West Coast Itinerary Advice

[daytonababe]

Also with kids that age I wouldn’t do two many hotel changes either . Mine are older and have been many times and we do no more than 4/5 hotel changes over 3 weeks . We do less places and more time in each .

My rule is no stay shorter than 3 nights and no drive longer than 5/6 hrs as I don’t want to spend half my holiday in the car and checking in / out of hotels .

[MrsMoney]

Originally Posted by daytonababe

Also with kids that age I wouldn’t do two many hotel changes either . Mine are older and have been many times and we do no more than 4/5 hotel changes over 3 weeks . We do less places and more time in each .

My rule is no stay shorter than 3 nights and no drive longer than 5/6 hrs as I don’t want to spend half my holiday in the car and checking in / out of hotels .

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We are doing the same. When my husband and I have been without the kids we've been happy to do 1/2 night stays and cram loads of places in but this year we are taking the kids (14, 8) and so have booked 3/4 night stays everywhere other than Santa Barbara where we've booked 2.

We decided very early on that in order to enjoy this trip properly we needed to reduce our itinerary and spend longer enjoying each place before having to pack up stuff for 4 people and move on again.

[Cannavar]

We normally do 2, 3, or 4 nights on road trips. Plenty to see and do and we make good use of the travel day too.

This year we are staying in 7 hotels over 18 nights. 1 single night, 1 double night and the rest 3 nights.

[cornishfrogboy]

Your plan

Day 1 Universal Hotel
Day 2 Knotts Berry Farm Hotel
Day 3 Sequoia National Park Hotel
Day 4 Yosemite Hotel
Day 5 Fisherman's Wharf Hotel, SFO
Day 6 Fisherman's Wharf Hotel, SFO
Day 7 Monterey Hotel
Day 8 Santa Barbara Hotel (We would go inland from Monterey to avoid the landslide)
Day 9 Anaheim Hotel
Day 10 Anaheim Hotel
Day 11 Anaheim Hotel
Day 12 Anaheim Hotel
Day 13 Anaheim Hotel
Day 14 Anaheim Hotel

We got back from our 14 night break on Thursday, having flown into SFO and departed from LAX. We fitted loads in on our 1st WC visit and it worked really well, but would make the following observations.

1. Do not underestimate the traffic volume in Los Angeles. The 405, and particularly the 5 are absolutely horrific. On Thursday, our 7 .7 mile drive from Santa Monica to LAX took 1 hr 45 minutes. you could spend an awful lot of time in very slow, unforgiving traffic.

2. Monterey was a highlight of our vacation and I would most certainly look at 2 nights. We stayed at the Monterey Bay Inn and its location is absolutely perfect, as was the Whale Watching trip. I would have loved to have seen the Aquarium and other things.

3.You have slated 5 nights for Annaheim and I would guess that this is for Disney. Many of the rides are pretty much identical to those in Orlando and in addition, many others were closed. IMHO 2 Days in the Disney area would more than suffice, giving you 3 days extra elsewhere. (In honesty, one day would have sufficed).

4. San Francisco was really good and we spent 2 full days there. We spent one at Alcatraz in the morning with Fishermens Wharf in the afternoon. We spent the second on bicycles from Dylans tours, viewing Lombard St on the way as we walked to the collection point. The tour involved make your own way cycling down to the wharf, along the coast, over the golden gate to Sausolito. After dumping the bikes, we had lunch and then picked up a minibus (with guided tour through Marin) to the Giant Redwoods at Muir Woods, before drop off at Fishermens wharf or other locations. A great trip. We did the Powell St cable car also, which goes from near the wharf up close to Union Sq and other than missing the Haight Ashbury sign, we had achieved all objectives!

5. Yosemite. It was out to us as we could not predict weather. Is it crucially important? It is one heck of a long way. with hindsight, we decided that it must wait for another day in any case. Same, Sequoia.. There are giant redwoods at Muir Woods. They all do look similar.

6. Santa Barbara for the night. Santa Barbara is not far from LA, but one heck of a distance from Monterey. If it is merely for a break in the driving, Pismo, or in our case, the utterly unforgetable Madonna Inn and a quick look at Pismo beach is a more logical, half way point.

7. The highlight of our entire trip as a location was San Diego.

There is no right way to plan a West Coast trip and everybody is different, as is every family. We are Florida regulars (8 visits) and like you, were initially daunted by the planning of a 'West Coast'. Our fears were misplaced and we had a brilliant, unforgetable time. Our planning was very largely done on the advice and best knowledge of other DIBBERS.

My trip report is on the California trip report section of DIBB (California N to South at Easter). It may, or may not help you. There are many other reports there and between all of them, I feel sure that you will come up with a plan and an amazing vacation.

[lukeysmom]

We came home today, our trip consisted of
Fly SFO
4 nights SF
Drove to Monterey, stopped at Henry Cowell state park to see the redwoods as no time in SF to do Muir woods...had abreak at santra cruz toi
3 nights Monterey
Drove down hwy 1 as far as McWay falls
1 night Santa Barbara, stopped at Paso robles for lunch and wuick drive through Pismo beach, could of stayed longer there.
Long drive from Monterey, stayed 1 night Santa Barbara, expensive, not sure was worth it but nice to see...
2 nights Santa Monica, traffic terrible.
Hotel fab.
1 night north Hollywood to do universal, easily done in a day. Drove the sights ourselves and tubed from universal to chinese theatre and walk of fame.
4 nights Anaheim, loved, loved Disney not enough time for us!
(Have done orlando 4 times and DLP twice) could have stayed longer, our hotel nice 15 walk from parks, in hindsight eould have stayed at best western opp but was fully booked, we took a couple of hours back at room every day as too tiring for our 14 year old...

[bambikate]

Originally Posted by enjibenji

Depends what you like. I loved the road trip as much for on the road as the stopovers. We did 13 nights and out of that stopped 9 x 1 night and 2 x 2 nights and I was itching to get back on the road. We love seeing all the different places and are doing another one this xmas but like I say, it all depends what you like.

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Ahh thank you! We like road trips so I don't think being on the road a lot would be so bad. Good to know you enjoyed the 1 night stopovers though

Originally Posted by Cannavar

5 nights Disneyland is my recommendation. It is a lovely place that you need to spend time relaxing in. We usually do it at the start of the holiday. I love walking through downtown Disney in the early hours when no one else is around because if the jet lag

You could try renting points to stay at the DVC in Grand Californinan? It was lovely to be in the park and wake up to the sounds of the forest (not real )

Due to the travel times, 2 nights in Yosemite is the minimum.

Very jealous of you

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Thank you! The reason we originally booked was for DL so I definitely don't want to skimp on the Disney nights

We did try this a few months ago but it was already fully booked aside from the odd night here and there in a 2 bed

Originally Posted by Eccle

I think from the time you have, I would drop some time from Disney. With the two parks so close you can easily get between them and I think you can cover everything in less time than you have. I would also stay offsite, there are lots of hotels in walking distance. We stayed at the Sheraton Park hotel and had a view of DCA.

I also think too many one nights would be hard with children. We did the PCH pre children and it was great, but my two older children are similar ages to yours and I don't think I'd do it with them yet as I suspect they wouldn't appreciate it and would just moan about time in the car! But that might just be mine! Monterey is worth doing, we loved the aquarium there.

I think you will need more than two nights in SF

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Great advice thank you I think we are nearly there with our revised itinerary!

Originally Posted by PantherMum

I'm sure you would find plenty to do in 4 or 5 days at Disney! You've picked a great week to visit - the crowd predictor websites show manageable crowds on week days at the end of Aug.

We did 5 days on our first cali trip 3 years ago, and we are planning to repeat the experience 27th to 31st Aug. I know that would be too long for a lot of west coast dibbers, but it worked for us. My son is now nearly 11 and I think this might be the last year I can get away with so much time in Disney...

Actually we are also booked into the Anaheim hotel too. Location looks fab, hoping it's only about 15 mins walk from the parks to the pool!

I have read some of you Orlando reports - your lovely family will have an amazing trip whatever you decide to do!

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Aww thanks for your lovely comment! Sounds great! x

Originally Posted by PantherMum

Ps Knotts Berry Farm and Soak City are easily do-able from Anaheim (think it took us 20 - 30 minutes drive)

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Perfect! Thank you

Originally Posted by MrsMoney

We attempted to do this back in January (we too are going to California for 16 nights mid-late August) and were already out of luck so I very much doubt you’ll be able to rent points for there at this late stage.

However Tom Bricker wrote a fabulous article on Anaheim hotels which helped us pick a highly recommended hotel pretty much opposite the DL Park for an awful lot less than the GC!

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Thank you, that article was really good and I was pleased to see the one we chose near the top! We also tried in January and found the same!

Thank you for your advice

Originally Posted by KarenG

You're right on the studio availability, no chance of a four night stay at this point. It's tough sometimes at seven months, even. It's definitely a way to save money, but renting points is still a lot more than nearby offsite options.

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Yes we have definitely decided offsite is for us this trip! x

Originally Posted by AlexE

We flew into LAX and picked up a car for our road trip ending our trip in Anaheim and dropping the car at Alamo on W Katella. That way it saved a few days rental and we got a super Shuttle to the airport - saved stress of driving to LAX.

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Funnily enough this is what we decided to do too! Seemed silly leaving it racking up parking costs and rental costs for 5 nights unused Thank you! x

Originally Posted by daytonababe

Also with kids that age I wouldn’t do two many hotel changes either . Mine are older and have been many times and we do no more than 4/5 hotel changes over 3 weeks . We do less places and more time in each .

My rule is no stay shorter than 3 nights and no drive longer than 5/6 hrs as I don’t want to spend half my holiday in the car and checking in / out of hotels .

See more...

That sounds like some good rules to have Thank you for the advice. Our revised itinerary is nearly there I think!

Originally Posted by MrsMoney

We are doing the same. When my husband and I have been without the kids we've been happy to do 1/2 night stays and cram loads of places in but this year we are taking the kids (14, 8) and so have booked 3/4 night stays everywhere other than Santa Barbara where we've booked 2.

We decided very early on that in order to enjoy this trip properly we needed to reduce our itinerary and spend longer enjoying each place before having to pack up stuff for 4 people and move on again.

See more...

That's exactly what we have done too following all the dibbers advice!

Originally Posted by Cannavar

We normally do 2, 3, or 4 nights on road trips. Plenty to see and do and we make good use of the travel day too.

This year we are staying in 7 hotels over 18 nights. 1 single night, 1 double night and the rest 3 nights.

See more...

Sounds amazing! Thanks for the advice

Originally Posted by cornishfrogboy

Your plan

Day 1 Universal Hotel
Day 2 Knotts Berry Farm Hotel
Day 3 Sequoia National Park Hotel
Day 4 Yosemite Hotel
Day 5 Fisherman's Wharf Hotel, SFO
Day 6 Fisherman's Wharf Hotel, SFO
Day 7 Monterey Hotel
Day 8 Santa Barbara Hotel (We would go inland from Monterey to avoid the landslide)
Day 9 Anaheim Hotel
Day 10 Anaheim Hotel
Day 11 Anaheim Hotel
Day 12 Anaheim Hotel
Day 13 Anaheim Hotel
Day 14 Anaheim Hotel

We got back from our 14 night break on Thursday, having flown into SFO and departed from LAX. We fitted loads in on our 1st WC visit and it worked really well, but would make the following observations.

1. Do not underestimate the traffic volume in Los Angeles. The 405, and particularly the 5 are absolutely horrific. On Thursday, our 7 .7 mile drive from Santa Monica to LAX took 1 hr 45 minutes. you could spend an awful lot of time in very slow, unforgiving traffic.

2. Monterey was a highlight of our vacation and I would most certainly look at 2 nights. We stayed at the Monterey Bay Inn and its location is absolutely perfect, as was the Whale Watching trip. I would have loved to have seen the Aquarium and other things.

3.You have slated 5 nights for Annaheim and I would guess that this is for Disney. Many of the rides are pretty much identical to those in Orlando and in addition, many others were closed. IMHO 2 Days in the Disney area would more than suffice, giving you 3 days extra elsewhere. (In honesty, one day would have sufficed).

4. San Francisco was really good and we spent 2 full days there. We spent one at Alcatraz in the morning with Fishermens Wharf in the afternoon. We spent the second on bicycles from Dylans tours, viewing Lombard St on the way as we walked to the collection point. The tour involved make your own way cycling down to the wharf, along the coast, over the golden gate to Sausolito. After dumping the bikes, we had lunch and then picked up a minibus (with guided tour through Marin) to the Giant Redwoods at Muir Woods, before drop off at Fishermen's wharf or other locations. A great trip. We did the Powell St cable car also, which goes from near the wharf up close to Union Sq and other than missing the Haight Ashbury sign, we had achieved all objectives!

5. Yosemite. It was out to us as we could not predict weather. Is it crucially important? It is one heck of a long way. with hindsight, we decided that it must wait for another day in any case. Same, Sequoia.. There are giant redwoods at Muir Woods. They all do look similar.

6. Santa Barbara for the night. Santa Barbara is not far from LA, but one heck of a distance from Monterey. If it is merely for a break in the driving, Pismo, or in our case, the utterly unforgettable Madonna Inn and a quick look at Pismo beach is a more logical, half way point.

7. The highlight of our entire trip as a location was San Diego.

There is no right way to plan a West Coast trip and everybody is different, as is every family. We are Florida regulars (8 visits) and like you, were initially daunted by the planning of a 'West Coast'. Our fears were misplaced and we had a brilliant, unforgettable time. Our planning was very largely done on the advice and best knowledge of other DIBBERS.

My trip report is on the California trip report section of DIBB (California N to South at Easter). It may, or may not help you. There are many other reports there and between all of them, I feel sure that you will come up with a plan and an amazing vacation.

See more...

Thanks so much for taking the time to post such an informative reply! Some excellent advice thank you. I've been taking on board every bit of advice I have received and I think we are finally nearly there with a revised itinerary that I spent all day yesterday on! Thank you!

Originally Posted by lukeysmom

We came home today, our trip consisted of
Fly SFO
4 nights SF
Drove to Monterey, stopped at Henry Cowell state park to see the redwoods as no time in SF to do Muir woods...had abreak at santra cruz toi
3 nights Monterey
Drove down hwy 1 as far as McWay falls
1 night Santa Barbara, stopped at Paso robles for lunch and wuick drive through Pismo beach, could of stayed longer there.
Long drive from Monterey, stayed 1 night Santa Barbara, expensive, not sure was worth it but nice to see...
2 nights Santa Monica, traffic terrible.
Hotel fab.
1 night north Hollywood to do universal, easily done in a day. Drove the sights ourselves and tubed from universal to chinese theatre and walk of fame.
4 nights Anaheim, loved, loved Disney not enough time for us!
(Have done orlando 4 times and DLP twice) could have stayed longer, our hotel nice 15 walk from parks, in hindsight eould have stayed at best western opp but was fully booked, we took a couple of hours back at room every day as too tiring for our 14 year old...

See more...

Ahh thank you so much! I had no idea re the Redwoods near Santa Cruz so this is so helpful! Also interesting to note that 4 nights wasn't enough for you, I really want to take my time in DL, I have done Orlando 10 times and could happily spend a full two weeks there every year and not get bored but I know some people would find this boring so I think I may settle at 5 nights. Thanks so much! Your trip sounded amazing! x

[rachelhelen82]

Looks like we’ll be there at the same time, we fly from LHR on 20th August with Virgin.
So far our plans are 4 nights Hollywood, 4 nights San Diego and 6 nights Anaheim - so excited 😆

[donna252]

Just stumbled on this in the west coast section!possibly planning a 2019 trip also with two kids. Have u finalised your itinerary yet?are you going to do a pre trip report?