Goodbye Las Vegas....hello Hollywood!

We were in no rush to leave the hotel so we Terry and I went for our last four Seasons breakfast before having one final stroll around the resort.  90’s music pumping at 9am – gotto love Vegas.  The whole city cracks me up.

We decided we would take our own bags down to the lobby – we are so sick of tipping!  Tip, tip, TIP!   We then had one last call to M&M’s world so William could order his personailsed M&M’s.  He ran a competition as school with the first 8 kids to message their name on Instagram would score it on the M&Ms. By this stage it was 12:30pm and the drive was roughly four hours.  We had smooth sailing until we hit the Los Angeles traffic.  Seven lanes, both sides of the freeway, bumper to bumper.  It was crazy and I don’t think I’ve ever been so relieved to reach our hotel. 

For the last few nights we were staying in a two star Hollywood hotel – yep – you heard right, two stars.  However, the Magic Castle Hotel is rated number 1 on tripadvisor out of all the hotels of LA.  The kids were in disbelief – how could I have booked somewhere two star? 

As I entered the foyer to check in, the enthusiastic and friendly concierge asked me to bring the whole family for an introduction to the hotel.  Well, we had the most incredible welcome experience ever!  We were handed a glass of sparkling lemonade to toast our welcome – cheers!  Then the kids were asked to step forward and asked if they knew what ‘complimentary’ meant.  James came up with ‘included’ and the guy said ‘that’s right, although at the Magic Castle, they like to use the word ‘free’.  The kids were handed a list of free movies they could watch, a list of games they could borrow and the best part – an extensive list of all the free and endless snacks they could ask for.  Free M&M’s, free Coca-Cola, free popcorn and free cookies.  The list went on and on.  They were shown the ‘Popsicle’ line in the pool to dial and someone would bring them a free Popsicle.  You should have seen their faces!!  They were then taken to a self-serve soft ice-cream machine, complete with three flavours that changed each day.  With the kids opinions completely changed, now it was time for the parents welcome.  We were told that they would do all of our washing and return it the next day!

Terry decided to stroll down Hollywood Boulevard for some supplies - we were in Hollywood now and there were salads and fruit everywhere!  Such a good change from the rest of the US. Terry and I commented many times that you never see juice bars, sandwiches or healthy food – it is all fast food options.  Walking the streets of Hollywood is even crazier than Las Vegas.  We were staying right near the Walk of Fame and there were impersonators, homeless and loud and crazy people everywhere.   We headed back to the hotel and the kids had made good use of the free snack bar and James has decided that he would like to live in the hotel.