Highs & Lows..

[daytonababe]

Highs

Vegas... As always we had a fab time, 8 days wasn't enough

St Patricks Day in Vegas, brilliant atmosphere on the strip

Weather... We were so lucky hottest we've ever had, Vegas temps topped 100 at some points and Phoenix 111

Avis Car Hire.. No hard sell, We used Avis preferred and were in the car within 10 mins of arriving.

South Point Hotel..Yet another fab stay we will be back next year

Best Western Phoenix... Got us out of a big hole (see lows) and gave us a suite

Days Inn Buckeye .. Saved our skin (see lows)

Country Inn & Suites Fontana.. Lovely hotel and staff

Desert Palms Anaheim.. 3rd yr in a row been refurbished since last
year, it was lovely then its really nice now

Seeing friends... Had 2 lovely evenings/ meals with friends

Huntingdon Beach.. Beautiful place will go back for longer next time

Manhattan Beach... Lovely sadly we didn't get long there.

Calabasas... Had a lovely few hours here

Ontario Mills.. Proabably the best shopping mall I've been too in the USA

Disneyland .. Spent 2 lovely days here..

Red Rose Tavern Disneyland... We don't generally eat on site but this was a treat for my daughter and pretty good and reasonable for park food.

Crowne Plaza Heathrow, one of the few hotels that would do hotel
plus 21 days parking and it was fab can't fault it at all and cheaper than a Premier Inn & Purple Parking.

Victoria Gardens Ontario.. Nice upscale shopping area with restaurants..

Lows..not many..

Weather... We had rain from 2pm on our first Disney rain and I hate rain we but made the best of it and stayed till park closing

Hollywood Blvd.. We went a few years ago and i thought it was a dump and its even worse now.. Its dirty, full of freaks and rundown.. finished it off going in a restroom to see a druggie had left stuff lying around and blood everywhere..

Homeless in Vegas... This year for the first time I noticed they were far more vocal and actually approaching people, A local Policeman told me to keep the kids close when near the homeless/ drunks as they are having real issues with them this year.. One was laid on the pavement near M&M's world with his trousers and pants down and all his bits exposed... I didn't feel unsafe at any point though.

Lyft/Uber touts on the strip.. They are everywhere giving out advertising cards, tell one no and another appears...

Venice Beach.. another dump

Hilton Garden Inn Phoenix.. I booked this nearly a year ago, We turned up at 10.30pm went to check in with $680 cash to pay for the room to be told they don't take cash on check on only check out ! Basically unless we had a credit card with $780 spare we couldn't have the room. I said we don't use a CC and that's true and in more hotels than I can count we've never had a problem. I offered to leave $200 deposit and told no.. Offered to go fetch a friend who was minutes away and get him to pay with his card and I'd give him the cash and told no because the card wasn't in our room. Upshot was the manager told us no card and the room was cancelled.. We were left on a weekend (NASCAR) with no hotel and everywhere sold out. Ended up going to the nearby Best Western where we had stayed before, they found us a room for the Sat & Sunday and reduced the rate for us... She then rang around and got us a room in a Days Inn at Buckeye.. only room anywhere, cost me $220 but we had no choice.

BA... I booked the 9,30pm flight out of LAX to give us a full last day, I checked in online Sunday night all fine.Yesterday we got up went to Calabasas and then Manhattan beach, I checked my emails at 3pm (previously had checked them at lunch) to find one from BA saying flight cancelled we were now on the AA flight at 6pm ! .. Much panic and a complete mood change :-( rushed to take the car back, got to the airport to be checked in by the rudest person ever... Final boarding call was 5.10pm for the 6pm flight so we didn't even get time for food..


Observations..

Costs..With the exchange rate things are pretty expensive now there is the odd bargain but few and far between.. Things like the latest trainers are cheaper here.

People not doing as they are asked... I lost count of the times in Disney when a CM would have to ask people (adult / children alike) to not step over the line / go behind the barriers etc etc.. No child likes to queue but that's no excuse for running riot and going off into cordoned off areas...

Crowds, Disney was much better this time as its Spring Break but queues weren't too bad considering..


Future plans..

Well we are going back next March to do pretty much the same although Chloe won't be coming as she'll be working in a school.

But first we have Tenerife in August and Charlotte in October to look forward too

[Mexy02]

Sounds like you had a fab time apart from the Hilton garden. I would have been steaming. Glad the best western bailed you out though, great customer service .

[daytonababe]

Originally Posted by Mexy02

Sounds like you had a fab time apart from the Hilton garden. I would have been steaming. Glad the best western bailed you out though, great customer service .

See more...

I was raging... I said we have 2 kids where we going to sleep Walmart car park ? and she couldn't have cared less (I should point out I was polite until the very end)..

The Hilton group have since apologised and sent me a voucher for a free night in a Garden Inn.

I can't thank the Best Western enough..

[happytraveller]

Welcome home DB

How awful regarding your flight home and as for the hotel :angry: We have the 21.30 from Vegas for the same reason and I'll be keeping an eye on it now.

[tocpe321]

Glad you had a great holiday overall. Sound like your highs far outweighed the lows. Good service from Best Western coming to the rescue.

We are hoping to spend a day in and around the beach; Manhattan and/or Redondo Beach, so it's good to hear Manhattan Beach area is nice. We have booked Avis from LAX too so nice to hear it went smoothly.

Happy planning for your next holiday.

[Guest]

I heard that Hollywood isn't what you would expect but feel like I still need to go for a look around while we're over in June. The toilet situation sounds horrible though 😳 We was also thinking of going to Venice Beach and Santa Monica. Did you visit Santa Monica?

[emmabanana]

Sounds like overall you had a great time, that was poor of the Hilton garden inn, at least you got something sorted.

[carolynne67]

Welcome home, sounds like you had another fab holiday.
Carolynne

[tinytots]

Glad it was good overall. Sounds like Hollywood Blvd was awful! Glad we decided to only do a stopover in LA.
But the flight! I would have been in a flat spin.
Welcome home

[Caljos]

Hi,

Glad you had a good time. I mirror your thoughts exactly on the L.A part of your trip. I'm slightly worried about the homeless in Vegas, I always feel terrible walking past them & one approached me in Leeds not so long ago, I ended up buying him a hot drink, I will have to try and stay strong in Vegas otherwise I will be skint.