We Are Heading West…For the First Time! A July/August 2023 PTR (**Updated 6/25/23**)

[cstorm65]

The zoo is very nice! We aren't huge zoo people, so I don't know if our experience is "normal". We arrived around 9:30 and were completely done by 1, even eating a light lunch there. Balboa Park, where the zoo is located, is huge and has a ton of museums and gardens. We choose the History of Us Museum to add to our day. I found it much more interesting than my husband and son, who liked it but they were done within an hour. I think we all would have liked the air & space museum better, but we were going to the USS Midway the next day. So my advice is to look at all Balboa Park has to offer in case you're done at the zoo but still want to do something. Or plan on the zoo in the morning, and do a tour of the USS Midway in the afternoon. The Midway was a highlight of San Diego for all of us, especially our son.

That helps a lot. I think we certainly will just plan on staying until we are done and then heading back to the hotel or maybe the USS Midway. I had looked into that and I though the boys would like it. I just had second thoughts because we are spending $300 on the Zoo and we better make it worth it! haha

There are at least two tour companies that have good reviews and go to LA sites with pick up in Anaheim (Day In LA tours and Anaheim Tour Co.). That could be an option if you stay in Anaheim the whole time after San Diego and don’t want the hassle of driving and parking in LA. They are usually all day tours and do include Griffith Observatory and Hollywood Walk of Fame, etc.

That may not be a bad option. Maybe we could just go from San Diego back to our hotel for that night Anaheim and take a tour instead of driving ourselves around. Sounds like it may be an easier way to do it. How is parking in Hollywood and Griffith? I'm assuming it can be a hassle.

 

[cstorm65]

Car Rental Fiasco

Well, I had a car rental booked and yesterday I get an email saying that the rental car company is closing their Orange County John Wayne Airport Office at the end of June. They assured us they were going to cancel and refund our reservation for us...goodness, that is nice of you! haha

So, I'm back in the market for rentals.

My original rental was from 9 AM on our arrival day until 9 PM two days later when we got back to Anaheim. So, we were essentially paying for three days of a car rental. I planned on taking it back to the airport and just ubering myself back to the hotel to prep for Disneyland the next day. That would include driving ourselves on day three to Hollywood and Griffith Observatory.

What are everyone's thoughts though on doing a guided tour that day to Hollywood from Anaheim where they pick us up after we drive in from San Diego. I would be able to return that rental car a little early and save some money.

Also, I will need to transfer from our one night Anaheim hotel to the Disneyland hotel the following day, Day 4. Any thoughts or ideas on how to do that. I'm assuming Uber/Lyft is the easiest option since our car will be turned in already so we won't have to pay parking fees in Anaheim or at Disneyland.

Sorry, this update was all over the place, but any thoughts would be awesome!

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Wh

Car Rental Fiasco

Well, I had a car rental booked and yesterday I get an email saying that the rental car company is closing their Orange County John Wayne Airport Office at the end of June. They assured us they were going to cancel and refund our reservation for us...goodness, that is nice of you! haha

So, I'm back in the market for rentals.

My original rental was from 9 AM on our arrival day until 9 PM two days later when we got back to Anaheim. So, we were essentially paying for three days of a car rental. I planned on taking it back to the airport and just ubering myself back to the hotel to prep for Disneyland the next day. That would include driving ourselves on day three to Hollywood and Griffith Observatory.

What are everyone's thoughts though on doing a guided tour that day to Hollywood from Anaheim where they pick us up after we drive in from San Diego. I would be able to return that rental car a little early and save some money.

Also, I will need to transfer from our one night Anaheim hotel to the Disneyland hotel the following day, Day 4. Any thoughts or ideas on how to do that. I'm assuming Uber/Lyft is the easiest option since our car will be turned in already so we won't have to pay parking fees in Anaheim or at Disneyland.

Sorry, this update was all over the place, but any thoughts would be awesome!

Which rental car place? Because last summer National, enterprise and hertz were there! I really hope that isn’t the case! CA is one of those states a car rental is essential

 

[cstorm65]

Wh

Which rental car place? Because last summer National, enterprise and hertz were there! I really hope that isn’t the case! CA is one of those states a car rental is essential

We had rented with Fox...I guess they are shutting down their office at SNA.

 

[cstorm65]

Summer Trip - Day 3 Plans

Day 3 will actually be one of the more complex day’s that we will have as we are transitioning from San Diego to Anaheim with a visit to Hollywood along the way. You guys helped me refine this day already and take some things off our list, so I feel better about it already.

We plan to leave San Diego and head up the coast towards Los Angeles, eventually stopping in Hollywood. I don’t know the best way to go other than pull it up on my apple maps. My main question is that it will be a Friday, so should we wait until later in the morning to leave to avoid morning traffic? Or will that really make any difference?

I think ideally we’d get to Hollywood around 10:00 AM. I don’t think we will spend more than 30-45 minutes looking around there. Braxton wants to see it, but I understand there isn’t much there for us to really “see”. But, he’s the kind of kid that has it set in his mind of what Hollywood is and so we want to let him see that for himself.

Questions on this:

1) Where should we park in Hollywood if we just want to walk the streets and look at stars for a little while? I have looked into doing a guided audio tour that we play in the rental car as we go? I haven’t decided yet, but there are a couple on actiontourguide.com that look kind of cool. I doubt we will listen to everything that is included because I don’t know how interested the boys will be in all of the audio, but it may be worth it just for the organization of seeing some of the things.

2) One of the last items on the audio tour is the Griffith Observatory, which we have thought about going to. Brooks is really into the stars and asking questions about those kinds of things, so I think he would like it. Has anyone done this and have thoughts? Also, parking at Griffith Park? Anything else for us to consider here.

Again, I’d like to be in the area by around 10:00 AM and maybe touring until 2:00 or so, with lunch in there somewhere. Any ideas on lunch would be welcomed too!

At 2:00 we’d like to head over to our hotel in Anaheim for the night. The boys will need to move around a bit and we’d like to get the lay of the land in the Disneyland area and possibly visit Downtown Disney. By the way, it feels weird to be typing Downtown Disney again!

I am trying to figure out a hotel in the area for this one night as well. We will check into the Disneyland Hotel the next day for the rest of our trip, so this is just a one nighter. Here are a few I’m considering:

Doubletree Suites Anaheim Resort Convention Center (Lowest Price)
Sheraton Park Hotel at the Anaheim Resort (+$16)
Courtyard Anaheim Resort Convention Center (+$20)
Hampton Inn & Suites Anaheim Garden Grove (+$20)
Embassy Suites Anaheim South (+$22)
Hilton Anaheim (+$32)
Springhill Suites Anaheim Maingate (+$54)
Hyatt Place Anaheim Convention Center (+$59)

Also, the plan for this evening was for me to run the car back to the airport and uber back to the resort. Then in the morning we would Uber to the Disneyland Hotel and leave our bags with bell services and head to the parks. Not sure if anyone has any thoughts or ideas to make that process smoother!

Up Next: Summer Trip - Day 4 Plans​

 

[Gludfssr]

Have you purchased park tickets for Disney yet?
If not I would 3 days in the park. On Day 3 I would drive from San Diego to LA and get a hotel around the areas you want to see. Right now your day 3 will be mainly consumed with driving, and if you haven’t been here before by the time you get to Hollywood / Griffith Park you will around be worn out and if not you your kids for being stuck in a car for 3 to 4 plus hours depending on traffic. This way you can relax and do some things on day 3 and then on Day 4 do whatever else you wanted plus you can see other things in LA (Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, The Beaches) before heading back to Anaheim. The 2 Disney parks can be done in 3 days easily and if you already purchased 4 day park hoppers then just use day 4 on your last day in the morning before you head to the airport.

 

[bennifer]

Questions on this:

1) Where should we park in Hollywood if we just want to walk the streets and look at stars for a little while? I have looked into doing a guided audio tour that we play in the rental car as we go? I haven’t decided yet, but there are a couple on actiontourguide.com that look kind of cool. I doubt we will listen to everything that is included because I don’t know how interested the boys will be in all of the audio, but it may be worth it just for the organization of seeing some of the things.

2) One of the last items on the audio tour is the Griffith Observatory, which we have thought about going to. Brooks is really into the stars and asking questions about those kinds of things, so I think he would like it. Has anyone done this and have thoughts? Also, parking at Griffith Park? Anything else for us to consider here.

1- I can't remember exactly where we parked but we looked for a parking garage because it felt a safer place to park the rental. I believe there's one near the Dolby Theater. Does your son like movies? The Dolby theater is where the Oscars are held and that might be interesting for him.

2- I was really bummed that the Griffith Observatory was closed when we were there. It looks amazing. But the grounds and everything outside were available to us, and we all enjoyed that. Idk if it was because it was closed, but parking was very easy.

And here I will stop posting my advice! We need a redo of DL because we all got sick and weren't able to enjoy much of DL. I'm still going to follow along so I can live vicariously and get ideas for when we get back there!

 

[mrs. magoo]

When we visited almost 7 years ago now we parked in a garage and walked on Hollywood Blvd. It was so crowded and the kids were not into it at all. I think we were done in 20 minutes or less. We then decided to drive to Rodeo Dr. This is where we saw some celebs shopping and the kids loved to see the sign and driving around. Maybe want to consider this activity.

 

[thewesterberg]

Have you looked into a one way rental and returning the car to a rental counter in the Disneyland area? I’ve done this a few times - Enterprise has a location in Paradise Pier that I’ve dropped a car at after picking it up at the airport. On our last trip this past February, we rented from an Enterprise location on Harbor and returned to SNA.

The one way may cost a little bit more than returning to the airport but by the time you figure in the Uber cost (and the time it takes) it may be worth it. Something to check out at least!

This looks like a great trip that you’re putting together! Looking forward to following along!

 

[cstorm65]

Thanks for all of the thoughts you guys. They are super helpful!!!

Hollywood may indeed be a drive by! haha

 

[cstorm65]

Summer Trip - Day 4 Plans

This day will be our first day in the parks at Disneyland. I think our plan is to get up and take an Uber/Lyft over to the Disneyland Hotel and drop our bags with bell services before heading over to the parks.

The first thing for us to do this morning is to head into the OG Disney Park!

I’m not sure exactly where we will go first, but I know we want to hit some of the rides that we don’t have in Florida like Indiana Jones. We will probably use our first Genie+ pass on that ride. We also want to do Pirates and Haunted Mansion, especially Pirates since it's so different from WDW. Our rough plan right now is to hang out in Disneyland for a few hours and then hop over to California Adventure around 11:30 since our room won’t be ready until later in the day most likely.

In the rough planning I’ve done I think we should be able to get a Genie+ for Web Slingers, which look super cool.

Then we’ve been thinking about having a quick service lunch at Pym Test Kitchen. Should we do that or find somewhere else to eat? We don’t know much at all about the quick services at Disneyland, so any help would be awesome!

After lunch we will try some of the rides in California Adventure, although we will probably save Cars Land for our rope drop morning in this park. This does mean though that we can take our first ever ride on this:

Hopefully that can be done with Genie+. This should also be Brooks’ first roller coaster that goes upside down. He is super excited about it!

We will probably head back to the hotel around 3:00 as our room should be ready and then just spend the afternoon getting settled at the resort and maybe doing some swimming. We will all probably take a short nap too since it will have been an early morning.

We will then head back to Disneyland for the evening, probably around 7:00, with a couple of goals. First, we want to see the fireworks from Main Street. Also, we want to do a few rides, one of them being a new to us ride, the Matterhorn! We also have on the agenda to try some of the famous corn dogs and churros! I’m as excited about this as anything.

The park will probably be open until midnight, although I’m not sure we will stay quite that long. We are wanting to get up for California Adventure Rope Drop the next day.

Up Next: Summer Trip - Day 5 Plans​

 

[cstorm65]

Summer Trip - Day 5 Plans

Next day to plan is Day 5 of our trip and this morning we are planning on getting up and getting to early entry at California Adventure. I think our plan for this day will be to ride Radiator Springs Racers for the first time, but I am thinking we will pay for a Individual Lightning Lane just to make things easier. I know getting on that at rope drop is hard to do. What do you all think? Can we go in during early entry and do Web Slingers and then go wait in Cars Land for 8:00 to come and Radiator Springs to open? I know with early entry we should be able to hang out ahead of people coming that don’t have early entry, I just don’t know for sure! The only thing I do know for sure is that I can’t wait for this ride!

We will also be getting in another ride on Incredicoaster and hopefully Brooks will do it again! We plan to finish up at California Adventure around 11 and head over to Disneyland. On tap at Disneyland today will be some of the rides that we didn’t get to yesterday. I think we will try a few of the Fantasyland/Toontown rides such as Roger Rabbits and maybe the Canal Boats. I’m not sure out boys will just love those, but we definitely want to try them out!

This actually may be one of our shorter park days as we plan on heading out of Disneyland and going back and spending some time at the pool at the Disneyland Hotel for the evening. We will probably try to get in bed at a decent hour tonight for sure so we can be ready for early entry again the next day.

That’s it for this day, I’m still working out some plans and idea for Day 6 and will be back with those plans!

Up Next: Summer Trip - Day 6 Plans​

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Yes definitely save Cars Land for Rope drop or as close to rope drop as possible!

 

[cstorm65]

Summer Trip - Day 6 & 7 Plans

I rearranged our park days just a bit. We had a late night the first followed by a really early morning, so I shifted that and so now our late night will be Day 5 and we will sleep in the morning of Day 6 and just probably spend some time at the hotel pool.

We do have genie+ attached to our tickets so we will definitely be stacking some Lightning Lanes to use later in the day. Our goal for this day is to hit any attractions we had missed the first two park days, although I think we should be able to get most done before this point and now just focus on re-riding the stuff we loved the first time around!

We plan to go to Disneyland after 12:00 for a few hours. What are everyone’s favorite quick services in Disneyland Park. I know all of the dining so well at Disney World, but feel so lost when it comes to DL.

I do think we will spend a little time this day back in the Star Wars area and will probably buy an Individual Lighting Lane for ROTR. The boys love this ride!

We plan to hop over to California Adventure before dinner. Once again, what everyone’s go to quick service dinner spots at California Adventure?

We are definitely going to do some more Incredicoaster and whatever else we can stack some Lightning Lanes for. Finally, we plan on seeing World of Color. There will be a 9:00 and 10:15 show, so I was just planning on hitting the 10:15. Since our hotel is so close I think we will be fine staying up, but what are everyone’s thoughts? I assume it is easier to find a spot than the 9:00 show.

Day 7 will be our final park day and we are not going to have many set in stone plans here. We will use early entry, probably at Disneyland, and then go back for an extended break in the afternoon at the hotel. Today will be mostly devoted to rides we want to re-ride. After our break we will head back to the parks around dinner time and Disneyland Park is open until midnight, so we will make the most of our last day!

Up Next: Day 8 Plans​

 

[ambula603]

Well, how did it go!? We are doing some similar things in April 2024 so would love to hear how yours went!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Hi!!! I am sad I missed all of the planning for this!?! I want to hear all about it!!!! We are planning on going again to Disneyland for the girls spring break this coming year! I def need to hear all of your tips!!!

I also have to circle back on your Disney World trip. I fell off the wagon of reading trip reports! I will get there soon!