Too much planned in a short time?

[heidispidi]

Hi everyone. During our Easter trip to the west coast, we will only be there 11 nights (flying out at 10pm on the 12th night). I had planned 7 nights at PPH, 2 nights in SF and 2 nights in LA, but I think that will be too long for DH to be near the DLR. so now I'm thinking:

Arrive Sun AM - spend 5 nights PPH (visiting DL/DCA each day).
Fri - take bus from Anaheim to Las Vegas. Arrive 1pm-ish. Relaxing afternoon taking in the Strip. Stay Venetian hotel?
Sat - Grand Canyon day tour (bus)
Sun - easy morning, fly to San Francisco, arrive early afternoon. Stay the Argonaut
Mon - either join tour group for 1/2 day or tour on our own?
Tue - Alcatraz in AM. Fly to LA mid afternoon. Stay Sheraton Universal hotel, visit Citywalk
Wed - Hollywood tour (family wants to do that), Madame Toussards.
Thur - Universal Studios for the day, back to hotel for showers before 10pm flight (will book hotel for this extra night).

Do you have any suggestions? Am i trying to fit in too much? I can drop 1 day off DL if necessary, seeing as my DD and I have been before. My DH wants to visit the Grand Canyon, I hope the girls can take a full-day day trip there after the drive from Anaheim to Vegas the day before!

 

[kylieh]

Random thoughts....

I'm thinking that if you have the budget / or ok with small planes flying to the Grand Canyon may be better than the 10-12 hours on the bus? You will pick up half day more in LV to do other things. I know people who have done it both ways, the consensus is flying is a lot better!

I don't blame you about the bus though from Disneyland to LV - we did it the other way around, a lot easier than worrying about airports, and the total time was not much different after taking into account security, waiting around, etc.

Or, is it worth doing it the other way around, being on the go moving from location to location in the first week, then settle in DL for the last 5 days?

 

[Aust]

It will be a lot of jumping around, and you won't see a whole lot in Las vegas, but it might be enough for you. Agree if you can afford it then flying to the Grand Canyon might be a better option than the really long day doing a bus tour. I would keep DL as it is.

 

[Sugarglider]

for me the Grand Canyon was better than i imagined and Las Vegas was worse - I really disliked it.

ANYWAY .... so i jumped in my hire car and stayed out overnight at the canyon. I am kind of with the others - it is a long and tedious drive out to the canyon - i can't imagine doing it on a bus in 12 hours!

i like kylieh's idea of flipping the trip and stopping at DLR at the end for a rest

 

[heidispidi]

Thanks for your thoughts. Where do I begin?

I thought we'd start our trip with DL b/c that's the week leading up to Easter - do our 5 nights, then depart on Good Friday, when (I assume) the Easter crowd will descend? But that's assuming the crowds will be busier the week after than the week before Easter - from what I'm reading, it's quite busy at all times these days, due to Carsland? So yes, we could flip the trip around...

I think we might take up the option of flying to the Grand Canyon, instead of the bus. My only with that is having to put my weight down on a booking form - they ALL ask for it! I understand why they need it, but what if my husband were to ever see the number?! (FWIW, I'm back at the gym in my everlasting bid to lose weight, and am going well, but the weight never comes off fast enough LOL). That's a great time-saver idea, for sure.

What I'm stuck on is what there is to do/see in Vegas? I plan on staying in the middle of the strip (I'm opento hotel suggestions). It will be me, DH, his DD15 and my DD11 - I know we can walk along the strip and admire the hotel fascades, watch the fountains, leave the kids in the room and gamble their uni fees away... but what else?

Aust, can you see Jaymi being happy about waiting till the 2nd week to go to DL? I just might flip the trip schedule, if only to test her patience!

 

[aussietravellers]

We took the LuxBus from Anaheim to Vegas (return) last week and it was great! Went quite quickly. We had Natasha as the hostess heading there and she was hilarious, she's russian and really quite witty.

We stayed at the Venetian and love the location. There is 24 hour pizza in the casino/lobby area and it is SOOO good. Across the street from Mirage, and Forum Shops at Caesars, Went to the best buffet ever at Caesars and just a walk across the street. Walked to Bellagio to see O and the water show. Walk the other way to Fashion Show shops (if you had time). Short walk to Serendipity for a Frozen Hot Choc.

I loved the position of the Venetian, loved the hotels (many of them stink, their perfumes are so strong to cover up the stale cigarettes smell ) But Venetian was good, from walking through Casears and Bellagio both looked great. MGM STANK! I would never stay there, it gave me an asthma attack (not the shopping area but the lobby and casino). Mandalay Bay is right at the other end, nice to visit and the pool looked awesome, but I don't know I'd stay at that end.

 

[heidispidi]

Aussietravellers, the Venetian is the hotel I'm leaning towards, and you're making the decision much easier for me! I was looking into one of the more 'family friendly' hotels at the end of the strip, however I thought it would be too far to walk to everything (and some were quoting $20-$25 taxi fares to get to shows). The position of the Venetian looks perfect.

Now I really am considering whether to flip the holiday - keeping the Disney magic for last would be a great way to finish the trip, and yes, it would be much more relaxing. I will check that there's no difference in cost at PPH for that timeframe, and go from there...

 

[aussietravellers]

I don't think you'd regret the Venetian. It didn't smell and wasn't smokey and stuffy like some of the others (We walked through Harrahs next door and pongo). But I had DS with me, there were people with strollers everywhere. We had the Bella Veiw suite and it was HUGE! We found that taxis were around the $10 to $14 mark. We took a taxi one night to MGM to see David Copperfield and it was about $14. But we walked everywhere else, as we visited everything close to walk. It was HOTTTTTTT though, unbearably hot. Like 45 degrees hot, low of 30.

But I would stay at the Venetian in a flash. But I also loved the look of Bellagio and Caesars so wouldn't mind trying them either.

 

[heidispidi]

I was looking at the Bella suite too - I figured after our teeny-tiny rooms at PPH (relatively speaking) we'd be wanting to spread out! As an ex-smoker, I can appreciate how YUCK the smell of stale smoke can be - now.

As for the temp, I can only hope that it's quite a bit cooler than that in April! Although I did get quite used to the 40+ degree days here in Perth this summer

I must investigate what shows are on in Vegas. MY DD11 LOVES magic, so David Copperfield would be a fantastic treat for her.

 

[aussietravellers]

I was looking at the Bella suite too - I figured after our teeny-tiny rooms at PPH (relatively speaking) we'd be wanting to spread out! As an ex-smoker, I can appreciate how YUCK the smell of stale smoke can be - now.

As for the temp, I can only hope that it's quite a bit cooler than that in April! Although I did get quite used to the 40+ degree days here in Perth this summer

I must investigate what shows are on in Vegas. MY DD11 LOVES magic, so David Copperfield would be a fantastic treat for her.

The Bella is huge! David Copperfield was awesome! My DS is 13 and he was part of the show at one stage. He LOVED it! We all loved it and I wasn't expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. Cirque O was amazing too, your DD may enjoy that too, just fantastic. Look at the Bacchanal buffet at Caesars Palace. We had breakfast there and honestly it is the most amazing buffet I have ever been too, really really good quality. My DS sat down and said "oh I'm in heaven". It has little portions of things on little dishes (like pancakes etc) so you can try more things. We went to Bellagio buffet (and the buffet at Grande Lux at the Venetian) and nothing compares to that buffet. We got there at 8.30am and there wasn't any queue, great time to go.

 

[aussietravellers]

I must investigate what shows are on in Vegas. MY DD11 LOVES magic, so David Copperfield would be a fantastic treat for her.

Just take a peg to put on your nose as you walk through the lobby and casino to the theatre

 

[aussie shaz]

We had friends spend 5 days at Disneyland with us, then go onto Vegas, San Diego and Los Angeles.
They wish they had of flipped the Disney stay to the end. After Disneyland, their daughter just wasn't satisfied with anything else!!

 

[heidispidi]

The problem with flipping the schedule is that 2 of our 5 DL days will be over the Easter weekend. If we begin with DL, we should avoid some of the craziness!

 

[WanderlustNZ]

I've done LA, San Francisco, LV and the Grand Canyon in 11 days and it was a pretty busy trip. It was pre-child when I was about 8 years younger and happy to be on the constant go. I think if I had to do that time again with my son in tow, I would be inclined to pick SF or LV, but not both.

I know that's probably not what you want to hear, so my other suggestion would be to shorten your time at DL to 3 days to add a third night to each of the other destinations (I know! I know! Someone on the Disboards suggesting less Disney time. Shock Horror!).

I just can't imagine going to LV only to have half a day of quality time there. Even if you do fly to the Canyon (the MUCH preferred option) it's still a long tiring day. You can count out doing much else on that day. I would want more than just half of my arrival day to explore all there is to see in LV. In saying that, I was one of those people who LOVED the place and was back within a year as I didn't feel like my first 3 days there were anywhere near enough. San Fran on the other hand was a place that I feel like I've seen and done and I have little interest in going back.

Lastly, don't worry about the weigh in for the Canyon flights. I was worried about it myself, but it's the last thing you will remember about that special day. My favourite memory of the day: My cowboy guide and his tales of canyon pioneers, prickly pear cacti, and my most memorable holiday quote of all time (said in a thick cowboy drawl) "Ya'll watch out for them rattle snakes and scorpions. There's lots of dangerous critters in them there hills".

 

[heidispidi]

All good points, WanderlustNZ. I'm now looking at spending only 1 night in SF (like my sister, DD and I did last trip), and make it 3 nights in Vegas instead. If we're going to be staying in a nice (big!) room, I'd like to enjoy it a little.

I hope we end up with your cowboy (or one like him) for our GC tour! '...in them there hills' - I love it! Anybody with a sense of humour would be good. When my daughter and I did a Circle Island tour on Oahu, we had THE worst tour guide ever. It was like he was reading from a script, particularly his jokes. It was horrible!

 

[FireflyFi]

If you haven't yet decided on a LV hotel, and are thinking about seeing a show, it can be worth your while staying at the place with the show you want to see. Stayed at The Mirage last year and got tickets to The Beatles Love (cirque du soleil) @ 40% off. Just ask at the concierge desk when you check in. You can get cheap tickets at last minute places, but you'll have better luck (and probably better prices) if you're a guest of the hotel.

Also if you're a sweet tooth, The Wicked Spoon at The Cosmopolitan is amazing. That may only work if you're dining after the GC flight weigh in