Need help planning trip to Disneyland and Hollywood???

[louise1928]

I am in the planning process for a trip to California. My husband and I both want to visit Disneyland and Universal Studios, but would also like to visit Hollywood. Trip dates are July 2007

How should we work this vacation???

2 adults traveling without children, and my husband is an amusement park junkie

I was thinking about spending 2 days at Disney and 3 days in Hollywood, or 3 days at Disney and 2 days in Hollywood. Is it also possible to stay in Anaheim, and do a day trip to Hollywood, or should we just make hollywood our home base, and do days trips to Universal and Disneyland??

I found some great hotel prices at Embassy Suites-Downey, but some trip reports I have read said that its about 20 minutes from Disney.

I also saw a offer on the universal site for tickets to disneyland/universal and san diego zoo for $199, however, we did not plan to visit san diego.

I am confused trying to decide which is the best way to go without wasting a lot of time and money. We do not plan to rent a car, or should we???



Thanks for all tips and suggestions

 

[ter-moo]

If I were you, I'd spend 2 1/2 or 3 days at Disneyland (in the summer, you'll need that long to see everything), staying somewhere within walking distance. My recommendation would be the Candy Cane Inn (www.candycaneinn.net) or the Howard Johnson's (www.hojoanaheim.com) or the Park Place Inn and Suites (www.bestwestern.com/prop_05470).

Then, I would rent a car (there are places near Disneyland to do this) and drive up to Universal. You can stay up there or in Hollywood for the remaining nights. You only need a day at Universal (it really doesn't have much to do) and Hollywood will only take a day. It's a long drive from Disneyland (about 40 minutes with no traffic--could be WAY longer in traffic) and it's not worth it to keep commuting.

You might also consider a day in Santa Monica or Beverly Hills. They are much nicer than Hollywood and there's lots to see. I'd recommend getting a Los Angeles guidebook from your local library (Frommer's puts out a good one) and browsing for things you might want to do. L.A. is HUGE distance-wise, so with a limited time schedule, you kinda have to pick and choose.

I hope I've been helpful!

 

[minnietoo]

If I were you, I'd spend 2 1/2 or 3 days at Disneyland (in the summer, you'll need that long to see everything), staying somewhere within walking distance. My recommendation would be the Candy Cane Inn (www.candycaneinn.net) or the Howard Johnson's (www.hojoanaheim.com) or the Park Place Inn and Suites (www.bestwestern.com/prop_05470).

Then, I would rent a car (there are places near Disneyland to do this) and drive up to Universal. You can stay up there or in Hollywood for the remaining nights. You only need a day at Universal (it really doesn't have much to do) and Hollywood will only take a day. It's a long drive from Disneyland (about 40 minutes with no traffic--could be WAY longer in traffic) and it's not worth it to keep commuting.

You might also consider a day in Santa Monica or Beverly Hills. They are much nicer than Hollywood and there's lots to see. I'd recommend getting a Los Angeles guidebook from your local library (Frommer's puts out a good one) and browsing for things you might want to do. L.A. is HUGE distance-wise, so with a limited time schedule, you kinda have to pick and choose.

I hope I've been helpful!

Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

[Pink Disney]

My family, and I did a similar trip last year. We stayed in Anaheim for our home base the whole time. We split other activities up with days at Disney. Definately, three days at Disney is better than two. Like ter-moo said ,one day in Hollywood, and one day in Universal is good. Also, I agree Santa Monica is very nice. We had a great day at a beach in Santa Monica. Have a great trip.

 

[louise1928]

My family, and I did a similar trip last year. We stayed in Anaheim for our home base the whole time. We split other activities up with days at Disney. Definately, three days at Disney is better than two. Like ter-moo said ,one day in Hollywood, and one day in Universal is good. Also, I agree Santa Monica is very nice. We had a great day at a beach in Santa Monica. Have a great trip.

Thanks for the all tips. I was just browsing some of the LA websites, and had a idea of staying in Anaheim as our home base, and taking one of the starline bus tours to hollywood for the day. Has anyone done this??

I am looking at two possible hotels, Embassy suites anaheim and Park Place. Although Embassy is furthest away, it offers a full breakfast each morning, free shuttle and managers cocktail everynight, which would be great after being at the parks all day.

 

[HydroGuy]

If you want to do Universal and Hollywood, I agree one day each is enough. And I would get a hotel at least for one night near Hollywood for the USH/Hollywood days, and do them on consecutive days. Not sure which days of the week you are planning, but if you have a weekend in there I would do weekdays at DLR and weekend in Hollywood - this will also help you to be driving on weekends which is better in SoCal.

 

[xmelissax]

You will definately need to rent a car. Everyone here drives and it's nearly impossible to get places without a car. I think how many days where depends on what you want to see the most. There is a lot do in Hollywood/LA and you could easily spend 3 days there, but Disney is great too. Also,Downey is not really close to Universal City at all and can be horrendous with traffic. It's also not the nicest place, not necessarily a bad neighborhood but not where I would want to stay on a vacation. There are 2 hotels right at Universal Studios and a lot of nice ones in Hollywood, some on the Sunset Strip which puts you right in the middle of things and able to walk around to more.

As for Embassy Suites Anaheim, which one? There are a few in Anaheim I believe.

 

[louise1928]

You will definately need to rent a car. Everyone here drives and it's nearly impossible to get places without a car. I think how many days where depends on what you want to see the most. There is a lot do in Hollywood/LA and you could easily spend 3 days there, but Disney is great too. Also,Downey is not really close to Universal City at all and can be horrendous with traffic. It's also not the nicest place, not necessarily a bad neighborhood but not where I would want to stay on a vacation. There are 2 hotels right at Universal Studios and a lot of nice ones in Hollywood, some on the Sunset Strip which puts you right in the middle of things and able to walk around to more.

As for Embassy Suites Anaheim, which one? There are a few in Anaheim I believe.

Embassy suites-downey and embassy suites fronterra street, they both get good reviews!

 

[mareed]

If you specifically want Embassy Suites, I believe the closest one to Disneyland is actually in Garden Grove and the address will be on Harbor. It's not within walking distance, but it's probably only 1-2 miles up Harbor from the Disneyland main entrance. On our trips with only adults, we're fine with driving and parking at the parking structure and then riding the trams to the parks (allow about 45 minutes from hotel to Disney front-gate, even though the hotel is close). When we're with our kids, we much prefer to be within walking distance.

 

[HydroGuy]

When we're with our kids, we much prefer to be within walking distance.

IMO, this is a no brainer.

 

[mikayla73]

The $199 deal that you mentioned is probably the City Pass. It was a great deal for us. We used Anaheim as our "home base" and drove to SD for the day. We figured when we bought them, they were about the price of 3 day park hoppers for DL, so everything else was extra. I believe we only paid $160 for ours, there was a discount for us with the company we booked with. So if you got that and didn't use the SD stuff, it may still work out the same or a little cheaper for you rather than buying the tickets all separately, but you should definately double check those numbers. There is also a Hollywood City Pass I believe. I am not sure what it includes.

We always rent a car and I would definately spend 3 days in Disney, only one day at US. When we went to US, we got back early enough to go to DL for a few hours that night.

 

[louise1928]

You will definately need to rent a car. Everyone here drives and it's nearly impossible to get places without a car. I think how many days where depends on what you want to see the most. There is a lot do in Hollywood/LA and you could easily spend 3 days there, but Disney is great too. Also,Downey is not really close to Universal City at all and can be horrendous with traffic. It's also not the nicest place, not necessarily a bad neighborhood but not where I would want to stay on a vacation. There are 2 hotels right at Universal Studios and a lot of nice ones in Hollywood, some on the Sunset Strip which puts you right in the middle of things and able to walk around to more.

As for Embassy Suites Anaheim, which one? There are a few in Anaheim I believe.

I read good reviews for Best Western Sunset Plaza in Hollywood, and this property is said to be within great proximity to restaurants, shopping, and sunset blvd. My only concern would be getting to disney or universal without driving, or opting for one of the bus tours that takes you there for the day. I guess if we had to choose one, it would be disney and dca for our day trip.

 

[Disney Fool]

Here's another option: http://www.hollywoodtours.us/tours/tourType.cfm/ttid2/2143

 

[xmelissax]

I read good reviews for Best Western Sunset Plaza in Hollywood, and this property is said to be within great proximity to restaurants, shopping, and sunset blvd. My only concern would be getting to disney or universal without driving, or opting for one of the bus tours that takes you there for the day. I guess if we had to choose one, it would be disney and dca for our day trip.

I don't know where you're flying into/out of but if it's LAX you could go to Disneyland first for several days then take a taxi (expensive but if you don't want to rent a car it's an option) up to LA and stay at one of the Universal Hotels and I'm sure they have shuttles into Hollywood or tours that will pick up at hotels. That is another way to go if you don't want to rent a car since you will end up in LA on your last days and it will be easier to get to LAX that way.I really do think in the end though you would end up saving money by just renting a car through priceline and getting a good deal cause everything else can add up.

 

[Dopey & Grumpy]

Our first time in California, we did Disney, took two tours to LA and and one day for the beaches. We have family near San Diego so we spent a day there too. We were there for 5 days.

We really enjoyed the LA tours and we stayed within walking distance from the Tour office and DL. We didn't go to California Adventure though.

We're leaving next week and we're doing Disney and California Adventure, Universal Studios, another LA tour and a LA Ghost Tour. We have one day not planned and we're going to play it by ear. We're not sure if we just want to drive down the coast again or go to another park, possibly Knottsberry Farm.

We're staying at the Doubletree Hotel in Anaheim/Orange this time so we really need a car. We got a good rate thru PL. Unfortunately, none of the tour companies picks up at our hotel and we know this before we leave so we are able to make better plans to include how we're getting around.

If you have limited number of days, you need to really plan ahead. If you wait until you get there, it's overwhelming.