Gwilliam Gazette : Theme Park Time!

Meghan and Corey and family planned a trip to Disneyland many many many months ago and asked if we would like to come along to help with their kids. It took half a second to say YEP.

It was over Hannah's birthday too, so I found some $30 flights and Hannah and Jacob came down for 2 days and we went to Universal Studios, as we've never been, and they went home as they both had school and work. Then Meghan and family came and we went to Disneyland on Monday and California Adventure on Tuesday and had a "rest day" on Wednesday. We came home that night and Meghan/Corey stayed for 2 more days before coming home.

We had a slight issue getting there though and almost didn't make it to Universal. As is common during "covid times" airlines shuffle their flights around and original flight times usually end up changing, which happened again. A few months before, we were told our afternoon flight was now changed to evening. We were flying into LAX and I had a hotel all reserved and rental car all set up. We left Salt Lake on time heading to Phoenix since we were on American.

We walked to the gate and saw our flight was delayed a little, so no big deal. Well, the little delay ended up being bigger and bigger. The gate agent made an announcement that they were waiting for the flight crew to arrive, implying they were on their way on another flight. 30 mins later she made the same announcement only this time, her story changed - she said she couldn't find a full crew - it's only 4 flight attendants and she had 3 - looking for one more.

Well, sitting right around us on the plane from Salt Lake, was a group of 6 flight attendants that "graduated" from flight school that day and were flying home. One of them, was sitting right next to me, and he lived in LA so he was also waiting for the same delayed plane in Phoenix.

He went up and told the gate agents he graduated and was ready to work and offered to work for free so the flight could leave. Meanwhile, the gate agent made another announcement saying she was going to probably have to cancel the flight because she didn't have a full crew. I immediately got in line to see what other flights were available to change to because I knew if the flight did cancel, the line was going to be very long.

Meanwhile, the graduated flight crew guy was on the phone, talking to others who worked there, and it didn't seem like they would let him do it. Then, the 3 flight crew the gate agent did find (from other cancelled flights) were told to just leave because they were not going to find one more person. 5 minutes after that, another flight attendant from another cancelled flight, came over and offered to work for free so the flight wouldn't have to be cancelled.

Well, now the other 3 were gone so it was still a no-go. By this time, most of the people scheduled for the flight, found out mr. graduation was willing to step in and help out but they still wouldn't let him and the flight was officially cancelled.

I stayed in the line I was in as I was 2 away from the counter now. The gate next to us was a flight going to Ontario which is only 1 hour from LAX - I checked the app and saw it was only half full. I told the guy in front of me and he was able to change his flight to that one.

Meanwhile, over at the Ontario gate, there was a new line of people that were on our now cancelled flight and they were getting anxious because the Ontario flight was supposed to be leaving in 10 minutes, and some in the line were being impatient, including one lady that was behind me who was trying to get to LA because her grandpa was dying and literally in the hospital and they were waiting for her to get there before they took him off life support. She was crying, showing everyone pics of her grandpa and she didn't know what to do. I suggested she go over to the Ontario line and she did and got on. But the gate agent over at Ontario, was also getting impatient and YELLING at everyone in line that she was only going to work for 10 minutes and get on as many as she could, but at that point she was going to shut the door because she was not going to make the plane late. Ms. Dying Grandpa got up to the front of the line because others felt bad for her and let her up, and she got on!

After standing in a line of only about 15 people and over an HOUR, it was finally my turn. I quickly said I have four and want to get on the Ontario flight. The guy right in front of me got it and I said I wanted the same. The lady was so nice and tried and tried to help...she was punching keys on that keyboard so fast and so much I thought the keys were going to pop off. She wasn't able to do it. Right after the guy ahead of me got on, the Ontario gate agent blocked all other agents out of the system so they couldn't add people to the plane. Our lady then had her co-worker try to help and she tried some "back doors" she knew of and they were not working either. She then said she was sorry and started printing off hotel vouchers because it looked like we were spending the night in Phoenix. There were several flights the next morning, but all were full, so the next one they could get us on, left at 1pm.

Well, that was not going to work. I already had non-refundable tickets for Universal and I knew to avoid the crowds and have a great day, we had to get there right when they open. Getting there at 3 wasn't going to work as they close at 8.

We talked about renting a car and driving - it was about 4 or 5 hours but it could work.

I went and stood in the Ontario line and the mean gate agent basically shooed everyone away so I was close. I got up to her and told her I was on the cancelled flight and had 4. She said, "oh, I don't have 4 seats". She punched some more buttons and said "WAIT" I can get you all on - you will all be in different areas though. I said I don't care! She got us on and to all the other people behind me she said "NO MORE" the plane is leaving and the door is closing. She was not kidding. The door actually shut right behind us, almost hitting us! There were still some seats left, but they did manage to mostly fill up the plane.

WHEW!

Ok, now the rental car and hotel needed to be changed. The rental car place closed at 11 and were supposed to land at 10:50. I told Jacob to run there, as he was seated in the front and then I would run after and Shelley and Hannah would need to go to Customer Service and find out where we could get our luggage, since it had already been taken off the plane and stored somewhere.

The luggage was supposed to be delivered to a closer airport the next day and then would be delivered to our hotel.

Well, we ended up getting a rental car. We then went to In-Out as it was the only place open and we were starving as it was now almost midnight. Our original hotel was an hour away at LAX. I called the hotel and managed to switch it to one close to Universal so we would be ready to go in the morning.

SO, after all that, we got things arranged, didn't have our luggage, but had a GREAT day at Universal. It was very very fun.

We then drove to Anaheim and hoped our luggage was there - it was not, but the app showed it was still planned to be delivered by 9pm that night. Front desk called and said it had arrived!!!

The next day, Meghan/Corey arrived and we all went to the beach before taking Jacob and Hannah to the airport to go home.

The rest of the trip went well - no surprises and plans worked out. Disney and California Adventure were PACKED! We were all very surprised this time of year should have been slower, but it was not. Meghan however, did a lot of planning - A LOT and had everything planned out and we pretty much got on everything we wanted to with very minimal waiting.

Well, enough of that......you came here to look at pics.

The main area of Universal is separated from a "lower lot" where the bigger rides are - there are a series of five escalators you take to get down the hill to the lower lot

The view on the way down to the lower lot is amazing

What ride is this?

How about now? Do you know?

Secret Life of Pets

Jacob wanted to give Hannah a ride on the Hogwarts motorcycle

Hannah had enough and was going to jump off

VIDEO:

We made our way to the "water show" which you would think would be dolphins doing tricks or something like that. Nope. Not even close. No animals. Only flying planes, explosions, fire, jumping, speed boats and jet skis. This was an amazing show! Completely exceeded all expectations. Do not miss this show!

The studio tour is an hour tram ride through the actual studios. This part is the set of Good Place

Also on the tram ride, is a flood in a subway station and a Transformers 3D "ride" and another 3D Jurassic Park Dino "ride". The entire tram, which is long - 6-7 cars, goes into a large building in front of the world's largest 3D screens. It was pretty good!

After we did everything on the "lower lot" we went back to the Harry Potter Ride which is also pretty amazing. We did the single line to turn the wait into 3 minutes vs 90 minutes

We got back to the hotel in time for Hannah to see the sunset

It was Hannah's birthday today, so we went to the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate

The next day, we slept in a bit, and then went to play a little at the hotel's sports court while we waited for Meghan/Corey to arrive.

Our hotel, Hyatt Regency Orange County, had a very open and interesting lobby

Not sure what's going on in this video:

After lunch, we all went to Huntington Beach and were pretty much the only ones on the beach

We then had some time before taking Jacob/Hannah to the airport and found a little hike to an overlook

VIDEO:

The next day was Disneyland. Meghan's plan required we be one of the first in the park at the "rope drop" so we arrived so early, we were in the front row of parking!

Of course the song you hear 87.5 times on this ride was stuck in our minds the rest of the day

All the normal Disney characters are there, but you can't go up to them. They are usually behind a railing and it's actually better - no lines and multiple characters in one place

OUCH! This ride still requires a chiropractor after

The Tiki Tiki Tiki room is a good place for a 15 minute nap

Ok.....the Rise of Resistance ride - new this year in Star Wars land. It's not on "fast pass" (which costs now) unless you pay even more and the line is never less than 60-90 minutes. We were not going to go on it due to the wait. I mean it's just a Star Wars ride - probably a motion simulator. Booooorrrriiinnnngggg and we are not really big Star Wars fans so it's ok if we miss it.

Well, Meghan read up on it and convinced Corey and I to wait in line and then do the "child swap" for her and Shelley. Reluctantly, Corey and I went to get in line for our last ride of the day. It was an estimated 70 minute wait. Well, we were at the front in 45. This ride is not a boring motion simulator. It's not even something you can adequately explain. There is definitely magic going on here and it's a long ride! We all left saying "what was that? How did that happen? How did they do that?" Extremely high tech and cutting edge technology. And none of us are really Star Wars fans.

From Wikipedia: "Rise of the Resistance is the most technologically advanced theme park attraction in existence today"

We were glad Meghan talked us into going on it.

Almost bed time, finally

The next day was California Adventure
It too started out not busy until about noon and then got packed

We went on one of the swinging gondolas and Meghan did NOT like that at all

We were not sure what the Disney Jr Dance Show was, but it was a place to sit down for a bit so we went in. It was kind of fun to watch and the bonus was Minnie and Mickey came!

VIDEO: Jane's one of the few dancing

There are not too many parades, and the few they have are very short. This one, for Chinese New Year was pretty good! We just happened to be standing here when it came by, and then 10 minutes later, it turned around and came back!