hiya pals! Welcome to my FIFTH trip report on these boards and my FIRST on the Disneyland side of the boards because yes, this was...

:tinker: MY FIRST TIME AT DISNEYLAND! :tinker:

Yup, my first time. My first time on the West coast (native New Englander, what's up!). My first time in Los Angeles. My first time in HOLLYWOOD. My first time at DCA. My first time on the Matterhorn. My first time in New Orleans Square... well, I'm getting ahead of myself, but most importantly, first time at the Disneyland resort!

And who am I? Some of you ask.

Well, glad you asked before we got too far along and you start thinking I'm Mickey Mouse (not that I wouldn't want to be mistaken for him).

I'm Timmy. I will be your host on this magical journey into a Disneyland newbie's crazy adventures at the original park and its problematic child (more on that later). I'm a 21 year old college student majoring in Management & Business with a minor in Theater (I'd suggest you pay more attention to the latter to understand me better). Aside from that, you'll often find me walking around with my headphones in listening to Lady Gaga or whatever latest show tune craze is going around (Note: If I have my headphones in, chances are I do not want to be disturbed). I'm also a social media fiend, cinephile and when I have the time, photography nut. Here is a picture of me so I'm a bit more recognizable beyond a vague paragraph:



Now, on the Disney side of things, as I mentioned before, I'm a Walt Disney World vet. Not only have I taken three trips to the Florida park (all with accompanying TRs in my signature), but I also recently participated in the Disney College Program over a year ago. It was a glorious five months of cleaning up around the Magic Kingdom, particularly in my home of Tomorrowland. Even though it's been over a year since I left I think about it everyday and look back on it fondly as well as message all the friends I made incessantly about missing them and our crazy lives as Walt Disney World Cast Members.

As a WDW vet, I definitely have found myself devoted and in love with specific aspects of the parks. Anything with "Festival" in the title, I am here for it. The Great Movie Ride will never die for me. One way or another I will be the 1000th happy haunt and my future husband will propose to me on the spot where Constance's ring is found in the pavement. I want to stay forever in the Hollywood Tower Hotel with Rod Serling narrating my unfortunate life. LeFou's Brew is basically my blood at this point. Tiana is my queen and Princess Fairytale Hall is our club house. The Hub grass is basically just another bed. Yadayadayada ok ok.

So yeah, prepare to get the culture shock recollection of my adventures at Disneyland. Don't get me wrong, I love love LOOOOVVEEED Disneyland, even if part of me was yearning for certain things only found in the Florida park, Disneyland is so special and magical in its own unique way.

Normally, this would be the point I'd list my faves at the park of which I'm visiting, but as this IS my first time at Disneyland, I thought it'd be more fun to make that more of a figure it out as I go. What did I like the most? What did I not like? Was I constantly making comparisons to WDW?

You'll have to wait and find out.

Anyways, enough about me, let me introduce you to the other members of this trip!

First up is the one who basically allowed this to happen, Miss Raven!



Raven & I met during our Disney College Program. She worked merchandise at the Grand Floridian. We happened to exchange snapchats during our Traditions class before we began working and... well the rest is history. It was us talking this past summer that led to her offering to host me if I ever wanted to visit Disneyland. She luckily caught me at the right time and I had my flight booked the same day. Raven has been going to Disneyland regularly since she was but a wee babe and currently has an Annual Pass, only living about a half hour away. She's another lover of all things Broadway like moi (and has seen THE Hamilton) and we both are those adults getting the weird looks when waiting in line for character M&Gs (example above). It definitely made for a unique and fun experience for both of us. She was my main guide to both parks as well as the LA area, which we spent a little time in. She unfortunately had to change her plans with me on my last two days due to equally if not more unfortunate circumstances, but we still got to spend a lot of time in the parks together and as such will be featured prominently in this TR.

As a result of this, I brought in another park buddy on this trip. Say hello to Kinzie!



Kinzie is a friend of mine from school. She's two years under me and we actually didn't meet until after my CP. We both had mutual friends working in our school's theater department and hit it off real quick. She's a California native and was very excited that I was visiting since most people who go to our school are all East Coasters like moi. This was the first time she had been to Disneyland in nearly 10 years! Before then, she used to visit all the time, but still was just as much a newbie as me. She joined Raven & I on my first day then came back on my last day to step in when Raven could no longer be my buddy. I loved being almost a guide to Kinzie at times since my know-how still outweighed hers at times, but it was lovely hearing her stories from years past at the parks. I never had the experience of being in a Disney park before I was a teenager so her stories were my way of living vicariously through her. Kinzie's also not one to shy away from being talkative, which led to some pretty hysterical moments. But you'll have to follow along to hear about those.

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Ok, we've covered the cast, now it's time to cover the deets!

I was in California from January 9th through the 13th. I landed in SoCal on our first day where the day was spent visiting various locations around LA. The next three days were spent at the Disneyland Resort with my last day being more of a departure day since I had a rather early flight out of LAX. My days in Disneyland involved a Three Day Park Hopper Ticket with MaxPass on it, so you'll be able to hear about my experience with the new system.

I think it's important to note that the Disneyland resort is in a state of major change (hence "2018's Disneyland"). No parades were at the parks. No fireworks either. Splash Mountain, Dumbo and Haunted Mansion are all closed for refurbishment at Disneyland along with refurb walls surrounding the hub and Town's Square. In DCA, Paradise Pier was all under construction with Mickey's Fun Wheel and California Screamin' in particularly closed for my entire trip. So it was a rather partial Disneyland I experienced, but all the more reason to go back. And I mean, I still got a little taste of what the holidays are like in Disneyland, which is pretty nice.

Regardless, this trip was super magical, had its ups and its downs, but a good time was had by all nonetheless and that's all that matters. Enough just going on and on about the outlines of this trip, it's time to...

* ...journey to imagination! *

 
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introductions - Above/First Post

Arrival Day - January 9th, 2018
It's A Party in the USA!
The Gayest West Coast Debut Ever

No One's Gonna Rain On My Parade (of Fame)!
THAT West Coast Rite of Passage


DLR Day One - January 10th, 2018
When In Disneyland For The First Time, You Go To Starbucks!

It Seems I Did All of This... Once Upon A Dream
Aesthetic Walls and Darth Father, It's A Social Media World After All! Part I Part II
Hook Tripped A Child, I'm Actually Snow White BUT REMEMBER TO LOOK AT THE GOAT!
A Quick Reminder That I Used to Have The Best Boss Ever
The One In Which Timmy Eats And That's All That Matters (Not "Show")
Did You Really Think We'd Leave Without Seeing The Backside of Water?


DLR Day Two - January 11th, 2018
Mission: BREAKOUT Makes Me Question EVERYTHING
The Chocolate Lovers of Arendelle Bicker Bicker Bicker
A Suitcase, A Dream & A... Tree? Part I Part II
The Confusing Case of the Le Fou's Brew and the Red's Apple Freeze
Don't Be Weird... And Things Get Weird Anyways
Too Famous For Minnie, Mickey's Too Good For Me, Not Fierce Enough For Daisy, Then There's Donald Part I Part II
The Photography Chronicles of DCA
Dazzling Your Mind And Your Eye!


DLR Day Three - January 12th, 2018

Just Another Day of Sun
Why Can't Princess Fairytale Hall Have Waits Like This?
The Map Will Never Be Complete As Long As Long There Is Imagination Left In The World :') Part I Part II
My Gift To You Is NOT Being/Seeing Tiana
Radiator Springs To New York City And Somehow Still in California
"We've Got To Make It FIERCE, Daisy!"
Mom Friends at the Wonderful World of Color
Making Our Own Kiss Goodnight


Departure Day - January 13th, 2018/Wrap-Up

See Ya Real Soon West Coast... REAL Soon!

>>> NEW DLRCP Summer 2018 TR Link! <<<

 
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Joining in! I enjoyed seeing all your instagram posts so I can't wait to hear all about your trip and what you thought of DL :)

:welcome:

Glad to have you along and glad you enjoyed the IG posts! :teeth:

Can't wait to read all the details!

:welcome:

I can't wait to share them! :)

I never let you know I was following along! Looking forward to seeing how the rest of your trip went!

:welcome:

It was so much fun having you along, if only for a short while. It was definitely just as fun and crazy in the next few days, for sure.

Staking out my spot! Can't wait to hear all about your trip to Disneyland!

:welcome:

Don't let any strollers get in your way! ;)

Following along! Can't wait to hear all about your trip!!

:welcome:

Glad you could join in! I'm excited to tell y'all all about it!

I'm he-ere.

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And I'm ready to hear about ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING!!

YAS QUEEN

:welcome:

So glad you're here! I can't wait to tell you all about it (and how badly you need to get your butt over to Disneyland and for me to be there with you :teeth: )
 
It's A Party in the USA!
January 9th, 2018

Has anyone reached that point in life where you're SOOO busy that countdowns for special trips and stuff kinda fade into the background? No?

Well, that definitely happened to me this trip.

I booked my airline tickets as well as my park tickets at the beginning of my fall semester and didn't even really give it much of a thought until I finally made it through the insanity that was this past semester. If you followed along on my rather short-lived PTR, you probably noticed that. I won't go into detail on what the insanity was, but for someone who tried to take time off from college life with a lighter course load, I sure managed to figure out ways to make up for the gaps.

Luckily, as the semester became more and more intense, the trip re-surfaced and it was my light at the end of the tunnel.

Before I knew it, it was the week of and I was...

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Oh I was so ready to go! I was ready to pack many days in advanced. However I realized that I was only going to be on the West Coast for five days so I held off. Then I realized only three of those were at Disneyland so I could only pick out THREE DISNEY OUTFITS.

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^^My two personalities in that moment^^

I have acquired QUITE the collection of Disney shirts, pants, accessories, etc. and was so ready to bring them out where they're much appreciated. I thought I'd narrow it down to the shirts I got post-DCP, but I ended up discovering I had bought TEN SHIRTS since then.

In short, thank goodness I was jumping the gun on packing because this was such an internal ordeal. But in the end, every shirt chosen ended up being a strong choice.

In short, it was good that I turned to packing sooner than just the night before I left on the 9th.

Speaking of which, let's jump to that shall we!

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If you know me, you know I have the WORST sleep habits in history. Like most people go on break and they start giving themselves like a 1am curfew or something when they don't have plans for the day. Me? Not at all. I'm sleeping all day and up until 4am every night to do it all over again. Some occasions change that for like a day than it's back to night owl me, who somehow is getting rudely awakened by one of his well-rested sisters asking him to take the puppy out. I'm going off on a tangent, per usual, but to make it quick...

The struggle was real with trying to get some sleep prior to having to get up to make my 6:45am flight.

I managed to get to bed by like 11pm to get up at around 3am to get ready to leave by 4am so I was at the airport by 5am to allot me the time to check my bags then go through security. It TOTALLY was not enough sleep at all. I know most on these boards cannot sleep before a Disney trip, but after my CP, I NEED SLEEP BEFORE GOING INTO A DISNEY PARK. Especially when the Disney park you're going to is in a different time zone and requires a double the length flight of your normal flights to Disney and out of a different airport. Nonetheless, I was lacking sleep for Disney and managed to fight the fatigue to make on time for my flight.

Things went off without a hitch. I was up and showered and ready to go on time as was my dad who was going to drop to me off at the airport. We were off to the airport at 4am, exactly as we had hoped.

As I mentioned before, we were using a different airport than normal for this trip. On my past two trips (my 2014 graduation trip and my flight down to Florida for my DCP), we flew out of Manchester, which is a small quaint little airport that is relatively close by and makes life so much easier for traveling, especially early in the morning. Unfortunately to fly out to Cali with a non-stop direct flight, the only offering was Logan airport in Boston, which is the closest international airport to us. I went there one other time back in 2011, when I went to Disney with school and even used the same airline (JetBlue), but I remember it being FAR from a fun, easy time and getting to our gate just in time for boarding. I normally travel with others so flying out of an unfamiliar larger airport was a bit unnerving.

When we got to the airport, we got stuck in some minor traffic but arrived at the drop off point at exactly the time we had planned. My dad offered to come in with me, which secretly I wanted just to have someone's reassurance, but I said no, knowing I'd have to learn how to do this on my own especially since I'd be doing it all over again when I flew back from LAX. I bid my dad goodbye as the nervous sweats began.

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They were luckily for naught as everything is pretty automated now at airports and I had done online check-in the day prior so I just printed out my tag for my checked luggage then headed to security. I have a guilty conscience, don't know why I just do, so security always freaks me out, but I got through it in no time and was off to my gate. It was very quiet in the terminal, which was nice considering how nervous I was. I stopped by a nearby Dunkin' Donuts to get some breakfast then settled down for a bit. After finished eating, I ran to the bathroom where I snapped a quick pic of my "travel gear" as I called it on Twitter. I had just bought the jeans a week before with a gift card I got at Christmas to Forever 21 and I was really digging how they looked. I was feeling super blessed to be arriving in La La Land in style.



When I got out of the bathroom, the gate had started to fill up and it was nearly time to board. I maneuvered myself to be closer to the actual gate, even if my boarding time was after most people's, they did mention it was a full flight so I didn't want to get stuck waiting in a long line to board (I'm quite impatient). My assigned seat (JetBlue does assigned seating) was at the back of the plane too so I'd be waiting forever if I had not jumped ahead of the crowd.

Thank goodness my impatience pushed me to the front of the crowd because the flight was also lacking in overhead bin space. They had been asking for people to volunteer their bags to be put in the checked cargo free of charge. I probably would've been fine if I had done that, but my anal personality liked the fact I knew where my stuff was and knew how to get it back or could get it back on my own. I also got on the plane early enough I wasn't forced to do that. A few who got on the plane after me... not so lucky.

I had reserved my seat at the back of the plane at the window and came to find out I was put next to a woman of whom the minute she sat down wiped down every surface in sight. Oh dear lord. Then, a man who looked about the same age on the aisle. They both ended up just minding their own business and didn't bother me, which was fine by me especially since I got the worst stomachache on this flight. I don't know what it was, I thought it might've been from the Dunks I had before getting on, but it just kinda came and went, no mad dashes to the bathroom. It was not comfortable though and lasted most of the 7 hour flight.

I preoccupied myself well by taking photos of the gorgeous landscapes we passed over. New England is far more urbanized than the midwest or further west states so it was so cool seeing what lay below. Colorado had to be my favorite with the snowcapped peaks. Gorgeous.





I also decided to check on the weather out in Cali. I had yet to do so, but I brought a pair of jean shorts to switch into at the airport once the plane had landed so it was important. It also was a good way to take advantage of the free FlyFi. I came across this nugget of info on the Weather Channel website.



Rain. All day.

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I was not about that, especially since it was so cool. That and the fact I thought I had escaped the awful rainstorms that Florida brought on, but no. Luckily, the rest of the week said sunshine and moderate temps so I'd just have to suffer through today. Yay! But no jean shorts for me... I'd save that for another day.

I eventually took advantage of the free films that JetBlue offers and watched "Goodbye Christopher Robin" starring Domnhall Gleeson (aka General Hux) and Margot Robbie. This film kinda went under the radar so I was glad I could watch it on the flight. I really enjoyed it. It was a hard watch at times, but it's beautiful to see how so much light can come out of dark times much in the same way Peter Pan came to be (see: Finding Neverland). It was a great way to preface my trip ahead.

Once the film ended, I spent most of the flight listening to my Spotify playlist consisting of many of my Disney favorites. I know I had "Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride" on repeat for awhile. Maybe foreshadowing for a future trip? I don't know. I also had Try Everything playing when we took off. I felt like Judy Hopps, it was amazing.

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Eventually, the pilot announced we were beginning our descent into LAX to which I took as my cue to put on the only song for the occasion...

"I hopped off the plane at LAX with my dream and a cardigan..."

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After hearing that about three times through, I was finally on the ground in Los Angeles!

THE EAST COASTER WAS NOW ON THE WEST COAST!

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Not to mention, IT WAS SUNNY!

Yup, the rain had not yet come so I flew right into a lovely sunny SoCal. Godga bless.

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Disembarking took awhile especially since I had the window seat and was at the back of the plane. Once things started moving, I was able to grab my carry-on and hop off, making sure to also thank the pilot for getting us there safely and soundly.

I didn't waste too much time going to the luggage carriage. It was going to be a cooler day so as I mentioned before, I stayed in my regular skinny jeans rather than switch over to jorts. When I got to the luggage carriage, my luggage came out almost immediately. I texted my family to make sure they knew I had arrived safely then called Raven who was en route to come pick me up. LAX was absolutely NUTZ when it came to the pick-up area. I've definitely seen this at other large airports, but this was crazy. Raven and I were on the phone as she made her way through this mess to me. It took some time, but soon I was throwing my bags into her car and thrust into a big hug fest. It had been over a year since I last saw my Traditions buddy and we had an awesome four days ahead of us so needless to say we were both very excited. Our plan was to start right away so we sped off into LA, bound for our first adventure of the day.

Sooooooo where to?

Continued Here
 
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Hi, Timmy! Joining in for another one of your TR adventures! I'm really excited to get your review of DLR.

P.S. I'm SOO that woman on the plane who wipes every surface down! :laughing: I've just been sick too many times on vacation to risk it. Planes are disgusting. Most people worry about the re-circulated air, which is basically totally harmless and filtered, but the real danger is touching other people's gross crap on the tray tables! Yep. I'm that girl. :blush:
 
I'm sorry you weren't feeling well on the flight! Good thing you were able to preoccupy yourself with a movie and some music :)

Great photos from your seat, such a pretty view!
 
Hi, Timmy! Joining in for another one of your TR adventures! I'm really excited to get your review of DLR.

P.S. I'm SOO that woman on the plane who wipes every surface down! :laughing: I've just been sick too many times on vacation to risk it. Planes are disgusting. Most people worry about the re-circulated air, which is basically totally harmless and filtered, but the real danger is touching other people's gross crap on the tray tables! Yep. I'm that girl. :blush:

:welcome: Glad you could join in!

Lol TBH I don't think I would've made a big deal out of it had this woman not looked exactly like those "May I speak with your manager" types that are soooo beyond triggering for us former CMs. I probably should've mentioned that, but I just so was ready to hear her complain about some tiny little thing I did. Luckily, she was no problem and not the type I had categorized her as at all.

I'm sorry you weren't feeling well on the flight! Good thing you were able to preoccupy yourself with a movie and some music :)

Great photos from your seat, such a pretty view!

The movie and music definitely got me through. I'm just glad it all went away and didn't result in me being actually sick the entire flight.

It was so GORGEOUS. I was more enthralled with the scenery than with the movies I watched. Totally worth getting the window seat.
 
Joining in! Can't wait to hear about your Julia Roberts experience on Rodeo Drive.
Haha!
Definitely can't wait to hear how your DL experience was!!!
 
Lol TBH I don't think I would've made a big deal out of it had this woman not looked exactly like those "May I speak with your manager" types that are soooo beyond triggering for us former CMs. I probably should've mentioned that, but I just so was ready to hear her complain about some tiny little thing I did. Luckily, she was no problem and not the type I had categorized her as at all.

Ahhhh one of those Lindas! :laughing: Gotcha! (My mother-in-law's name is Linda, and I always joke to my husband that Lindas aren't born, they just appear one day, fully formed as middle-aged women who want to speak to your manager!)
 
Oh gosh, this trip report is everything.

I love that you have a guilty conscience.

Those Colorado mountains look amazing.

I'm totally mad that I switched our flights from LAX to SNA because now I cannot get off the plane and do my Miley Cyrus/Pitch Perfect singalong. I just told my daughter I'm doing it anyway.
 
Joining in! Can't wait to hear about your Julia Roberts experience on Rodeo Drive.
Haha!
Definitely can't wait to hear how your DL experience was!!!

:welcome:

Lol my Julie Roberts experience was more short-lived than you'd think. Glad to have you along again!

Ahhhh one of those Lindas! :laughing: Gotcha! (My mother-in-law's name is Linda, and I always joke to my husband that Lindas aren't born, they just appear one day, fully formed as middle-aged women who want to speak to your manager!)

OMG "one of those Lindas" I SCREAM. :rotfl2: I've honestly dubbed some of them Lindas or Sharons or Susans so this is too too accurate to the type.

Oh gosh, this trip report is everything.

Haha glad you like it so far!

I love that you have a guilty conscience.

Lol I so wish I didn't. Having a guilty conscience is THE WORST.

Those Colorado mountains look amazing.

They do! I couldn't NOT take a pic.

I'm totally mad that I switched our flights from LAX to SNA because now I cannot get off the plane and do my Miley Cyrus/Pitch Perfect singalong. I just told my daughter I'm doing it anyway.

Lol It will be SOOOOO much less hectic landing or leaving from SNA though. But YES DO IT ANYWAYS. Anytime is a good time to belt out some Miley Cyrus. :thumbsup2
 
The Gayest West Coast Debut Ever
January 9th, 2018

If it hasn't clicked yet with the dead giveaway of a title, Raven and I were headed to WeHo aka West Hollywood aka The Gay Epicenter of LA. For East coasters, it's essentially the P-Town of the West coast. In my PTR, I mentioned that I HAD to go here and with Raven not having had breakfast (it was around 11am California time) and me still on East coast time, I was ready for a lunch. SO BRUNCH IN ONE OF THE GAYEST PLACES THERE IS IT WAS!

My gay heart was SINGING!

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On our way there from LAX, the rain started coming down. And I mean, COMING DOWN. IT POURED. Luckily, it only lasted for a bit and by the time we were in the thick of LA, the sun was back out and I could see everything. It still had us a bit nervous for how the rest of the afternoon would go.

We passed by quite a few LA icons including Rodeo Drive, the REAL Hollywood Tower Hotel and Beverly Hills. The only one I got a pic of was Beverly Hills because my mom and I are such big fans of the TV show, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills so I had to show her that I was nearby. We saw a lot of people out in front of the sign taking selfies. We never went back to do that, which was ok, we had a lot planned for me for someone only in Cali for a few days. But I at least have something to show that I was there.



After passing the famed land of the nouveau rich & famous, we were at our destination. Let rainbows spring around us from every which way!

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We had a bit of trouble finding a parking spot. Raven and I decided to go to The Abbey, a famous gay bar in WeHo, that has parking along the street, but was completely full even if there weren't really many people around (WeHo's more of a weekend nightlife type place). We drove around a bit, going in and out of various lots. Eventually, we found a place a few blocks away and decided to walk. Before getting out, a selfie for good measure!



On our walk, Raven let me be my touristy self and take some photos of/with all the cute gay stuff we found around WeHo.







WeHo definitely is in some other universe because there was a no-holds-barred on what was there and in broad daylight. On every block, we found some pavement art that advertised PrEP, which is an HIV preventive pill, primarily geared toward gay men and that had some rather choice words involving how HIV is transmitted. I thought it was awesome, but it's not something to share here. We also walked by a toy store, but not the Disney kind of toy store if you get what I mean. Definitely not the typical thing I come upon walking around the cities of the East coast. In short...

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As we continued along, Raven said we HAD to get a pic with the famous rainbow crosswalk found in WeHo. I wasn't exactly sure how to do that since it's A REAL CROSSWALK just painted rainbow. I didn't feel safe having a photoshoot in the middle of the street with consistent LA traffic. I settled for a video (where I mistakenly call it a sidewalk rather than crosswalk) and a quick selfie with the both of us. Enjoy:

Click to watch!



Oh look, we got the Village People in the background!

We were nearly at The Abbey when Raven also pointed out PUMP to me, one of Lisa Vanderpump's, a Beverly Hills housewife's, restaurants. Lisa Vanderpump is probably the most famous of the Beverly Hills housewives with her own spin-off series called Vanderpump Rules that primarily follows the lives of her staff over at SUR, which was on the other side of PUMP. She's one of my mom and I's faves from the show, which, since I'm talking about it a lot, is a reality show that documents the drama-filled lives of rich women living in the wealthiest part of Los Angeles. It's pretty addicting as are the other installments in the Real Housewives franchise (I personally recommend Atlanta). The reason my mom and I like Lisa so much is she's a fairly fun, witty and sometimes brash, dog-loving British woman who runs many businesses. She's pretty self-sufficient and isn't one to get involved in petty drama although she gets dragged in A LOT. Getting back on track, I had to take another pic for my mom and sent it to her right away, explaining where I was.



Then, it was off to The Abbey, which was pretty dead when we got there so we just waltzed right in and found a seat.



Our waiter was with us in no time and I had a moment when he came over because WOW, he was CUTE. Tan skin, slim, nice eyes. I was pretty shook and awkwardly lost control of myself and stared and smiled until he asked for a drink order. I awkwardly asked for a Root Beer, which they didn't have, then a Sprite, not really thinking of the fact I was in THE MOST FAMOUS GAY BAR IN WEST HOLLYWOOD.

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I was sooooo not thinking straight (oh the puns, they begin). Gosh darn all cute men. But I didn't want to backtrack to embarrass myself further, especially after Raven got a mimosa. Luckily, it kinda worked out because when he came back with our drinks along with some lemon waters, Raven realized the mimosa was WAY too strong for someone who was going to be driving all day so I ended up having me my first mimosa at the most famous bar in West Hollywood.

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Drag Queen gifs will be a theme this TR. You're welcome.

It got even better when we actually ordered our brunch!

I ordered a Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict. I don't remember what Raven got, as I didn't take pictures (WARNING: Food pics are in short supply for this trip as we never had really any sit-downs or notable meals). Here is what my dish looked like...



And YES, it was 200% as it good as it looked. My goodness. This was THE MEAL of the trip. I'm always weird about smoked salmon for textural reasons, even if flavor is always on-point, but this was perfect. The sauce mixed with the egg and the crispy things on top (I forget what they were called) made for a culinary EXPERIENCE. I DEVOURED it. Not as quickly as Raven who near swallowed her dish whole (remember this for later). I didn't eat much of the potatoes on my dish, but the Eggs Benedict were enough. Oh yeah, I was full and ready to take on the rest of this day.

Raven and I used our time at The Abbey to catch up. It was great getting to catch up with a CP friend face-to-face since I hadn't been able to see ANYONE, not even my closest friends down there since I left Orlando over a year ago. We also had a great time reminiscing on how we met as well as all our CP adventures and drama. It was really nice and got us both so pumped for the week. Unfortunately, while we ate, the sky got darker and the rain started coming down on-and-off, threatening to constantly fall. We were getting nervous since Hollywood Boulevard was our next plan and we were NOT prepared to walk along that stretch of street in the rain. Nuh-uh.

After taking our time talking and letting me finish my eggs, we called for the check. Raven had known I was going all googly eyes for our waiter and suggested I leave my number. Normally I'd push that idea aside and end our meal on a normal note, but I realized I was in California, I was only here for a few days and you only live once. So... after Raven signed her check (I paid with cash, she paid with card), I took my receipt that I was supposed to take and wrote a little note with my number. We stuffed it nicely under the tip I left and booked it out. We near ran into him, which was awkward then booked it all the way back to our car. Oh, it will truly be a moment to talk about for years.

It was still a bit drizzly when we left, but nothing too bad. We both hoped and prayed it would hold off since Hollywood Boulevard was our next destination and that would not be a fun time with the cold weather (I was now really needing a jacket) and the particularly outside locale. For the moment, we made it to the car without any major downpour to drench my white shirt. We only had to pay a small sum of $1 for parking, which got our spirits up and we were once again in Raven's car off to where the stars walk, hoping the rain would hold off again!

Stay tuned to see if it did!

Continued Here
 
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I'm a big fan of RHOBH, New York, and New Jersey. I LOVED watching RHOA back when it first began, now, not so much.
I think that crosswalk is the happiest crosswalk on earth... too bad traffic was busy bc I might would've laid down to take a cool picture!
And, also waiting to hear about the waiter...
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