Shawnna and I had never been to Disneyland during the Christmas holiday and really wanted to see the park all decked out, hence the trip to Southern California right before Christmas. To make it a little more interesting, we purchased a Southern California CityPass which included admission to SeaWorld San Diego, San Diego Zoo, Disneyland / California Adventure and Universal Studios Hollywood.
We decided to drive all the way down to San Diego first and then work our way back up. On Saturday, we hit a little bit of rain and traffic on the way down, but made it to our hotel safely - Bay Inn and Suites SeaWorld. When I was searching for a hotel in San Diego, I wanted one that was clean and close to SeaWorld and the zoo so the Bay Inn met that criteria. However, when we arrived at the hotel, I realized that their website failed to mention one minor detail - it was located across the street from Larry Flynt's Hustler Club. As we drove around the area, we kept seeing more and more gentleman's clubs and it didn't really click until we saw some Navy guys walking around and realized that we were near a Navy port and it finally made perfect sense. Anyway, the room was clean and we felt perfectly safe, so it was fine.
On Sunday, we went to SeaWorld. The weather had cleared up, the sun was shining and it was a great day to explore the park. There were a couple of water rides that I rode (pretty lame), but the main attractions were the animal shows. We saw 4 very good shows:
1. Dolphin Discovery - This show featured bottlenose dolphins and pilot whales doing jumps, spins, back flips, etc.
2. Shamu Show - Shamu and other killer whales were featured jumping, splashing and posing for pictures.
3. Clyde and Seamore's Risky Rescue - Sea lions were featured in this comedy filled wet adventure.
4. Pet's Rule! - This show featured many tricks from several different pets (dogs, cats, pigs, birds, ducks)
In addition, we explored the aquariums where we saw sharks, beluga whales, a polar bear, manatees, stingrays and a bunch of other fish. Not as good as the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but the shows were worth the price of admission.
We went to the San Diego Zoo on Monday. The first thing we did when we got there was take the guided bus tour. This was a 45 minute trip around 75% of the zoo with a guide pointing out the animals as we went. That was a great way to get a taste of the zoo and determine what we wanted to go back and see. I can't possibly list all of the animals we saw, but chances are, if you can name it, it was there. The highlights for me were the monkey habitats that included gorillas, mandrills, baboons, chimps, etc. as well as the bear exhibits where we saw a sun bear playing with a suspended plastic tube. I have to mention the boa constrictor we saw in the reptile exhibit that was having an afternoon snack of a white rat - nice! We ended the day with a sea lion show (not as good as the SeaWorld version) and then left San Diego and headed to Anaheim where we stayed at the Travelodge Anaheim International Inn (no strip clubs in sight :-)
We went to Disneyland & California Adventure on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. We were expecting large crowds and long lines since it was so close to Christmas, but it turned out to be some of the least crowded days we have ever seen. The longest line I waited in was about 20 minutes, but most of the time, I walked right on (I actually had FastPasses that I didn't even use). Needless to say, I went on all of the good rides multiple times (Tower of Terror 7 times).
The decorations around the park were awesome. There was a huge tree at the end of Main Street with ornaments, lights, wreaths and presents spread throughout both parks. It's a Small World was decorated inside and out with holiday garb, but most impressive was the Haunted Mansion ride. They must have spent several weeks redecorating the ride as it was completely different than normal and was decorated based on Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas" - if you haven't seen that movie, check it out. There was also a holiday parade and fireworks that were also impressive.
Of course, we also saw the electrical light parade, Fantasmic and ate at the Blue Bayou - always a standard. We had a great time as usual and will be ready to go back when we get the itch again.
Friday morning, we drove to Universal Studios for our last day of this trip. We got there when it opened and I rode most of the rides at the park before lunchtime since there were no lines. The best ride there is the studio tour which is a 45 minute tram ride around the backlot area where movies and TV shows are (and have been) filmed. Since I had done everything there was to do and it was really windy and cold, we decided to leave at about 1:30pm. The drive home was uneventful except for the Grapevine where we encountered lots of fog and near-freezing temperatures. But, we made it home safe and really enjoyed the trip. Until next time...
View more photos from the trip here and click on Slideshow to view them all with descriptions.
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