Experience California for the first Time
From the hockey scene to Disneyland and everything in between
You’re never too old for Disneyland . . . I had heard that before but, after missing out on the experience as a kid, the appeal was sort of lost on me into adulthood.
Disneyland was no longer on my bucket list or topping my travel destinations.
That is, until the trip of a lifetime fell into my lap last month — the Ultimate California Hockey Road Trip, with stops in San Jose, Anaheim and Los Angeles, a 10-day stay in the Golden State highlighted by attending the NHL All-Star Game.
It was a hockey-themed trip, sponsored by Visit California, but it became so much more. You name it, we pretty much did it. Dodger Stadium. Universal Studios. The Warner Bros. Tour. A hop-on, hop-off through Hollywood and Beverly Hills. Another day at Venice Beach and the Santa Monica Pier. And, yes, even Disneyland. The wife-to-be had been there — as a preteen with her parents and younger brother — but my family rarely left the farm or ventured far from our small town in Saskatchewan. She flew down for the last few days and insisted that be added to our itinerary, which was kindly accommodated with Park Hopper passes.
Turns out, it’s true — Disneyland really is fun for all ages and it doesn’t get old. There is something magical about that place and something for everyone.
It would totally work as a couple’s trip, especially if you enjoy rides — Splash Mountain emerged as our favourite, and we essentially did them all (some more than once, thanks to FastPasses). For those with children, I might hold off until they are in that 8-to-15 range, to ensure they get the most out of all that Disney has to offer.
Ditto for Universal, which was geared a little more towards adults but still great for kids too. We were given front-of-line passes there and that would be a worthwhile investment for anybody.
Universal is a must for Harry Potter fans — of which we weren’t, but we still appreciated that part of the park — and we’d recommend The Mummy roller-coaster above all others. Jurassic Park is a classic, somewhat similar to Splash Mountain, and there were plenty of cool 3D simulation rides if your stomach can handle that — from Transformers to The Simpsons, Harry Potter to Despicable Me. There is even a Walking Dead walkthrough attraction, along the lines of a haunted house.
Those places — Disneyland and Universal Studios — don’t need our endorsement. They are well promoted and already sell themselves to the masses.
What most might not know is that there’s more to Anaheim than just Disneyland. It’s a must-see, no doubt, but the revitalized downtown core — just a five-minute drive from the Disney strip — is definitely worth checking out too.
At the heart of it is the Anaheim Packing House, a 42,000 square foot food-and-beverage paradise inside a building that began as a Sunkist oranges factory in 1919 and delved into a warehouse for used hotel furniture before becoming the cultural hub that it is today.
The packing house is surrounded by breweries and other upstart restaurants in Farmers Park, which is within walking distance of the Center Street Promenade, another trendy area full of boutiques and entertainment options.
For the sushi fiends out there — which we are — another craze called poke is prominent throughout California (including a Center Street shop) and sure to be here soon enough.
Eating and drinking were a big part of this trip — as tends to be the case.
We did some fine dining — from Catch LA, a new celebrity hotspot in Hollywood, to Cleo’s at L.A. Live — and also made a point of trying the simpler staples like In-N-Out Burger and Eggslut. Five stars all around. Well known for wine, they are also making good beer in California. Stronger beer than you’d expect too. We sampled several in visiting a handful of craft breweries in both Anaheim and San Jose beforehand. Tough gig, I know.
I’m not overly worldly — this was my first time in California and I’ve only really been to Las Vegas (multiple times), Seattle and Playa del Carmen, Mexico — but this opportunity was way too good to pass up.
It probably sounds too good to be true, but it gets better. At least for hockey fans.
I got the chance to meet and interview Wayne Gretzky in Anaheim, getting in a couple questions for the Great One after catching up with Leon Draisaitl inside the Edmonton Oilers’ dressing room following their 4-0 win over the host Ducks at Honda Center on Jan. 25.
I got to see all three NHL arenas in California, also touring the SAP Center in San Jose and having some of the best seats in the house at Staples Center in Los Angeles for All-Star weekend — nine rows up at glass height between the red and blue lines for both the skills competition and the 3-on-3 tournament.
Don’t forget the celebrity game, where I tweeted out an iPhone photo of Justin Bieber celebrating an empty-net goal that went viral when the Canadian popstar “liked” it. At last check, it had been retweeted more than 1,500 times, liked by more than 5,000 others and was nearing 300,000 total impressions (eyeballs) — by far my most popular tweet ever. Ah, the power of social media. Thanks Biebs!
I can’t claim that we’re buddies now, but I did make a few new Facebook friends on the trip — including my travel companions, Visit California’s Canadian rep Ally Carlson and fellow journalist Paul Knowles, both from the Toronto area — while reconnecting with an old pal at a pub in San Jose.
That was a planned reunion. We were co-workers at a newspaper in Lloydminster and senior hockey teammates in nearby Neilburg, Sask., but he now calls California home after marrying an American girl. They live in Oakland, but he commutes to work in San Jose, with his office just up the street from our hotel.
It’s a small world, and it got even smaller at that Oilers-Ducks game when I sparked up a conversation with a fan wearing a Connor McDavid jersey just two seats down. He had made the trip up from San Diego, but was originally from Saskatchewan.
Our small talk intensified from there, and he happened to hail from a neighbouring town — less than a half hour from my hometown. Although we didn’t know each other growing up, being five years apart, his father was actually our family doctor for a number of years.
Seriously. Two seats down. In Anaheim. Unreal!
I could go on and on about the interesting people we met throughout the trip — from all the Uber drivers to the New York Rangers season-ticket holders sitting directly in front of us for the All-Star Game, a father-son duo who have been travelling to the NHL’s showcase event every year since 2004. For what it’s worth, they were in agreement that the 2009 All-Star Game in Montreal was their best experience to date.
Speaking of Uber, that is a service Kelowna needs even more than a poke restaurant.
Believe it or not, our most expensive fare was US$38.63 ($50.78 CAD) and that was from our hotel in downtown Los Angeles to Disneyland, a roughly 50-kilometre trek that took upwards of 90 minutes in morning freeway traffic. We spent almost two hours in another Uber, stuck in rush-hour chaos, but that was shockingly cheaper.
Meanwhile, it cost $88 to catch a cab from my home in West Kelowna to the YLW airport. Absurd! That was easily the worst part of the trip. Disneyland just might have been the best part.
California, in general, is the place where dreams come true — from Gretzky to Goofy, for me.
If you haven’t been, absolutely go — and when we go back, the plan is to see more of San Francisco, maybe San Diego and perhaps some of the Napa or Sonoma wine country as well.