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The studio tour dropped us off at the back entrance to Harry Potter world and this was the beginning of finding out exactly what power those lanyards had! Universal Studios was packed to the rafters the entire day. Every ride had at least an hour wait most of the day. Our lanyards allowed us to not only use the express lane but, with Andrew, we actually got to go in secret entrances to just bypass everyone and get right on the ride. Priceless! We rode the two Harry Potter rides and got lots of insights and information about Harry Potter world.

Around 9:15am our tour guide, Andrew, came to introduce himself. He asked what we were interested in and if there were any “can’t miss” things. For DS it was Nintendo world and Jurassic Park. For me it was the studio tour and Waterworld. Our tour group consisted of 11 of us, so it was a decent size and felt very personalized. Our first stop was the studio tour. We got to ride in a much smaller, more comfortable tram than the regular tour uses. They gave out bottles of water and a far more in depth tour. I had done the regular tour twice before and I learned much more on this one. After we had covered the regular tour route, we went back to do the VIP aspect. This involved us actually getting out of the tram and walking around on the sets, going into the sound stages, going into the props storage and, my absolute moment of joy - getting to stand underneath the Back to the Future clock tower, I loved every second of this experience!

Now the negative is out of the way, let’s talk about the amazing VIP tour of universal studios. Now I’m normally quite budget conscious, and these tours don’t come cheap, BUT I applied some girl math to the situation and decided it would be worth it. I am SO glad I went this route! We got to the park around 8:40am and went to the VIP check in, where they gave us our lanyards and let us know who our guide would be. We were then invited to go upstairs to the VIP lounge to enjoy breakfast and refreshments while we waited for our guide. Breakfast offerings included smoked salmon croissants, breakfast sandwiches, and ham and cheese croissants, pastries, oatmeal, yogurt, fruit, and a fancy coffee machine with lattes and cappuccinos. I was glad I skipped breakfast at the hotel this morning!

Before I share our epic day at Universal, I’m going to share a negative and have a little whine… To get from our hotel to universal I used Lyft. I use Lyft all the time and have never had any negative experiences or problems. This morning I put in our destination as universal studios and trusted that the Lyft app would do its thing (why would I think any different?) We were picked up and off we went. Bear in mind that I’m not from this area and have no idea where anything is or what direction we should be going. 15 minutes later, we turn into a random motel on sunset boulevard (right after passing through a sizeable tent city). I was confused and asked why we were there. To which the driver replied that was the drop off address. Again, I put universal studios as the drop off and that showed clearly on her app, too. For some unknown reason Lyft had assigned a random address to it. However, here is my frustration and gripe - the driver obviously saw universal studios, regardless of the address. She saw a mom and kid get into her car. Could she not have at least asked if we were, in fact, going to universal rather than a pay-by-the-hour motel in a dodgy part of town? She became quite aggressive when I tried to ask what the protocol was for this obviously incorrect ride. She insisted she had done her job and got us to the address. I didn’t even try to reason with her. Just got out and immediately booked another Lyft - instead of it being the $10 it should have cost it ended up being an additional $21 on top of what I had already paid for the first ride. I did try to dispute the charge but no joy from Lyft. Ugh. Here is what shows in my ride history for the ride - that did not end anywhere close to universal!

Things I wish I had packed part 1 - Toiletries: DD is very particular about what products she uses so we always come equipped with shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, etc. Since she isn’t with us this time I figure I would just use whatever is provided. Bad mistake. The hotel has tiny bottles of shampoo and conditioner and a tiny hand soap bar. Nothing else. The shampoo produced no suds. I’m a total lather up your head gal. Shopping is in my future. - Slippers: there is no carpet and the laminate floors make for a skating rink when wearing socks. DS and I both almost wiped out last night. I refuse to walk near foot cause who wants my gross feet on their laminate floor?

Good morning from sunny Hollywood! Today is Universal so we are up bright and early. Planning on getting an Uber from the hotel - currently priced around $12. The hotel serves breakfast at 7:30am so I will check that out, though I believe as part of the tour there are pastries and such… Had a decent night sleep - we have the ground floor with the parking lot next to the window so I worried about noise but it was fine. I did hear the folks in the room above walking around a few times but that was before we went to sleep so no worries there. The rooms don’t have carpet - it’s all laminated floors so no sound protection. It wasn’t an issue last night. The shower needed an engineering degree to figure out. Three large taps but none labeled. After much turning and varying combinations of turns I think I figured it out. I felt like a safe cracker and expected it to rain money on me once solved. Alas. Just water. Part of the problem was that it took a really long time to heat up so initially I was turning the hot water up but it was still cold. The temperature was very hard to get right. I prefer hot, scalding your skin type showers but I was only able get either peel your skin right off or take a plunge in the arctic type temps. I went for the peel your skin off and instead of standing underneath I just sort of sucked and weaved under the spray. That shower served several purposes- mental math to figure out how to work it, cardio and stretch to keep from blistering or frostbite, and I came out semi-clean. Not completely clean as there is no body wash/shower gel provided. I always travel with this but not this time (duh). CVS is in my future. I may or may not have screamed out loud this morning. I woke to go to the bathroom and didn’t realize DS had closed the bathroom door. I also didn’t realize said door had a full length mirror. In my semi awake state, in a dark room, walking towards the bathroom…I see some old lady walking towards me. I screamed. Loudly. DS shot up, thinking we were being attacked or something. Then I realized the old lady was just my reflection in the mirror. Oh, how we laughed (spoiler -we did NOT laugh.)

The Midnight Library is one of my favourite books. In fact, anything by Matt Haig is fabulous. He writes kid books too. Any they are equally as awesome.

We are now back at the hotel and chilling for the evening. Early start tomorrow for our day at Universal. While DS is trying to find something to watch on this tv, I’m getting texts from my guests staying at my place in Vancouver saying they can’t work the tv! lol.

And truly in my happy place right now!!! (Forgive me. We don’t have target in Vancouver) Picked up some snacks, White Castle sliders to microwave, Mr Beast chocolate, and most importantly mom drinks (hello peach mimosa and lemonade moscato)

Spotted my first robot delivery dude!!!

Walking Hollywood Boulevard. I thought DS’s eyes were going to pop out of his head! He was so overwhelmed at the crowds, the noise, the in-your-face leaflet people. Me? I’m in my happy place. I was born for this 80s rock lifestyle!

I wish I brought scissors.

We were in need of food so ventured out for late lunch. Last night DS had been researching food places and had a few suggestions- we opted for Stout Burgers, which was a 15 minute walk according to Google maps. I’m going to add here that my crazy cheap cell phone plan (hard to find in Canada) has no option to add any kind of roaming plan. Ordinarily I just add it to the plan DD has and she takes charge, but since she isn’t with us this time I had to find another option. I dug out one of our old iPhones (the 7) and purchased a SIM card on Amazon from Jethro mobile. It was $30 and gives data for a month so hopefully that should cover us for maps, Lyft, etc when we have no wifi. So far it is working beautifully. Back to dinner. We followed the google map walking directions and DS got his first glimpse of Hollywood Boulevard. To say it was overwhelming for him would be putting it mildly. He was pretty much glued to my side. Lots of crowds, noise, and people passed out on the sidewalk. We made it unscathed to the burger place and it literally checked all the boxes! Great beers on tap, unique food (albeit burgers), lovely staff, fabulous music, and a dive bar feel! For food, I ordered the Truffle Shuffle and DS ordered The Morning After. The burgers didn’t come with fries (which was shocking for a $17 burger) so we ordered the loaded fries to share. I also got the White Rascal beer. The beer was awesome- I liked it so much I got another. My burger was perfect. Solid 10/10. DS found the chipotle ketchup on his burger way too spicy -the burger was good and the bacon and egg were perfect but the spice was overpowering! I tried it and my mouth was on fire! DS gave it 7/10. The loaded fries were loaded. And yummy. And for the cherry on the cake…when the bill came it was less than I expected because everything was $2 off! Score!

And the upside down pics begin

Hollywood celebrity hotel is good so far! Clean, big room, nice front desk staff. We are heading out in search of food but here are some room pics for now.

Got a Lyft from LAX to Hollywood- $52. The traffic was bumper to bumper so it took an hour. I feel like the ride should have been free given that we had to endure an hour of jazz radio. If there is one type of music I despise it is jazz…

Beautiful views from the sky

An uneventful flight got us into LAX 20 minutes early! I am plagued by seat kickers whenever I fly but @YVRteachergave me a tip to choose seats in front of the emergency row. We did that this time and no seat kicking. Now I need to figure out how to get rid of this from the person in front of me..

It appears I started a trend! As soon as I was handed the whiskey, four other people went up to the bar. I guess they were all just shy! You’re welcome people, you’re welcome!

Bar is open but no one appears to be drinking. Maybe 9am is too early to ask for beer or wine (no mimosas here 😭) but I just ordered a whiskey and made my own Irish coffee! Let the vacation commence.

It’s pretty busy in the lounge this morning so I felt weird taking pictures. Breakfast offerings were sausage, scrambled eggs, hash browns, salads, yogurt, granola, cereal, pastries, and toast. Fresh juice, great coffee, soda, and the bar opens (free) at 9am!

We made it to the airport! For those of you interested in timing.. 6:50am - left the house and walked to Canada Line 7:10am: Boarded train for YVR (we just missed the train and had to wait 6 minutes for the next one 7:45am: Entered YVR terminal zero lines for security or CBP this morning so breezed through both 8:00am: Entered Plaza Premium lounge and enjoyed breakfast and fresh coffee (bar opens at 9am)

The 4am text from DD who is on Sun Princess in Europe: “Well the Acropolis was kinda underwhelming! Took an hour to get in and there were only 5 things to look at.” 🤣🤣🤣🤣 She did buy a pretty cool shirt for her little brother though!

I think that’s why we have opted not to stay there before! We have Universal Studios for one full day then have Warner Brothers the next day and the Hollywood sign tour the next day so hoping we get enough packed in to make it worthwhile! In between those things we will do the hop on hop off bus and might get to La Brea and Santa Monica! I do think Hollywood will be a one and done though….

I’m not a san pelegrino fan. In fact I’m not a water drinker at all. BUT the very first time I upgraded to plus I got a bottle of aqua pana. OMG. I would never willingly pay for water but that stuff was the bomb! I’m definitely going to do that with every meal! I love Zacapa so plan on having that in all my dark n stormy drinks. I love margaritas but can’t remember the “good” tequila to request. I WILL be having Baileys (why does NCL charge so much for it?). Starbucks chai latte is my morning go to. I can’t remember if DS also gets Starbucks- I upgraded both packages but he is a minor so not sure if he gets it.., I want Veuve but not planning on Le Bistro. 😭😭😭😭 I don’t think this live will be anywhere as fun as the Virgin one. That was hands down the best (and wildest) cruise I’ve ever taken!!!! Counting the days for the next one.