Help! LA,mammoth,Yosemite,SF,LA trip plan

[parisdisneyfan]

Originally Posted by Luke Jaywalker

Hi, Thanks for all your help We booked 2 nights in the Yosemite Lodge At The Falls. I am just glad that they still had space,we did not book the breakfast for $60 extra per night, from the reviews of the food court some likened it to dining at San Quentin .

We will buy some breakfast food from a supermarket,put it in a cool bag as you recommended and once we arrive at the lodge pop it in the fridge.

I am slightly surprised at the hotel prices in California,most hotels seem be between two to three times more expensive than Florida.

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I would have said $60 for breakfast for 5 is a bit steep too!

I must admit I'm not sure of the price difference as we used packages to Florida or a villa. But for the extra night at the Sheraton we paid $109 plus tax for a basic room with 2 doubles. I did mention who my husband worked for which he gave us a corporate rate. A lot also charge parking and something called a "resort charge" which supposedly covers things like pool and towels, wifi and concierge services. I get annoyed as you can't opt not to use them!

I'm sure some one on here has stayed at the Lodge at the Falls, have a surf around and see, but I'm sure I remember it looking nice. Well done, you've made a start!

[Luke Jaywalker]

Originally Posted by parisdisneyfan

I would have said $60 for breakfast for 5 is a bit steep too!

I must admit I'm not sure of the price difference as we used packages to Florida or a villa. But for the extra night at the Sheraton we paid $109 plus tax for a basic room with 2 doubles. I did mention who my husband worked for which he gave us a corporate rate. A lot also charge parking and something called a "resort charge" which supposedly covers things like pool and towels, wifi and concierge services. I get annoyed as you can't opt not to use them!

I'm sure some one on here has stayed at the Lodge at the Falls, have a surf around and see, but I'm sure I remember it looking nice. Well done, you've made a start!

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I would be over the moon if I could find a hotel at that price ,most of them seem to be around the $240 + tax per night and that's just standard hotels

[parisdisneyfan]

We paid a bit more than that for our hotels but not a huge amount more and they were all top drawer (except 1, but don't get me started on that! ) I think you will pay more for ones in touristy areas like Yosemite. Perhaps you will just have to take a chance and not book so early, maybe that is the problem?

Good luck and pm me if you want the number of the TA who booked mine, maybe he can help

[Guest]

I am going to make a start on looking at hotels for our itinery even though we haven't booked our flights yet... we missed out on the Norweigan glitch last week, so am holding out a bit longer waiting to see what else comes up. But, in the mean time thought we had better start looking at hotels and availability for our dates... what sort of prices are we going to look at paying in your experience? We have only ever done Florida before in a condo... I'm guessing west coast is going to be more expensive ? Am I right or will it be about the same?

[Luke Jaywalker]

Originally Posted by whynot

I am going to make a start on looking at hotels for our itinery even though we haven't booked our flights yet... we missed out on the Norweigan glitch last week, so am holding out a bit longer waiting to see what else comes up. But, in the mean time thought we had better start looking at hotels and availability for our dates... what sort of prices are we going to look at paying in your experience? We have only ever done Florida before in a condo... I'm guessing west coast is going to be more expensive ? Am I right or will it be about the same?

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Hi , I am sorry that you missed out on the Norwegian deal , I had another look at their website last Saturday/Sunday and every time I searched kept getting the message script error,had to refresh the page so I see where you coming from.

Our main problem when booking hotels is that there are 5 of us so when I put our details into a specific hotels booking system usually the max occupancy is 4 so it either says no availability or gives is a suite which bumps up the price.

I have also found over the last 4 days of research that depending on where/when you want to book determines the price.

A few examples are our first 2 nights in Valencia I have found a hotel for around £50 per night because it is not a big tourist area,Yosemite is a different matter,being a national park you can't really pick and choose so £164 per night(Although I am something of a bargain hunter I don't mind as I anticipate it will be the highlight for me personally, of our holiday) is the going rate.

San Francisco is another one that I don't think will be easy,again I am looking at around £150 per night and I think that will be about the going rate for 4 people also.

If you then decide to drive down PCH 1 to somewhere like Monterey,which for me has been the hardest place to find accommodation,even at £185 I can't find a room at the moment.

Hollywood has posed a bit of a problem but I can find somewhere for around £140,for 4 people you can easily find a nice hotel for £60 .

Anaheim after a quick search tonight was the easiest of the lot,I found a good hotel for all 5 of us for £53.


If you put all of the above into a comparison with Florida it doesn't come close.Before I cancelled our booking at the Rosen Centre I Drive (which in my opinion is a 4 star accommodation)and booked a condo instead, we were going to pay a bargain £1200 for 26 nights this xmas until I realised that 5 of us in a hotel room for all that time was going to be a bit cramped.

Even somewhere like Rosen inn on I Drive, which has good reviews, is in a great location and been recently refurbished is about £50/£60 per night.Now if that same hotel was in an equivalent location in LA it would be at least double that price.

[Guest]

I also had a problem with monterey and santa cruz. I did find however a nice best western sea cliff just outside santa cruz on the beach for just over £100 so booked that.

Hi luke, what hotel in anaheim did you find.?

[Luke Jaywalker]

Originally Posted by FGEvans

I also had a problem with monterey and santa cruz. I did find however a nice best western sea cliff just outside santa cruz on the beach for just over £100 so booked that.

Hi luke, what hotel in anaheim did you find.?

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Hi, That's what we will probably do if we can't find a hotel at a reasonable rate in Monterey,stay somewhere a few miles out and just drive in for the day.

So far I have only booked our accommodation in Yosemite as the rooms sell out well in advance.With the others I have just been looking at the prices(I just want to make sure we are happy with our route/itinerary before we book any others) and will book them in the next week or so.

Regarding Anaheim I had a look at the choice hotels website and they had about 5 hotels close to Disney at very good rates .

[Guest]

Hi, have been looking at expedia website and can get a good deal with flights, accomodation and car based in Vegas for £4.4k but not sure whether to base ourselves in Vegas then drive from there to see what we want ie... Yosemite, Grand Canyon. Then maybe drive to San Fran for an over night stay ?... it seems cheaper to fly into Vegas and book a package doing it this way than trying to book flights separately then hotels? What do you think?... also how far is the drive to San Fran and Yosemite from Vegas?

[Luke Jaywalker]

Originally Posted by whynot

Hi, have been looking at expedia website and can get a good deal with flights, accomodation and car based in Vegas for £4.4k but not sure whether to base ourselves in Vegas then drive from there to see what we want ie... Yosemite, Grand Canyon. Then maybe drive to San Fran for an over night stay ?... it seems cheaper to fly into Vegas and book a package doing it this way than trying to book flights separately then hotels? What do you think?... also how far is the drive to San Fran and Yosemite from Vegas?

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Maybe I am not the best person to answer your question as I haven't been yet ,I suppose some of it depends on how long the holiday is for 2 or 3 weeks ? .You should take a look at parisdisneyfans hi sierra trip report as it would be the route you would follow.

I don't think you would be able to get to Yosemite valley in one day,Google maps say it is 407 miles and takes just over 7 hrs.But in my opinion that is way out and not realistic as driving through the valleys the roads twist and turn and are a lot slower.

You would have to to stop overnight on the way somewhere like Mammoth or Bishop maybe,then on to Yosemite.If you want to go to San Francisco you could do that straight after an overnight stay at Yosemite(198 miles) rather than direct from Las Vegas(562 miles) I would say an overnight stop in SF wouldn't do it justice as there is too much to see .

[KarenG]

Originally Posted by whynot

Hi, have been looking at expedia website and can get a good deal with flights, accomodation and car based in Vegas for £4.4k but not sure whether to base ourselves in Vegas then drive from there to see what we want ie... Yosemite, Grand Canyon. Then maybe drive to San Fran for an over night stay ?... it seems cheaper to fly into Vegas and book a package doing it this way than trying to book flights separately then hotels? What do you think?... also how far is the drive to San Fran and Yosemite from Vegas?

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I wouldn't even consider basing myself in Vegas to do Yosemite and San Francisco - that would be sort of like staying in Cornwall and doing day trips to London and Manchester?

What hotel have you been quoted for that price - hotels in Vegas are notoriously reasonable so you may find that the flights are still quite expensive?

You could fly between SF and Vegas.

If you wanted to base yourself in Vegas, there is plenty to do, day trips etc, but it would be a shame to go so close to the west coast and only do Vegas (unless you've done it before).