My first TR...
So a few months ago we decided to make a trip to Anaheim and L.A. since my wife has never been (I've been 3 times prior to this trip) and a family member had an apartment which they weren't using in L.A.; and were getting rid of a few weeks after our intended trip. So with free accommodations in L.A. and enough AA miles to burn on Business Saver awards on the outbound and unprecedented First Class Saver availability on the return, the trip was a go. 07/29-08/02 (we were going to be using more vaca time 2 weeks later to go to Hawaii, so we couldn't make this a longer trip)
Day1:
We flew in J from LGA-DFW-SNA in the afternoon on the way there because we were going to be starting our trip with Disneyland. We made a pit stop at Centurion in LGA which I frequent on my travels from LGA. Left to our flight and it through security in under 3 minutes thanks to TSA PRE. The flight to DFW was uneventful and the AA FA's were very nice about heating up our double wrapped food from home. But the real highlight of the journey to SNA was the Centurion lounge in DFW. We were only there for 45 minutes or so since I wanted to daven Mincha somewhere quiet and wanted to check out the amenities they provide. They offer manicures, pedicures, facials and massages on a first come first serve basis. Unfortunately they were booked for the rest of the day, but if you happen to have a long enough layover in DFW during the day hours its definitely worth the stop. We went back to the gate to catch our flight to SNA. We got to SNA, rented a Toyota Corolla from Avis (they priced the cheapest for an underage rental being dropped off at LAX when I price hunted, even though I have status with National.) Headed to Hyatt Place Anaheim on my wife's Hyatt points and crashed for the night. Now we didn't really pay attention to this until post facto, but it's worth noting that the hotel is situated right across the street from the Toy Story parking lot for those not wanting to pay the $17 Disney parking lot fee and just want to walk from the hotel to the park.
Day:2 Disneyland and California Adventure
We got to the park at around 8:00, but purchasing tickets to the park (thanks #AmexSamsclub) at the gate took a while due to the long line. At around 8:45-9:00 we made it into the gates of California Adventure. For those planning a trip to the parks, grab fast passes to World of Color and Cars first as they are out of them fairly quickly. We headed from fast pass service to Soarin, one of my fave rides, which if your there early enough is practically empty (15 minute wait). Did the ride and as we were leaving the ride the wait time jumped to 2 hours, so do this ride first.
We did most rides in the park before 2PM and decided it was time for lunch and to switch to Disneyland. In this park we had to prioritize more because we went here second and many fast passes were filled for the day. We did Big Thunder, Space Mountain, Matterhorn, Animation Studio (we learnt how to draw Goofy, although mine looks nothing like him)... and a few other rides before switching back to California Adventure at 6:45 for the 8PM World of Color Show. The line starts packing in even earlier and the whole thing is standing so be prepared to be on your feet in line for a really long time (in addition to ride lines) if you want a good viewing spot for this firework/water show. After the show we were exhausted so I didn't want to drive to L.A. to our apartment. Instead we decided to use Hyatt points to stay at the Hyatt Place again and leave to L.A. early Friday morning.
Day 3: (Erev Shabbas)
We woke up at 5:00 AM to beat the traffic into LA. We ended up making it to the apartment around 7:30AM, my wife settled in, and I went to davening on LaBrea. After davening we went to Coffee Bean for Breakfast. Definitely my fave coffee spot and soars in my books in comparison to Starbucks. Next we were off to Ralph's and Abba's for Shabbas provisions. Abba's Yapsuch and chicken fingers were delicious as usual(although my grandmother makes the best Yapsuch ever but this is a close second) and the Raplh's food was also very good. We spent the afternoon on Hollywood Blvd, Rodeo Drive, and tried going to lunch at BHT but they were closed on Friday, so we went to Jeff's instead. We ordered the Steak sandwich and Western Burger which were awesome but the chili fries were not our thing at all. Went back to the apartment and went for a swim and got ready for Shabbas.
Day 4: Shabbas and Motzei Shabbas
After davening and lunch we decided to go for a walk to the LaBrea Tar Pits. Was pretty cool and a nice walk which I'd never done in my past trips to LA. After Shabbas we went for Pizza at Pizza Mayven. We ordered plain pizza which they were out of (never been to a pizza store out of regular pizza before) so ordered a veggie slice which we weren't impressed by but really enjoyed the Pizza Rolls. I agree with those that say pizza is not one of LA's specialties. Afterwards we went to Toppings for dessert. The yogurt there I thought was one of the best for soft serve I've had. After dinner we packed up for our departure the next day.
Day 5: Sunday
Sunday was pretty chilled. We went back to Coffee Bean for breakfast and then went to The Grove and walked around LA until lunch time. We wanted to go to La Gondola for lunch but they aren't open for lunch on Sundays, I was pretty disappointed (but luckily we went back to LA 2 weeks later for the day on way to Maui and hit it up then! Well worth the stop!!!) We instead went for lunch to BHT which I usually love, but found the Drunken Noodles a little off that day, but my wife's Thai Beef and the Thai Iced Tea were (unique and) very good. We headed to LAX, returned our car, and made it to the AA Admirals Flagship First Class Lounge. We stayed in the lounge until takeoff and relaxed until our flight about an hour later. Our flight was pretty awesome all around, had a nice rest and Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream! AA has a solid Transcon First class product and the staff was awesome.
Even though the trip was short we had a lot of fun! Wish we could've stayed a lot longer!
