July 20 -Laguna Beach - Malibu

 In the morning, we checked out and walked down the street to have breakfast at the Omelette Inn. Portion sizes were good, and Shay loved his omelette. We ventured over to the Queen Mary, then headed down the coast to Newport and Laguna Beaches.

Laguna was beautiful. The houses were all built on top of one another in the hills, each over looking the one below. Very crowded. Everyone's house is unique, and the streets are so narrow, especially when most people drive Escalades and H2's.

We found that the weather would be overcast in the morning as the fog from the coast rolled in, but by 2pm it was sunny and nice again on the coast. If you drove further inland it was sunny all day.

You can see the blue sky creeping in from the top corner. This was a beautiful beach in Laguna. We parked on the street, but there was a lot I think? We stayed for a few hours, then made our trek to Malibu. Word of advice. Driving north through Los Angeles in between 4 and 7 is a very bad idea.

We sat in this for awhile, then got fed up and got off to find the 1. The 1 was still busy, but at least we were right on the coast and had beautiful views of Santa Monica and Malibu. We didn't have time to stop at the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, but we drove by it and it looked nice. Malibu was very unique too. The houses were still built up on cliff sides and over looked the ocean, but they seemed to be further apart from one another.


We arrived at our pre-booked campsite in Point Mugu State Park, Thornhill site in Malibu around 8:45 as the sun was setting.

If you want to do beach camping along the coast during the summer months you must book your southern california locations online a few months in advance. I waited a little too long and didn't get all of my first choices. However, after staying the one night on the beach in Malibu, we were happy we didn't have several booked in a row, as it was very misty and wet at night, so by morning (when we had to pack up our tent) it was very wet.

Point Mugu was nice. It was essentially a strip of road on the side of a beach. All of the sites are beside each other, with no privacy. There is a fire pit with a grill. We made our own fire ring down by the ocean before reading the "no ground fires" sign. This site was great for us, as it was easy to get to (right off the 1), and everyone was in their RV's by 930, so we had the beach to ourselves. The sky cleared at night and we saw so many stars. Very pretty. The mountains and sand dunes were piled high behind us as well.

July 19 Universal Studios -Long Beach

We woke up early Tuesday morning, and packed up the car. Check out was easy, but the continental breakfast blew. It is essentially in the lobby and consists of three dry cereals and packaged honey buns from the vending machine. One family was monopolizing the table that was there for guest use, so we left in search of food and coffee. Already missing Timmy's!!

We stumbled upon this random Mexican restaurant, that was more of a walk up window with a few seats, en route to Universal. I didn't have high expectations, as I hate eggs and breakfast foods, but was very happy when they made me a BLT. It was the best BLT that I have ever eaten: texas toast, fresh lettuce, tomatoes, and so much crispy bacon. Shay loved his Mexican breakfast sandwich, and the freshly squeezed oj was delightful!

We made our way to Universal Studios. We parked in the Jurassic Zone for $15 and walked through the Universal Village to get to the park. Take note of landmarks near your parking zone, because knowing the name, gate, level and spot number isn't always enough.

We had pre-paid Front-of-line passes to Universal that we ordered online a few weeks prior. The passes got you entry and access to the front of every line for every ride, attraction and show. $140 per person, but totally worth it! Again, something I would highly recommend. Several people helped us find our way through the front gate to pick up our upgraded passes. They checked our back pack for weapons. We had water, that was ok. You might even be able to bring food in, which I would highly recommend, as food is typically expensive.

Notice the wait time of 45 minutes...not for FOL!!

It was a gorgeous hot sunny day. We decided to go for the Studio Tour first as we heard it gets busy. We had to figure out how the passes worked, which were now laminated cards that hung around our necks making us feel like groupies. As we got down to the line up for the studio tour there were already a few hundred people waiting, and the wait time was reading at least 45 minutes. We were walking the wrong way when we were stopped by people who worked there, and told to go the other way. We walked down a gated aisle made only for people with passes. It led us right past everyone in line, and directly to the front, where people in the regular line were being held back until we found seats on the tram. We felt really bad at first looking at their hot sweaty faces, but we paid for it, and this is what we were promised. UNBELIEVABLE, worth every penny. I wish they had this option for everything! Groceries, Canada's Wonderland, women's washrooms, Emergency Rooms. 


The Studio Tour is a lot of fun as you get driven through all the back lots, and old sets. They were filming some old fashioned TV show when we were there, and took us down Wisteria Lane. I don't watch Desperate Housewives, but still, very cool to see. Our driver was very animated and Jimmy Fallon added some humour. We are big movie fans, so we thoroughly enjoyed all the gimmicks. Some people could find it hokey or cheese-ball, but definitely a good time for film buffs. The King Kong 3-D portion is phenomenal. Highly recommended. At Universal they might try to sell you the upgraded VIP pass for triple the price. It includes parking, lunch, a few extra tours and they get off the trolly and walk around the wreckage from War of the Worlds, but it seemed as though they were on more of a schedule, and really it didn't seem worth it at all.

City sets on the backlot

I can't remember what show they were filming here. A period piece.

Night Rider!

Warning, Flash Floods...

Welcome to the Wild West

Amity Island....swim anyone???

Wisiteria Lane

Whoville

Bates motel....

War of the Worlds

We went to The Terminator show next. We ran there like kids, and the line had already entered. The show was about to start and the gate was closed. The two "guards" were about to turn us away until the next show until they saw our passes. They opened the gate, told us where to go, and radioed ahead to hold the show for us. AWESOME. The show was fun. Somewhat interactive, a little dated, but entertaining. T2 fans can't complain especially if they didn't wait in line.

Krustyland and the Simpson's ride was our next stop. I think The Simpson's could open up their own theme park. Next to the King Kong portion of the Studio Tour, this was by far the best ride. We had a hard time finding fault with any of the rides or shows (aside from Shrek which blew), because we didn't wait in line for any of them! I can see people being more disappointed with some of the attractions if they waited 45 minutes for it. 


Jurassic Park and The Mummy rides are both a walk away in the lower lot. Jurassic Park could have been much better. We had higher expectations and came up with a much more satisfactory version, however the plunging splash was a welcome refreshment. They do have several cooling zones throughout the park which are very necessary on hot days.


We ran through the House of Horrors and loved it, again we're Halloween people, so maybe not to everyone's taste. Lots of cheap thrills. Chucky came at me with a knife, and a werewolf grabbed me from the forest. I screamed. 


A very fun day. We did it in 6 hours or so, because of the passes, and left in a good mood. Bring Sunscreen and lots of water.


We drove to our hotel for the night which was in Long Beach. We booked it on Hotwire. (another great site). We booked a 4+ star hotel in Long Beach walking distance from the beach with all of the amenities. It ended up being the Hyatt Regency. Definitely not a 4 star hotel, but for $96 we couldn't complain. The pool and hot tub were nice, the room was dumpy and in dire need of renovations. The bathroom was dingy, and the shower/tub was cracked. Nothing extra accept a hair dryer. The Super 8 had nicer rooms. We weren't upset because we didn't pay full price for it though.


We picked up some camping chairs at Walmart, and ate dinner at King's Fish House. It was very good. A little over-priced for a fancy Red Lobster, but it was tastey. The honey crusted Salmon was delicious.


Parking at the Hyatt was $17 for overnight guests. We didn't walk to the beach, but we could see it from our hotel room.