Thursday

Hello!

Yesterday morning we walked to an outdoor mall nearby. It was pretty much utter crap. Even though it's new, and fancy looking, there were almost no shops there and, of course, there was no proper cafe. We ended at one which was okay, but definitely not NZ cafe good.

After that, we had lunch at Downtown Disney, the mall outside Disneyland, and then headed to the Crystal Cathedral. It was crazy, even more extravagant than I thought it would be. Apparently the building cost $19 million to make, and it's so fancy.

We then went back to one of the malls we went to the other day. Aaron got a pair of shoes from the Nike outlet store, and I got the nicest pair of Betsy Johnson shoes.

We headed back to the hotel and had takeaways then spent the evening at Disney California Adventure. They had a lights parade which was pretty cool.

Crystal Cathedral

MOSES! They even had a pair of leather sandals next to his feet

The prodigal son. I love how muscly they both are

The electrical parade at DCA

Can anyone tell me what Disney character this is???

And, of course, the grand finale:

Not sure what we are doing today, probably heading to Disneyland.

Oh say can you see...

Hey all,

Aaron here again. Okay, I'm not sure where to start since it's been a few days but I'll do my best. Today we went to Knott's Berry Farm and it was pretty awesome. It has one of the biggest Wood Rollercoasters in the US, had to wait about an hour to go on it but it was worth it. The funniest part was when we entered the park and we were just about to give our ticket at the entrance suddenly the Star Spangled Banner started playing over the speakers and pretty much the whole park stopped and the lady wouldn't let us in since she had her hand on chest, paying her respect to the anthem. I couldn't quite believe I was witnessing such patriotism that I'd always thought was just over exaggerated, it was too funny.

Anyway, I'm also not missing NZ. Weather there sucks and so does the service at different shops and resteraunts not to mention the road rules but I do miss my friends, family, and NZ shops. Surprisingly the few malls we've been to here have been pretty bad. No cafes, good game shops, supermarkets and music shops. Who the heck doesn't have a music shop in their mall? Other than that, it's pretty awesome here. Oh, and the TV ads are funny as coz they all diss the competition blatantly, I love that! NZ has a lot to learn. Anyway, I'll post again in a couple days probably. Cyas!

Knott's Berry Farm

We went to Knott's Berry Farm today. It's awesome. They have loads of roller coasters so Aaron was entertained for ages.

Here's him on a couple of the rides

I can't say I'm really missing New Zealand. It's so nice and hot here. There are two things I am definitely missing though; firstly, New Zealand tap water. The tap water here tastes like plastic, it's beyond disgusting. Secondly, I miss cafes!!! There's the occasional Starbucks here, but that's it! I want real coffee.

3 days until the Contiki! I can't wait!

DCA

Hi everyone

We spent yesterday at Disney California Adventure (a second park attached to Disneyland). It had some cool rides, but overall to me it seems like it needs a lot of work on it. Apparently it attracts only a third of the visitors Disneyland does. It was still cool, just not as cool as the other theme parks we've been to over the last few days.

The highlight of the park for me was the A Bugs Life 3-D movie. It was so cool. When the stink bug farted, the theatre filled with a bad smell. They used smoke effects really well too. The best part was at the end - they said 'please stay seated while the maggots, cockroaches and other bugs exit' and suddenly under your butt you felt what felt like bugs crawling along the seat. It was crazy, I screamed hahaha.

Anyway, here's some photos:

Aaron with his sweet shades for the a bugs life 3-d movie

This ride was awesomely tragic! It's a train that goes slowly around this tiny track, and each time you go past/under a fruit, you can smell it

Me on the saweeeet merry go round

At our hotel, there's a garden full of animal shaped bushes. It's epic!

A prize for anyone who can guess what animal this is

Universal Studios and Hollywood

Hi everyone!

Yesterday we went on a bus tour through LA, spending the day at Universal Studios, and then going through Hollywood, Rodeo Drive and parts of Beverly Hills before heading home. Really, really good day!

Universal Studios is awesome!! The rides are so cool! For those of you who have been, last year they changed the Back to the Future ride to a Simpsons ride, and it's awesome!

Anyway, I'll post some pics for you all to see :).

Aaron at the start of The Simpsons ride

Outside the KWIK-E-MART

Aaron and the Hulk

Me with the dog from The Proposal.

Aaron with the GT-R from The Fast and the Furious

On the tour, the city they use in loads of stuff being rebuilt after the fire last year

Biff's car!!

The Delorean!

Special effects thingy

Crash scene from War of the Worlds

Monkey starting the animal actors show

Angry orangutan whose bra got stolen by the dalmation

Cutest animal ever

Token shark photo

In Hollywood, there were crowds around this.

Hollywood was just as run down and dirty as I thought it would be. They've tried to make it better by building this big fancy outdoor mall, but it's off the street, and the actual street is still disgusting.

We're off to Disney California Adventure today, which is the second park next to Disneyland. Hopefully it's awesome.

LAKE TITIKAKA!

Hey all,

Aaron here. This is my first post about our Holiday. Been awesome so far. Hospitality is pretty sweet by both the shops and general public which has been awesome. Had fun at Disney land yesterday, we even managed to buy a salad which was pretty amazing. Just went shopping today. It cost an arm and 2 legs for transport but it was worth it.

Oh well, I don't want to go on so I'll post again soon.

Shopping

Went to a couple of malls for a shop today, bought a couple of things, mainly from Hot Topic. Aaron got an epic Journey t shirt and I got some shoes.

First mall we went to:

Highlight of the day: This guy below with his subway sign dancing around. He was doing it when we arrived at the mall at 10am, and was still doing it when we left at 230pm.

Although I think it must be considered an 'effective' way of advertising here, because later on, this guy showed up:

We're off for dinner now somewhere, HAHA at all of you stuck at work on Monday! :P

We spent yesterday at Disneyland, here's some photos!

The Mad Hatter and Queen of Hearts and for some reason a marching band:

The Mad Hatter's tea party spinning cups are awesome:

Huge boat that sails around

Can't remember where this is:

Toon Town:

The Finding Nemo Submarine Ride.

We waited in the queue for over an hour. Was definitely not worth it:

Star Wars Star Tours ride. This is where you queue up. C3PO and R2D2 talk and move.

The ride is pretty awesome, it's one of those ones where you sit in a theatre with a screen in front of you and the chairs move around. It felt so real haha I freaked out a bit.

Token Maori in It's a Small World:

The outside of It's a Small World

I made a video of It's a Small World to torture you, but sadly it's 181MB and was taking too long to upload.

Every night in summer they have a huge fireworks show which puts the Wellington fireworks display to shame. Here's Dumbo flying in the middle of it:

Overall, Disneyland is pretty awesome. I can't say what my favourite ride is so far, as we still have a few to go on over the next few days, but so far the Haunted Mansion and Honey, I shrunk the Audience have been quite cool.

We're taking a taxi to a mall soon, hopefully get some bargains!

Every morning the hotel has a free breakfast in a room behind the lobby. It's amazing. They have donuts, danishes, cereal, toast, eggs, coffee, juice, and loads of other stuff. So each morning I head down as early as I can to beat the crowds and pile plates full of stuff and bring it back. It's so yum. I can't go near the donuts and danishes for breakfast though hahahaha, but Aaron can so he's been having some. It's an awesome hotel, I recommend it if you ever stay here, it's about 5-10 minutes walk to the entrance of Disneyland.

Thanks for the comments everyone! It's cool to know people are looking :).