California!?!?!?!?!

[Andy Lou & Meg]

Seasons greetings to fellow DISers!!

After DH saying a big NO to WDW this year to my amazement as one of my Christmas gifts he presented with the unofficial guide to Disneyland in California.

Well as you can imagine I got rather excited at the thought of going there. Whilst this is by no means concrete for next year I thought I would wet my pallet even further by asking for any advice on all things from getting there, hotels etc etc

In my head I have a 16 night trip (combined with other places in California inc Universal), would go the last couple of weeks in Aug / first week of Sept and there would be myself, DH and DD (who will turn 10).

I know that there is the forum on here for CA but thought some people from the UK would also be able to give me their 2 cents worth.

Many thanks for any help

 

[natalielongstaff]

oooh so jealous !!!! California is on my wish list, please keep us informed of your plans

 

[scottish mum]

Sounds great, what a nice DH you have.

 

[scottishgirl87]

Ok, I can't really offer much but I went to Los Angeles last year for a few days before a cruise round Mexico and then flew out of LA to Vegas for the remainder of the trip.

I can't really offer much on the Disney side of things as we didn't go there and went to Universal instead. The Universal is nowhere near as good as the one in Florida although still more than worth a visit in it's own right! For example, one of the best things we did is the Backlot Tour which my highlight being the actual set from Desperate Housewives Awesome stuff to see! You could definitely do the Universal in 1 day, we did, but we also bought the Express Passes just incase (and at the time it was only like $5 more than a normal ticket).

I originally wouldn't think California was a place for 16 days worth but the more I think about it you've also got places like Santa Monica and Anaheim as well as Los Angeles, etc. Plus there's also Six Flags theme park as well!

Just be careful in some of the LA areas as it can get dodgy (although so can everywhere!) but there was once or twice we felt uneasy. Wouldn't stop me going back though, would love to have had some more time to explore and hopefully can one day!

Oh one other thing.....the jetlag is HORRIBLE! I've been to Florida and New York before without problem but it felt to us we were only JUST getting used to the time difference by the time we were coming back! I was even so tired I fell asleep at our table in the Cheesecake Factory the 1st night we got there

 

[iHEARTflorida]

I originally wouldn't think California was a place for 16 days worth but the more I think about it you've also got places like Santa Monica and Anaheim as well as Los Angeles, etc. Plus there's also Six Flags theme park as well!

Not enough to do in California for 16 days?!?! Say What?

California is the third largest state in America. There is sooo much to do and see, you could do a road trip see places such as San Francisco, Napa, Santa Cruz, Monterey, Yosemite, Death Valley, Big Sur, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Anaheim (Disneyland, Knotts), San Diego, Palm Springs and soo much more!!!

For Disneyland, you probably want to stay 3 nights minimum (if this is the main purpose of your trip), two days for Disneyland and one day for California Adventure

 

[wayneg]

We have been twice. 1st trip for 9 nights, 2nd trip for 5 nights (after 4 nights in Vegas)
Personally for us 16 nights would be too long just around Disneyland, 9 nights was enough on our 1st trip.
If I was to do 16 nights then I would have to expand to include San Fran or Vegas.
Cali is very spread out after Florida with horrendous traffic, we loved the place but mainly because we have friends that live there, still by far prefer Orlando/Florida but any Disney fan needs to visit the original park at least once.
I would start by making a list of what you want to visit, see how many days you think you will need.

 

[Rosie]

My family did a 15 night trip to California in August.
We did 4 nights in San Francisco, 3 nights at Yosemite and 8 nights in Anaheim.
My kids are 13 and 15 and loved the whole trip.
We didn't try to do everything in Anaheim - we did a tour of LA, days at the beautiful beaches and Disneyland. We felt we could give other theme parks a miss and for us it was the right thing to do.
DH and I will definitely visit California again, maybe with the kids or maybe once they holiday with friends. Next time we will probably combine it with Las Vegas and visit a different National Park. Disneyland is definitely worth a visit or two though!

 

[orlandothebeagle]

I loved Ca, where do you start, I didnt think the jet lag was that bad I have to say, no worse than swapping form nightshift to day shift, and your on holiday so who cares,
Universal was cool, disney land diff but good, I loved, I mean I loved san fran, and monteray, we went to the moto gp at laguna seca, we also went to las vegas for a few nights, flight were only 80 dollars each,
We drove down highway one, (go north to south) stopped and watched elephant seals on the beach for hours, I enjoyed the drive,it was amazing, i am glad i done it, but imho the west coast of scotland is more spectaculiar.
We went to la to the kodak place, the day after mj died, NOT a good move and did not really enjoy that, but on another day it might have been good,
I cant say how much I enjoyed san fran though, las vegas was kinda mad but im glad we went, we done the rides on top of the stratospher, OMG enjoy!!! Oh, yes, and santabarba and all those places, we went for nearly 3 weeks, we could be there 6 weeks and only scratch the surface.
http://www.visitcalifornia.co.uk/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home_uk&ContentID=31123

you can order maps and stuff from this web site, its not brilliant but still nice to browse some stuff other than the internet!

 

[Lizzybear]

I love California, only been once and i'm dying to go back again. The tentative plan for next year's hol is Chicago and Tennessee but part of me is pushing for CA again, and I had moments of wishing we were in DL instead of WDW this year ...I realise admitting this is probably cause to have my DIS membership revoked Anyway: We started in San Francisco and drove down and across to Las Vegas over 18 nights, taking in various places along the way. I adored San Francisco, Monterey (amazing aquarium here), San Luis Obispo (if I could move anywhere in the world it'd be here, midway between SF and LA with gorgeous mountains and the ocean on your doorstep what more could you want ) and driving along Highway 1 in general. Los Angeles is a mixed bag: I agree the traffic is a pain in the neck and there are some very dodgy parts which are easier to accidentally stumble into than in many other cities (this is where a sat nav comes in very handy IMO!) but at the same time it's so diverse and interesting, really nowhere else in the world like it! Hollywood Boulevard is definitely one of those places to visit at least once if you're into movies at all, oh and for a burger at 25 Degrees! I actually preferred Universal Hollywood to Universal Orlando, it obviously doesn't have IOA but I like that it's still actively used for filming, the backlot tour is worth the entrance fee alone IMO Santa Monica is a nice place to visit, there's a funfair on the pier which is very reasonably priced and you can walk along the beachfront taking in Venice too (we ran out of time to go this far!) We also drove to Six Flags Magic Mountain (if you or any family members are coaster fiends this is a must!) and for a more relaxed day visited the Page Museum aka La Brea tarpits, which is conveniently very near to Pink's (best hotdogs ever, it's something of an LA institution: http://www.pinkshollywood.com/ Have to say though my favourite thing in LA was this tour: http://www.dearlydepartedtours.com/DDT/tours.htm
Not one for children (they show autopsy pics etc) but great for teens and adults wanting something different to the usual star's home dealies
For Disneyland we stayed in Anaheim (I wouldn't recommend driving from/to LA if you can help it, the traffic on that route can be a real drag) and walked to and from the parks. We had 3 day hoppers but could easily have spent longer there, OK so the parks aren't as big or tech as WDW's but IMO they more than make up for it in atmosphere and some of the rides are far superior, especially POTC and Space Mountain We also drove to San Diego zoo for a day which was an easy drive and a great day out Las Vegas... Well to be honest I could take or leave the place but I think it's somewhere everyone should visit for themselves, many love it and I feel like I would give it another chance in the future but spend more time in the nearby national parks... Red Rock Canyon is absolutely stunning and such a contrast to the strip. I agree that the jetlag for the west coast can be killer, it took me ages to adjust but my bf did very quickly (he's worked all kinds of shifts including nights though so he's more used to having to adjust his body clock quickly) Right now that i've written much more than I intended to i'll finish this post, I could go into loads more detail but i'll spare you all a novel!

 

[Danauk]

We did 3 weeks in California/Las Vegas last year. We did a week at Disneyland in the Grand Californian, there we did DL as well as Knotts Berry Farm. We then went to Six Flags Magic Mountain for 2 night (we love coasters!!), then did 5 nights in Hollywood (stayed at the Rennaisance Hollywood) to do all the studio tours, Universal Hollywood (the VIP tour is so worth the extra) and to look at the Hollywood sights. Then we drove to Vegas for a week in the Bellagio. We hired a car for the 3 weeks which really helped.

As for Disneyland we really enjoyed it, although with all the building work going on at Disney's California Adventure at the moment (they are basically rebuilding the park) I really would put off a trip there until 2012 to get the full benifit of both of the Disney parks.

Once the building work is completed we intend to return to DL one day, we really had fun there, the parks are different to WDW and it was fun being in Walts own park.

 

[Kevin Stringer]

We went to California in August 2005.
There may be some things of interest to you in my trip report: http://www.kevinstringer.co.uk/august 2005 trip/index.htm

The last few days were spent in LA and include trips to Universal and Disneyland.

Kev

 

[torsie24]

I went to University in LA for a semester, as well as going back to visit friends. So have pretty much been to most parts of SoCal.

I looove it there.

Universal (in my opinion) is a lot better than the Florida version. It's smaller and not really themed, but you can't beat it as the studio tour is amazing. I also much prefer CityWalk there. The Orlando one really dissappointed me.

Santa Monica is a great place to stay, we've been to Shutters on the Beach, Loews Santa Monica Beach, and also the Holiday Inn, which was great for a budget stay. I tend to stay at the UCLA guest house now as I get Alumni rates, but even full price it's like $100/night with kitchenette and breakfast, and Westwood is a great location to be in - 15 minutes from Santa Monica, 10 to West Hollywood, and being wedged between Bel Air and Beverly Hills you always see a celebrity or two in Coffee Bean or the supermarket.

Oooh, Six Flags is a lot of fun too!

Westwood is a great neighbourhood to visit, it is just like the entrance street of DHS, which I think is why DHS is my favourite park, it felt like home, lol.

Any questions, ask away.

 

[wickesy]

We did a split San Francisco/Disneyland trip in August last year (trip report link in my signature).

If you're into wine at all there are some nice wine tasting tours that you could do. The Disney Soda Fountain store in Los Angeles is a nice place to stop off at and there's also the new Walt Disney family museum in San Francisco.

I would say allow 3-4 nights at Disneyland then work out what else you might want to see and plan the rest of your nights around that.

 

[catherine]

I lived in CA for 10 years and all of DHs family live there. Some of my favourite things are spending time in San Fran, driving down the coastal highway from N. Ca to S. CA stopping of a various places along the way including Hurst Castle and Moneterey (the aquarium is amazing!) and Bid Sur is awesome. I also love spending time in Yosemite, those rock formations are something else. Obviously Disneyland and CA Adventure. I don't really like LA or Hollywood, but if I were going as a tourist I probably would go ahead and do these. Oh another place that I love, which I nearly fogot about, is Santa Cruz. We used to live just over the hill from here and used to go all the time. There are so many places that I just love that I could go on all day!!

 

[EPCOTFANROD]

Really loved Santa Cruz. Also loved San Luis Obispo, what a great little town, clean, safe etc.

My best advice to the original poster is to get a car and stop off for a few days in San Fran - (Pacific highway drive to) L.A. - Vegas - Death Valley (drive through it) Yosemite - Lake Tahoe and back to San Fran.

I did this for my Honeymoon in 2005. Best holiday Ever.

 

[heatherbelle]

We went this year for 2 weeks. We stayed 1 week in Aneheim and 1 week in San Diego. My DS is 10.

If I was going for the first time then , I would stay the first three nights in Santa Monica, from there, I would visit Hollywood, Universal, Warner Bros and the beaches.

I would then move to Anaheim for three days, and do Disney and Knotts, and some shopping time. I would stay as close as I could to Disney. The ho-jo gets good reviews. The Disneyland hotels look really nice, liked the California one, but it's mega bucks.

We spent far too much time travelling in LA.

Then I would go to San Diego. This was the best part of our holiday, loads to do with kids, fantastic place.

If you go over to the dibb there is a whole section on the West Coast. Have a look for posts by Mazzy as she is about to embark on her second visit out there.

 

[thestevied]

My partner and i went there a couple of years ago. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Orange County hotel which was walking distance from Disneyland. Disneyland itself was excellent, but as you'd imagine not a patch on WDW. We had a great time there but 2 days (1 day in each park) was enough to cover all we wanted to do in Disneyland. The other 3 days we had in LA we spent doing coach tours that the hotel arranged.

Hope this helps. Not sure we'd spend more than a week in LA. We spent 4 nights in Vegas, 5 nights in LA and 5 nights in San Francisco. That was enough time for us in each. When we go to WDW we go for 2 weeks and its never enough!

 

[Cyrano]

oooh so jealous !!!! California is on my wish list, please keep us informed of your plans

Ditto

 

[Ware Bears]

How exciting!!

We are hoping to go to California in 2013 for our silver wedding anniversary.

Happy planning!!

 

[paulh]

would do a split 2 or 3 places as if you did 16 nights there's not enough to warrant it,take in vagas/beach/san Francisco as well.As much as i love Florida disney Cali is a 2-3 day park and universal 1 day plus a days visit to San-deago zoo 1 day
Paul