Highlights Along the Way
Family Travel, Treats, Tips, & Traditions

Hollywood Family Travel : Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, The Hollywood Museum, & More

Disclosure: We were guests of the LA Tourism Bureau who provided us with Go City cards for the purpose of this article. This site uses affiliate links. Opinions are 100% my own.

Southern California has so many fun destinations for families.  While many people immediately think of Disneyland for family vacations, we suggest you think of other fun places while you are visiting California. Hollywood is the center of the movie industry.  Hollywood has so much history and is full of unique things you can only find in Los Angeles!  Hollywood is only about three hours north of San Diego. A “DayCation” in Hollywood can be a fun trip for families.  Here are some pictures from a one day trip we took to Hollywood.  These are our favorite things to do with kids in Hollywood California!

hollywood-with-kids

Hollywood family travel is the perfect Summer Staycation for our family.  We recently made a quick day trip to Hollywood with the kids and had a wonderful time.  If you are planning a trip to SoCal; Hollywood is a must see!  Make sure to grab a Go Los Angeles Cards to save on your Hollywood Family travel!

We were only going for one day and we were a bit overwhelmed by all the different choices we had.  There are all kinds of tours, museums, and attractions.  I wanted to highlight a couple we really enjoyed as a family.  We felt like a guided tour would not work for our family so we thought museums and unguided exploration was best for us.

Looking for discounted tickets?  Go Los Angeles Card offers a deep discount on tons of attractions!

Our favorite museum was Madame Tussauds Wax Museum.  The kids had a blast and they loved interacting with all kinds of movie, TV, and music stars.  Even stars that they didn’t know were all kinds of fun for them to pose with.  Madame Tussauds is a three story museum with lots of fun on every floor.  If you have kids that can’t keep their hands to themselves (like we do), you will be happy to know that your family is allowed to touch the statues, but not their hair or faces. Our family spent several hours taking all kinds of funny pictures.  Enjoy a couple of our favorites below……

Madame-Tussauds-Thor

There are tons of Super heroes – His favorite is Thor (even though he has never seen the movie – you may remember he was LEGO Thor for Halloween last year)

Simon-American-Idol

Kids pretending they are bugging the heck out of a grown up….. it was a stretch for this bunch.

20140725_120430

Ryan Reynolds and I, because…. obviously.

20140725_120459

My husband would like to point out that he thinks there might have been a mix up in the Salma Hayek department…. because this isn’t her….. (all opinions are his own).

Betty White

“Dat’s a old gramma Elsa lady, she sing ‘let it go’ Mama?” Little Miss C

“Sorry Baby, she doesn’t sing..” Me

“I no like her den” Little Miss C

Sorry Betty White, Baby C is not impressed.

ET-picture

“Mom, what’s ET?” Brother

“It’s a cool movie, you can watch it someday, it’s about a kid that saves an alien named ET and…” Me

“Oh, like Earth to Echo from the Olden Days?” Brother

*sigh* Me  “Actually…. kinda.”

20140725_123247

Breakfast at Tiffany’s

Moses

Helping Moses part the Red Sea

20140725_125346

*this is neither a Political Endorsement or Mockery* #BasesCovered

Spiderman

Hangin’ with Spiderman – this picture is so going up in his room.

Forest-Gump-Madame-Tussauds

Sharing a bench with Forrest Gump

Lady-Gaga-Hollywood

“Dis lady fancy….. and weird.” Little Miss C

“That’s kind of her thing.”  Me

“She forgots her outfits Mommy, she nakee” Little Miss C

“That’s her thing too.” Me

Close-up-Madame-Tussauds-Lady-Gaga

Seriously though, look at the close up of the Lady Gaga wax figure – that is pretty amazing!

20140725_130149

The kids have no idea who Tiger Woods is, but they got to play golf so they were totally into it.

“Is this guy good at golf or something?” Brother

“He’s OK.” Me

“I’m pretty good at golf.” Sister

I should point out for story sake it took her 7 swings to get it from Tiger to the hole.  But I appreciate her confidence.

We took only slightly less than one million photos in the wax museum – if you ever get the chance – Madame Tussauds is really fun for all ages!

Hollywood-Museum

The Hollywood Museum is a smaller but very cool museum.  If Harry and I had been in Hollywood on our own this is a museum we could have spent hours in.  Because we had little ones and it wasn’t quite as hands on as the first we only stayed about an hour or so.  We still loved seeing costumes, photographs, and memorabilia.  On the second floor the kids had the opportunity to watch some old movies that they actually really thought were fun.

Superman-Hollywood-Museum

Superman was Adopted

Modern-Family-Hollywood-Museum

Who else loves Modern Family and can quote lines from every episode that contained this memorabilia? I know I am not the only one.

20140725_135807

 

One thing that was super fun for all of us was checking out the Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  Check out some of our kid’s favorites!

Robin-Williams-Hollywood-Walk-of-Fame

“the Genie!!!”

20140725_133235

20140725_110132

There are hundreds you guys!

20140725_133321

Darth-Vader-in-Hollywood

We also met and spotted a couple “Famous People” – by famous people I mean street performers that will pose with you for tips.  We tipped Darth Vader and Cinderella – both were very kind.

Darth-Vader-Manns-Chinese-Theatre-Hollywood

*I believe this guy went with ‘standard’ rather than ‘deluxe’ when it came to Darth Vader costume choices, but he knew how to work a crowd!*

20140725_151136

Yes, we have taken photos with both of these characters at theme parks for no money at all, but considering there is no admission price to hang out on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and also that there was virtually no wait to meet with these guys it was super worth it!

Famous-People-Hollywood

I am fairly confident based on her accent this lovely Princess was from Russia; which makes her extra special in our family’s book!  She spent lots of time talking with both girls and posed for several pictures.

Minions-Hailing-A-Cab

  We also saw Minions hailing cabs, Cookie Monster, Mickey Mouse, lots of Transformers, and a whole other modge podge of tip worthy (but if I was a betting lady; not at all licensed) characters.

Cookie-Moster-Mickey-Mouse-Manns-Chinese-Theatre

 

We fell in love with Ghiradelli Chocolate Shop in San Fransisco years ago and thought it was a perfect place for a treat.  In Hollywood Ghiradelli Soda Fountain & Chocolate Shop is also a Disney Studio Store so it was fun to enjoy a treat and then window shop.  The kids all chose one scoop in a cup.  FYI – scoops are HUGE and we actually had to help the baby finish hers.  Hot tip – there is almost always a nice greeter at the front of the store.  Greeters have a basket of delicious mini Ghiradellis squares that they hand out free to guests.  We love freebies! 😉

freebie-ghiradelli

The greeter offers you one on the way in.  My kids enjoyed that one, a gigantic sundae, and then sweet talked him into one on the way out too.  We ate extra veggies the next day.

hollywood

We parked at The Hollywood and Highland Center (huge, beautiful outdoor mall that includes the TCL Chinese Theatre) and found it to be safe and economical.  While the mall and many area shops and attractions will validate for a few hours, the daily maximum for parking is only $13 for covered parking.

If you are planning a trip to Hollywood I would highly suggest a Go City card – you can enjoy the museums I spoke about above as well as several other area attractions for one set fee.

We spent all day in Hollywood and had an amazing time!  We parked in one spot and enjoyed so many things within walking distance.  We enjoyed dinner and a movie with Disney’s El Capitan Theatre (more on that coming up soon!) after a full day of site seeing.  We cannot wait to visit Hollywood as a family again soon!

Until Next Time ~ Kate
  1. Suzette says:

    We haven’t been there in sooo many years! My fav wax figure is Lady Gaga — is that lace real? Also, it looks like your DD is pinching her behind, lol!

    • Kate Hamernik says:

      Yes! The lace is real and she was even wearing pantyhose! DD was pulling on the pantyhose before I got her to stop. I went to Madame Tussauds in London when I was 15, but had never been to the Hollywood one – we had a lot of fun!

  2. My old stomping grounds! Used to hang out with friends down in Hollywood when I was in high school. I have taken my daughter to the El Capitan for movies, but never to explore the old ‘hood. Need to do that some day!

  3. We’ve never been and now I want to go! That Lady Gaga is unreal!

    • Kate Hamernik says:

      Michelle you guys would have a blast! I am not really a fan of Lady Gaga like at all….. but her statue was the best!

  4. I have not been to the wax museum in YEARS. They have all-new people! And the quality is amazing.

  5. laura says:

    It’s amazing how lifelike everything looks. Definitely will have to check that out the next time I’m in CA.

  6. Kristene Hanson says:

    This is 1 thing I have always wanted to do. I have lived here so long and never gone. I think my kids would love it too. Looks amazing!

  7. […] Avengers : Infinity War from home soon!  We will be touring the new Marvel Super Heroes exhibit at Madame Tussauds Hollywood.  We will also be interviewing Executive Producer Trinh Tran.  I can’t wait to […]

  8. […] is a really fun and interactive attraction that you can visit in many different cities.  The Hollywood Madame Tussauds is (in my opinion) the most fun because so many figures are celebrities and Hollywood is of course […]

Leave a Comment