Going to Los Angeles, California for the first time was a dream come true to me, but due to only 4 days of staying there, it's only a short break of fun. Once my family and I arrived in LA, we first went to Hotel Maya to stay for one night. It was located around Long Beach. Definitely white, soft sands and palm trees sandwiched with volleyball nets. That day, we went to one of my dream places, HOLLYWOOD!!! Well, I didn't get to see celebrities there, but I took tons of pictures of the stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The sidewalks at Hollywood Drive were huge pink stars carved in names of famous stars and their fields of career like singing and filming. There was also a shop which sell unique souvenirs like mini Oscar throphies for beloved family members or friends or any other common people XD. On the window was a bunch of license from celebrities like Michael Jackson, One Direction, Hannah Montana, Justin Bieber and more. Oh! There's also cheap T-shirts, and postcards, and certificates for rewarding common people like us (Best mother, best daughter, best friend, best son...best boss). Oh! And do you know that most of the Hollywood films were premiered in the huge old Chinese theatre? Outside of the temple-like theatre were footprints, handprints, and signatures of movie casts like Twilight and Harry Potter! Cool, huh? You can also get to take photos with mascots who wandered around like Cookie Monster and Tinkerbell. The best part was the Hollywood sign. It was small from my phone camera lenses, but the giant letters on that hill was quite a sight!
The next day, we went to Universal Studios! The original Hollywood theme park where films were actually filmed in the studios. If you ask me, it was WAY better than Universal Studios Singapore! Why? Because there were more rides, a studio tour, and more shows in 3D! First stop, Waterworld. It was similar to the one in Singapore. Then, we watched the Animal Actors show, a show for trained animals that were in a few shows like Beverly Hills Chihuahua and Hotel for Dogs! Around the park, you can say hello to some characters like Paranorman and Spongebob Squarepants. And don't forget to go to Shrek 4D adventure! It was much better than the Singapore version because the theatre was huge and the special effects were real till spiders really drop only your legs!
One thing I love about Universal Studios is the studio tour. At first, I thought we really get to meet Jimmy Fallon. But it turned out that Jimmy Fallon was only on the TV screen in tour buses. Anyway, the bus drove us around the studio area, like the building where hit TV series CSI was filmed, and a few films which were shot in other studios. The studio tour led us to a whole new world. We entered into a dark cave, and we were told to put on 3D goggles to watch King Kong in action. The giant gorilla jumped onto and over the bus, shaking us vigorously! It seemed it was trying to protect us from those attacking dinosaurs. Next, we saw a row of prop cars that were in films like Fast and Furious, Jurassic Park, and Back To The Future. Behind it was a short film scene of Fast and Furious. Two cars were blasted off by smoke and fire. We entered in Jurassic Park world where dinosaurs scared us with roars and hisses with water sprays approached all of a sudden. There was also a scene where we get to see the demonstration of a flash flood. Oh! We also get to take a look at the set of Wild Wild West before we entered into another cave. Shockingly, we were trapped in a real-looking earthquake! Pipes crashing down, fire blasting, debris all over! Shortly, we were out of the tunnel, feeling dazed. Our excitement returned when we saw a scene from the film Jaws. In a water village, we saw blood oozed out on the water surface and blasting gas tanks that revealed a fake shark. It looked real to me. XD Oh! And we peeked at the houses where Desperate Housewives was filmed! We also saw some props filmed by Steven Spielberg like a Christmas movie, Psycho, and War of the Worlds. For Psycho, it was a very old movie. But we saw a crazy man dumping a dead lady into the boot of a truck! And he was going to shoot us with a gun! Luckily, we were safe! War of the Worlds area included crashed planes, houses, and other vehicles. The tour ended with last words from Jimmy Fallon on TV and a view of Hollywood further ahead. We saw a Warner Bros studio way over there where the Ellen Degeneres show was shot!
After the studio tour, we went for Transformers: The Ride in 3D. It was like no ordinary theatre. We put on 3D glasses while riding on a vehicle (Megatron). We were sent into a battle to destroy a villian, but with the help of a few Transformers (I only know that the yellow one was Bee), we saved the day XD. You should go for this ride! It was awesome! Oh! Wait! Did I miss Terminator 3D? It was kind of creepy. I don't want to talk about it though. The last ride that evening was The Simpsons Ride. It was hair-raising! Like a roller coaster! Yet we were once stuck in Maggie's mouth! Haha.
Another attraction we went was Disneyland, my favourite place on Earth. We first saw a marching parade that trotted to the entrance, followed by Mary Poppins and Alice in Wonderland. Shortly, we arrived at Fantasyland, where girls had their princess dreams come true. It's A Small World was definitely my favourite. We rode on boats to see tunnels of the whole Earth. Children from Asia, North America, Australia, Africa and more. You know that I'm not a roller-coaster kind of person, so I went with Mona to Mad Hatter's Tea Party (spinning teacups), Storybook Canal Boats, Mr Toad's Wild Ride, Sleeping Beauty's castle (the icon of Disneyland), and taking a photo with Princess Merida from Brave. In Tomorrowland, the whole family aimed toy guns in Buzz Lightyear Astro Blaster. Whoever scored higher points get to be in higher levels. It was a blast! We had fun shooting monsters XD. Buzz Lightyear was there too, guiding us with body moving and firm instructions. He's like a real-live talking toy from the movie! Tomorrowland also included Star Tours (from Star Wars), which had talking robots and a 3D show of riding to safety from shooting lasers and teleportative tunnels.
Finally! I see Walt Disney statue at the centre! He is a big inspiration to me. I salute him! Then, we exited to Disney's California Adventure Park which was opposite Disneyland. We were greeted by a big parade. We were sprayed by water jets from floats, and danced with cast from The Incredibles, Monsters Inc., A Bug's Life, Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and Tow Mater from Cars. At Paradise Pier, we had lunch at an Italian buffet before heading to Mickey's Fun Wheel. It was a ferris wheel with swinging cables. Trust me, I wanna throw up when I get in one! You would feel like you were REALLY swinging here and there like a roller coaster! My heart popped out of chest and I was screaming like a banshee. =.= Never want to go there again! My nerve breakdown got cured after indulging myself into The Little Mermaid's world. I was sent into tunnels that told the story of Ariel (you know, getting legs, noticed by the prince, romance, getting married).
Ahem..okay where was I? Cars Land. The newly-opened place was similar to the movie Cars. The buildings and sceneries from Route 66. We rode on those cute tractors in Tow Mater's Junkyard that swung around in semicircles. We stopped by at those cone-shaped stores at Cozy Motel for ice-cream. We also took pictures with Lightning McQueen himself! Oh! And we went to A Bug's Land, where yup, the film A Bug's Life took place. We watched a show in the theatre called "It's Tough Being A Bug". I must say, I agree with Flik. Humans couldn't stand the ickiness of spiders, cockroaches, grasshoppers, and other bugs, We got poked by bee stings at our backs and got creamed by cockroaches on our seats!
Evening came and we missed the last show of Aladdin The Musical in Hollywood Land. So we went to see the Muppets 3D show instead. Fans of Muppets, you will enjoy it because Kermit the Frog is the host and you'll laugh at the adventures of them making a 3D cartoon come to life. We also entered into Animation Academy. Inside the room, you'll experience the art created by Disney artists for films like Tangled, Pochahontas, Mulan, and The Lion King. There's a small room where you can learn how Toy Story characters come to life (zoetrope I think). And I mean, really come to life like in the movie. In the academy, we were taught by a real Disney artist on how to draw Piglet from Winnie The Pooh. It was so much fun!
Night fell by, and we rushed to Mickey's ToonTown to see Mickey's House. We were amazed by his furnitures and memos (he wants to call Minnie every day, awwww how sweet!). We also saw his organ, washing machine with his gloves and pants tumbling in water, his Chicken coop, and other whimsical things. We finally get to see him for real, taking pictures with everyone's favourite mouse. Our Disneyland day ended with a night show at It's A Small World and a fireworks presentation at Sleeping Beauty's Castle.
Oh! What a vacation! It's a pity we didn't go to all of the rides. I'll remember this vacation forever.
