From Oz to La La land, a trip report.
 

We arrived at LAX on a JAL flight, we flew business class and the flat bed seats actually are pretty comfortable ! We had lots of very negative reports about getting through Immigration at LAX but our experience was very good ( other than one of my daughters needing to throw up just as we got to the front of the line, a toilet close by and a very understanding Security person helped !). The guy at the immigration counter was friendly and welcoming and the process was done with a minimum of fuss.
We had a shuttle organised to get us from LAX to the Marriot Suites in Anaheim our home for the next three nights. She took us to the wrong Marriot, the reception guy looked at me blankly, luckily his supervisor overheard and said “ it happens all the time” he wrote out a Taxi voucher for us and we wandered out to catch a Taxi. Just at that point I see our original shuttle driver who had stopped for a PEE ! We loaded back up and she delivered us to the right place. ( I didn’t tip her twice....will I go to hell ?).
The Marriot suites are your generic, comfortable ,family aimed big box of rooms. The kids want to have a nap but past experience suggests that is a bad idea ! So I force some retail therapy upon them , We head off to the “Block @ Orange. Every second vehicle on the road seems to be a huge SUV, I can’t understand the fixation with the size of these things! The shopping was good ,we noticed clothing, CD’s and books to be much cheaper than home. Service is also friendly...sometimes overly ! Back to the Marriot.
Time for dinner, we are all tired and just want quick food and sleep. Across from the hotel is a Red Robin and an Outback steakhouse, coming from Australia we thought we would pass on the Outback scene and try Red Robin. Red Robin: the service is quick ,the staff friendly , the food very average and in HUGE amounts. I have never seen so many fat people in the one place at one time, maybe I have led a sheltered life ! They refill your soft drinks as soon as they are empty, it got to the stage where even my kids refused a refill. tomorrow.. <font color="red">Disney<font color="blue">land!
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Day 2 We slept in....what a shambles, a late breakfast and I buy some ART tickets for us and then we decide to walk ! A very pleasant walk to the entry point where we have our bags checked, then we proceed to having tickets issued and then we proceed to enter the park, I suppose it helps to cut down unemployment ! Let me point out that this is a couple of days before New Years eve and in hindsight not the best time to visit !

Disneyland is PACKED, there was barely rubbing up against each other room ! We use our secret knowledge garnered from Fodors about fast passes and take our first ride the very relaxed Jungle river cruise. Followed by Thunder Mountain and Splash mountain Splash Mountain was a fun ride, a really long line and just after we finished the ride it broke down ( not our fault.......I think !;) ) .There was a veeerrryy long line of people who were getting a bit agitated !

A break for lunch, I found the food ordering and delivery system to be quite chaotic and quite inefficient. The food......more burgers and fries with that?....you betcha, is that a small mountain or large mountain of fries ???? We sat next to a young hispanic couple who spent most of the twenty minutes investigating each others tonsils with their tongues ! Lots of giggling from my kids ! The haunted mansion next, very good effects !! As we exited the kids wanted to try Churros....who invented them? Either dentists or the manufacturers of Ritalin ! Talk about sugar hit with a high fat follow up ! This leads me to mention the Turkey drumsticks....oh...my...god ! Why?

The Matterhorn, a good rollercoaster type ride followed by Buzz Lightyear a more sedate experience ! Then we had to experience the Iconic Tea Cups, as children Disneyland was on TV every Sunday evening at 6.30pm and the tea cups were there ! We actually watched a lot of the Parade from the tea cups.....whilst endeavouring not to throw up !
Dinner at Star Tours diner ( I think ???) My chicken dinner featured three big bits of deep fried chicken and a pile of mashed potato that could have been fashioned into a replica of the Matterhorn ! And of course unlimited soft drink! No wonder there are so many fat people ! With the food we left on our plates we could have fed another small family. The kids disappeared to hit the Matterhorn again whilst we rested our feet. When they got back we sat and watched the fireworks....absolutely Spectacular !! Cannot rave enough about the fireworks. Our last stop for the day was Indiana Jones....what a great ride ! ART back to Marriot and crash into bed ! Tomorrow <font color="red"> California Adventureland !</font>

Day Three, A much better organised start to the day, we catch the ART to California Adventureland. We rush in grab our fast pass to soarin over california....then proceed to line up for it because there were only 20 people in line ( we are novices !!:) }. A great bit of advertising for California ! Bear Falls water raft, good fun but we all got wet ! Oh well all day to dry out. The Rocket Ride was reported by the kids as being “lame”. Mini Rollercoaster...fair. Then the California Screamer....what a great Rollercoaster, we did it twice very quickly as it had been shut down for a short time ! Loved it ! The Tower of Terror was a long line up but a another great ride, my wife hated it ! Kids loved it !

I am not going to talk about food anymore !

The Texas Longhorns are in the park and are being treated like royalty, there are some BIG boys amongst them ! We manage to have another couple of rides on the California screamer...love it ! We left CA and had a shop in Downtown Disney.....T shirts and Key rings !! The kids reported that CA was much more fun than Disneyland. Less people helps ! We go back to Disneyland to watch the Parade in its entirety. Back to the hotel with ART, a couple of glasses of Red Wine in the Bar and I help Lisa do some laundry !! We move hotels tomorrow.

Good report so far, Marko, was wondering when we'd hear back from you. On California portions -- well, that's all over the U.S. -- that's why we Americans invented the &quot;Doggy Bag&quot;. What's that, you ask? Our version of &quot;take away&quot;. Funny story. I used to live in England, and one of my older friends used to visit her son in Florida. She told me the Deli's there were amazing. She ordered a corn beef sandwich and when it arrived, she thought she had ordered the entire cow. Australia must make their sandwiches like they do in England --one transparent slice of meat between two slices of white bread with a little marmite or salad cream to hold the sandwich together.

Wonderful report so far! Looking forward to the next installment.

You are absolutely right about the food here. Unless they travel overseas, most Americans have no idea how obscenely much food we get served. I'm a Californian who also lived in the UK - and <b>much</b> prefer the portions served in Europe.

I hope you aren't including Poland and Germany in that European assessment, janisj, not to mention many places in Italy, France and elsewhere. Maybe it's the type of restaurants I patronize in the US, but the portions I'm used to here tend to be smaller than those served almost anywhere I've been in Germany, and smaller than many places all over Europe. I've never understand this argument about GIANT portions everywhere in the US.

And I just can resist, there was an article just the other day that due to so many Australians becoming so heavy toilet manufactures are going to be producing much studier toilets than they have made in the past. :S-

Thanks Marko for telling it like it is!

Food portions are a scary for first time visitors....lte's hope you don't get &quot;used to&quot; them! :)

The &quot;almost over friendly&quot; service is another cultural difference that stands out and explains why Americans are often disappointed by service overseas!

Great report so far, Marko. I followed your planning, also.

Hope you didn't venture into a &quot;Claim Jumper&quot; restaurant during your stay. Talk about ridiculous portions! :&amp;

Keep it coming.

Enjoying your report, Marko. Even though the food portions are extremely large, did you enjoy it (not counting Red Robin or Disney)? I don't get the turkey legs either.

OK, I guess I've never been to a Red Robin or a Claim Jumper, so I'm sure there are places that have huge portions, just like those &quot;all you can eat buffets&quot; that so many people rave about.

But turkey legs? I have seen those as street food at sidewalk art events, etc. Knowing how big a bone is in a turkey leg, I'm not sure if they are just mainly for effect or if there is really a ton of meat on them. I've never done one. Funny but my guess is that anyone who bought one did so because they saw one first and decided they wanted that huge thing to gnaw on. Who would have ordered a turkey leg without seeing one first? Is that even possible? &quot;Seek and ye shall find.&quot; If they looked big, why would someone order one then &quot;complain&quot; about the size of them?

But has anyone ever gone to a beer hall in Austria or Germany and seen a side of pork come out on a plate? Please. . .talk about obscene portions!

LOL! Great report Marko!

Re big portions; Here's an idea....Share!

I never wanted those turkey legs until a friend offered me a taste. They are a bit dry and smoky. She says they remind her of Kalua pig.

Sometimes in regard to U.S. portion size in restaurants, it helps to be proactive rather than reactive.
For example, ask for no fries, or a substitute, or a salad. Don't get the gallon size soda at the movie for .25 extra, etc... hard to hear the sad reality of why we are amongst the unhealthiest nation, the &quot;more is better&quot; mentality, televised eating contests on tv making the news. I think the show &quot;Biggest Loser&quot; will not be short of qualified applicants for many years.
We notice that when our suburban relatives come to Alaska to visit us, they are surprised at the different choices we make in comparison to theirs. Especially after age 40, that lifestyle of appetizers and huge oversized portions take its toll. Time spent in a car, remote control lifestyle, no real physical activity except walking in the mall.
Interesting that in a family of seven kids, my husband is the only one without a weight problem, not on cholesterol meds and so forth. He has a physical job too. His brother, who is a CEO overseas and travels constantly, is 50 lbs. overweight and resigned to it.
And yes, though heavy people exist everywhere, the United Sates has some serious changing to do in order for our kids to be healthy enough to outlive us anytime soon.

I love those turkey legs but have learned you need to carry dental floss to use after eating one of them.

Marko, I am certain you actually saw some &quot;skinny&quot; people somewhere and as to those SUVs....believe me, in the places in the US where it snows a lot nobody ever complains about the size of their neighbor's SUV when they are whining about needing a ride to work.

I think so many people living in suburbs has cut way done on the amount of walking people do as a car is necessary to get anywhere. And the bigboxes (Sam's, Costco) etc. sell such huge quanities of not healthy food has not helped either. Nor have the schools with their junk food and soda machines.

I can't stand to &quot;overeat&quot; and so do not go to to restaurants that go for quanity versus quality. If I am somewhere that has huge portions I generally just order a large salad.

But from everything I have read the populations of a lot of other countries are putting on to much weight also..so there is concern from various medical people.

And the other side of the coin is females that practically starve themselves to death and end up looking terrible IMO and must be ruining their health also.

Now Marko, how about the next installment of your trip report, it is a fun read!!

When you noticed the size of the people, didn't you figure out the need for the SUVs?

I consider a visitor who twice describes the citizens of the host country as &quot;fat&quot; to be impolite.

Going to Disneyland during the Christmas holidays is a very bad idea, just as bad as going during the summer, or spring break, or .....

The BEST time to go to Disneyland is the first 2 weeks of December. All the Christmas decorations and special stuff is going on, but very few crowds. Kids are not out of school yet and everyone is busy Christmas shopping - not at Disney.

logandog,

I disagree. Marko is calling it like it is. Portion size is out of control. It would be more impolite to lie. We are a fat nation and we're getting fatter. It's a fact.

I'm a teachers aide volunteer and I want to cry when I see all of the fat kids on campus. I think to myself, &quot;That kid will have diabetes soon&quot;, or &quot;That kid probably gets teased a lot&quot;. It's so sad. Parents in the US are killing their kids with kindness by letting them gorge themselves on fried chicken mc nuggets, soda, fries, candy, etc. We as a nation need to face facts before we can change the situation.

And speaking of gorging ourselves on food, Thanksgiving day is supposedly the best day to see Disneyland and have it all to yourselves.