View Single Post
Old 23 Jul 17, 10:48 AM  
Link to this Post
#8
jocat
Thread Starter
VIP Dibber
 
jocat's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 10

theDIBB Guidebook
Guidebook Photos: 67
La

LA has been the part of the trip I've dithered over the most, particularly about where to stay.

At one stage, I had two hotels booked with cancellable rates and was still contemplating booking a third hotel in a different location. We initially booked the Hilton at Universal City, but considering they were charging $340 per night, it was breaking the budget. I kept checking and hoping that the cost would come down, but it never did.

Our friends found a small hotel/motel with great reviews not far away called El Royale Gardens, where they were staying for 2 nights. For our 3 nights, it was just over half the price of the Hilton (these were sale prices). I couldn't really argue with that, or the fantastic reviews.



It's by no means a luxury hotel, but all of the rooms have recently been refurbished. What really seems to set it apart from others though is the fantastic service that the staff provide.

Having booked this too, I still didn't cancel the Hilton though. I'll admit to having a few wobbles about the El Royale, as generally I prefer hotels with interior corridors to access the rooms. Think I was still hoping for a Hilton sale.

Just 3 weeks ago, I was at a friend's birthday party and got talking to her brother. He works for Universal at their London office, although he travels all over the world promoting their films, but had spent a few months based in LA about 3 years ago. He added a bit of a spanner in the works by suggesting we stay in West Hollywood - he really didn't have good things to say about the Hilton at Universal.

Ultimately though, we were only intending on spending half a day in Hollywood, as we had booked tickets to Universal Studios and the Warner Brother Tour on 2 days of our 3 day stay. So we stuck with our original plan of staying close to Universal, and I put my brave head on and cancelled the Hilton. The £400 I've saved will go a long way elsewhere.

So the plan is to check out from Anaheim on Thursday, drive to LA and hopefully check it Santa Monica and the Griffiths Observatory that day.



Friday we have the Warner Brothers tour booked with our friends, and we'll probably do the obligatory very short time spent at the Walk of Fame, which we feel we have to do despite the awful reviews. We might then follow it with a quick drive around Beverly Hills.

Saturday we were due to say goodbye to our friends, then spend the day at Universal. However our friends have now booked an extra night there, so although we won't be saying bye to them that morning, they aren't coming to Universal with us. I know Saturday is probably not the best day to spend there, but we have got early entry to the park. so hope we can avoid some of the crowds by starting early.

jocat is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List