**Need planning help...Pretty PLEASE?**

[yupikgal]

I have appreciated the Disboards ever since I discovered them back in 2003, at that time we were planning our trip to WDW...now I humbly ask for your help again, this time to Southern California. Actually, part of the trip will be up the coast a bit towards Hearst Castle. We went to Southern California last year, but didn't stay quite as long, and did Anaheim/Vegas/Garden Grove. Anyway, here's my tentative plan right now. I'd love to hear your thoughts, suggestions, and if you stayed at a fabulous hotel in any of the areas, please let me know! We don't need fancy, but no motel 6's either. Clean and safe is good!

Thursday, May 26: Fly from Anchorage, Alaska to John Wayne Airport, Anaheim. We get there about 930a. I was thinking about us heading straight down to San Diego on Amtrak, so taking a shuttle to the train station and then taking their noon train, that would get us there about 2p. I just reserved the Dana Inn for 4 nights, we've never stayed there and it sounds like it might work for us, based on Trip Advisor reviews, location, water sports, promixity to public transportation, etc.. I haven't ruled out other options though, we don't normally rent a car, so we rely on public transportation/tours, etc. and this one is close to Seaworld and they have a shuttle, and the lady at the reservaton dept said there is a bus that takes you to the trolley that is near the area.

Friday, May 26-Monday, May 29th: San Diego, relaxing, playing, eating, little bit of sightseeing, although nothing major, we were there in 2009, and did the Old Town trolley tour, which took us to downtown, Old Town, Coronado..we stayed at the Best Western Island Palms on Shelter Island, it was a lovely hotel, but I think it's a bit isolated for us this time around.

Monday, May 30-June 4: Take Amtrak back up to Anaheim, then I'm thinking we will do Disney for the next 5 days, assuming (hoping) they will have the "buy 3, get 2 free" deal again. We normally stay at the Fairfield, but I'm open to other suggestions within walking distance, although we are kind of partial to the Fairfield, it's nothing spectacular, but we mainly use it to shower and sleep anyway. Walking distance is most important to us...

June 5: Booked (not paid yet) Amtrak to San Luis Obispo via Santa Barbara. We take a train to Santa Barbara, where we switch to their bus, which works, because they do checked luggage all the way. At first I considered going to Paso Robles instead, but they don't have checked baggage, and we are going to have ours with us every step of the way. It's just less of a hassle having the checked bag option. Not sure where to stay in San Luis Obispo, so please give me suggestions and reviews? We will get there about 2p, so we should have time after we check into our hotel to do a little sightseeing and then have dinner...I wonder if we should rent a car on our own to drive around the area and to Hearst Castle the next day or go with a tour package? Our return bus/train is on June 7.

June7: Back to the Anaheim area about 6p, not sure where we will stay, haven't thought ahead this far, but we'll have to take a taxi, and I'm thinking maybe the same place we stayed before in Garden Grove, we liked the spaciousness of the rooms and the free breakfast at the Embassy Suites South.

June 7-9: We will basically have 2 days left after we return from the coastline/wine country area..we may want to do Universal Studios one day, and then just maybe relax by a pool the day before we leave, which is on the 10th.

June 10: Head back to Alaska, we don't leave until noon, so we can have breakfast and then head to the airport for our long journey home...

What do you think? Any ideas or things I haven't thought about? Any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks in advance, a diehard California/Disney fan, Kelly

 

[ishbit92]

Sounds good to me

...Maybe stay extra days in Disneyland and get two rooms at one of the hotels though...

I'm excited!!

 

[lcasa]

The most famous hotel in SLO is the Madonna Inn - never been ,but it's bright pink and a local landmark. Check their website - every room is themed differently and they have pictures there. Some people love it, others find it kitchsey.

I've stayed at the Embassy Suites there usually ( my daughter-in-law went to college in the area so we've been up a number of times).

Wine tasting in the area is good too!
It's a shame to not spend any time in Santa Barbara - it's beautiful there.

 

[yupikgal]

Well I've decided upon the Quality Suites after reading the Trip Advisor reviews. It sounds like it would fit our family, since we need a little bit extra to spread out, and the Embassy Suites was #12 and had some bad reviews, and I think the Quality Suites was #2. Thanks though! I would love to spend time in Santa Barbara, but we'll only have two nights in SLO and then head back with a train, so we can't really stop. I'm getting excited about our adventure!

 

[skiingfast]

I think Hearst Castle is good side trip for SLO. It requires reservations so maybe a tour would be the way to go. Keep in mind the train might be late.

Since you mention DL, Seaworld and Univeral look into the Southern California Citypass. It offers a good rate to see all three.

Since you mention free breakfast at the Embassy suites, maybe you want to stay at one of the motels on harbor that has breakfast included instead of the fairfield.

If you take the SD trolley old town is ok to visit. You can also go to the nest station which is downtown and a couple blocks, really one long block is the harbor. There is a air museum on an old aircraft carrier also a couple ships you can tour. Next station down is near Petco Park. It might be fun to take in a Baseball game if this is something you haven't done before. Something you can't do in AK.

 

[yupikgal]

I think Hearst Castle is good side trip for SLO. It requires reservations so maybe a tour would be the way to go. Keep in mind the train might be late.

Since you mention DL, Seaworld and Univeral look into the Southern California Citypass. It offers a good rate to see all three.

Since you mention free breakfast at the Embassy suites, maybe you want to stay at one of the motels on harbor that has breakfast included instead of the fairfield.

If you take the SD trolley old town is ok to visit. You can also go to the nest station which is downtown and a couple blocks, really one long block is the harbor. There is a air museum on an old aircraft carrier also a couple ships you can tour. Next station down is near Petco Park. It might be fun to take in a Baseball game if this is something you haven't done before. Something you can't do in AK.

Hi skiingfast, sorry for the late reply! Yes I'm very excited for the Hearst Castle tour, I haven't been for years, and want the rest of my family to experience it! FYI, we aren't going until the day after we get there since our train doesn't get to SLO until 2p or so. We will just check into our hotel and probably take the hotel shuttle to the downtown area to meander around and then have dinner. It will be a welcome reprieve after the hectic pace of Disney!

As far as the Citypass, I have considered doing that, but we are hoping they have the "5 for 3" disney park deal that they've had for the last 2 years, and if not, I think we may still do that many days, but I'm going to definately keep it in mind!!

I've booked the BW Park Place Inn for Anaheim, (for now, hee hee) I'm kind of nervous, but I know that the location is probably the best thing about it. Having a breakfast included isn't the reason I would choose the hotel, honestly. The more I thought about it, we'll be doing a couple of breakfasts in the park, including one at Goofy's Kitchen! As long as I have a little something in the morning, I'm usually good to go!

Regards to San Diego hotels, I'm debating on whether to stick with the Holiday Inn express that I booked @ Old Town, or stay at a property we've stayed at before in Mission Valley, the Doubletree. Both are very close to the trolley, the good thing about the Holiday Inn is that they would pick us up from the train station, and apparently they will also bring us to Seaworld & the Zoo, which would save us $$ on renting a car or taking cabs, etc. They also have a breakfast included, as well as wi-fi! We will probably visit the zoo, and the kids want to do Seaworld again (sigh) and maybe the beach one day...so many choices!

Thanks for your suggestions! Keep 'em coming! Kelly

 

[skiingfast]

Regards to San Diego hotels, I'm debating on whether to stick with the Holiday Inn express that I booked @ Old Town, or stay at a property we've stayed at before in Mission Valley, the Doubletree. Both are very close to the trolley, the good thing about the Holiday Inn is that they would pick us up from the train station, and apparently they will also bring us to Seaworld & the Zoo, which would save us $$ on renting a car or taking cabs, etc. They also have a breakfast included, as well as wi-fi! We will probably visit the zoo, and the kids want to do Seaworld again (sigh) and maybe the beach one day...so many choices!

I'm not familiar with this Holiday Inn express. I used to commute past old town. Do you know what street it's on?

If it really does have a shuttle to the Zoo and SD though, if so that sounds great.

 

[yupikgal]

www.hioldtownhotel.com. 3900 old town ave

 

[skiingfast]

www.hioldtownhotel.com. 3900 old town ave

Thanks, it looks nice. Old Town Ave was actually my exit, but I went to the other side of the freeway. It's a bit of a walk to the trolley but if you use that shuttle, you will probably only walk to the troller once of twice.

 

[yupikgal]

I finally saw a map and saw where the HI Express, it's on the opposite side of the Old Town entrance, right? It's close to a cemetary & that Whaley house, and it is 4 blocks from the trolley, hopefully that won't seem so far. The Old Town Inn is rated very high on tripadvisor, but it's in an industrial area, except that doesn't seem to be a problem for everyone that has stayed there. The only thing is, they don't have any shuttle that I can see, and that is where the HI Express wins!

 

[skiingfast]

I finally saw a map and saw where the HI Express, it's on the opposite side of the Old Town entrance, right? It's close to a cemetary & that Whaley house, and it is 4 blocks from the trolley, hopefully that won't seem so far. The Old Town Inn is rated very high on tripadvisor, but it's in an industrial area, except that doesn't seem to be a problem for everyone that has stayed there. The only thing is, they don't have any shuttle that I can see, and that is where the HI Express wins!

I looked up that Old Town Inn and I used to crawl by it in traffic at 5:05 pm. My exact thoughs as I crept by that place, what kind of cheap motel would be sitting here trying to profit off of the Old Town name.


I know the walk to the trolley station may not be short but really the shuttle to the Zoo and Sea World should make up for that. I think you will like the Holiday Inn express.

 

[yupikgal]

skiingfast, I wonder if we can take the trolley to see the beaches? I guess I'll have to find out where it goes to...we took the Old Town trolley tour the last time we were there, it's is a hop on/hop off type tour that brought us to Old Town, Coronado, Seaport Village, Downtown, Balboa Park...we loved it! Love how they narrate the tour..only 2.5 months until we are there!!

 

[skiingfast]

skiingfast, I wonder if we can take the trolley to see the beaches?

I know they go out on Cornado Island. So I'm guessing they go by the Hotel Del Cornado. The hotel is nice to walk around and is on a nice beach too.

 

[yupikgal]

skiingfast, funny you mention Coronado. Plans have changed completely, we decided we're staying on the island, at the Glorietta Bay Inn, which is right across the street from the Hotel Del! Looking forward to the quietness of the island, and some relaxation before our Disney trip. We will just take a cab over, and we can take a ferry across the bay if we want to do some touring, etc. Got a pretty good rate for a 1 bdrm too, so we'll still have our space that we want!