Keith and I walked to a local bakers and picked up some pastries for breakfast this morning, a lovely little shop although not far from the questionable restaurant from last night!! We all shared 2 chocolate almond croissants, 1 pistachio croissant and a raisin pastry ($25), along with some orange juice.
This mornings plan was to visit the Griffith Observatory up in the Hollywood Hills. It was not too far from hotel, about 7 miles. Following some info I had found online we parked up and planned to walk up to the Observatory as we thought there wouldn't be any car parking spaces at the top as it get really busy. We set off walking but the heat combined with looking at the climb up soon had us returning to the car to give the car park at the Observatory a try! We took the windy road up and actually had just a couple of minutes wait before a car pulled out and we had our space! Looking back there was no way we'd have made the walk up there!
The views up here were incredible! It was hot again today and slightly hazy but wow, you really get a much better sense of just how huge Los Angeles is! Fabulous views all the way to the ocean. The bonus of course up here is the views of the Hollywood Sign.
We spent quiet a while looking at all the views and taking loads of photos before heading into the Observatory itself, first to see the telescope and then inside the main building to see the science displays. Loads of interesting things to see in here and nice to be out of the sun for a while! We loved it.
Back to the car and we headed down the hill back towards Hollywood. With Sarah's navigation we drove along Hollywood Boulevard to see the stars on the Walk of Fame, along with sights like the Dolby Theatre and the Chinese Theatre. We didn't have any plans to stop here, we had all decided it wasn't worth it for us but it was nice to see. We carried on all the way to the end then took the winding roads up the mountains to Mulholland Drive, to see some of the homes of the rich and famous! We stopped at a couple of view points to take in the city, the first high above Universal Studios giving a great view of the park, the second giving a different view of the Hollywood Sign.
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| Universal Studios from the hills above LA |
The road ends just a short distance from our hotel and we headed back to have a rest and a cool down for a while. I took the opportunity to phone Mum and Dad for a catch up before we headed out to late lunch/early dinner at Denny's.
This evening is our first planned visit to Universal Studios as we realised Sunday would be busy but with a late opening time we hoped it would get quieter and we would be able walk around and get a feel for the park and maybe get a few rides in. We parked in the Curious George 4 section of the park, walked through City Walk to park entrance. It was round 5 o'clock and the park was still busy and hot! We wandered round the upper lot and Sarah, Keith and I decided to try Harry Potter which said 30 min wait.
Brilliant ride, and we noted they were using single ride access as well! We were off the ride and back with Stephen in just under 30 mins.
We took the 4 long escalators to the lower lot where 3 of us did Transformers. Stephen was quite happy soaking up the atmosphere and wandering around.
Ride complete we headed off together into Nintendo World, queues for Bowsers ride had been showing at around 60-80 mins so we decided not to bother and leave it til tomorrow. The Mummy was now showing 15 mins so we all decided to ride, Stephen was very excited for this ride as he'd been quite young and terrified of this ride in Orlando. Very good although I felt it wasn't as long as the Orlando version, but that might be my memory! Will have to look up the differences.
Stephen decided to keep wandering the park while we headed back to the upper lot and did the hour long back lot tour which was showing no queue. Was an incredible experience, with at least four rider "interactive" sections. Much, much better than any Orlando backlot tour!
Back together and Stephen and Sarah decided to do Harry Potter as single riders. The area was very busy as there was a light show due to start at the castle. Keith and I found ourselves a viewing spot where we could also catch the kids as they came out. They were out within about 10 minutes, no queues for the ride at all, so we all stood and watched the light show at 8.50.
Many people were now leaving the park, but with an hour still left and the ride queues quiet we decided to do more.
Simpsons was completed in about 25 mins, the Sarah and Stephen decided to head back to the lower lot where they re-rode Transformers and The Mummy. Keith and I were shattered so sat happily people and sunset watching on the upper level with an ice-cream (24 degrees at 9.30!).
We had a message from the kids informing us that Jurassic World had opened (it had been showing as closed for refurb since we arrived) so we quickly grabbed our bags and bottles and walked down the escalators as quickly as we could to meet up with Sarah and Stephen and joined the very short queue. We were quickly on the ride. Brilliant, again I think I prefer this one to the Orlando version!
It was now past park closing so we set of on the long slow return to the car (feet were really aching by now) up the 4 escalators to the upper level, through the park, through City Walk and back to the car park.
Thank goodness the hotel is just a 4 min drive away. Quick wash, cup of tea and we were all soon asleep!
What a fantastic, and very full, long, day! Thoroughly enjoyed our morning at the Griffith Observatory and achieved far more than we expected at Universal this evening. Spirits were high even if our feet were screaming with tiredness!
