Anaheim / Los Angeles
Canucks Road Trip 2010
After the disastrous surprise slip of 2008, Norine decided to surprise me with another Canucks Road Trip for my birthday, instead of going in the spring, we would go to the first couple of Canucks games on the road in L.A. and Anaheim. She cashed in all her Safeway airmiles, and we went online to buy tickets the day they became available. Apparently hockey is still not as popular in California as it is in Canada, because we ended up with amazing seats in the lower bowl for both games
After a challenging day of airports, airlines, and car rental companies, we ended up driving straight from the car rental desk to the game.
Anaheim Ducks vs Vancouver Canucks
It's always fun to be wearing your Canucks colours in an opponents arena, you have to be polite, and respect the opposing teams arena. Unfortunately it wasn't quite as fun tonight... we ended the first period ahead 2-1, they tied it up in the second, we pulled ahead early in the third, and they scored two unanswered goals to pull off the 4-3 win, or a 3-4 loss for the Canucks. Time to find our hotel.
Sometimes Norine surprises me, not only did she surprise me with the trip, but we find our BW Park Place Inn, and it is literally across the street from the entrance gate to Disneyland, now that is convenient. We have what appears to be a nice room on the lower floor right by the pool. The nice room becomes unbearable for Norine when we see what appears to be a cockroach on the floor beside the bed. I immediately went to reception, they tell me it's a "Water Bug" and they are attracted to the warmth and humidity of the pool. Moments later we had a nice room on the 2nd floor not so close to the pool. Nice service and response, Norine would be able to sleep tonight.
Our first day had to be Disneyland, besides, after being at a sad place to see the Canucks lose, we needed to turn things around at the Happiest Place on Earth. We had our free breakfast at the Captain Kidd's Buffet next door, and crossed the street to Disneyland!
One of the great things about Disney is how they have to celebrate the holidays in style, with Halloween just around the corner, everything at Disneyland was done Halloween style. Jack-o'-lanterns everywhere, and lots of little touches make it very festive.
As seasoned veterans of the Disney universe, we had our favourites that you have to visit. Get their early, and see the most popular attractions before the families get their stroller rentals sorted out. Since it is one the way, the campy Jungle Cruise was first.
The always fun Indiana Jones adventure was second.
The Haunted Mansion was a very pleasant surprise for us, it was all decorated ala "The Nightmare Before Christmas", and even greater,
the whole ride had been redone in the same Jack Skellington theme, a very different attraction than we had seen many times before.
One of the other must rides is the Thunder Mountain Train ride, a classic combination of open roller coaster with a western theme. When we get off of the ride, it has been closed for maintenance, Whew, good timing!
The Adventureland area surrounding Thunder Mountain keeps the Halloween theme with all kinds of carved pumpkins, not only that but we got to hang out with Woody and Jesse from the Toy Story movies.
The last time we were at Disneyland "It's a small world" was closed for refurbishing, this made me very happy, as going through this ride with it's mind numbing repetition of the "It's a small world" song is enough to make an average person go Postal. Now that it was re-opened we had to check it out. It was just as mind-numbing, but at least it looked nice.
You always have to love how Canada is portrayed... no stereotypes here.
One of my favourite visual areas of Disneyland is Toon Town, it's colours and style are so fun.
Of course even the biggest kids in the park still can't have fun unless they get to meet the Disney Characters
There is certain keystone rides that you have to make sure you go on every time you attend, The Matterhorn and Space Mountain are 2 of those. Space Mountain redone with a scary Halloween twist is a great mix with the Roller Coaster in the dark experience.
The Autopia ride now sponsored by Chevron is a classic controlled slow Go-Kart track, silly but we had to re-enact our honeymoon photo where Norine gives me the finger before slamming into the back of my car.
Later that afternoon, we have hit all the key attractions we wanted to see in Disneyland's Magic Kingdom, and make our way across the plaza to Disney's California Adventure. The newest part of the Disney parks is based on a typical California beach town.
There is a few key attractions to check out here, front and center is the California Screamin' Roller Coaster, so good you have to ride it multiple times. An audio experience built into each seat makes it even more exciting.
New to California Adventure is the Toy Story Midway Mania, a 3D glass wearing adventure on a rotating car, through midway rides where you compete in a series of shooting events such as Pie/Egg/Dart/Baseball throwing as well as ring toss and suction cup shooting game. A very long wait, but a lot of fun. Follow that up with a leisurely trip on the Ferris wheel overlooking the park.
Before it starts to get dark, we absolutely have to take the heart-stopping-stomach-in-your-mouth Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ride.
Once it gets dark, the lights come up, and the crowds start moving in for good viewing locations for the "World of Color" fountain and light show. Each night it alternates between the Magic Kingdom's Electric Parade/Fireworks and California Adventure's "World of Color".
Once it's all over it's time to make our way back through the mass of crowds leaving the park, and walk back to our hotel.
The last time we did a Canucks Road Trip in 2008, we stopped at Six Flags Magic Mountain after a big breakfast on the drive from Phoenix, the end result was not pretty and resulted in a less than enjoyable day at Magic Mountain. Today we were better prepared, a very light breakfast followed by the 1 hour drive to Valencia, and it was on to the many amazing Roller Coasters of Six Flags.
Magic Mountain also had a Halloween theme, but it would not be a Halloween theme park until after dark. We didn't come here for some pseudo-scary Halloween maze, we came here to ride the coasters, and ride the coasters we did
Maybe the most amazing roller coaster I have ever been on is the "X2", any ride that has a built in surround sound system, has individual control over each seat, and starts with you going backwards up the start hill, before plummeting face first upside down on the first drop, has got the 'thrill' part of thrill ride covered... on a scale of 1 to 10, X2 is an 11.
we saw a few interesting characters along the way, from the Frisky Frolic characters, to the superheroes, and finally the old guy Six Flags spokesperson who was cursing me out for wearing a Mickey Mouse shirt to Six Flags.
One roller coaster after another we conquered this park, feeling fully redeemed after the tragedy of our last visit, we could leave Magic Mountain exhilarated, happy and without any nausea.
Los Angeles Kings vs Vancouver Canucks
From Magic Mountain we drove to Staples Center in downtown L.A., donned our Canucks jerseys and headed in for the game. Norine was wearing her #8 Willie Mitchell Canucks jersey, here he's an LA King after the Canucks let him go in Free Agency.
Sadly we didn't do to well here either, down 1-0 after the first, they scored again and we started a comeback in the second making it 2-1 when a minute later they scored. By the end of the third period it was a 1-4 loss. We met some nice LA fans, most of them thanking us for sending Willie Mitchell down to LA... "He's a perfect pairing for Drew Doughty". OK, you get the first game, we'll take the season.
For Halloween, Knott's Berry Farm became Knott's Scary Farm
If you haven't been to Knott's Berry Farm before it's a western themed theme park, it definitely is targeted towards a younger market, and has a certain level of cheese to go with it's mix of attractions. Since we haven't been there since our Honeymoon, it seemed like a good idea to see how it has changed. Aside from the Halloween theme, they did have some cool new coasters. It is classed as America's first theme park getting its start back in the 40's and 50's, so it has a lot of nostalgia in it's western theme. Otherwise, still au fromage.
From their American Indian based stage shows to the Snoopy based decor and characters, we make our way to the core of the park.
The core of the park is all about the Roller Coasters, not as big and bold as Magic Mountain, but the rustic style Ghost Rider, the fast paced Silver Bullet, the twists and turns of Boomerang, and the rotating seats of the Sierra Sidewinder make for a fun day. The Pony Express coaster is short and quick, but it's horse shaped cars, that you sit on like a saddle provide some extra excitement.
Since it is Knott's Berry Farm, a visit isn't complete without sitting on on their Wild West Stunt Show.
Another circle through the park on the Calico Railway, past the Psycho Circus, and we head back to the hotel, and out for dinner.
That night we would wander the shopping district of Downtown Disney, marvel at the $200 shirts, $2000 purses, and $20 souvenir drinks. We watched the Fireworks over the Magic Kingdom, before heading back to the hotel one last time.
But not before we got a souvenir popcorn container to take back home for Halloween, so cute.
As we fly back into Vancouver, it's a beautiful day capping off a great trip that could have been made better by a couple of Canucks wins,
but it's never a bad day at the Happiest Place on Earth.