WhereShouldWeGoMSP: May 2023

We've been discussing the idea of going to Disneyland for awhile now, so we finally decided to go for it. We added on stops in Santa Monica and downtown Los Angeles as well. Los Angeles is so huge and sprawling it feels like we barely put a dent in the many things to do there, but we did a lot! We rented a car for the entire trip to make getting around a little easier.

Our first hotel was the Ocean View Hotel in Santa Monica. The room was compact, but nice and clean. And it was right across from the Santa Monica pier. We could also walk to many things in downtown Santa Monica.

We had dinner at Water Grill which was just a block or so north of the hotel. Oyster sampler to start.

spot prawn nigiri and trojan roll

key lime pie for dessert

Saturday morning we had breakfast at Junky's Cafe, which was a short walk from the hotel.

we rode the ferris wheel on the Santa Monica pier

carousel on the pier

lunch at The Apple Pan

great burgers!

drinks at Chez Jay south of the hotel

ended up eating dinner at a Mexican restaurant on the end of the pier called Maria Sol.

breakfast at Elephante in Santa Monica

prosciutto scramble

breakfast sandwich

sun finally came out as we were packing to leave Santa Monica

We drove from Santa Monica to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena to check out the Sunday flea market.

We headed to downtown Los Angeles and checked in to the Kimpton Everly Hotel.

We had a snack at the Hard Rock Cafe. It was the meeting point for our next item on the itinerary.

Yup, we did the TMA tour! LOL!

We saw a lot of theaters and LA landmarks. The tour was actually pretty great and lots of fun.

Saw even saw some stars! This is Tiffany! Of 'I think we're alone now' fame in the 80's She was outside a club on the Sunset Strip.

And this is Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani. Well, the back of their heads anyway!

For dinner we went to the Tam O'Shanter. Started with a caesar salad to share.

tam cut prime rib

california cut prime rib

Monday morning we went to DuPar's LA for breakfast. It was as good as the Las Vegas location!

After breakfast we walked around the Farmer's Market and The Grove shopping areas.

We made a stop at the LaBrea tar pits and walked around looking at the pits.

Taquitos Cielito Lindo at a market across from Union Station.

drinks at Homebound Brewhouse at Union Station

We took a shuttle bus from Union Station to Dodger Stadium.

We went to a Dodger's game. They played the Twins and the Twins lost in extra innings.

We had breakfast at Clark Street Diner. It's been in tons of movies and I forgot to take pics of the room and the food. oopsie.

The next day we went to downtown Los Angeles and rode the Angels Flight railway/funicular. It made a lot of noise....

We walked through the Last Bookstore. That's an archway made of books behind me.

Grand Central Market food hall in downtown LA

Angel City Brewery was near where we were having dinner so we started there with drinks.

We had dinner at Sushi Gen. Very authentic Japanese style sushi and sashimi.

The Mermaid tiki bar after dinner. Sorta kinda loosely tiki.

We had breakfast just off Hollywood blvd at Mel's diner. Very solid actually.

cool sign!

We checked out of the Everly Hotel and started making our way to Anaheim. We stopped at an outlet mall and a Disney thrift shop along the way.

Also grabbed lunch/snack at Del Taco. It wasn't bad. Definitely affordable.

Next up, Disneyland! Well, first we checked in to the Disneyland Hotel. I figured if we were going to do this, we might as well stay as close to the park as possible. It was truly expensive, but the room was nice with lots of cute details.

The headboard had a button to push and the headboard lit up with fireworks above the Cinderella Caste and played When you wish upon a star.

view of the pool and Trader Sam's Tiki Bar. We didn't have time to visit the pools unfortunately.

We walked around Downton Disney and looked at all of the shops and went to Ballast Point Brewing for a snack.

I had managed to secure a reservation at Trader Sam's Tiki Bar.

mai tai and shrunken zombie head drinks

pupu platter

The lights change depending on what drinks are being served and there's sort of a light show.

piranha pool (frozen) and tanga cooler drinks

Thursday morning we were up bright an early for hotel guest early entry at Disneyland. It was worth it to get going super early as we got a lot of rides done right away. After that we used the app to schedule rides whenever possible. It really cut the waiting times in line.

the Jungle Cruise

churro snack

Star Wars Galaxy's Edge

Rise of the Resistance

We had a late lunch reservations at Blue Bayou. The restaurant is indeed the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Shortly after we were seated the fire alarm went off and we had to go outside for about an hour or so. After the all clear, they re-served our drinks and started service from the beginning.

creole chicken

filet mignon

Many rides are the same as the Magic Kingdom in Florida but some are much different. It's a Small World is an example. The ride at Disneyland is much longer, more elaborate and loads outside.

Friday morning we were up early to visit California Adventure park. Once more we did a ton of rides right away. We had brunch at the Lamplight Lounge.

nice view of the Incredicoaster form the Lamplight lounge

Next, we headed back to Disneyland to Galaxy's Edge for a reservation at Oga's Cantina.

Fun food and drinks, but they really shoo you out when your time is up.

the enchanted tiki room

We rode the Jungle Cruise again and it broke down. A boat is being towed in above.

Dinner at Corn Dog Castle back over at California Adventure.

We stayed pretty late for our last park day. We had so many steps! We rode the monorail back to the hotel. Very convenient and fun. Disneyland and California Adventure were so much fun. I think we both enjoyed it more than we expected to. Granted, everything was crazy expensive, but I don't think we will be going again for awhile.