DL California and Las Vegas - advice

[Guest]

Hi all, I have been to WDW 4 times and DLP lots too - but never Disneyland, I have also never been to Las Vegas either so this is all very new to me. I was wondering if you kind Dibbers could offer any general advice.

So we would like to plan a trip to LA and LV, at the moment I am looking at May 2019, but it doesn't have to be then if that is a bad time to go. Two adults wanting to see Disney, Universal and maybe a day in LA and also Vegas. If you can help with any of my general questions below that would be amazing.

1. Is early May a good time to go? Are crowds at Disney light at that time of year?
2. How long for each part of the trip?
I am currently working on a plan of 3 day tickets for DL (& DCA) and 1 day for Universal - then one day for a mooch around LA itself to see the sights. We are not overly fussed about LA itself but whilst there it seems silly to miss it out.

Then on to Las Vegas for 3 nights and then home from there.

Does this seem reasonable? Does anything stand out as being a bad idea/needs amending?

3. Is it easy enough to visit LA if staying in Anaheim or are we better to transfer to another hotel after finishing at Disney?

4. What does everyone do flight wise - book everything separately or some kind of package? I have never been away before and arrived/left from different locations or done internal flights so its all new, just trying to work out the cheapest way of doing it.

Also any other tips/general info from those in the know would be really appreciated.

I am more than happy to do my own research (and have been pricing things up etc already) but if you can provide any insight that would be amazing.

Thank you

[pompeyboy]

I'm no expert as only been to once to both places. Firstly are you hiring a car? We only had 6 nights in the Anaheim/LA area so chose to stay in Anaheim and travel into Hollywood and Santa Monica we felt moving hotels would have wasted a good chunk of a day, others will see things differently.

We managed to do both parks in 2 days but felt a 3rd day would have been more relaxed, this was in November.

I assume you want to fly from Anaheim to Vegas, I would use the multi-city option on Google flights or skyscanner and enter UK-LA as flight 1, Vegas to UK as flight 2. Then repeat but add LA-Vegas in the middle and see what the prices are like for both options. Santa Ana or John Wayne airport is very close to Anaheim, so might be better for the flight to Vegas.

[landandword17]

Southwest for internal flights to Vegas. They have to be booked on their own site. And I agree Santa Ana is the airport to go from.

[sky13]

I’m currently planning an upcoming trip to SF and LA/Anaheim - I’ve been before but not for several years now so a lot of it is somewhat new to me!

Crowds wise - check out the Disneyland crowd calendars. There are a few free ones that you can google, or there’s always Touring Plans but this requires a subscription. I used these to get an idea of crowd levels before I booked for November this year.

In terms of LA/Anaheim - I’m planning to use Anaheim as a base. Partly because I really hate moving hotels, but also because I like the idea of being able to pop into DL/DCA just for the evening if I so desire (doesn’t cost that much more to add on an extra day after the 3rd day or so). Will use it for a day trip to Universal, and also for a day trip to LA. I want at least 3 full days in DL/DCA, but I also really, really like Disney.

I’ve only done DIY for the last few years, so am booking flights, hotels, tours and tickets all separately. My flights this time were with United (I’m not in the UK but still flying a significant long haul distance to get to LA/SF) - I booked a multi-city flight, and the cost of this (including the internal flight from SFO-LAX with baggage included) wasn’t any more than booking a straightforward return flight to SFO or to LAX with United. So I was very pleased!

Otherwise, in the past, I’ve also booked with Southwest for the internal flight. But Southwest seems to have blocked me from accessing their websites and looking online it appears that they might have blocked a number of non-US countries from accessing their website?

[Sew109]

How are you planning to get to Vegas ? Driving is the only way I go from LA it’s 4 hours without traffic and to be honest surprisingly dull. It used to be amazing before the Valley was full arriving at night was awesome thinking yo punk can see a little light etc.

Travelling out of LA-LAS do not do this on a Friday as the traffic is dreadful and as Vegas is a party town hotel rooms can be 4 times the cost on a Friday that they are on a Sunday if you don’t want the partying side stay Sunday - Thursday just check that any shows you may want to see are open.

We would not be in Vegas without a car yes it costs to park but you miss a lot and the outlet shoppping is better and cheaper than California and Florida.

When you book your hotel don’t go for the cheapest you should be on the strip but IMHO either south strip (MGM NYNY LUXOR ETC) or central strip. Also whilst people say a room in Vegas is only to sleep in if you are staying at say circus circus (don’t) and you have been visiting Bellagio and Wynn it’s delressing coming back to your hotel.

Book your hotel direct check the room rate regularly and if the rate drops call the hotel and they will adjust your rate to match. We once booked a penthouse suite at Mirage for around $1k per night (I think) and ended up paying about $275
.

[jdouds]

Hi first of are you planning just a week, it's a long way to go for a short trip. If possible we would recommend longer if possible , so much to see possibly a few days up the coast to San Fran

[Sew109]

Originally Posted by jdouds

Hi first of are you planning just a week, it's a long way to go for a short trip. If possible we would recommend longer if possible , so much to see possibly a few days up the coast to San Fran

See more...

I have done three nights in Vegas and would again

[daytonababe]

I too wouldn’t do Vegas without a car, it is a very dull drive between la & vegas we do it year.. my tip set off early in the morning for the drive.. I’ve done it early evening mid week and had it take 7 hrs .

This year we left Ontario Mills about 60 miles from LAX at 9 am and was in our hotel in Vegas at 12.

[Lightyear]

We did Las Vegas - Anaheim - San Diego - Las Vegas in May this year and it was fab. The weather was really nice except for the first couple of days when it was unusually cold but really nice later on.

We did 3 days and DLR and DCA. I's say this was enough time to get a feel for the parks but we didn't get to do everything. One day was Star Wars day so was very busy but with the Max Pass the queues weren't too bad.

3 days in Las Vegas isn't much but it is enough to get a taste of the place and have a lot of fun. Try staying somewhere central on the strip.

Driving was great over there too. We drove between all of the places and I'd absolutely do it again. We only really used the car in San Diego as it wasn't needed in Anaheim or Las Vegas but the long drives in the middle were fab.

We booked a Fly Drive through Thomas Cook and one of the Las Vegas hotels with them, the rest we just booked online, just cheap and cheerful.

[red cuillen]

We did a trip report for our 5 days in disney as part of our San F to LA via Joshua Tree trip. 3 days is fine in the parks, more is good too if you really really like disney and want to go on rides more than once! Couple of hours to get to LAX from Anaheim, but easier to get there from Universal, which is also closer to the other ''attractions'' like the walk of fame. Would suggest a night in Burbank/Hollywood would save alot of time spent queuing on the freeways! Can't help with Las Vegas, haven't been back there for decades as we keep finding too much to do inbetween!