Americanuck

Our last full day in SoCal was dedicated to the boys, Six Flags Magic Mountain was the final amusement park destination of our trip.

When I say it was for the boys I mean it, those rides there are soooo far beyond anything I could tolerate. Many years ago, when Tom’s LA station had their Christmas party at the park,  I tried exactly one ride, the “Viper”. How did that go? Well, I’ll tell ya, I spent the entire ride screaming, my eyes shut tight while simultaneously having my ears boxed by the safety harness and struggling to hold my gorge. That’s how.

While that may be some people’s idea of a good time it isn’t mine yanno? The only entertaining part was listening to a co-worker of Tom’s riding behind us who was, if possible, even more frightened than I was. She was yelling in a very strong New York accent “Ohh my Gawd I’m gonna die!” over and over, particularly when we’d hit a loop. She and I, along with one of the audio ladies spent the rest of the day drinking lemon slush drinks and watching other people on the rides. Momma didn’t raise no fool.

We had scored some discounted tickets by buying them ahead of time through the ticket booth at Universal (it was even cheaper than the online price) which helped to soften the fact we had to pay the same price for me to get in the park ,even though I wouldn’t be taking advantage of any of the rides. Their policy is you’re paying for the whole “experience”.. um other than the rides there isn’t much to experience there in my humble opinion, but whatever.

Magic Mountain is the one place on our agenda that had limited opening due to it being off-season. Their bread and butter would be the school set and I would imagine being most rug-rats are in school during the week days it would behoove them to put their staffing dollars into the weekends or school vacations.  Fortunately for us they were open the Friday not just the weekend.

This park was also the farthest away from our resort so most likely the one to cause the most headaches traffic-wise. The park is located up in Valencia and is fairly close to where Tom used to live. The park was also duded up for Halloween and just like Universal they had some “after hours” fun for the older kids including mazes, zombies and some rides going backwards which if you’re into that kind of thing probably would be pretty darn cool. They also had one pretty big spider crawling up this coaster:

Being the official holder of crap (I really should have brought a bigger bag) I was laden down with cellphones, ipods, sunglasses, wallets.. you know all the things that could fly out of one’s hands or pockets at the wrong time.

They made a B-line for some of the newer rides at the front of the park but founds the lines were already 2 hours long on some of them so they quickly bailed and headed over to the first older ride along the route, the Viper (my old nemesis!)

Many of the older rides don’t have a good viewing area (one of my pet peeves) so I wasn’t always able to get photos of the guys on the various rides. Tom purposely wore orange so he would hopefully stand out a little on the rides for me as they whizzed by and for the most part it worked.

What also helped a TON was the rapid-fire picture mode on my newer Canon Elph. As they were zooming by I had managed to snap a dozen or so pics and they turned out pretty darn good. Of course it also meant I had to be fast to change what I was pointing at to get them at different angles and this one was pretty much a fail on my behalf but I did managed to catch the boys there in the front row, even though I did cut off Tom’s head.

Whenever possible I also made them pose cheesily in front of the ride sign ;)

I convinced them to go on the new Green Lantern ride, I mean the thing looked completely bad-ass on the videos I had seen and it would be worth an extra stay in line to ride that vs. the 2+ hours they waited in line the last time we were at the park for the Superman ride which was not worth the hype.

There was definitely a bit of a line but it seemed to move fairly quickly.

Tom hammed it up for the camera as they finally got to the front of the outdoor line and walked into the staging area of the ride (and they would be out of my view temporarily.)

That’s my fella!

While I waited I drank my expensive lemon slush drink and watched the reactions of the riders as they disembarked. It seemed the guys were in for a good ride judging by the reactions.

As a spectator, I have to say the viewing area of this ride rocks. You can see the riders as they get seated and “take off” and also watch from the sidelines as they ride the crazy ride. I could see Chris only as they were seated as Tom and Sean were on the other side but that changed around once they were in the air.

Because there was a weight imbalance Sean and Tom ended up facing down as the ride climbed and Chris was pointed at the sky. It also meant that Chris didn’t see most of the tumbles he was about to go through.

Tom was filming the ride from his perspective (his Flip camera is pointed at me at this point and I’m zoomed in to catch him)

Here is the vid of them riding that crazy-ass ride!

It was a hit!

They went on a few more rides and for the most part waited to get on the front. Here they are again…on another Gotham ride.

I busied myself reading the magazine I brought along… I am so SMRT!

They finally had enough (yay!) and it was time to leave. Naw really it was only a few hours and for the most part I didn’t even notice the time dragging, not like last time. I think it was probably the NICE weather rather than the sickeningly hot temps I had suffered through the summer two years prior. I got SO burnt that time.

Before we left the park I made each boy pose with me, we don’t have many Mamma/Son pictures these days. It is rare to catch them when they’re in a good enough mood to humour me with them either.

One final group shot and we left the park to hit the road on back.

The plan was to grab some water at a local store (we were all pretty thirsty) and then stop and In-N-Out one final time. I drank my entire bottle of water in short order and was doing fine even through some major traffic that is until we got closer to the restaurant. By the time we got there I was almost running cross-legged to the bathroom.

Then! It was time to eat!

We got back to the coast just in time to see the sunset, ahhh….

All in all a great trip. Like I’ve said this is our last “family” vacation so it was nice to end on a high note. Neither of them were moody this time around and they both participated in the outings with enthusiasm and actually appreciated the fact they were on a pretty damn good and FREE trip. I have a feeling the appreciate will sink in a little deeper when it is their turn to take their own families on vacation one day. From now on the vacations will belong only to Tom and me and will most likely involve some sort of BEACH!

One of the Newport Coast’s “hidden jewels” is Crystal Cove beach accessed via Crystal Cove State Park. There are several beach entrance points, some which are easier to navigate than others, but as a result the beach has a more remote feel than the typical beach along the 101.

The park is an easy walking distance from the Newport Coast Villas and the nearest beach access point is along paths through scrub and down either a set of stairs to the north or more directly from a somewhat steep at times access ramp (be snake aware, stay on the paths, there be rattle snakes there!) Take my word for it and wear shoes with a good tread, I had a few hairy moments sliding while walking down the path. It looks to be a fairly gradual grade but there are points where it is sandy and it can be a bit dodgy to walk on.

An absolute must either before or after your trip down to the beach is to check out the view from the various overlooks along the cliff-side. You get a nice panoramic view of the area, it is simply gorgeous and very photogenic.

Tom and I went to the beach alone, the boys decided to have a laze around the condo kind of day on their own. We had come prepared for sun (it was a gorgeous day) because even October sunshine can be pretty harsh and though we had also brought along fleece jackets in anticipation of a cooler breeze off the ocean, we never needed them, not even Tom. ;)

In the fall there are no lifeguards on duty so water play is at your own risk.

Apparently you can see all kinds of wildlife in the park and if you’re lucky see some marine life as well. All we saw though were a few different kinds of birds and mostly the typical seagulls. There was this one gull though who had a bum leg which faced completely backwards. He spent most of the time hopping towards the ocean to eat and then flapping madly to right himself when a larger wave would roll in. It was amusing and heartbreaking at the same time because he was so plucky, but you know the poor thing was going to have a very tough time of it if he survived long-term at all.

Further down the beach where the families seem to cluster most is a collection of very beaten up looking beach cottages, most which appeared to be abandoned.

It amused me greatly that when I started snapping pictures Tom was picturing some angry owner of said rickety cottages jumping out waving a cane and yelling at us to “get off their lawn”,  so he was taking more stealthy pictures until we realized none of them were actually occupied. Even by an angry cane waving squatter. =D

When we got back to the resort and looked it up we finally understood what the story was. These beach cottages are all considered historical in nature and a preservation society is slowly working their to restore them and then rent them out.  When we got closer did notice there were several cottages which had already been renovated and looked strangely out of place among the more rickety ones, I’m sure as time goes by the reverse will be true.

I was reading that the area was originally developed as a movie set and a number of movies have been filmed there including some from the 1930s (like Treasure Island) and some more recent ones like Bette Midler’s “Beaches”.  Some of the abandoned cottages are in a much better condition than others but until we found out about the renovations we had been wondering why the State would allow these rather ghetto looking cottages to mar an otherwise lovely beach. Once they’ve finished the job the area is going to look completely charming.

Continuing on down the beach from the cottages (and beachfront restaurant) you will find a rocky area which is perfect for tide-pool exploration. We saw a handful of families poking their way through the rocks looking for sea creatures. It is important to note though that no critters should be disturbed, it is “look but don’t touch” folks. Also, beach-combing is verboten on this beach, no shell collecting and no turning over of rocks. Just enjoy things as they are.

Being a girl from the west coast of Canada it is always a bit of a thrill to see cacti just growing there in the wild. I had a cactus or two growing up that I tried to keep going, but my black thumb guaranteed an early death. I have zero houseplants now, I know my limitations.

Having spent several hours exploring the area we finally had enough sun and the call of food had us heading back up the beach. There were more people strolling around by later in the day, but by typical Southern California beach standards it was still pretty much empty and perfect. I love this beach.

The downside to walking to the beach from the resort is the inevitable walk back up Newport Coast Drive (all uphill) and because we were staying in the newer villas meant we were at the very top of the resort. We were both pretty hot and thirsty by the time we got back to our villa not to mention HUNGRY.

We opted for pizza that night. There is a great pizza place called Z Pizza in a nearby strip-mall that we found the last time we were in town. This strip-mall is unlike any I’ve been to in my life (consider the area, even strip malls here are FAAA-AANCY!) By the way, that is real (and well tended) ivy growing around that mall facade!

We put in our order and wandered around the mall window-shopping for 15 minutes or so to kill time. There were a few clothing stores with some very expensive and very yech clothing in my opinion. Then again, I’m not exactly a housewife of Orange County and I’ve seen what those ladies wear! Bridged on either size was a Banana Republic and a Gap, nary an Old Navy to be found…I mean face it, the Gap is probably considered gauche by many of the locals.

Steaming pizzas in hand we headed  to our home away from home. I used every ounce of control not to start eating in the car on the way back it smelled sooo good. I totally recommend Z pizza by the way. It is tasty and for those who need it, has vegan and gluten-free options.

Our vacation was just zipping by! I was enjoying myself so much but I was starting to get that “vacation is almost over” melancholy feeling. I made an effort to push that aside though, we still had one more full day in SoCal and I didn’t want to spoil it brooding. Besides how long can one brood while staring at palm trees?

I’m not really sure at what age the amusement park phobia hit me. I  do recall however, that in my teens I would go on ANY ride without thought but somewhere along the way even that crazy swinging pirate ship at our local fair had me hanging on for dear life.

Other than the sheen of  the Disney’s sugar-coated false sense of security, (there have been deaths look it up!) for some reason I am also okay with rides that are either completely in the dark (no matter how scary), involve water in some way or are inside of a building. Bonus points to those rides that qualify for all three. I am all about not knowing what is about to hit me, I’m a first class worrier.

The reason I bring all that up is the next stop on our California amusement park extravaganza was Universal Studios. The last time I set foot in Universal I’m fairly certain they didn’t have any rides to speak of other than the studio tour. I didn’t even get to see much of that because Chris was 2 and a half at the time and after the classic Battlestar Galactica Cylons jumped out of the trees and started shooting at our tram, I spent the bulk of the ride trying to peel a screaming toddler off me.

These days they’ve put money into it and built themselves some pretty darn good rides, certainly not of the Magic Mountain gut busting calibre but certainly my speed.  Admittedly I did do a little youtube research before I committed to riding (mamma’s not crazy) and it looked like I would be able to handle everything there without freaking out.

We managed to get out the door a little earlier this go-round which was needed to get through the LA traffic. Universal is more of a drive from where we were staying and guaranteed we would be stuck in some sort of traffic.

I tried to get a shot of the “Hollywood” sign from the freeway but no dice. My new little camera is excellent for its compact size but didn’t have enough oomph to get a clear shot from a moving vehicle at that distance. I did catch a semi-non-blurry shot of downtown LA as we zoomed by only cos of the FIB tower from “Independence Day” and the fact I think the architecture is kinda nifty.

Okay well here is a Hollywood sign, not the famous one.. but still ;)

The weather that day was simply gorgeous, warm with a blue blue sky and considering it was late October a sight for this Raincouver resident’s eyes I can tell you. In fact sitting here writing this while the weather here calls for snow tonight has me wishing I was back there right now :(

We made pretty good time getting there and the lines to the parkade were moving quite efficiently. They offer two rates to park there, one that with extra dough gets you closer to the entrance to Universal but the walk from the parkade is negligible and takes you through a downtown area similar to downtown Disney (Downtown Universal?) with shops and restaurants. I kind of liked walking through all that personally it had a fun vibe. We figured we’d check out the stores on the way back to the car so we didn’t end up carrying stuff around, especially as there were rides in our future.

I really found I enjoyed this family trip more than the ones in recent past. The boys being older and finally appreciating what they were given were fun to be around and in good spirits. Seriously people shouldn’t bother travelling with teenagers, they just don’t get it unless they are 12 and under or over 19 at least in my experience.

Oh, quick word of advice if anyone who happens to read this finds themselves at Universal, USE THE FAST SELF SERVICE LINE! It was kind of sad/annoying how many people stood in line at the conventional ticket booth and some guy had to get on the loudspeaker every minute or so to encourage people to use the self-service. I mean the lines at the booth was HUGE and it boggles my mind how people who have to be used to ATMs or some other sort of self-service device avoid ticket machines like the plague. I see the same phenomenon at the movie theatre and mind you, I also hate being stuck behind some person that cannot for the life of them operate one of these so I guess it is a double-edged sword.

We were quickly ticketed up and headed to the park. We found out that we could turn our one day admission into a season’s pass (no extra $$ required, just a visit to a booth inside the venue at any given time that day.) Sure who knows if we will be back in LA in 2012 but no harm, no foul to convert them. They use a bio-metric fingerprint scan for identification, I’m guessing to ensure you are the person who uses the pass from then on it. I’m sure that has the conspiracy theorists and privacy people in a tizzy. Eh, if people don’t like it don’t do it. I feel the same way about a retinal scan, if it gets me through line-ups faster at Customs I’m all for it, I’ve got nothing to hide.

Walking through the gates we saw this..ut oh.. I know it is Hallowe’en time and all but seriously? Clowns?

I really really really hate clowns, and there were some really messed up clowns there and regular clowns are scary enough. I’m telling you if there were any live clowns walking around you wouldn’t have seen me for dust.

Not to worry, there were also zombies.

I can handle zombies, and they may, you know, eat the clowns.

Having zero clue where to go first we decided to head in a counter-clockwise pattern and walked right into the first venue; a “4D” Shrek movie.

It was cute and interactive and you haven’t lived until you’ve been sneezed on by a donkey.

Next we decided to bite the bullet and line up for the studio back-lot tour in case it got even busier in the park.

Good plan as it turns out, because though we faced a fairly long line-up the line behind us was a LOT worse.

It also seemed they were having some tram issues because there was a very long stretch before we actually saw one pull up. They finally got their rhythm and there seemed to be a new one every five minutes or so. The video “host” of the tour is Jimmy Fallon so you are forced to get to watch a bunch of Jimmy Fallon skits while standing in the people corrals. They get old pretty fast. So what do I do? I take more pictures of course.

When it was our turn we ended up on the first car in the tram along with the non-video host, an affable fellow who gamely interacted with the taped video tour and actually seemed to like his job. I’ve experienced a lot of people in this type of role who you can almost hear the click of their eyes as they roll back in their heads and rattle off their patter.

As we drove along the sound stages we encounter our first celeb sighting. Oh my gosh some of the gang from Scooby-Doo!

Yeah, anyone going on these tours expecting some kind of close encounter with an actor is going to be sorely disappointed but I thought it was a cute set-up and probably fun for the kiddies. Pretty easy gig for the characters too as they just stand there and wave rather than posing with kids and they were in the shade. Of course Daphne and Shaggy there have it better than the poor sap in the fur suit.

The guide pointed out various sound stages and mentioned what was currently being filmed there. We passed the ones being used by CSI (Vegas) and while I couldn’t see anything from my side of the tram Sean said he could see into the Lab so that is kind of cool. You don’t get to visit any of the sound stages on this tour. Now THAT would be fun.

What is really sad, is the loss of a lot of the town square from Back to the Future and other iconic sets due to the fire they had at Universal a couple of years ago. They also lost the King Kong animatronic figure with the banana breath. It has since been “replaced” by a 3D movie battle between King Kong and some angry Dinos which you experience while sitting on the tram and surrounds you. It was pretty cool but the dinausaurs spit some pretty gnarly smelling water at you. Universal really likes to spray you with water.

Here’s an old report the day after the fire.

Not much of the set is left, even though they often re-purpose things for other movies it was fun to see it the last time I was down there. From what I’ve since read the original clock tower had caught fire in the past. I still have some of the original set’s pictures in my print archives which I need to drag out and scan one of these days. Most of them were taken by my ex because of the previously mentioned terrified toddler stuck to me so many of the pictures aren’t particularly good! Ah well.

It is also pretty hard to take pictures as the trams move pretty quickly and often what you really want to see is on the other side so you get a lot of shots across the people in your row and a little piece of the set in the background. You know like this: I really wanted to get a shot of D-Day’s Deathmobile from Animal House but this is the best I got.

Somethings don’t change though, part of the tour takes you through a subway station and lo and behold and earthquake strikes and causes a train to derail and pipes to burst. That and the flash flood haven’t changed that much from my recollection.

One thing that did change a little was the town of Amity because while also used in Jaws I seem to remember it was also used in Murder She Wrote. It is all clearly Amity now.

Of course it wouldn’t be Amity without a little Jaws sighting…

The tour also still takes you down the “Colonial Street” cul-de-sac with a lot of the classic tv show houses that now are occupied by the ladies of Wisteria Lane a shame really, I mean even the Munster’s house was modified and is now part of the set. But I guess as a working studio they need to use their assets.

Another sucky part is the proximity of sets to one another sometimes when you’re trying to take a picture. For instance the set of The Grinch is right behind the set from Psycho. My first attempt to get a shot of the Bates Motel had some weird Who-ville building blooming out of the back of it.

A quick adjustment and I managed to get at least part of the motel, sign and the house in a shot without wondering where Cindy Lou Who may appear from. It would ruin the mood yanno?

A nice touch though is another “actor” in the role of Norman who we “catch” in the act of carrying a body. Norman then grabs a knife and comes at the tram. The people in the back probably get more of a close encounter as we were well on our way in the front before he got too close. He was looking right at me when I took this pic though.

EEk! Run! Can I also say though, NICE CAR THERE NORMAN BABY!

We also went through the set for “War of the Worlds” which was really well done. The destruction was impressively real looking..

and it certainly doesn’t hurt to have a REAL destroyed jet fuselage included.

Not to mention smoking wreckage…

I love the details they’ve put into this including a dust buster caught up in a bush outside a destroyed home.

After the tour (it is worth it, it is still fun for me) we went back up the escalators to the main park area and went on the Simpson’s Ride. It is one of those virtual reality rides where you’re in a box that moves around while you watch a movie. Cute and well done though.

I also like how their souvenir shot is set up as a Kwik-E-Mart.

The next ride de jour was “Revenge of the Mummy” which is an inside roller coaster in the dark (check and check!) I was getting a wee bit nervous looking at the ride warnings beside a video showing (warning?) what to expect to the folks while they wait but I went on it and man I’m glad I did, it was AWESOME! I know for a fact I screamed a lot though but in glee not terror. HUGE difference for me!

After the ride you walk out and there was this guy on stilts in an Egyptian costume standing very still who jumped out and scared people. We had just seen him do it to someone so we weren’t his target (I think I would have peed myself if someone did that to me) but it was darn funny watching it happen to other people. A group of girls got the fright of their lives and when they realized a second later what happened and they laughed he started to chase them and they ran off screaming it was hilarious! He gamely posed for pictures with them once they calmed down (ha!) and then came back and joined his female counterpart for more picture posing. I nudged Chris up to pose with the girl (didn’t take much prodding with her in that outfit) and Tom went along with it.  I ended up with this picture. Classic!

We then went to the Jurassic Park ride which the “scary” part is A) Inside B) In the dark C)Involves water (check, check and check!) It is definitely a splashy ride, I mean you get wet the minute you sit down because the boats you ride in are still wet from the many rides prior but that is nothing compared to the final plunge down an 84 foot near vertical drop into a lagoon. You get soaked! Loved it! Left up to me we would have gone on it again but the boys had no interest (Tom was willing). They just don’t appreciate the water rides, I had the same reaction when I wanted to go back on Splash Mountain (sigh).

Hunger was calling by then so we went back up another set of escalators to forage for food. Part-way up the long multi-escalator ride is a space capsule with some cardboard cut-out figures from Apollo 13. I just couldn’t resist those ears.

After consulting the map and then still wandering around some we decided to try a place that was set up like a diner from the 50′s. The food was, shall we say underwhelming and waaaay overpriced but that is standard for these places no?

On the way out we converted our tickets into season’s passes and then decided we’d had enough for the day and checked out a few shops before we headed out. I picked up a nifty Bates Motel mug and Sean bought a Jaws t-shirt of the classic poster shot and the words “do-do… do-do… dum dum dum dum” (or something like that) written on the back. Clever!

We did the cheesy pose in front of the sign thing of course…

And a shot of the Universal globe thingie too.

We walked back through Universal City Walk and poked into a few of the shops there. I managed to find a store where I picked up a Beatles Yellow Submarine mug as well. I needed to keep in mind the small shared suitcase every time I was tempted to buy anything on this trip!

Would I go back again next year should we find ourselves back in SoCal?  Yep! You bet! But I would try a different restaurant or wait to eat until we left the park.