Where to stay?

[ribena]

Looking at doing Disney & Universal but don't want to move accommodation while we are there. Is there somewhere in the middle that is good for both?

Thanks

[rusty30]

Not really no...mainly due to the horrendous traffic. I'd pick one or the other and commute!

Universal is a fairly easy one day affair with Disney needing a few days so it makes more sense to stay at Disney and drive to Universal. If you choose a weekend with no rush hour then it's only a 45 min drive - but easy take 3x that long during the week.

The only advantage of staying at universal means there are more attractions on your doorstep- Warner Bros, Walk of Fame, Griffith Park etc but if you are ONLY Doing the park then I'd stay in the Disney area.

[ribena]

Ah I see. We would want to do it all. Maybe will look at moving half way through. As we also wanted to see Las Vegas and San Diego thought it was a lot of changing hotels.

[rusty30]

Most people do a split stay. A few days in West LA for the sights mentioned above then move onto Anaheim for Disney. If you are planning on San Diego and Vegas as well then you will have to expect a fair few hotel changes!

One of the beach resorts might suit you though - it's not impossible to have one base and do Hollywood and Disney from it BUT you will need to factor in the traffic problem and plan accordingly! Santa Monica, Marina Del Ray, Redondo, Manhattan and Huntingdon beaches are all fabulous. If you don't mind negotiating the traffic then you will be ok. Plan the driving with worst case traffic scenarios then if you get somewhere earlier, it's a bonus!

I often have to be based in Hollywood (work reasons) so commute to all sorts of places (even done a day trip to Vegas once between jobs!). I've done Disney from there as well - perfectly possible - just made an early start, stayed till park closing at 11 then had a quick, traffic jam free drive back!

[daytonababe]

You really need to move hotels or waste a lot of time in traffic .

This year due to rain we had to change our plans a little so one of the days I stopped in Anaheim we travelled into Hollywood / Santa Monica etc took about 2 hrs each way .
Then when I moved to Fontana we travelled to Disney and it was well over an hour each day and that was leaving the park at 11pm .

I've done the drive from Hollywood ( universal ! Over to Anaheim a few times inc weekends at night and still been nearer to 90 mins

We usually stay at the Desert Palms in Anaheim which is less than 10'mins wakmtonthe parks and the Sheraton at universal . I suspect we will stay in the same hotels next year too .

[jdouds]

Hi how long is your trip going to be and from there you will get lots of advice on length of stays in each place. Also the make up of your party to give us an idea of what age groups to cater for.

[ribena]

It's just me and my husband. Going for 2 weeks.

[daytonababe]

2 weeks is a long time to do just Disney and universal .

Universal can easily be done in a day . Disney is only 2 parks so easily done in 3 days .

I love universal Hollywood but it's only one park and not as big as the Florida ones .

[ribena]

We are going to hire a car and combine Las Vagas and San Diego. So excited only seen San Fran before in that area. Was thinking 4 nights san diego, 3 nights Disney area, 3 nights Universal area then 4 nights las vagas.

[jdouds]

Would possibly cut LA and maybe stop at Palm Springs