Universal Studios Hollywood

This was my second visit to Universal Studios Hollywood.
This time round, it was near the Christmas season and hence it was considered peak season.
It was really crowded. I would not suggest you visit during peak season as the queues to all attractions were super long and it was so crowded everywhere. Plus the ticket price was more expensive during peak season. You can check online for the peak and non-peak seasons.
We had no choice as we were only in LA during the peak season.

Christmas Deco

A feel of the crowd

I got to zoom in to get a shot without heads in front of the globe

Pano view of the lower lot

Studio Tour - was my fave from my last visit but this time round, I got a terrible headache from queuing at least a good 2 hrs for the ride.

Colorful Simpsons

Outlet mall hopping last Oct

After returning from the States 2 months ago, I finally sat down to pin drop all the outlet malls we went in Florida through our road trip from Orlando to Miami.
Actually the outlet malls were mainly used as our pit stops to replenish ourselves during the long hours drive. We had our meals, toilet break, shopping, and rest.

Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida

We spent a week in here in Orlando Florida.

First by spending 3 nights in a disney hotel All Stars Sports and then moved to Orlando downtown hotel for Universal and shopping.

We totally love the experience. We purchased park hopper in our package with meals option. So we can actually hop from one park to another any time without having to worry about which day is for which. If Magic Kingdom is too crowded, we can always pop over to Animal Kingdom first. The bus services were top notch. Easy and comfortable.

Epcot is the top choice for boys above 9yo. It was much fun there trying out the Chevrolet Design Studio.

The all time favorite Magic Kingdom.

My family enjoyed the Safari ride for the Animal Kingdom, the view was awesome.

 
 

Las Vegas Day 1

Yet another sunny day, we are lucky!

Las Vegas is totally a different world from Tokyo. It is very vibrant but people are like zombies & service sucks. Or rather I must say there is no service at all. NYNY hotel is very old, rundown and poor in facilities.

Once u stepped into the hotel main lobby, there is no single window where u get to see outside. You have no idea if it is day or night. Like a typical casino place, the gaming machines are all around you. It is not suitable for kids.
Many people came to the city of sin, for one reason or another. From shopping, gambling, entertainment to Grand Canyon!
'What happens on Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas'
But I will still blog about my experience.

The best thing we can take away from Las Vegas is really the Grand Canyon. It was an awesome road trip.

Grand Canyon

Why I said the service is very poor in NYNY.
We arrived late afternoon to LV on the 10th. Our Grand Canyon south rim trip booked much earlier was scheduled pick up at 6am on the next day where I planned to spend my birthday! 
Due to jetlag, we slept around 8pm that night and woke up early for the day trip. However, due to the US govt shutdown, the south rim was closed, we waited for almost an hour at the hotel side entrance with no sign of our tour bus coming. The rest of the other tours came and left. There was no one around for us to ask. Finally we went to the conceige for help. They finally agreed to help us call the tour company and to our horror, they tried to contact us via hotel about the cancellation and possible replacement but the hotel did not inform us.
From then on, we used our international mobile to make arrangement with the tour company and replacement the trip to the west rim on the next day. It actually took us the whole morning to reschedule everything. Time wasted! We could be out walking on the strip!

I ended up spending my birthday shopping at outlet mall :) Another blog on that later.

Well I must say I don't regret coming to the west rim. It is very grand. 

The distance from vegas to west rim is shorter than south rim. The tour included breakfast, lunch and bottled water were provided throughout unlike the Mt. Fuji tour.

 

See the picture above, can you spot the eagle flying toward you?

 That's the lovely eagle point.

The travel plan for FALL 2013

The great fall travel from Asia to America.
This is my pre-departure note. The idea of this trip was mooted sometimes in July. The objective was a overseas exposure on basketball cum holiday for the family after the big exam PSLE!
 
Hence the itinerary will have to designed / planned around the basketball event.  
When come to basketball, we are definitely talking about USA & NBA. We want to see Miami in action. Therefore, the state to visit is definitely going to be Florida. Since we are going to Florida, we might as well go Disneyland!!! 
Yes! I am a Disney fan. So far, I have been to Tokyo, Paris and HK Disneyland. 

I started to research on the available flight options. As usual, our first choice of airline is SQ since we are going half way across the globe..

Although options were aplenty, I can tell you it is not easy to get a reasonably priced, minimum hours route, comfortable airline. I am not keen on UA as I had bad experiences with them, engine failure and poor service. Talk about it on another post.  
My first choice was going via New York by Singapore airline which was our favorite. However, the transit and pricing were both not ideal. I spoke to some friends and there were suggestion to go via London direct to Orlando. It is always good to talk to more people to get ideas and opinions. We were seriously considering this option when we visited the travel agency to make reservation on multi-cities option because I couldnt find on internet to do this. It was at this point that the agency recommended delta airline.
Since delta flies via Tokyo, the thought of going for a quick stopover in Tokyo took place as a by-the-way trip. *happy
Slowly from August when the dates of travel became clearer, I began to make arrangement.
As I was planning the itinerary, there were a few days to spare. At that point when I was about to make reservation for air tickets, the Las Vegas sector popped into my mind. Grand Canyon was one of my must-visit places! I definitely want to take this chance to go take a look. So finally, our multi-cities fall trip read as follow:-

Singapore-Tokyo-LV(viaLA)-Orlando(Atlanta)-Bradenton-Miami-Atlanta-Tokyo-Singapore.

Wow! I even get the chance to celebrate my birthday in Vegas! I am so blessed!

 

After Disneyland, we even have time to visit an old friend in Florida.

We are looking forward to watch the season opening match between Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls. How wonderful! I thank God for all these possibilities!

Next I started to plan the daily itinerary.

We have hotels booked in Tokyo, Las Vegas, Orlando & Miami. 

Mt. Fuji day tour check. Grand Canyon explorer check! Disneyland 2 days park hopper check! Miami Heat tickets check!

We are almost ready! We pray for smooth traveling.

I am so looking forward to the outlets shopping, photography, theme parks and Miami opening basketball match. How can I use words to describe my excitement?