LA Touring - what to do?

[heidispidi]

I have my DD and I booked on a Starline Universal Studios and LA combo tour. My sister remembers a similar tour taking close to 14 hours for her family, we'd be starting around 9am, I think. I am concerned about how tired my DD will get, and whether much of the LA tour will be relevant to her. She wants to see the Hollywood sign, which I believe we'd see on the way to US anyway(?), and once I pointed out to her that when viewing movie star homes that you only really get to see fences, gates and driveways, she sounded a lot less interested.

There ARE parts of LA/Hollywood that I'd like to see. The La Brea tarpits is something that interests me, and Aust hasn't been there, so if she decided to join us, that would be great. I'd like a stroll down Rodeo Drive, but not that much?? And the mother of my daughter's best friend, who just returned from DL/LA, said that they loved US, were REALLY impressed by it, and that their one day there was one of the best days of their 3 1/2 weeks away.

So - our options are, and can I please have your opinions on:

(1) Stay on the tour we are booked on (but changing the day from Tue to Mon, so we can do Early Entry at DL on Tue instead). Depart Hojo around 9am, not return till possibly 11pm.

(2) Booking a private tour - pricey ($468 for 2, or $528 for 3, if Aust joins us), but we'll get to do Universal for 1/2 day, then see what WE want to see in LA/Hollywood, and it will be a shorter day. (I told you guys originally that this would be a trip of a lifetime LOL).

(3) Forget about doing the LA tour and concentrate on US for a full day (recommended by my friend).

I should give you a brief run down on our current plans, so you know how it fits:

Sat 8/1 - Arrive LAX. Book in Hojo/leave bags at reception, spend afternoon checking out whatever rides we want to (or what Aust suggests)

Sun 9/1 - Full day DL

Mon 10/1 - Full day DL

Tue 11/1 - US/LA tour

Wed 12/1 - DL till mid afternoon, then fly to SF around 7pm.

Thur 13/1 - SF (Alcatraz followed by 3 hour private tour). Return flight to SNA around 7:30pm.

Fri 14/1 - Full day DL

Sat 15/1 - fly to Honolulu 10:30am

So that's 3 full days at DL, one 3/4 day and one 1/2 day. If the purpose of our trip is to go to DL as much as possible (or US for d day), do I forget about LA tour?

TIA for advice on this.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Heidispidi - this is a tough one!

I am assuming that you and your daughter would enjoy seeing the Hollywood sign, want to go to Grauman's Chinese Theatre, see the stars on the pavement, go to Farmer's Market, walk down Rodeo Drive and just generally get a fleeting view of Beverly Hills as well as go to US and potentially La Brea; and anything else that may strike your fancy.

If it really is a trip of a lifetime and you are unlikely to be heading back to the US in the short/medium term.
With the dollar the way it is, I would be inclined to book your own private tour. You'd get to do most things and pretty much go at your own pace this way.

Booking the private tour may also give Aust the option to join in at the last minute.

 

[kylieh]

I would go with a private tour, or a partial private tour. Let them drop you at The Grove/Farmers Market which can easily take up quite a lot of time (especially if your DD is into American Girl Dolls). You can see the Hollywood sign easily from the Hollywood and Highland Centre which is where the majority and best bits of the Hollywood Walk of Fame is located.

DD did a LA day tour with us when she was 6 and was BORED!!!! It was the worse day of our whole holiday.

We've also skipped Universal so far with DD (even on this last trip) as the rides were a bit old for her.

 

[DVCAustralia]

Whilst in LA consider doing the J. Paul Getty Museum (Villa and Center) and the Walt Disney Concert hall, both free.

 

[heidispidi]

Kylieh - you've hit the nail on the head with your comment about your 6 year old being bored during your LA tour. If it is just she and I on the tour (Aust yet to decide), then I don't think she would enjoy it. After a couple of adrenalin-filled days at DL prior, it may be a big comedown for her, travelling around on a bus.

So the options then are to do a private tour, where we do our own thing - but these tours are proving not so easy to find - OR we go to Universal for the day. I got info from Starline, who run a Universal tour, that says pick-up is at 9am and we should be back at our hotel by either 4:30pm or 6:30pm (conflicting info from 2 customer service officers). I think we wil end up missing the LA tour in favour of going to US.

However I still have 2 months and 4 days to change my mind! Happy to hear more opinions from you all.

 

[ehsmum]

We also really loved Universal Studios and I agree with your friend that it was one of our favourite days on our whole trip. You can read about our day there on my blog:

http://clare-usa2010.blogspot.com/2010/08/universal-studios-hollywood.html

The best thing about our day there was that we arrived early and were there for rope drop so we did the 3 big rides immediately without any lines. Later in the day the lines were huge so we didn't bother trying to re-ride. Granted you will be there in January compared to us in June, so the crowd levels might not be as high. But if you go with option 1 and don't leave HoJo till 9am, you won't be at Universal till at least an hour after opening, meaning longer lines. Another option is to purchase the Universal Express pass but at $50 each, it's an expensive sleep-in! Personally I'd rather be there at rope drop .

Also, another issue I see with your option 1 is that if you don't arrive back at HoJo until 11pm on Monday night you are not going to make Magic Morning at Disneyland on Tuesday. You really need to have an early night to take advantage of the early start.

We hired a car and did our own tour of the Stars Homes using a map that I bought as well as directions from a friend who lives in LA. We only went to the homes that interested my kids, basically the Disney Channel and Twilight stars and they loved it! I do agree that a standard tour that goes to Frank Sinatra's and the Playboy Mansion would be boring for a kid.

So I'm going to agree with the others and vote for the private tour. I would have them pick you up at 7-7.30am so that you can be at US for rope drop, stopping at the Hollywood sign for pics on the way. You could leave US by 2-3pm and you're right by Toluca Lake where Miley/Ashley/Demi etc live. You could ask them to take you to specific stars' homes if your daughter wants to see anyone in particular, then take a stroll down Hollywood Blvd and Rodeo Drive, check out Santa Monica pier or The Grove or whatever else you'd like to do.

 

[aussiegirls]

Personally, we all hated Universal, and I would totally not waste the money on it again. The rides were all pretty full on rides, even the Simpsons one made me feel sick for a good while after I got off and my girls were as white as sheets when they got off. We loved the Studio Tour but don't think the cost of a day at US was worth it just for the studio tour.

We went to the Tar Pits and loved it there. It is very close to the Grove/Farmers Market, which is in turn very close to Hollywood and Highland and the walk of fame etc.

If it were me I would do the tar pits, a bit of shopping at the Grove, something to eat at the Disney Soda fountain whilst checking out the walk of fame and some more shopping on Rodeo Drive (or wherever takes your fancy).

Truthfully the tours of the stars homes does not interest us in the slightest. Not only do you get to only see the front fences, but how do you even know that they really are those peoples houses? The tour guide could tell you any house belonged to any person and we would be none the wiser.

I dunno, maybe I am just a big cynic

Anyway, that's just my 2c.

Good luck

xxx

 

[ehsmum]

Well we know we had Ashley Tisdale's address right because her dog was barking at us from the front window. My daughter was reading a teen magazine with a pic of Ashley and said dog in it, so we knew it was the same one :lol:.

 

[darren123]

I would hire a car for the day and do your own sightseeing you will see more that is what we have done in the pass I will never do a tour again I felted so ripped off and was not happy with the driver thinking it was funny to take the p*ss out of Australia all the time,
USH love it we get a 2 for 1 day pass.