O.K., so you have just moved to Orange County

[RweTHEREyet]

and you have family members (Mom and Dad) coming to visit that want to "do stuff." You aren't that familiar with the area yet but want to show them a good time and would have about 2 days to do stuff.

What do you want to make sure they get to do? Do you take them to the LA area? If so, do you drive or go by train. And, if you go by train, how do you get around once you get there? They are good at playing tourist and would probably like to see the stars walk of fame, the chinese theater, Disney soda shop, etc. They have heard about the Farmers Market, but how could you get there? What else must a good tourist be sure and do?

Is Universal a good option? They aren't thrill ride (coaster) people although they will ride Indy at DL, but have heard that the Universal tour is very good in comparison to the one in Orlando.

Oh, they will have already done DL and CA at that point, so that isn't even in the mix.

Would a Gray Line tour be the best way to go?

Thanks for your ideas and suggestions.

 

[LavenderPeach]

When we lived in OC we would often go down to San Diego, usually old town to get some good mexican food and look in the shops. We lived pretty close to Dana Point so we would go to the harbor there a lot to eat and look around in the shops. I'm personally not a big fan of the LA stuff although I do want to go to the farmer's market sometime. So I'm not sure the best way to get there. If there's an easy way to take the train I would do that so you wouldn't have to drive into downtown LA. Sorry I can't help with that more.

If you're willing to go all the way to LA maybe you would also be willing to consider Pasadena. Near Pasadena is the Huntington Library and Gardens which I love. It's a huge place with tons of gardens to walk around. It's actually pretty impressive, imo. They also have some art galleries and the library which has exhibits (like a guttenberg bible, etc). Also in Pasadena is the Gamble House which you can take a tour of. It's a big fancy house done in the arts and crafts style (same style the GCH was based on).

Hope that helps a little.

 

[rella's fan]

My friend and I just spent a week in L.A. and had a great time. We didn't make it to the OC area but we bought a 48 hour hop on/off bus Starline tour. It was $46 for both days. The first day we rode all around (there's a stop at the Farmers market/the Grove, Pinks hotdogs, Sunset strip, Rodeo Drive,etc.) We bought our tickets at their office right at the Chinese theatre on Hollywood Blvd. Then the second day we took it to Santa Monica (did the pier and 3rd street promenade) and it brought us back thru Brentwood. It's probably too far to go back and forth but there were a lot of hotels in the Hollywood area if you wanted to make a 2 day outing out of it - lots to do!

 

[granismith]

When we lived in OC we would often go down to San Diego, usually old town to get some good mexican food and look in the shops. We lived pretty close to Dana Point so we would go to the harbor there a lot to eat and look around in the shops. I'm personally not a big fan of the LA stuff although I do want to go to the farmer's market
Hope that helps a little.

Which Mexican restaurant do you like there? We are going for the day for that reason and want good mexican food either in old town or over by Coronado.

 

[Krissy Marissy]

I like the tour at universal here but haven't been since the fire a while back. I dont think it'd be worth a whole day there but certainly something to check out if you dont have small kids and want to see it.

I think San Diego would be awesome! I'd also love to go check out the disney soda fountain place and all that too. We live just under an hour east of dl and haven't done much other than disneyland. We are going to the aquariam of the pacific next week and we're excited. Finally doing something different

Whatever you end up doing I hope they have a wonderful visit and the weather is nice for you

 

[LavenderPeach]

Which Mexican restaurant do you like there? We are going for the day for that reason and want good mexican food either in old town or over by Coronado.

I wish I could help but it's probably been about 10 years since we were last in Old Town (we live a little further out now so it's not a quick trip for us anymore). I remember we went to a few different restaurants and thought they were all good. I know there was one we went to a few times that had the tables in a courtyard with fountains. I just looked in our photo album where we had pictures of it but it didn't say what the name of the restaurant was. Sorry I can't be of more help.

 

[disneymom23]

I wish I could help but it's probably been about 10 years since we were last in Old Town (we live a little further out now so it's not a quick trip for us anymore). I remember we went to a few different restaurants and thought they were all good. I know there was one we went to a few times that had the tables in a courtyard with fountains. I just looked in our photo album where we had pictures of it but it didn't say what the name of the restaurant was. Sorry I can't be of more help.

Old Town Mexican Cafe. Yum! You can watch the ladies making homemade tortillas in the window.

 

[lcasa]

Old Town Mexican Cafe. Yum! You can watch the ladies making homemade tortillas in the window.

I 2nd that - just be prepared for a long wait. The chunky carnitas are fabulous!

 

[vew-tori]

We rented a car for two days. 1st day we drove to The Grove. Had to do American Girl for DD. We took the Starline Tour and it was perfect for us. We did Downown Disney that night. The next Day we went to San Diego and did the zoo and Old Town. We enjoyed that too.

 

[jlmarr]

We've never done the hop-on hop-off bus since we're local, but it does sound interesting in that it covers the highlights relatively quickly. Here's a map and a list of the stops.

 

[RweTHEREyet]

We've never done the hop-on hop-off bus since we're local, but it does sound interesting in that it covers the highlights relatively quickly. Here's a map and a list of the stops.

So the hop on bus would probably take us to all of the big "touristy" things that we might want to do in one day and we could spend as much time at one spot as we wanted to?

 

[Jynxed]

I am a tourist who went to la to visit my sister and on my must see list was Hollywood, rodeo drive, Beverly hills (star home tour), the beach - I wanted to see Venice Beach but wouldn't recommend it now that I have. The Getty museum was cool.

 

[jlmarr]

So the hop on bus would probably take us to all of the big "touristy" things that we might want to do in one day and we could spend as much time at one spot as we wanted to?

We've done the NYC hop on hop off and it works that way - should be the same here. I don't think you'd want to get off at each-and-every stop, but some of those are highlights. There might be other things they'd be interested in, like a Dodgers or Angels baseball game, TV show taping (Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel, game shows, etc), and who knows what else.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Moving this over to the So Cal section of the forums.