Tag: Travel Review

Your Guide to King’s Inn: Budget Disney Accommodation

On By Brent AbellIn Anaheim, California, Brent's Crossroads, disney, Disney Adult, Disney California Adventure, Disneyland, King's Inn Anaheim, Travel, Travel Blogger, Travel Review, Travel Vlogger, Uncategorized, Universal Studios HollywoodLeave a comment

Welcome to the Crossroads! This is the place for my takes, reviews, and general travel info. So, you’ve decided to go to California for that trip to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure you’ve wanted to take for years. Once the park tickets are booked and the airfare is ready to pay for, where will you stay? Will you pick a hotel on Disney property or a Disney Good Neighbor hotel? What is a Good Neighbor hotel? What Mickey Ears will you pack to wear? Are there other hotels? Why does planning a Disney trip need to be so nerve-racking? Why are churros mainly a West Coast thing?

Well, you’re in luck, because I can help you out with your quest to find lodging in Anaheim for your Disney visit. I won’t dive into the Mickey Ears or churros questions today, but I can help by sharing with you my thoughts and review of the King’s Inn Anaheim.

The best thing about the King’s Inn Anaheim is that it is a cheaper option than the Disney resorts or other hotels surrounding Disneyland. Since it is not part of the Good Neighbor hotels, you don’t get Magic Hours or any of the perks Disney offers for its resorts or the Good Neighbor hotels. However, the nightly rate and parking are much cheaper. If you value those few extra minutes in the park, then saving a few bucks may not be for you. I believe the Magic Hours are more valuable at Disney World than at Disneyland or Disney California Adventure. That is my opinion, but your personal mileage may vary. Parking at the hotel during your stay is also cheaper at only $15 a day.

The location is convenient for a trip to Disneyland. The King’s Inn is a 15-minute walk to the Disneyland gates. You can also catch a 45-minute to 1-hour Uber ride to Universal Studios Hollywood. Going to Knott’s Berry Farm? It’s an 8-mile or 15-minute ride. So, the King’s Inn is very well located for the price. The Anaheim Garden Walk is next door and features shopping and lots of restaurants. The King’s Inn doesn’t have a restaurant, but we ate at a hotel on the way to Disney. Between the other hotel restaurants and the Garden Walk, there is no shortage of locations to grab a bite to eat.

How are the hotel amenities? The rooms are roomy and clean. The rooms feature a large refrigerator but no microwave. A microwave is available in the laundry, but according to the website, you can rent one for $5 a day. The hotel also has a pool with a hot tub, a market to purchase food or sundries (self-service with self-pay checkout), and an outdoor observation area on the second floor where you can watch the Disneyland fireworks.

The rooms are a good place to rest and catch some sleep between park visits. The air conditioning in our room was spotty. We either got warm or froze, depending on whether it was kicking on or not. If I adjusted the temp so it wouldn’t kick on as often, it didn’t kick on, and if I turned it back down a few degrees to have it kick on, it would run colder than where it was set. I’m pretty sure I saw my breath a few times. The water pressure was decent, and the shower was roomy. The beds were comfortable, and I didn’t have issues sleeping on them.

Overall, I would stay at the King’s Inn again. The price is right, and I don’t mind the walk to Disneyland from the Inn. The King’s Inn is across the street from the Toy Story parking lot, so we tried taking the bus there instead of walking. Honestly, it ended up being about the same distance to walk from where they drop you off in the lot, but it takes two to three times longer because of stops and traffic. My tip here is just walk it. You can check out the vlog over on the Crossroads YouTube channel to see the Inn, the walk to Disney, and my room tour (https://youtu.be/PM0-sDB10rU).

Have you stayed at the King’s Inn Anaheim? If you have, what did you think about it? Drop your experiences in the comments below so we can talk about them.

Thanks for stopping by the Crossroads, and I’ll see you out in our travels,

Brent

I’m Ranking the Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood 2025 Houses!

On By Brent AbellIn Brent's Crossroads, halloween, Halloween Horror Nights, HHN House Reviews, horror, Travel, Travel Blogger, Travel Review, Travel Vlogger, Universal Studios HollywoodLeave a comment

Welcome to the Crossroads! Where did my travels take me this time? Hollywood, California, and Universal Studios! Last year, I had fun ranking the ten houses at Universal Studios Orlando for their Halloween Horror Nights. This year, I traveled to the West Coast to experience what Halloween Horror Nights is like, Hollywood-style. Where did I rank the houses? Let’s peel back the skin and dig into the gory fun of this year’s Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood! I have a video of all the 2025 Hollywood houses on the YouTube channel, which you can check out here (if you dare!)

There are usually overlaps between Hollywood and Orlando with house themes, and this year was no different, with five houses haunting both coasts. This year’s big IP (intellectual property) houses in both parks were Terrifier, Fallout, WWE’s The Wyatt Sicks, Jason Universe, and Five Nights at Freddy’s. The only IP house not at both parks was the Poltergeist house in Hollywood. The other two houses in Hollywood were original creations: Scarecrow and Monstruos 3: Ghosts of Latin America. The Terror Tram (Hollywood exclusive experience) theme this year was Enter the Blumhouse, celebrating fifteen years of the film house of horror.

Where did they rank after I got scared silly touring the haunts? Let’s find out!

8. Five Nights at Freddy’s- This house wasn’t last the first time I explored the houses. One house had a better showing on my second time through and bumped this house to last. Most of the scares were the possessed animatronics, but they could be seen a mile away and didn’t produce any scares when you approached them. The scare actors tried, but with so many prop ‘scares’, they didn’t have much to work with. The house was boring and had the longest wait times of the night we went. I’d be upset if I had to wait the hours the wait reached in the regular queue.

7. Fallout- The Fallout house was originally my last place pick, until I went through a second time. This is one instance where a different scare actor team can change how I experience and feel about a house. I moved this to seventh, but it still held the last-place title for most of the night. It wasn’t scary, and it seemed like another uninspired house. The scare actors were fantastic (the issues with houses are not on them- it’s on the designers and writers- they always do a phenomenal job). My main problem is that this didn’t seem like a good IP for a haunt. The same issue is what I feel dragged down the Quiet Place house last year: good property, but not so much for a haunted house theme. The second time, the scare actors were in better positions and filling in gaps from my first trip. Better experience? Yes. Better house? No.

6. The Jason Universe- I love the Friday the 13th franchise. Jason is one of the core slashers I grew up with in the 80s, and I was stoked about this house. Get scared to death by a machete-wielding Jason in a house? Yeah, where do I sign up? Unfortunately, it didn’t translate well. The only scares were from Jason, so the house became repetitive quickly. I can only have so many Jasons lumber out of the shadows before it becomes comical. The set pieces were well done and depicted some of the best deaths at Camp Crystal Lake, but in the end, it didn’t do anything new with the hockey-masked killer. The house would’ve been better served if they had made it original instead of copying deaths from the film series: so much potential, but so much disappointment.

5. WWE Presents: The Wyatt Sicks- This was not a house I was looking forward to. I haven’t watched the WWE in decades, and I knew nothing about the Wyatt Sicks besides knowing about Bray Wyatt’s death. But, Brent, did you like the house? Honestly, I did. The setting and characters were creepy, and some great scare areas in the house got me pretty good. The setting was a cabin in a swamp-like area, so it being the house next to the Jason Universe house made them seem too much like each other, setting-wise: decent house, but horrible line management by the Universal staff (that is another tale for another time).

4. Poltergeist- This movie scared the hell out of me as a kid, and the house lived up to the warm, fuzzy childhood trauma. Yes, it is a direct adaptation of the film, but it isn’t a constant barrage of Jasons coming at you. This told the movie’s story and sent you on your way to contemplate if only the headstones were removed back home, but not the bodies. I was disappointed in some aspects of the house, however. I wanted the clown in the bedroom to do something when I walked by. Childhood trauma was that clown. On the second time through, a different clown prop slowly came out from under a bed, but it wouldn’t have scared a five-year-old. A clown was added to the closet ghost scene, but it was a scare actor who wasn’t always in place. The other thing I expected more from was the first room you entered with the television. Are they here or not? Overall, it kept the movie’s feel while delivering some good jump scares.

3. Scarecrow- We reached number three before hitting our first original house. Scarecrow was a nice callback to a previous house and featured music from guitar icon Slash. This house was a pleasant gory stroll through farms where the scarecrows decided to do something about their human farmers and their families. There was some amazing corn cob usage for kills, and the scarecrows did their job, being scary as hell. The music is tough to hear due to screaming, but the Slash soundtrack was tight when you could listen. Mostly, it was in the queue when you could hear the guitar soundtrack.

2. Terrifier- Art the Clown being the subject of a house at this year’s HHN was one of the worst-kept secrets in recent memory. Before the first house announcement, everyone was already speculating that Terrifier would be one of the houses. This house did what I wish the Jason Universe house had done—the Terrifier’s house mixed movie scenes with original scenes. The different scenes blended to create an experience worth the wait and the money. Who doesn’t like a clown? Art cuts his way through scare actors and props with expert precision, and the misting water throughout the house made everything feel bloody and gross. Orlando gave you a chance between wet and dry for the ending, but you had no choice in Hollywood. You got wet…

1. Monstruos 3: Ghosts of Latin America- I didn’t think an original house would win the night, and it almost didn’t. I kept a running ranking on my phone, which I updated after every house. I experienced Monstruos 2 last year in Orlando, and it was one of my top houses, so I eagerly anticipated this house. It didn’t disappoint. The house is divided into three Latin American ghosts and their stories. The set pieces were fantastic, the costumes bloody good, and the scares plentiful. I went through this house twice, and it was great both times. I waffled between Terrifier and this house for first, and after going through both twice, Monstruos came away with the scare victory.

I enjoyed the chance to visit Halloween Horror Nights in Hollywood, and I hope to hit one or both next year. I’d love to see both versions and compare them. I hope you all have a spooky-good Halloween, and I’ll see you in the shadows!

Brent

My Final Review of My NCL Bliss Alaskan Cruise

On By Brent AbellIn Brent's Crossroads, Cagney's Steakhouse, content creators, cruise, Cruising, NCL, NCL Bliss, Norwegian Cruise Lines, The Local, Travel, Travel Blogger, Travel Review, Travel Vlogger, Traveling Writer, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Welcome to the Crossroads! The last couple of videos about my Alaskan adventure aboard the NCL Bliss are in the can for the YouTube channel, and I’m beginning preparations for Dragon Con in Atlanta over Labor Day weekend, a trip out west for Oogie Boogie Nights at Disneyland (as well as the 70th anniversary), and my first trip to Universal Studios Hollywood for Halloween Horror Nights. Now is the time for me to honestly review my first cruise on Norwegian Cruise Lines, the Alaskan ports I visited, and Pier 66 in Seattle.

Let’s head out to the Crossroads, and talk about my latest adventure.

This was my first sailing on an NCL ship, and my first impressions were very positive. We booked this cruise using our casino points from online games, and the process was pretty smooth and easy. If you are interested in me delving deeper into the process and if it was worth it, drop a comment below and let me know. Because we booked through our points, we each had to book individually, which worked out because it allowed us to explore and compare an interior cabin versus a balcony cabin (balcony was fantastic for the beautiful views of the Alaskan mountains and glaciers). Our booking also had the “More at Sea” package added, so I will take a broader look at whether the package is worth the money later as well.

Pier 66 in Seattle is easy to reach from the airport by train. Purchasing an Orca Pass and navigating to the port from the airport is simple. The trip is a straight shot, and you don’t have to change lines. The stop is a few blocks from the pier, and it is an easy walk if you don’t have twenty suitcases. If you packed that much, you’ll want to Uber or take a cab to Pier 66. We arrived too late before the train shut down for the night, so we stayed at an airport hotel and took the train in the morning. This allowed us to explore the Pike Place Market a little. It did suck with our suitcases, but it was not impossible. The impossible thing was locating a restroom to use. If you take time to see Pike Place, the pier is only a five-minute walk from there.

My first view of the Bliss on the walk to Pier 66.

The pier is easy to navigate and to get through security. If you aren’t carrying on, you drop your luggage at an outside kiosk and proceed through the regular port security. The crowds didn’t seem large, and we cleared security quickly. I expected long lines at the port to check in since the sailing was at capacity, but it was never crowded, and we boarded easily.

My first impressions of the Bliss were positive. The atrium area was small, only a couple of floors high. The atrium’s second level is The Local Pub’s open center. The Bliss’s lack of a huge atrium four to six floors high was different, but it worked with the layout. Norwegian also had passengers complete their muster drill as soon as they boarded. This was a great way to ensure that all passengers completed it without having to track stragglers down.

The ship is excellent for the Alaskan itineraries due to the large observation lounge, mounted binoculars outside in multiple locations, and outdoor seating areas with great views. The drawback is the pools. There are plenty of hot tubs, but where some ships that do Alaskan itineraries have a retractable roof over the pool deck, the Bliss is wide open the entire time. If you want to swim, you’d better do it on embarkation day or the last day heading back to Seattle, because if not, it’s too cold to swim unless you hit the hot tubs.

Now, what did I think of the food? The food in the main dining room (MDR) was average. Some of it was very good, and some not so much. The breakfast and lunch menus in the MDR were better than most of the dinners. The free included restaurants like The Local and the American Diner were great. The Local is open 24 hours and has the best food on the ship between the MDR, buffet, and included restaurants. The only pay restaurant we dined at was Cagney’s Steakhouse. It was the best steakhouse I’d experienced on the four cruise lines I’ve sailed. You can dine at the pay restaurants with your More at Sea package. The number of times depends on which package you purchase. Ours only covered one meal, so we chose Cagney’s after hearing many positive reviews online. The Garden Cafe (buffet) was also excellent. It rotated dishes based on theme, had a hot dog/burger section, and served various Indian food daily. The buffet is my second favorite behind MSC. MSC’s buffet brought it at every meal.

Onboard entertainment was average. They did have a Broadway production of Jersey Boys for a couple of nights, but the other nights were your average singing oldies that older cruisers like. At least the entertainment wasn’t jugglers and magicians like on Royal Caribbean. I think I’d see the shows I’ve attended on Royal Caribbean ships at a retirement home. Carnival still has the best shows, in my opinion. Let me know in the comments what your favorite cruise line entertainment is. The Bliss also featured a Beatles tribute band, the best and most accurate-looking and sounding tribute band I’ve ever heard. I could close my eyes and believe I was listening to the Beatles in Liverpool.

The port stops were great, and I covered all of them in my video series on the YouTube channel (check them out here). My only real gripe is that the Bliss was always the odd ship out and had to dock the furthest away from the towns. The docking assignments left Bliss passengers with shuttle buses to get to and from the downtown areas of the port stops. The other ships sailed up to the front door and dropped off in the thick of the action. We lost time due to the travel requirements of being bused back and forth.

A quiet and reflective moment in Icy Straight Point.

To close, I would rank Norwegian Cruise Lines as my second-favorite cruise line. NCL is close to the top, but one other takes the top spot. I promise I’ll count them down for you soon. Where will the four rank? Tune in by subscribing to be notified when new content drops at the Crossroads! Thank you for stopping in, and I hope to see you out in the world!

Safe travels,

Brent

Bigfoot does exist, and he works in a gift shop.

What Did I Think of the American Diner on the NCL Bliss? Review and Menu!

On By Brent AbellIn American Diner, Brent's Crossroads, cruise, Cruising, NCL, NCL Bliss, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Travel, Travel Blogger, Travel Review, Travel Vlogger, Traveling Writer, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Welcome to the Crossroads! This is the place for my experiences and reviews on the road, on cruises, or in or about Disney/Universal Studios. I’m eating at and reviewing another restaurant on the Norwegian Bliss, the American Diner. Located on deck 17, the American Diner is included with your cruise fare. It is only open for lunch, from 12 pm to 5 pm. The only thing that isn’t included is the milkshakes, which are $7 each. The milkshakes also do not count for the More At Sea beverage package. If you want a milkshake, you’re paying for it.

Now, what about the menu, and how was my meal? Let’s find out!

We chose to eat at the American Diner on embarkation day. Because most people head straight to the buffet on cruises, we hoped the American Diner wouldn’t be crowded. Luckily, we arrived right as it opened and didn’t have to wait. It never was crowded during our lunch, and there was ample seating. A portion of the menu is available at other restaurants on board, like at The Local, so we wanted to focus on items only served at the American Diner.

We ordered the smoked fish dip and the white bean chicken chili for our starters.

The chili was warm and very flavorful. It wasn’t too spicy or bland, hitting somewhere in the middle. The chili tasted good, and I enjoyed it as my starter. The smoked fish dip tasted delicious. The dip didn’t have an overpowering fish taste, and the smoke flavor showed through. If the fish had been overpowering, it would’ve drowned out the smoke. The chips served with it were stale, however. We joked that they were left over from the previous cruise and needed to get rid of them. Apparently, hungry folks boarding a ship is a good place to unload stale chips.

Now, for our main dishes, we decided to pick the pulled pork sliders and the homemade meatloaf. The meatloaf sounded like it could be good—or it could be bad, but I was willing to take the risk.

The sliders were average. They needed more sauce, and the slaw was bland. The Hawaiian rolls were good, and the fries were of the nice, thin, and crispy variety. Overall, the sliders were okay, but not something I’d beat the door down to order again. The meatloaf was surprisingly good. It was served with grilled corn and mashed potatoes. I wasn’t a big fan of the gravy, but it didn’t detract from the meatloaf’s flavor. I would’ve ordered it again if I had dined at the American Diner a few more times. The corn was good, and the potatoes were bland, but it was passable when you put the meatloaf gravy on it. I’d place the main dishes as above average.

When ordering dessert, we paid for the chocolate shake and added the chocolate mousse and bread pudding.

The shake was good, but I’m not sure it was $7 good (it was actually $9.17 after taxes and added gratuity). The other two desserts weren’t anything to write home about. The mousse was a basic chocolate mousse with a tiny dab of the strawberry coulis and a few graham cracker crumbs. The bread pudding was tasteless unless you covered your bite in the caramel whiskey sauce. The problem was that you ran out of the sauce after a few bites. Overall, I give the desserts a below-average rating.

How did the American Diner fare? I’d give it an average rating. It’s okay, but not a place I’d rush to eat again or go out of my way to dine at another time. I would still recommend it if you are on an NCL ship and have never tried it. Don’t take anyone else’s word about a restaurant until you try it yourself. I only give these opinions and reviews to pass on restaurant information and my experiences. Have you dined at the American Diner? If so, comment with your experiences below.

I hope you enjoyed this review, and I hope you take that trip you’ve been wanting to take!

See you at the Crossroads,

Brent