Feedback on my first-timer in LA itinerary please

[choccieaddict]

A little background:
there are four of us, 2 adults and 2 teens (18 and 14) coming to Los Angeles for 10 days this October. We are coming from the UK and want to squeeze in as much as possible since it takes some serious savings to get to the US (next time we come it would be to another area, like Vegas, Utah and Arizona, so we want to hit as much of LA as possible!) We are going to be based at the Hyatt Regency in Anaheim for the most part but I am thinking of booking a motel in the Barstow area so that we can see some desert and route 66.

I have a very long list of places that look interesting, and I've had to have to cut the list down by an awful lot!
So before I lose my pieces of paper, here's my list, in no particular order...

Disneyland
California Adventure
Downtown Disney
Knott's berry Farm
Discovery Science Centre
Mulholland Scenic Drive
Griffith Park - museums and observatory
La Brea Tar Pits
Santa Monica Pier
Universal Studios
Grauman's Chinese Theatre
Walk of Fame
Rodeo Drive
Sunset Blvd
Television Hall of Fame
Museum of TV and Radio
Pioneertown
Rte 66 near Barstow / National Trails Highway
Gardenwalk, the Block at Orange, Garden Grove, The Grove and lots of other shopping centres
Hollywood History Museum
Antelope Valley Indian Museum
Orange county beaches
Rim of the World Drive
Calico Ghost Town
Bottle Tree Ranch
Mother Road Route 66 Museum
Rainbow Basin
Mojave National Preserve
Joshua Tree NP
Crystal Cove State park
Warner Bros Studio
Virgin Megastore (please don't tell me it closed like Orlando's DTD's did! I haven't yet checked)

The there's a whole other load of places that I've come across on maps or in my reading that I need to Google and make sure I'm not going to miss something fab:

Lake Elsionre
Dripping Springs
San Bernadino
Afton Canyon
Mojave River Valley Museum, Barstow
Randsburg
Fort Tejon
Bakersfield
San Diego Wild ANimal Park
Irvine Regional Park
Orange County Zoo
Santiago and Yorba Linda Reservoirs
Oak Canyon Nat. Centre
Bryant Ranch Museum
Runyon Canyon
Daggett
Newberry Springs
Amboy Crater
Silverwood Lake
Rocka Hoola
Cleveland National Forest
Corona
Chino Hills
Lake Perris
Tustin Ranch
Peters Canyon
Sand Canyon Reservoir
Limestone Canyon
Santiago Oaks


phew!

I've more or less decided on a rough itinerary, based around the least busy days in DL and DCA using Touringplans, but on the most part, it looks like we've picked a good time of year for crowd levels.

Here goes....


Tues 25th Oct. Land at around 3pm. Nothing planned other than dinner and Target for snacks and drinks for the hotel, as I suspect by the time we get our cases and our hire car from Dollar we will hit rush hour traffic on the way from LAX to Anaheim. Some tips on the best route would be good too here.

Weds 26th Oct. Hollywood for Walk of Fame, Grauman's, Sunset Blvd, any nearby TV/film museums, Mulholland Scenic Drive and Griffith Park, then head for Orange County coastline to explore places like Balboa Island and Huntington Beach before heading north and inland to our hotel by evening.

Thurs 27th Oct. Disneyland all day. Downtown Disney for the evening.

Fri 28th Oct. Universal Studios all day. We'll probably pretty jetlagged by now so I don't think we'd manage anything else later this day.

Sat 29th Oct. Head off to Pioneertown to see the shoot out at 2.30pm, take in some scenic stuff, like Joshua Tree NP, then thinking of heading up the 247 to Barstow. Spend the night in Barstow.

Sun 30th Oct. Barstow museums (I hear there are some Route 66 museums around here) and Calico Ghost Town. Take a little drive along the National Trails Highway and sightsee in the Mohave National Preserve. Head back to Barstow for the night.

Mon 31st Oct. Bottle Tree Ranch and the Factory Outlets outside of Barstow. Drive back on I15 to our Hyatt room on South Harbor Blvd. Rest Up then Discovery Science Centre (or do this early on departure day before Santa Monica)

Tue 1st Nov. California Adventure

Wed 2nd Nov. Knott's Berry Farm

Thu 3rd Nov. Santa Monica and Venice Beach then a 21:30 flight home

A pretty exhausting schedule, but if we can do 10+ days in Orlando theme parks in the heat and humidity of August this should be a doddle

Any constructive criticism is fine, anything you'd alter...skip...add from my big lists?

 

[choccieaddict]

bumping for the weekend

 

[sonnyjane]

Whew. I can't be of much help since I haven't done a lot of those state parks and reserves, but I'll tell you some of my initial thoughts.

It looks like you're coming all the way from across the pond and only plan on doing one day at Disneyland and one day at California Adventure. That's a bit blasphemous on these boards. Those two attractions will by far be the best that you'll see out of everything you listed, so I think you're really short-changing yourself by only giving yourself one day for each. I'd get park-hopper passes to make sure that you don't limit yourself to just one park each day. You can easily walk between the two. I'll also explain below that you should really add at least one more day, making it three, especially since you're basing yourself out of Anaheim.

The second thing that is really jumping out at me is that you're dedicating three days of your trip to the Barstow area. I think this is a huge mistake. I frequently drive through Barstow when I'm heading from San Diego to Las Vegas, and we don't consider it anything more than a place to go to the bathroom and get some gas. The outlet mall there is very small and the stores are not very desirable. (http://www.barstowoutlet.com/listings.php) Maybe your family is really into large expanses of empty desert and hikes, but if it were me, I'd be extremely disappointed if I dedicated so much of my time to that region when I could be doing other things in Southern California. It really is a "ghost town", and not in a cute theme park way. Also you mention seeing the gun fight at Pioneertown, but the website says it's only available on the first, second, and third Sunday of each month from April to October, so the way you have your schedule now, you'd miss it (http://gunfightersforhire.com/) If it were me, I would skip the Barstow part of the trip completely and add on an at least one extra day at Disney, making sure you get at least three days in the parks.

On your list was the OC Zoo. Don't bother. With such limited time, that zoo is not worth it. If you really want an animal stop on your itinerary, use one of the days that you cut from Barstow to go to the Safari Park (new name for the Wild Animal Park). It is about 45 minutes closer to Anaheim than the San Diego zoo, but you'll still get your animal fix.

 

[choccieaddict]

Whew. I can't be of much help since I haven't done a lot of those state parks and reserves, but I'll tell you some of my initial thoughts.

It looks like you're coming all the way from across the pond and only plan on doing one day at Disneyland and one day at California Adventure. That's a bit blasphemous on these boards. Those two attractions will by far be the best that you'll see out of everything you listed, so I think you're really short-changing yourself by only giving yourself one day for each. I'd get park-hopper passes to make sure that you don't limit yourself to just one park each day. You can easily walk between the two. I'll also explain below that you should really add at least one more day, making it three, especially since you're basing yourself out of Anaheim.

The second thing that is really jumping out at me is that you're dedicating three days of your trip to the Barstow area. I think this is a huge mistake. I frequently drive through Barstow when I'm heading from San Diego to Las Vegas, and we don't consider it anything more than a place to go to the bathroom and get some gas. The outlet mall there is very small and the stores are not very desirable. (http://www.barstowoutlet.com/listings.php) Maybe your family is really into large expanses of empty desert and hikes, but if it were me, I'd be extremely disappointed if I dedicated so much of my time to that region when I could be doing other things in Southern California. It really is a "ghost town", and not in a cute theme park way. Also you mention seeing the gun fight at Pioneertown, but the website says it's only available on the first, second, and third Sunday of each month from April to October, so the way you have your schedule now, you'd miss it (http://gunfightersforhire.com/) If it were me, I would skip the Barstow part of the trip completely and add on an at least one extra day at Disney, making sure you get at least three days in the parks.

On your list was the OC Zoo. Don't bother. With such limited time, that zoo is not worth it. If you really want an animal stop on your itinerary, use one of the days that you cut from Barstow to go to the Safari Park (new name for the Wild Animal Park). It is about 45 minutes closer to Anaheim than the San Diego zoo, but you'll still get your animal fix.

thanks for taking the time to reply.

Ideally, we'd (I'd) love to do more than a couple of days on Disney property, but having done 2 summers at WDW my husband is, shockingly, all Disneyed-out! So this time we are planning to do more than Disney.

We both like history and scenery, hence heading Barstow way...get some mining and route 66 history/cowboy stuff at Calico and see some of the actual Route 66 and some desert. Also, as a kid I toured with my parents in an old motorhome all the way from Michigan to LA via Calico and I'd quite like to repeat part of that trip. I get what you are saying about Barstow, Googling hasn't brought up that much to do there, but it seems like a good base from which to explore scenic places like the Mojave Desert and Rainbow Basin (I'm quite into rocks and stuff, did a Geology course a while ago) instead of travelling out of Anaheim and back in one day.

I must have found some outdated info, or forgot the correct days, on the Pioneertown shootout. I'm having second thoughts about Pioneertown...maybe we can get our western fix at just Calico, if we don't do Pioneertown we could probably just head up the 15, explore, stay at Barstow for just one night and do Calico the following day.

Thanks for the feedback on OC Zoo. Maybe we could head over to San Diego's Safari Park for the day instead...or get one more day at Disney if I can stretch the budget

Thanks again, it's good to get some opinions from the folks who know the area.

 

[mickey mel]

I have to tell you, I'm exhausted just reading your itinerary! I agree with the previous poster that I think you're spending a little too much time in Barstow. Barstow is really just a small town full of motels for people passing through. If you're looking for desert scenery, I would suggest a side trip to Palm Springs (there are excellent outlet stores on the way), or even heading up to Death Valley for a day. I believe that technically, you could probably drive up to Barstow, see the route 66 things you're interested in, and spend the night. Then, you could get up early and go to Death Valley or Mojave national park, and drive back to Anaheim the next day.
That would free up one day for you. FYI -- the weather in October is generally very nice; you might like a day to spend on the beach or by the pool.
Enjoy your trip.

 

[esmetutu]

WOW! That's an impressive trip! However, as a native Los Angeleno, that's A LOT of hopping around... especially if you aren't a local and don't know all the ins and outs of LA. I'd hate for you to spend all your time in traffic and/or driving around. Gas is over $4.00 a gallon and rising!

I'd recommend dropping either Universal Studios or Knott's. Universal's a pretty dull park and far better in Orlando if you get that way more often. As for Knott's it's just mostly big rollercoasters with not much charm left from the old days.

If you are open to changing your Disneyland schedule (just avoid Fri night-Sun if you can, and early closure nights because of the Halloween parties), I'd drive from LAX into LA proper and stay there for a few days... maybe in Hollywood, Santa Monica, or even Downtown LA. Priceline works good for Downtown LA, btw. Priceline is super-great for Anaheim, as well! You could get 2 rooms for less than the price of 1! That might be nice for your teens (and you!).

Give yourself some time in LA... The Grove/Farmer's Market, Grauman's Chinese/Walk of Fame, Griffith Park, La Brea Tar Pits (redundant as "la brea" means "the tar" in Spanish ). That will literally take a whole day and then some! There's so much to see. It's all really sprawled out. It'd be hard to see everything and get back to Orange County without some serious traffic. For LA history, Olvera Street in Downtown LA is really neat. Right across the street is a wonderful restaurant, Philippe's, that's been there for 100 years with the most amazing "french dipped" sandwiches. There are also many good walking tours of downtown that are fascinating!

(You'll see a trend here... TRAFFIC. It literally can take an hour to drive 10 miles on the 101 freeway through Hollywood. Plus the drivers are NUTS!)

I'd try to head to Santa Monica, Venice, Beverly Hills, etc on another day. The Pacific Ocean is lovely and a drive up PCH to Malibu would be a nice addition to your trip. While in Malibu, a trip to the Getty Villa is free aside from paying for parking. It's truly one of the most beautiful, tranquil places I've ever been. And VERY California!

Then you could do your Barstow/Calico trip which I can't help you with at all, but I would HIGHLY recommend Big Bear, Lake Arrowhead, Idyllwild, etc. That'd give you a real taste of the beautiful chaparral forests SoCal is well-known for! Plus those are really quaint mountain towns with some nice hiking, recreation, shopping, etc.

You could hit the San Diego Wild Animal Park (name changed to Safari Park?) which really isn't that far off the beaten path if you're in the Barstow area. Then to Disneyland and California Adventure where I would spend THREE days for all, plus Downtown Disney, and then head to LAX from there. Maybe do Knott's on the day you leave.

I love that you want to see other parts of SoCal and not just the typical stuff! I know I totally messed up your whole itinerary but trust me! It is unrealistic to drive from LA to OC more than once or twice. It will seriously make you question your sanity! Traffic in the morning- going and coming, traffic in the evening- going and coming. If it was just one day I'd say go for it, but you have yourself commuting several times back and forth. Don't do it! Also, you won't be able to do Hollywood properly AND Orange County beaches in one day. I think you should really consider staying in 3 different areas: LA, Barstow (or wherever), and Anaheim.

Also take into consideration October is wildfire season for us, so there could be fires here, there, and, everywhere messing up your plans. It's a nice time of year, aside from those nasty, warm Santa Ana winds that come up.

If you think I'm exaggerating about the traffic, check out this link:
sigalert.com
That should give you a good idea about the traffic patterns.

If you have any more questions, feel free to PM me! Hope I was more help than a hindrance!

 

[usnuzuloose]

A little background:
there are four of us, 2 adults and 2 teens (18 and 14) coming to Los Angeles for 10 days this October. We are coming from the UK and want to squeeze in as much as possible since it takes some serious savings to get to the US (next time we come it would be to another area, like Vegas, Utah and Arizona, so we want to hit as much of LA as possible!) We are going to be based at the Hyatt Regency in Anaheim for the most part but I am thinking of booking a motel in the Barstow area so that we can see some desert and route 66.

I have a very long list of places that look interesting, and I've had to have to cut the list down by an awful lot!
So before I lose my pieces of paper, here's my list, in no particular order...

Disneyland
California Adventure
Downtown Disney
Knott's berry Farm
Discovery Science Centre
Mulholland Scenic Drive
Griffith Park - museums and observatory
La Brea Tar Pits
Santa Monica Pier
Universal Studios
Grauman's Chinese Theatre
Walk of Fame
Rodeo Drive
Sunset Blvd
Television Hall of Fame
Museum of TV and Radio
Pioneertown
Rte 66 near Barstow / National Trails Highway
Gardenwalk, the Block at Orange, Garden Grove, The Grove and lots of other shopping centres
Hollywood History Museum
Antelope Valley Indian Museum
Orange county beaches
Rim of the World Drive
Calico Ghost Town
Bottle Tree Ranch
Mother Road Route 66 Museum
Rainbow Basin
Mojave National Preserve
Joshua Tree NP
Crystal Cove State park
Warner Bros Studio
Virgin Megastore (please don't tell me it closed like Orlando's DTD's did! I haven't yet checked)

The there's a whole other load of places that I've come across on maps or in my reading that I need to Google and make sure I'm not going to miss something fab:

Lake Elsionre
Dripping Springs
San Bernadino
Afton Canyon
Mojave River Valley Museum, Barstow
Randsburg
Fort Tejon
Bakersfield
San Diego Wild ANimal Park
Irvine Regional Park
Orange County Zoo
Santiago and Yorba Linda Reservoirs
Oak Canyon Nat. Centre
Bryant Ranch Museum
Runyon Canyon
Daggett
Newberry Springs
Amboy Crater
Silverwood Lake
Rocka Hoola
Cleveland National Forest
Corona
Chino Hills
Lake Perris
Tustin Ranch
Peters Canyon
Sand Canyon Reservoir
Limestone Canyon
Santiago Oaks


phew!

I've more or less decided on a rough itinerary, based around the least busy days in DL and DCA using Touringplans, but on the most part, it looks like we've picked a good time of year for crowd levels.

Here goes....


Tues 25th Oct. Land at around 3pm. Nothing planned other than dinner and Target for snacks and drinks for the hotel, as I suspect by the time we get our cases and our hire car from Dollar we will hit rush hour traffic on the way from LAX to Anaheim. Some tips on the best route would be good too here.

Weds 26th Oct. Hollywood for Walk of Fame, Grauman's, Sunset Blvd, any nearby TV/film museums, Mulholland Scenic Drive and Griffith Park, then head for Orange County coastline to explore places like Balboa Island and Huntington Beach before heading north and inland to our hotel by evening.

Thurs 27th Oct. Disneyland all day. Downtown Disney for the evening.

Fri 28th Oct. Universal Studios all day. We'll probably pretty jetlagged by now so I don't think we'd manage anything else later this day.

Sat 29th Oct. Head off to Pioneertown to see the shoot out at 2.30pm, take in some scenic stuff, like Joshua Tree NP, then thinking of heading up the 247 to Barstow. Spend the night in Barstow.

Sun 30th Oct. Barstow museums (I hear there are some Route 66 museums around here) and Calico Ghost Town. Take a little drive along the National Trails Highway and sightsee in the Mohave National Preserve. Head back to Barstow for the night.

Mon 31st Oct. Bottle Tree Ranch and the Factory Outlets outside of Barstow. Drive back on I15 to our Hyatt room on South Harbor Blvd. Rest Up then Discovery Science Centre (or do this early on departure day before Santa Monica)

Tue 1st Nov. California Adventure

Wed 2nd Nov. Knott's Berry Farm

Thu 3rd Nov. Santa Monica and Venice Beach then a 21:30 flight home

A pretty exhausting schedule, but if we can do 10+ days in Orlando theme parks in the heat and humidity of August this should be a doddle

Any constructive criticism is fine, anything you'd alter...skip...add from my big lists?

Wow I got exhausted reading this. I can surely tell you I lived in Corona and there is nothing special there. SanBernadino and Lake Elsinor not much either. You would be so dissapointed driving all that way and not see anything. Calico is not that big. Again a long drive for a few hour or less visit there. I can imagine when you live across the pond and never been here it just sounds so wonderful. I would look up calico on the internet and see it that way. I remember DL and nothing around it but orange groves. I am so glad you get the chance to come and visit and see things. Wow I would love to come where you and see what it looks like. I would just take the time to enjoy what you really want to do. Going back and forth is also alot of drive time for Ornage county.As prop PP said I would not even stay in Barstow nothing there all dessert. In fact I am heading back to Las Vegas next weekend and I hate that drive. I would probably take more time at Balboa and the Beach. I like Balboa myself. Hope this helps a little so you can take some of those things off your list that have nothing to offer. I hope you enjoy yourselves while you are here.

 

[choccieaddict]

thank you all for your constructive criticism, it helped alot. It's been a while since I've done any planning but I was in full planning mode this weekend and have come up with an amended and much-condensed plan if you are interested.

I've knocked on the head the idea of booking other hotels to save too much sitting in traffic and am trying to do as much sightseeing as possible on a budget. We plan to get 2 or 3 day Disney park tickets or hoppers and the 4 day Los Angeles Go cards.

Still going to be a very busy time, but we can't afford to fly over to the US too often so we don't mind rushing through so many things and not doing anything 'thoroughly'. We aren't worried about not spending long on Disney property as we ahve done 2 consecutive summers at WDW and my husband and teens aren't into Disney as much as me!

Mon 24th Oct: Land LAX @ 16.00 Drop bags at Hyatt Regency Orange County, hit Target and somewhere really close by for something to eat. Hit the pool if it's warm enough and try to stay awake til 9pm!

Tues 25th: Disneyland

Weds 26th: California Adventure or Knotts Berry Farm

Thurs 27th: Universal Studios and Citywalk

Fri 28th: Head south to the coast and work our way 'up' from Newport just taking in the California coastline. Maybe MHP in the evening.

Sat 29th: Late morning, Try to see some of California's beauty so drive to Mormon Rocks for a scenic walk (I stumbled upon this place while Googling yesterday, unless you can think of any better places on route to Barstow), then on to Calico. Late afternoon/evening, check out Route 66 museum in Victorville and a stretch of National Trails Highway/Route 66 near Barstow, maybe see a little of the Mojave Desert. Perhaps stop by at the Tangier Outlet and head back to Anaheim once the rush hour(s!) has died down. Maybe see Bottle Tree Ranch too.

Sun 30th: Discovery Science Centre, some Mall time, Griffith Park and a stretch of Mullholland Drive.
or
a scenic day - head up to Riley's Farm (prime apple time, right?), San Bernadino Forest and Big Bear Lake or Palm Springs.

Mon 31st: Knott's Berry Farm or California Adventures and DTD

Tues 1st: Hollywood! Too much to choose from but the list includes: La Brea Tarpits, Grauman's Theatre and the Walk of Fame, Starline 1 hr bus tour, Hollywood Museum and Madame Tussaud's. Farmer's Market? Warner Brothers Studio Tour?

Weds 2nd: DL and DTD

Thurs: Check out and head to Santa Monica/Venice Beach before driving to LAX. We aim to be at check-in at 5pm so I'm guessing we should leave Santa Monica area around 3pm to be safe?

I guess that's all there's time for

Feedback would be great once again!

 

[cyclenut]

thank you all for your constructive criticism, it helped alot. It's been a while since I've done any planning but I was in full planning mode this weekend and have come up with an amended and much-condensed plan if you are interested.

I've knocked on the head the idea of booking other hotels to save too much sitting in traffic and am trying to do as much sightseeing as possible on a budget. We plan to get 2 or 3 day Disney park tickets or hoppers and the 4 day Los Angeles Go cards.

Still going to be a very busy time, but we can't afford to fly over to the US too often so we don't mind rushing through so many things and not doing anything 'thoroughly'. We aren't worried about not spending long on Disney property as we ahve done 2 consecutive summers at WDW and my husband and teens aren't into Disney as much as me!

Mon 24th Oct: Land LAX @ 16.00 Drop bags at Hyatt Regency Orange County, hit Target and somewhere really close by for something to eat. Hit the pool if it's warm enough and try to stay awake til 9pm!

So far so good. Think about getting a shuttle over to DTD on that day and just wonder around there. Maybe do a little window shopping and get an idea of how everything is layed out before you start your days at Disney. You will have been traveling all day so pool time sounds really nice too. You should be able to pick up a map to the parks and even a schedule for the week while you are there.

Tues 25th: Disneyland

Weds 26th: California Adventure or Knotts Berry Farm

I would reserve those two days for Disney only. Get the park hoppers and plan to jump around a little. That is only two days but you'll know right then how much you may still want to do before you leave the country.

Thurs 27th: Universal Studios and Citywalk

I've always liked Universal and Citywalk. That is definately an all day/night adventure. After two days at DLR and a full day here, you may be ready for some rest.

Fri 28th: Head south to the coast and work our way 'up' from Newport just taking in the California coastline. Maybe MHP in the evening.

This doesn't look like a full day to me unless you are planning on spending quite a bit of time stopping at different locations. If so, I suggest you check out Newport Back Bay and the Seal Beach Wetlands. Those are both areas that are great for nature lovers with lots things to see, especially all sorts of different birds. Let me know if you want more information on these. The parking lots are pretty small, but they don't allow all-day parking there so you should be able to find a space with some patience. If you really are just going to drive up the coast, you'll need to take some time to map it out pretty good as you won't be able to stay along the coast just following Pacific Coast Highway. I also suggest you get yourself into Long Beach where you can see the Long Beach Aquarium and drive along some of the streets that the Long Beach Grand Prix runs on.

Sat 29th: Late morning, Try to see some of California's beauty so drive to Mormon Rocks for a scenic walk (I stumbled upon this place while Googling yesterday, unless you can think of any better places on route to Barstow), then on to Calico. Late afternoon/evening, check out Route 66 museum in Victorville and a stretch of National Trails Highway/Route 66 near Barstow, maybe see a little of the Mojave Desert. Perhaps stop by at the Tangier Outlet and head back to Anaheim once the rush hour(s!) has died down. Maybe see Bottle Tree Ranch too.

You seem real set on this part of the trip. Keep in mind that if you go to Santa Monica on your trip around the LA area, you'll very likely see the end of Route 66 and may not even realize it.

http://www.route66ca.org/traveler/towns/40santam/end66.html

After your Universal Studios and DLR trips, your trip out to Calico and Barstow may be a bit of a disappointment. These are not really destinations but stops along the highway for people going somewhere else. I understand your desire to do something unique and different and there is clearly some great history here, enough that Disney based CARS on the entire concept (which I'm sure you are already very much aware). Calico is also one of the few remaining "old west ghost towns". You should read the YELP reviews.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/calico-ghost-town-yermo

I'm sure you'll have a great time just being with family and the time in the car will be a nice respite from the theme park hustle, but you'll do a lot of driving for what amounts to only a little entertainment. I suppose that, in and of itself, is a bit like living the essence of Route66.

If you're seriously considering another trip to the States may include Las Vegas in the future, save this Barstow leg for then. I think you'll enjoy it more coming out from the Vegas side then making this trip out from Orange County. Barstow is often considered the half-way point. More importantly is that coming from Vegas you go through the desert but coming from Orange County you'll be going through the Cajon Pass and what is often quite a lot of traffic.

I think you mentioned you were into rocks and the like. Perhaps you might consider a trip to the Temecula wine country (http://www.temeculawines.org/) and the Anza Borrego desert (http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=638) as an alternative. It is also a bit of a drive, but not as long. You would take the 91 freeway to the 15 freeway southbound and you could even stop at Tom's Farms for a nice breakfast and a nice little area for the kids.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/toms-farms-corona
http://www.tomsfarms.com

You could even choose to drop in at the Pechanga casino for a buffet dinner as you get ready to head back.
http://www.pechanga.com/

That would be a very full day. For your trip back, you could choose the longer, but different, route south on the 15 into San Diego and then North on I-5 back to Disneyland. Be flexible and spend as much time as you like in each area. Anza Borrego is huge and they have some really cool geography. Do a little research on it. I find it much more interesting than the Mojave desert.

Sun 30th: Discovery Science Centre, some Mall time, Griffith Park and a stretch of Mullholland Drive.
or
a scenic day - head up to Riley's Farm (prime apple time, right?), San Bernadino Forest and Big Bear Lake or Palm Springs.

I like your LA tour plans. There are some great things to see and do around Griffth Park, The Getty, Discovery Science Center, etc. You may even want to check out Disney Concert Hall. No, it doesn't look like the mouse, but the architecture is really interesting and different.
http://golosangeles.about.com/od/thingstodoinlosangeles/ig/Disney-Concert-Hall-Tour/
I think the PP covered a great all-day LA area set of suggestions. I would do that over Big Bear, and I do really like Big Bear.

Mon 31st: Knott's Berry Farm or California Adventures and DTD

I think you will enjoy returning to DLR and skipping KBF. With park hopper you won't be limited to just DCA and I think the extra days will actually be less expensive than the a single day at KBF.

Tues 1st: Hollywood! Too much to choose from but the list includes: La Brea Tarpits, Grauman's Theatre and the Walk of Fame, Starline 1 hr bus tour, Hollywood Museum and Madame Tussaud's. Farmer's Market? Warner Brothers Studio Tour?

The PP mentioned several things. I think I might swap your current Monday plans with Tuesday and put both sets of LA area things together. That way you can decide what you want to do with your two days in and around LA as a group instead of breaking it apart. Plus you'll have the DLR days together.

Weds 2nd: DL and DTD

Thurs: Check out and head to Santa Monica/Venice Beach before driving to LAX. We aim to be at check-in at 5pm so I'm guessing we should leave Santa Monica area around 3pm to be safe?

I guess that's all there's time for

Feedback would be great once again!

You really have a lot going on here. I hope I've been of some help and not added to the confusion. If you really feel you've got too much Disney in there (which I don't think you do at all!!!) then you can cut one of the Disney days and head over to KBF. It is close and it has quite a bit of western history associated with it. Camp Snoopy is fun for the kids and the nostalgia is still there if you really look for it. There are a couple of small "museums" in the Calico Ghost Town area of KBF that include information on native insects and geology as well as a mock graveyard and even an old time saloon, complete with a saloon show. That is ... if you've got to appease those in your family that are not that into the Disney thing.

 

[Angrypenguin]

I know you have a packed schedule, but I don't think anyone should visit the Los Angeles area without visiting the Huntington Gardens in Pasadena/Arcadia!

http://www.huntington.org