inCALIFORNIA onHOLIDAY

Who has ever been in America and was asked how it was, knows well how difficult to answer. The experience cannot been described with a word, neither with a simple, nor with a complex sentence. You have to live it to believe it. It's one thing to admire landscapes and attractions on screen and it's quite another to visit those landscapes and attractions yourself. Forget HD, the picture is million times clearer in person.

First and foremost, I would like to say a giant thank you for Robi and Nancy. I'm ineffably grateful that we were allowed to join their vacation and had the chance to explore Southern California together. What an amazing trip and what amazing relatives.

After very smooth and pleasant flight we met in Los Angeles. Robi was waiting for us late at night at the airport and gave us a lift to our first hotel. The very first kid's meeting happened the following morning and by the time we reached our first destination, the two boys had been sticked together. Same age, same interest, same attitude.  

(1) Universal Studios Hollywood is the world's largest working movie studio. We not only went behind the scenes on the legendary Studio Tour to explore the most famous backlot, but also saw a tidal wave of explosive action in WaterWorld, tried the Simpson's Ride right alongside the main characters. Latter is said a visually stunning experience with its state-of-the-art digital projectors covering an 80 ft. diameter dome surface with an image four times the standard High Definition found in most home theaters, and twice what you’d experience in a normal digital theater. Hydraulic power system assures you to feel like being real part of a real cartoon.

Special effects and 3-D glasses bring the experience to life in the movie of Shrek 4-D. Moving seats, water, wind, mist put you right in the middle of the fairytale adventure. Here in the studios, my absolute  favourite was the Studio Tour with its many famous city blocks where many movie were filmed and built with creative consultation from Steven Spielberg himself and was memorable to be part of a flood, an underground catastrophe, a dinosaur attack that is actually the award-winning King Kong 360 3-D, etc... Everything is tremendously lifelike so you have to warn your brain successively not to go for the things your eyes are seeing. 

(2) The Hollywood Sign is more than just nine white letters spelling out a city’s name. It’s one of the world’s most evocative symbols – a universal metaphor for ambition, success, glamour. Although the Sign’s appearance and purpose have evolved over the years, its basic aspirational message remains the same: This is a place where magic is possible, where dreams can come true. As for me, one of my dreams definitely came true by being there.

(3) After checking the Hollywood Sign, another eagerly expected Hollywood icon was admired: the world's most famous sidewalk, the Walk of Fame, containing more than 2500 terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street. Stars of most legendary and world-famous celebrities — the so-called "show business royalty" — are found in front of the Chinese Theatre. Concrete blocks set in the forecourt, which bear the signatures, footprints and handprints of popular motion picture personalities from the 1920s to the present day. In April 2013, plans were announced to convert the original theatre for IMAX. The Chinese IMAX ranks as the largest seating capacity (932) IMAX theatre in the world.

Driving through Beverly Hills, touched Rodeo Drive (known for its luxury-goods stores), we reached our second accomodation late at night, the Dolphin's Cove Resort. This is how our very first full dazzling day was spent in America. 

(5) In Disney California Adventure Park different land themes bring to life Disney and Pixar stories and characters: Buena Vista street, Hollywood Land, "a bug's land", Cars Land, Pacific Wharf, Paradise Pier, Grizzly Park, Condor Flats. Soarin' over California was the ride being nearest my heart and even cheated some tears out of my eyes. Normally, it should't had to. As the lights dim, gracefully ascend 45 feet high and take your position in front of an 80-foot projection dome for a simulated flight across the Golden State, above California’s natural and manmade wonders. Feel like you’re flying and even smell what you’re seeing. We had to retry this ride because of Dominik, too. Summarized, I can say that everything is carried out for you to believe that you're dropped into a certain cartoon. The feeling is undescribable when you are walking on the streets of Radiator Springs seeing the well-known mountains in the background, or you just stop and analyze the monster's bikes parking in front of the Monster's University and wow there goes Sully in his actual size, in flesh and blood. The World of Colour must-see outdoor nighttime attraction closed the day. This show features projected film clips on an immense water(!) screen with the colour-changing Mickey's Fun Wheel in the background and is the most impressive and fanciful nighttime extravaganza Disney has ever produced. It is accompanied by momentous music, includes fire, fountain, fog and laser effects. You can become part of the nighttime spectaculars with Mickey's Ear Hats that change colors to correspond with various shows.

(6) And then, Disneyland's time has finally come. Walt Disney’s original theme park is divided into 8 lands — Main Street U.S.A., Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, Mickey's Toontown, Frontierland, Critter Country, New Orleans Square and Adventureland. They surely have got something for everyone. With the help of a smart application that was downloaded to Robi's smartphone, we were able to follow a recommended itinerary in order to spend the less time possible with waiting in the lines of different rides. Disneyland is simply fabulous, not accidentally the happiest place on Earth with its perfectionism in every little detail. 

Favourite rides: Dominik's ones were Star Tours and the Pirates of the Caribbean. Latter is a sailing voyage to a long-forgotten time when pirates dominated on the high seas. Through a shadowy grotto, escape past a cozy restaurant before sliding down a small waterfall into the ghostly graveyard of fallen rapscallions — your gateway to the Golden Age of Piracy. The figures are so so real (even the hair on the pirate's legs) thanks to the Audio-Animatronics, Walt’s latest animation technology. Star Tours is an intergalactic 3D adventure, motion-simulated space flight that launches you into the world of Star Wars. C-3PO pilots the ship. May the Force be with you. There are two things that refers to definately Disneyland in my mind. These are: Sleeping Beauty Castle and Mickey's Toontown that is the longtime home of many of the most ancient Disney characters. I enjoyed to take a self-guided tour of the original house of mouse. Based on actual images seen in the cartoons and comics, Mickey’s House is just the kind of warm place you’d expect everybody’s favorite mouse to live (and I'd expect myself to live). I really liked the New Orleans Square itself and seeing the Mark Twain Riverboat set sailing. Adventureland is another great experience for me: Jungle Cruise, Tarzan's Treehouse, Enchanted Tiki Room. In the Tiki Juice Bar (hosted by Dole) where pineapple juice and pineapple ice-cream (called whip) or both mixed (called whip floats) can be bought, Robi told me that this is the only place where this kind of delicacies are available besides Hawaii. The Jungle Cruise is a thrilling expedition with lifelike wild animals. We can leave civilization behind and cross continents and oceans through wild waters rarely seen by man. The adventure includes the world’s most exotic locales: the Mekong River, the African Congo, the Nile, the Amazon...

...to be continued.