Los Angeles / Las Vegas / Anaheim – 18 Nov to 27 Nov 2007

Our trip to California is long overdue. ZA had been making many business trip and had accumulated enough mileage on United Airlines MileagePlus for 3 tickets to USA. We were supposed to make the trip two years ago but Jarod was not ready for the long flight. We finally decided to travel to USA this year, without Ashley though since she is too young to travel.

The beauty of MileagePlus is since United Airlines is a Star Alliance partner, we could opt to fly on Singapore Airlines. We were contemplating to either go Anaheim/Las Vegas or just push on directly to Orlando. However, since Jarod did not want to take such a long flight, we decided we would just fly to Los Angeles. We only needed to pay the airport taxes for the flight, unlike KrisFlyer where both fuel surcharges and taxes were payable.

 

The long awaited day arrived and we boarded SQ12 with a short transit in Tokyo before arriving at Los Angeles International Airport. the 6th busiest airport in the world. The line to clear the immigration and custom was very long. After at least an hour wait, we finally cleared the custom and proceeded to Hertz counter to collect our rental car.

This is the car we got – a Buick LaCrosse, a comfortable 3.6 liter V-6 sedan.

 

Las Vegas – 18 Nov to 21 Nov 

It was about 3pm when we proceeded to drive from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, Nevada. ZA had always liked to arrive Las Vegas when night falls. There is something about the sight of The Strip that is simply magical, the glitter and the glam of the bright lights as you come into town.

After about 4 hours drive, we saw from far this signature xenon light shining straight into space from Luxor’s pyramid. We knew at that instant we have reached Vegas. This experience is nothing short of epic.

We booked our 3-night accommodation at Excalibur. The Excalibur is located in the heart of The Strip and  endeavors to re-create the Middle Age, a time filled with adventure and enchantment. Its storybook-like fortress boasts a drawbridge and moat. Other medieval touches can be spotted throughout the architecture and decor, such as turreted towers, stone columns, wood paneling and candle chandeliers.

We were exhausted from the long drive, so we just walked over to Castle Walk Food Court where we found Krispy Kreme! We were contented to just have this for dinner and catch our sleep.

One of our favourite activities in Las Vegas is none other than exploring all the themed resorts. Many hotels in Vegas pay homage to the other world cities. It’s like we could see different countries in one city.

You can see Paris and the Eiffel Tower at Paris Las Vegas. There are gondolas and St Mark’s Square at the Venetian if you like a taste of Venice. For The Big Apple, New York New York has the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building and Central Park.

Other hotels we explored included the Luxor for its Egyptian vibe evoked by the glass pyramid; Treasure Island for its pirate show and the Mirage volcano show. ZA and I even posed at the same spot at the Mirage when we were there back in 1996.

One of the most eye-catching attraction in Vegas is the Bellagio fountains. It boasts of an 8.5 acre lake in the middle of the desert, exploding with spritzers shooting water up in the air. The water rockets and dances perfectly choreographed to Frank Sinatra.

We also liked the atmosphere at Caesar’s Palace where the high end designer outlets are. We were not at Caesar’s Palace for the shopping, rather to admire the one billion dollar Cloud, an amazing image projection screen hovering over the center.

For our true shopping experience, we visited the Las Vegas Premium Outlet.

Part of a classic Vegas experience is going to a buffet. The Vegas buffets are known for their good values with plenty of options to please everyone. Here we are stuffing ourselves silly and look at the dessert station!

We also visited Nascar Cafe. Jarod was an avid car and Nascar racing fan and wanted to check out this auto-racing themed restaurant. Although the theming was good, the food was disappointing. Jarod took part in a car racing challenge where he pit against 3 adults and he won the game!

On our last night, we walked along The Strip. The night life of Las Vegas is truly unrivaled.

During this trip, Jarod saw so many casinos and slot machines till he was immune.

Anaheim – 21 Nov to  27 Nov

After our 3 night stay in Las Vegas, he made our way to Anaheim, where the happiest place on earth is. On our way, we stopped at Carl’s Junior for lunch, being our favourite fast food restaurant here. We checked into Sheraton Hotel Anaheim for a 5 night stay. Once we stepped into the hotel lobby, we immediately felt transported to the land where dreams come true. Our room is pleasant and cosy, with 2 comfortable queen size beds. We like the hotels in USA where 2 double beds are readily available.

  

There is also a video games room in our hotel.

Disneyland Park – Where The Magic Began!

We visited Disneyland Park. The theme this year is ‘The Year of a Million Dreams’. Walt Disney’s original theme park has 8 themed lands filled with timeless attractions, world-class entertainment and surprises around every turn. Christmas decorations were all decked out and we soaked in the holiday spirit.

Tomorrowland is Jarod’s favourite themed land. He loved the Autopia, presented by Chevron. After the ride, we get to keep an official Driver’s License. We rode this a few times.

 

We also enjoyed the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters.

Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage is the new experience in Disneyland. The ride is inspired by Disney’s Finding Nemo where we dived into the sea in search for Nemo. We tried the Astro Orbitor too!

On this trip, we persuaded Jarod to take on Space Mountain, a coaster in the dark which he did. We also enjoyed the 3D experience ‘Honey, I Shrunk the Audience’.

We almost skipped the entire Fantasyland where all the princess affairs are located. Jarod was totally not interested in them. The only exception was ‘It’s A Small World’ boat ride. At this time of the year, the ride featured holiday specials. The other ride that we wanted to try was Matterhorn Bobsleds. The icy mountain looked interesting. However, the wait time was too long and we gave up. It would be nice to bring Ashley to Disneyland where she might immerse in the princess magic.

We went on to Frontierland where we rode the all time favourite Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Jarod also had a go at shooting at the Frontierland Shootin’ Exposition.

Since Thanksgiving Day is round the corner, we had Jumbo Turkey Leg for lunch.

After lunch, we explored the Adventureland where we tried Indiana Jones Adventure and Jungle Cruise. Since there was not much to do at Mickey’s Toontown, Critter Country and New Orleans Square, Jarod returned to Tomorrowland for the Autopia ride again.

As the day draws to a close, the park was illuminated with colourful street lights. The atmosphere was magical! We found the lighted It’s A Small World so pretty that we rode it again.

We headed over to Main Street where we caught ‘A Christmas Fantasy’ Parade, which is a holiday tradition in Disneyland.

After the parade, we headed over to Downtown Disney, which is just steps away for dinner.

 
 

Here, we found Build-A-Bear Workshop where Jarod built a cute brown bear for Ashley. He named the bear Brownie!

   

We returned to Disneyland for the finale – ‘Believe…In Holiday Magic’ Fireworks Spectacular. It also featured a special snowfall for the finale. It was magical! We decided not to visit Disney’s other park Disney’s California Adventure Park where the thrill rides are. With this, we bade farewell to Disney.

SeaWorld Adventure Park – San Diego

SeaWorld San Diego is an attraction featuring amazing animal interactions, exciting shows and aquariums located in San Diego, about 90 minutes drive from Anaheim.

SeaWorld is one a just a few places where you get up close and personal with orcas – the mighty king of the sea.

SeaWorld is full of animal exhibits – the dolphins, rays, flamingo, sea lion and otter, sharks, penguins, polar bears to name just a few.

And not forgetting all the SeaWorld favourites, the animal shows! We loved Believe at Shamu Stadium. Sadly, this show has been replaced by One Ocean where animal trainers are no longer allowed in the water with the killer whales after a tragic incident.

Dolphin Discovery at Dolphin Stadium. We joined Dolly Dolphin and friends for high-flying thrills and excitement.

There are also ride adventures but we only attempted the SeaWorld SkyTower. We did not want to get wet with the other rides.

Universal Studios Hollywood

Universal Studios Hollywood, a movie studio and theme park which brings films to life. We walked through Universal Citywalk.

Shrek was there to meet us! We watched Shrek 4D where we were in action together with Shrek and Donkey in an exciting adventure.

We took the world famous Studio Tour. We explored Hollywood’s most famous backlot and saw how Hollywood magic really happens. We got behind the scenes and witnessed the eerie smoldering plane crash from the War of the Worlds and the high octane car chases and raging explosions from The Fast and the Furious and braved the foggy mist of Skull Island in Universal’s King Kong!

We watched Waterworld. The hit motion picture comes to life in a spectacular tidal wave of death-defying stunts. awesome explosions and an ocean of thrills.

Exploring the main street.

Jarod posing with the cars from The Fast and The Furious.

We rode Jurassic Park The Ride as we came face to face with ‘living’ dinosaurs, a 50 foot T-Rex and a hungry Raptors where the only exit a treacherous plunge straight down vertical drop waterfall.

We also experienced Backdraft where we endured the hit movie’s blazing inferno heat and special effects excitement. Here we are, posing in front of The Hollywood Sign.

We enjoyed the experience at Universal Studios.

Dining In Anaheim

Ruth’s Chris Steak House

We wanted to splurge on good steaks while we were there and decided to try Ruth’s Chris which was not available in Singapore at that time. Only three breeds of cattle made the cut at Ruth’s Chris: Shorthorn, Hereford and Augus. These cattle are cornfed, and the meat carefully inspected according to USDA Prime standards by the restaurant’s suppliers. The meat are then seared in an 1800-degree broiler. The steaks emerged on a 500-degree plate topped with sizzling butter.

We experienced fine dining at its best here. We very much preferred Ruth’s Chris to Morton’s. It was so good that we returned a second time during our trip.

Luigi’s D’Italia

The other restaurant we liked was Luigi’s D’Italia. Nondescript on the outside, an Italian lover’s delight inside. We had a hard time choosing from the 95+ moderately priced entrees from veal, mussels, clams, various pastas to New York style pizzas. The portions were huge, we could not finish them but yet could not resist the temptation of their homemade tiramisu.

 Conclusion

We spent the other days shopping at the Premium Outlet and malls. There were several other attractions in Los Angeles but we simply did not have enough time. We departed USA on 27 Nov on SQ37, a direct flight to Singapore.