Monday, October 19, 2009

3rd Annual Halloween trip to Southern California


^ Phat's first trip for Halloween. Yay!!!

Every Halloween season we head to SoCal and visit Knott's Scary Farm and Disneyland. The year we decided to visit Halloween Horror Nights (HHN) at Universal Studios instead of going to Knott's Scary Farm.

Here's Robin. It's her first trip too and I think her last...


No matter how many times I fly I always take a peek at the Sky Mall.


It's a circle Rainbow.



Normally when we go to Knott's Scary Farm we stay at the Knott's Berry Hotel.

Knott's Berry Farm is only a few minutes from Disneyland so we just drive to Disneyland from Knott's, but since Universal Studios is about 45min away we decided to stay near Disneyland this year.

So we choose the Anaheim Plaza Hotel and Suites.

It is only about 100yards away from the main entrance to Disneyland. It's also cheap.

We got the Family Suite. Which is pretty much 2 rooms with the joint door. It's cheaper if your book the Family Suite instead of booking two individual rooms.

The rooms are nothing fancy but serve it's purpose. A place to sleep. Were going to spend the whole day in Disney and Universal so there's no reason to splurge on a nice room like the Disney Grand Californian.

The Anaheim Plaza Hotel and Suites does charge a $4 a day parking fee if you have a car.

The rooms were decent. It's what I expected. I have no complaints and they let us check in early. I would stay here again. It's really convenient.




The rooms have a small fridge, but only one had a microwave.


Here is something you don't usually get when you rent a room. A backyard. Weird but interesting at the same time. For the smokers it was a good thing.




So we checked in and we headed to Rosco's Chicken & Waffles. This is our second year going.



What John had been waiting for the entire trip. An Eclipse. It's a lemon aid, Fruit Punch & Pineapple ( or was it OJ?)


Mac & Cheese. It was ok.

Fried Chicken smothered in gravy and onions.


mmmm. Waffles.


Phat wasn't really fond of their cornbread. It was light and fluffy like cake. He likes it dense. It was alright to me. Could have been a bit sweeter or at least give us honey butter.


This is the #2. It's a 1/4 chicken smothered in gravy and onions and a dab of hot sauce with a side of waffles. Last year we went and we got the 1/2 chicken that proved to be way too much. This time it was just enough to leave you wanting more chicken. There's enough waffle though a bit too much. I could do with just one waffle. Everyone was only able to finish one waffle. It fills your up quick.




Here we are at Universal Studios City walk. It's very similar to Downtown Disney.

It's just a strip of restaurants and shops located right by the entrance to Universal Studios.









We were on a mission to get drunk before we head into HHN. So our plan was to hop bars. So the first bar we went to was Karl Strauss Brewing Co.

We went straight to the bar.

Took our shot and headed for the next bar. Thank you John for the first round. Notice how John's Heny shot is served in a regular shot glass. John left a nice tip too... It will play it's purpose later.

A few of the shops along the way


The famous Universal Studios Globe.


The next bar we hit was the Saddle Ranch.

The shots at Saddle Ranch were served in their traditional shot glass. The vodka and patron shots were small compared to Karl's it was about the same price too. Thanks Phil for the second round.


So we ended up going back to Karl's. Went back to the same bartender and this is what we got. I think John's nice tip had something to do with it. Oh and just an fyi that's a rocks glass not your normal shot glass. They don't shake their liquor they stir it so it's not as water downed. Compare this shot with the pic above and this one crushes it. Thank you bartender.



John's Heny shot. Yeah that's one shot.

Offered the bartender a drink but he couldn't drink. So we left a nice tip.
Also the bartender ended up comping one of the drinks too... Like I said on my previous post. If you are generous to the bartender he will return the favor..

Yup those are Singles

We ended up going through 4-5 rounds and it was time for HHN.




When we walked by the main entrance to HHN earlier on our way to Saddle Ranch people were already in line waiting. I had high hopes for HHN to be better than Knott's Scary Farm.








I will be extremely disappointed later.

Detials on the next post.

No comments:

Post a Comment