Putting together our first california trip! Need advice...

[bangzoom6877]

We are from NYC and we are going to california for the first time, in July 2015. We just got back from WDW. We go there every other year, and the years in between we do something else. The last couple of times we went on cruises out of NYC. I am not a fan of flying at all, and haven't flown since April 2000. We always drive down to WDW. But California is a place I've always wanted to see, so flying will be worth it for that!

We will be traveling with a group of 11 people. It will be me, DH, our two sons who will be 8 and 10 when we go, my parents, my sister and brother-in-law, my nieces who will be 14 and almost 12 when we go, and my nephew who will be a year and a half old when we go. We all want to go to Disneyland for three full days at the parks, Universal Studios for one day, Legoland, the San Diego zoo, and spend at least one day at the beach. My sister also asked if we could stay somewhere with a nice pool so we could have just one day to sleep in, lounge around and swim. I would like this too.

So basically, we want to see LA, Disneyland and San Diego. Then my mom and sister also said we should drive up to San Francisco and spend a couple of days there, then fly home from there. My sister also mentioned the Napa Valley but i don't think that's a good idea with the kids, especially not for the baby. July my opinion. So I told them that realistically, I think we need 10 days to 2 weeks in order to do all of that with San Francisco. I think that with just Southern California, we could probably do it in an 8-night trip. Now, other than my brother-in-law, the rest of us are off all summer (we work in schools, and my parents are retired). So, it's hard for him to get 2 straight weeks off on the summer but not totally impossible. I think we should just do Southern California, fly out on a Saturday morning and return the following week on Sunday. I would like to stay a little longer, but I understand if he cannot.

Am I being realistic about the amount of time needed? I'm also hoping to do this on a budget of no more than $8,000 for DH, our sons and me. Is this realistic as well?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I never planned anything quite like this. I also need to learn the ins and outs of flying today, because I know the regulations have changed drastically since I last flew in the year 2000! Any websites you suggest? My mom would rather use the travel agent we book our cruises with, but I think I could do this for us.

 

[usnuzuloose]

I am trying to help you, but don't know how much I can give. How many days are you looking to visit DL? Tickets are quite expensive. Have you looked at the hotels you want to stay at? Sometimes you can get discounts for certain things in San Diego. Hotels in San Francisco hotels can be expensive depending on the time of year. Not to mention they may charge you for parking the car.

Even the hotels in DL will charge for parking. Napa can be expensive in hotels. There is plenty to do in SF. I live in Sacramento and have lived in the Orange county area for DL and visited SD and near napa. I will try to help with what I can.

 

[bangzoom6877]

I am trying to help you, but don't know how much I can give. How many days are you looking to visit DL? Tickets are quite expensive. Have you looked at the hotels you want to stay at? Sometimes you can get discounts for certain things in San Diego. Hotels in San Francisco hotels can be expensive depending on the time of year. Not to mention they may charge you for parking the car. Even the hotels in DL will charge for parking. Napa can be expensive in hotels. There is plenty to do in SF. I live in Sacramento and have lived in the Orange county area for DL and visited SD and near napa. I will try to help with what I can.

Hi! Thanks for offering to help. We are looking at 3 days in the disneyland parks. One day at universal. One day at the San Diego zoo. One day at legoland. One day at the beach. This is all in Southern California.

As for San Francisco and the napa valley, that is something my mom and sister mentioned. I'm not even sure DH, the boys and I want to do that. But I think this trip will take 10 days without adding all that in, and that they need 2 weeks to add all that.

The hotels I've looked at so far are the Desert Palms, the Desert Inn, Hojo, Carousel Inn & Suites, and the Fairfield Inn Anaheim Resort. We are looking for a hotel within walking distance to disneyland. I'm hoping to rent a car when we get to L.A., then not have a rental car for the few days we are at disneyland, then rent another car for the drive to San Diego. Or reverse that order if they're all going to San Francisco and Napa. Not sure yet about hotels in L.A., but there is an Embassy Suites in Glendale that I've been eyeing...just that I, not sure if Glendale is a safe and nice area, I have no clue about L.A. And we didn't look into hotels in San Diego or San Francisco yet.

 

[usnuzuloose]

There are plenty of hotels around DL within walking distance. You can google Harbor blvd and Katella ave and see how close the hotels are and judge for yourself. You will see what I mean.

Have you bought tickets for DL? There is a few online things to check for the areas for discounts on things.

Travelzoo.com is good for all the areas you want

Groupon.com

Livingsocials.com

Just type in the area where you are at.

If you go to SF you also have the Walt Disney Museum as well.

 

[RSWA2]

What about the Southern California City Pass?
http://www.citypass.com/southern-california

Looks like you can add on the San Diego Zoo and Legoland.

It does sound like for all that you want to do in S. CA, it'll take at least 8 full days, especially if you throw a pool day in the middle there.

Napa is fine, even for the kids, yes they can't drink, but there is plenty of outdoor grassy/picnic areas for them to explore, although I don't know about the nieces, they may be bored. It would not be ideal though, but it is doable. Maybe just pick 1 or 2 wineries to visit, that'll only take up half a day. Also keep in mind that it'll take the better part of the day to get from S. CA for the SF area and with 11 of you guys, unless you rent a 15 passenger van, you'll need 2 cars.

The Walt Disney Museum is neat. There is also the California Academy of Sciences, which is at Golden Gate part and the Exploratorium at the Pier.

 

[GrandBob]

http://www.accommodationsneardisney.com/

The ones in green are the ones within easy walking distance.

HTH,
Bob

 

[bangzoom6877]

There are plenty of hotels around DL within walking distance. You can google Harbor blvd and Katella ave and see how close the hotels are and judge for yourself. You will see what I mean. Have you bought tickets for DL? There is a few online things to check for the areas for discounts on things. Travelzoo.com is good for all the areas you want Groupon.com Livingsocials.com Just type in the area where you are at. If you go to SF you also have the Walt Disney Museum as well.

We haven't booked anything yet, nor have we bought any tickets. I will check out the websites you gave me, thank you! I'm also going to see what types of discounts they have for NYC Dept. of Education employees because DH and I are teachers and my sister is an assistant principal. I'm definitely going to do some research on tickets and prices first.

What about the Southern California City Pass? http://www.citypass.com/southern-california Looks like you can add on the San Diego Zoo and Legoland. It does sound like for all that you want to do in S. CA, it'll take at least 8 full days, especially if you throw a pool day in the middle there. Napa is fine, even for the kids, yes they can't drink, but there is plenty of outdoor grassy/picnic areas for them to explore, although I don't know about the nieces, they may be bored. It would not be ideal though, but it is doable. Maybe just pick 1 or 2 wineries to visit, that'll only take up half a day. Also keep in mind that it'll take the better part of the day to get from S. CA for the SF area and with 11 of you guys, unless you rent a 15 passenger van, you'll need 2 cars. The Walt Disney Museum is neat. There is also the California Academy of Sciences, which is at Golden Gate part and the Exploratorium at the Pier.

I checked out the Southern California city pass. It looks great. The only thing I'm not sure about is Sea World so I have to see if it's worth getting if we don't go there at all. But we already decided that we're going to get 3-day park hoppers for Disneyland, which is what the city pass has, and that we want to spend one day at Universal hollywood. We definitely would add the San Diego zoo and Legoland.

DH and I would like to do 8-10 days total and only do Southern California. My sister and parents would like to see San Francisco so they would likely come with us to Southern California for the first 6 days or so and then move onto San Francisco for a couple of nights. If my brother-in-law could get more time off from work, they will stay in anaheim a little longer. We talked about flying into San Diego and starting there, staying 2 nights, then moving on to anaheim and staying there while we your Disneyland and see LA for a day, maybe take the kids to the Santa Monica pier. The plan is to go to LA on the weekend days so we could avoid the rush hour traffic because I know that will be a killer from Anaheim. And go to the Disneyland parks on weekdays.

http://www.accommodationsneardisney.com/ The ones in green are the ones within easy walking distance. HTH, Bob

Thank you so much, this helps a lot! I'm going to show it to the rest of the family. Amazing how close everything is to each other there...I love this! Seems like it will be so much easier than getting around WDW!

 

[usnuzuloose]

http://www.accommodationsneardisney.com/

The ones in green are the ones within easy walking distance.

HTH,
Bob

Thanks Grandbob, I don't know how to find those kind of sites. Some day we will have to meet as DH and I come up often.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Depending on whether you decide to go to Napa Valley or not. This is something that the kids might enjoy. It's not the main reason to go to Napa; but if you're there, you could easily spend an afternoon there.

http://www.traintown.com/



Stirling Vineyard in Napa offers a gondola ride up to the top of the hill where their facilities are. The wine isn't necessarily the best known; and if it weren't for the gondola ride, the entry fee would be considered pricey. But my DS enjoyed the gondola ride.


And it might be worth your while to detour to the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield. You could get to Napa via Fairfield...it just depends on how much time you have.




2 weeks could be doable for the itinerary that includes SoCal and NorCal.

 

[bangzoom6877]

Depending on whether you decide to go to Napa Valley or not. This is something that the kids might enjoy. It's not the main reason to go to Napa; but if you're there, you could easily spend an afternoon there. http://www.traintown.com/ Stirling Vineyard in Napa offers a gondola ride up to the top of the hill where their facilities are. The wine isn't necessarily the best known; and if it weren't for the gondola ride, the entry fee would be considered pricey. But my DS enjoyed the gondola ride. And it might be worth your while to detour to the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield. You could get to Napa via Fairfield...it just depends on how much time you have. 2 weeks could be doable for the itinerary that includes SoCal and NorCal.

Thank you! We all discussed it and we are definitely not going to Napa. DH, the boys and I are going to stick with just Southern California for probably 7-10 days and the rest of the family is going to San Francisco for a couple of days at the end of the trip. Their trip likely be between 8 and 10 nights, realistically speaking because of my brother-in-law's work schedule.

Each couple (3 total) is going to make a list of must-do activities and then we will compare and come up with a plan.

 

[jupers]

Thank you! We all discussed it and we are definitely not going to Napa. DH, the boys and I are going to stick with just Southern California for probably 7-10 days and the rest of the family is going to San Francisco for a couple of days at the end of the trip. Their trip likely be between 8 and 10 nights, realistically speaking because of my brother-in-law's work schedule. Each couple (3 total) is going to make a list of must-do activities and then we will compare and come up with a plan.

Hi....not to hijack but this thread us super helpful, we are from Boston and planning almost the same trip!! I have been researching and we are planning on 2-3 nights in San Diego and 5-6 in Disneyland! We have flights booked for April...I'm actually trying to figure out where to stay in San Diego.

 

[bangzoom6877]

Hi....not to hijack but this thread us super helpful, we are from Boston and planning almost the same trip!! I have been researching and we are planning on 2-3 nights in San Diego and 5-6 in Disneyland! We have flights booked for April...I'm actually trying to figure out where to stay in San Diego.

San Diego is the next step for us. We are definitely all going to the San Diego zoo. Besides Disneyland, it's the only must-do on DH's list, lol! I also need to figure out where to stay in San Diego.

 

[zshellmatt]

We just came back from a 2 week trip to Southern Cali. I will give you a full report later on tonight as I am at work. You can do it for way under a 8K budget(excluding airfare, we drove from Moore,Oklahoma) We did the Citypass and purchased it through Sea World so we got an extra free day. Universal Studios do the same thing, but we decided on Sea World and San Diego first. It was a blast wish stayed there longer. We also purchased the GO LA Card which included several venues such as Legoland,Six Flags,tours in LA, museums, etc. Well worth it. We had more fun in Cali than we did on last years trip to Disney World and Orlando.I have so much more suggestions.

 

[bangzoom6877]

We just came back from a 2 week trip to Southern Cali. I will give you a full report later on tonight as I am at work. You can do it for way under a 8K budget(excluding airfare, we drove from Moore,Oklahoma) We did the Citypass and purchased it through Sea World so we got an extra free day. Universal Studios do the same thing, but we decided on Sea World and San Diego first. It was a blast wish stayed there longer. We also purchased the GO LA Card which included several venues such as Legoland,Six Flags,tours in LA, museums, etc. Well worth it. We had more fun in Cali than we did on last years trip to Disney World and Orlando.I have so much more suggestions.

Thank you so much! I'm not sure anymore about the CityPass because we're not going to Sea World. We've decided to go to Universal, Legoland, the San Diego zoo, and of course Disneyland, with a 3-day park hopper. Also going to see the walk of fame, hollywood sign, Rodeo Drive, etc. while we stay in Anaheim. The plan is 2 nights in San Diego, then 6 nights in Anaheim. Airfare shouldn't be too bad from what have heard. We will be booking the airfare around the 1st of the year, which should give us a lower fare than last minute.

I can't wait to hear more about your trip, thanks again!

 

[zshellmatt]

Our trip consisted of pretty much the same as what you want to do. I also have an 8 and 10 year old. My other son is 17 and my husband was there are well.

We did San Diego, LA, and Disneyland. We left on 7/25 and returned the morning of 8/11, a little over 2 weeks, but we also drove on 7/25 and part of 7/26 and part of 8/9, a full day on 8/10 and we got back at 7 am on 8/11.

We bought the Citypass from the Sea World website and the LA Go Card from smartdestinations website. The Citypass came with the 3 day Disneyland park hopper, 1 day at Universal Studios, and 1 day at Sea World with the option to upgrade to the San Diego Zoo and I think Legoland. We thought about it, but the kids said they didn’t want to do anything thing that they could do at home, such as the zoo. I told them this one was different, but they still didn’t want to go. We also had to decide between going to Universal Studios for a free day or Sea World. Depending on which park you buy your ticket from, you will get the 2nd day free if you activate your card there first. The LA GoCard covers admission to both Legoland and Universal studios, so that’s why we chose Sea World. You should checkout the smart destinations website. I believe there were 37 themeparks/museums/ and or attractions that you could receive admission to for one price. We tried to do as much as we could. I think we got our moneys worth. We purchased the 7 day pass. There is also a San Diego card, which I believe includes the San Diego Zoo and some of the attractions that were on the LA card.

Our first few days 7/26 to 7/31 we stayed in San Diego at a place called Heritage Inn. I think I prepurchased it on tripadvisor, maybe in May. It was a little older hotel, but really close to where we wanted to be which was Sea World, Belmont Park/Mission Beach, and the San Diego Bay. It provided the basics which was fine with us. Using the Go LA card we did a full tour of the San Diego Bay on a cool little tour boat and went to Belmont Park/ Mission Beach afterward. My kids had so much fun at Belmont Park and enjoyed the beach. Belmont Park had about 10 rides which includes a roller coaster. You get an unlimited ride wristband with your Gocard. Everyone enjoyed the Bay tour was well. The next two days we went to Sea World. We activated our City passes here and got an extra day at Sea World, that is why we did 2 days there, one was free. We actually really enjoyed Sea World. It was our first time there. It was really the highlight of the kids trip. They enjoyed it more than Disneyland. We were able to do the Dolphin and Penguin Encounters as well as Breakfast with Shamu, Queue pass, and All Day Dining. I know there is a lot of controversy going on with Sea World right now, but I don’t know… we decided to give it a chance since there are 2 sides to every story. I have seen the Blackfish movie and I was reading the other day about some changes that they will be making……I love elephants and would never step foot in a circus, so I understand if people have reservations about Sea World.

We went back to Mission Beach/Belmont Park on our last night there. We all played minigolf there too. It was fun. Of course I had the highest score! It is so nice and there is so much to do. You may want to spend more time in San Diego. We wish we would have stayed at least 5 days. We are going back to California in Summer 2016 and plan to spend at least that much time there, plus Disneyland and extending it to San Francisco.

We left San Diego the morning of 7/31 and used our Gocard to go to Legoland. We upgraded our tickets to get into the waterpark and aquarium . We had a lot of fun. If you decide to do all of them, I would allocate 2 days. We felt really rushed. Also kids eat free after 5:00 pm. We took advantage of that.

We checked into the Best Western in Los Alamitos. I think I purchased this through my CPA society discount page. It was around 99 per night. I was really nice. Breakfast got kinda old though since we were there for 10 nights. Parking is terrible though.

The next day was Disneyland. I won’t go into a full trip report, but we used the Citypass for this. We did eat breakfast at Ariels Grotto and really enjoyed the breakfast and character interaction. One thing, I hated the organization of World of Color, we even had a fastpass and it was terrible  We couldn’t see anything. We used our extra magic hour on this day and was the 1st in line for Soarin. For some reason I love the California one more than Florida.

The next day which was Friday we used the Gocard to the California Science Center, Aquarium of the Pacific and Santa Monica Pier/ Pacific Park and the hung around the beach. We also had Bubba Gumps for dinner on the Pier. We thought Santa Monica Beach was dirty. There were trash and cigarette butts in the sand. Oh… the kids hated the sand here too. It was hard to build a sand castle. They really liked the Pier though. Next time I think we will skip Santa Monica beach and just go to the beach near our hotel. It was about an 8 minute drive. We stayed near Seal beach and didn’t realize how nice it was until before we were about to leave to go home. 

The next day was Hollywood/ LA. We purchased tickets for a TMZ tour, which was hilarious, but we did not see any celebrities this time. Our tour guide was a man from the show that had an English accent. Had lunch at the Hard Rock Café. We also used the Gocard to do a Movie Star homes tour and also used it for Madame Toussauds Wax museum, which was fun. There are several other Hollywood attractions that you can use the Go Card for.

The next day was a Sunday and we did Disney California Adventure. We loved it.

Monday we finally went to Universal Studios using the Go Card I believe. We could have also used the City Pass. They have a really cool backlot tour. It was very interesting.

On Tuesday we drove to Valencia and went to Six Flags Magic Mountain using the Gocard. Words of advice…. You are literally climbing up and down a mountain the whole time! I hated that aspect of it. Also if you can I would buy the Disney equivalent of the Fastpass. It was well worth it. This place has huge lines!

Wednesday was our last day at Disney. We split it between the 2 parks, but stayed in California Adventure until about 4. I cant remember which day off hand, but my daughter and son did Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. We also went to Café Orleans on the last day and did the Fantasmic dessert party on day 2 maybe and Goofys Kitchen on day 1. I mentioned Ariels Grotto earlier, but I think that was on day 2 instead of 1.

We absolutely loved Disneyland. It’s like all of the rides that we love from Disney World in one area. Definitely not as much walking as Disney World because literally the parks are right across from each other. On two of the nights we were there we were able to ride all of the “mountains” in the last hour to hour and 15 minutes.

Thursday we used the Gocard to go to Knottsberry Farm and Knotts Soak City. We loved it. We also got a fastlane pass were because the lines were long. We went to the waterpark first and didn’t arrive to the main park until about 4. We were able to ride everything up to about 8, then we ate dinner at the famous Ms. Knotts Chicken restaurant which was really good. We will definitely spend more time here next time. At the waterpark we pretty much did the lazy river and the wave pool and maybe 2 slides since the lines were too long.

On Friday we went back to the California Science Center to look around and go to the Pompeii Exhibit. It was really interesting. We planned on going back to Hollywood, but literally got stuck in traffic for 3 hours! We got off unfortunately downtown and was stuck there for a while. LA is too crowded for me. Lol. I live in Oklahoma and we go at a slower pace. So stressful to me. We had prepaid dinner reservations at Medieval Times, so I decided to book it there. We made it in time

It was an interesting dinner show and we all loved it. The horses are beautiful. Not sure if we will do it again. It seemed like the horses reins were pulling their mouths too tight and they always had saliva coming out of their mouths…. I don’t know….The trainers also had whips.

On the last day we discovered Seal Beach. We went early and hung out there for a few hours. It was beautiful and quiet. Too bad we didn’t go sooner.
On the drive home we also stopped and looked at the Meteor Creator in New Mexico. It was interesting.

All in all we had a wonderful trip. Its more driving than Disney World, but we actually liked it better. Next summer we plan on going to Cape San Blas for 4 days and then heading to the Orlando area for Disney World/Universal Studies/Islands of Adventure. We are also adding Busch Gardens and Sea World Orlando and some waterparks. We plan on doing the Disney Youth Program for our park tickets and the Orlando Flex pass for the other parks.

Last year we did 6 day waterpark and more/park hoppers to Disney World using the Disney Youth Program and we just bought 3 day tickets from US/IOS. We stayed 2 weeks in Kissimmee and a week at Siesta Key Beach.

Let me know what questions you have. This is a very condensed version of my trip report that I haven’t started yet. I am still making my notes 

 

[bangzoom6877]

Our trip consisted of pretty much the same as what you want to do. I also have an 8 and 10 year old. My other son is 17 and my husband was there are well. We did San Diego, LA, and Disneyland. We left on 7/25 and returned the morning of 8/11, a little over 2 weeks, but we also drove on 7/25 and part of 7/26 and part of 8/9, a full day on 8/10 and we got back at 7 am on 8/11. We bought the Citypass from the Sea World website and the LA Go Card from smartdestinations website. The Citypass came with the 3 day Disneyland park hopper, 1 day at Universal Studios, and 1 day at Sea World with the option to upgrade to the San Diego Zoo and I think Legoland. We thought about it, but the kids said they didn’t want to do anything thing that they could do at home, such as the zoo. I told them this one was different, but they still didn’t want to go. We also had to decide between going to Universal Studios for a free day or Sea World. Depending on which park you buy your ticket from, you will get the 2nd day free if you activate your card there first. The LA GoCard covers admission to both Legoland and Universal studios, so that’s why we chose Sea World. You should checkout the smart destinations website. I believe there were 37 themeparks/museums/ and or attractions that you could receive admission to for one price. We tried to do as much as we could. I think we got our moneys worth. We purchased the 7 day pass. There is also a San Diego card, which I believe includes the San Diego Zoo and some of the attractions that were on the LA card. Our first few days 7/26 to 7/31 we stayed in San Diego at a place called Heritage Inn. I think I prepurchased it on tripadvisor, maybe in May. It was a little older hotel, but really close to where we wanted to be which was Sea World, Belmont Park/Mission Beach, and the San Diego Bay. It provided the basics which was fine with us. Using the Go LA card we did a full tour of the San Diego Bay on a cool little tour boat and went to Belmont Park/ Mission Beach afterward. My kids had so much fun at Belmont Park and enjoyed the beach. Belmont Park had about 10 rides which includes a roller coaster. You get an unlimited ride wristband with your Gocard. Everyone enjoyed the Bay tour was well. The next two days we went to Sea World. We activated our City passes here and got an extra day at Sea World, that is why we did 2 days there, one was free. We actually really enjoyed Sea World. It was our first time there. It was really the highlight of the kids trip. They enjoyed it more than Disneyland. We were able to do the Dolphin and Penguin Encounters as well as Breakfast with Shamu, Queue pass, and All Day Dining. I know there is a lot of controversy going on with Sea World right now, but I don’t know… we decided to give it a chance since there are 2 sides to every story. I have seen the Blackfish movie and I was reading the other day about some changes that they will be making……I love elephants and would never step foot in a circus, so I understand if people have reservations about Sea World. We went back to Mission Beach/Belmont Park on our last night there. We all played minigolf there too. It was fun. Of course I had the highest score! It is so nice and there is so much to do. You may want to spend more time in San Diego. We wish we would have stayed at least 5 days. We are going back to California in Summer 2016 and plan to spend at least that much time there, plus Disneyland and extending it to San Francisco. We left San Diego the morning of 7/31 and used our Gocard to go to Legoland. We upgraded our tickets to get into the waterpark and aquarium . We had a lot of fun. If you decide to do all of them, I would allocate 2 days. We felt really rushed. Also kids eat free after 5:00 pm. We took advantage of that. We checked into the Best Western in Los Alamitos. I think I purchased this through my CPA society discount page. It was around 99 per night. I was really nice. Breakfast got kinda old though since we were there for 10 nights. Parking is terrible though. The next day was Disneyland. I won’t go into a full trip report, but we used the Citypass for this. We did eat breakfast at Ariels Grotto and really enjoyed the breakfast and character interaction. One thing, I hated the organization of World of Color, we even had a fastpass and it was terrible  We couldn’t see anything. We used our extra magic hour on this day and was the 1st in line for Soarin. For some reason I love the California one more than Florida. The next day which was Friday we used the Gocard to the California Science Center, Aquarium of the Pacific and Santa Monica Pier/ Pacific Park and the hung around the beach. We also had Bubba Gumps for dinner on the Pier. We thought Santa Monica Beach was dirty. There were trash and cigarette butts in the sand. Oh… the kids hated the sand here too. It was hard to build a sand castle. They really liked the Pier though. Next time I think we will skip Santa Monica beach and just go to the beach near our hotel. It was about an 8 minute drive. We stayed near Seal beach and didn’t realize how nice it was until before we were about to leave to go home.  The next day was Hollywood/ LA. We purchased tickets for a TMZ tour, which was hilarious, but we did not see any celebrities this time. Our tour guide was a man from the show that had an English accent. Had lunch at the Hard Rock Café. We also used the Gocard to do a Movie Star homes tour and also used it for Madame Toussauds Wax museum, which was fun. There are several other Hollywood attractions that you can use the Go Card for. The next day was a Sunday and we did Disney California Adventure. We loved it. Monday we finally went to Universal Studios using the Go Card I believe. We could have also used the City Pass. They have a really cool backlot tour. It was very interesting. On Tuesday we drove to Valencia and went to Six Flags Magic Mountain using the Gocard. Words of advice…. You are literally climbing up and down a mountain the whole time! I hated that aspect of it. Also if you can I would buy the Disney equivalent of the Fastpass. It was well worth it. This place has huge lines! Wednesday was our last day at Disney. We split it between the 2 parks, but stayed in California Adventure until about 4. I cant remember which day off hand, but my daughter and son did Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. We also went to Café Orleans on the last day and did the Fantasmic dessert party on day 2 maybe and Goofys Kitchen on day 1. I mentioned Ariels Grotto earlier, but I think that was on day 2 instead of 1. We absolutely loved Disneyland. It’s like all of the rides that we love from Disney World in one area. Definitely not as much walking as Disney World because literally the parks are right across from each other. On two of the nights we were there we were able to ride all of the “mountains” in the last hour to hour and 15 minutes. Thursday we used the Gocard to go to Knottsberry Farm and Knotts Soak City. We loved it. We also got a fastlane pass were because the lines were long. We went to the waterpark first and didn’t arrive to the main park until about 4. We were able to ride everything up to about 8, then we ate dinner at the famous Ms. Knotts Chicken restaurant which was really good. We will definitely spend more time here next time. At the waterpark we pretty much did the lazy river and the wave pool and maybe 2 slides since the lines were too long. On Friday we went back to the California Science Center to look around and go to the Pompeii Exhibit. It was really interesting. We planned on going back to Hollywood, but literally got stuck in traffic for 3 hours! We got off unfortunately downtown and was stuck there for a while. LA is too crowded for me. Lol. I live in Oklahoma and we go at a slower pace. So stressful to me. We had prepaid dinner reservations at Medieval Times, so I decided to book it there. We made it in time It was an interesting dinner show and we all loved it. The horses are beautiful. Not sure if we will do it again. It seemed like the horses reins were pulling their mouths too tight and they always had saliva coming out of their mouths…. I don’t know….The trainers also had whips. On the last day we discovered Seal Beach. We went early and hung out there for a few hours. It was beautiful and quiet. Too bad we didn’t go sooner. On the drive home we also stopped and looked at the Meteor Creator in New Mexico. It was interesting. All in all we had a wonderful trip. Its more driving than Disney World, but we actually liked it better. Next summer we plan on going to Cape San Blas for 4 days and then heading to the Orlando area for Disney World/Universal Studies/Islands of Adventure. We are also adding Busch Gardens and Sea World Orlando and some waterparks. We plan on doing the Disney Youth Program for our park tickets and the Orlando Flex pass for the other parks. Last year we did 6 day waterpark and more/park hoppers to Disney World using the Disney Youth Program and we just bought 3 day tickets from US/IOS. We stayed 2 weeks in Kissimmee and a week at Siesta Key Beach. Let me know what questions you have. This is a very condensed version of my trip report that I haven’t started yet. I am still making my notes 

Wow, sounds like a wonderful vacation! Here is our plan as of now:

Day 1: fly into San Diego (probably at night)
Day 2: San Diego zoo
Day 3: check out and go to Legoland (just the regular park. No water park or aquarium); drive to Anaheim after Legoland and check in to hotel (stay for 6 nights)

The rest of the trip, 3 days at Disneyland parks with a park hopper, one day at Universal Studios, one day to visit my cousin in LA and see some of Hollywood/Beverly Hills, one day for either the pool and DTD or a 4th day at the Disneyland parks...haven't decided yet. Also throwing in a short trip to a beach in there, probably Santa Monica because of the pier.

I know you could make ADRs for DLR restaurants only 60 days in advance, and I will definitely be doing this for the first few days when other relatives will be with us (group of 11 of us total), but the last couple of nights in Anaheim, the rest of the family is driving up to San Francisco so it will only be the 4 of us in anaheim. Is it completely necessary to make ADRs? Is there a difference in crowds at restaurants at the theme parks vs. the hotel and DTD restaurants? At WDW the theme park restaurants tend to be more crowded from what I've noticed, but there the hotels are not usually walking distance from the parks.

Which DL/DCA attractions do you recommend as must-do's? To give you an idea, the whole family enjoys rides at WDW like it's a small world, the many adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, and Soarin', while my son and nieces enjoy the mountains, test track, and the rock 'n' roller coaster. No one likes ToT except for my DH so he skips that because he says it's not as much fun to ride it alone. Specifically, we are curious about rides and attractions at DL/DCA that are not at WDW since we go to WDW every other year, and also attractions at both parks but where the rides are different at the two. For example, I've heard that BTMRR is different at DL than at MK.

We're not planning to go to Magic Mountain or Knotts Berry Farm, except maybe just to the restaurant at Knotts. How far is Knotts from other popular LA attractions? I know my mother has expressed interest in the restaurant, so maybe we could go there for dinner the same day we are in LA and visiting my cousin because he and his wife can join us.

Any recommendations for getting a better view of World of Color? Do you think the dinner or lunch package may be worth it to see better?

All in all, I'm really looking forward to this trip! The only part is, I can't stand flying! We always drive down to WDW from NYC where we live, but flying is the most practical way for us to get to the west coast. The last time I was on a plane was April 2000!!! I'm very nervous.

 

[sasywtch]

My suggestion to you would be to do your 3 days in DL as you planned and then check out, head toward the beach and then drive north for a hotel for your LA part of the trip (relative, Universal, Walk of Fame, Rodeo Dr). It's not a fun drive from Anaheim to LA and back two or three times.

 

[bangzoom6877]

My suggestion to you would be to do your 3 days in DL as you planned and then check out, head toward the beach and then drive north for a hotel for your LA part of the trip (relative, Universal, Walk of Fame, Rodeo Dr). It's not a fun drive from Anaheim to LA and back two or three times.

Can't do that because the rest of the family is flying to San Diego with us, and only staying in Anaheim for 4 days, going to Disneyland parks for 2 days and spending 2 days in LA/Universal Hollywood with us. So staying in LA at the end of the trip wouldn't work for us, as we will still have another Disneyland day left.

 

[Itinkso]

San Diego is the next step for us. We are definitely all going to the San Diego zoo. Besides Disneyland, it's the only must-do on DH's list, lol! I also need to figure out where to stay in San Diego.

We just went to SD Zoo a few weeks ago. We always stay in the Del Mar Heights area - Del Mar Doubletree. It's about 20 minutes to get to the zoo from there - Del Mar sits mid-way between Carlsbad/Legoland and the Zoo. Very nice pool there! Very easy access from and to the 5 freeway. The Bayfront Hilton is also a good choice if you are planning to leave from Legoland to go directly to DL. Hilton is closer to the Zoo-airport.

Price-wise, the Doubletree is about the same as Camelot Inn on Harbor across from the DL entrance. In the $130-140 range.

For Knott's - it is closest to DL. Plan dinner there while you are in Anaheim or you will be back-tracking and fighting traffic from LA.

 

[bangzoom6877]

We just went to SD Zoo a few weeks ago. We always stay in the Del Mar Heights area - Del Mar Doubletree. It's about 20 minutes to get to the zoo from there - Del Mar sits mid-way between Carlsbad/Legoland and the Zoo. Very nice pool there! Very easy access from and to the 5 freeway. Price-wise, the Doubletree is about the same as Camelot Inn on Harbor across from the DL entrance. In the $130-140 range.

That sounds perfect, and the right price too! Is this area near the water?