Opinions/Advice wanted ....

[princesscate]

We are traveling to CA for the first time for 9 days. We are planning on spending 5 nights in Anaheim. One of the days we were going to take a break and go to Long Beach for the day maybe do a whale watching tour. We won't have a car so we will have to Uber/Lyft it. Then we were thinking of going to San Diego for a couple of nights and then heading up to LA for one night and a day (we have a red eye flight back home). Is it even worth it to switch hotels, should we just stay in Anaheim and do a day trip to San Diego? San Diego seems to have a lot to do that we won't fit it all in even with two days there. My daughter would love to see Hollywood and the Stars/Walk of Fame. Is that even doable with a day in LA? This trip planning has me feeling like we are going to another country
Any advice or opinions would be greatly welcomed!

 

[SteveMP]

As for changing hotels it depends on how much you pack and your luggage. Its nice to have a "home base". But also nice to be close to places you want to spend time in. "See hollywood" has a pretty broad meaning. To "see hollywood" could take days or weeks. But to see a couple highlights could be done in a short time. For example if you go to the Hollywood and Highland Center, you can see the Hollywood sign in the distance, and walk to see some of the stars on walk of fame and see the Chinese theater etc. i live in San Diego and can drive there in ablut 2.5 hours if traffic isn't too bad. Have gone up for the day to that center for a meeting.

 

[princesscate]

I think she would just like to see some of the stars on the walk of fame. Thanks and yes I am not really a fan of packing and unpacking but I am thinking to really enjoy ourselves we should make the trek. Unless we just do day trips. Thanks for your input.

 

[SteveMP]

One thing I would suggest is fly into one airport and out another. For example, fly into LAX, take an uber to the Hollywood and Highland Center, check out the stars and the sign, and chinese theater, grab ice cream at the Disney ice cream parlor across the street, or go to the La Brea Tar Pits. Then get an uber/lyft down to Anaheim resort area, do your stuff there, then take a Coaster or Surfliner down to San Diego Santa Fe station(right by my work) hop on an Old Town Trolley Tour to see all the highlights or a Duck Boat from Seaport Village and then fly out of SAN.

 

[princesscate]

Is the ice cream place good? I've never heard about it.
I was thinking about the separate airports too ... And I definitely would like to see Old Town! My DH and DD would like to do the zoo. And we'd also like to see the Midway. So perhaps the flying out of SAN would be a good idea! I will have to check that out!

 

[SMD]

Is the ice cream place good? I've never heard about it.

The actual Disney ice cream place closed several years ago. There's a Ghirardelli there now, other than a sundae that comes with a pin it's like every other Ghirardelli, including the one in DCA and a few in San Diego. If you're going to spend 5 days in the parks I wouldn't waste any time going there in Hollywood.

 

[SteveMP]

Is the ice cream place good? I've never heard about it.
I was thinking about the separate airports too ... And I definitely would like to see Old Town! My DH and DD would like to do the zoo. And we'd also like to see the Midway. So perhaps the flying out of SAN would be a good idea! I will have to check that out!

Well its really a Ghirardelli ice cream/soda fountain with a really little Disney studio store gift shop inside. So if you've had ice cream at ghirardelli, its the same, but if you are Disney fans its kind of cute and unique.

The old Town trolley tours are nice cause you can hop on and off whenever you want. And you pay one price and can go to a few of the highlights.https://www.trolleytours.com/san-diego/hop-on-hop-off
Alternatively you can take the regular trolley to Old Town for a couple dollars. You can walk to the Midway from the train station in 10 minutes.

 

[bdiddy]

We are going out for 9 days and decided to just change hotels because of traffic. We are spending 3 nights at an Airbnb in North Hollywood then heading down to San Diego to a different Airbnb for 3 nights then back up to Anaheim for 3 nights at a hotel across from DL. We are renting a car but only because BIL is an exec at Enterprise and got us an amazing deal but it sounds like traffic is a nightmare. I didn't want to waste time stuck in traffic driving back and forth to a on centralized hotel so we decided to split the LA stay up by the San Diego part. We also looked into flying in or out of San Diego but it was more expensive.

 

[oakleycat]

If you're only looking to do one day in LA to see the Walk of Fame and other Hollywood Blvd sites I would just stick with your Anaheim hotel and not bother changing locations. It's easy to drive in for te day as long as you avoid rush hour. If you decide to spend multiple days then do a separate hotel. In Hollywood check out the stars and the Hollywood sign (great view from Hollywood & Highland center), maybe take a bus tour if you're interested in seeing nearby sights (total tourist thing but your daughter might enjoy the history/stars homes), grab dinner if it's a weekday to miss rush hour and head back to Anaheim. I'd skip the El Capitan/Ghiradelli if you're doing a one day trip, it's just a overpriced Disney-themed movie theatre/ice cream parlor. For San Diego I would take a couple days and stay down there at least overnight, so many great things to see.

 

[princesscate]

We are going out for 9 days and decided to just change hotels because of traffic. We are spending 3 nights at an Airbnb in North Hollywood then heading down to San Diego to a different Airbnb for 3 nights then back up to Anaheim for 3 nights at a hotel across from DL. We are renting a car but only because BIL is an exec at Enterprise and got us an amazing deal but it sounds like traffic is a nightmare. I didn't want to waste time stuck in traffic driving back and forth to a on centralized hotel so we decided to split the LA stay up by the San Diego part. We also looked into flying in or out of San Diego but it was more expensive.

Yep it is more expensive at San Diego for us too and the traffic does sound worse than the traffic out here on the east coast! Yikes. it's just the idea of packing and unpacking so many times. And because it's our first and perhaps only trip to CA we want to see as much as we can but still enjoy DL and DCA.

 

[usnuzuloose]

Use these links for things like whale watching and other things for the towns you visit.

Groupon.com
Livingsocials.com
Travelzoo.com.


Saving some money can help when wanting to do fun things.

 

[ahutton]

You might want to check out the SoCal City Pass for admissions into what you want to see: http://www.citypass.com/southern-ca...AG_zfqHjikHNMc9BauRqt2pJwPEbYSYUaAtc8EALw_wcB

I think 3 days inside the DL/DCA parks is plenty. I would schedule a day tour to see Hollywood in a tour bus - that is an easy way to see things and know what you are looking at. We did that years ago, and I would totally do it again. Very touristy - but we were tourists! I'm a fan of finding one place to stay and not moving, and driving as little as possible. It's not hard to get around there, but it is easier to enjoy letting someone else do the driving.

 

[Frozen2014]

Not talking from experience yet but we're also going for 10 days with first 4-5 days in LA and staying in Hollywood. Then transferring to Disney hotel for 4 days at the parks. For our non-Disney days we have a tour planned, 1 day at Universal, Santa Monica Pier, Warner Brother's tour, La Brae Tar Pits, and other touristy stuff such as walk of fame, etc. But if all you want to see outside of Disney and San Diego is walk of fame area, then maybe hotel switching isn't worth it and just switch for San Diego. Can you make the area a stop on your way to San Diego? We're not doing San Diego but heard it's lovely.