Can I be converted?

[CazP]

Hi everyone,
I've been to WDW three times and DLP a few too.
Planning on another trip over the Atlantic in 2016 when my daughters finish GCSE's and A2's the same time (meaning they'll finish end of June so we can go in July)

As a lover of all things Orlando, I am tempted to go back. However, I'd also love to visit the Anaheim Disney instead.

The big difference I've spotted is that unlike Orlando, everything I want to visit is miles apart. Although I drive in the UK, I don't fancy driving in the US, especially as my daughters' navigation skills are shocking!

How easy is it to get around from one place to another? I'm thinking of staying close to or on Disney so I'd like to know how easy it is to get to Universal and into LA itself to see things like the Walk of Fame and the Hollywood sign.

As I am brand new to the West Coast - what other things are there? I'm guessing it's a case of staying in different hotels to visit the different places, and flying between the cities to do that, or are the big cities close enough to travel other ways.

Sorry to sound daft lol, Orlando feels so easy compared to the West!

[figment05]

driving and ease I guess is a frame of mind. Driving from Anaheim to LA is straight up the freeway.
As there are only 2 Disney parks it will not cover you for 2 weeks.
I know there are people on here who have done west coast without driving but i would not consider that as distances are so large.
as for other things west coast, The beaches, vegas, Yosemite, San diago, san fran . just to name a few.
As you can see it would be a different holiday to florida.

[Cannavar]

Its not about being converted, its about seeing different things.

First off, we dont hire a car when at Disneyland. We will stay there and if we need to go somewhere else then it would be a bus, train or cab. Not big fans of LA the city and wouldn't really go back but love Disneyland.

There is so much to do on the west coast that you do need to travel and for that then hire cars are great. San Diego, San Fran, the national parks. Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, all of these are great stopping loctions on a driving tour

Or just base yourself in 2 places like Disneyland and San Fran and visit the areas around with the need of a car?

[CazP]

That's the kind of thing I had in mind. Booking hotels in places where we could stay a few nights at a time, probably ending at Disney ready for a LAX flight home, but maybe flying into SF or maybe even Vegas as I know my mum would love to go there and could easily come along with us.
I just feel although Anaheim in doable in a week, it's a long flight to only go for a week and only going to Disney etc so I'd rather we go for longer and visit more places.

I have a start now to look into some of the places you've both mentioned, thank you

[tonymc]

It is definitely a different type of holiday to Florida. We visited last year, and we fitted in a few days in New York before flying onto Los Angeles. We drove down to San Diego for 5 nights where there was so much to do (including Seaworld), and it has some spectacular beaches.

We then headed back up to Anaheim for 6 nights where we had 3 day park hopper tickets which were more than enough to do everything. The two parks there are smaller than WDW, and have the bonus of being literally a minutes walk between the two gates, so very easy to switch between the two. Also worth noting that unlike WDW, there are loads of hotels just outside and within a 10 minute walk of the park gates.

We also fitted in a day at the beach, and a visit to the Ventura County Fair.

It can be quite a time-consuming journey between Anaheim and Universal, so you may be better splitting an LA stay between Anaheim and up nearer to Hollywood.

As you mention, it should be possible to book an "open jaw" flight (say into Vegas, returning from Los Angeles), so you could do UK-Vegas, fly Vegas to San Diego, drive up from San Diego to Anaheim and Hollywood, returning the car to LAX.

[sky13]

I did SF/LA/Anaheim a couple of years ago. At that point I didn't have a driving license so driving was completely out of the question. Flew LHR-SFO-SNA-SFO-LHR.


I flew into SNA airport (closest to Anaheim) and took a Supershuttle shuttle from there directly to my hotel (within walking distance of Disneyland).

For the few days I was at Disneyland I either walked to Disneyland, or took the local Disneyland shuttles (US$5/day). Having been to WDW recently I think I much prefer how compact Disneyland is and how easy it is to park hop and walk around the place. Though then again it's a really different experience between Disneyland and WDW and I love both!

During that time I also did a day trip to LA/Hollywood. This was with one of the tour companies. It was a bit weird as I was on my own and the only other people on the tour were these 3 huge Texan guys! However they were all really nice and it was a good way to see little bits of LA/Hollywood.

I also looked up going to Universal/etc and I think there are tour companies that will pick you up from your hotel and bring you to Universal/etc, then pick you up from Universal/etc and bring you back to your hotel.

One thing to note about the LA/Anaheim area is that traffic can be truly horrendous. On my day trip to LA/Hollywood I think it took about 1.5 hours to get from our last stop back to Anaheim due to the amount of traffic we were stuck in...


SF was much easier to get around without driving. From SFO airport I took the BART transit to downtown SF (Union Square), and got around by public transport or walking during my time there...

[CazP]

Thanks Tony

Ive been talking to a friend tonight that has done a few travelling trips around the states. She suggested 3/4 nights in SF, the same in Vegas, San Diego and then however long I felt necessary in the LA/Anaheim etc areas.

Thanks for suggestions, I've somewhere to start investigating now

[ali-s]

We did the West coast without a car. If you can book open jaw flights, ie flying into SFO out of LAX then you can either use internal flights between cities or Amtrak is an alternative. The Pacific Surfliner between LA and San Diego is a nice trip. In Anaheim many hotels are walking distance f the parks, we took a taxi to Knottsberry and there are various day trips run to the beaches , Universal and Six Flags if you don't want to stay close to them.

[CazP]

Thank you Ali

I've been into town and got a few brochures, now I can roughly plan prices

[Guest]

Sorry but only did a road trip this year in a car but I can say Disneyland CA is my favourite over Florida now, never thought I would say it!