2 days LA - Need advice. Second guessing my own plans

[PrincessInOz]

I'll be in LA for 30 Apr and 1 May before flying out on the 2 May. Myself, hubby and 9 year old son have done this 15 hour flight a few times and I know we won't be overly jetlagged when we arrive on the 30th. We arrive early in the morning and expect that we will be picking up the car by about 9 on the Friday. We're planning on doing a little sightseeing and shopping on the Friday.

We have been to LA quite a few times and were thinking of doing something different this time. We thought we would go to Catalina Island on the Saturday. We have booked (but not paid) 2 nights accomodation at the Residence Inn in Long Beach so that we can catch an early ferry out to CI. There are things to do around Long Beach, which has pulled us towards staying here, and we thought we might see if we could do a gondola ride to the Naples canals on Friday.

Trouble is - I've just finished pricing out what I want to do at CI. The boat ride is $65 per person return. The 3 hour jeep tour I want to do is $100 per person. This one day side trip is gonna cost me close on $500!! I think that this is a little excessive.

The alternative is to go to CI and not do the jeep tour (hopefully to see wildlife) and just take a look around Avalon, walk the local surrounds.

Hubby and I are second guessing ourselves. We think that if we don't do CI, we should look for accommodation closer in the downtown area. We normally stay in Anaheim or with my aunt in San Marcos but we'd like to keep closer to LAX, without having to stay at one of the LAX hotels.

I know a number of you have stayed in the Hollywood/Downtown area. Any recommendations? Or should I stick with the plans and see how the Saturday goes?

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Well I know nothing about Catalina Island and whether you should or should not spend some time there. I'm sure other's will chime in with their thoughts.

If you do decide to stay in Downtown Hollywood, I can highly recommend The Renaissance. You could not get more central, it's part of the Hollywood and Highland Centre and joins onto the Kodak theatre and my favourite part was the Disney Soda Fountain store was across the road, .

The hotel was lovely, as were the rooms. We had an AMAZING view of the Hollywood sign and we loved the proximity to everything. The prices were pretty good too if I remember rightly and if you have a RACV/NRMA card you can get an even cheaper price if you use the AAA number on the back of your card. I believe it was cheaper to book directly with the hotel, rather than through Expedia or something like that.

 

[Mellby]

You can also get a good offer on Priceline.com for the Ramada West Hollywood, which was newly renovated and local to everything. Having said that, this time I'm staying at the new W Hotel in Hollywood on Hollywood Blvd. Right in the thick of it all.

 

[An2net]

I'll be watching this thread closely. Cannot find anything I like in the Hollywood area for 2 adults and 2 kids. Am reading other ppls reviews on sites like TraipAdvisor and they're mostly negative!! We're not hiring a car as we want to stay within walking distance to everything.

thx

An2net

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I'll be watching this thread closely. Cannot find anything I like in the Hollywood area for 2 adults and 2 kids. Am reading other ppls reviews on sites like TraipAdvisor and they're mostly negative!! We're not hiring a car as we want to stay within walking distance to everything.

thx

An2net

I seriously cannot recommend The Renaissance enough. It was fabulous and as for location and walking distance, well you barely need to walk.

 

[Kalice]

We had a suite at the Holiday Inn Express Hotel and Suites Hollywood Walk of Fame. We got a great rate and it included a great little continental breakfast, that consisted of cereal, bacon, boiled eggs, toast, bagels, yoghurt, fruit, juice, coffee and tea. The suite was a good size, clean and well appointed including a microwave and fridge. It was only a five minute walk down to the Renaissance, which couldn't accomodate our party of 5. The other place I was looking at was Venice beach suites? which would of been a good spot too.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Thanks for your suggestions. Hubby and I have had another talk and we think we might stick with the current arrangements. We've pretty much seen most of LA and want to give ourselves the option to do something different. We haven't seen Catalina and will see how we feel when we get there.

I was looking at the Magic Castle and the Renaissance as an alternative. Not sure if Magic Castle would accommodation 5 people for An2net.

Thanks again.

 

[An2net]

thx for those suggestions....will be looking into those. Unfortunately we need to stick to a minimal budget to be able to fly over to NY as well...therefore, I guess we'll get what we pay for

A.