Adventures By Disney Backstage Magic Tour

Before we get started I want all readers to realize that despite my stilted observations I loved this trip. It was the best vacation we have ever had and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Much of this was due to Quinn and Michelle our extrodinary guides and the other wonderful people who also took this trip. I have no criticisms of this adventure; I do have some suggestions which will be passed along during the narrative of the tour.

(click on any photo to enlarge)


Day One:

Whisked from LAX in a gas-guzzling black SUV like we were visiting dignitaries, we arrived at the Marriott Hollywood Renaissance Hotel connected to the Hollywood & Highland Shopping and Entertainment Complex. In doing web searches on the H&HS&EC the sites were filled with wonderful pictures of what appeared to be an expansive complex and data about how the renovation of the area cost some 600 gazillion dollars; “387,000 square feet of national and local fashion and luxury retailers, some of Hollywood's hottest clubs and restaurants and the 3,400-seat Kodak Theatre. The center features over 60 top retailers [if you consider Hot Topic a top fashion or luxury retailer], nine of L.A.'s finest restaurants [like California Pizza Kitchen, Cold Stone Creamery, and El Famous Buritto], Grauman’s Chinese 6 Theatres, two popular nightclubs and Lucky Strike Lanes, a high tech and trendy bowling alley/nightclub”. There was very little there that cannot be found in most suburban shopping malls; I wasn’t all that impressed but then I did not catch the pre-visit hype about Lucky Strike Lanes otherwise I would definitely have checked it out as I have never seen a “trendy bowling alley/nightclub”. In my life the words “trendy” and “bowling alley” have never been used in the same sentence no less appeared right next to each other. I tend to envision a lot of black lighting with glow-in-the-dark bowling balls and pins.

There was one jewel in the H&HS&EC and that was the uWink restaurant. The food was very good and you ordered via a computer touch screen which is at every place setting on the table. Ironically it took the server much longer to explain the system to us than it would have taken her to just write our order down. Once you have mastered the ordering process (I would have loved to have had my mother along...we'd still be ordering) you get one hour of free gaming time on the computer so that you do not have to actually interact with anyone else at the table. Like I said, the food was good.





The great thing about Southern California is that you never know when you will spy a celebrity. What luck, three were lurking just outside the hotel; Ice from the X-Men, Ariel the Little Mermaid, and Homer Simpson.


Anyway, back to Day One. Before Dinner on Sunday night, there was a brief reception at Twist, the hotel’s bar and restaurant. After introductions and learning that every other girl on the trip was named “Katie” we took a short walk to an Italian restaurant, Trastevere (I realize that this is an Italian name but why would you want to use something that is so close to the English word “Travesty”?), in the H&HS&EC. The food was OK, nothing special, in fact the thing I remember most was the rather heavily tattooed woman in charge of the wait staff.

Prior to dinner a Disney trivia game was scheduled which turned out to be a good ice breaker for the group. The girls and I had been boning up on Disney trivia for several weeks prior to the trip and the competition was daunting. I was up against the fearless duo of Ben and Cameron, who won the trip on Radio Disney so I knew they were capable of pulling a lucky break. Next up was the disarmingly charming and clairvoyant Rachel who divined many of the answers before the questions were asked. My last nemesis was one of the Katie’s who, at first glance, looked like a freshman in High School but turned out to be an upper level co-ed studying animation (which really should have disqualified her if you asked me). She was very knowledgeable and this, along with her youthful appearance, took me out of my game as I thought I was getting my butt whooped by a high school girl. There were also some irregularities with the score keeping and some sort of conspiracy against me as my button was turned off for a good portion of the game (my senator has promised a full investigation).

We had the rest of the evening on our own so we skipped east, down Hollywood Boulevard to the Hollywood Wax Museum. This was an educational venture which taught me to never again spend $67 bucks to get the family into a Hollywood tourist trap.

This is a very good likeness of the volleyball used in the Tom Hanks film "Castaway"



I don't know on this one; the clothes say "Ace Ventura" but the face say "Mortimer Snerd"
























Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith doing the "Macarena"

Coming up: Day Two!