danzingcutie12 said:
I myself am also going to DL for the first time in July (see my sig). And I hope some of you guys can answer some of my questions.
-Any are there any other non-DIsney California/LA/Hollywood things anyone would suggest doing? I am looking into taking the Warner Bros. tour b/c I would like to see the Gilmore Girls sets. Has anyone ever taken that tour??
- We are only staying at the DL hotel for 4 days/3nights, and the rest of the week we would like to stay somewhere else in California. Possibly near Malibu. Can anyone recommend any nice good clean hotels around that area? My mom wants something a little bit closer to the beach and she doesn'y really want to stay in a chain so we can do something it different. Is it worth venturing off from a chain to get a nice hotel room?
-Beaches in Cali. How would you rate them. Anyones near DL that anyone could recommend??
Any other suggestions would be great for this is my first time to California!!
I've never done the tour at Warner's, but I seem to recall that it's a rather intimate experience with a guide and a half dozen other folks in an electric cart type thing. It's by reservation only, and you have to book in advance. Not at all like Universal's mega-tram tour/theme park. Universal Studios Hollywood is very different from the theme park version in Orlando. USH is a working studio first and foremost, and the theme park experience takes a back seat to that. The tram tour is really the big thing, it's over an hour long, and if you go on a weekday you will always see working productions, and occasionally a few stars, or at least their big Bentleys parked near the sound stages. Again, it's radically different than the Orlando faux-studio theme park.
Now, for staying near the beach in "Malibu".... I'm not an
expert on that area, as I live about an hour south in Orange County. But I used to visit my cousin who went to college at Pepperdine in Malibu, and I did just drive through Malibu a few weeks ago to go to the Getty Villa.
I'm not sure I can even think of a single hotel or motel there. It's almost all just houses on one side of the road (PCH) and some small businesses, restaurants and a couple of gas stations on the other side of the road. A few streets go up into the canyons above the beach, but that's about it.
The public beaches in Malibu are notoriously difficult to use, since they are effectively cut off from PCH by gated and monitored multi-million dollar homes. The property owners are constantly in legal battles with the State over the public access to these areas, and there are no public amenities available outside of a couple of small bathrooms. Sure, there's some celebs living there, but don't expect Barbra Streisand or Paul Newman to wander over to your towel and ask for some sunblock. The official Malibu city website is rather telling, as they offer no information whatsover about visiting the city or staying nearby. They don't really roll out the welcome mat for tourists or day-trippers in Malibu. The official Malibu website sets the tone immediately with only official-ese info available and not a word about visiting their community or any lodging nearby....
http://www.ci.malibu.ca.us/
If you were to go an hour farther north you'd get to Santa Barbara, which is a small city in a beautiful area with plenty of hotels/motels. Gorgeous, but rather far. About 10 minutes south of Malibu you hit Santa Monica, another small city on the edge of LA with plenty of hotels/motels. But Santa Monica can be a bit seedy inland, and even the nice parts near the beach are simply upscale urban areas found anywhere (Starbucks, Banana Republic, California Pizza Kitchen, etc.). Unless you have business in one of the skyscrapers near Santa Monica, I've never known anyone to stay there on vacation.
I'm biased of course, being from Orange County, but most of Los Angeles County's beaches aren't really geared for tourists. It's a very urban, big city environment, and it's either ultra-touristy like Venice Beach (which can be fun for an hour or two), purely residential and rather bland, or dirty and seedy and not a fun place for a tourist or a local.
Have you thought about Laguna Beach, about 30 minutes south of Disneyland? Sure it's the home of a really bad reality show on MTV, but it's also got some of the most picturesque scenery on the SoCal coast and a hip, funky, artsy feel in the middle of a rather conservative, affluent county.
http://www.lagunabeachinfo.org has all sorts of lodging and activity information on the website.
Plus, I happen to think the scenery around Laguna is even more impressive than up near Malibu. Check out that website and see if you don't agree; and yes, it's even more stunning in person. Ever been on Soarin' at Epcot? California really is as beautiful and diverse as that 5 minute movie makes it out to be, especially the SoCal beaches! And Laguna is one of the best, and just a short drive down the coast from Disneyland.
Laguna is full of some of OC's best restaurants and bistros, but Las Brisas has great mexican food and it's cliff-top location above the crashing waves can't be beat. My favorite hotel in Laguna is The Montage; it's expensive, but it can be fun just to go to dinner at their moderate-priced restaurant "The Loft" that sits above the cliff with a view of the ocean with very good California/Continental cuisine. The other restaurant, "The Studio", is ultra-swanky and very expensive. They also have one of the best day spas in SoCal if that is your bag; you don't have to stay at the hotel to reserve services at the day spa, they'll just valet park your car in front and you can go to the day spa, one of the restaurants, and wander the hotel grounds for awhile.
Maybe you rent a car and do a couple of day trips up to the LA area for your "Hollywood" fix or studio tour? But if it's beach culture you're after, and off the beaten path non-franchised culture at that, then it'll be hard to find anything in the LA area that fits that bill, is priced less than 500 bucks a night, or without the sound of gunfire nearby.
As for other non-Disney things to do in SoCal; of course there's all the other theme parks - Sea World, Legoland, Knott's Berry Farm, Magic Mountain, Universal Studios, San Diego Zoo, San Diego Wild Animal Park, etc. But have you thought of visiting The Getty Center? It's fantastic! And Free! You could also do the standard Hollywood tour by visiting Grauman's Chinese Theater, The Hollywood & Highland Center with the Kodak Theater where they have the Oscars, shopping on Melrose Avenue, cruising the Sunset Strip, etc.
For shopping near Disneyland, I highly recommend South Coast Plaza about 15 minutes south of Disneyland off the San Diego Freeway/Orange Freeway interchange, one of the largest malls in the country with very, very expensive boutiques and brand name stores (Prada, Gucci, Lauren, Facconable', Hugo Boss, Nordstrom, Sak's, blah, blah, blah). A more normal sized mall, but just as ritzy and more beautiful as it's outdoors and just above the ocean is Fashion Island. Fashion Island is in Newport Beach about 20 minutes south of Disneyland, 10 minutes north of Laguna Beach, near the San Joaquin Hills Freeway; great outdoor mall with Bloomingdales, Neiman-Marcus, some good restaurants, blah, blah, blah.
I do hope there was a rental car in your plans?! Are you flying in to LAX? That airport is huge, and rather nightmarish to get swallowed up by. If you can, try flying into and out of John Wayne Airport. It's about 20 minutes south of Disneyland just off the San Diego Freeway. It's much, much easier to get into and out of, especially if you are headed to Disneyland. Even if it requires a plane change in Chicago or somewhere if you are flying from New York, it would be much easier overall than trying to navigate LAX and get from LA down to Anaheim. The second best thing to John Wayne is to fly into Ontario Intl. Airport; I know JetBlue flies into Ontario. Third best would be Long Beach Airport, and I mention that because JetBlue also offers non-stop service from JFK to Long Beach. My point is, if you haven't figured it out, LAX is to be avoided like the plague. It's a really crummy way to begin or end a vacation.
Good luck!
