Thinking of doing Cali

[Maui]

Evening Dibbers

Having just come back from Florida last month, we are looking at doing another USA trip, but this time the West Coast.

Haven’t been that side since the early 90’s with my parents! And remember a lot of travel was done on coaches/buses. Is it worth renting a car and road tripping it? I can imagine driving in Cali is going to be a totally different experience to driving in Florida...

Looking to do both Disney parks - how many days would be needed
Universal
Knotts Berry Farm
Six Flags
Hollywood

Is two weeks enough?

[jdouds]

Hi definately go, all I would say is that Cali is much more than parks. We would say don't limit the experience by doing to much time in LA area. 2/3 days max for Disney . The others a day each. How long will your trip be. So many good places to go, San Diego ,PCH, Monterey , Santa Barbara ,San Fran,yosemite. Most of these places with a little planning can be done in a circular route with drive times between 2 and 4 hours. Driving we believe is essential . Good luck planning

[grant_w]

I'd definitely drive.
We had 2 weeks in Cali for our honeymoon and then went back a couple of years ago for 18 days, and I didn't do Disney or Universal in that 18 days and still left so much to do

[Maui]

I'm guessing when doing California, its a case of staying at multiple places rather than having a "base"? Would you do hotels or Air BnB (we are used to staying in villas)?

Had a rough plan for the 2 weeks of:
4 days at Disney
1 day at Universal
1 day at Knott's Berry Farm
Would love to go to Yosemite, but just don't think it will "entertain" my 4 year old

[landandword17]

The distances are too large to have a base, Airbnb is an option in some areas but illegal in others so do your research before booking.

I’d take a 4 year old to Yosemite. Lots to occupy them and a good way to introduce them to nature. The junior ranger program is very cute and our accommodation (Half Dome) had nightly kids entertainment, storytelling, shows, marshmallow roasting etc.

[Mrs Red C]

I'd say check out all the various trip reports first!

They have loads of different likes and dislikes, loads of hotels/places to stay and visit. Obviously, everyone has their opinions, but you can pick and choose which bits would fit into your plan.

It's quite daunting, but our highlights would be in LA
Walk in Walt's Footsteps tour in Disneyland also the Beauty n Beast/Tangled show, hilarious 😂
Cars ride ( can't remember name) in DCA
Brunch at Beverly Hills Hotel
Gordon Biersch Brewery in Burbank

In San Francisco, Dylan's Tour,
Boudins Bakery and Ghiardelli's

We loved Solvang, a small Danish community, lovely pastries and beer!

(We've done trip reports under my name and Red Cuillen, just in case)

Enjoy your planning and research, it's definitely worth it!

[cornishfrogboy]

Originally Posted by Maui

Evening Dibbers

Having just come back from Florida last month, we are looking at doing another USA trip, but this time the West Coast.

Haven’t been that side since the early 90’s with my parents! And remember a lot of travel was done on coaches/buses. Is it worth renting a car and road tripping it? I can imagine driving in Cali is going to be a totally different experience to driving in Florida...

Looking to do both Disney parks - how many days would be needed
Universal
Knotts Berry Farm
Six Flags
Hollywood

Is two weeks enough?

See more...

We did our first ever last year.. and it was the best of our 9 vacations to date. We absolutely loved it and will return.

Imho, hiring a car is absolutely essential to get the most out of the West Coast. I would also suggest that the N to S from San Francisco to at least LA and more likely San Diego is a very worthwhile route. The PCH is awesome and beats the heck out of any of the parks whilst costing nothing but gas.

Now your questions. You have only mentioned sites in LA. Are you looking at Theme parks and nothing else? Ours was the first vacation in the USA where the theme parks were a very minor part of the whole were we to all list our top 10 best bits.

Working on the assumption that you are looking at Southern California, rather than simply theme parks, then the first thing is that it is nearly 500 lovely miles from San Francisco to LA. In total, just doing N to South and then back up as far as LA again came to 1200 miles.. but, and here’s the bit that’s different to Florida, other than going round LA, those miles were great fun and simply melted away.

If I was you (and I am not), I would start the research and work out exactly what you intend doing.

I would start reading trip reports and work out both which bits you rate and which parts you do not (along with your family).
I would suggest that you start with mine.. and for a reason. Mine is all in a single thread of 4 pages that cover everything we did, what we got right and more importantly, what we would do differently next time. It was largely done live and then amended later. The purpose was to give the mechanics of a 14 day trip and how to actually do things as much as listing what we actually did.. hence we detail some things we believe we got wrong.
Having read mine, you might have a basic framework from which to either add in or take out things. You might not like anything that we did!

Having done this, you can then expand into other ‘one day, one thread’ reviews of others once you know what you want. These cover things in greater detail, rather than mine which is simply an ‘overview’.

Hope this helps.

P.S... As many days as you possibly can in total, but only a single day each in the two Disney’s. You have seen most of it in Florida.

P.P.S Whatever you do, consider San Diego. It is the best!

[Aims]

Originally Posted by Maui

I'm guessing when doing California, its a case of staying at multiple places rather than having a "base"? Would you do hotels or Air BnB (we are used to staying in villas)?

Had a rough plan for the 2 weeks of:
4 days at Disney
1 day at Universal
1 day at Knott's Berry Farm
Would love to go to Yosemite, but just don't think it will "entertain" my 4 year old

See more...

California is definitely a multi-base holiday- everything is just spread too far apart to cover easily from one base. I encourage you to look into spending a few days in San Diego. It’s an easy two hours drive south from Disneyland, a very family-friendly city and lots to entertain a 4-year-old there...there is a world famous zoo, Sea World, Legoland (which is about halfway between Anaheim and San Diego in the city of Carlsbad), beaches, and Balboa Park with lots of museums including a model train museum that my kids loved at your child’s age.

I have a San Diego trip guide thread linked in my signature below with lots of info on what to do in San Diego, if you want to delve into it more thoroughly. Airbnbs are still legal in San Diego, though I know they aren’t in some parts of Los Angeles.

[jdouds]

Hi with the young one definately do Carmel beach and the aquarium in Monterey.

[Mrs Red C]

The aquarium is good but we found it very expensive. Watching Maureen feeding the fish in the tank was good fun though.