First Time To SoCal

jhaig

Not The First To Pass This Way
Joined
Oct 3, 2007
For our daughter's senior trip she wants to go to southern CA. I am thinking we would make it a 2 week adventure, hitr My most of the major highlights. None of us have ever been to CA so I am really at a loss as where to start planning. For sure, Disneyland, Hollywood, a studio tour, and some beach time is on the agenda. We would also like to try and get to Sequoia and the SD zoo if possible. Several questions I have:

1) If I've never driven in the L.A area, is it in my best interest to rely on Uber or train service to get around? Am I asking for trouble by renting a car and trying to get around on my own?

2) Is it a better idea to get a hotel in the city closer to downtown or outside of LA?

3) Is May a good time in general as far as tourists and weather? Is there a time that I should avoid?

4) Flying in - LAX or John Wayne?

5) Is 3 days at Disneyland enough time to see everything?

6) What things does a first time visitor to CA absolutely have to do? Anything overrated?

Thanks for indulging me...
 
1) If I've never driven in the L.A area, is it in my best interest to rely on Uber or train service to get around? Am I asking for trouble by renting a car and trying to get around on my own?

Uber worked great for short distances, train for longer ones

2) Is it a better idea to get a hotel in the city closer to downtown or outside of LA?

Definitely downtown

3) Is May a good time in general as far as tourists and weather? Is there a time that I should avoid?

Should be fine-might be hot

4) Flying in - LAX or John Wayne?

Some people say LAX is a nightmare but we'e never minded it. Which is cheaper?

5) Is 3 days at Disneyland enough time to see everything?

Yes

6) What things does a first time visitor to CA absolutely have to do? Anything overrated?

San Francisco and Muir Woods is outstanding. Also San Diego. I'm not a big fan of LA.
 
1) Los Angeles is an atypical big city; it's very spread out and nearly everyone drives. For example Disneyland is 30 miles from Hollywood, the Warner Bros. tour is 10 miles from Hollywood, Venice Beach is 30 miles from Hollywood, Huntington Beach is 25 miles from Disney. Public transportation isn't like most big cities so relying on trains isn't practical. Uber might be fine but could get expensive – SD Zoo is 130 miles from Hollywood (about 100 miles from Disneyland), Sequoia is 230 miles from Disney and 325 miles from San Diego. No, you are not asking for trouble renting a car and driving. If you aren't used to driving in a big city it will seem intimidating.


2) “Downtown” L.A. doesn't really exist. So if you are thinking of one hotel to use as a base you would be better off staying in Anaheim.


3) Early May is a great time to visit.


4) John Wayne if you decide to base yourself near Disney. LAX if you decide to base yourself in the LA/Hollywood area.


5) Yes, three days at Disney is fine. Tuesday-Thursday is best.


6) To subjective for me to answer. I can not for the life of me understand why the “Walk of Fame” holds any interest at all but to my out of state friends and family it is a must see. “Hollywood” isn't much more than a tourist trap that many see as overrated but for most people it's a must see even if afterwards they feel it's overrated. My cousins from Long Island go on the “Stars Homes” tour everything there are here. To me it's a waste of time, to them it's a “must do”.
 
San Francisco and Muir Woods is outstanding.

I'll start off by saying that I was a Muir Woods annual pass holder and have visited many times. It's OK if you're already visiting the area, but it wouldn't be my recommendation for a visitor spending a couple of weeks in California unless they absolutely won't venture too far outside the Bay Area. The trees are actually on the small side for old growth coast redwoods. There are many places to see old growth redwoods that have bigger trees and smaller crowds (the Muir Woods parking situation is horrible). Redwood National and State Parks is obviously the crown jewel, but there are spectacular old growth redwood stands all around Del Norte, Humboldt, and Mendocino Counties, as well as further south near Santa Cruz or even as far south as Big Sur.
 


If there were one beach to spend the day at in the LA area, where would you go?
 
If there were one beach to spend the day at in the LA area, where would you go?
First what @bcla and @StageTek said about hotels and well answering first post in general. My add on. If you are visiting Southern California the Bay Area and Muir Woods are out. I personally love sequoia but it's a good 4-5 hour drive. I agree that the Star walk is over rated but I do like the Chinese man theater and stepping in or placing hands in the celebrity sidewalk. I also like seeing movies there mostly to remember old Hollywood, well and my childhood.

As far as beaches go. I personally like Newport Beach in Orange County, and La Jolla state beach in San Diego. Encinitas beach is also good in San Diego county but if you go on a weekend or busy weekday parking can be bad since it is one of the few free parking beaches in San Diego.

Some highlights in Southern California to consider. Beach in either area. La Area: Disneyland, Hollywood sign and Griffith park observatory, a studio tour paramount warner brothers. Doesn't matter what studio as long as you do a tour. Queen Mary, not a must but still fun. Universal studios. San Diego: San Diego safari park in Escondido, balboa park, seaport village (very touristy but good place for boat and harbor watching), Hornblower Sunday brunch cruise around San Diego harbor.
 


When I wrote that there isn't “really” a downtown I knew someone would point out that there is a district called “Downtown”. In context of the question there isn't a “downtown” in Los Angeles. The “Los Angeles” area is unlike any other major city. That district called “downtown” is office/government buildings, a few parks and the Music Center. Yes, there are more and more people living in that district and there are hotels, but it in not what most people consider “downtown”.

Semantics.

When looking for a hotel "downtown" Hollywood or "downtown" Santa Monica is more of a typical downtown area.

If there were one beach to spend the day at in the LA area, where would you go?
In the L.A. area I go to Topanga State Beach - great for watching surfers perfect for a little swimming. Or Westward Beach - this is iconic and beautiful, exactly what you expect to see in a California beach. It's where "Grease" and a famous ending of "Planet of the Apes" was filmed.
 
When I wrote that there isn't “really” a downtown I knew someone would point out that there is a district called “Downtown”. In context of the question there isn't a “downtown” in Los Angeles. The “Los Angeles” area is unlike any other major city. That district called “downtown” is office/government buildings, a few parks and the Music Center. Yes, there are more and more people living in that district and there are hotels, but it in not what most people consider “downtown”.

Semantics.

Yeah - but it's not as if a taxi driver wouldn't take someone there, and it is in somewhat of a central location. And that's where Staples Center is, which has made the area more desirable than it used to be. On top of that, LA Union Station is in that area. Still - I get that LA is about as decentralized as any large city can be, and that it has swallowed up many communities over the decades. Still, most people don't think of LA as one big city, but rather as a lot of neighborhoods like Hollywood, Century City, Westwood, Van Nuys, etc.
 
So then, if we wanted to do Hollywood, Disneyland, and the beaches, where would you recommend setting up 'home base'? Also, would it be easier for DL to stay on property and then set up a home base afterwards?
 
We made our first trip to SoCal in June, and we fell in love with it. My sister-in-law lives and works in Hollywood, so we got to spend a little time with her, which was nice.

We flew into SNA (john wayne) and rented a car, drove to Newport Beach to see the ocean (LOVE Newport Beach!!), then drove to the HoJo across Harbor from Disneyland. This was a perfect location for our trip. We had 5 day hoppers for Disneyland/DCA, we did an LA day, a whale watching day, a beach day, and some evening exploring. HoJo has free parking in the lot and it is so easy to get on the freeway to go whichever direction you need.

Here's a rundown of what we did:
Arrival Day - picked up rental, went to beach, went to hotel, downtown disney
Day 1 - Disneyland

Day 2 - DCA

Day 3 - Beach and exploring. We started out by going to the Pacific Marine Mammal center to see the sea lions and seals that are rescued and rehabbed and sent back into the wild or to a zoo, depending on their age/situation. Then on to Laguna Beach, where I would move to in a red hot minute if I could. We were going to go to an aquarium, but couldn't ignore the call of the water, so we stopped off at a Trader Joe's for some food and went to Crystal Cove for the afternoon and played on the beach and in the ocean. Afterward, we went back to the hotel to clean up, found an In and Out burger and then drove to Long Beach to tour the Queen Mary.

Day 4 - Drove to LA, went to LaBrea Tar Pits, went to Hollywood and parked at Hollywood and Highland mall. Saw Hollywood High School on the way (where they filmed Grease, among other things). Saw a few stars on the walk of fame, and checked out the handprints in front of the Chinese Theater, which was surprisingly emotional. Then we met up with my SIL and went up to her office, and up onto the roof of the building and had an awesome rooftop view of Hollywood. We could see into Jimmy Kimmel's backlot, which was fun. SIL went back to work and we explored a little more, drove into Beverly Hills and down Rodeo Dr, a quick cruise by Santa Monica pier and then back over to the Los Feliz neighborhood (near Griffiths Park) where my SIL lives. It was 9 miles from Santa Monica to her apartment and took an hour, so be prepared for that. We walked around her neighborhood, had dinner and Jeni's ice cream (totally recommend!), and then we tried to go up to the Griffith Observatory but some kind of event was going on and we basically just drove in a solid traffic line in and out because there was nowhere to stop or park. It was a nightmare. But pretty to see the city all it up. Then we drove back to the hotel. It took about the same time to get all the way back to Anaheim as it did to go those 9 miles earlier in the day, LOL!!

Day 5 - Disneyland

Day 6 - (Father's Day) Whale Watching in Newport Beach, lunch and a little stop off at the beach before going back to the resort and then Disneyland for Paint the Night and Disneyland Forever.

Day 7 - Hopping between Disneyland/DCA

Day 8 - Drove to Newport Beach to see the ocean one last time, had lunch there, then back to the airport to fly home

We had a great time and would love to spend more time in Southern California in the future. It's beautiful!

Editing to add...driving in LA was not hard at all. Just make sure you have a good GPS and you'll be fine. I had visions of traffic on traffic on traffic, but it was always moving and the streets were just normal busy city streets. If you've ever driven through a city, you can handle LA.
 
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So then, if we wanted to do Hollywood, Disneyland, and the beaches, where would you recommend setting up 'home base'? Also, would it be easier for DL to stay on property and then set up a home base afterwards?

You don't have to stay on property. That's the thing about the area around DL - that many of the most convenient hotels are almost across the street from the entrance.

It really depends on what you want to do. You can probably tell that quite a few people are trying to talk you out of going to Hollywood. One place in Anaheim and another in

Editing to add...driving in LA was not hard at all. Just make sure you have a good GPS and you'll be fine. I had visions of traffic on traffic on traffic, but it was always moving and the streets were just normal busy city streets. If you've ever driven through a city, you can handle LA.

I've seen the worst of LA traffic, but it was mostly due to bad weather and/or some accident blocking multiple lanes. Then I've seen horrendous traffic that didn't seem to have any explanation other than too many people trying to go through the same freeways. There might be some stop and go traffic, but I think nearly everyone has encountered that some time or another. I don't think Southern California traffic is about how bad it CAN get, but about how bad it is on average.
 
So then, if we wanted to do Hollywood, Disneyland, and the beaches, where would you recommend setting up 'home base'? Also, would it be easier for DL to stay on property and then set up a home base afterwards?
You would do just fine staying in Anaheim. A 30 mile drive to Hollywood and a 20 mile drive to Huntington Beach - right in the middle.
 
My thoughts on your questions:

1. Rent a car. Use your smart phone for navigation. You'll be fine. Relying on Uber will really increase your travel costs. And public transportation in Southern California stinks...it takes forever and driving is just easier and faster.

2. Stay at a hotel/motel in Anaheim and use that as your central home base. UNLESS you plan on spending a couple of days at Universal Studios, in which case I'd recommend to start at Universal Studios and stay near there.

3. the weather in May is great. Same thing for first half of June. You might need a light sweater/sweatshirt in the evenings. Stay away from the theme parks on Memorial Day weekend.

4. Re: flying in - fly into whichever airport works better for you in terms of cost of airfare & travel times.

5. 3 days is, in my opinion, a minimum at Disneyland. If you're never been to DL before, go for 4 days (preferably 5) so you have time to see & do everything. You can manage it in 3 days at Disneyland, but you kind of have to go commando style and that gets tiring.

6. What does a 1st-time visitor to CA ** HAVE ** to do? Nothing, really, it sort of depends on your interests. What's overrated? The Hollywood walk of fame. The Chinese theater. Hollywood, in my opinion, is kind of grungy and gross. If I was a teenage girl just graduated from high school and this was my senior trip, I'd probably want to do stuff like:

  • go see Venice Beach - it's fun people-watching.
  • go to Huntington or Newport Beach - preferably whichever beach has more surfers so I could look at the cute surfer boys. Maybe take a surfing lesson.
  • go to the Santa Monica pier. Eat at a restaurant on the beach or with a beach view. Rent a bike.
  • go shopping (or at least window shopping) in Beverly Hills. Or at least drive through.
  • Eat at a fancy Hollywood-style restaurant like Lawry's or have lunch at the Beverly Hills Hotel. There's a good list here --> http://laist.com/2013/04/03/the_12_best_classic_los_angeles_restaurants.php
  • go on a studio tour like the ones they have at Paramount or Warner Brothers.
  • as a Disney fan, I'd want to eat a meal at the Tam O'Shanter.
  • if it was in the budget, go to a concert at the Hollywood Bowl.
  • go to the Getty museum
  • go to Griffith Observatory, preferably at night, since so many movies have been filmed there.
 
also....

Sequoia is a 4-hr drive from Disneyland, so you'd need 2-3 days out of your 2 week trip to do it justice. It's doable, but you'd have to plan for that.

Given the 2 weeks that you're planning on, you could also consider spending a couple of days in Santa Barbara (my old stomping grounds). There's an Amtrak train that you can take and it's a really pretty ride. From UCLA, it's about a 2-hour drive to Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara is gorgeous...lots of cool shopping downtown, gorgeous beaches, gorgeous scenery.
 
I think most people consider "downtown" LA to be the area between the 10, 110 and 101 (And a few things on the other side of the 110 like, LA Center and LAUSD and past the 101 like Chinatown or Olvera St. If you go to Staples or Union Station, are you technically downtown? Yes, but those are the fringe. The "desirable" areas are converted lofts, and especially those with bars and restaurants within walking distance. Not LA Live or walking access to Union St. When you're looking at hotels downtown they're upscale, and not geared towards family trips. If you're planning to do more than 1 day in LA/Hollywood, split your So Cal trip into 3 parts. SD, Disney and then look for someplace near Universal as a base for Hollywood/LA. You could easily fly into SD, do 2 days, do 2 days in LA and then 3 days at Disney. This would leave a whole week to either drive the coast or fly to SF. If you fly between So Cal and Nor Cal you could start in LA or SD, but if you drive I'd start in SD.
 
These are the the reasons I said, "There isn't "really" a downtown." Even those of us who live here have different ideas of what downtown is. For a traveler looking for a central hotel (as jhaig is) all I tried to do was steer her away from that district "technically" called downtown. One looks it up on the map, check hotels and they end up in a difficult to navigate area that may not be what they expect. While there has been semantic disagreement I see all of us have not suggested jhaig find a hotel "downtown". That was my point. I should have left off that comment.
 
I was taking issue with the statement that the area around Staples is desirable. I didn't think the OP would be happy with their choice if they chose one the LA Live hotels. Also, that Staples and Union Station are in the same area. They're on opposite sides of what is generally considered downtown. You're adding more hassle than it's worth trying to stay somewhere like LA Live or even the Bonaventure and expecting access to Union Station to be easy.
 
We rent a car almost every time we go. My husband drives mostly in LA (I only drove a little bit around Disneyland) and he had no problems however sometimes parking is a pain and you will most likely have to pay. Uber works best for this issue and also maybe the train.

If you wont be renting a car I would probably stay closer into the city by where you'll be visiting the most.

We went last April and it was in the 90's the whole time; only week that month that was that warm though the rest of the month it was in the 80's. May is suppose to be similar.

We have only done LAX and have had no issues what so ever with it. If your okay with spending a little more money though the other airports are suppose to be less busy.

Our first time at DL we spent 3 days and it was definitely enough time. Last year we did 5 days and that was the perfect amount of time in our opinion. We were able to do plenty of shorter days since it was super warm and ride our favorite rides many times (the kids did the racers about 10 times).

We have only been to LA a few times but the things we enjoyed the most, other than Disneyland, was Santa Monica Pier, WB tour, and seeing a movie at The El Capitan Movie Theatre. If you'll be going for 2 weeks maybe take an Amtrak up to San Francisco for a few days.
 
1) If I've never driven in the L.A area, is it in my best interest to rely on Uber or train service to get around? Am I asking for trouble by renting a car and trying to get around on my own?
You will want a car, but make it comfortable. You'll be spending a lot of time in it!
2) Is it a better idea to get a hotel in the city closer to downtown or outside of LA?
I'd stay near Disneyland in Anaheim or Garden Grove. When you go to San Diego, you can stay near the harbor. For Sequoia, try to stay in the park. There are less expensive places outside of the park, but the drive in and out of the park is very steep and has sharp curves
3) Is May a good time in general as far as tourists and weather? Is there a time that I should avoid?
May is very mild. Beaches might be cloudy the whole time. It's known as May Gray.
4) Flying in - LAX or John Wayne?
John Wayne unless you save a lot of money by using LAX.
5) Is 3 days at Disneyland enough time to see everything?
Yes. Buy parkhoppers.
6) What things does a first time visitor to CA absolutely have to do? Anything overrated?
Go to at least one of the beaches. I love Crystal Cove State park in Newport/Laguna. When in San Diego, visit La Jolla.
 

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