Back in 2002, Dan Foster won the chance to spend some time in Los Angeles
with members of the Home and Away cast. Here, he tells us his exciting
story.
Friday 19th July 2002
We left Nottingham at 4:00am
on a coach to Heathrow Airport. It still hadn't hit me that I'd
won this competition. I'd had no sleep so I knew this was going
to be a long day! When we arrived at Heathrow at about 8:00 we
met up with the Channel 5 representative Susan Collins, Head of
Publicity for Drama. I was expecting a middle-aged woman but she
was surprisingly young. She has arrived with a freelance
journalist, Lorraine, who is going to be interviewing the cast
at some point during the week. At midday we left on Virgin
flight VOO7 for Los Angeles. After a 10-hour flight we
touchdown in LA. I still hadn't had any sleep so was feeling
rather in a daze at this point. I looked at my watch and it said
10pm, I was forgetting that I had to take it back 8 hours, so
it's still 3:00 in the afternoon! After getting held up in
arrivals Susan finally meets us outside the terminal, where our
transport awaits us. Or maybe not. After about another 30
minutes we find our transport parked around the corner. We had
to get to Anaheim just to the south of LA to the main Disneyland
complex.
We were staying in the Disney Grand Californian Hotel,
actually inside the new Disney California Adventure Park. To
make things better our driver gets lost and ends up taking us to
the main entrance of the park! This wasn't filling me with
confidence! Eventually we arrived at our hotel, and what a sight
it was! Certainly worth it's five stars! After some aimless
wandering around the Downtown Disney Shopping Precinct, and a
ham sandwich the size of California, we decided to have an early
night. I'd been awake for about 45 hours.
Our hotel, the Disney Grand Californian
Saturday 20th July 2002
This is it! I woke up and
realise where I was, LA! My lifelong dream (with me being a
media production student.) We went down to one of the many
café's for breakfast, I was still taken aback at how big
American portions are. Today is free time so I hang around the
theme park with one of the other winners, James. That night
we have a dinner with the Australian Winners at their hotel, the
Paradise Pier. It's just across the road from ours but not as
nice, apparently they were going to stay at ours but Channel 7
didn't RSVP in time. The Home and Away cast are in the same
hotel but are resting for the time being. We meet the Channel 7
representatives Victoria Supple, the publicist and another 2
ladies who's name I can't remember.
Sunday 21st July 2002
Again we have free time
today, so we decide to pay a visit to Universal Studios,
Hollywood. It is certainly worth a visit! We went on a tour of
the studios and saw the sets from many films and television
shows, including the Bates Motel from Psycho, where mother still
sits in the window. We could have gone on a nighttime tour of
Hollywood but we had to be back at 7:00 for a very special meal.
We walked down to Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen where we had a
room upstairs booked for a meal with the Home and Away cast.
James and myself sat down at one of the tables, literally
shaking in anticipation. After a long wait I saw a glimpse of
Kate Ritchie walking around the balcony from the stairs. It was
the moment I had been waiting for, for about 2 months. In walked
Kate with Bec Cartwright, Danny Raco and Dan Collopy.
Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen / James,
Bec and Myself at the first meal
I couldn't
believe it; here I was in Los Angeles, with the cast of my
favourite soap. They were of course very different from the
characters that we saw on TV. Kate and Bec were much shorter
than I expected and of course Bec had straight hair. Don't know
about Oz but on our screens she has curly hair. Bec came and sat
down at our table and we chatted for about 10 minutes, she then
went to sit at another table for her meal. Kate went to sit with
my mum.
Dan Collopy came over and sat with us for the meal. In
the UK we had not yet seen Dan on our screens as Josh, so to us
he was just a normal guy. We got on extremely well and I got to
know him as a friend rather than a celebrity. We were once again
overwhelmed with the portions, what we thought was the main
course just turned out to be a very big Caesar Salad. When we
got to the main course Dan, Bec and myself decided to go for the
Pasta Jambalaya. Big mistake if you don't like spicy food! By
the end we were all sitting there with our noses running, how
lovely! Just before the dessert we heard bangs so we went out
onto the balcony and watched the fireworks over Disneyland,
absolutely breathtaking.
At the end of the meal we had an autograph session and photos
with the cast, although this certainly wasn't the last we'd be
seeing of them!
We went for another wander around Downtown Disney and bumped
into the cast again. After a long and exciting day we decided to
get some sleep, another long day ahead of us.
Monday 22nd July 2002
We set out at 9:00am for a
tour of Hollywood with the cast. We were taken Downtown and saw
many locations from films such as True Lies, Superman, Father of
the Bride, Back To The Future and Speed (thankfully the freeway
didn't have a gap in it!) We stopped off on Hollywood Boulevard
to have a look around, the cast had a little photo shoot outside
the Chinese Theatre with all the foot and handprints (I have the
same size hands as Arnold Schwarznegger) After about half an
hour we were back on the bus for the tour of the stars homes in
Beverly Hills. One of the highlights for me was seeing the home
of 'The Osbournes.' Kate was a fan as well.
A photo shoot for the cast at the Mann's
Chinese Theatre in Hollywood
After a very
interesting trip we stopped off at Rodeo Drive. I was expecting
the cast to go and spend some money in the shops, but no time
for that! We had another little photo shoot underneath the Rodeo
Drive sign (you may have seen one of the pictures on the
official site).
Next stop was lunch, we were expecting to go
to the Farmer's Market but they surprised us and we instead went
to the Hard Rock Café! Courtesy of the Channel 5 credit card of
course! Incidentally it turns out the cocktails we were all
drinking, Hurricanes, were about £10 each!
Photo shoot on Rodeo Drive (the woman
with Kate is H&A publicist Victoria Supple) / Bec and Dan on the
tour bus, on our way to Venice Beach
Next stop was
Venice Beach, where they film Baywatch. At this point we were
sitting with Bec and Dan. They were having fun with a mirror
mode setting I have on my camcorder. We were also playing around
with Dan's new DV cam that he bought on the way over. Danny and
Dan had some pics taken at Muscle Beach but they didn't quite
match up to size! Dan then asked me to take some pics of him
standing with the Venice Beach lifeguards; it was then I
remembered that he told us he was playing the new lifeguard in
H&A. Of course they'd never heard of the show, but never mind!
We got back to the hotel at about 5:00 and the cast returned to
theirs for a load of interviews. Bec said she would phone me
when they finished so we could show her around the parks (she
still had not been in them!) but unfortunately they didn't
finish the interviews until about 11:00! We discovered the
beauty of the parks being open till 11:00pm, how we can go on a
ride, get off, and straight back on again. We must have ridden
the water rapids (the best in the world) about 8 times in a row.
After I'd dried out my shoes with the hairdryer it was time for
bed.
Tuesday 23rd July 2002
I knew this day would be a
special day, due to the fact it was Bec's 19th
Birthday, and our last full day of the holiday! In the morning
the cast were filming scenes for an Australian holiday
programmes (called 'The Great Outdoors' I believe) It was
strange watching them on these rides with a camera crew attached
to them!
Kate filming 'The Great Outdoors' on the
'Maliboomer' / Danny and Dan also on the 'Maliboomer.' Note the
nervous smile Dan is giving to his camcorder!
At
1:00 it was time for Bec's birthday lunch at the Avalon Cove
Restaurant in the California Park. Brilliant food and great
company! We gave Bec her card and had our meal. Afterwards a lot
of the Disney characters came to wish her Happy Birthday with a
nice little goody bag and cake. (Again you may have seen some of
the photos of Bec with Goofy) But I got plenty of brilliant
photos of her. We also had some more pictures taken with Dan,
while Bec took part in a little Disney band playing the bells.
Bec's 19th Birthday! Celebrating at the
Avalon Cove Restaurant
Bec with one of her birthday presents
from the Disney gang
After lunch the cast filmed a
live broadcast back to Australia, I have no idea what the
programme was, but Dan and Bec introduced us to the Australian
viewers.
Next up was a tour of the 2 parks, VIP style! We
managed to get on a load of rides without queuing. If you ever
go, you must go on the relaxing Soarin' Over California. You get
the feeling you are actually flying over California, with the
wind in your face and the smells of orange groves and pine
trees. We were all completely gobsmacked. I then had my final
photos with Bec and Kate.
When it came to night we all watched the amazing fireworks
show we had seen a glimpse of from the first meal, 'Believe
There's Magic In The Stars' A 10 minute firework spectacular
perfectly timed to beautiful music, as we watched we felt a
tingle down our spines. And it wasn't over then! It was then
time to move to the lake and watch 'Fantasmic' a 20 minute
firework and laser light show, we were overwhelmed!
After being on such a high, then came the saddest part,
saying goodbye to the cast. I had grown very fond of them during
the week, Bec and Dan especially. It felt like I had known Dan a
long time, despite having never seen or heard of him a week
before. Kate was also brilliant but we didn't talk to her as
much unfortunately. Danny was not feeling well for some of the
week so we didn't see as much of him, but we still got on well
all the same. After a quick goodbye and a hug they were gone.
James, Dan and myself at the Avalon Cove
Restaurant / My last photo with Bec
My last photo with Kate, in the
Disney California Adventure Park
That night we had
an all night party in the bar and afterwards in Susan's room. We
must have spent Channel 5's yearly budget on the mini bar alone!
Wednesday 24th July 2002
After about 2 hours sleep we
were up again and went for one last trip around the park, it was
certainly the hottest day of the whole holiday. At 2:30 the time
we were dreading came. The minibus arrived and after a
considerably shorter journey than when we arrived, we were back
at Los Angeles airport. After a long plane journey, again with
no sleep, we looked out of window and saw we were flying over
the centre of London, a spectacular sight in itself! About 10
minutes later we were back on English soil.
The whole holiday just seemed surreal, a whirlwind of fun,
excitement and meeting the nicest people I'd ever met. And now
it was all over!
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