Looking for suggestions on this board instead

[diznygirl]

Anaheim and LA are two different places. LA is about an hour north of Anaheim. This is a pet peeve of mine!

Be prepared for traffic. I haven't been there in three years, but I've heard it's just gotten worse - and I think that's saying something for California traffic!

If you want to see Hollywood, drive down to Hollywood Blvd, find a place to park (there is a parking garage right behind the El Capitan) and then walk up and down looking at the stars. Mann's Chinese Theater is right across from the El Capitan, and the Kodak (Oscars) is nearby as well.

Santa Monica Pier and Santa Monica Beach are nice. I agree that nights are iffy. Just to add - weekends are really busy, so if you can plan it on a weekday you will save some headaches.

 

[mickeysgal]

Be prepared for traffic. I haven't been there in three years, but I've heard it's just gotten worse - and I think that's saying something for California traffic!

If you want to see Hollywood, drive down to Hollywood Blvd, find a place to park (there is a parking garage right behind the El Capitan) and then walk up and down looking at the stars. Mann's Chinese Theater is right across from the El Capitan, and the Kodak (Oscars) is nearby as well.

We did this last year. Drove to Hollywood, parked, looked at the stars on the sidewalk up and down the block, took pics of the Chinese Theatre, and then went across the street and had ice cream at the Disney Soda Shop which is next to the El Capitan. We did this in broad daylight - I wouldn't do this at night. Yes, there were some strange characters dressed up (like Goofy) so that you would take their picture, but overall I didn't feel threatened or else we would have been out of there in a heartbeat. I did keep a very close eye on the kids.

We did drive down Rodeo Drive and was surprised at how small it was. I didn't think that trip was worth it.

We were supposed to go to Universal, but the traffice was so bad the day we did Hollywood, that we dropped that idea. I couldn't see sitting in that traffic for something we've done in Orlando.

We drove to San Diego and did the zoo and had dinner in an Italian neighborhood - I can't remember where (was it the gaslight district?). It was a quaint area with lots of Italian restaurants. That was fun.