Social Travel Infographic 10.26.12

Social Travel become a travel-planning trend. With so much information available online, it's almost impossible to using any kind of social media. Reviews, Facebook, Twitter and blogs are all amazingly helpful in planning travel of any kind. Obviously, you are already doing at least some social travel, since you read this blog. If you aren't doing more online to make your vacation awesome, maybe you will want to join the growing masses after checking out this Infographic from TouristLink.

How has Social Travel changed how you travel?

Disney's Mad T Party 10.24.12

In case you weren’t aware, I love Disney theme parks. We hadn’t been to Disneyland in almost four years, so between our last trip in 2008 and our trip earlier this month, a lot of new things have been added to the Disneyland Resort. With the announcement of Cars Land, we were pretty much just on the verge of vacationing in Anaheim, so it wasn’t the biggest disappointment when we couldn’t go to Europe this year. I mean, our Plan B was so exciting, it was hard to be too sad. Disney would have been in our trip plans regardless, it was just a matter of it being in California or France.

A few weeks before we were ready to leave, I was looking at show times for the parks and came across something called the Mad T Party at California Adventure. The limited information I got from the Disney site made me think that it was like a dance club within California Adventure, so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect when we got there. We stumbled upon the party on the first Sunday we were there, in between fancy dinner at the new Carthay Circle Restaurant and the amazing World of Color water show. I had it on my schedule as something to check out, even though I had no idea where it would be.

Down the rabbit hole

The open space they used to have by Monsters, Inc and The Muppets 4D has been put to good use with a stage, giant lamps, an arcade, a lounge area and two kiosks where you can buy beverages – both themed alcoholic and non-alcoholic – to get into the Alice in Wonderland spirit. Imagine going to your favorite club, putting it outside and not having to pay a cover. That’s Mad T Party. The Mad Hatter and his band play, including tunes belted out by a rocker Alice, for 20-30 minutes at a time throughout the evening and in between you can play games, hang out, get on a ride or shop for Wonderland merchandise at the pop-up store nearby.

The Mad Hatter, in addition to being insanely cute, wears crazy edgy outfits and his signature hat, while belting out popular tunes from different eras. You may hear Black Eyed Peas one song and then Prince the next. It was a great mix, the vibe was good and there was even room for dancing – in the middle of the rest of the crowd enjoying the show.

So, what kinds of drinks do they serve? In addition to the regular Coke products, the now popular Fuze drinks and bottled water, you can also grab a beer (Blue Moon or Fat Tire), a croquet-tini, Mad Hat-ito, Mad Long Island Ice T Party, Cotton Candy Lemonade, Cheshire Chiller (frozen pear drink), Jabberwocky Juice (frozen apple drink) and Hot Chocolate. The prices are right up there where you would expect them to be, but your cup is festive and blinky for that Disneyland rave feel. I was hoping for themed food as well, but no such luck. They did have this cute souvenir hat that you could buy for them to put your beverage in.

Another night we were able to go in and see a bit more of the show and explore the rest of the party. They had air hockey tables set up near the larger Drink Me drink counter and an arcade with Wonderland-themed games, such as Cheshire Cat’s Smile Smash, Queen’s Croquet and Frajous Day Frenzy. We played a few games and then went back out to browse the pop-up shop’s goods and marvel at the giant flamingos - stilt walkers in costume. You can also dance to beats spun by the house DJ - the White Rabbit. Apparently, Tweedle Dee and Dum make an appearance, as well as a dance crew, in between sets but we weren’t fortunate enough to experience these. I’m guessing because we were visiting in the off-season. If we lived nearby, we would certainly have season passes and be visiting Disney often for the party and to eat at any of the yummy restaurants in the park.

Have you been to the Mad T Party yet? What did you think?

Review: Reserve123 Tours (Part 2)

While I was on vacation in L.A., I had the opportunity to try yet another tour through Reserve123. With all the normal sightseeing we had planned, Reserve123 set us up on a Los Angeles by Night tour with VIP Tours. This isn’t the first time we’ve driven with VIP Tours either. We went on two lovely city tours with them while in Hawaii and had a great experience. We were pretty excited to see L.A. in a whole new way.

Robin picked us up at our lodging in Anaheim, where we introduced ourselves and learned we were the only two on the tour that evening. This has happened to us many times on tours. Maybe we’re just lucky, or it’s because we often go on mid-week tours during the off-season, so there’s more chance of it being mostly empty. Either way, Robin was excited to show us his Los Angeles and we were able to do a personalized tour. He said we could see more if we didn’t actually stop at many places, which we agreed to, as we’d been pretty much walking non-stop for 7 days.

Our drive to the city included learning about Robin’s background and how his history interweaves with that of L.A.’s history. He’s lived there almost his whole life and knows more about Los Angeles than I know about pretty much anything. Los Angeles is the only major city separated by mountains and the only one where the main water source (the L.A. River) drastically changed its course. The river was prone to overflowing and flooding the city, so an aqueduct was built to make it twice as wide and twice as deep. This greatly improved the flow of the river and the safety of locals.

This photo of Echo Park is courtesy of TripAdvisor

Echo Park Lake under construction

On our tour, Robin taught us about the people who the major streets are named after – Mulholland, Bandini, Crenshaw, Pico and Sepulveda. We then drove to the Echo Park area where Hollywood started with movies like Keystone Kops and Charlie Chaplin’s first film, Making a Living. In this area, known as Edendale, is the park where the show Gilligan’s Island was filmed. While I wish I had gotten to see it in the daytime, I was able to get some great glimpses of the island with the tropical trees that was the main set for one of my favorite classic shows. At the moment, the park is under construction and they are planning to turn it into a great hang-out spot for locals that will enjoy its former glory mixed with modern touches, including nearby shops and restaurants. It gives me an excuse to return to Hollywood in the future.

Robin took us to some fantastic Hollywood hotspots, including the El Pollo Loco where Brad Pitt once worked as the guy in the chicken suit to bring in patrons and the beginning of Hollywood that is marked by five lovely Hollywood mavens: Mae West, Dolores Del Rio, Dorothy Dandridge and Anna May Wong are topped by a tiny Marilyn Monroe. We then passed by Paramount Studios and Century City, which is where Fox Studios resides and you can see the bridge from Planet of the Apes and the building where Die Hard was filmed.

Building where Die Hard was filmed

Riding along with Robin was like hanging out with a friend. He told us about the good old days when Hollywood was just starting out and execs moved their houses to the city from New Jersey, so they could film year-round and asked us questions along the way, so the tour was more of a conversation. When we had our own questions, he would answer them in a way that it turned into a story and then segue it back to what he was originally talking about. Because he used to make successful documentary films years ago, and was also in the theater, he had an inside view of the inner workings of the studios and their owners in the early days.

We had a wonderful time on our tour and were a little sad to see it end. We learned more in three hours than we did in three days and I would highly recommend taking it or a similar tour while in Los Angeles. Reserve123 did all the work for me in setting it up, all I had to do was call and confirm with VIP once I arrived in Anaheim. They have the same tour that picks up at different points in L.A. as well. If you have a large travel group, this would be an excellent activity, but it’s also great for just a few of you. We always have fun chatting with other people on our tours – if there are any.

Jim Henson Company

Reserve123 only works with reputable tour companies and once you book your tour through them, all that’s left to do is confirm directly with the company closer to your tour date and have a good time. Bring your camera for all the fun stuff you’ll see along the way. Also, with the holidays coming up, a unique city tour makes a great gift for the person on your list that seems to have everything. If you aren’t sure which one they would like, you can even buy them a gift card to use at Reserve123.com. With Christmas right around the corner, you might want to book a tour or activity to get yourself or your relatives out of the house for an afternoon, so you aren’t spending 24/7 with friends and family that may be driving you a little crazy.

We plan to book more tours through Reserve123, not least of which they are awesome, but they are also affordable and there is a huge variety to choose from in each city. If you missed my last review of how we were tourists in our own city on the Historic Portland Boat Tour, make sure you go check it out. I’m eyeing the Food Cart Tour next and will likely check out Reserve123 first when we travel in the future.

If you want to see the extensive list of tours and activities available for your home area and your vacation destination(s), check out Reserve123’s website. You can also find them on Facebook and Twitter.

Disclosure: I received a free tour for the purpose of this review, but all opinions are 100% my own.