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Disneyland California and West Coast Trip Planning Disneyland California and West Coast Holiday Planning Questions, Suggestions and Tips.

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Old 4 Jan 19, 03:36 PM  
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minnie52
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California/Disney in April/May

Now that we are in 2019 we have been trying decide on a destination for 2020. California we have talked about so many times and then it gets put on the back burner. This time I've been doing some proper research and I feel like I've come up with a good itinerary!


First question though - flights aren't obviously released yet but I have been doing dummy bookings based on this years prices and Norwegian are coming up by far the cheapest. Obviously I'm expecting an increase for the following year but has anyone flown with them before? Should I be avoiding them or are they just really reasonably priced?

I'm leaning more towards April time as we can do it in Easter holidays without taking the kids out of school - I guess this means that Disney is likely to be extra busy though?

Anyway our itinerary will look something like this

San Fran - 3 nights
Monterey - 1 night
Santa Barbara - 1 night
LA - 3 nights
San Diego - 3 nights
Disney 3 nights

We could possibly add an extra night on in either LA or Disney but I want to make sure we fly home on a Saturday - making our Disney stay during the week.

Just to add - I have heard parking in San Fran is expensive so would plan on renting our car from the day we leave - is the tram system easy enough to use to get around? We would be looking to stay around Fisherman's Wharf and do Alcatraz, Golden Gate Bridge, Walt Family Museum.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Edited at 03:41 PM.
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Old 4 Jan 19, 04:52 PM  
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jengibbo
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Hi,
We are going this Easter flying out on Saturday 6th and returning on Friday 19th. The flights are with BA Man to Lax via Heathrow. The total was £2300 inc car hire for 2ad and 2ch. The flight times aren’t amazing but the cost won us over. We have 5 nights in Anaheim that includes arrival night 1 night in Palm Springs 3 nights in the Grand Canyon and 4 nights in SAN Diego. We haven’t planned much yet but intend to do 3 days at DLC , Knotts Berry farm, Palm Springs Aeriel tramway. We aren’t planning on visiting LA until the day we leave just to pass the time. Can’t wait.
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Old 4 Jan 19, 05:10 PM  
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minnie52
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Oh wow that sounds amazing.

My OH would love to do the grand canyon so may be that would be an option for us instead of San Fran! Those flight prices would win me over too - that was the sort of cost I was hoping to pay! When did you book the flights if you don't mind me asking? As soon as they came out or did you hold off for a sale?
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Old 4 Jan 19, 08:24 PM  
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jengibbo
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I booked the flights in the middle of June 2018. I just thought the price was great so bit the bullet. I have booked some Virgin flights to Boston for this summer in their Xmas sale and they were £1400 return for the 4 of us. Cheaper than European flights.
The drive to the Grand Canyon will be an epic one but we will share the driving. I don’t mind driving on straight roads but not on freeways. The two kids will plug themselves into electronics so won’t even notice we are in the car all day. We did SF in 2005 and really loved it but thought Grand Canyon was a better option with two very lively boys. They love the great outdoors and the junior ranger activities look great plus I really want to see the sunrise too. I’m going to try and do a trip report when I return.
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Old 4 Jan 19, 09:49 PM  
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red cuillen
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Trams very easy to use, and quite fun, especially the cable cars. It is a nice stroll from FW to Presidio area (Walts museum), or you can use a combo of buses and trams. The whole city is designed for public transport - unlike LA... Lyft and Uber work well too.
You don't say how old the children are. What do you plan for the 3 days in LA? Most people find the Hollywood area a let down, good to say you've been there, done that. Griffiths park is nice, and there are some nice beaches, mainly south of downtown LA, but it could be cool on the coast at Easter. We did Disney after Easter monday, it was busy but not too bad. Loads of trip reports to help you choose between the coast or Canyon!
Flights tend not to get any cheaper during offical 'sales', but you have to check every day, check out kayak or google flights daily and watch how much the fare fluctuate.
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Old 12 Jan 19, 06:26 PM  
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minnie52
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Originally Posted by jengibbo View Post
I booked the flights in the middle of June 2018. I just thought the price was great so bit the bullet. I have booked some Virgin flights to Boston for this summer in their Xmas sale and they were £1400 return for the 4 of us. Cheaper than European flights.
The drive to the Grand Canyon will be an epic one but we will share the driving. I don’t mind driving on straight roads but not on freeways. The two kids will plug themselves into electronics so won’t even notice we are in the car all day. We did SF in 2005 and really loved it but thought Grand Canyon was a better option with two very lively boys. They love the great outdoors and the junior ranger activities look great plus I really want to see the sunrise too. I’m going to try and do a trip report when I return.
That is a good price again! I will keep checking when they come out!

The Grand Canyon will be incredible and brilliant for the boys to see as well! I hope you have a great time - will look forward to reading if you do decide to do one

Originally Posted by red cuillen View Post
Trams very easy to use, and quite fun, especially the cable cars. It is a nice stroll from FW to Presidio area (Walts museum), or you can use a combo of buses and trams. The whole city is designed for public transport - unlike LA... Lyft and Uber work well too.
You don't say how old the children are. What do you plan for the 3 days in LA? Most people find the Hollywood area a let down, good to say you've been there, done that. Griffiths park is nice, and there are some nice beaches, mainly south of downtown LA, but it could be cool on the coast at Easter. We did Disney after Easter monday, it was busy but not too bad. Loads of trip reports to help you choose between the coast or Canyon!
Flights tend not to get any cheaper during offical 'sales', but you have to check every day, check out kayak or google flights daily and watch how much the fare fluctuate.
Thank you for your reply - good to know its easy to get around by public transport in SF and even that we could walk it if we wanted too!

The kids will be 8 and 6 - LA is the one I'm most unsure about to be honest - I have no clue where would be best to stay but my eldest really wants to do Universal, I would like to see Hollywood Sign, Walk of Fame and Griffiths Park like you say. It would be nice to get to a beach if the weather allows!

Good to know about Disney - I think we would be getting there the Tuesday/Wednesday after Easter Monday so about the same sort of time.

Thank you for the tip about the flights will make sure I check daily once flights are released!
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