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Day 1: Thursday, November 3 we flew out to San Diego and immediately started touring hotels. Our first day we saw and met with our contacts and toured 9 of our hotels. We had a super amazing lunch at Humphrey's Half Moon Inn and got to spend some of the afternoon at SeaWorld. I hadn't been since I was little and have only ever been to the one in Orlando so this was neat to refresh my memory. That night and the following we stayed at the Hilton San Diego Airport. Great location, cheap Uber ride to Seaport Village, and pretty views!
Day 2: Friday was another day in San Diego!
7 hotels and the San Diego Zoo! I loveee the zoo. Like any zoo. But the San Diego Zoo is like the National Zoo in D.C., it's a classic! Of course my favorite part was the elephants, but they had baby giraffes and of course the panda bears! Such a great experience. I have to say I loved it so much more than SeaWorld and I probably could have spent the entire day there! We went shopping and had dinner in Seaport Village and it was so cute!
Day 3: Finishing up in San Diego and heading to Carlsbad!
We finished up San Diego with 2 of our most popular S.D. hotels, then got to check out the USS Midway Museum and have lunch at the Fish Market Restaurant before heading up to Carlsbad. This was my first time in Carlsbad and the town itself is really cute with great shopping outlets that we hit hard that night. We saw 7 of our Carlsbad hotels before checking into the Legoland Hotel! Which is insane. And I'm not sure I ever want to stay there hahaha. It's like Chuck-E-Cheese on steroids for a hotel. But it was cool because of course all the rooms are themed and they all have king beds with bunk beds so we all got our own rooms. I had a pirate room and they have these great Lego chests that you follow clues around the hotel to get the code to crack the safe and get your goodies.
Day 4: Legoland and Huntington Beach!
Sunday was one of my favorite days of the trip because we spent the morning touring Legoland and their Sea Life Aquarium (above photos) before heading to Huntington Beach and we had pretty much the whole evening off. We stayed at a SUPER nice hotel called the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach which had a private entrance to the beach, was only about a half mile from the pier and all the shops, and was overall a beautiful resort. We all headed to the beach for a few hours and then got cleaned up and went shopping before finishing the night at Duke's on the pier, which is incredible, if you've never been. It's their only stateside location, the other being in Hawaii. Super yummy!
Day 5: The first day of Anaheim and the worst day of the trip.
So one thing a lot of our guests love about us is our partnership with most of the hotels up and down Harbor Blvd., AKA the hotels closest to Disneyland. While this is great, it made for a rough day for me and two of my fellow pregnant co-workers as we walked the entire length of the blocks around the parks and toured 13 hotels. It was a long, long day. That night we checked into the Disneyland Hotel for that night and the following, and we had a special dinner in the Blue Sky Suite in the top floor of the Disneyland Hotel with our awesome Disney contact, following by VIP seating for the original World of Color show in California Adventure Park! So, so magical and a great way to end a tough day. I slept well that night (and included a photo of the light up headboard I slept under)!
Day 6: More Anaheim, Knott's Berry Farm, & Medieval Times!
10 hotels this day, then a few fun hours at Knott's Berry Farm! Which meant no rides for me since it's all big roller coasters, but I did play a few of my co-workers in a 3-point competition... which was super awkward with my own personal basketball under my shirt. But the very best part of the day happened when we got to Medieval Times. For anyone who doesn't know how this goes, you're placed in a specific section that corresponds with a knight who fights to win the games, so it's always most fun when your knight wins. Not only did our knight win but he also had a crush on one of my co-workers and roommate, Kourteney. He couldn't keep his eyes off her and it made for quite the show!
Day 7: Last day of hotels!
By Wednesday, we were all getting to be beyond exhausted. We had another long day of touring hotels and meeting with contacts but we finally had a light at the end of the tunnel! This night and the last, we stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge in Anaheim. This place was like a vacation in itself, which is actually what they want out of it so it's funny that it's located so close to Disneyland. This hotel has a huge indoor water park, complete with water slides, a lazy river, FloRider, a wave pool, splash pads, and an outdoor pool. Downstairs they have miniature golf, bowling, and so much more. It's a kid's paradise! We didn't have much time to enjoy it since we had a reception with most of our hotel contacts for drinks and hors d'ourves, so once we got back to our rooms we crashed.
Day 8: Disneyland will forever be ruined.
On our last full day in California, we were in Disneyland by 8 am and didn't get back to our rooms until almost 11 pm. I was warned that being treated to a Disneyland day with our contacts was like nothing else I would ever experience and would ruin every other Disneyland trip for me from here on out and now I know why. We were treated like royalty! They saved our Disneyland day for November 10 because it was opening day of the holidays, and I'm so glad they did. I forgot how magical Disney is around the holidays. We rode all the new rides (and the classics) without any wait since we had 4 private tour guides who took us on to the front of the line at every ride. My lucky co-workers got to ride Tower of Terror one last time and we went on a few baby-safe rides for us pregnant ladies. We got to see the new Frozen play live at the Hyperion Theater in California Adventure Park, eat lunch at Flo's V8 Cafe in Carsland, watched the Christmas parade, had a private dinner party with Jasmine and Aladdin, and had VIP seating for the fireworks that night. I successfully checked off my food bucket list with a churro, a jalapeno cream cheese stuffed pretzel, and of course, a Dole whip. This day was worth the wait and I'm so glad it was saved for last!!
Day 9: Our final SoCal day and Universal Studios Hollywood!
Full disclaimer: I am SUCH a nerd. I was so excited for Universal to see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and it did not disappoint! We rode a good amount of rides and walked around Diagon Alley, got our frozen butterbeers, and enjoyed the last of our time in California before flying out of LAX, but we were all so excited to get home. It was a long trip, but a good one and I'm so grateful for my wonderful co-workers who have become better friends and for all the laughs we shared. Get Away Today is such a great company to work for and I'm so glad I got to experience this opportunity!
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