In need of lots of information!

[Disbabe]

Hi Everyone,

I'm from the UK and as we've been to Florida and WDW 6 times already and another vacation booked for July this year, the family have decided to take a vacation to the West Coast for our 2011 vacation.

Now I know not a thing about the area surrounding Los Angeles, but our basic plan is to Visit Universal Studios and surrounding hollywood for 3 days then venture to Disneyland for 4 days and then spend our last week down in San Diego to visit Seaworld and relax before heading home.

Would we be able to do the 1st week (Universal, Hollywood and Disneyland) from one base or would we need 2 seperate hotels? We generally hire a car and don't stay onsite (to save costs due to expensive flight costs). I have no guage looking at maps how widespread everything is! Where would be the best area of LA to stay as I am aware there are some undesirable areas (just thinking of tourist safety and sorry if anyone finds that offensive )

We're looking at visiting at the very end of July - mostly August really.

Any tips would be gratefully received to help with planning

Thank you!

 

[Mister Toad]

Hi Everyone,

I'm from the UK and as we've been to Florida and WDW 6 times already and another vacation booked for July this year, the family have decided to take a vacation to the West Coast for our 2011 vacation.

Now I know not a thing about the area surrounding Los Angeles, but our basic plan is to Visit Universal Studios and surrounding hollywood for 3 days then venture to Disneyland for 4 days and then spend our last week down in San Diego to visit Seaworld and relax before heading home.

Would we be able to do the 1st week (Universal, Hollywood and Disneyland) from one base or would we need 2 seperate hotels? We generally hire a car and don't stay onsite (to save costs due to expensive flight costs). I have no guage looking at maps how widespread everything is! Where would be the best area of LA to stay as I am aware there are some undesirable areas (just thinking of tourist safety and sorry if anyone finds that offensive )

You could theoretically stay at one hotel if you don't mind driving. Universal to Disneyland is about 35 miles, which can be rough in traffic, but not a HUGE drive. If you wanted to stay on site at Disneyland, it would be pretty expensive to continue staying there and would kind of defeat the purpose.

Disneyland to Hollywood is about the same distance as Universal. But Universal is within 5 or so miles of Hollywood, so you could very easily stay at the same hotel for this leg of the trip.

To say your sanity, I would recommend 2 hotels for the two legs, otherwise you will be losing over an hour a day to driving.

We're looking at visiting at the very end of July - mostly August really.

Any tips would be gratefully received to help with planning

Thank you!

You got a nice big jump on planning since this is not for another year. I would say check out the FAQs that are on the board and read up on your plans. Good luck!

 

[aliceindisneyland]

We split our time between San Diego and Anaheim sometimes--I use google maps to put in the addresses between possible hotels and destinations to get info on how many miles between places then decide whether we need to hotel hop or not based on our itinerary. Traffic at certain times a day makes a huge difference though--"20 miles" may take you 1 hr or more if you hit a freeway at a bad time.

 

[LavenderPeach]

I personally would get a separate hotel for DLR and Universal/Hollywood. If you were only going to Universal and Hollywood area for one day I would say just stay in Anaheim but since you're going to be there 3 days I think it would be better to get a differnt hotel for that part of the trip. Even though it's only 35 miles, the traffic in LA can be horrible so I would rather stay close.

 

[thaysfam]

We are looking at doing something similar, but in reverse. We will fly into LAX because we can get a direct flight and it is cheaper. We will rent a car a drive to San Diego for the beach, Sea World and the Zoo, then we will drive to Anaheim for 3 days 4 nights and then make our way up to LA/ Hollywood and do Universal and the tours for a few days. I have no idea where we will be saying in LA, but I don't want a huge drive on the day we fly home.

 

[jessicaerv]

What have you planned (other than Universal) for the Hollywood/LA part of your trip. 2 days there might be sufficient, as I can't think of too many things in that general vicinity to do. Yes, there is Universal and Universal Citywalk (that would be 1 day). You can see if you can secure tickets to the taping of a show (Jay Leno, Ellen Degeneres, etc). That would be another 1/2 day. You can visit the Walk of Fame and Grauman's Chinese Theater (couple hours). You may also want to see Beverly Hills/Rodeo Drive. But truly, that's about it in that immediate area.

Maybe throw one of those days onto the Disneyland portion and schedule a visit to the beach?

But, I agree with previous posters - definitely stay in one hotel for the LA portion and another for the Anaheim portion. You DO NOT want to be stuck in Southern California traffic (and on the wrong side of the road to boot )!!

Happy planning.

 

[Dobie]

If you want to do this trip in style and spend a LOT of money, Adventures by Disney has a trip that includes a few days in Hollywood and a few days in Disneyland at the Grand California. They don't do Universal, but you could arrive a day early and do that.

They take you on tours of Disney Studios and Jim Henson Studios, where they create the Muppets, among other things. You also get tours and activities in Hollywood. In Disneyland, they take you on a backstage tour and you get preferred seating for shows and parades.

 

[skiingfast]

I'd recommend two hotels as well. You might like staying by Venice Beach/Santa Monica area it's an interesting place to spend an afternooon especially for a foreigner. It includes muscle beach a lot of shops and is next to the Santa Monica pier. You'll recognize thea area from movies and can likly see some surfers.

This would put you next to Beverly Hills which in turn is next to HollyWood. I'd also suggest you drive.

Also if you feel like a spending a day trip with lots of driving you can drive up to Hearst Castle near Morro Bay. It may be intersting to compare to the UK's offering what a thousand years of technology can do to castle building, though it's more palace like.

A week in Sand Diego will be plenty, you might want to ship some day to the LA area. Seaworld only takes a day, and Legoland only if you have kids aged 3-8 it's be dissapointing for others after DLR and Universal. You should plan on going to either the Sand Diego Zoo and the Sand Diego Wild Animal park both may make it a little animal heavy for this part of the trip. Also goto the cove area in La Jolla.

 

[chrissiecutie]

Another vote for 2 separate hotels for the Disney/Hollywood/Universal leg of your trip.

If you were to ask someone like my grandma who has lived in the LA area for 30+ years, everything is AN HOUR AWAY.

Really....everywhere....

Whenever I asked her how long of a drive, she or any of my CALI family members will tell me it's always about an hour away. And don't ask them for advice on traffic! I think they are all so used to the horrible traffic that as long as you keep moving (even if it's only 5 mph) then traffic is not so bad.

I can tell you though...it's about an hour away!

So save yourself the travel time and the gas, get 2 hotels!