LA/Hollywood Experience Tour

[mystic_path]

Has anyone ever taken this tour from Anaheim through Gray Line tours. On the Grayline Website it says:

Experience the highlights of Los Angeles during this one-of-a kind tour! View Los Angeles’ most fascinating and historical landmarks while taking in the sites of some of your favorite television shows and movies. Walk in the footsteps of some of Hollywood’s most renowned celebrities at Mann’s’ Chinese Theatre. Explore trendy Venice Beach and Santa Monica’s 3rd street Promenade with its many café’s and unique shops. Tour includes: Los Angeles, Olvera Street, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Sunset Strip, Farmers Market and The GROVE, Rodeo Drive and Melrose Avenue. Stops include: Mann’s Chinese Theatre, Hollywood Boulevard, Farmers Market, The GROVE and a choice of Venice Beach or Santa Monica.

All this is really cool, but I want to know if they typically take you to Venice Beach or Santa Monica? I am very confused why they tell you they give you a choice. What happens if I get on the bus hoping to go to Santa Monica and they tell us we are going to Venice Beach? Or do they give you the choice at the time of booking?

 

[Ace315]

This response is very late, but I just took this tour 2 weeks ago. You probably don't need the information anymore, but for anyone who does, I would not recommend this tour. There are only 3 stops. You do pass the other places mentioned, but you stay on the bus. The first stop is for one hour at Hollywood Blvd to see the Walk of Fame and the Chinese Theater and to buy souvenirs. This stop was very rushed and not enough time. Then the next stop was 2 hours at the Farmer's Market which has food stands and The Grove which is like an outdoor mall. The driver told us this was our lunch stop. We thought the Farmer's Market was kind of seedy and really didn't want to eat there, but we settled on the least dirty looking stand and got corned beef sandwiches. We were not interested in the Grove since we have the same stores where we live and didn't care. To kill time, we did walk through the Grove and bought postcards and used the bathroom at Barnes and Noble, then got smoothies at Jamba Juice. So this stop was way too long. On the plus side we went into Trader Joe's, which was across the street, and stocked up on bottles of water at 17 cents each, which was far better than the magical Disneyland price of $3.69 a bottle. For the 3rd stop you were able to decide at the Santa Monica stop whether you wanted to get off there or if you wanted to stay on and get off at Venice Beach. The driver appeared to be trying to convince everyone to get off at Santa Monica. We stayed on to get off at Venice Beach. We weren't interested in shopping at Santa Monica promenade (again all the same stores we have home) and the pier looked like what we have back home in NJ. We wanted to see Venice Beach, which really is unique and is representative of LA. The stop was for 3 hrs and was way too long. We were picked up 30 minutes late and were sorry we didn't just walk to Santa Monica to meet the bus there which we easily could have done. The entire trip from the Disneyland Hotel and back took 11 1/2 hours. We could not wait to get off the bus. By the way, we were told we would see the Hollywood sign, but we only saw it from far away and while the bus was moving, so no good pics. Try a different company with a smaller bus so you can get closer to the Hollywood sign. I later found there is another tour company that brings you to LA, choice of Hollywood Blvd or the Hollywood Sign, then 40 min each in both Santa Monica and Venice Beach, and In N Out Burger. This other tour is only 8 hrs door to door and costs less and I am so sorry I didn't choose this one. We didn't have a car and thought the tour we took looked good at first and it was recommended by Disney. I feel it wasted an entire day I could have spent at the Disneyland parks or relaxing at my hotel pool.