Opinions on how to spend our time in Anaheim

[~ButterflyKisses~]

We will be in Anaheim from 21st September til 28th September. I was wondering if you could give me some advice on how to spend our time.

We will have 6 full days on Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat & Sun. We want to spend 4 days in DL/DCA, one day at universal studios and 1 day doing a LA/Hollywood tour. Which day would be best for us to see Universal and which days would be least busy at the park?

We will have one magic morning and can use it either on Thurs, Sat or Sun. We don't want to use in on Tues as this will be our first day in DL (We have never been before) so want to use the first day to just get accustomed to the parks first. Which day would you suggest?

I also want to make sure we are in the parks to see the fireworks and fantasmic show. Do these only run on weekends?

Thanks for your help

 

[farmfresh]

Use Sat/ Sun for your non DL/DCA days. Therefore, Thursday is your MM day.

Logic is: Universal crowds will be lower in the weekend than DL crowds, and if it is very busy, you can consider a front of line pass. You will be able to see Fantasmic on the Friday night if you want, or when yo ureturn from the other trips over the week end.

Also - Thursday MM will be quieter than weekend MM, ensuring you get best use of that too.

Hope that helps!

 

[kylieh]

We did the daytour of LA on a Sunday - meant less traffic, more time at places. I did find that their peak hour, or at least going to the airport on a Friday night was no where near as bad as the M5 in Sydney.

 

[kiwitravel]

DL/DCA are probably better mid week that time of year, weekends could be full of locals....

Agree with another poster about LA/Hollywood on a Sunday is probably quieter, we certainly found that.

Have to say that LA/Hollywood was a bit of a yawn, we did the following but wouldn't do it again:

Hollywood Bowl
Farmers Market
Manns Chinese Theatre
Rodeo Drive
Venice Beach
Queen Mary

If you are doing it by rental car then watch for parking scalpers, we nearly got caught out at Venice beach, pulled into an empty lot that had a parking sign only to find they wanted $20, they got nasty when I said no way and started backing out saying I had to pay anyway. I just drove around and ended up paying $2 on a metered carpark on the side of the road.

Same thing at Mann's we went past the theatre and there was heaps of free parking.

You could conceivably do both Universal and LA/Hollywood on the one day if you had a rental car and did it on the Sunday. I would start early though and aim to be at Universal by 1000 having gone via Venice Beach and Hollywood, I would pass on Farmers Market, Queen Mary and Hollywood Bowl.

 

[nzdisneymom]

We're also looking for a LA/Hollywood tour as our kids want to see some of the sites that they've seen on t.v. But we won't have a rental car so we're trying to figure out what might be the best way to do it. Any suggestions / tips / experiences would be appreciated. DH doesn't want to have to drive / navigate if he doesn't have to

 

[kiwitravel]

There is a Univeral Studios/Hollywood tour that does both in one day. Your local travel agent will point you in the right direction, there are tours that do each separately as well....

 

[PoohBear1988]

We did Universal studios and hollywood/la tours on separate days. we used grayline for both.

During the Hollywood/LA tour we stopped at arcadia st, hollywood/highland (spent about hour there) then went to farmers market/the grove for lunch (about hour and a half) and then we got a choice between santa monica or venice beach (we all chose santa monica - we stayed there for 2 hours) and saw heaps in between on the bus. i really liked the tour, we had a great tour guide! he was a local and knew so much!

 

[farmfresh]

We are there pretty frequently, and if none of those things appeal, try simplifying your time. (Your four days at Dl/DCA will be very full on - not sure how old your kids are) Whilst it's tempting to pack everything in, it may also be good to simplify a bit, rather than take in a ver ybusy tour, why not go out to Santa Monica, hire a bike and cycle down to Venice, past muscle beach etc. Kids love it, you might see some filiming, dolphins, you can ride the pier rides or visit the (small) aquarium. There is good shopping a block or so back from the beach.

Find out what's on at the El capitan theatre - near walk of stars, so you can go see that (doesn't take long) then see one of their movie/shows.

Driving gives you more options, and with a GPS it's pretty straightforward. You could just drive up Sunset and see those TV sights.

There is also the huge Getty museum, the La Brea Tarpits (dinosaur stuff), Olvera St (mexican )....so if Hollywood tours aren't doing it for you, try something new.

 

[~ButterflyKisses~]

Can anyone tell me what days the fireworks and fantasmic show run?

 

[tommycairns]

I would not bother with the tour, huge yawn. Spend the day at Newport beach, lots to do.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

During that time of year fireworks, Electrical Parade (if it is even running) and Fantasmic would be weekends ~ Fri - Sat - Sun. If all 3 are going on it is possible to see all 3 ~ it's been called the Trifecta ~ would've been completed by us April of last year had they not cancelled the fireworks (wind).

Check this out for last Sept. schedule ~
http://www.laughingplace.com/Guide-Cal-dlr2-200809.asp