vegas and Disneyland/Universal

[ilovetigger]

Looking to do a Vegas and Disneyland/Universal trip next year. Have done Orlando quite a few times during summer holidays but this would be our first trip to the west coast.

As we are restricted to school holidays (my daughter is a teacher) which would be the better time to go in terms of weather/crowds, Easter or Summer?

Which would be the cheaper time to visit and what sort of flight prices would you consider to be reasonable?

Thanks

[landandword17]

Vegas will be hot as an oven in summer! It was so hot the glue binding my book melted in the sun! Flights are cheaper than Orlando. We've never paid more than £450 each to LAX. Not sure how much capacity they'll have on Vegas next year so an open jaw into Vegas and out of LAX *may* be pricier but should still be less than Orlando flights.

[KarenG]

As above Vegas is as hot as hell in the summer. We went in July once and August another time. Easter is lovely, weather wise and if you can avoid actual Easter for Disneyland you may find the crowds less bad.

That said I would go again to Vegas in summer if it was the only time free. You are inside most of the time and walking from one hotel to another (they are often connected to another but not always) reminds you why to get inside again 😂

Though it was much hotter than Orlando in August it is a drier heat which personally I find preferable to the Florida humidity.

We have always found flights to LAX cheaper than Las Vegas.

[ScoopsAhoy]

Yep Vegas is sweltering in the summer but we love it which is why we always go in July / august (august this year again) but it’s not for the faint hearted.
I have been at cooler times but it’s just not Vegas to me if it’s not boiling 😅
Again we have LA too this august but last time we went in June and the mornings were cool but afternoons hot.
Haven’t been at Easter so don’t really know about that but having reached weather this year I can see that it ranged from 12- about 21 at that time of year.
Got great deal on premium return flights to LAX in the jan sale with virgin. £2k for 3 adults and a child.

[Dagzie]

We did Vegas/California in August 2018. Vegas heat is, as others have said, very dry and very, very hot in the Summer. We've done Vegas in June, August and October and I prefer, ridiculous as it sounds, the mad heat of the Summer. We're due to go again in July.

California in August was hot but pleasant because of the coastal breeze. We stayed at Huntington Beach and Venice Beach and flew home from LAX. We're doing a similar trip in August this year hopefully, we love California. We did Universal in one day (we don't do Disney as our boys are too old for that now). If you get there early enough, go straight to the most popular rides/furthest away and you generally won't have that much of a problem with queue times. We did everything we wanted to do in the time we had and that was mid/late-August. We also did Knotts Berry Farm - a very easy trip from our base in Huntington Beach, we got an Uber and its literally a straight road North for about half an hour.

[cornishfrogboy]

We have visited the West Coast in 2018 into SFO and out of LAX at Easter.
We planned and paid for into SFO and out of Vancouver for Easter 2020.. cancelled.
We planned and paid for Aug 2020 into Phoenix and out of SFO via LA
We are booked and paid for into SFO and out of Las Vegas via the PCH to LA, flight to Tucson and a drive to Vegas.

I research things very heavily.

The weather in Anaheim, Valencia, LA etc in Easter of 2018 was balmy and pleasant, perfect for parks due to a breeze and more pleasant than Orlando, which can be baking in Easter. I cannot comment for August as I have not yet been.

Flights.
I place direct flights into and out of any airport other than those in Florida, especially MCO, on a par with each other. We never do same place of arrival and departure other than sometimes to Florida and in School Hols, would expect around £500pp including baggage.
This Aug with BA, world traveller with BA inc baggage, direct into SFO and direct out of LAS was £512 or so per person. LAX instead of SFO was cheaper.
Those prices would be any of LAX, SFO, LAS, etc, and seemingly a little more into San Diego. I believe that this represents the fact that U.K. to West Coast is a ‘mixed’ route, rather than a ‘Tourist’ one, likewise into Seattle, Boston, NY, D.C. and Atlanta. There may be other reasons.

Regionals tend to be more than £65 and less than £90 plus baggage pretty much every time when booking a long time ahead. They can drop a fair bit nearer the time, but we prefer certainty in planning, getting in early. Remember if flying between LA and LAS VEGAS, Burbank May suit your purposes better than LAX.

Car hire seems cheaper than Orlando and with different pick up/drop points.

Now the not so good.
Hotels on the coast seem very much more expensive, like for like in quality than in Orlando where there seems pretty much an over supply of Hotels, Condos and Villas.
Our hunt in Vegas for August turned up the Luxor on a direct booking Aug31 to Sept 2, four of us in a refurbished within the Pyramid at £62 including resort fee (Thankyou a kind DIBBER).

Food seems more expensive in restaurants.

Whenever people come onto this section for the first time, I always recommend contact with the dibber ‘Megaflyer’ who can be trusted as a total oracle on these areas.. and throughout the seasons.. as well as being exceedingly helpful.

Further South like San Diego, then ‘Aims’, but maybe not for the plans that you have.

I feel sure that you will not regret your westward excursion.

[ilovetigger]

Thank you everyone for the very informative replies, you've certainly given me some things to think about. No doubt I'll have a few more questions along the way.