November 11, 2011 - Happy Veterans Day!

Photo courtesy of Catie Drew

Happy Veterans Day to all of the brave men and women who keep us safe!  Thank you for your service to our country.  I'm going to try my best to put together a comprehensive list of restaurants, theme parks and other businesses that are honoring you today.  While my blog is primarily local events, these many of these offers are nationwide.  However, you may want to call the local establishments and make sure the offer is good in your area before heading over with your service ID.

Theme Parks:

• SeaWorld, Adventure Island, Water Country USA and Busch Gardens are all offering free admission to their parks for members of the millitary and up to 3 direct dependents for the rest of 2011.  Click here to register.
• Aquarium of the Pacific is offering free admission today to all veterans, military personnel, police officers and firefighters 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM.  Details are here.  Aquarium of the Pacific is located at 100 Aquarium Way in Long Beach and directions can be found here. 
• Knotts Berry Farm is offering free admission to all veterans along with 1 guest from now till November 25th.  Knotts is also offering free admission to police and firefighters along with 1 guest from November 25th till December 19th.  Additional tickets can be puchased for $15.00 each.  Details can be found here.  Knotts Berry Farm is located at 8039 Beach Boulevard in Buena Park and directions can be found here.
• Colonial Williamsburg is offering free admission to active duty military, guard and reservists, retirees, veterans and their dependents today through November 13th.  Details can be found here.

Restaurants:

• Olive Garden is offering all active/retired military personnel a free entrée (6 to choose from) that also includes baked garlic breadsticks and soup or salad.  Details are here and you can find your closest Olive Garden here.
•  Applebee's is offering a free entrée (7 to choose from) to all active/retired military personnel today.  Details are here and you can find the closest Applebee's here.
• Chili's is a free lunch combo (6 to choose from) to all active/retired military personnel today from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.  Details are here and you can find the closest Chili's here.
• McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurants is offering active/retired military personnel a free lunch of dinner on Sunday, November 13th.  Details can be found here and a list of participating restaurants can be found here.
• Subway Restaurants is offering a free 6" submarine sandwich to active/retired military personnel 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. today.  Once again, please call to make sure your local franchise is on board with the deal.  Find your closest Subway here.
• Texas Roadhouse is offering a free entrée (10 to choose from) along with a free Coke, iced tea or coffee to active/retired military personnel!  If you live close to a Texas Roadhouse, this would be my recommendation for dinner.  Details are here and locations are here.
• Golden Corral is offering a free dinner to active/retired military personnel on Monday, November 14th from 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM.  Details can be found here and locations can be found here.
• Famous Dave's is offering different deals at their various restaurants for active/retired military personnel today.  Details can be found here.
• Outback Steakhouse is offering one of their excellent Bloomin' Onions along with a Coke today for active/retired military personnel.  Details can be found here and locations can be found here.
• BJ's Restaurant is offering all active/retired military personnel a free lunch entrée or a one topping mini pizza today.  Details can be found here and locations can be found here.
•  Krispy Kreme is offering a free doughnut to active/retired military personnel.  Locations can be found here.
• Ruby's Diner is honoring active/retired military personnel with free cinnamon roll French toast!  Print out the coupon here and locations can be found here.
• Lucca Cafe in is offering a free lunch and soft drink or coffee to active/retired military personnel today from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.  Lucca Cafe is located at 6507 Quail Hill Parkway in Irvine California.  Please call (949) 725-1773 for reservations.  Directions can be found here.
• Avalon Bagels to Burgers (with locations in Yorba Linda and Placentia, California) is offering a free meal to active/retired military personnel.  Details can be found here.
• 7-Eleven locations are offering active/retired military personnel a free Slurpee from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. today.  Store locations can be found here.

Ready for Halloween?

With Halloween a week away, I thought it might be a good idea to post some things happening locally that are fun for the whole family:

• Universal Studios has Halloween Horror Nights.  In addition to all the scary characters walking the park, they also have 6 mazes to scare the hell out of you!  The mazes include Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses in 3-D, Eli Roth's Hostel: Hunting Season, The Thing: Assimilation, Alice Cooper's Welcome To My Nightmare, The Wolfman: The Curse Of Talbot Hall and La Llorona: Villa De Almas Perdidas.  Get directions to Universal Studios  Here.

•  Knott's Scary Farm also returns with plenty of chills and thrills.  Knott's has 13 mazes, 7 live shows and 4 scare zones to get your heart pumping!  There will also be 1,000 monsters throughout the park doing their best to keep you on your toes.  Get directions to Knott's Berry Farm Here.

• The Los Angeles Haunted Hayride returns with a vengeance at Griffith Park's Old Zoo.  Get directions to The Los Angeles Haunted Hayride Here.

•  Disneyland still has tickets available for Halloween night.  Disneyland is the best bet for those of you with younger trick or treaters in your family.  Enjoy the fireworks and pose for pictures with your favorite Disney characters!  Get directions to Disneyland Here.

• Boney Island is a FREE event that's fun for the whole family.  Sneak peak on YouTube Here.  Directions to Boney Island Here.

• Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theatre is loaded with Halloween fun all week long.  In particular, Phantasm & Phantasm II will be shown on 10/27 with Q&As with both writer/director Don Coscarelli and actor Angus "The Tall Man" Scrimm after the films for $10 or free for members.  Get directions to the Silent Movie Theatre Here.

•  Haunted Hollow 2011 is a FREE event that's open on 10/29 & 10/31 at 7-10:30.  Get directions to Haunted Hollow 2011 Here.

Welcome!

Welcome, folks!  Thanks for checking out my first ever blog on Hollywood, California and surrounding areas.  I'd like this to be a spot that's helpful to both tourists and locals alike.

How many times have you heard of an event you would have been interested in attending after it's over?  For instance, I've been disappointed in missing celebrities getting their stars on the Walk of Fame in the past.  I never heard about it till they were on the news later that night.  I'm hoping this blog will solve that problem for you. 

I'm interested in free events, celebrity signings, concerts, sporting events, restaurant, conventions, cool places to enjoy your day and anything else I think you might be interested in.  I certainly appreciate your feedback and suggestions.  Thank you for your time!