19 days in California - HELP!

[pad406]

Not a veteran by any stretch of the imagination, only been once, xmas/Ny 2016/17 and we did a fair bit of hopping around, but these were our impressions:

San Francisco:
Flew into here (Out from LA), stayed 5n in the Holiday Express Suites in Fishermans Wharf. Nice, clean, free breakfast, and for SF reasonably cheap.
Alcatraz, must do, we did the night tour, fascinating
Walt Disney Museum, very interesting. Good 4+ hrs at least needed
Golden Gate, you just have to, but wouldn't bother repeating
Fishermans Wharf, plenty to do but a bit overly touristy
SF generally, nice city, plenty of soul and athmosphere

Drive down PCH to LA
Picked up car the morning we left (don't need a car in SF and parking is exhorbitant). Drove down Lombard st, just had to, one of my vivid memories of SF from TV when I was a kid. Was fun too
Beautiful drive down, stopped off in a good few places, watched the sunset.

Stayed in a little place called Morro Bay, lovely little town.
Next day headed to LA.

Los Angeles:
Stayed close to the Walk of Fame (Orchid Suites, would recommend, reasonable and a good size, close to everything touristy)
Universal was ok, not a patch on Florida
Warner Brothers tour was very good (pre-book your tickets)
Usual go see the sign, drive around the hills etc
And I'm afraid did not like anything else at all about LA, found it soulless. Would not be interested in going back at all, and imho if you don't want to move around too much, this is where I'd skip

Disneyland:
Stayed in the GC for 4N, loved it and the parks. Much, much smaller than WDW, but as many (possibly slightly more) rides. Different feel about the place though, not as many holidaymakers like WDW, far more day trip visitors. But still loved it. Visited Disneyland and Paradise Pier for meals and both seemed very nice. However as others mentioned not that many perks to staying on site and very good offerings literally outside the park gates. However we are mad Disney people so for us we'd still probably stay on site. We also came back for the last night (DW likes to finish with Disney )

San Diego
Have relations here so stayed with them for a couple of nights. Lovely city and one of the very few places in the US I'd consider living (but tbh I wouldn't live there, if I HAD to, then SD would be top 3, possibly even first)

So we had 17N in total, me, DW, DD(14), DS(10) and DN(10). If we were doing it again:
SF think we got this about right
PCH yes well worth the drive, even the kids loved it
LA nope, wouldn't bother
Disneyland, absolutely, again the 5N (in total) was good for us.
San Diego, probably add 1N

But next time, would like to do some more northerly of California, Muir Woods, that area. Yosemite would be a must. Hearst Castle (just off the PCH) would have liked to seen this, but we had left it too late to get tickets. Might even throw in a visit to Death Valley.

One thing for sure, you'll likely not be disappointed, you certainly won't do it all (even if you wanted to travel a lot).

Whatever you decide enjoy the holiday

[red cuillen]

Another one for 4-5 days at disney if you have the time, think with the good neighbour package you buy a 4 day park hopper, then the 5th day is free. It meant we had a couple of hours in the park before heading back to the airport. My wife did a detailed diary of our recent visit San to LA via Joshua Tree - Disney day 3,4,5 incl Walk in Walts tour

[daytonababe]

Originally Posted by KarenG

Research whether the construction at DTD is making the Disneyland Hotel less attractive than usual. It might be OK, I don't know, but you have to walk right past a demolition zone.

It was definitely headed that way when we were there in November but I've no idea if it's all ok now. We always have a mooch around the DL hotel - it is lovely - but I tend to prefer to stay somewhere just as close and use the money I've saved in Trader Sam's (MUCH more fun that WDW's version).

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It was a mess in March too and I believe there is a lot more either closed or closing at DTD, I know Earl of sandwich is goibgvdue to the construction.

[buryboy]

I don't have much to offer as we mainly did the lower end of California, but we did 4 days in Disney and was glad we did. But we are the type of people who if we like something, we like to do it over and over

However the real reason for me posting is to point out that we too went exactly 10th August to 29th August , we had one daughter who also was 15 at the time, and one younger son ( ours was 11 not 8 though)
If you have half as good a time as we had, you will have a fab holiday

PS although I have never been, I would certainly do Yosemite if you can on this trip. It looks amazing and is top of my list next time we can go

[Sherman]

Originally Posted by Bozza

Thanks!
I had a quick look at Yosemite accommodation for the back-end of our trip earlier and there seems to be practically nothing left within the park itself.

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I’d definitely recommend Evergreen Lodge (just outside the park). I think it has a sister hotel too - Rushcreek.

There was nothing left in the park when we booked Evergreen, but it was a lovely log cabin kind of resort and would stay there again if we went back.

[jdouds]

Hi have a look at yosemite view lodge at El portal .

[Bozza]

Blimey - where have those 3 weeks or so gone?!?

We go five weeks tomorrow and still have nothing booked other than our flights.

Our original plan so see SF and then slowly head down to Anaheim and LA might be changing due to the likelihood of some attraction closures later into August as Space Mountain and Haunted Mansion get their Halloween makeovers.

Thought about picking up a car on arrival at SFO, as we arrive at 2:30pm, and heading an hour or so down the coast and staying for the night but the prices of hotels in and around Santa Cruz are eye-watering for what will mainly be a crash pad. Doesn't help booking so late, and for what is a Friday night stay, I guess.

Need. To. Book. Stuff. Soon.

[Vinniecat]

We go on the 9th of August for 23 nights and have swopped and changed our plans. Initially we were doing 5 nights in San Francisco which we still are then 2 nights Monterey and 2 nights Morro bay which we cancelled in order to do Yosemite. We left the change too late to get accommodation in the park but have booked 4 nights at tenaya lodge. We then do 2 nights in Santa Barbara, 7 in San Diego and 5 in Anaheim. I know what you mean about not wanting to live out of a suitcase. Even though we are doing 5 locations people have suggested to us that we do more. However I am another one who would rather get more of a feel for a place. I am looking forward to seeing what your final itinerary will be. We are staying at the courtyard Marriott in Anaheim are you still thinking of staying in a Disney hotel?

[Bozza]

Originally Posted by Vinniecat

We are staying at the courtyard Marriott in Anaheim are you still thinking of staying in a Disney hotel?

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The sale on Disney's own hotels I was hoping for, having seen the same offer was on last year, is now on.

The problem is I can't recall what the prices were when I looked before, so I'm not entirely sure if the supposed savings are actually what is being applied.

I had previously thought we'd do, maybe, 4 nights in an off-site hotel and then 1 night in the Disneyland Hotel just to experience it, but I've really got no idea now!

[disney babe]

we did 3 nights Anaheim, 1 night needles, 1 night grand canyon, 5 nights vegas, 3 nights san fran, 1 night cambria (ECH), 3 nights LA, 1 night santa monica, had best time ever.