Universal Studios

I have blogged about our trip here, but didn't realise if you put things in drafts to post,
they don't post the day you finish them, they post the day you did the draft so I now
have a new post that is a month or so ago in the posts if anyone is interested!

Universal Studios Hollywood

I've had the photos loaded for this post for some time, but haven't had the chance to get in and blog about it. Universal Studios, well what can I say - fun, fun, fun. It was quite cool the day we went as you can see by the jumpers, LAians kept saying it was weird weather for that time of year.

Paul and Fi how romantic - heading towards Marvel Mania

Mmmm Fairy Floss -wasn't a great thing to eat when you were heading

for rides was it John.

I had to take photo's of this as it was one of Jays favourite movies.

Same with the one below, they have the cars on hydraulics to make them

look like they are rolling and they have flames ets going around them while

the show is rolling.

I'm sure you have all seen this on some tv show at some time, it is very well

done as we are all sitting on these trams and then next minute this comes

for you.............
And you think, uh oh.....but it all levels out and runs under the tram.

There is heaps of different things as you go through all the movie sets and studios.

Wisteria Lane, they weren't filming Desperate Housewives that day

so we got to drive around the usually closed set. I think the above

house is Susan's house.

It is a pretty street, it has all the houses in one street and even the park

they sometimes show on the show as well. You know I am racking my

brain to remember whether the houses were just fronts or full houses.

It's funny, but a lot of the buildings here and Disneyland that aren't

just fronts seem to be offices.

This was a big plane crash scene, which I can't remember which movie it

was from, it wasn't Lost. It's unreal it looks so realistic.

This of course was the shark out of Jaws, they still have all the

original sets and cove from the Jaws movies.

Crusty the clown - had to take these shots for Todd and Jay as they

are avid Simpson fans. The Simpsons ride was unreal - you go in

and sit in this box like contraption and then it goes out through a

door, you then have this massive screen in front of you, which is

made to feel like you are sitting on a rollercoaster ride, the box

actually only sits in the one spot but is on hydraulics and goes up

and down and all over the place in time with the film, that you

actually do feel like you are running a roller coaster, I think this

is where the fairy floss finally made itself known as John quickly

slipped off to the toilets when we came out and I have to admit

it made me feel a little off as well.

This was a big show they put on based on the Kevin Costner movie Waterworld.

Very spectacular and you sit there and think wow these guys have to do this

twice a day, everyday.

More from Waterworld.

This photo was for Jay, jay has always had an issue with Zombies, even though

he is fine with them now, but it has always been a bit of a family joke, so I had

to get John to get this shot for him.

Don't ask me who this guy is, but he's definatly cool right! He was

taking a photo of a big group of them and I asked him if he would

like me to take the photo so he could jump in, which he thought was

so nice of me! I know right I am so nice! (This is fe rubbing off cause

she spent the whole holiday taking everyones photos for them), and

I now find myself doing it as well, cause it is so nice for everyone to get

a shot together isn't it. Anyway after I took the shot he and John

decided they wanted a photo together! Okay....

So that's Universal, I took lots more photos, but this blog would go forever

if I posted them all. I really can't say which ride I enjoyed the most for

the day, they were all pretty spectacular, the Jurassic park one was

pretty good, but at the end we got absolutly soaked, which pissed us

off a bit, specially when the weather was cold, and then it was a real

lightbulb moment why a heap of people were wearing raincoats on it.

Duh! I think they'd been on it a few times before!

The mummy ride was really good as well, but a bit short.

We had a really great time, and one hint for those that go, buy a

fast pass they are so worth it.

America - LA

We stayed on Sunset Blvd in LA, which was great as there was so much

happening right on our doorstep and we only had to walk up and down

the street to see anything.

The restaurants were great, as were the shows. We were pretty naughty

the first night, we went to a lovely restaurant, then after that we of course

had to check out "Hustler" (can't go to America and not check out Hustler,

the boy's reckon), then we conned our way into the House of Blues for

free (I think it was something to do with the Hustlers bags that Fiona and

I were holding when we were talking to the bouncers earlier! Dumped

them at the hotel) then went back in and saw Kings of Leon, couldn't

believe our luck!

After they finished we went upstairs to the Voodoo Lounge were Fiona

tried to pay for her drinks with her Amway card (thought she handed

him her credit card) (Amway's American she kept telling him)

and then into the Karaoke bar, and got extremely drunk on shooters.......

and sang at the House Of Blues in Los Angeles!

Sad to say we weren't picked up by any talent scouts.....

About 3am we stumbled our way back to the hotel, along the way we come

across a cigar/smoke shop, next minute Fiona is inside along with some

pretty mean looking specimens sitting in lounge chairs, picture Black Mafia

looking men, no joke, big black fellas in suits with jewellery hanging off them

everywhere, dressed in suits, even though we were plastered, we crapped

ourselves when we saw what she had walked into, I did say they were in

suits didn't I. She was so drunk, that I think they were extremely

amused by this tiny, spastic Australian woman....

Thank God....anyway she bought some cigars and we continued staggering

and giggling our way back to the hotel, where we thought it would be a good

idea to consume a bottle of rum and smoke the cigars beside the pool!

Paul and John - yes boy's can't you just taste those cigars.

Yep - that's me! What an old tart.....I was just sitting back relaxing!

And enjoying the view.........

What view do you ask?

Well we have got photos, but I won't shock you with those. John and Paul

decided it would be a great idea to go for a skinny dip (it was freezing)

actually thinking about how cold it was, it wasn't much of a view boys.

LMAO.....so in they hopped, next thing along came about 15 girls and

2 guys all in their early 20's who decided to have a chat to the weird

Australians, can you picture this - John and Paul standing there

naked and Fiona and I laying back smoking cigars...what's that

saying - "Only in America". One of the guys reckons, "Where you

from again!"

Anyway we stayed there until the concierge told us to go to bed

cause we were too noisy.

The next day......

Well let's just say we did not see much of LA!

John, Fi and I went across the road to the Saddle Ranch for a big bfast, took
one home for Paul, but he decided to give it a miss. This is unreal this place,
looks pretty rough, but they do the best meals and are always packed and
it's smack bang in the middle of Sunset Boulevard.

We did the tour of LA, I took heaps of photos of famous peoples houses,
in Beverley Hills which now when I look at them I have no idea who
they belong to. We did the walk of fame, shopped on Rodeo Drive, I
much to Johns disgust ate a cupcake at Sprinkles cupcakes (they're
famous, I HAD TO EAT A RED VELVET CUPCAKE, Fiona made me).














Farmers Market is part of the tour, and I talked the
others going back the next day as I wanted a bit more
of a look.
Food wise it is magnificent - shop after shop after shop.

We had lunch there. Mmmmmm Sushi, Paul say's mmmmm eel.

John with the Hollywood sign in the background. I have better

shots of it, but they didn't have John in them.

Paul singing a song with Elvis and Marilyn Monroe

John with Jay's idol - Bart Simpson

Fiona belting out a song with Elvis and Marilyn

John and I in front of our hotel with some LAFD trucks

in the background

The Famous Beverly Hills Hotel

(I promise you it is)

So that's LA, we had a great time and could of easily spent another few

days there looking around, if we had the time. We had a full day at

Universal studios there which is the next American Post, so stay tuned.

Asta La Vista......

Baby!

America - Disneyland

Main Street Disneyland

You know I am really kicking myself that I didn't take more photos, I

lugged my big camera case around Disneyland all day and took a total

of about 4 photos, it was such a pain to pull in and out and I think we

were just too busy looking at everything. I think if I did this again I

would throw a little quickie camera in my hand bag. The second day

to Disneyland we didn't even take it. This place is huge and all day

we kept thinking, wouldn't the boys love this. It really is a place for

all ages, but I think kids from around 8 up would enjoy it the most.

I have never seen so many prams in my life, they have these

parking lots for prams, like a car parking lot, in certain areas

around the park, so if you want to dump the pram for a while

and take the little one on a few rides you put it in this parking

lot. I think they have a chain on them and you have to put a

code in to unlock it, but each lot had 100's and 100's of prams

you had to see it. (another photo shot missed!)

Food wise, there is lots to pick from, but it is really hard to find a

healthy feed, the food over there is actually quite weird and there

seems to be a lot of deep fried stuff. Breakfasts really got me, they

were really quite gross, and it's really hard to just get a piece of

fresh fruit. They can keep their biscuits and grits. Biscuits is

just like a dried up old scone and grits is dried up old sausage

mince cooked with a flour gravy, similar to what you have in

lasagne but less the cheese. A couple of places we stayed had

beautiful breakfasts, like the place we stayed in Waco. But the

rest were ho hum. But if it is part of your accommodation

deal and is free, maybe it's not so bad. Donuts for breakfast.........

Mmmm somewhere in Disneyland, Fi if you are reading this and you remember flick me a line, or any of you other Disneylandions. We had a great couple of days at Disneyland and Anaheim, must say being adults I think we enjoyed the California Dreamin side of Disneyland rather than the other, that roller coaster was wicked!

BFF

Fi snickers at this shot, as the one after

it was taken after I was sick on the

ferris wheel - I was green!

(Come on don't be like that, this ferris wheel rocked as well!)

Um, well at least it wasn't the teacups I was getting sick on hey John......

Our trip to America

Well I've been meaning to post some pictures of our holiday in America
for quite some time, and will try and get some done over the next few
days.
Here is the 4 of us just going through to the international airport in Brisbane

John, myself, Fiona and Paul

Here's Fi and I in our plane seats just about to take off. Smiling here but a different story a few hours later. I had the most horrible man sitting in front of me on the Qantas flight to LA. He and his wife had 4 seats to chose from and of course he chose the one in front of me that happened to be broken and would not stay upright, what I mean is it was past the lay back point and further back then normal so the man was literally laying in my lap. I asked him if he would mind pushing his chair forward or moving to the one beside it and he refused. What an as%$*&e! After about 4 hours I'd had enough so I got up and sat in the seat beside him and pretended to fall asleep and just happened to lean and fall in his direction. He was so pissed off. ROFL. Apart from one other fella we were seated with on an AA flight, every one else we met were really lovely.

Here's John, Fiona and Paul just about to enter the gates to the happiest place in the world (that would be Disneyland for all of you that were wondering)! Now as you can se Fi was very excited, John was ho hum and Paul, well Paul was excited on the inside.....