Do you really need to rent a car in CA?

[BroadwayHermione5]

Hi friends,

To make a very lss, we are supposed to be going to London this year but have started making a contingency plan for a CA trip. We would do DLR for 4-5 days, Universal, Knotts, WB tour, the pier, you name it we would do it. We also have some friends out there but wouldn’t want to inconvenience them with picking us up.
I tried stressing to my parents we would need to rent a car. But they said they would rather pay for Uber and depending on where we stay we would use shuttles to various places but they still aren’t getting it imho. I truly think you need to rent a car.
Anyone have any thoughts?
Again it’s only for a contingency as well are all vaccinated, boosted (or about to be-getting appointments is rough) and ready to go but we are also thinking about our options. Thanks again in advance!
BH5

 

[mjdis17]

Where are you staying? Are you staying at the same place for the entire trip? And how many do you have? That is the key.

DLR, Knotts, and Orange County beaches are about an hour away from the Hollywood area where Universal/WB Tour is located, and also an hour away from Santa Monia Pier which itself is 30+ min away from the Hollywood area.

In 2019 my fiancé and I (2 people) did a Southern CA trip seeing all of these sights using only Ubers/hired cars for the first 5 days, then rented a car for the last 2. Honestly, having the car sucked for us. The Ubers were SO great to not have to worry about directions, traffic, parking, drinking, you name it. However, the key was we stayed in 3 different areas, and we only had 2 people so we only needed regular cars. Here is a breakdown of our trip:

1. West Hollywood - stayed at the Farmer's Daughter hotel. I HIGHLY RECCOMEND THIS HOTEL!!! It is across the street from The Grove which is a large outdoor shopping and dining area. It was fabulous. We Ubered there from LAX, then while we stayed there we did Universal, a Hollywood tour where they drive you around in an open air van to see the sights, and hit up some various museums and famous food places. We only used Uber/walking and it was great.

2. Disneyland - we stayed at Desert Inn & Suites across from the resort pedestrian entrance. Wouldn't necessary recommend the hotel, but wouldn't dissuade you from staying there either. Let's just say the location is what made it acceptable. To get from West Hollywood to Anaheim, we hired a car through Limos.com. I did this because I knew it would be an hours drive in heavy traffic and I did not want to deal with the possibility of a bad Uber driver. We got picked up in a luxury SUV and it was great. Once we got to the Disneyland area we only walked to and from the parks, never used Uber. For you though, you'd easily be able to Uber to Knott's from your DL area hotel.

3. Santa Monica - we rented an Airbnb and a car, picked up the car from the Disneyland area, and made the hour drive up to Santa Monica. The Airbnb was in a not great neighborhood, and I hated the stress of driving the car. We did use the car to drive out to Malibu along the Pacific Coast Highway which was cool, but that still wasn't worth the hassle of it all, and we could have done a Malibu tour or something to see it instead. I wish we had spent the extra $$ for a resort along the main drag/beach by the pier and relied on Uber again. We went to a taping of Wheel of Fortune and did other touristy things in that area. We ended in that area so we could be close to LAX for our flight home.

All in all, it was totally do-able only Ubering and I wish we didn't rent a car at all. HOWEVER, we could only make that work because we stayed in 3 different areas and made the hour drive between Hollywood, Anaheim, and Santa Monica on 2 of our days. Now, did we save money Ubering? Probably not with all the fares and tipping. However, we also never needed to pay for parking and we had a few nights where we went out drinking and never had to worry so it was money well spent for us.

The best thing we did when staying in West Hollywood to see a lot of sights in one go was taking one of the "tourist traps" tours. We did a short one that was 3-4 hours long and only stayed in the Hollywood/Beverly Hills area. However, they have full day ones that take you to Malibu and the Santa Monica Pier as well. Looking back one of those longer options would have been better for us to see everything with less hassle. I know some people might find those tours lame or a cash grab, but to us to showed us everything we needed to see. I mean, we are tourists after all!

I hope this helped! We had such a fabulous trip and would do it all again in a heartbeat.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Where are you staying? Are you staying at the same place for the entire trip? And how many do you have? That is the key.

DLR, Knotts, and Orange County beaches are about an hour away from the Hollywood area where Universal/WB Tour is located, and also an hour away from Santa Monia Pier which itself is 30+ min away from the Hollywood area.

In 2019 my fiancé and I (2 people) did a Southern CA trip seeing all of these sights using only Ubers/hired cars for the first 5 days, then rented a car for the last 2. Honestly, having the car sucked for us. The Ubers were SO great to not have to worry about directions, traffic, parking, drinking, you name it. However, the key was we stayed in 3 different areas, and we only had 2 people so we only needed regular cars. Here is a breakdown of our trip:

1. West Hollywood - stayed at the Farmer's Daughter hotel. I HIGHLY RECCOMEND THIS HOTEL!!! It is across the street from The Grove which is a large outdoor shopping and dining area. It was fabulous. We Ubered there from LAX, then while we stayed there we did Universal, a Hollywood tour where they drive you around in an open air van to see the sights, and hit up some various museums and famous food places. We only used Uber/walking and it was great.

2. Disneyland - we stayed at Desert Inn & Suites across from the resort pedestrian entrance. Wouldn't necessary recommend the hotel, but wouldn't dissuade you from staying there either. Let's just say the location is what made it acceptable. To get from West Hollywood to Anaheim, we hired a car through Limos.com. I did this because I knew it would be an hours drive in heavy traffic and I did not want to deal with the possibility of a bad Uber driver. We got picked up in a luxury SUV and it was great. Once we got to the Disneyland area we only walked to and from the parks, never used Uber. For you though, you'd easily be able to Uber to Knott's from your DL area hotel.

3. Santa Monica - we rented an Airbnb and a car, picked up the car from the Disneyland area, and made the hour drive up to Santa Monica. The Airbnb was in a not great neighborhood, and I hated the stress of driving the car. We did use the car to drive out to Malibu along the Pacific Coast Highway which was cool, but that still wasn't worth the hassle of it all, and we could have done a Malibu tour or something to see it instead. I wish we had spent the extra $$ for a resort along the main drag/beach by the pier and relied on Uber again. We went to a taping of Wheel of Fortune and did other touristy things in that area. We ended in that area so we could be close to LAX for our flight home.

All in all, it was totally do-able only Ubering and I wish we didn't rent a car at all. HOWEVER, we could only make that work because we stayed in 3 different areas and made the hour drive between Hollywood, Anaheim, and Santa Monica on 2 of our days. Now, did we save money Ubering? Probably not with all the fares and tipping. However, we also never needed to pay for parking and we had a few nights where we went out drinking and never had to worry so it was money well spent for us.

The best thing we did when staying in West Hollywood to see a lot of sights in one go was taking one of the "tourist traps" tours. We did a short one that was 3-4 hours long and only stayed in the Hollywood/Beverly Hills area. However, they have full day ones that take you to Malibu and the Santa Monica Pier as well. Looking back one of those longer options would have been better for us to see everything with less hassle. I know some people might find those tours lame or a cash grab, but to us to showed us everything we needed to see. I mean, we are tourists after all!

I hope this helped! We had such a fabulous trip and would do it all again in a heartbeat.

See what you said is key: WHERE are you staying. Minus our last Orlando trip where we started at Universal and ended at Disney, we’ve never switched hotels (I have when I went to Ireland, but my parents have never before this last Orlando trip). They really only want to stay in one area but don’t understand that it’s like two separate cities let alone separate counties. I think their concern is driving in LA and California in general, but at the same time me trying to explain to them that DTD is not as big as Springs, that it takes a while to get places and that it can be difficult to do so is not getting through to them.
We made the decision to make the decision about London vs. California at the end of February/early March. After that decision is made, if it is California, I’m really going to have hit this home. I even suggested starting in LA and then ending in Anaheim, but that didn’t even fly. thank god we all have friends out here and lovely humans like you on the disboards that are willing to help us out an explain everything!

 

[mjdis17]

See what you said is key: WHERE are you staying. Minus our last Orlando trip where we started at Universal and ended at Disney, we’ve never switched hotels (I have when I went to Ireland, but my parents have never before this last Orlando trip). They really only want to stay in one area but don’t understand that it’s like two separate cities let alone separate counties. I think their concern is driving in LA and California in general, but at the same time me trying to explain to them that DTD is not as big as Springs, that it takes a while to get places and that it can be difficult to do so is not getting through to them.
We made the decision to make the decision about London vs. California at the end of February/early March. After that decision is made, if it is California, I’m really going to have hit this home. I even suggested starting in LA and then ending in Anaheim, but that didn’t even fly. thank god we all have friends out here and lovely humans like you on the disboards that are willing to help us out an explain everything!

Ah yes, it will definitely be key to get through to them that staying in at least 2 separate places (like LA and Anaheim) will be key. Then you can do Universal, studio tours, and even Santa Monica all from LA/Hollywood and DLR and Knotts from Anaheim. You could even fly out from an Anaheim airport if you didn’t want to trek back to LAX.

While packing/unpacking between hotels isn’t the greatest, you’ll definitely need to do something for this trip unless you do DLR the whole time and only head up to LA for a day and brave the traffic both ways.

Maybe the compromise can be that you’ll stay in at least 2 different hotels/areas but you won’t do a rental car. That could help them so they know no matter what driving and traffic won’t be a direct worry!

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Ah yes, it will definitely be key to get through to them that staying in at least 2 separate places (like LA and Anaheim) will be key. Then you can do Universal, studio tours, and even Santa Monica all from LA/Hollywood and DLR and Knotts from Anaheim. You could even fly out from an Anaheim airport if you didn’t want to trek back to LAX.

While packing/unpacking between hotels isn’t the greatest, you’ll definitely need to do something for this trip unless you do DLR the whole time and only head up to LA for a day and brave the traffic both ways.

Maybe the compromise can be that you’ll stay in at least 2 different hotels/areas but you won’t do a rental car. That could help them so they know no matter what driving and traffic won’t be a direct worry!

That is what I am thinking the compromise will have to be-staying at two separate places but Uber/walk/if for some reason the hotel has a shuttle/ have friends get us places.
that is one perk: knowing people who live there. At least we know they can recommend where to eat and what not.