May was a pretty good month. I saw the release of my first published journal Finding Joy in the Journey (which you can get on here!) and a week later, I was flying off to the west coast, 3,000 miles away from home. This trip wasn’t a planned celebration of my dream coming true, it was purely coincidental actually!
My boyfriend, Justin, had gotten tickets in 2019 to Star Wars Celebration 2020 (if you don’t know basically a comic con for Star Wars!) - obviously that had been cancelled and was re-scheduled for May 2022. We spent the whole pandemic taking about it, dreaming about it - it really got us through and gave us something majorly exciting to look forward to.
I received my publishing deal in the summer of 2021 and didn’t find out til later that my journal being published and the Star Wars convention would in the same month.
Sometimes the Universe just stacks things up for you and wants you to have a good time LOL.
Alongside the Star Wars convention which was only four days, we decided to extend our trip a bit before and after so we could go to our beloved Disney and so we could spend sometime in LA as well (and get to be reunited with my best friend, Alyssa who moved out there a few years ago!)
If you’re looking to hear specifically about Star Wars Celebration 2022, check out my other blog post. I decided to separate the two adventures in two separate blog posts so the rest of this blog will focus on our other activities in Anaheim and L.A.
We flew out of JFK with Jet Blue, taking an early flight. I actually love flying East to West, because this way while we left at 7am EST, our flight arrived 10am PDT so we had the entire day ahead of us.
The flight itself was really cool as at one point we were flying over the Grand Canyon which is so awesome to see from above.
The landscape in the west is amazing - even California itself the mountains are so cool. I come from South Shore Long Island a.k.a probably one of the flatest places in the U.S. We have no mountains and we really don’t have any hills.
In my neighborhood growing up we have a slight hill that I used to call “big hill” to take my bike down and let me just say anyone from a place with real hills and mountains 100% would have laughed so hard at the fact that I called it “big hill” or even a hill at all. It’s just a street with a slight decline.
Anyway getting back on track, we arrived at our hotel two days before the convention. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Orange County (Because it had a discounted rate for the convention) and it was really nice - would definitely stay there again.
First things first of course, we met up with my best friend Alyssa and went to Disneyland!
I did an Alice Disneybound and Alyssa so creatively did Snow White!
So being an East Coaster, I have gone to DisneyWorld way more times than Disneyland - I’ve actually only ever been to Disneyland two separate days (September 5, 2014 and September 4, 2019) and both days were completely empty. I knew going into it this time that the park would be more crowded and it definitely was. Lines were high and as regular Disney people - and let’s face it as New Yorkers - we do not like waiting in lines, so we only went on rides we could get the Genie + Lightning Lane for. Honestly, buying the extra for Genie + is so 100% worth it. It gives you way more time to enjoy your day, to hit a few extra rides, and not be bogged down / annoyed by waiting in line. It’s also way more satisfying to just straight up walk onto a ride and saves your legs a bit!
Disneyland is definitely super cute and it’s so cool just to know that Walt walked there. While somethings are disorienting because it’s so similar to Disney World yet so different, there are a few things I like better here!
I do like that to transfer parks you just have to walk across a courtyard instead of taking multiple monorails, and I do think it’s cool you can be in their version of Magic Kingdom and just walk into Galaxy’s Edge. I like that DisneyLand’s Small World has characters in it - to me it’s way more fun to see Cinderella and Alice and others in their respective countries rather than just some random kids.
My absolutely favorite thing difference is that in Galaxy’s Edge West they have Melioorun Juice!!
If you don’t know, a Melioorun is a fruit in Star Wars Rebels (there's a really silly episode about Ezra and Zeb getting into all shenangians with the Empire just because Hera told them not to come back until they have a Melioorun & only the Empire has them), so they made a non-alcoholic drink out of it and it’s sooooo good! An online description says it’s “Pineapple, lemonade with blueberry, white cranberry juice, lemon juice and Desert Pear” and it’s delicious and amazing and Batuu East needs to get that ASAP.
I do appreciate Galaxy’s Edge had a higher stock here! Last time we went to Dok Ondar’s in Florida it was completely wiped out - this one had full stock and Justin was able to get Cal Kestis' and the Limited Edition Ahsoka Lightsabers from Rebels … and I mayyyy have gotten the Dark Saber! It was a treat yo self moment 🙈🙈🙈🙈.
We didn’t take pictures with them though because we found out Disneyland will ship them back home for you. So we did that as it saved us lots of trouble with worrying about how to put four lightsabers in our suitcases. So when they arrive, I’ll definitely be sure to add new fun pics of them.
Overall though, while Disneyland is fun and I enjoy visiting, I have to say I'm a DisneyWorld girl for sure, but I think it's just because it feels more like home to me!
The next day we started our morning over at Disney’s California Adventure, which is kind of like the equivalent of Hollywood Studios.
I do love the aesthetic of the Pixar Pier, and the in the morning, first thing there was no wait for a photo pass person - though I have to say overall I noticed way less photo pass photographers throughout the park than in World, but there are way more characters out and about in both Disneyland and DCA.
The Cars ride was closed indefinitely due to a fire, so we didn’t get to do that - but we still got to do some of our other favorites like Toy Story Midway Mania - and my friends all rode the Incredicoaster and enjoyed it. (I can’t do upside down rides 🙈 lol)
Again, over here we used Genie + because the lines were way too long.
I do appreciate in DCA how they have more fun food options - in the Cars Land, at the Cozy Cone, we got Mac & Cheese in a pretzel cone and it was sooo good, definitely a highlight!
I loved the matching orange flowers around the cozy cones too, it was such a cute area. I do love Cars land, because it’s sooo spot on to the movie, though it now holds a special place in my heart because my nephew LOVES Cars, so I just thought of him while there!
My friends also got food from the Pym Test Kitchen where everything is either really small or huge - it all looked awesome, and my friends said their meals were really good. There was nothing on the menu that I would personally eat so I just stuck with the Mac and Cheese cones, as I do.
My friends also got S’mores Churros that were over in the wilderness area. I’m not a Churro girl myself 🙈 so I didn’t get one but my friends LOVED them said they were a 15/10.
I did however get an Electrical Parade Snail Caramel Apple back at Disneyland on Mainstreet - and when I finally got to eat it, it was fantastic!
We unforuntatley didn’t get to see any of the shows at Disneyland this time (world of color or the electrical parade) but hopefully next time!
The new Spiderman ride, Webslingers was definitely highlight ! Though it takes arm strength and you do get very tired very easily, the ride itself is pretty easy to do. My friends and I hit the silver level our first try and got gold on our second, so it is a straightforward, albeit tiring, ride (my Apple Watch registered I was working out.)
Avengers Campus is cool for what it is, I have to admit I’m experiencing some Marvel fatigue. I LOVED Marvel for the longest time, but ever after End Game all of their content (excluding Spiderman) has deeply disappointed me, especially their TV shows. So I can’t say I was excited to finally see Avengers campus at all - but if you are still into Marvel I'm sure you'll love it!
I do love the Guardians of the Galaxy version of Tower of Terror, I honestly prefer it to the Florida Tower of Terror (hehe sorry I have so many controversial opinions over here today 🙈)
We also went to Downtown Disney one night after the convention (basically a smaller Disney springs!) and it’s cute. We ate at Naples and the food was really good! (Though their “gelato” was ice cream not gelato 🤣)
Finally, to round off our Disneyland experience, we went to Disneyland Star Wars Nite, an after hours event on Friday Night (5/27) and I’m sorry to say I was disappointed. We were really excited for this - we had done After Hours event at DisneyWorld (like their Halloween and Christmas Party and they were amazinggg) but this one just fell flat.
Unlike World After Hour events where they give you unlimited free snacks and waters (and free candy during Halloween!) there were no giveways. In fact we even had difficulty finding an event map!
They had a special firework show … that was 5 minutes long. I thought it was just the intro that had concluded but it was really just over. I guess I’m just used to World where they have 20 min fireworks on the reg. I get that Anaheim is a residential area, but still the fireworks were really hyped up and were over in the blink of an eye.
Galaxy’s Edge was packed and you couldn’t get anywhere near it. Lines for the Star Wars shops and rides were hours long (people probably spent their whole night on line). They had photo-ops for several characters, but those were kind of a bust, too. We waited online for Ezra and Sabine (since we were dressed as Hera and Kanan) because the employee told us it was probably about a 15 minute wait - it turned out to be 45 minutes and by the time we got to the front of the line, they changed Ezra and Sabine out for Captain Rex (who I do like better, but I wish they had kept both sets of characters out. The Seventh Sister was out all on her own without a swap and people obviously care about her significantly less than Ezra, Sabine, and Rex).
Maybe it was an off night for Disneyland, but either way I will stick to After Hours event at Disney World instead of Disneyland. Any after hours event I’ve attended in Orlando was amazing.
Overall the area of Anaheim with the convention center and around Disneyland was really nice and felt safe!
After our time in Anaheim, we headed up to LA for week there!
We stayed at the Intercontential in downtown because we stayed there in 2019 and it was sooo nice.
*view from the Intercontential lobby
This time it was exactly the same and still super nice, staff was extremely friendly and helpful, and the room was clean and spacious. It has a lovely view of Los Angeles. And my favorite part of the room is that it had a huge soaker tub - I definitely purchased a few bubble bath bombs to use there and it was amazing!
We ate the food at the hotel a few times - either via room service or sitting for their breakfast and it was all really good. Albeit a bit on the pricy side for what it is, but it’s nice when you don’t have to leave the hotel.
We spent Memorial Day just relaxing by the pool - the hotel has a pool on the seventh floor, so it’s above the city, very scenic. It wasn’t too crowded at all and was nice to spend time just chilling after spending days walking around Disney and the convention.
Before the pool, we got food at their poolside bar, the No Dive Bar, which had recently re-opened (I got fries and a salad) and it was pretty decent food as well.
The waiter/bar tender did ask if I was from New York the second I asked for a water 🤣.
Our pool day was much needed!
The following day, we went to Universal Hollywood for some Harry Potter World. It’s much smaller than Orlando and doesn’t have Diagon Alley, so if you’re looking to go to Harry Potter World, I 100% recommend going to Orlando over Hollywood if you have the choice, but this was still a fun day.
What I appreciated most was finally being able to get Hot Butterbeer! Hot Butterbeer does exist in Orlando however, I am only ever there in September when it’s 90 degrees so it is way too hot for a hot butterbeer (always gotta get that frozen!) So since it wasn’t too hot that day, I was finally able to get the hot one (like the real one in the books!) and I have to say out of the three, (the hot, the frozen, the original) the hot is definitely my favorite! So good and I now want to drink it all the time.
Overall, this Universal day was super crowded. The lines were long (except when we first got there, we went straight for the Hogwarts ride: Forbidden Journey - and that was a quick 20 mins!) It’s a much smaller park with not much to do nor much variety of what to eat.
Afterwards, we wound up getting food at Universal Citywalk, we went to Vivo, which only takes walk-ins and it was a quick 10 minute wait. We got personal pizzas (I know, risky for a New Yorker to get a pizza outside of New York lol) but they were the personal Italian styled ones, and they were actually pretty good.
The next day, we went to Hollywood to the Funk Pop Headquarters -which was actually much cooler than I thought it would be! They had giant versions of Funky Pops everywhere and each room had its own theme (Harry Potter, Star Wars, Vintage, Disney, etc). We went there specifically though because its’ the only place where you can create your own customized Funko Pop version of you!
The options were limited - I’m sure they vary day to day based on supplies, but in the end, I’d say we were still able to create ones that looked like us. I also gave myself a Harry Potter wand because I’m magical 🤣 (I may paint my girl's dress, give it polka dots or something extra!)
That evening, we had reservations for one of my friend Alyssa’s favorite spots, The Sunset in Malibu. She took us here in 2019 and the food was sooo good and it was such a beautiful spot; being right on the water. We booked a 7pm reservation so it had that sunset glow, getting to finally see the Sunset at 8pm.
The staff was all really friendly and the food was still so good. The atmosphere was laid-back and beachy but still somehow upscale and classy.
I got the spaghetti bolognese and it was just as great as I remembered. My friends all seemed to like their food as well! Justin got the pumpkin totoloni’s which of course, I tried one and it was delicious.
Afterwards, we went for a quick walk on the Santa Monica boardwalk - aka real life Rocket Power 🤣
The next day we had a beach day, we went to a spot in-between Venice Beach and Santa Monica, and it was enjoyable and empty. It was really breezy, but when you laid down, all you felt was the sun’s warmth.
We opted for a chill final day hotel, so we didn’t get to do the Mets-Dodgers game like we hoped for or go to Beverly Hills this time around, but definitely next time!
Finally, we flew back on Jet Blue again. While I love traveling and wish I could do it all the time non-stop, I definitely love returning home. To me, a lifelong native New Yorker, here’s no place like NY. I definitely have enjoyed the three times I’ve gone out to California, but overall I am definitely an East Coast person <3
