Vacation idea

[footballmouse]

My goal for our next family vacation is to go out west.
- I'm thinking of November, 2022
- Fly into Las Vegas for a couple of days (all kids will be 21, we just want to experience Vegas)
- plan on staying here for 1 or 2 nights
- no shows, just browsing around the main strip and stopping in a few casinos
- Drive up to see the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam
- leave the next day
- Drive down to Disneyland
- would like to stay within walking distance to the park
- not sure how many days we should stay here, we've never been before
- Would like to drive to the beach for a day
- Fly home out of Vegas

Is this doable for a week's vacation (fly in on Saturday, fly out the following Sunday)
It will be 4-6 adults.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Now I've been reading other threads on this forum. Should I skip the drive up to Grand Canyon and just focus on Cali once we drive down from Vegas? This is so overwhelming. We've never been out west, usually only go to Florida and this will probably be a one and only trip. There seems to be a lot to do and see in Cali if we stay there for the remainder of the week. Maybe skip the beach day and drive down to San Diego (we can have a beach day there)? So many options.

 

[cruisehopeful]

Yes, skip the Grand Canyon. It will take up too much time based on how much you want to do/see in only a week. I recommend 3 full days to see all of Disneyland since you haven't been before. There's plenty of places to stay within close walking distance.

If you decide to drive to the beach from the Disneyland area, I recommend Crystal Cove State park.

You can drive down to San Diego and visit the beach, but I personally wouldn't recommend that when there are plenty of nice beaches closer to Anaheim.

When you are in Vegas, you can drive to a couple nice scenic places during the day. Red Rock Canyon or the Valley of Fire are worth a day visit. Personally, I hate the strip, but I understand that people want to visit it if they haven't been before. I just don't think you'll need more than a couple hours on it. There's a great Titanic exhibit if you are interested in that. The mob museum is in downtown Las Vegas and worthy of a visit. Everyone told me it would take at least 3 hours to see it all and they were correct.

 

[sjmac42]

Hi there, here are a few ideas for you that may help out. First thing is I wouldn’t return to Vegas to fly home. Just fly back from LAX or SNA and save 3-4 hours in the car.

Anyway, great as the Grand Canyon is, it’s 4-5 hours in the opposite direction from Vegas to Anaheim so I don’t think you have time. Also don’t get confused by the so called Grand Canyon West, you want to visit the Grand Canyon National Park South Rim or North Rim. GCW isn’t actually in the GCNP

A good alternative would be visiting Death Valley and staying the night in or near the park somewhere like Furnace Creek or Stovepipe Wells. DVNP has plenty of things to see and do, it’s an amazing park. It’s a detour but nothing like it would be to GCNP and you’re heading in roughly the right direction.

As mentioned above, there are plenty of excellent beaches within 20-40 mins of Disneyland. Huntington and Newport Beaches are 2 other options. There’s no need to drive to SD but if you do, you’d want to stay at least 2-3 nights or save it for another trip.

So my suggestion would be.
Vegas 2-3 nights
Death Valley 1 night, 2 nights if you wanted to explore a bit of the eastern Sierras along Hwy 395.
Anaheim 3-4 nights with 3 days at the parks or 2 really long full on days

Have a great trip.

 

[chickapin parterre]

My goal for our next family vacation is to go out west.
- I'm thinking of November, 2022
-

We've never been out west,

interesting....so many different concepts of what the west is...if never been. you want to see the true west
from vegas head south down to Bullhead City and see the wonderful mountain range that in my travels...is the inspiration for Carsland (route 66)

so you have solar fields in flordia...south of vegas could be a world record....yes for folks who have not been there in awhile, it has trippled in size.

south of bullhead city, AZ take in oatman AZ on route 66, very easy to do
head back to needles CA..and take in route 66 ghost town ( charlie brown fans?)

head to lake havsau , AZ and see the london bridge and the follow 95 south to parker to see what a canyon dam looks like

contine on 95 into quartsite and see how poor folks in the west spend their winters.

95 to Yuma and see the worlds winter salad bowl, do a drive by the most haunted place in the US,,, the territorial movie prison....can do a drive by taking historic coast to coast bridge, plus you will see a California mission also, easy drive and access to I-8

take i-8 to el centro, see the mexcio border, I would encourage you to enter mexcio...but getting out can be along line, so just take in the california border fence...star wars fans...return of the jedi to your right......at el centro take road to palem spring, coahcella music festival and massive date tree palms. world famous mountain tram and dinosaur on easy 1-10 ......oh....did I tell you about the San Andreas falult ?????...this what living in the west....is all about.

 

[Nonin]

Why not do a one way car trip from Vegas and fly out of San Diego or Orange County? That way you can skip the boring 5+ hour drive back to Vegas and spend a day at the beach in Socal.

 

[VandVsmama]

My goal for our next family vacation is to go out west.
- I'm thinking of November, 2022
- Fly into Las Vegas for a couple of days (all kids will be 21, we just want to experience Vegas)
- plan on staying here for 1 or 2 nights
- no shows, just browsing around the main strip and stopping in a few casinos
- Drive up to see the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam
- leave the next day
- Drive down to Disneyland
- would like to stay within walking distance to the park
- not sure how many days we should stay here, we've never been before
- Would like to drive to the beach for a day
- Fly home out of Vegas

Is this doable for a week's vacation (fly in on Saturday, fly out the following Sunday)
It will be 4-6 adults.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Now I've been reading other threads on this forum. Should I skip the drive up to Grand Canyon and just focus on Cali once we drive down from Vegas? This is so overwhelming. We've never been out west, usually only go to Florida and this will probably be a one and only trip. There seems to be a lot to do and see in Cali if we stay there for the remainder of the week. Maybe skip the beach day and drive down to San Diego (we can have a beach day there)? So many options.

Here's what I would do:

• Day 1 (Sat): 1-way plane tickets to Vegas. Fly to Vegas & then party! ** 1-way car rental, pick up in Vegas, leave @ LA-based airport.
• Day 2 (Sun): Do a partial day trip from Vegas to Grand Canyon. For example, do a helicopter tour from Vegas to Grand Canyon. Night #2 in Vegas.
• Day 3 (Mon): check out of Vegas hotel. At some point, drive to Anaheim. Via I-15, it's a 4-5 hr drive. Will take you longer if you're driving from Vegas to Anaheim on a Sunday. Check into a hotel on Harbor Blvd next to DL.
• Day 4 (Tues): day #1 @ DL
• Day 5 (Wed): day trip to beach (like Newport Beach ~ 1 hr drive from Anaheim)
• Day 6 (Thurs): day #2 @ DL
• Day 7 (Fri): day trip to San Diego OR day #3 @ DL
• Day 8 (Sat): day #3 or #4 @ DL
• Day 9 (Sun): check out of hotel, 1-way plane tickets to fly home from LAX, Orange County, Long Beach, or Ontario airports.

 

[VandVsmama]

Here's what I would do:

• Day 1 (Sat): 1-way plane tickets to Vegas. Fly to Vegas & then party! ** 1-way car rental, pick up in Vegas, leave @ LA-based airport.
• Day 2 (Sun): Do a partial day trip from Vegas to Grand Canyon. For example, do a helicopter tour from Vegas to Grand Canyon. Night #2 in Vegas.
• Day 3 (Mon): check out of Vegas hotel. At some point, drive to Anaheim. Via I-15, it's a 4-5 hr drive. Will take you longer if you're driving from Vegas to Anaheim on a Sunday. Check into a hotel on Harbor Blvd next to DL.
• Day 4 (Tues): day #1 @ DL
• Day 5 (Wed): day trip to beach (like Newport Beach ~ 1 hr drive from Anaheim)
• Day 6 (Thurs): day #2 @ DL
• Day 7 (Fri): day trip to San Diego OR day #3 @ DL
• Day 8 (Sat): day #3 or #4 @ DL
• Day 9 (Sun): check out of hotel, 1-way plane tickets to fly home from LAX, Orange County, Long Beach, or Ontario airports.

Another option for getting from Vegas to the LA area if a 1-way car rental is cost-prohibitive would be to ride the Flix Bus. OR get 1-way plane tickets from Vegas to the Orange County airport (SNA). Just run the numbers between all of the options and pick whichever one works best for you!

 

[VandVsmama]

Skip going to see the border with Mexico. It's not worth your time. You'll drive all that way and end up thinking, "We came all this way to see this?" Seriously, Tijuana is not worth it.

 

[_19disnA]

If you have never been to Las Vegas, the main hotels/casinos worth seeing are those nearest to the airport. I would avoid the downtown area as there is limited parking and far too many homeless/unsavory people laying around on the sidewalks. All of the downtown casinos are old/tiny places that aren't worth seeing. How long you spend in Vegas depends on what you plan to do. You might shop/gamble/eat or just take in the sights. Every casino has multiple dining options. The strip casinos are MUCH farther apart then they appear, so driving between them make a lot more sense. Driving around during the day works best as there are so many cars around in the evening that the street is like wall-to-wall traffic that barely moves.