Canadians visit LA and Disneyland in Aug 2017. Sounds great, eh?

I like your idea of going to DL for 4 days! Our family has often gone for 3 days and we usually feel rushed. We're planning on doing 4 or 5 days for our trip in June and I am looking forward to touring a little slower and taking it easy this time.

Your hotel to La Brea Tar Pits will take 20-30 min drive, depending on traffic. Hotel to California Science Center is ~45 min in rush hour, but probably 30 min when not in rush hour.

There's a really good DIS Unplugged podcast from about a year ago where Nancy Johnson talks about the California Science Center. I don't think they've done a review of the La Brea Tar Pits though.

Since you'll be coming from Hollywood, you could definitely do both museums in 1 day, but you'd want to get to the tar pits right when they open so you'll have enough time to hit up both museums. Also, once you get to the 4:00 pm hour, you'll run into rush hour traffic, which is a royal pain in the neck in LA. So either plan on leaving the CA Science Center no later than 3:30 pm, or stay at the museum until 5:00 pm (I think that's when they close) and eat dinner somewhere in downtown LA before driving the hour down to Anaheim.
 
What To Do in LA?

So now on to researching LA. I was there once with my dad when I was 15 years old. I’m totally into the movie/Hollywood stuff so this was such a perfect trip for me. We had done a tour of the star homes and the rich areas, went to Universal Studios (which was just tour and stunt show type stuff back then), went to Malibu beach (which you never hear anyone mention). I remember too that we stayed at a hotel across from the ABC office tours in Century City (which you often see in the movies so that was really cool) . Ironically, I remember my dad giving me the choice of going to Knott’s Berry Farm or Disneyland. No idea why but I selected Knott’s Berry Farm. Go figure.

On our second last day, we were relaxing at the hotel pool and we saw these helicopters kept landing in the area on the other side of the hotel fence. It was like they were practising. We wondered what that was about and found out afterwards that it was Ronald Reagan's "people" checking out where he would land (i.e. for security and all). We had apparently just missed him on our LA trip. The day we went to the airport, Reagan was landing at our hotel. That was pretty cool! I probably just aged myself..lol.

Ok…for this trip, what to do? I did research and noted all suggestions on a new tab in my spreadsheet…. there’s the area where we are staying with the Chinese Theatre and walk of fame, wax museums, Ripley’s museum, Hollywood museum. Then there are other museums such as Children’s museum, Discovery cube, La Brae Tar Pits, etc. There’s Santa Monica Pier, Newport Beach, Venice Beach or Huntington Beach. There’s Rodeo Drive and Beverly Hills. There’s Griffith Park and Griffith Observatory. There’s the Farmer’s Market and The Grove. I even noted food treat places like Millions of Milkshakes, Sweet Candy Shop and Randy’s Donuts. And there is movie stuff such as Universal Studios, Warner Brother’s Tour, Paramount Tour. And of course, there are lots of other tourist places I’m not even mentioning.

At first, I was thinking Universal Studios or Warner Brothers, but then thought why not both? My son loves Harry Potter and they both cover that. My daughter also loves theatre and behind the scenes so although she is only 7 (8 when we travel), I think she’ll really appreciate that. DH will enjoy both too. Our full non-travel LA days would be Friday, Saturday, Sunday (and Monday, but we'll need to switch from LA to Anaheim at some point). Based on crowd calendars, Friday seems like a good fit for Universal...so one day decided. Hopefully we won't be jet lagged from the travel the day before.

Next step was to narrow down what works for us. I also started researching tours to see which of the above could be covered by a tour, and was a good fit (e.g. La Brae Tar Pits might not be the best for a tour as we wouldn’t have time to explore). I had noted about 8 different tours (3 within Starline and some others). And to add to the complexity, would a Go Card make sense for us?

Back to the spreadsheet. I started coming up with various permutations of possible schedules. After much research, I found a Guideline Tour (Grand LA City Tour) that covers a lot of things on our wish list…. Griffith Observatory, Beverly Hills/Rodeo Drive, Farmer’s Market/The Grove, star homes, and Chinese Theatre, etc. It seems like a good mix so that’s on our list (for now).

For a beach option, I thought Santa Monica Pier would be a good mix…some beach time, the pier area looks fun with the Ferris wheel, and shopping near by.

I keep hearing how La Brae Tar Pits is great for kids so that’s probably on our list. Also, Children’s Museum is an option.

The location of our hotel makes the Hollywood stuff (e.g. Wax Museum) flexible and we can go anytime.

With all my permutations of possible schedules, I think I’ve come up with a good one. Funny how originally, I wondered if 4.5 days in LA would be too much, but now it’s hard to fit in everything.

This post right here gave me a starting point to planning our day in LA!!

I'm not all that interested in the La Brea Tar Pits, but DH is, and he thinks the kids will be too, so I've got it on my list of things.

I LOVED the Santa Monica pier!! The atmosphere, the cool vendors, the restaurants for every budget, the pier, the VIEW! I would go back in a heartbeat, but DH wants to try somewhere else this time.
 
I like your idea of going to DL for 4 days! Our family has often gone for 3 days and we usually feel rushed. We're planning on doing 4 or 5 days for our trip in June and I am looking forward to touring a little slower and taking it easy this time.

Your hotel to La Brea Tar Pits will take 20-30 min drive, depending on traffic. Hotel to California Science Center is ~45 min in rush hour, but probably 30 min when not in rush hour.

There's a really good DIS Unplugged podcast from about a year ago where Nancy Johnson talks about the California Science Center. I don't think they've done a review of the La Brea Tar Pits though.

Since you'll be coming from Hollywood, you could definitely do both museums in 1 day, but you'd want to get to the tar pits right when they open so you'll have enough time to hit up both museums. Also, once you get to the 4:00 pm hour, you'll run into rush hour traffic, which is a royal pain in the neck in LA. So either plan on leaving the CA Science Center no later than 3:30 pm, or stay at the museum until 5:00 pm (I think that's when they close) and eat dinner somewhere in downtown LA before driving the hour down to Anaheim.

It was between 3 and 4 days so good to hear that 4 sounds like a good choice. Great that you're looking at that amount or more. How many times have you been to Disneyland? This will be our first trip.

Good point about the traffic. I keep hearing of warnings of how bad it can get. Maybe then we'll just stick with La Brae or California Science Centre. We're not in a rush to get to Anaheim since we won't be visiting the park that day, but still, we don't want to be stuck in traffic.

This post right here gave me a starting point to planning our day in LA!!

I'm not all that interested in the La Brea Tar Pits, but DH is, and he thinks the kids will be too, so I've got it on my list of things.

I LOVED the Santa Monica pier!! The atmosphere, the cool vendors, the restaurants for every budget, the pier, the VIEW! I would go back in a heartbeat, but DH wants to try somewhere else this time.

That's great. Glad it could help. There really is so much to do and see and depends on your interests. Are you going to go to Universal?
Yeah...I normally would have ignored La Bra Tar Pits as an option but keep hearing how great it is. Once we tell our kids...or even at the day...we can decide if we go there or not. Good to hear that Santa Monica Pier is so a great spot. It seems lively and fun for all.

Would love to hear what you decide for your LA time.
 
It was between 3 and 4 days so good to hear that 4 sounds like a good choice. Great that you're looking at that amount or more. How many times have you been to Disneyland? This will be our first trip.

Good point about the traffic. I keep hearing of warnings of how bad it can get. Maybe then we'll just stick with La Brae or California Science Centre. We're not in a rush to get to Anaheim since we won't be visiting the park that day, but still, we don't want to be stuck in traffic.



That's great. Glad it could help. There really is so much to do and see and depends on your interests. Are you going to go to Universal?
Yeah...I normally would have ignored La Bra Tar Pits as an option but keep hearing how great it is. Once we tell our kids...or even at the day...we can decide if we go there or not. Good to hear that Santa Monica Pier is so a great spot. It seems lively and fun for all.

Would love to hear what you decide for your LA time.

We've been about 4 times to DL with the kids. I just love Disneyland!
 


That's great. Glad it could help. There really is so much to do and see and depends on your interests. Are you going to go to Universal?
Yeah...I normally would have ignored La Bra Tar Pits as an option but keep hearing how great it is. Once we tell our kids...or even at the day...we can decide if we go there or not. Good to hear that Santa Monica Pier is so a great spot. It seems lively and fun for all.

Would love to hear what you decide for your LA time.

We are not going to Universal. Maybe another trip, when we have more time. :)

We're still deciding, and still have time to decide, but we are thinking the Tar Pits, then go to Hollywood & Highland to get some shots of the Hollywood sign, have lunch, shop, stroll the Walk of Fame, and go to a movie at the El Capitano theater. We want to stay until after LA rush hour is done (learned the hard way last trip), so probably grab a quick dinner (or a snack at Ghiradelli's) and head back around 7, and try to catch the fireworks from the hotel.
 
Anaheim Hotel Confusion

I’m always second guessing our choices. We currently have Desert Inn & and Suites booked for our Disney days. I know it’s not the nicest hotel but it has our "must haves" and is right across the street. We booked a parlour suite, which has 2 queen beds and a TV in one room and a pull-out sofa with a TV in a second room. Having 2 rooms is a great bonus when travelling with kids. My main concern is that I read on another’s report that there is no AC unit in the sofa bed room. We’re travelling end of August so if this room gets hot, then our kids can’t use this room. I suppose though that we’re not stuck as the main room has 2 queen beds, which is a standard room configuration which we tend to book anyways.

Our second choice is Park Vue Inn. The two motels are side by side so location is perfect with both (well, ignoring the possible construction during our visit but we're ignoring that as we're not day nappers). Both have a pool. Desert Inn has an indoor pool, but for us, this is ok since it’ll be a break from the hot sun (we are all fair and burn easily). Park Vue has a better breakfast and is modern. It has a standard 2 queen beds set up and also a queen bed plus bunk bed configuration. I was originally looking at the bunk bed option but then realised that this won’t work for us since it’s not in front of the TV (which will cause a big upset for our kids...our kids are funny like that).

The cost difference ends up being about $230 CAD (removing parking since we won’t have a car), which isn’t a huge amount, but its another one of these areas that adds up if we keep adding these additional costs. And if I think about it, the $230 can pay for a character meal as I'm am thinking of maybe Goofy’s Kitchen for dinner.

One option to keep the cost down and similar to what we have booked now is to do a split stay. Park Vue and Desert Inn are comparable in price with the cost per night around $125-149…but the killer is that Park Vue for Friday night is $229. Thus, one option is to stay at Park Vue Mon – Fri, and then switch to Desert Inn for Friday night. It may be a major pain though having to pack up, check out of Park View by say 11am, and not be able to check in to Desert Inn until around 3pm? DH commented that we’ll have to pack up anyways, so maybe one day earlier isn’t a huge deal (then again, he doesn’t have to deal with the number of toiletries like I do…lol). Luckily the motels are side by side so that part of transferring is ok.


Pros of Desert Inn
  • Cheaper – and parking cost can be removed if not needed
  • 2 rooms
  • Indoor pool (but have read it is cold) … haven’t decided if pro or con
  • Rooftop patio for viewing fireworks (great with kids if fireworks are late so they can watch and then go to bed afterwards)

Cons of Desert Inn
  • Reviews are mixed (but we know it's not a first class hotel)
  • Temperate of second room a concern?
  • Basic breakfast (but a typical breakfast we’d have at home anyways)
  • Older decor

Pros of Park Vue
  • Great reviews
  • Nice and more modern
  • Much Better breakfast
  • Outdoor pool

Cons of Park Vue
  • More expensive
  • 1 room (but we travel like this often anways)

So you can see my dilemma. Will the two rooms be comfortable enough in temperature? Having said that, someone did comment in another thread that they went in the fall but it was hot and they were ok with the room ventilation …so maybe it’s a non-issue. And not sure if switching hotels for our last night would be a pain in the neck?
 
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Well, it's been confirmed, and more than that as it happened....park tickets went up. So glad that we purchased our tickets already, and got the 25% Canadian discount savings before the price rose. Funny though that the 25% off is good until Feb 28th but yet the tickets rose two weeks before that.
 


Anaheim Hotel Confusion

I’m always second guessing our choices. We currently have Desert Inn & and Suites booked for our Disney days. I know it’s not the nicest hotel but it has our "must haves" and is right across the street. We booked a parlour suite, which has 2 queen beds and a TV in one room and a pull-out sofa with a TV in a second room. Having 2 rooms is a great bonus when travelling with kids. My main concern is that I read on another’s report that there is no AC unit in the sofa bed room. We’re travelling end of August so if this room gets hot, then our kids can’t use this room. I suppose though that we’re not stuck as the main room has 2 queen beds, which is a standard room configuration which we tend to book anyways.

Our second choice is Park Vue Inn. The two motels are side by side so location is perfect with both (well, ignoring the possible construction during our visit but we're ignoring that as we're not day nappers). Both have a pool. Desert Inn has an indoor pool, but for us, this is ok since it’ll be a break from the hot sun (we are all fair and burn easily). Park Vue has a better breakfast and is modern. It has a standard 2 queen beds set up and also a queen bed plus bunk bed configuration. I was originally looking at the bunk bed option but then realised that this won’t work for us since it’s not in front of the TV (which will cause a big upset for our kids...our kids are funny like that).

The cost difference ends up being about $230 CAD (removing parking since we won’t have a car), which isn’t a huge amount, but its another one of these areas that adds up if we keep adding these additional costs. And if I think about it, the $230 can pay for a character meal as I'm am thinking of maybe Goofy’s Kitchen for dinner.

One option to keep the cost down and similar to what we have booked now is to do a split stay. Park Vue and Desert Inn are comparable in price with the cost per night around $125-149…but the killer is that Park Vue for Friday night is $229. Thus, one option is to stay at Park Vue Mon – Fri, and then switch to Desert Inn for Friday night. It may be a major pain though having to pack up, check out of Park View by say 11am, and not be able to check in to Desert Inn until around 3pm? DH commented that we’ll have to pack up anyways, so maybe one day earlier isn’t a huge deal (then again, he doesn’t have to deal with the number of toiletries like I do…lol). Luckily the motels are side by side so that part of transferring is ok.


Pros of Desert Inn
  • Cheaper – and parking cost can be removed if not needed
  • 2 rooms
  • Indoor pool (but have read it is cold) … haven’t decided if pro or con

Cons of Desert Inn
  • Reviews are mixed (but we know it's not a first class hotel)
  • Temperate of second room a concern?
  • Basic breakfast (but a typical breakfast we’d have at home anyways)
  • Older decor

Pros of Park Vue
  • Great reviews
  • Nice and more modern
  • Much Better breakfast
  • Outdoor pool

Cons of Park Vue
  • More expensive
  • 1 room (but we travel like this often anways)

So you can see my dilemma. Will the two rooms be comfortable enough in temperature? Having said that, someone did comment in another thread that they went in the fall but it was hot and they were ok with the room ventilation …so maybe it’s a non-issue. And not sure if switching hotels for our last night would be a pain in the neck?

That is a tough decision! For me, it would be a total pain to switch hotels - but I have 2 young kids who I'd have to pack up for too! And they usually take a couple days to settle into a new place. But I also think having the 2 bedrooms at the desert inn would be great! Will you mostly just be in the room to sleep? I feel like costs keep adding up for our trip, so I'd be inclined to go with whatever is cheaper. I say this as I'm contemplating upgrading our room for our trip :rolleyes1
 
So you can see my dilemma. Will the two rooms be comfortable enough in temperature? Having said that, someone did comment in another thread that they went in the fall but it was hot and they were ok with the room ventilation …so maybe it’s a non-issue. And not sure if switching hotels for our last night would be a pain in the neck?

I mentioned this before but we have stayed at both DI&S and PVI on multiple trips. We've gone in August and September and have never ha a big issue with room temperature, although we have never stayed in the exact room config at the DI&S.

Have you looked at the Executive room at DI&S? It has 2 queen beds and a full size sofa, just like the Parlor suite but everything is in one room which would help with the AC issue. We stayed in this room for our trip last September and the AC unit was at the front of the room, right beside the sofa bed. For your dates, the rates are 99, 99, 99, 99 and 129 instead of the parlor which is 119, 119, 119, 119 and 149. That would save you another $100USD and might solve your issues with heat.

If it were me, I would not switch hotels. That just seems like a big time sink and a pain in the rear.
 
Thank you both. Thinking about it, I agree with you both in that switching hotels will be a pain. We'll have to pack up a day early plus there will be a few hours we will need to check in our bags. Ok...scratch that idea.

Yeah...initially we did look at the Executive suite with 2 queens plus sofa bed in same room, and then DH saw the parlour and thought the separate room would be nice. Good math...as it is an additional savings, although the extra room is nice (if it doesn't get too hot). I think we were spoiled at WDW where we had 2 rooms AND 2 washrooms. That was very helpful.

Oh and yes, we basically use the hotel to shower, change and sleep. Having said that, DH may need a break from the parks so although we're not big pool people, we may use the pool (harder to get me in as I've heard the water is cold).
 
Character Meal

It’s 191 days until we leave for our trip so what to do but start planning our meals, right? :tongue: At Disney World we were on the meal plan so we booked one table service a day. Not sure we’ll do the same at Disneyland, but I think one character meal on our trip would be nice. It seems like a Disney thing to do.

Trying to figure out our best option. The only character meal for lunch is Ariel’s Grotto, but that place is out. Our daughter would love it, but not fair to our son (and the poor guy had to sit through not one but two princess meals at Disney World). So that leaves breakfast or dinner.

Our hotel includes breakfast so it makes sense to book for dinner. The only character meal for dinner is Goofy’s Kitchen. From what I can tell, the buffet is quite large with tons of variety and very good selection for our kids (my son is super picky). And we’d get to see the main/original Disney characters. The meal though would be the priciest option of them all at $140.

Another option would be to have an early breakfast at our hotel (which is just toast, cereal, fruit)…and then book a character breakfast for as late as we can where we can still catch the characters. Maybe around 11am if that still works? (Still trying to figure out timing). There’s either Plaza Inn that is right in the park with a nice mish mash of characters (and has best rating on tripadvisor), Goofy’s Kitchen or Storyteller. I think based on reviews Surf’s UP is our last choice.

Hmm…feel like I haven’t really narrowed things down so much…doh. At least I still have 6 months to figure it out.
 
Character Meal

It’s 191 days until we leave for our trip so what to do but start planning our meals, right? :tongue: At Disney World we were on the meal plan so we booked one table service a day. Not sure we’ll do the same at Disneyland, but I think one character meal on our trip would be nice. It seems like a Disney thing to do.

Trying to figure out our best option. The only character meal for lunch is Ariel’s Grotto, but that place is out. Our daughter would love it, but not fair to our son (and the poor guy had to sit through not one but two princess meals at Disney World). So that leaves breakfast or dinner.

Our hotel includes breakfast so it makes sense to book for dinner. The only character meal for dinner is Goofy’s Kitchen. From what I can tell, the buffet is quite large with tons of variety and very good selection for our kids (my son is super picky). And we’d get to see the main/original Disney characters. The meal though would be the priciest option of them all at $140.

Another option would be to have an early breakfast at our hotel (which is just toast, cereal, fruit)…and then book a character breakfast for as late as we can where we can still catch the characters. Maybe around 11am if that still works? (Still trying to figure out timing). There’s either Plaza Inn that is right in the park with a nice mish mash of characters (and has best rating on tripadvisor), Goofy’s Kitchen or Storyteller. I think based on reviews Surf’s UP is our last choice.

Hmm…feel like I haven’t really narrowed things down so much…doh. At least I still have 6 months to figure it out.

We've had dinner at Goofy's Kitchen before, but it was 4 years ago. My kids were 4 and 6 at the time. They loved it. YDD basically ate fries and chicken nuggets. I didn't care for the super hefty price tag on the meal, but the character interaction was great. We spent the first part of the day at the parks and took the monorail to DTD, then walked to Goofy's Kitchen at the DLH. Then reversed that on the way back to the parks after dinner.

We've also been to the Plaza Inn for the character breakfast and we did exactly the sort of thing that you are considering...had a light breakfast early at our hotel. Then we go to the park for rope drop, went on rides until ~10:00 am. Our reservation was for around 10-10:15 am. Breakfast ended at 11:00 am. On that particular day, regular park opening was at 8am and we were there on a Magic Morning entry day and used our MM that day...so we had been there since 7:00 am. By 10:00 am, we were all ready for a break and we were hungry.

I would not recommend making a reservation for 10:45 am because you would literally be at the tail end of breakfast and characters might be a tad rushed.

Minnie's breakfast at the Plaza Inn was, by far, my kids favorite between those 2 character meals. Plus, it's less expensive than Goofy's Kitchen.
 
Thanks so much for the feedback. That really helps. Ha ha...you basically just named my picky son's diet....fries, nuggets, and pizza. I always feel so guilty when we go away, but that's basically what he eats each day. Hmm..from your description, it sounds like Disneyland Hotel is kind of far if you need the monorail? From google maps it looks like 15 min walk from the castle.

Good idea. If we stick with breakfast, we could try and book for our Magic Morning and will try for around 10am.

I think it's between those two..either dinner at Goofy's or breakfast at Plaza Inn since it's at the park. Will discus with DH (much closer to our trip) and then make a reservation around the 60 day mark.
 
Thanks so much for the feedback. That really helps. Ha ha...you basically just named my picky son's diet....fries, nuggets, and pizza. I always feel so guilty when we go away, but that's basically what he eats each day. Hmm..from your description, it sounds like Disneyland Hotel is kind of far if you need the monorail? From google maps it looks like 15 min walk from the castle.

Good idea. If we stick with breakfast, we could try and book for our Magic Morning and will try for around 10am.

I think it's between those two..either dinner at Goofy's or breakfast at Plaza Inn since it's at the park. Will discus with DH (much closer to our trip) and then make a reservation around the 60 day mark.

It's really not far at all. From the centre of the hub to Goofy's kitchen is 850m according to Google maps. If you grab the monorail it is only 220m. Super easy, even with kids!

As for the character meals, we have done all of them except Ariel's. In my opinion, the best food is at Storyteller's in GCH. The best and more varied character interaction is at Plaza Inn. The most interactive is Surf's Up at Paradise Pier. We did breakfast at Goofy's and while it was fun, we found it really busy and chaotic...not in an uncontrollable way but it was overwhelming for our (at the time) 6 year old, newly diagnosed as autistic son. Most people's biggest beef with GK is that you meet 5 characters every single time and the rota never changes. Minnie & Friends, which we have done 3 times, has a wide variety of characters. Oh, a word of advice, try not to get seated outside at M&F, the one time we sat outside we had to almost chase down characters to come to our table!
 
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It's really not far at all. From the centre of the hub to Goofy's kitchen is 850m according to Google maps. If you grab the monorail it is on 220m. Super easy, even with kids!

As for the character meals, we have done all of them except Ariel's. In my opinion, the best food is at Storyteller's in GCH. The best and more varied character interaction is at Plaza Inn. The most interactive is Surf's Up at Paradise Pier. We did breakfast at Goofy's and while it was fun, we found it really busy and chaotic...not in an uncontrollable way but it was overwhelming for our (at the time) 6 year old, newly diagnosed as autistic son. Most people's biggest beef with GK is that you meet 5 characters every single time and the rota never changes. Minnie & Friends, which we have done 3 times, has a wide variety of characters. Oh, a word of advice, try not to get seated outside at M&F, the one time we sat outside we had to almost chase down characters to come to our table!
Ok so just when I think I've narrowed it down, I get confused again :crazy: LOL. Actually I don't think that's the first time that I've heard that the food is the best at Storyteller. Haven't been yet, but hearing about Goofy's Kitchen, it seems similar to Chef Mickey's at Disney World (we tried breakfast). The main 5 characters, large buffet, but busy and chaotic. It gets mixed reviews, but we still quite liked it. And since it's Disney, and a place for kids, we weren't expecting a quiet romantic meal. And thanks for the tip...we're coming end of August we we'll want a table inside for a break from the heat and sun.

Really appreciate the feedback.
 
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We stayed at DI&S last summer in the Parlor suite. The air in the front room was a little bit of an issue. They have a little port in the wall that lets some air in to the front but not a ton and it was pretty loud. The executive suite sounds like a good option. Not sure of the pool temperature but my kids (5&7) didn't seem to mind one bit. The breakfast is certainly nothing to write home about but the kids had cereal so it wasn't an issue. We have stayed there numerous times and the rooms have always been clean and very friendly staff.
 
We stayed at DI&S last summer in the Parlor suite. The air in the front room was a little bit of an issue. They have a little port in the wall that lets some air in to the front but not a ton and it was pretty loud. The executive suite sounds like a good option. Not sure of the pool temperature but my kids (5&7) didn't seem to mind one bit. The breakfast is certainly nothing to write home about but the kids had cereal so it wasn't an issue. We have stayed there numerous times and the rooms have always been clean and very friendly staff.

Thanks so much for the feedback on Desert Inn & Suites. We're keeping our reservation for now but I'm keeping an eye on the others (especially Park Vue as being right across the street in hot August is a big draw). Desert Inn must still be ok if you have stayed there many times. Do you tend to get the Parlour or Executive? I'm thinking we'll keep the Parlour and if it's too hot, then the main room has 2 queen beds, which is standard anyways. Our kids do often share when we're away (although that may not last much longer as they get older).
 
Car Rental

We will definitely rent a car but the question is, for how long? We are trying to keep costs down but also don’t want to be inconvenienced for our LA days. i.e. taking 2 busses and the metro is not preferred but don’t mind taking uber or taxi if it makes sense. I also don’t see a need for a car for our Disney days. We have a few options:

  1. Rent car at LAX airport. Keep for duration of trip. Return car at LAX airport.
  2. Rent car at LAX airport. Keep for LA days. Return car at rental in Anaheim. Taxi or uber to LAX for return
  3. When arrive at LAX airport, take taxi or uber to our hotel.
- On arrival day, explore Hollywood Blvd area (our hotel is right there).
- Day 2 is Universal Studios, which I think is one stop away on metro (or uber)
- Day 3 is Grand LA City Tour, which runs 9:15am - 2:15pm. Check out Hollywood Blvd area for rest of day (or swim if we pick hotel with pool)
- Day 4, rent car at Hertz rental, which is 2 min walk from our hotel. Continue day with car, which includes Warner Brothers Tour and Santa Monica Pier
- Day 5, check out of hotel. Drive to La Brae Tar Pits and/or California Science Centre. Drive to Anaheim, check into hotel, return car at Hertz on Katella. Taxi or uber to LAX for return​

I don't think we'll do option 1 unless it ends up being cheaper than option 2. So it's probably between option 2 and 3, and I guess as well will come down to price (e.g. since we'll still need to get from LAX to our hotel). All our hotel options have parking as an additional cost, but around $10/day which is not crazy.
 
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Thanks so much for the feedback on Desert Inn & Suites. We're keeping our reservation for now but I'm keeping an eye on the others (especially Park Vue as being right across the street in hot August is a big draw). Desert Inn must still be ok if you have stayed there many times. Do you tend to get the Parlour or Executive? I'm thinking we'll keep the Parlour and if it's too hot, then the main room has 2 queen beds, which is standard anyways. Our kids do often share when we're away (although that may not last much longer as they get older).
We have gotten a standard room numerous times and last time we went for the parlor suite for the first time. If you keep the door open i'm sure it will be fine temperature wise. The rooms are plenty big and didn't seem cramped. My sister has stayed at Park Vue and loved it. Distance wise they are the same so you really can't go wrong with either. The roof top deck was awesome to watch fireworks. You didn't need a key and there was no one manning the door so i'm sure anyone can just go up there that could be a good or bad thing, lol.
 
We have gotten a standard room numerous times and last time we went for the parlor suite for the first time. If you keep the door open i'm sure it will be fine temperature wise. The rooms are plenty big and didn't seem cramped. My sister has stayed at Park Vue and loved it. Distance wise they are the same so you really can't go wrong with either. The roof top deck was awesome to watch fireworks. You didn't need a key and there was no one manning the door so i'm sure anyone can just go up there that could be a good or bad thing, lol.

Thank you for the feedback. It really helps as I'm often second guessing our choices. Makes me feel better and great to hear the extra space is nice. The rooftop viewing of fireworks is a neat addition.
 

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