Winter Break 2025. Part 4. Disney Fantasy, Please Welcome Aboard the Kaplan Family!
Hooray! It’s cruise day!
This morning we were supposed to receive a call at 745am just to confirm we wanted our bags picked up by 8am. We had booked Disney Cruise Line transportation so basically they would pick up our luggage and we wouldn’t see it again until later in the day in our rooms. On Shabbos I had spoken with the bellman and told them to NOT call any of our 3 rooms before 7:45 and he said no problem. Well, guess whose phone rang at 7:07. I asked the guy what happened and he said that he had a note that said “do not call” but he checked with his manager who told him to call anyway. So, I told him yes, we would still like our bags picked up by 8am, as we said yesterday. I also asked if he had called my parents room and he said yes but someone just hung up. I said that sounds about right.
We got some coffee on the Boardwalk and met at 8:45 in the hotel lounge to check in with the cruise representative. I realize that we haven’t really shown any photos of the hotel or the Boardwalk, so here’s a last look before departing.
We made our way onto the special Disney Cruise Line bus that is decorated as a ship on the outside and then had an hour drive to Port Canaveral Cruise Terminal. Check in was going smoothly until they asked Hadar for her Visa information. It looked fine, except the specific line that said she was allowed to travel was not actually signed. Pretty sure she was supposed to have sent the paperwork to the au pair agency before we left but we all forgot about this step. Kind of surprising considering we had so many issues with Inbar coming on the cruise last year. The guy checking us in called over his supervisor and was basically like “this needs to be signed,” and then turned around. Well, by some Disney Magic, when he turned back around there was a signature on the paper. All was well and we were moving forward. We waited a few minutes in the terminal, then stepped through the giant Mickey and we were on the ship!
When you get on the ship you give them your name and they announce your family. We were welcomed as the “Feit, Kaplan, Cohen family.” We walked into the main Atrium, which is three stories and very grand, something you don’t’ see as much on the newer huge ships. The décor is classically elegant and timeless, a stark contrast to the modern décor we’ve seen on Celebrity. It’s gorgeous.
Of course, once you step onto the ship you are in fight or flight mode figuring out what you have to do. The first was to run down to the desk that dealt with restaurant reservations. Already people were getting feisty about the lines. I think people are stressed when they get on the ship, but honestly after that I never saw people complaining.
We were hungry so we went to the buffet for lunch, but not before my parents figured out the internet situation because obviously the most important part of coming on vacation is figuring out how you are going to work on said vacation. Tzvi was able to connect but my mom was having trouble so decided to wait on the very long line for guest services. Obviously it was the worst time because everyone was on line dealing with their immediate needs. Tzvi wasn’t having that, so he took her phone and was able to figure it out within a minute. The problem? She was trying to connect to the crew wifi.
Lunch was at the buffet, Cabanas, which is, you guessed it, beach themed. It was a pretty solid buffet. Hallie actually likes the pizza which is good because she hated the Royal Caribbean pizza last year. Also, there are beverage stations everywhere. Disney does not sell beverage packages, mainly I’d guess because they don’t want drunk people all over, but soft drinks are included in the price and there are fountain soda machines all over the place. Unlimited fountain Diet Coke. It’s glorious.
We checked out the kids club, which is amazing, not that my kids will go. But it’s huge. There’s one room that is totally Toy Story themed, a Star Wars room, a marvel room, and a lot of craft areas. I think the coolest thing they had was a special hand washing station that you put your hands in and the water spins around and washes your hands.
After that we had to go to the muster drill. It’s been a while since we had to sit through a real muster drill – most of the ships now just make you check in at your muster station and click something in the app, but we had to spend a half hour in the theater. I guess they want to make sure the kids actually get it.
(our room)
We stopped by the sail away party. It was cute and the most people I’ve ever seen at a sail away party, but it was so cold and on and off raining. We checked out the spa and gym and were given raffle tickets. Basically it was a hundred people packed into the little gym, sitting around waiting to hear the raffle called. Of course they didn’t just call the raffle and be done with it, they had to introduce each “specialist” because they want to sell you things. Eventually Tzvi got fed up so he took the kids and left. 30 seconds later they called his name. He won $75 off a spa treatment, except the treatments started at like $250. Fun to win, but pretty useless.
At 4pm we opted to go to a “make your own door hangar” activity. The kids loved it. Tzvi unpacked a bit while we were at the crafts, which was nice of him, but because we didn’t get our bags until 5 we had to eat dinner tonight in more casual clothes. We met our Stateroom attendant Romeo, and he was amazing and managed to get us robes, which are usually reserved for Concierge class, which we are not.
There are three main restaurants on the ship and you rotate through them each night. Your servers follow you each night so once they meet you on night one, you have them for every dinner. Tonight’s dinner was in the Enchanted Garden, which isn’t themed to any movie or anything but is decorated as a beautiful Garden. Over the course of the meal the “sun” sets and it’s really beautiful. We met our two servers. Raphael was our waiter and he is from Brazil, and our Assistant Waiter is Christopher from Italy. Madeleine asked him if he’s ever been to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. My mom had told her about it a few days ago and she’s very concerned that it might fall over. Christopher told her he hasn’t actually been there, but plans to go one day.
Before and after dinner there were characters around the ship. You mainly wait in lines for the characters, but the princesses are moving around. It’s so fun and the girls were so excited. There wasn’t a show tonight so we just walked around, met some princesses, and went to the store. The store is fun, but dangerous. It’s like having a huge Disney store on board with all cruise line merchandise that you can’t get in regular stores. Tzvi bought a t shirt, a pin, and we bought an autograph book for the girls. I was never into those, but Hallie saw a girl with one, and knowing that they would constantly be with characters on the ship we felt may as well have the autograph book. My parents and Hadar opted to go to the theater to watch Mufasa, which was just released in theaters. They enjoyed.
We got back to the room and got the kids to bed around 10:30, then Tzvi and I took a stroll around. Once again I’ll complain that you can’t get food late. I just wanted a cookie or a piece of cake. I think Celebrity is the only line that keeps the buffet open until midnight. We did find this little section near the bars that has a little buffet of late night fried food you’d want to eat if you were drunk at midnight, but mostly meat stuff. There is 24hr room service, but that’s too official. Anyway, we got back and went to sleep. Good day!
Winter Break 2025. Part 3. To EPCOT and Beyond.
EPCOT Day! Expectations weren’t too high after the lack of hustle yesterday.
While we did most of the rides at Magic Kingdom, we didn’t do Carousel of Progress, the Railroad, OR the Hall of Presidents. [Tzvi: Can you even call those rides?] Today we also had my parents in tow, which meant we had to factor in a few hours of bathroom trips.
Anyway, we got up, got food again from the coffee shop and headed to EPCOT. Our hotel is right next to EPCOT, so you can walk to the park and enter in the World Showcase right near France. It’s a short walk (and free), so It would make sense to just walk, right? Nope. My mom made the (I thought) very good case [Tzvi: I did not think] that you enter the park in the world showcase, and then have to walk all the way around the park back to the front to Spaceship Earth, which is where we wanted to start. This would mean a whole lot of extra walking, so why not just take a Minnie Van to the front of the park. So, that’s what we did.
Upon entering the park there was a Disney photographer taking photos in front of the Epcot ball. We got online and there was one family taking photos in front of us. Well, this was a family of about 10 people and if I tell you they took every combination it would be an understatement. You don’t even take that many photos for a wedding. I think it was like three different families and they took every combination – all three families together, each family individually, the kids from each family indivdiaully, each of the adults from each family individually. It was extremely obnoxious. The photopass people were apologetic (“this doesn’t usually happen”) but there wasn’t anything they could really do. Finally they finished and we took a few pictures, but not many because at that point the line had really built up.
We did Spaceship Earth and then walked over to Guardians of the Galaxy. I did it twice. I still think it’s the best ride in Disney World. Then we walked through EPCOT. It’s Festival of the Arts so they feature different artists and Disney Art. They also had a whole Disney on Broadway pavilion where they showcased props and costumes from different Disney Broadway shows. As we were walking through it at one point Hallie was like “oh my God, the genie’s lamp” and these two guys were like so touched by her innocence. It was cute.
We had lunch at The Land and then hit Living with the Land and Soarin. We did the Seas with Nemo and Friends and of course Figment. Then we walked over to the countries. Very upsetting is the fact that the boat ride in Mexico is closed. We did do Frozen in Norway and then I took the girls to meet Anna and Elsa. There is no Lightning Lane for that and it said 45 minutes, but it was no more than 20. We got some caramel at Germany, rode Remy in France, and then went to the French bakery for a pre-dinner snack of baguettes, croissants, and chocolate mousse.
We walked around some more and then went to Mexico for our dinner. I had spoken to them in advance about the bill, so there were no issues there. And it was delicious as usual. Still sad about the lack of boat ride though. Shabbos started at some point during the meal, so we have no photos of the food and don’t really remember what we ate, other than multiple portions of guac and tons of chips, but it was all good. We spent most of the meal entertaining ourselves with a game of telephone.
We finished eating and went outside to get ready for fireworks. Madeleine started melting down because she wanted to leave, but I wasn’t missing these fireworks. It was our first time seeing the new show – Luminous: The Story of Us. The fireworks themselves are really nice, but the accompanying music and storyline was so boring. Super disappointing. I guess combined with Madeleine tantruming made for just a difficult situation. Tzvi then was all upset because he didn’t leave earlier with Madeleine.
Then we walked back from EPCOT to the hotel through the Boardwalk. It was hopping. We got back to the hotel, made kiddush and motzie with rolls that Pop Pop had brought from home, and went to bed.
Good day.
Shabbat was relaxing. We got up late and the kids ate some of the leftover French bread from our pre-dinner for breakfast. We walked on the Boardwalk a little and just spent the morning relaxing. We walked by the pool where the girls played a bit on the playground and foosball table. We also walked into the main Disney store on the Boardwalk, where Madeleine found a baby Dumbo that she just HAD to have. We told her she JUST bought a Dumbo at Magic Kingdom. She insisted that her Dumbo needs a baby Dumbo. Well, that’s some good logic. We told her we couldn’t buy it because it was Shabbos and she was not happy. I wish I could say that she forgot about it and that was the end of it.
At 1pm we were scheduled for an afternoon tea service at The Cake Bake Shop, a new place on the Boardwalk. The place is beautiful – it’s all white with flowers everywhere. We were escorted to a private room at the back of the restaurant and were greeted with menus with each of our names printed on it. Then the server came and presented the six teas they are featuring and let us smell each one. Then they brought an orange cranberry scone with cream, butter, and jam. It was delicious. Then we got our tiers of tea sandwiches and a million amazing desserts. There were raspberry bars, lemon bars, magic bars, raspberry truffles, chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream, and more. We were able to get multiple teas and hot chocolate too. It was so good and by the end we were so full.
After tea we went back and hung by the pool. It wasn’t hot, but it was nice enough for the kids to use the pool and for me to use the hot tub. Madeleine was still trying to explain to everyone why she needed the baby Dumbo. We had scheduled a 5pm dinner at Trattoria al Forno, the Italian place on the Boardwalk, but that wasn’t going to happen. I stopped by to tell them there was no way we were making it, and they said because we had a reservation they would be able to seat us whenever we showed up, we just might have to wait a little. So, we showered and changed and made it around 6. Dinner was decent, typical pizza/pasta.
By the time we finished eating Shabbat was over and we decided to go get ice cream for dessert. The ice cream place was very stringent about allergies and they had the manager go make Tzvi’s sundae separately.
So, the entire day Madeleine was talking about the Dumbo. And by talking I mean whining. I wasn’t having it, but others are nicer than I am. Out of the goodness of her heart, Hallie “bought” Madeleine the baby Dumbo. She was over the moon. It was cute. We are bad parents.
Then we walked back and stopped at the fancy art store on the Boardwalk. It was all Disney art, but super expensive. There was a nice Mickey shaped chandelier that I asked about and was told that it started at $50,000 for 36 pieces. Maybe in my next house… Pop Pop saw this cool giant pressed penny made out of resin and asked how much it cost. That was a mistake, which led to a half hour of discussion with the artist and the entire family telling him he should buy it. Thirty minutes later he walked out saying “I was just curious how much it cost!”
We came back to the room and packed up. We watched the Epcot fireworks from my parent’s balcony, which I enjoyed more than watching them on Friday night because I didn’t have to listen to the dumb audio track. Off to the high seas tomorrow!
Good day.
Winter Break 2025. Part 2. Magic Kingdom.
Thursday
Today was our first Disney day and we were spending it at the Magic Kingdom! Before this trip, while planning, we opted to purchase the Premier Pass. If you pay attention to Disney news at all, which I’m sure you all do, you’ll know that a few months ago Disney released a new pass where you are able to use the Lightning Lane for every ride once, at any time you choose. This is opposed to the regular Multi Pass where you have to book specific times for your rides (and you can only book one at a time) and sometimes don’t even get to ride all the best rides because the passes sell out. This also means that you are constantly on your phone all day booking rides and running around to different lands whenever you can get the next soonest ride return. I’m not saying this is bad, and this is how we’ve been doing Disney for years, but because we only had 2 park days this time, and I didn’t want to stress, we got the premier pass. More on that later.
Tzvi went with the girls to grab a quick to go breakfast at the coffee shop in the lobby and I went to pick up the stroller we rented. For the parks I rented a Double Bob because it is a monster that is the easiest push in the world. Hallie got Fruit Loops and Madeleine said she didn’t want any Fruit Loops, so Tzvi didn’t get her one. Makes sense, right? Wrong.
To get to the parks today we ordered a Minnie Van. These are suburbans that are decorated as Minnie mouse on the outside. We have seen these around the property for years, but have never taken one. You can only take them if you’re staying on Disney property, and for Magic Kingdom, they are the only car that can take your straight to the entrance, as opposed to other ride shares and parking that takes you to the transportation and ticket center, where you have to then take the monorail or boat to the park. Skipping that saves a good half hour. The van also has TV’s inside playing Minnie mouse cartoons and has car seats as well. It’s great. Our driver said he had been with the Disney company for over 20 years, driving over 10 years. Before he drove he was an ice skater in Disney on Ice! He said he’s traveled the world with Disney and visited all of the major cities in the US.
We arrived at the Magic Kingdom, walked through the entrance, and Hallie pulled out her Froot Loops. Well, as you can imagine, Madeleine immediate insists she needs Froot Loops and she’s starving. So, we had to go to Starbucks on Main Street to get her a bagel. The line was at least 20 minutes. Madeleine got a bagel that she had about two bites of, but Hallie got a bagel with cream cheese that she ate, so I guess things worked out. So much for saving time though. No one had the hustle in them. It was frustrating.
Finally it was time to start our rides, totally unplanned! We were free to live our lives! It was already after 10, so it was a late start, but we did well. We started with Buzz Lightyear, People Mover, the Autopia Speedway (that we NEVER do), and Tron. Space Mountain was down, but we hit it later. Somehow between using Madeleines Magic Band, and a rider switch, I was able to ride Tron three times – once with Hallie, once with Tzvi, and once with Hadar. It’s not necessary to ride 3 times, but hey, if I paid for it I’m doing it. It’s great. Hallie was nervous but she loved it. We did Tea Cups, Dumbo, Goofy’s Barnstormer and Seven Dwarves Mine Train before stopping for lunch.
Lunch was a multi-step ordeal since we needed to get Madeleine pizza and then went to Colombia Harbor House for salmon and fish and chips. It’s been years since they’ve had the tuna sandwich there, but I’m still devastated every time.
After lunch we did Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, Small World and the Merry go Round. Tzvi, Hallie and I did Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, the newly rethemed Splash Mountain. It’s the same ride, just themed differently. It was really beautiful. While I miss Zip A Dee Doo Dah, I think it was a nice retheme. Madeleine was too scared to do Pirates so I had to sit that out because there was no time for me to do it. Hallie loved Pirates and thought that every time Captain Jack Sparrow popped up it was a real person. Gotta love the innocence. We also hit the Magic Carpets of Aladdin and Jungle cruise, and of course Dole Whip and Tiana’s Beignets.
At 4:40 we had to leave to go to the Grand Floridian Hotel for dinner. We took the monorail over and met my parents who had flown in that morning! We were obviously late so I was running. Dinner was at Narcoosees which is on the water. It was a good meal, but long. Two tables away there was a family with a husband wearing a kippa, but they were eating the regular food. The food was pretty good. There was this great chickpea tart, but I guess the rest wasn’t that memorable. We then left my parents and went back to the park for fireworks.
We got back and Hadar and I ran to do Space Mountain while Tzvi took the girls on Little Mermaid. At this point I also realized I left my Minnie ears on Space Mountain. They said they would look for them, but I never saw them again. Sad.
We met behind the Castle and opted to stay there to watch the fireworks. We didn’t get to see the projections on the castle, but I couldn’t walk all the way around to try and get a decent spot for the fireworks, and it was actually very nice watching it from that spot. It was kind of tough because you had to keep turning your head – some of the fireworks were in front of us over the castle while some were behind us over the back of the park – but it was really uncrowded so that was nice. We got Mickey Pops and enjoyed the fireworks. After they were over we hit Mickey’s Philharmagic. It was so fun watching Madeleine reach out to grab the 3D stuff. Then we closed the night with Haunted Mansion.
Before the night was over we took som photos behind the castle. I think the Photopass woman was bored and didn’t really understand how we were all related, so she had us take some weird photos.
We walked down Main Street where Madeleine purchased her first Dumbo of the trip. Yup, that’s right, I said first. I went to City Hall to try and fill out a form for my ears and then I decided to go to the Confectionary to get the candy popcorn I always get. Usually I get there and there’s no line. Well, apparently people found out about this because the line was SO long. I wasn’t giving up. Tzvi got a Minnie Van with the girls and asked if they could wait for me and we’d tip him extra. I got popcorn with melted chocolate, M and Ms, and oreos. It was delicious and well worth the wait. I ran back to the Minnie Van and we headed back to the hotel.
We checked into our new room. Now we are connected on the 5th floor, near my parents. We have a view of the front of the hotel and can see Tower of Terror. My parents have a view of EPCOT.
After the kids fell asleep, Tzvi decided that he wanted to go out to Trader Sam’s at the Polynesian. So we took a four dollar Uber at 11:30pm and got to the door at like 11:37. They didn’t want to let us in because last call was at 11:35pm. I was like are you kidding me. They were telling us we could get beer or wine and we said no. Then someone else came and said we could come in but had to be out in 20 minutes. We said no problem and took a seat at the bar. We didn’t get to experience the fun show-like stuff, but it’s still a cool place to have a drink. I got a mojito and Tzvi got An old fashioned type-drink that had a Knob Creek bourbon that they make special for Disney World. The guys next to us were talking to the bartender all about collecting Tiki Mugs, which is apparently a very big thing. So we had a nice drink for 15 minutes and Ubered home. Nice way to cap off the evening. Successful, efficient trip.
Good Magic Kingdom Day.
Winter Break 2025. Part 1. Welcome.
Welcome to Yeshiva Week 2025. Loyal readers will recall that we’ve spent the last three yeshiva week vacations going on cruises. Well, this year we opted to do something totally different – a weekend in Disney and then a Disney cruise!
The start of this trip differed from many we take, as our flight to Orlando was at 5:30pm on Wednesday night. This means that the kids went to school, Tzvi went to work, and I had the morning to prepare. Tzvi decided he wanted to get the credit for swiping into work, so it was decided that I would pick the kids up early from school and go with them and Hadar to the airport, and meet him there. It worked out great. Mosaic check in was fast and we were through security before Tzvi even set foot in the airport. We got smoothies, headed to the gate, watched a Mincha Minyan, and boarded the plane as early as humanly possible.
We landed around 8:30pm, but the luggage took forever. At one point there were no bags but there was a toothbrush going around on the conveyor belt and Madeleine got very excited. While we were waiting, Tzvi was approached by a man and asked to join a Ma’ariv minyan, to which he recoiled in disgust and said no. Well, the luggage still wasn’t coming out and I said did he really want to start his trip like this. So, he joined the Minyan, our bags came out while he was davening, and we were off to Disney World! Thank you Hashem.
find Tzvi
Driving through the Disney World entrance is always exciting. We pulled into Disney’s Boardwalk Inn and immediately felt the magic. We have stayed at the Boardwalk in the past without the kids. The hotel is located at, you guessed it, the Boardwalk area of Disney World. It’s basically right next door to EPCOT. The hotel spans the entire boardwalk and on the ground level there are lots of restaurants and shops, like a boardwalk.
At check in we were informed that we were in adjoining rooms, not connecting rooms. Adjoining is just a fancy way of saying the rooms are next door to each other, but not connected. I didn’t even know that was a thing. I told them that wouldn’t work, so they were able to move us to connecting rooms on the ground floor, but it was two queens connecting to two queens. We survived, but opted the next day to move.
Here’s a room tour video. Sorry, it’s in Hebrew, but thanks to Hadar for capturing it.
As soon as we finished checking in Tzvi ran to the store to purchase Magic Bands (our first time using them), and then we headed to the room. The hotel is really beautiful and is themed like the New Jersey board walk. I love the aqua color scheme. The whole vibe is great.
Good day.
Welcome to the Eras Tour. Miami, FL. October 2024.
This story begins in August 3, 2023 when Taylor announced that she was going to add a second USA leg of The Eras Tour.
I knew this was our chance. Tzvi, Inbar (our previous au pair) and I decided we would all sign up for the lottery to get a code to even be able to buy tickets. Inbar had seen her in May (2023) in New Jersey, and knew she wouldn’t even be in the country for the second leg, but kindly decided she would help us get tickets. When Ticketmaster sent out the codes, shockingly, Inbar was the only one that got one! This meant our fate was in her hands. Wednesday, August 9th, 2023, 3:30pm was when tickets were going on sale. Inbar was picking up Madeleine at the JCC and arrived a few minutes early so she could try to buy the tickets. If you don’t remember, it was a mess. But, with her Israeli grit and determination, she managed to snag two tickets to Miami Night 3, October 20th, 2024.
The question remained, who would be joining me on this once in a lifetime adventure? At first we assume Tzvi would go, although from the start he wasn’t quite excited about this opportunity as I was. And then, slowly, over the next year and a half, something happened. Hallie morphed into a full fledged Swiftie. She watched the Eras Tour on Disney+ over and over, and when she found out that we had bought tickets she asked (daily) if she could come instead of Tzvi. I’m sure Tzvi would’ve had a nice time, but I needed someone to go with me who’d be as excited to see Taylor as I was.
When we finally told Hallie she was going she was ecstatic. We prepared. We bought outfit options. We made friendship bracelets. We watched the tour on Disney+. We were ready to go.
October 20th, 2024
After a long three day holiday, Hallie and I woke up Sunday morning and Ubered to the airport. Due to the fact that we weren’t checking bags (very uncharacteristic of me, I know), and that it takes 15 minutes to get to the airport, I was in no rush. Well, there is now construction at JFK and it took almost 40 minutes to get to JetBlue departures. Thankfully security was quick, and we had no issues, but Tzvi would have been freaking out. We were definitely not first on the plane (not that we could have been, because we had zero status without Tzvi), but I found space to put our suitcases so everything was fine, except we took off about 45 minutes late. We had Swifties all around us, lots of moms and daughters. The flight was uneventful, except for a few kids watching the Eras Tour out loud, but no one was too upset.
We landed around 12:15 and Ubered to the hotel. Afer I got in the Uber I realized that somehow I had accidentally set our destination as Margaritaville. I’m not sure how I did that (I’ve never been to a Margaritaville), or what the driver must have been thinking. What did he think Hallie was going to do there? Luckily I realized early on and quickly changed it and then the driver started laughing.
We arrived at the Hilton Aventura Miami, but found our room wasn’t ready, so we decided to walk around the Aventura Mall. We had a late lunch at Motek where we ran into someone we knew. We ordered Malawach with Techina, Hallie had salmon, and I had Impossible Arayes. Everything was delicious and I wish we could have ordered more food. I would definitely go back. We also found chocolate covered strawberries (I think trying to mimic the ones from London). Hallie was wearing her Taylor for President shirt so she got a lot of positive comments. Then it was almost 3:30 so it was time to go back to the hotel.
The guy who manages the hotel shuttle said he would be there in ten minutes, except ten minutes later he still hadn’t left, so we opted for Uber. When we pulled into the hotel we already saw people dressed and leaving to the concert. If you really wanted merchandise, you had to go this early to have any chance of getting one of the two exclusive items you can only get at the actual concert (everything else is available online).
As we were getting dressed, I realized I had left my entire makeup bag at home. This should be interesting. Fortunately, I had purchased face sparkle tattoos, so I paired that with some of Hallie’s makeup. Good solution.
We got dressed and met our driver. I had hired a driver to bring us to the concert and back, because I heard the Uber situation post-concert is horrendous and I knew Hallie wouldn’t make it. On the way, it started to rain. I started panicking and we stopped at a CVS to buy ponchos. Well, they were out of ponchos, but I did buy a mascara. I guess we were going to get wet.
After a lot of traffic we pulled up to the Hard Rock Stadium. It was amazing seeing everyone’s outfits. Walking in we had to scan our tickets four different times. We made it in and started exploring. You could feel the energy in the stadium. We got some popcorn, some pizza, traded some friendship bracelets, and eventually made our way to our seats. We were in section 115, which is low with a side view and thankfully was covered! The opening act was Gracie Abrams. After Gracie finished, Hallie peed, and then we went back.
Taylor plays Lady Gaga’s Applause before the countdown clock comes on, so when we heard that people started going nuts. From there until she came out was absolute insanity. Applause fades out, the countdown clock appears. 2:30. People are screaming. The lights dim. 5-4-3-2-1-. The opening begins. The only way I can explain the energy is what it feels like when you’re on the top of a really tall roller coaster, and you go over and start dropping and there is nothing you can do but scream.
From there it was three and a half hours of pure magic. Every Era was better than the next. Even when we all know what’s coming, its mind-blowing. Real Swifties know the nuances of the show, and Taylor delivered. She had some new outfits, the TTPD set, and Florence Welch came out for Florida in Florida!
The only annoying thing that happened was when two moms with three daughters tried to take the two seats next to us. The people on their other side called security. Ends up they had those two seats, but the rest of them had seats elsewhere. They ended up leaving the three kids to take up the 2 seats, and then the two moms sat in two empty seats in front of us. It could have been worse, it was just annoying that this all went down during the second half of All Too Well.
During the Folklore/Evermore Era I thought Hallie could use a break, so we went to the merch line. It actually wasn’t that long, so we waited. We missed the Era, but ultimately I think it was a good move. We got a shirt, and ended up ordering a few more things online. The surprise songs were Mirrorball/Guilty as Sin and Out of the Woods/All You Had to do was Stay.
After three and a half hours of pure fun, the concert came to a close at 11:30pm, with “Karma is the guy on the Chiefs” (which was followed by red fireworks). We were on such a high, but it was time to go.
Here is a highlight reel with clips from the concert. Tzvi edited it down to less than ten minutes. Stephanie’s Version would’ve been the full hour of clips I filmed, but consider yourself lucky that you’re just getting Tzvi’s version.
If you don’t want to watch the full video above, here’s two short clips of us singing along to Karma and to Florida:
Leaving the stadium was a mess. It took a while just to walk through the parking lots, and when we left the lots I heard one of the attendants say that he had only let out five cars. I can’t even imagine how long it took people to get out. We had to walk maybe half a mile, but we had no problem meeting our driver. Thank God he was there, I have no idea how we would have even gotten an Uber.
We got back to the hotel and Hallie said her stomach hurt a little. We bought tea biscuits at the hotel market and went upstairs where we had a 1am snack of tea biscuits and M and Ms’. Hallie said it was the best night ever.
October 21, 2024
We didn’t even wake up late – we were up by 8:45am – but we definitely didn’t get out of bed. I think we headed out around 10:30 and Ubered to Zak the Baker. They told us it would be a half hour wait, but it was only about 7 minutes. We ordered bread and jam, a chocolate croissant, a bagel with cream cheese, and I had avocado toast. I had wanted tuna, but apparently they put cream cheese in their tuna. Weird. Everything we ate was great. I tried to bring stuff home but they were out of a lot, so I ended up bringing home a whole wheat sourdough, two slices of babka, and a chocolate chip cookie.
After lunch Hallie wanted to go to the pool, so we went back to the hotel and hung by the pool. There were other Jews there and one came up to us and told us she had bagels if she wanted. Hallie was ready to accept the offer and I was like you literally just had a bagel.
Eventually we left to the airport. Our flight was delayed by an hour, but eventually we made it on. Boarding was something. Nobody could read their ticket or rather chose not to. The flight attendant was like “I’m closing the door and not opening it again until everyone moves away.” We made it on board, once again surrounded by Swifties.
The flight was uneventful. We Ubered home and were given a warm welcome.
Great trip.
Chapter 3. A Long Goodbye.
We drove back to LA and checked into our next hotel.
For this last leg of the trip we’re staying at the Cameo Beverly Hills. This used to be the Mr. C Hotel, but was recently sold to Hilton. The lobby is very nice and the rooms are spacious, but they’re showing their age.
We had rented a car from the Turo app, so around 2pm Slavko dropped off a 2021 Porsche Macan, which we’d be driving around for the next day and a half.
We were pretty hungry and had no plans so we hopped in the car and drove over to Century City mall. Tzvi says the mall is unrecognizable from the mall he used to go to as a kid. We walked around a bit and then went to the food court where we got sushi rolls for a quick snack. After that we drove to Beverly Hills and got smoothies at Erewhon. Like the van from the airport, I didn’t want to know what those cost, though I think they were about as expensive as the van from the airport. From there we drove to visit with Daniel, who I used to work with at JNF, and his wife Deborah. The girls spent a half hour in the bathroom while the adults talked. I don’t know what they were doing in there.
For dinner we met Tzvi’s childhood friend Benjy, and his wife Chen and their two kids, at Lenny’s Casita. It was great to see them and catch up. As for the restaurant, I don’t even know how to describe it. It’s like going into a fast food restaurant, but there’s waiter service, and every four minutes they start blasting music as they bring a tray with a sparkler to someone’s table. It’s like greasy burger joint meets Fuego. It’s a very confused place. Hopefully they figure it out soon though, because the food was very good.
While we were at dinner, Tzvi got an email from a law firm he’s negotiating against on another project. Just when he thought he was free from work for the rest of vacation, this other project pops up. He was pretty annoyed, particularly that this law firm decided to send back the drafts the night before a holiday weekend.
Back in the room we had a daily credit to use, so we ordered some cocktails and hot teas to the room. Then we finally finished that West Wing episode and fell asleep.
Friday morning we got up and drove to Venice Beach, where we met Larry Martinek for breakfast at The Butcher’s Daughter. Larry is an old friend of the Kaplan family and is the founder of Mathnasium. It was great to catch up with him. After that we did some shopping on Abbot Kinney, which is like the main street of Venice with lots of stores. We all bought very overpriced sweatshirts at Aviator Nation (but on sale!). Tzvi was on calls for most of the shopping, and when it was time to check out at Aviator Nation he told me to pay and went outside to make a call.
From there we drove to Santa Monica to meet Austin and Rachel and Kira at the Cayton Children’s Museum. As soon as we parked, Tzvi looked in the trunk and said, “Where’s all of our stuff?” I guess he had been piling up his stuff and the girls’ stuff at the register, and when I went to pay, I only paid for my stuff, not the stuff he’d put aside. Whoops.
We spent a couple of hours at the museum. It was great and the kids had so much fun. They played in the ball pit and climbed through the suspended ropes course, did arts and crafts. Tzvi was on a call for some of it. As we were sitting and doing arts and crafts we started talking to the people at the table next to us. Turned out they were from Woodmere.
After the museum we walked around the Santa Monica Place mall. We went to Nordstroms, where the kids all walked out with balloons (I’m pretty sure they were for decoration and you’re not supposed to take them). We also spent way too long at the Peloton store, but hey, they were having a sale. Then we drove back toward the hotel and stopped at a Coffee Bean we saw on the way. I have no idea what neighborhood we were in but it didn’t seem like the best. There were some strange people at that Coffee Bean.
We got ready for Shabbos and then walked to Rachel’s parents’ house in Beverlywood for Shabbos dinner. We had a really nice dinner with Rachel’s whole family – her brother and his wife, her sister, one of her cousins. It was so nice of them to have all of us. Even their massive dog Teddy was okay – both girls actually played with him.
Shabbos morning we woke up, got ready for shul, and then had breakfast at the restaurant in the hotel lobby. It was very good. We had lots of pastries and I had an acai bowl with peanut butter. Tzvi was less than thrilled about that one. Then we walked to YICC where we made it for the end of kiddush. Security at YICC was also quite tight. They started questioning Tzvi, asking him where he’s from, who he’s visiting. It was like visiting a shul in Europe. We hung around at YICC for a little bit and saw our old college friend Avi Buchman. Nice to catch up with him. Then walked to Rachel and Austin’s apartment where we had lunch. The power was out, which was fine because they have so much natural light. Rachel made a very nice lunch and the girls played so nicely.
After lunch we walked back to the hotel and sat by the pool. It was so nice and peaceful, so different from the pool last week at the Marriott. There were a few Jews there but no little kids other than ours. The pool was pretty cold but the girls wanted to go in, which meant Tzvi had to go in. We ordered a cocktail, which was okay but too sweet, and the girls had strawberry daquiri and lemonade.
Eventually Austin and Rachel and Kira left, and we went back to the room to do some packing. Shabbos ended and Austin and Rachel lent us their car so we could take the kids out. We went for dinner at Pizzana in West Hollywood, a fantastic pizza place. We had way too much pizza, delicious fried cauliflower and great Caesar salad with excellent pizza crust croutons. After that we drove further into West Hollywood for ice cream at Salt and Straw. It was pretty lively. We sat eating our ice cream and watching the people and delivery robots going by. Madeleine liked all of the rainbows. She didn’t want to get sticky so she got an empty cone. When we got back to car we found there was a tow truck waiting to tow us. I guess we weren’t supposed to park in the Chase lot, even though the Chase was closed. The guy told us we should be more careful and read signs. Oh well.
We made it back to the hotel and started the next episode of The West Wing, of which I watched five minutes before passing out.
Sunday morning we woke up and got ready to go. Austin and Rachel came to the hotel with Kira and brought us bagels, and then Austin drove Tzvi over to Philz coffee on Beverly, which was good coffee, but strange because they only do pour over (no espresso). Then Yossi (a driver we got from Austin and Rachel) came to pick us up and take us to the airport in his minivan. We’ve really come a long way from where we started with that party bus, but Yossi was very nice and his Toyota Sienna was clean.
We were all sad to go, especially Madeleine, who cried and said she wanted to stay with Kira.
See you at Thanksgiving, Kira!
The End.
Chapter 2. I Just Need to Make a Quick Call.
Time to go to Disneyland!
We called the same guy who Sherry had booked the airport ride with and asked him to get us someone to drive us down to Disney, except this time we specified we did not need a party bus. He set us up with Zalman, who was from Brooklyn, and drove us to Anaheim in his suburban. The ride was about an hour. Tzvi was on calls for most of it. Finally we drove through the magical gates and pulled up to the Disneyland Hotel, home for the next three nights.
We checked in but our room wasn’t ready so we changed into bathing suits and went to the pool. There are four different pools and one has these great waterslides that are monorail themed. We swam for a while and went on the slides. We also ordered a drink and some food. The girls had pizza and Tzvi and I shared chips and guac. It was a perfect afternoon for me and the girls. Unfortunately Tzvi was on a call for most of it. I guess this is a good time to explain that Tzvi has been working on a big project that supposed to close at the end of the month. It’s pretty bad timing, but there was nothing he could do about it, so we knew he was going to have to work a lot on this trip. A lot of the afternoon calls were actually about trying to get his client to delay the project (not just because he wanted to save his vacation, but because he actually thought that was in their best interest), but it didn’t seem like they were going to do that.
Around 4pm we got our rooms. The rooms are very nice and spacious have that Disney magic. The headboard even lights up and plays ‘When You Wish Upon a Star.’ We quickly changed and showered and headed out for our evening in Disneyland. Tzvi was on a call for the entire walk through downtown Disneyland, and when we finally made it to the entrance we had to stand around waiting for him to finish before we could scan our tickets and enter the park. It felt like money going down the drain every minute, but I guess he was making money every minute he’s on the phone, so it all evens out.
We headed straight to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique where the girls had a princess makeover scheduled. Madeleine wore her Elsa dress, but Hallie had said she was too old for a costume. Though of course once we got there she saw the Moana costume, which is a crop top, and decided she wasn’t too old after all. It was such a nice experience. First you shop and then they take you into the salon where they do your hair and nails and makeup. They were really turned into princesses and loved the pampering. It was so nice, it just took forever. By the time we were done, our kids had turned into princesses and day had turned into night. Also, at the end you take photos, and our photographer was Jonathan from Gaza, Palestine. First time I’ve seen that in Disney.
Finally it was time to do some rides. We started with Matterhorn, which is Tzvi’s favorite ride and is best at night. Hallie liked it but was scared of the Yeti. Tzvi took the girls on tea cups, which Madeleine has been waiting for and talking about for weeks. She had the best time. We did Small World, and the Carousel. We were all ready for fireworks but then found out that they only do them on weekends, and instead do some Halloween projections. How pathetic. I know I say all the time how Disney World is superior to Disneyland, but this is next level.
It was so hard because we wanted to be in the park but also wanted to be able to be up the next morning, so we headed back and got the kids to bed. We hadn’t actually eaten yet, so Tzvi stopped at Black Tap in Downtown Disney and got veggie burgers and a massive cookie milkshake. As usual when he’s really hungry he overordered, so he also got fried brussels sprouts and teriyaki broccoli. We sat on the floor of the room and ate. It was great. Then we went got into bed. I’ve been watching the same episode of the West Wing for three days now, because I keep falling asleep. Tzvi stayed up and finished the episode for the third time, and then did work until he passed out on his keyboard.
Tuesday morning we woke up at 7am and actually made it out by 8am. Tzvi was on a call before we even made it to Downtown Disney security. It’s such a schlep to get from the hotel to the front of the park. Usually you can take the Monorail but it’s down for renovations.
We got a nice photo in front of the castle and then went for breakfast at the Plaza Inn. It was Minnie and Friends, so you take a picture with Minnie and then the friends come to the table. We saw Chip and Dale, Daisy, Tigger, Pooh and Eeyore (who’s the cutest). The breakfast is fine – typical Disney fare with Mickey waffles. You’re really paying for the characters.
Then we started our day. We went on a bunch of rides – Alice in Wonderland (Tzvi was on a call while we waited the 20 minutes on line), Mickey and Minnie’s runaway railway, walked through Toon Town (Tzvi took a call from Mickey’s house), Roger Rabbit. Then my parents and Kira finally showed up around noon and met us at Buzz Lightyear.
We wanted pizza for lunch, but they didn’t want to give Kira pizza so they went to look for a tuna sandwich. We met up after lunch and all rode Haunted Mansion together, which has been rethemed for Halloween and is great but broke down while we were in the dining room with the ghosts spinning. Hallie loved it but started getting freaked out after a while. After that we rode Pirates, which broke down as soon as we got into the boats so we had to sit there for a while, but it was okay because Tzvi used the time to make a call. Then Tzvi sat and took calls while the rest of us did Small World (again). Then my parents left. At 4:30.I’m not saying we rearranged our Disney schedule only to get 4 hours (including multiple bathroom breaks) with my parents and Kira in Disneyland, but I’m also not saying we didn’t.
Finally we went on Dumbo, which Madeleine had been asking for all day long. She had the best time. Then we did Big Thunder and Madeleine actually went on, which was amazing. It was the most roller coaster like ride she’s ever been on. She was so scared but also loved it.
Tzvi took the girls on Jungle Cruise and then we met up with my friend Jessica, a fellow Disney addict who had just gotten to the park. It was great to have two Disney adults come together. We tried to recreate a photo we’d taken at Disney World years prior, but this time with our kids. It didn’t work, but it was a special moment.
We left the park around 630 and headed out. We were so hungry and basically falling apart. We were supposed to eat at a Mexican place in Downtown Disney, but I went to check it out and there was nothing on the menu for us to eat, so we went for Italian food at Naples instead. Good thing because we haven’t had enough pizza and pasta on this trip. We ordered way too much food, including a full size pizza. It was all pretty good.
We went back and put the kids to bed and started getting ready for tomorrow. We had planned to all wear a different Inside Out character shirts that we bought on Amazon specially for this trip, but when I was looking through the suitcases I discovered I had packed everyone’s except for Madeleine’s. I ran out to world of Disney to try to find a replacement for her but they had nothing so unfortunately we had to scrap that plan. #momfail.
By 10pm it was late enough on the east coast that Tzvi’s calls had stopped, so we decided to go get a drink at Trader Sam’s, the tiki bar at the hotel. We were seated at the bar, which is always an experience. There’s thunder and lightning and depending on what you order they do different things. We ordered a drink that was basically a huge bowl of rum and fruit juice with two long straws. The bartender lit it on fire and then did a whole show. It was fun and a nice way to relax at the end of an exhausting day. We went back to the room and I tried to finish the West Wing episode again. Tzvi did work until he fell asleep.
We woke up early the next morning. We had no breakfast plan so we grabbed breakfast from the hotel café and then walked over to California Adventure. No surprise, Tzvi was on the phone as we entered the park. We walked in and headed straight to Cars Land and rode Radiator Springs, which is always great. The line took longer than we expected so Tzvi had to push his 930 call with his client to 945. We actually got the photo pass guy to take a photo while Tzvi was on the call. The guy was like, “he’s on the phone” and I was like “that’s the point.” He didn’t get it, so I said, “It’s a work-cation.” He found that pretty funny. Tzvi was on the phone for a while so we did a Halloween Mickey and Minnie story time, which was fun, but at the end they gave out gummy candies we couldn’t eat. Then Hallie, Hadar and I did Guaradians of the Galaxy (the old Tower of Terror). Hallie was amazing and even put her hands up. I didn’t go on that ride until I was 17.
For lunch we went to this really good spot on the Avengers Campus called Pym’s Test Kitchen. I’ve never seen Antman but I guess the point of the movie is that Michael Douglas (Pym) is a scientist who figures out how to shrink and enlarge people (like Paul Rudd) and things. So the whole restaurant was shrunken and enlarged foods – we had a giant pretzel and a really good pasta with impossible meatballs – they gave you one normal sized meatball and one huge meatball, and the pasta was regular sized rigatoni with tiny rigatonis stuffed inside of it. We also had a huge $8 chocolate bar that had brownie, nougat, caramel, and even peanuts, but I had to get it because how could you not.
We spent the afternoon doing more rides. Hallie went on Incredicoaster, which goes upside down. I won Toy Story, of course, as I always do. Madeleine did the huge swings, which was really fun. I was so impressed with the girls and how they did their rides. They were great.
While we did all of that Tzvi found an outlet somewhere and sat on the ground charging and making calls and sending emails because he had run his battery down to 5% in only half a day.
For dinner we had a reservation at the Wine Country Trattoria. We had to wait a bit, and then we finally sat down around 7pm, which is 10pm in New York, and Tzvi is like, “ok, I can finally relax and enjoy dinner because it’s late in New York and the calls have stopped.” He even ordered a beer. Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, Hallie starts coughing. It was like the Saturday night coughing and she wouldn’t stop. So we had a very quick dinner and then Tzvi and Hallie and Hadar walked back to the hotel so Hallie could nebulize. Dinner was actually very good – Tzvi had fettuccini alfredo with salmon, I had salmon – but it was just so stressful.
Hallie nebulized and showered. Turns out it was too late in New York for calls, but not for emails. Tzvi did about a half hour of work on his laptop and waited to see how Hallie did. She was totally fine so he left her with Hadar and came back to the park. I think we tired Hadar out.
While Tzvi was gone, Madeleine stayed with me and we did more rides. We rode Monsters Inc, Inside Out, and did the Jellyfish again. We stayed for the World of Color Show but it seems like it’s impossible to get a good view unless you pay for it, so we couldn’t see much. We left the park and walked through Downtown Disney, stopping for an ice cream cone at Salt and Straw. It was good, but Madeleine was losing it. We were all losing it. We were exhausted.
We woke up Thursday morning, packed up and got ready to check out of the hotel. Tzvi had started emailing, getting ready for another day of work. And then, at 8:48am he received an email from his client saying that they had decided to delay the project a few months and wanted to regroup after the long weekend. Well, that was nice for our final two days of vacation, but it would’ve been nice if they’d made this decision three days earlier.
We made it to our 930am character breakfast at Goofy’s Kitchen, the restaurant at the hotel. It was a great buffet – they had everything. An omelet station, Mickey waffles, French toast, pizza, Caesar salad and soft serve ice cream. They also had Minnie and Pluto and Chip and Dale. We told them it was Tzvi’s birthday and they brought a cupcake with a candle and sang to him. Fun last breakfast.
After that there we walked through Downtown Disney and did some shopping. Before we knew it, it was 1pm and the driver came to pick us up. It was very sad.
On to the next hotel!
Chapter 1. I Guess That’s Los Angeles For You. Part II.
So, it was Saturday night.
Hallie had been coughing and having some allergy symptoms, so we took an uber to Walgreens and bought $70 worth of allergy meds and nasal sprays for her. Then Austin and Rachel came to meet us and we hopped in an Uber to head downtown to Death and Co. (the LA outpost of the bar we love in New York). Of course, as soon as we pull away from the hotel Hallie calls us to say she can’t stop coughing. She actually sounded pretty okay, so we told her to steam in the shower and then nebulize. After she did that we facetimed her and she sounded completely fine.
Death and Co Los Angeles is interesting because they managed to create the same vibe as Death and Co New York but in a much larger space. Unfortunately I didn’t like either of my drinks. It was sad. I think Rachel’s drink was the best. We did get delicious popcorn and pickles though, and Tzvi and I shared the toasted bread which was so good and they don’t have it in New York. It was fun though.
We got back to the hotel and passed out. In the morning we were woken up at 5am by a crazy homeless man having a screaming fight with himself outside the hotel. I guess that’s Los Angeles for you.
We were all up by 715. We hung around then got dressed and at 9am we met everyone and went to LamaLo, a kosher Israeli café here on Pico. It was delicious, and I still don’t understand why we can’t have a decent Israeli café like this in the Five Towns. Everything was delicious, the pastries, my avocado toast, my coffee. Tzvi had to leave the table for about 20 minutes to make a work call. Yes, on a Sunday, on vacation.
After breakfast we took a walk to show the girls the house where Tzvi had grown up. It’s been a long time since his parents have lived there, and in some ways the outside had changed a bit, but then you can still see the green mailbox that his parents put up and the remnants of the flag pole where they used to hang their huge American flag. It’s been so interesting staying on Pico. There’s so much that’s the same, but so much that’s different, and it’s definitely getting more religious. The Beverlywood Bakery, a non-kosher bakery that was around for years, is now a kolel. Also, the Chase bank where the fruit man used to hang out, is becoming a kolel. Basically, everything is a kolel now, and yet somehow LA is still more modern than the Five Towns. I guess that’s Los Angeles for you.
From there we left the girls with the rest of the family and Tzvi and I got an Uber to Dodger Stadium. I don’t know the last time we were in dodger stadium, but it hasn’t changed in 60 years. It was Kobe Bryant jersey day so we got there early and got our jerseys. It was nice in the beginning because they brought out Vanessa Bryant and Kobe’s daughters. They had one daughter throw out the first pitch and another daughter said “It’s time for Dodgers baseball” (which they say at the beginning of every game). There was also a heartfelt video and Tzvi was basically crying, along with every other Angelino in the stadium. Then we watched the greatest game of baseball because it was over in 2 hours and five minutes. I think it was the fastest game I’ve ever been to and I was sweltering hot in the sun so I couldn’t have lasted much longer. And the dodgers won, so I couldn’t have asked for anything more. We had fantastic seats at field level behind home plate, but we were just baking out there.
Then we got an Uber back to the hotel, where we walked to Coffee Bean and got iced blendeds. A Starbucks Frappuccino doesn’t hold a candle to the original ice blended.
The girls came back from their day which they spent with my parents, Hadar, and Austin, Rachel and Kira at the Santa Monica Pier. They had the best time. They went on rides, they had ice cream, they had a great day. All in all, everyone had a great day.
Dinner was at Pat’s kosher meat restautant, which is now across the street from the original Pats. I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad meal at Pats. The restaurant is kind of a weird setup though – the space where Pats now is used to be The Mark, which was an event space where Austin and Rachel had their pre-wedding weekend, but before that it was a non-kosher steakhouse called Delmonicos that Tzvi used to eat at when he was a kid. The Mark always felt like a restaurant that was being used as an event space, but now Pats feels like a restaurant that’s being used as an event space that’s being used as a restaurant. We were seated in an open area to the side of the main dining room, which at first Tzvi wasn’t happy about, but it turned out to be the best thing because the kids were able to run wild without bothering anyone. We met a family who was doing the same thing; the mom was from Great Neck and moved to LA, but said she misses New York. The food was great. We got a ton of appetizers, and Tzvi and I shared a fantastic bbq spare ribs and chicken curry thing. And of course we had the chocolate bread pudding.
After dinner we went back to the hotel, the girls went to bed, I went to the gym and Tzvi did work. Tomorrow we go to Disneyland!
Monday morning we woke up and Tzvi said he had to take some calls and had do about an hour and a half of work. It worked out fine. We hung out, packed and got ready to go.
We first Ubered over to Robertson and did some shopping at Kitson, which has overpriced “LA stuff” (not sure how else to describe it). We usually stop there once a trip and the girls each picked out something that had nothing to do with LA – Hallie got a soft cube that you can bend into different shapes and Madeleine got a unicorn jewelry making kit.
After that we were excited to be going to Toast, which if you’ve been following along with this blog for a while, know is one of our favorite restaurants in LA. It’s a breakfast place that Tzvi ate at often when he lived in LA, and we go on every trip, sometimes two or three times. It’s an LA institution – great vibe, couches where you often see celebrities and their entourages hanging out, great food, great outdoor seating. It’s always bustling there’s usually a wait.
Well, we got to Toast, and immediately could tell something was wrong. Before we even entered we saw that there wasn’t a single person sitting at the tables outside (unheard of for Toast at 11am on a weekday), and there was a sign at the front door about parking that was in broken English, that just seemed off. Then we entered and we instantly knew this was not the Toast that we knew and loved. It looked mostly the same, but it was empty inside, the couches were gone, there was only two people working there and neither of them came over to greet us. Mostly though, it just had this sad vibe. Then they gave us menus and we saw that it was a different menu – the old Toast had a spiral bound menu with an abundance of choices. This was a grimy plastic two page thing that was missing our favorite dish ever – coffee cake crusted French toast. Finally, Tzvi googled Toast and found listing after listing on Yelp:
One star: “Under New Ownership with same name, different menu/quality and 3.99% credit card service charge!”
One star: “one of my favorite restaurants for years… this place was an IT place… it was sold and the new owner has kept the name but NONE of the charm or food or quality. Don’t be fooled by previous good reviews!”
One star: “I closed my eyes and imagined I was at a low end Dennys.”
We waffled over whether to leave or stay, but by the time my parents got there we knew we didn’t have enough time to find something else so we decided to stick it out and see how bad it could be. The interesting thing was, the food we got actually wasn’t that different. Tzvi had the breakfast burrito, which was basically the same, and my eggs were fine. We had a croissant French toast, which wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t our French toast. And most importantly, it had none of the ambiance we used to love Toast for – it kind of felt like we were eating in an episode of Hell’s Kitchen. Also, Toast used to have the best iced coffees that they served in these huge glasses; the coffee was now so terrible that after lunch we had to walk a couple of blocks to get another cup of coffee somewhere else.
We left Toast feeling kind of sad. We took a photo outside, something we’ve done on every trip, but this time we knew it was probably our last. We wont be returning to Toast. Looking back at the photo it looks the same as every other photo – the same sign, the same street corner. But inside, it’s totally different.
I guess, in a lot of ways, that’s Los Angeles for you.