For Christmas, Aaron surprised me with a weekend trip to Los Angeles to go to Disneyland and Universal Studios. One of my best friends, Brandon, lives in LA so we had the added bonus of getting to visit him as well. The first day we were there, we all went out to Delilah in West Hollywood for dinner, which we loved! The food was great, and it’s such a cute restaurant (also a celeb hot spot). The ambiance is very intimate with an old-Hollywood feeling. I didn’t get any great photos because technically no photos or videos are allowed, but we highly recommend it if you’re in the area.
Disneyland
I love Disneyland, and it’s been forever since I’ve gone. I was so sad because before the pandemic hit, my bachelorette party was originally supposed to be in LA and include a day there. Aaron had only been once and not even for a full day, so I’ve been dying to go with him. It didn’t mean quite as much to him because he didn’t grow up watching Disney movies (if you can believe that), but he still loved the whole atmosphere. Brandon took the day off of work to go to Disney with us, which was so fun! Funny enough, the last time I went to Disneyland was actually with Brandon in 2015 shortly after we first met.
Shortly after we got there we decided to all buy the Genie passes, which were so useful! It cost $20 per person and let us sign up for lightning passes throughout the day on the Disney app, where you can also see live wait times for all the rides. It was so worth it because we were able to get lightning passes for nearly all the rides with wait times longer than 30 minutes.
I’m a planner, so I scouted out all the food and treats I wanted beforehand. We had Monte Cristo sandwiches for lunch in the New Orleans area. Overall they were pretty good, although they were definitely heavy on the batter. I’m a big fry gal, so I loved the fries that came with it. It was a lot of fried food in one sitting, so next time I would plan on splitting that meal and then having another small/shared meal later. For dinner, I knew we would want something more substantial so we ate at the Plaza Inn. I had the fried chicken with potatoes and green beans, and the guys both had the pot roast. I chose the chicken because it looked like more food, but I definitely had food envy.
I’ve been watching my nutrition lately, so I didn’t have too much of a desire to eat a lot of treats. But the one treat I was set on was the Mickey Mouse raspberry macaron. It exceeded my expectations and was so big that I had to have Aaron finish it for me. And hey, it’s also really cute. 🙂 While I was taking a picture we probably had at least five people stop and ask where we got it! (The answer is Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe in the plaza in front of the castle.) Aaron and Brandon had probably six churros between the two of them, and we didn’t branch out much other than that.
Going into it, we knew nothing about the new Star Wars area or rides. Rise of the Resistance was the only ride we had a long wait for, but it was 100% worth it. It’s such an immersive experience—it’s more than just a ride.
By the end of the day, we had walked around 10 miles and were absolutely wiped out. But it was the best day!
Universal Studios
Aaron and I went to Universal Studios the next day. I’ve been to Universal in Orlando many years ago, but really wanted to go back to see all the Harry Potter additions. We didn’t care for the rest of the park, but the Hogsmeade area was so fun. We got butterbeer, went to Ollivander’s, ate at the Hog’s Head, and shopped at Honeydukes. Aaron wanted me to have an interactive wand since I’m a big Harry Potter fan, so you can bet I waited in line behind all the kids to try out the spells (they’re harder than you’d think).
It was such a fun weekend trip, and I can’t wait to go back to LA again!
