Some Questions

[LilMommyBug]

My husband & I are considering visiting DL in September for our 10th anniversary. We are thinking about getting the So Cal City Pass. We will be there for 8 days or so - 6 days of enjoyment and the other 2 days as flight in/flight out.

• What's the best/cheapest airport to fly into? I would assume cheapest would be LAX since it's big, but what do I know? We will be flying allll the way across the country from NC.
• I'm guessing getting a rental would be better/cheaper than getting around by taxi? Are there any public options? Neither of us have been to CA and will have no idea where we are going.
• Do you recommend staying close to Disneyland or staying somewhere central to all of the places we will be visiting? Basically we will be doing Disneyland, Sea World, Universal Studios, and the San Diego zoo. Probably will venture out to the beach at some point.

I feel very overwhelmed - the furthest West I have been is Missouri. lol. Thanks for any help you can give us. I'm working hard to convince him we should pick D.L.

 

[swimmom]

We went to SoCal in May 2008. We had a great time and wished we had more time. We flew into LAX for two reasons, I could get cheaper flights from Chicago and there were more flight times to choose from. Flying out of LAX back to Chicago allowed us almost an entire day in LA since we took an 11:00 p.m. flight home.

We rented a car for the week, and I got a great deal with Hertz using a discount code. It was less than $200.00 for the week. (We also got a free upgrade since a mid-size car wasn't available we we got to the counter.) We also took along our GPS, which helped getting around.

We stayed in hotels in San Diego and Annaheim. We drove down to San Diego the first day and stayed there for a few days then drove back up to Annaheim and stayed at Paradise Pier for the rest of the trip. We were originally going to stay at one fo the many hotels across the street from DL, but I got a special rate at Paradise Pier that we couldn't pass up.

We would definatley like to go back to SoCal again. There is so much to see and do!!!!!

 

[Maryssa*]

You definitely won't want to take cabs. The greater Los Angeles area is VERY spread out and driving anywhere takes far longer than it should. Mass-transit is also not very good. Renting a car would be best.

Where to stay depends on how long you plan on doing everything. If you want to spend more than a day in San Diego you may want to get a hotel down there for one night and stay near Disneyland for the rest, but agian it really depends on how far you plan on going and how much time you plan to spend wherever you want to see. The same applies to airports I guess... though LAX usually has more daily flights (not always cheaper though, so keep checking).

Just keep in mind that from LAX to Anaheim can be about an hour with normal crappy traffic, and from Anaheim to San Diego can be 2-3 hours depending on traffic.

 

[Laura]

What I always recommend people do is get a 1 way flight to San Diego, rent a car, and then at the end of the week fly out of Los Angeles. Then you're doing a straight line up the coast with no back-tracking.

If it were me, here's how I'd do it (and mind you'd I'd make it a 9 day trip instead of 8).

Day 1: Fly into San Diego...spend the evening sightseeing - maybe do the trolley tour or walk around Seaport Village

Day 2: San Diego Zoo

Day 3: Sea World

Day 4: Drive up to Anaheim (about 1 hour, 45 minutes from San Diego). Along the way there are some incredible places to stop. I recommend visiting the children's pool at La Jolla to see the wild seals (15 minutes north of San Diego), and walking out on the half mile long Oceanside Pier for a lunch at Ruby's Diner with incredible views (45 minutes north of San Diego). From Oceanside, you have 1 more hour before you reach Anaheim. The first half of that hour you'll have beautiful ocean views to your left, and equally stunning mountain views to your right (this is Camp Pendleton). Once in Anaheim, you'll have time to enjoy a few hours in the parks or Downtown Disney.

Days 5-6: Disneyland!

Day 7: Head up to Los Angeles (another 30 minutes north) and do an all day hop-on, hop-off double decker bus tour. It will take you to all the cool places and you can enjoy each one as long as you want (Santa Monica Pier, Beverly Hills, La Brea Tar Pits, EVERYTHING). You can park your car at Union Station (super easy to get to) and take the Metro right to the Kodak Theater for $1.50. The double-decker tour loads right there. (Google Starline Tours)

Day 8: Universal Studios

Day 9: Fly home out of LAX...or drive the 2 1/2 hours back to San Diego to fly out there.

So that would be 3 nights in San Diego, 3 nights in Anaheim, 2 nights in Los Angeles.

 

[maelstrom]

You can commute between Anaheim and Los Angeles, if you don't want to switch hotels too much. I'd advise a seperate hotel for San Diego, since it's really too far to commute everyday when you're on vacation. On our recent trip in September, we stayed at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim and the Universal Hilton in Los Angeles (we spent 3 days in Disneyland and 4 days in Los Angeles). Depending on what exactly you're interested in seeing in Los Angeles, the Starline Tours that Laura recommended can (or cannot) be good. The bus line that travels through Hollywood and Beverly Hills is not the same line that goes to Santa Monica; you have to transfer to another bus, and it can take quite awhile. The tour did take us to and drive us past a lot of great Hollywood spots that most tourists want to see (Chinese Theatre, Pantages Theatre, El Capitan Theatre & Disney's Soda Fountain, Rodeo Drive, Chateau Marmont, The Troubadour, Farmer's Market, etc). If you're interested in Hollywood history and want to see some more obscure things, you'll want to do some touring on your own. I highly recommend that you take a drive up to the Hollywood sign... it's amazing how close you can get to it and how high up it is. If you're afraid of heights and/or very windy roads, do not drive up Mulholland Drive (I had a panic attack, haha). You can hit the beach in Santa Monica; we spent some time at the Pier and on the beach there.

 

[TP2000]

We would definatley like to go back to SoCal again. There is so much to see and do!!!!!

Yes. It's an area of the country that was extremely popular with tourists long before Disneyland arrived in '55, and still attracts millions of tourists who never even set foot on Disneyland property. Disneyland is just the icing on the cake for Southern California. :lol:

If LilMommyBug is going to have a rental car, and has an extra day or two to spend aside from the usual theme park stuff in Anaheim and San Diego, I would very strongly encourage her to get in the car and take a drive to see the amazing sights within an hour or so of Disneyland. You could do a Grey Line tour of the traditional LA/Hollywood sights; Grauman's Chinese Theater, Farmer's Market, Television City, the movie studios, etc. But it can also be a lot of fun to head out on your own and do only the things you want to do without being in a big group.

Within an hour or so of Disneyland, central Los Angeles (a city that I'm not a huge fan of, but it has its gems) has some amazing museums and famous cultural offerings, many that are free;

Two of the finest museums in the country, all free to the public, take the complimentary monorail up the hill to amazing ocean and city views and endless art galleries;
http://www.getty.edu/visit/see_do/architecture.html

A fabulously restored planetarium and space museum with killer views in the Hollywood Hills, free to the public; http://www.griffithobs.org/

If Mr. Bug is in to cars, his visit to the city that spawned Car Culture won't be complete without a visit to the excellent Petersen Automotive Museum; http://www.petersen.org/

If you are in to gardens, The Huntington in Pasadena offers a collection of very impressive cultural and themed gardens. Their Chinese and Japanese gardens are world-renowned and quite spectacular. http://www.huntington.org/huntingtonlibrary.aspx?id=514&linkidentifier=id&itemid=514

90 minutes from Disneyland is glamorous Palm Springs, and the famous aerial tram up the mountain. Your tram departs the desert floor and warm weather, and you step off the revolving tram 20 minutes later to pine trees and snow. Alpine hiking trails (several for novices), restaurants, and a cocktail lounge at the top; http://www.pstramway.com/

Laguna Beach is the epitome of SoCal beach living and the OC lifestyle, gourmet restaurants, art galleries, spendy shopping, amazing cliffside ocean views. 30 minutes from Disneyland; http://www.lagunabeachinfo.com/

Down in San Diego...

If you are in La Jolla and want something more daring than watching the sea lions at the Childrens Pool beach, say hello to seals and sea lions in their sea caves via a kayak tour. I've done it, and you don't need any special skills aside from not getting seasick. http://www.lajollakayak.com/pages/la-jolla-kayak-tours.html/

Another fun way to see the San Diego harbor is a bus tour of the city that dives into the water for the grand finale' and floats around the Navy complex and skyline; http://www.sealtours.com/index.asp

Old Town San Diego is an interesting mix of pioneer America and Mexican culture from 150 years ago. Lots of shopping and restaurants there. http://www.oldtownsandiegoguide.com/

And Balboa Park has more than just the San Diego Zoo. An excellent collection of museums, gardens and culture set in the hilly campus buildings from the 1916 World's Fair; http://www.balboapark.org/

In addition to the Zoo, there is also the Zoo's seperate Wild Animal Park up in Escondido, still about 90 minutes from Disneyland. This park opened in the 1970's and was the forerunner of Animal Kingdom. They've got some really unique ways to experience the roaming African animals, like Segway Safaris, photo safaris in jeeps, or the Flightline experience that sends you flying down a cable above the valley. http://www.sandiegozoo.org/park/special/flightline

These are just a few ideas, and my personal favorites. It might be wise to buy a SoCal travel book at Barnes&Noble to find all the options and ideas.

In short, once you've spent a few days at Disneyland, get out and see all that Southern California has to offer!

.