Wednesday 7th June

Park by 9, basically empty, compared to the previous afternoons insanity...

Space mountain fastpass, dash to small world and jungle cruise (for the hilarious cast member) and tarzans treehouse...

Checkout shops and downtown, went to Trader Sams, wouldn’t let us have a drink because no passport (we had valid international licences), I’m 38, my husband 40, there were two men in there after we arrived, one our age, neither carded... It felt really harsh that they wouldn’t let us have a drink, we weren’t going to go back to our room to get passports, if we lose those we can’t get home! So bought the two tiki mugs we wanted and left...

Animation academy

This was so cool! We just missed out on baby Groot, we did Donald Duck which was still fun... Will definitely do that again on our next trip...

Tuesday 6th June

Lyft from LA, XL to Disneyland was $30 cheaper than an ordered car! 

Stayed Hyatt House Anaheim, said they would call when our rooms were ready, they didn't... If flying in from Australia long haul and arriving in the morning, would definitely purchase a room from the night before... 

Disneyland 

Used RideMax

This was awesome, as a first timer to the park, got us on a lot of rides with barely any waiting that first day... We used it as reference over the next days, but honestly got so many attractions off our list that first day, it made its money worthwhile...

You can get free pins for your first time, graduation, birthday, honeymoon, we were told, even on arrival, only from city hall... It’s not true, you can get them from any store not just city hall... It was very cute to get the first timer pin...

We bought a lanyard and some disney pins (before our trip) and participated in the trading... It was fun, didn't see many cast members with them, but loads of stores had pillows with pins for trading, we got some very cool ones... Think kids would really dig this...

Lots of interactions with characters, they are very cool! As an adult without children on this trip, i definitely got a bit awkward with most of the character, except Cruella De Ville and the ones that couldnt talk...

Moana wasn’t always on the app, but she could be found at Aladdins oasis all day every day!

I also felt very lucky to meet Cruella De Ville, she was hilarious, my favourite character interaction...

Day parade, we used the RideMax tip to sit next to the king/queen bathrooms to see the parade... There were no crowds, the characters all look your way as no one is allowed on the other side of the parade as it’s a fence...

About now is when the crowds got insane, cast members in some parts of the park directing the foot traffic...

Electrical parade had people camping out 2h before, our feet were ruined, so about an hour before we took a seat on the side of main street, a good spot...

Fireworks were amazing! Stick to the right of Main Street to get the best view...

Monday 5th June

Runyon canyon

I was keen to do Runyon Canyon, but we naively took the east trail, the non paved legitimate hike, that goes up 40 stories/floors, in a short time... I was petrified, and more than once wanted to stop, it was quite steep in some spots... but Mark talked me through it... A good work out in the least!

La Carmencita

When we got here for lunch, I was ravenous! We got a bunch of tacos, they were all divine... Would say the pork and short rib tacos were the best tacos we ate on our trip... However the drinks were sub par... My mojito had almost no mint, strong, but gross... Tried the sangria to take the taste out of my mouth, and it didn’t have any fruit! Bad... was just gross red wine! Anyway the food was phenomenal, and service good too...

More walking around, then back to our room to pack for Disneyland...

Sunday 4th June

Magic castle brunch

This was the main reason we stayed in our hotel... And it was worth it... We went to the brunch, if you don’t have kids, would recommend catching dinner instead of brunch... The buffet was great, I feel like they can often be hit or miss, but this was a hit! The magic was also great, and bringing the castle in general was great, it’s very old and beautiful...

More Shopping

Cliftons republic

We caught up with A&G and drove around LA, went up to Griffith observatory, downtown, going to Cliftons Republic for dinner... This place was awesome! Such cool decor, great cafeteria style food, that really hit the spot... the only shame was that because it was Sunday night, he tiki bar on the Third floor was closed! But it was an awesome dining experience... cruised around the city some more, and learnt a bit about the history of downtown...

Angels brewery

Stopped here for a drink, seriously, A&G took us to such cool places, not standard at all... So this is a brewery, bar, they also do art, and have a little market... Good times!

Saturday 3rd June

Grabbed a lyft to Venice beach and Santa Monica... Really liked the vibe down here, felt like I could relax and breathe, probably got a contact high though... Weed smells are crazy in LA! We walked up to muscle beach, and down to Santa Monica pier... Lots of steps, but a very chill and cool day...

Then back to hotel to the pool...

Crossroads

I wanted to take my husband out for a nice vegan meal and had heard good things about this place... unfortunately it felt very pretentious, the food bland, the service off, and the meal cane in over $100 with no drinks and we didn’t feel satisfied... Major let down!

Friday 2nd June

Friday am leave, lyft XL to the airport... Another great stay in Las Vegas... Will probably be a few years before we get back again, but we will be back!

LA

Magic castle

This hotel is so cute! It reminds me of the types you see in shows like Veronica Mars... I just loved the vibe here, that staff/service was impeccable, there were Free snacks, Soda machine, Ice cream machine, Popsicle hotline, Free Laundry service, Make up remover, beauty bar, mouthwash,Wifi, but it’s slow, fortunately we had our own and included Breakfast, cereal, pastries, yoghurt, fruit, even Vegemite on toast!  

The main reason we chose this hotel was to get into the Magic Castle, and it ended up being so much more than that.. Should we ever stay in LA again, would definitely go back... 

Exploring Hollywood, Weho, and Mark got a tattoo at High Seas... Another spot with some great traditional artists...

Met up with our friends from LA A&G, they took us to The velvet margarita for dinner... it was very cool, great decor, dark, delicious Mexican food, big serves, and my cocktail came in an actual pineapple! And most important, great company! After dinner the boys went to Amoeba records and after walking around a bit, we stopped at Starbucks and drank tea and caught up...

Thursday 1st June

Pool

The mayhem at this pool starts early, as do the queues... Got here half hour before opening and already 30 people in the queue! Fortunately we got a poolside spot which kept us entertained for hours... We have considered whether there is another well located hotel with a beautiful pool that doesn’t have queues...

Walk around the strip all day...

Dinner at Virgils BBQ

We love southern food, and this is the only spot we saw... Had the best cocktail of the trip here, a muddled blueberry one, and such delicious food... We ordered way too much! Big serves! But it was sooooo gooooood...

Back to our room to pack for LA...

Wednesday 31st May

Decided to start at the pool today as we had things planned so we wouldn’t get back again, and pool time is important to me... after getting up at 6 (getting better), I fell back asleep and we ended up getting to the pool at 9, for opening, to a massive queue, took 20 minutes to get in, but at least we got a lounger, not poolside, but it was so cloudy we didn’t end up in the water... Today’s play list was infinitely better than yesterday’s DJ 😂 so nice to just chill in this lovely environment... I love flamingo pool, it’s the main reason we keep going back!

Downtown tattoo

Caught a lyft downtown, had a look around, cool to place the history we learnt at the neon museum... Headed to Downtown Tattoo, a brilliant studio with some amazing traditional artists... Ryan gave my husband a great tattoo... The vibe in the studio was great, friendly dudes, and great flash all over the walls and ceiling...

Container park

Some cute shops here, the toy store was very good, looks like a cool community too... Ended up eating at the vegan spot, not impressed with the food unfortunately...

Zombie burlesque

I didn’t really know what to expect, but it was a fun night! Yes we have seen better burlesque by non zombies, but the host was hilarious... Worth it to get the VIP seats, great view, string drinks... Would recommend if you like some risqué hilarity... But would also say that Absinthe is better if you haven’t seen it…

Tuesday 30th May

Jet lag is always better with melatonin (available from the drug store), instead of my usual 4am jet lag wake up, it doesn’t matter where we go, it’s always 4! I woke up at 5.30, not quite acceptable, especially when my husband sleeeeeeps, but it’s something...

Lyft

Use code LIFTERS

Or uber

Use code

FLAMINGOVEGAS2

to receive a $20 credit from Flamingo Las Vegas.

Uber made it annoying to change my number, so we used lyft the entire trip, it was so inexpensive, and we had some really cool drivers...

Neon museum

Another thing leftover from previous trips, we grabbed a Lyft (I had already changed sims when I realised I needed my old one to change my country) to the Neon museum/neon boneyard... I am so glad we did this, definitely in my top 2/3 things I have ever done in Vegas... Our tour guide was really knowledgable, we got a lot of history, of Vegas as a city, Fremont St and The Strip... It takes an hour, originally I wanted to go at night, but after doing some research regarding the handful of signs that are restored/in working order, we decided to do it in the day, it was a good choice, so many things to see, daylight is a plus... We did the 9.20 tour, it was already getting hot! They did provide umbrellas as shade, which was awesome for people with sun sensitive skin...

Premium outlets

I always like to hit this spot, even though I don’t feel like there are loads of bargains... We did do quite a bit of shopping though... best bargain of the day was 2 pairs of converse for $70AUD, at home they are $100 a pair 😳

Flamingo pool

It’s was hot today, and after all that walking, I needed to get cool, there was a queue and not way in the world we were going to be getting a sun lounge with that many people on the floor... We jumped in, within 10 minutes someone poolside left and I swam over and scored the lounges... Bliss, it’s just so nice being so close to the water, dipping in and out at your pleasure... Was feeling so blissed out, only downer was the DJ that seemed to love mash ups 😂

El Segundo Sol

I was recommended this spot, and I have to say, Mexican food is my favourite, and there isn’t a lot of good Mexican in Australia... So when we ordered, it was all so good... Sometimes Sangria has a synthetic taste, and the sangria was just divine, the food was too much, but delicious, especially the corn, at home you get about a third of corn for the same price! I was skeptical based on the location, on the outside of fashion show mall, but it was gorgeous on the deck, fairy lights make me happy! The service was awesome... All good!

Fashion show mall... again...

Despite having sore feet, we went for round two at fashion show mall, and they didn’t have anything I was looking for, disaster... Ended up getting the fenty x puma x Rihanna slides, mostly because my feet were too hot to walk back to the hotel in my sneakers 😆

Monday 29th May

Monday

After a looooong flight, and 6h layover in LA, we made it, shattered, but finally in LV... This is our third trip, so there’s a bunch of stuff we have already done, shows we have seen, and helicopters we have been in...

Flamingo

We started coming here on our honeymoon 12 years ago, the Go rooms were new, the pool looked good, we loved the history of the hotel, and once here, it’s not too big or overwhelming, easy to navigate...

The queue for check in was crazy! I sleepily thought it was the queue for self check in, until a lady asked us if we wanted to self check in, I explained my mistake, we gave it a go and it didn’t recognise my ID, so she took us to the platinum check in, where we were next in line! Fabulous service! The room had a surprise Bellagio fountain view, everything in good working order...

Big Elvis

Our first stop was Big Elvis, I have been meaning to go here on every trip, and it was well worth the wait... He played a bunch of non Elvis songs which was probably the only disappointing thing... His voice was lovely and he was just charming... When he invited couples up to dance I got really emotional, lots of the couples were shedding a tear... A beautiful start to our first day!

In n out

We do not have this in Australia... I had researched the secret menu, and knew what I wanted... The queue wasn’t bad at all... As we approached my husband wasn’t sure about a secret menu even existing 😂 but I ordered, and our food was delicious...

Fashion show mall

By the time we got here, I was crashing... We love it here, but I couldn’t do it, I was getting tired and confused, so we headed back to the hotel...

18987 steps, exhausted! We had face timed the kids in the morning, and I couldn’t wait up until they got home from school to see them again, so early night...

LV, LA and Disneyland...

My mum lets us go away without our beautiful children every two years... This year we wanted to go back to Las Vegas (our third time), catch-up with some friends in LA and I thought we could test drive Disneyland while we were there...

Us SIM card telaway vs t mobile

The best thing we did on this trip was invest in US sim cards, allowing us to use more data, and hence we could use ridesharing rather than cabs everywhere… There is a better deal with T mobile, but you have to go in person, or get a US friend or relative to sort it out for you, so we went with Telaway…