Planning California for 2010 - Need advice and tips

[Guest]

Originally Posted by pudding

got back yesterday from california,we did 3 nights las vegas,3 nights san diego,2 nights anaheim then 4 nights marina del rey
I really liked san diego and the zoo was great..we bought california passes which worked out well..sea world was good too...
we went to disney and it was so funny i was looking for the castle and i was stood right by it..after floridas castle last year it looked like a bungalow ha ha
while in san diego go to coranado island it's lovely and they have the famous hotel del corando there..very posh
We did the star tours..we booked it online as it was cheaper..make sure you do the open top van as ours wasn't and taking pics was a waste of time through a window..
try and look if there are any events on at the chinese theater in LA if you visit as we got there and within 10 mins it was shut to the public due to the drew barrymore premier that evening so if you had one day you couldn't take pics of the hand prints..luckily 10 mins was enough for us
The thing i noticed in disney and universal is that some of the store workers etc were not as friendly as in flroida and florida had more of a magic feel...i felt disney felt like alton towers if you know what i mean..in florida everyone wears the fun hats etc but LA wasn't much of that..
we found venice beach to be a bit seedy..santa monica was nice just to go to the pier etc..malibu was lovely and lovely houses etc
any more info i will be glad to help

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Sounds like a great trip! Im thinking of doing LA, San Diego & Las Vegas next year. I was wondering where in San Diego to stay?

Well be there 4 nights and plan going to Seaworld , Zoo & Cornado Island but will be using public transport. Not sure what else we will do as ive just started planning th San Diego bit a few days ago! Hope your doing a Trip Report!

[Guest]

really glad i have found this thread as ive booked flights for august 2010 for sisters birthday to LA!

[pudding]

kerryh i have never done a trip report i will see what i can do...we stayed at a ramada but we had a car in san diego...Cornado Island is beauitiful and i would love to go back without the kids for a second honeymoon...
oh i need to read your trip report cos we were thinking of hawaii next year...

[Jools]

Originally Posted by summertime85

Thanks for all the info everyone.

I am finding the California planning mind boggling as I've been so used to knowing exactly what we want to do when booking the Florida holidays!

To date the basic plan is: San Francisco, LA and San Diego.

We were originally thinking of adding a few days in New York to either the beginning or the end of the holiday but we're not sure now. What do you think? Any advice would be welcomed.

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I know what you mean about the California trip planning. It really is a lot more difficult to plan than Florida, but well worth it.

We've been to California twice. The first time was only for 5 days and we fitted into a holiday that was originally all Las Vegas. We didn't see that much of California that first time, mainly doing Disney, although we had a great day out in Hollywood and we also went to Long Beach the same day. We stayed at the Hilton Anaheim, and it really was a great hotel.

In 2008 we went to California again, but this time visited San Francisco for 4 nights and Palm Dessert - should have been for 7 nights but it was too quiet and too hot for us so we went back to Vegas after 5 nights. We also went to San Diego for one night only, which we only booked the night before.

We loved San Francisco. There is so much to see and do and it just has a fantastic laid back atmosphere. I'm hoping we'll be able to return next year. We really liked what little we saw of San Diego too, and definitely have that on a future itinerary, but we'll stay maybe 4 nights. Again there is loads to see and do and we hardly scratched the surface in the short time we had there.

We also had 3 (I think it was 3) nights at Disney's Grand Californian in Anaheim which we really enjoyed.

Have you thought about how you'll get from one part California to another? We took internal flights from Vegas (not in California of course) to San Fran and then from San Fran to LA. We flew with Virgin America and the fkights were great and very cheap. The rest of the time we drove.

Enjoy your planning. I'm sure you'll have a fantastic holiday

[Queen of Herts]

After our recent trip to Virginia we have discovered how easy it is to fly around the US, we flew from NYC to Williamsburg and saved over 7 hours of driving. Next year we are planning to fly into Phoenix with BA and then take a flight up to Vegas for a couple of nights as we too have children but it would be fun to see some of the sights. We are then thinking of San Diego but not sure where else.

Highlights for us in San Francisco were the boat ride over to Sausilito and the meal we had in a place called something like 'Blue Horizon' and it looked over the water. Sausilito is a lovely small town with gift shops and restaurants.

We also loved the Monterey aquarium and I think it was Monterey we had a great meal in Bubba Gumps.

[DIBBadmin]

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