Street League Vacation Part 3 - FANTASY FACTORY!

This is part three, the finale of my Street League Vacation blog series, haha. While on the trip, I had no idea this day was going to exist. It was a complete surprise, and probably the best unexpected event of my life.

Street League festivities were over on Saturday night. If you've read my two previous blog entries, you know that both days were so incredible, I couldn't have asked for anything better. I always know that my trips will be amazing, but Rob exceeds my expectations each time.

Sunday, my brother and I just drove around LA a lot, I showed him things he has seen on TV that he wanted to see in person. I DID want to drive by the Fantasy Factory once before I left LA. How could I be in LA and not see it? I was thinking about doing it on Sunday, but someone on twitter reminded me that it probably isn't a good idea to drive downtown Sunday since the VMAs were going on and traffic would be horrible. Sunday was pretty low-key and on Monday morning, we woke up and headed to my second favorite place in the world - Warner Brothers Studios. I've been in LA 9 times and I've taken the Warner Brothers tour 8 times. The only time I didn't go was back in May because that trip was really short and money was tighter than ever. Warner Brothers is amazing. The first time I was there, I was 13 years old and it was at that point that I knew I wanted to move to Los Angeles.

Everything in television fascinates me. Actually getting to go behind the gates of a full fledged working movie studio is amazing. I highly recommend taking the tour to anyone who plans on visiting LA. There are two, one is $225 and that is a 5.5 hour tour, which I've taken twice and it is incredible. There is also a $45 2.5 hour tour, which is also so much fun. That is the one I took this time.

The tour ended at about 1:15pm and since we were flying home the next day, I thought this would be the best time to drive over to the Fantasy Factory. I put the address in my gps and it told me it was 19 minutes away. It was much easier to find this time, last time I got super lost. We pulled onto the street and the gate was open. Rob's truck was sitting outside and I assumed he was in the factory. I had no intention of seeing him, or seeing anyone really. I just wanted to see the factory. I turned the car around and parked in front of his truck, so the factory was on my side. Just as I did that, a white car pulled into the factory. It was Rob's Porsche. He got out and I waved to him nervously. He started making his way over to me, and I didn't know what to do. I got out of the car and met him halfway. I felt really horrible, I knew it must have looked so bad, like I was following him or sitting outside the factory or something, but I swear that wasn't the case. No joke, he pulled up the SECOND after I did. It was "destiny," as he would say.

"Look who it is!" Rob said.

"Hey! I'm sorry, this must look really bad, I promise I am not following you or anything, I just wanted to drive by the factory once before I head home tomorrow." I said.

"Come on in," Rob replied.

At that point I kind of silently freaked out. Go INTO the factory? SERIOUSLY? I think I might have actually asked him if he was serious, it's kind of hard to remember. We walked up to the door and someone threw some rolled up paper over the fence. Rob picked it up and it was a picture of an old man with a letter attached to it. He started singing a song, I wish I could remember what he sang, but I know I've heard it before somewhere. When we got into the lobby area it was kind of dark and he opened up the fan letter and read it out loud. It went something like this, but not exactly -

"Dear Rob,

This is a picture of an old man. It kind of looks like you. (Rob looked at the picture and said it kind of did, haha). This old man is my great-grandfather. I am a huge fan of yours and It would be really awesome if you could give me a call sometime. Here is my number. PS - I can fake Picasso's too."

If you are a Dyrdek fan you will easily remember that the last line in that kid's letter is referring to the episode of Rob and Big when Rob's parents came to LA and Rob lost the poem his mom gave him, so he typed out a new one and said if she cries, that means he can fake Picasso's.

I asked Rob if a lot of people throw things over the fence for him, and he said yeah, he said I'm not the only one who goes hard, I just go the hardest or something to that effect. We took a picture in front of the Dyrdek Enterprises sign and then he said to follow him and he led us into the factory. I asked if Meaty and Beefy were still at boot camp, it would have been SO AWESOME to see those guys, and he said they were. The lights were off in the factory and he turned them on and told us to go crazy and do whatever we want. Rob went upstairs for a little bit and while the lights were turning on, my brother and I went into the DC Lounge.

Inside the DC Lounge, Bobby Light, Lil Rob and Rob's Gymkhana outfit were on display. They used to be in his office, but his office was empty, I guess he is in the process of re-doing it. I took a picture with all three because last time I was at the factory I didn't do it. Don't ask why, I accidentally threw up the peace signs in my picture with Bobby Light. I swear, I have never done that in a picture before in my life. I guess being around Bobby Light kind of brought it out? I don't know, haha. This time the factory was a totally different atmosphere. Last time it was the Sk84Life party, so the whole place was decorated for a party. It was still the factory, it was AMAZING to see, it was just super busy. This time, it was the real deal. The Fantasy Factory exactly as seen on TV. Like I said, I took a couple pictures, I snapped a picture of Rob's signature shoes on display (though it looks like one of them is missing?), and then the lights in the factory finally were fully on. We went out into the factory and it was incredible. We could literally run around the whole place. It was every Fantasy Factory fan's dream.

I took pictures with a bunch of stuff. I didn't go into the foam pit because let's face it, I'm not really what one would call in shape, and there was no ladder or anything leading into it. All that was there is the little red, blue and yellow ramp that Big Cat hit his head on in season one, and it really isn't little at all. That thing is REALLY steep looking. I don't know how people can just run up it, it looks like it would be similar to running up a wall.





I went over and peeked into Drama's office. The door was open, but I didn't want to go in. He wasn't there and his stuff was inside and I thought it would be weird to just walk in. I did snap a picture, and in the picture there is a pretty exclusive Young and Reckless item that the public does not know about, so I am not going to post that picture. I will say, if Drama releases it, I will buy it so fast! He also had like 3 pairs of the DVS/Young and Reckless Collabo shoes and the boxes all said "Sample only." It was pretty cool.

Soon, Rob came back downstairs and we just hung out and talked for awhile. My brother was sneaky and snapped a pic with his cell phone while we were talking and I love it, haha. It is just a picture of Rob and I talking in the Fantasy Factory, but it is so cool to me. I know, I am a loser, the smallest things make me so happy, haha. We talked about Street League, and a lot about Rob and Big and about Big Black. I asked about him since Rob tweeted that picture of the two of them about a week or so ago. We also talked about Rob's new show a little bit and about Fantasy Factory. While we were talking, Rob's phone rang and it was Chaz Ortiz. I guess Chaz is looking into getting a bulldog because he asked Rob what kind of bulldogs he has. Rob described Meaty and Beefy as "45-50lbs of fat puppies" haha.

When Rob got off the phone we talked a little more about Street League and about Chaz's fall at the end. Rob walked over to some boxes and grabbed something and headed back over to me. This is when my nerdy personality really shined through. As SOON as he started walking towards me with those items I knew exactly what they were and I was SO EXCITED about it.

Me - "Oh my god, are those the LIMITED EDITION EXCLUSIVE COMIC-CON WILD GRINDERS?!"

That is exactly what I said out loud and when I heard myself, I knew I sounded like a loser. I didn't care, I wanted one of those ever since I saw a picture of them on twitter when Rob was at Comic Con.

I am still so excited that I have them, haha. They are awesome. Anyways, he gave my brother and I each an exclusive comic-con Wild Grinders toy. Tracy came down from upstairs and said hi, and also asked Rob if he wanted to order food. I didn't think about it until after I left, but if Tracy was at the factory, that meant Tux was probably at the factory too! It was later confirmed that he was, and I would have LOVED to see Tux.

After that, Rob had a lot of work to do, and my brother and I had to head over to Hollywood and Highland because my brother wanted to see a movie premiere and Easy A was premiering that night. We took another picture, this time Rob was on the PK Ripper. I thanked him again for everything and he walked us to our car.

Monday was insane. I got to go to the two places I love most in the world in one day. Warner Brothers and the Fantasy Factory. Rob was so generous, he always is, but he just went above and beyond. I was careful not to ask Rob if I could go into the Fantasy Factory because I never like asking for too much. He already was so amazing to me the other two days. Once again Rob read my mind and invited me in without me even having to ask for it.

This trip was truly incredible. If someone were to tell me beforehand how amazing it would be, I wouldn't have believed them. It was a dream come true, once again. I honestly can not wait until 2011 because I plan on attending as many Street League events as my wallet will allow. I forgot to ask Rob if he plans on bringing Street League to Chicago, but I really hope he does. Even if he doesn't, I will find at least one event I can go to. I will make it happen. And who knows? Maybe by that time I will be able to save up enough money to move out to LA. That is another dream of mine that I am determined to make happen sometime in the near future.

That wraps up my vacation. I put together a slide show of a bunch of my pictures, you can check it out here -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30huKlJG-v8

Also, I know I am an episode behind on my re-caps. I have not finished the re-cap of the Best of, Bonus and Behind the scenes episode, but I will do my best to make next week a double. I will finish that one and hopefully finish the blog about tomorrow's new episode of Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory.