One of my wife’s bucket list items was to take an Adventures by Disney trip somewhere around the world. If you’ve never heard of Adventures by Disney, you’re not alone. Most people have never heard of it. So I will try to explain briefly: There is a huge itinerary of destinations you can pick from- all over the world- they don’t usually involve going to Disney parks; in fact, most of them don’t. A guide(s) will give you a behind-the-scenes tour along with a wealth of knowledge about the area. These are specialized trips that are smaller groups, anywhere from a dozen to upwards of 40 people depending on the destination and how popular it is, and obviously the time of year. Most everything is included except a few of the meals and souvenirs. The transportation to the different venues and events is all arranged and included in the price. It’s a stress-free and very hands-off approach to a vacation.
As you can imagine going to Egypt or South Africa or Peru for 7-10 days can get very expensive. We wanted to go on a trip somewhere close and didn’t want to wait until retirement to take one of these trips. Laurie, my wife’s health is not the greatest, and by the time we retire, we’re not sure how mobile she’s going to be.
Disney had a Southern California/Disneyland Trip scheduled in August, right before our kids go back to school here in New Jersey. The kids here will not return to school until after Labor Day. A lot of other schools around the country return in late August, so we had an advantage I would say when we booked the trip, we had an unusually small group of around 14. We were scheduled to fly in a day earlier than the tour started and stay in the same hotel as the tour stayed in the Lowes Hollywood hotel. This trip was many, many months in the making and saving money for and was very special as just the four of us went. The time was running out for us to travel with our kids, as our oldest son is going into his senior year in high school and will be going off to college in the fall of next year.
I expected Southern California to be scorching hot. However, I work with someone who lived there for a while, and she said it wouldn’t be that hot. So I was glad that I had that insight because not all of the tour group knew this. One guy brought all tank tops for the whole trip.
Laurie had been to Disneyland several times, and I had been there one time earlier, in 2019, when we took a family trip with the in-laws. I know everyone was very pleased with Disneyland when we went in 2019 due to the fact it was a very relaxing time. Everyone always asks me which park do you like better, and I first explain to them I’ve been to Walt Disney World maybe 50 times total in my lifetime, but I much prefer Disneyland- because it is so laid back and chill. In Disneyland, you don’t have to rush to the bus station to stand in a long line to get on the bus to take to the theme park to wait in an excruciatingly long line just to get into parks. In Disneyland, you just walk to wherever you need to go there’s plenty of time to get from point A to point B. The atmosphere is very chill compared to Walt Disney World, where the atmosphere is “Ahhhhhhhhh! I gotta get to the other side of the park in 6 minutes or I’ll miss……”
We tried planning this trip so that we were spending very little cash or putting things on credit cards because we had been paying for the bulk of the trip for many months. *Travel tip: Some places are starting to go cashless, so we loaded up two gift cards from our bank with some spending money on the days that we would be on our own during the tour. Unfortunately, both card numbers were stolen before we even got them home. Had to be an inside job. (UPDATE* 1 replacement card was fixed, and we used it immediately, the second card was also stolen again! Don’t buy Bank gift cards).
We flew into LAX Saturday towards the end of summer vacation for the kids. We had a chauffeur waiting for us inside the airport with our name on a placard that whisked us away to Hollywood Lowes hotel, which was located one block off Hollywood Blvd. The modern hotel was very welcoming after a 6-hour flight across the country. We all took a quick nap in the very comfortable two king beds. After that, we were looking for dinner. As usual, I asked the concierge and she suggested a rooftop bar/restaurant called Mama Shelter within walking distance. We had to walk about six or seven blocks and then wait about 30 minutes to get a table. As we were waiting, I noticed the clientele that was coming and going. Granted, it was Saturday night but wow! People dressed to the nines. I don’t mean suits and gowns- I mean the ladies were usually dressed in short dresses with massive high heels, and the guys dressed in smart casual to trendy streetwear. We had to take an elevator to get upstairs, and as the doors opened, I could tell this was an ultra-trendy Hollywood hotspot that people like my wife and I don’t go to. However, our waitress turned out to be fantastic, and the bartender knew his drinks. I ordered a daiquiri, and it was on point. I think we were the only ones there with kids. But most of the time I don’t care what people think. I’m there to do what I gotta do. Laurie feels the same way.
On the second day, we squeezed a trip to a farmers market, Warner Brothers Studio, and a visit to the Funko Pop store into the day’s activities. The farmers market was about five blocks away from our hotel and was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! We munched on fresh dates, raspberries, grapes, and fresh almonds. Not to mention I found homemade horchata. A little later in the morning, we arrived at the Funko Pop store before it opened (10 am), but there was already a huge line of people. Laurie promised our kids they could make Funko pops that look like themselves, which they only allow a certain number of people do every day, so we wanted to get there early. Once we got inside, we stood in a line to snag a reservation to be able to make a look-alike Funko pop figure. The reservation was not until 30 or 45 minutes later, but we also had tickets to go to the Warner Brothers Studio tour around 11:30 am. So we had to leave Funko pop to go to WB studios, then come back later and finish making the look-alike figures.
The Warner Brothers studio tour was well worth the price, I’d say. I believe it was around $75.00 per person, and it was around 1.5 hours long. Being driven around on a large golf cart to all of the backlot studios, including to get to see the Friend’s stage where the hit TV show was filmed. Lots of DC studio paraphernalia as well as Harry Potter mementos. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the tour. After the tour, we had to back to the Funko pop store via Uber, picked up our lookalikes, and walked back to the hotel. We were all a little sweaty and tired from the long day. So we took turns taking showers and then got ready for our dinner date we had scheduled with Adventures by Disney.
I was a little nervous about meeting a group of strangers that we would spend the next five days with. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I knew they would be an older crowd with few if any, kids. I was right; mostly retirees, but the younger couples we met we hit it off with. It’s always nice to see and interact with younger people. The funny thing is, one of the couples is from New Jersey, and we obviously hit it off with them. They were a regular couple with kids just a little older than ours, but they left them back home. So for the trip, they were glad to see our kids and interacted with them frequently. Julia, my daughter, usually is not friendly towards people she doesn’t feel comfortable with (I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this before) but seemed at ease with our new friends- Peter and Ann Marie from New Jersey. The only other couple that brought a kid was from Albany, NY and their daughter was ten years old. Everyone else was from all over the country, including a local from So. California and his sister from Hawaii. We had a great time, took turns introducing ourselves in front of everyone, got to meet our guides, Sammy and Michael, and headed back to the room feeling good about our trip.
The next day we met downstairs in the lobby in the morning and started a walking tour of Hollywood. I could tell Sammy and Michael were going to be a lot of fun. Michael commented on how he loved the button-down shirts I got from Billabong. We first saw the Kodak Theatre, where the Oscars take place, then walked over to the TCL Chinese Theatre, where various celebrities have their hand and footprints cast in concrete. We were treated to a ton of information about each place, and the TCL Chinese theatre host, Levi, had been employed with them for 25-plus years. Next up was the Jim Henson Studio in the Los Feliz neighborhood of L.A., and then off to the Tam O’Shanter for lunch. Jim Henson studio was very special because it was an extremely intimate area, and our host was very funny and knowledgeable. My childhood was filled with memories of the Muppet Show and the Muppet movies in theaters. In addition, we all got to hold an Oscar trophy and an Emmy as well. That was amazing! I know the kids probably didn’t think too much of the experiences we had before we actually went to Disneyland, but Laurie and myself immensely enjoyed our time touring the studios and still to come was Disney Studios and the Imagineering building tour.
Before I mention the trip to Disney studios and the Imagineering tour I have to mention the lunch we had at Tam O’Shanters in Los Feliz. It was decorated with heavy wood accents and pretty dark. It was Walt Disney’s favorite lunch spot and even had a regular table he always sat at. Lunch was nothing memorable, but it was very good. I think I had a steak with salad. By this time in the trip, you could tell it was very heavily focused on information about Walt Disney and his family. As the trip ended, we had a new attitude about Disney as a company and most importantly, a profound respect for the man known as Walt Disney.
After lunch, we headed off to Griffith Park to see Walt’s favorite hobby- trains. We met a wonderful group of volunteers who meticulously kept Walt’s dream alive by tending to his collection of various trains and even a narrow gauge train that circled several buildings, including a barn. We met a long-time animator and co-worker of Walt’s his name was Floyd Norman and knew Walt quite well. After Griffith Park, we went back to Hollywood and had ice cream at Ghiradelli and then parted ways for the evening.
The next day we got on a tour bus and headed to Walt Disney Studios in Burbank. The tour was packed with information and was very lengthy. The archives building was filled with its own secrets and was quite amazing with the mementos that adorned every nook and cranny. The picture below with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs deserves its own blog post but for the sake of brevity, I will just mention it here. The statues were commissioned by Walt, himself, however when he received them Snow White was not to scale. Meaning she is clearly not as tall as she should be. So these marble statues, yes actual marble, were put in storage then damaged by a forklift (Snow White only) then put into the archives building. These statues were supposed to be on display in Disneyland and were swapped out for plastic replicas. They are literally priceless and we were told not to touch them.
Surrounded by several buildings on the lot was Legends Plaza, where Disney has honored all of their past and present standout contributors to the company with bronze plaques with their handprints. Floyd’s plaque was in the same plaza as Kurt Russell, Annette Funicello, and Roy E. Disney. The next stop is the Imagineering building, also in Burbank but not on the Studios property. No photography was allowed inside this tour for obvious reasons. However, Michael, our guide, was very quick to take pictures of all the families at various points during the whole tour. In the end, we wound up with a ton of great photos that will eventually adorn our house. The Imagineering building included a sound stage and offices of the people like architects, designers, engineers, and technicians that make up an incredibly talented crew that is the heart of Disney studios and theme parks. After a long day touring, walking, learning, and exploring of what is the history and future of Disney, our next stop was Disneyland and the Grand Californian. I’ve mentioned in earlier posts that we own DVC (Disney Vacation Club), and if you read a previous post in 2019, we waitlisted the Grand Californian and were lucky enough to stay there on our last visit. In the past, we’ve stayed at the Grand Floridian in a suite, Wilderness lodge, and of course, our home resort Animal Kingdom Lodge. This hotel is as amazing as any of the hotels I’ve listed. We absolutely love this resort. It gives you obviously a grand California feel with heavy wood features.
In the evening, we went to Disneyland and had a wonderful dinner, on our own. The next day was all Disneyland. We went behind the scenes of the Radiator Springs racer’s ride. Meaning we went to the mechanics bay to talk to several of the mechanics that work on the ride. It was definitely eye-opening. They had three shifts, including a night shift that worked on the ride; our host/guide admitted he gets paid pretty well, so if you do the math of all the people (60 people if I remember correctly), that work just on this one ride. You can see how it all adds up, so when you complain about ticket prices at Disney next time, you might understand a little better what goes into them. Next up was to ride the racers ride. We were treated to a VIP experience when we walked up on the ride and were escorted on the ride ahead of everyone else. After that ride, we went to the mechanics’ bay for the Indiana Jones Adventure ride. Again we were treated to a real-life look at what goes on behind the scenes on a very complex ride. We each took turns controlling the vehicles’ hydraulic systems that would tilt and sway the vehicle. FYI- We couldn’t take pictures in either of the mechanics’ bays. I can’t explain to you how cool it was to see and experience this behind-the-scenes tour.
Again afterward, we got to ride the Indiana Jones ride after we visited with the mechanics, and we walked up through the exit and were treated to an express entrance where we didn’t have to wait but a few minutes. Not to brag, but we felt really special all day, got a treat that most people don’t get to see, and were treated to really quick entrances to some rides again; towards the evening, we met up at Lampost Inn with a spectacular view of the Southern California sunset with the Mickey Ferris wheel in the foreground. The dinner- nothing was off-limits. I ordered bao buns for an appetizer which was really spicy- yum. All of our dinners were really good, and we got to eat outside and watch the sunset and talk with our fellow tour members. Did I ever mention I love to eat outside? I remember sending a photo of my dinner to my neighbor, Mike Saccamano, calling it food porn. It was really good and very good memories. If that wasn’t enough, we got VIP seats to a fantastic show called Colors of Wonder. It makes any night show in Walt Disney World seem like amateur hour. This show is phenomenal! A variation of Disney songs mixed down to coordinate with a light show that’s shown on the spray of water fountains. The Hans Zimmer soundtrack of Pirates of the Caribbean gave me goosebumps. We all thoroughly enjoyed the show and the area we had to ourselves. Afterward, we all dispersed, and I think most of us went back to our rooms as we were all pretty tired. We walked back with Peter and Ann Marie to the Grand Californian. One of the few things I was excited about before we even got to Disneyland was the opportunity to go to Trader Sam’s at the Disneyland Hotel. Getting into the tiki bar is easier said than done. I made reservations for late one day, decided it didn’t work, then pushed it off til the last night- at 10:30 pm. My wife doesn’t drink and really, really didn’t want to go, so I was trying to get Peter to go with me, and he finally relented even though it was very late, which was the only time slot I could get. I bought him one drink, and I had two- because that was the limit you could buy!??! (It’s Disney)
The next morning was our farewell breakfast which was optional. We had reservations at Goofy’s Kitchen, a character breakfast- which we weren’t expecting was a nice surprise. After breakfast, we said our goodbyes, stood in line and gave hugs to our guests- Michael and Sammy.
After we left Michael and Sammy, I have to say I was a little……off. I felt I was missing something. They were such good hosts I missed them- a lot. We all felt blessed to have such a fantastic vacation and meet such wonderful people. Because for me, that’s what a great vacation is about, meeting new people and eating good food. My wife loves all things Disney, so this trip was a big success. My kids loved riding the rides, and I think my son enjoyed behind-the-scenes tours of the two rides discussed earlier.
