We have finally arrived in New York. We have only been to an Italian restaurant for dinner and Alicia bought a rather expensive slice of cheesecake. The flight over was pretty interesting as we flew over the grand canyon. This is a short post as we have limited internet access.
Until next time,
KeeP dANcIng...
Claryse
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Disneyland, Round 4
Today is our fourth day at Disneyland. Because we have a 5 day park hopper pass, we can come and go between Disneyland & Disney California Adventure (which is in the same complex, but adjacent from Disneyland) as much as we please within 5 days.
Today Claryse & I got up early to go across to Disneyland so that we could avoid waiting in long line for the rides. We went on all the rides in Fantasyland, like the Alice in
wonderland ride, the Peter Pan ride & the Pinocchio ride. Then we went across to Tomorrowland and went on the Finding Nemo submarine ride & the Buzz Lightyear game ride. Next we went to Adventureland and went on the Indiana Jones ride. Our goal is to go on the majority of rides in all the lands so that tomorrow we can concentrate on Caliifornia Adventure.
Right now Claryse & I are in a cafe near our hotel having lunch. Haylee is off with Ashlea going on the more "adventurous" rides!
Today Claryse & I got up early to go across to Disneyland so that we could avoid waiting in long line for the rides. We went on all the rides in Fantasyland, like the Alice in
wonderland ride, the Peter Pan ride & the Pinocchio ride. Then we went across to Tomorrowland and went on the Finding Nemo submarine ride & the Buzz Lightyear game ride. Next we went to Adventureland and went on the Indiana Jones ride. Our goal is to go on the majority of rides in all the lands so that tomorrow we can concentrate on Caliifornia Adventure.
Right now Claryse & I are in a cafe near our hotel having lunch. Haylee is off with Ashlea going on the more "adventurous" rides!
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Quick Update
This is just a quick post from me to let you all know a few things. Firstly, even though I was sick when we performed at California Adventure Park, I had an awesome time. We actually had people watching us. There were even some people who stood for the full half hour show. I show the same blurs each time I came out. Secondly, after our performance the dancing girls and teachers went on a rollercoaster, called California Screaming. The name, being sick, looking at the massive drop and knowing it went upside down made me decline. But then the third time everybody went on it....I decided to give it ago. That's right, timid Claryse went on her first upside down rollercoaster! Thirdly, today we revisited Hollywood and went to a couple of beaches.
Until next time,
KeEP dAnCInG...
Claryse
Until next time,
KeEP dAnCInG...
Claryse
Haylee in Disneyland and Anaheim
Hi everyone, it has been almost a week since i posted. this hotel doesn't have free internet and the coffee is no better. Anyway this is a catch up on the last week.
As you all know thur was freezing at the animal park but all the animals were really cool. The hotel room is tiny compared to the other one and there is like a third of the vanity space and there are clothes everywhere.
We danced at knott's berry farm on friday on the terrible stage and I didn't fall over (personal record). Afterwards I went on the Silver Bullet, a rollercoaster that goes upside down and in spirals. Be proud of me, mum.
Then on saturday we performed at disneyland right next to the castle. We got to go into the backlot and the changerooms were beautiful, full length mirrors and racks and benches. The performance went really well except for the ending cause felicia decided that she had finished dancing and didn't want to come back on stage so she was at the back instead of at the front and none of the other little girls would take my hand so it was a bit of a scramble. Afterwards we poked around all the stores because the weekend was the end of spring break and the park was packed. They actually had to stop people from going in the park for half an hour because it became overcrowded!!! We went on the pirates of the carribean ride....ohhh so good and had hot chocolate and watched the fireworks from frontierland.
On sunday I went to the park at 8am with ashlee and her mother. We went on indiana jones, haunted mansion and pirates again. We also went on spash mountain anmd got straight on (the lines on saturday were over an hour). When we got off there was no one in the line so we went again. We later went on "it's a small world" and rodger rabbit ride then lined up to get pictures with minnie and mickey. We then went back to the hotel for a sleep before the afternoon performance.
It was nearly 40 degree when we were performing and the stage was half in the sun. Very hot. We danced so well even with the heat. Aftterwards we went on California Screaming, a really cool rollercoaster. We had a whole carriage to ourselves and then we went on another 2 times, even claryse and alicia went on.
Ok mum, be prepared to be shocked....I went on the Hollywood Tower of Terror, the elevator rode which takes you to the top of the buiding, opens the doors so you can see over both of the parks then drops you to the bottom, then does it again. I had a death grip on sarah's hand and the handle. Our photo shows me screaming and ash looking at me and laughing. Afterwards we went back to disneyland to see the last of the holiday fireworks. We held 15m of sidewalk for the sally K people for 2 hours until the fireworks right in front of the castle. It is amazing how many people you can fit on a small bit of space. I had zachary, felicia and little caitlin sitting on me. I tell you I felt like santa claus!!! The fireworks were beautiful I took a hundred photos so I can recreate it for you, mum. When we got back to the hotel I washed my hair for the first time in nearly 4 days and finally cut my fringe!!!!
Today, claryse, alicia and I went with the Tillers on a tour of LA and Hollywood cause we were so jetlagged the first day that I can't remember it!! It was really good, we saw Grauman's Chinese Theatre and I took photos of heaps of handprints and stars. Guess what, tomorrow (Tues) Hugh Jackman is doing his handprints at the theatre!!!! So cool. Anyway we did a driving tour of Hollywood, Sunset Strip, Beverly Hill and Rodeo Drive then we went to Santa Monica and Venice Beach.
Tomorrow I'm going early again with Ash and her mother to go on all the rides and in the afternoon is the princess party, I'm going as Mia from the Princess Diaries.
P.S. Mum what is your response to my handbag question in my last blog
As you all know thur was freezing at the animal park but all the animals were really cool. The hotel room is tiny compared to the other one and there is like a third of the vanity space and there are clothes everywhere.
We danced at knott's berry farm on friday on the terrible stage and I didn't fall over (personal record). Afterwards I went on the Silver Bullet, a rollercoaster that goes upside down and in spirals. Be proud of me, mum.
Then on saturday we performed at disneyland right next to the castle. We got to go into the backlot and the changerooms were beautiful, full length mirrors and racks and benches. The performance went really well except for the ending cause felicia decided that she had finished dancing and didn't want to come back on stage so she was at the back instead of at the front and none of the other little girls would take my hand so it was a bit of a scramble. Afterwards we poked around all the stores because the weekend was the end of spring break and the park was packed. They actually had to stop people from going in the park for half an hour because it became overcrowded!!! We went on the pirates of the carribean ride....ohhh so good and had hot chocolate and watched the fireworks from frontierland.
On sunday I went to the park at 8am with ashlee and her mother. We went on indiana jones, haunted mansion and pirates again. We also went on spash mountain anmd got straight on (the lines on saturday were over an hour). When we got off there was no one in the line so we went again. We later went on "it's a small world" and rodger rabbit ride then lined up to get pictures with minnie and mickey. We then went back to the hotel for a sleep before the afternoon performance.
It was nearly 40 degree when we were performing and the stage was half in the sun. Very hot. We danced so well even with the heat. Aftterwards we went on California Screaming, a really cool rollercoaster. We had a whole carriage to ourselves and then we went on another 2 times, even claryse and alicia went on.
Ok mum, be prepared to be shocked....I went on the Hollywood Tower of Terror, the elevator rode which takes you to the top of the buiding, opens the doors so you can see over both of the parks then drops you to the bottom, then does it again. I had a death grip on sarah's hand and the handle. Our photo shows me screaming and ash looking at me and laughing. Afterwards we went back to disneyland to see the last of the holiday fireworks. We held 15m of sidewalk for the sally K people for 2 hours until the fireworks right in front of the castle. It is amazing how many people you can fit on a small bit of space. I had zachary, felicia and little caitlin sitting on me. I tell you I felt like santa claus!!! The fireworks were beautiful I took a hundred photos so I can recreate it for you, mum. When we got back to the hotel I washed my hair for the first time in nearly 4 days and finally cut my fringe!!!!
Today, claryse, alicia and I went with the Tillers on a tour of LA and Hollywood cause we were so jetlagged the first day that I can't remember it!! It was really good, we saw Grauman's Chinese Theatre and I took photos of heaps of handprints and stars. Guess what, tomorrow (Tues) Hugh Jackman is doing his handprints at the theatre!!!! So cool. Anyway we did a driving tour of Hollywood, Sunset Strip, Beverly Hill and Rodeo Drive then we went to Santa Monica and Venice Beach.
Tomorrow I'm going early again with Ash and her mother to go on all the rides and in the afternoon is the princess party, I'm going as Mia from the Princess Diaries.
P.S. Mum what is your response to my handbag question in my last blog
Monday, April 20, 2009
New photos on Twitter
Just found wireless internet at IHOP so I have been adding all my photos on my iPhone from the past week on to Twitter. Just click on the individual links beginning with http:// that come up under the section on the right that says "what we're up to" to see the photos.
Or click down the bottom where it says Follow me on Twitter to see all our twitter updates since our blog only shows 10 at a time.
Or click down the bottom where it says Follow me on Twitter to see all our twitter updates since our blog only shows 10 at a time.
Happiest Place on Earth
Disneyland really is the happiest place on earth. When we first arrived in Anaheim, Alicia, Haylee and I checked out the World of Disney store in the shopping area of Disneyland and even just that shop was amazing. I have spent $120 US in that shop. I had to restrain myself and not purchase everything I liked, which is unusual for me. I got Minnnie and Mickey's autographs yesterday. Mickey's line was really long but I think it was worth it. Today is our last dancing day. Even though I've got a really sore throat I hope I can appreciate performing today. I'm not sure when I'll post next, because as you know there is limited internet access.
Until next time,
KeEP dANciNg...
Claryse
Until next time,
KeEP dANciNg...
Claryse
Anaheim
Sorry we've been a bit slack on the blogging front lately- there's no free wireless internet here at our hotel in Anaheim like there was in San Diego.
Right now we're using the laptop of one of the parents here because we figured we haven't updated in 5 days and our parents might be going a bit nuts not having heard from us.
Our last day in San Diego was spent at the San Diego Zoo wild animal park. It was absolutely freezing that day. We were all like "where's the warm, sunny California weather we were expecting?" It was so windy that our faces were red because we had to walk everywhere and there was hardly any covered areas.
We saw lots of different animals, mainly African animals like giraffes, rhinos and elephants.
After spending the whole day at the park, we got on a bus to Anaheim. Most of us slept the whole time there, since it took 2 hours to get there. Everyone woke up once we started to see signs for Disneyland!
Our hotel rooms in Anaheim are a lot smaller than those in San Diego, so our room looks a lot messier with four girls' luggage. We are starting to accumulate a lot of "stuff". We're all suckers for Disney memorabilia. Our first night here was spent in the Downtown Disney store stocking up on clothes, hats, etc all featuring Disney characters. The Downtown Disney store is on the Disneyland lot but you don't actually need your Disneyland ticket to get in, you just have to go through a security bag check so we can go in and out as many times as we like. There's also restaurants and shops in the complex to explore.
On our second night here, we had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe at Downtown Disney. We had spent the day doing whatever we liked. Haylee, Claryse, Elise & I went hunting for Disney outlet stores on the main street and bought some Disney character t-shirts. We then got our hair braided for our performance the next day and went to Build-a-Bear to celebrate two of the little girls' birthdays. By the time that was finished, it was time for our reservation at the Rainforest Cafe. The cafe was decorated like a real rainforest, with moving animals and thunderstorms where the lights turned off. I had paella for dinner, and then Claryse, Ashlea and I shared a volcano dessert, which was a big brownie shaped into a volcano with icecream exploding from the middle like lava. We ordered it because whenever they delivered one to a table, two or three waiters came from the kitchen yelling "Vol-can-oooooo!" at the top of their lungs and we thought that was cool!
The next day was our first performance in America. We danced at Knott's Berry Farm. As performers, we had a backstage area to get dressed and prepared in. However, it was not anything like we imagined. The "room" was really a small open area, with a dirty concrete floor and a a small green room with a disgustingly dusty airconditioner and a small toilet. It was so dusty that it was hard to breathe.
The stage wasn't much better. It was wooden, and by the first dance many of us had splinters. One of the parents told us later that while we were offstage changing costumes, they got one of the maintenance guys to hammer in some nails that were sticking out of the stage! It certainly wasn't professional like we expected and therefore our performance wasn't the best.
Since our performance was mid-morning, we got the whole day to explore Knotts Berry Farm. It proclaims to be "America's 1st theme park" and there were definitely a lot of rollercoasters and other thrill seeking rides but there was no rides that were really in between. It was either kids rides or ridiculously scary rollercoasters. Us older girls were supposed to stay until 9pm but we ended up leaving with some of the younger kids and their families ar 6pm since we there was nothing really left for us to do.
We came home and babysat the Poirier kids (one of our dance teachers' kids) and then went out to dinner. We usually just stroll up and down the street until we find a restaurant all three of us agree looks good. The one thing we have found here is that the food is so much more unhealthy. Even when we try to eat healthy, like I ordered nachos thinking it would be corn chips and mince; the Americans manage to make it unhealthy. I had the most disgusting "yellow cheese" all over my nachos. It was more like cheese sauce than real cheese. It just makes you feel all bloated and disgusting. We are definitely missing Aussie food.
The next day we danced at Disneyland! We had to be there by 8am so it was a mad dash across the road to Disneylabd (yes we literally are across the street from Disneyland!) since the park opened at 8am and we were supposed to meet our stage manager across the other side of the park at 8.10am! Of course, we got there and the lines to get in were huge. We ended up speed walking right across Disneyland to Toon Town where we met our Stage Manager (who was very chirpy and Disney-like) and got escorted through the back lot to our dressing room (which was A LOT better than the one at Knotts Berry Farm). We got changed into our costume and took some photos before we had to go backstage. Then it was go time! Our performance was heaps better than the one at Knotts Berry Farm. We even had some non- Sally K people watch us!
After our performance we went back to our hotel and got changed before going back to the park and exploring Disneyland for real. We have a 5 day park hopper pass, which means we can go from Disneyland to California Adventure park back and forth as many times as we like in 5 days. We spent the day getting our bearings at Disneyland and going on some rides. Haylee, Claryse & I went on the Teacups and the Pirates of the Caribbean. Then we watched the street parade in the afternoon with everyone and had hot cocoa and cupcakes and watched the fireworks at 9.30pm.
Today we are dancing in the late afternoon at Disney's California Adventure park. It's our last performance, and hopefully because it's later in the day, we will have more of an audience! Then we are spending the next few days going back and forth between the parks as we please. We are having theme days to make it fun, like "Wear Red Day" and "Wear Disney wear Day".
We will try to blog more often, but it's hard because we have to ask to borrow laptops off other families. Hopefully once we get to New York we will find more wireless places. Normally we would find a Starbucks since they usually have reliable wireless internet, but we can't find any here in Anaheim. It's not like San Diego where we could easily catch public transport and find the nearest Starbucks to do a quick twitter update, but we will try to be in contact more regularly!
Right now we're using the laptop of one of the parents here because we figured we haven't updated in 5 days and our parents might be going a bit nuts not having heard from us.
Our last day in San Diego was spent at the San Diego Zoo wild animal park. It was absolutely freezing that day. We were all like "where's the warm, sunny California weather we were expecting?" It was so windy that our faces were red because we had to walk everywhere and there was hardly any covered areas.
We saw lots of different animals, mainly African animals like giraffes, rhinos and elephants.
After spending the whole day at the park, we got on a bus to Anaheim. Most of us slept the whole time there, since it took 2 hours to get there. Everyone woke up once we started to see signs for Disneyland!
Our hotel rooms in Anaheim are a lot smaller than those in San Diego, so our room looks a lot messier with four girls' luggage. We are starting to accumulate a lot of "stuff". We're all suckers for Disney memorabilia. Our first night here was spent in the Downtown Disney store stocking up on clothes, hats, etc all featuring Disney characters. The Downtown Disney store is on the Disneyland lot but you don't actually need your Disneyland ticket to get in, you just have to go through a security bag check so we can go in and out as many times as we like. There's also restaurants and shops in the complex to explore.
On our second night here, we had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe at Downtown Disney. We had spent the day doing whatever we liked. Haylee, Claryse, Elise & I went hunting for Disney outlet stores on the main street and bought some Disney character t-shirts. We then got our hair braided for our performance the next day and went to Build-a-Bear to celebrate two of the little girls' birthdays. By the time that was finished, it was time for our reservation at the Rainforest Cafe. The cafe was decorated like a real rainforest, with moving animals and thunderstorms where the lights turned off. I had paella for dinner, and then Claryse, Ashlea and I shared a volcano dessert, which was a big brownie shaped into a volcano with icecream exploding from the middle like lava. We ordered it because whenever they delivered one to a table, two or three waiters came from the kitchen yelling "Vol-can-oooooo!" at the top of their lungs and we thought that was cool!
The next day was our first performance in America. We danced at Knott's Berry Farm. As performers, we had a backstage area to get dressed and prepared in. However, it was not anything like we imagined. The "room" was really a small open area, with a dirty concrete floor and a a small green room with a disgustingly dusty airconditioner and a small toilet. It was so dusty that it was hard to breathe.
The stage wasn't much better. It was wooden, and by the first dance many of us had splinters. One of the parents told us later that while we were offstage changing costumes, they got one of the maintenance guys to hammer in some nails that were sticking out of the stage! It certainly wasn't professional like we expected and therefore our performance wasn't the best.
Since our performance was mid-morning, we got the whole day to explore Knotts Berry Farm. It proclaims to be "America's 1st theme park" and there were definitely a lot of rollercoasters and other thrill seeking rides but there was no rides that were really in between. It was either kids rides or ridiculously scary rollercoasters. Us older girls were supposed to stay until 9pm but we ended up leaving with some of the younger kids and their families ar 6pm since we there was nothing really left for us to do.
We came home and babysat the Poirier kids (one of our dance teachers' kids) and then went out to dinner. We usually just stroll up and down the street until we find a restaurant all three of us agree looks good. The one thing we have found here is that the food is so much more unhealthy. Even when we try to eat healthy, like I ordered nachos thinking it would be corn chips and mince; the Americans manage to make it unhealthy. I had the most disgusting "yellow cheese" all over my nachos. It was more like cheese sauce than real cheese. It just makes you feel all bloated and disgusting. We are definitely missing Aussie food.
The next day we danced at Disneyland! We had to be there by 8am so it was a mad dash across the road to Disneylabd (yes we literally are across the street from Disneyland!) since the park opened at 8am and we were supposed to meet our stage manager across the other side of the park at 8.10am! Of course, we got there and the lines to get in were huge. We ended up speed walking right across Disneyland to Toon Town where we met our Stage Manager (who was very chirpy and Disney-like) and got escorted through the back lot to our dressing room (which was A LOT better than the one at Knotts Berry Farm). We got changed into our costume and took some photos before we had to go backstage. Then it was go time! Our performance was heaps better than the one at Knotts Berry Farm. We even had some non- Sally K people watch us!
After our performance we went back to our hotel and got changed before going back to the park and exploring Disneyland for real. We have a 5 day park hopper pass, which means we can go from Disneyland to California Adventure park back and forth as many times as we like in 5 days. We spent the day getting our bearings at Disneyland and going on some rides. Haylee, Claryse & I went on the Teacups and the Pirates of the Caribbean. Then we watched the street parade in the afternoon with everyone and had hot cocoa and cupcakes and watched the fireworks at 9.30pm.
Today we are dancing in the late afternoon at Disney's California Adventure park. It's our last performance, and hopefully because it's later in the day, we will have more of an audience! Then we are spending the next few days going back and forth between the parks as we please. We are having theme days to make it fun, like "Wear Red Day" and "Wear Disney wear Day".
We will try to blog more often, but it's hard because we have to ask to borrow laptops off other families. Hopefully once we get to New York we will find more wireless places. Normally we would find a Starbucks since they usually have reliable wireless internet, but we can't find any here in Anaheim. It's not like San Diego where we could easily catch public transport and find the nearest Starbucks to do a quick twitter update, but we will try to be in contact more regularly!
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