What else to see in LA/Hollywood/Anaheim area?

Hi,

Checked out the Science Centre link and it looks wonderful. Would anyone be able to answer the following?

1) Parking is $12 cash only. How close is the parking to the building? Does it fill up quickly? If the main parking lot is full are you directed to overflow parking & how far away would be the overflow parking?

2) Are we allowed to bring in our own food & drinks?

3) Backpacks & strollers allowed?

4) If going in July guessing we should arrive ASAP upon opening because summer will be really busy?

Thanks for your help! :-)
1. No, you won't be redirected. You may want to bring the address of the NHM parking. Also, make sure there isn't an event at the local sports complexes on the day you're going if parking is a concern.
2. Not inside the IMAX and you can't eat in the museum expect in the dining area for the cafes. I'm not sure how they'd react to taking up a table with outside food on those days. There are places to sit outside.
3. I've seen strollers, I wouldn't say the layout is terribly stroller friendly at NHM, or some of the special exhibits at CSC. I've used a small sling bag, I've never tried to take an overstuffed backpack full of food in.
4. Again, check the schedule for local venues. An early event at the Coliseum will impact crowds to the point that you might be better off going after it starts.
 
My two older boys were 9 and 7 when we visited LA this past November. Here is what we thought:

Hollywood Walk of Fame: We actually stayed at the Magic Castle which is a 5 min walk to there. We went to check it out and was crazy busy. We didnt even enjoy it. On our last day we walked down around 7 am to grab coffee at Starbucks. There was hardly anybody around, it was awesome! My boys were able to see all the stars and get pics infront of the Chinese theater and Jimmy Kimmel studios with nobody else in the pic! My boys liked the Walk of Fame more than I thought they would.

La Brea Tar Pits: Hands down my 9 year olds favorite place. He loved the tour and seeing the tar, as well as the museum. He was very excited last month when his class read about it and he got to bring in his pictures. If you go here make sure to ask if you need a ticket for the tour. Even though it is free, they want to limit the size of tour on busy days.

Natural History Museum: Very cool place. It was my 7 year olds pick because of the dinosaurs. We all had a good time here. They even had a little kids area at the top where my little one could play for a bit.

Science Center: Literally right next to the Natural History Museum. After visiting NHM, we went over here to check out the space shuttle. It was very cool! You need a timed ticket, which cost $2 per ticket. We went over around 1:00 on the day after Thanksgiving and got tickets for 15 mins later. They have a lot of other cool exhibits, but we ran out of time.

LA Zoo: It was one of the only things open on Thanksgiving, so we went there. It was nice, but nothing special. We are members at our local zoo, so we got 50% off admission prices. With so many other unique places to go, I would put the zoo at the bottom of my list.

I thought about the Griffith Observatory, but figured my then 2 year old was too young and my 7 year old wasn't interested. I also heard a lot of great things about the Farmers Market, but we did not have enough time on the day we did the Tar Pits.


Thanks for the suggestions! :-)
 
1. No, you won't be redirected. You may want to bring the address of the NHM parking. Also, make sure there isn't an event at the local sports complexes on the day you're going if parking is a concern.
2. Not inside the IMAX and you can't eat in the museum expect in the dining area for the cafes. I'm not sure how they'd react to taking up a table with outside food on those days. There are places to sit outside.
3. I've seen strollers, I wouldn't say the layout is terribly stroller friendly at NHM, or some of the special exhibits at CSC. I've used a small sling bag, I've never tried to take an overstuffed backpack full of food in.
4. Again, check the schedule for local venues. An early event at the Coliseum will impact crowds to the point that you might be better off going after it starts.

Thanks for the info! Was kind of hoping that snacking (eg. cheese stick, crackers) would be allowed in the general area of the museum (assuming there's some general sitting areas). Thanks for the heads up re: dining area of the cafe but we would never dare to sit there without ordering food from the cafe as we understand those seats are reserved for cafe customers. :-) Good to know there's spots outside to sit & eat.

Unfortunately, our kids are grazers and it's just easier & quicker for them to snack on the go vs sit-down meals which could easily take 1 hour + (on the short side) ... just to give you an idea of the slow eating ... lunches come home frequently partially eaten (and I don't give much) because kid "ran out of time or had no time" to eat. How their friends manage to eat their lunches in the same alloted time is a mystery! At home, I sometimes get so fed up with the slow eating that I end dinner and just say "no more eating"!

I've also learned from experience the "hard way" to always try and have some snack on me. First trip to Disneyland and we were in line for 1 hour+ in the queue for people using the special passes that get handed out when a ride breaks (unfortunately lots of people had those passes so even that line was super long) ... we were literally about to enter Peter Pan and youngest decided he needed milk NOW! No convincing to wait until after the ride. Had to leave even though we were next and re-line up again after the milk break (another hour+ wait). Sigh! Kid is older now so hopefully no more nuclear meltdowns for snack breaks! :-)

Noted re: stroller and backpack and venue schedule. Thanks! The reason I ask is because we went to one museum and backpacks weren't allowed (had to check it in) and all my diaper stuff was inside. No diapers this time but it's just easier to wear 1 backpack with our stuff in it.

Appreciate the help! :-)
 


If you're heading to Santa Monica (my pick of the beach cities - nothing says SoCal to me like SM) then Farmers Market isn't much of a detour. There are a lot of great food options - all original, not a chain in sight! Bobs Doughnuts is a must for us (my avatar pic).

As for the traffic, I use Google Maps and will try Waze when there later this year. I have an attachment that means I can put the phone on the air vent and hook it up to power to keep it charged. I find it much easier than a stand alone GPS which can be a pain to find the place you are going to, plus not many of them account for traffic. The only time I found myself going 80 was in the carpool lanes, so long as you stay out of those you'll be fine if the traffic is miraculously flowing. Overall I have found LA & OC drivers to be courteous, never had issues merging etc.
 
We do LA annually and we love Griffith, The Farmer's Market, and renting a bike in Santa Monica for the beach path. Sometimes we catch a movie at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, which is great if you see the organ show!
 
As for the traffic, I use Google Maps and will try Waze when there later this year.

Waze is great and my preferred method for negotiating LA traffic (I drive all over for work) but please be careful if it tries to divert you off the freeway. I've had it try to take me through some areas in the city you really do not want to be driving through, especially at night!
 


We actually stayed at the Magic Castle

Did you have a car, or take public transport? We are staying at the Magic Castle and then Hilton Universal and would love to see a few places including the La Brea Tar Pits and the Science Centre. We won't have a car though.
 
Did you have a car, or take public transport? We are staying at the Magic Castle and then Hilton Universal and would love to see a few places including the La Brea Tar Pits and the Science Centre. We won't have a car though.

We had a car. I think for navigating LA, a car is very beneficial. Things are not very close together. That being said, the Magic Castle is only 1 block from Hollywood & Highland, where I imagine there are bus options.
 
The Angels will be home until 8/30, then they go back on the road.
The Dodgers will be home on 8/27 and then the go on the road.
You can get reasonable prices on tickets for both teams through StubHub. However, for the Dodgers they stop selling tickets 6 hours prior to first pitch.
 
Has anyone done the hop on hop off tours. We were thinking of doing this one day and trying to see the tar pits, the walk of fame etc.

What about the Anaheim packing district? Is it worth it to Uber here one day around lunch or dinner time?
 
If you are a Nerd ... as I am ... you might enjoy Meltdown Comics on Sunset. It's an awesome comic book store, but also has a stage where they have standup comedy showcases and podcast tapings. Just an off the wall suggestion.

Thanks for suggesting this! I'm trying to find things my guy will be interested in on our Spring 2018 trip. He's not super into Disney, but I know he'll like the WB tour and USH. He'll love this, too!!
 
My list of things I want to see/do in LA is growing because of these awesome suggestions! I am planning a spring 2018 trip, and was originally planning 3 days at Disney, 1 at Knotts, and 1 for WB Studio/USH rides. The plan was to fly in/out of SNA, and drive up to LA on the day of the LA stuff.

Now I'm starting to think it might be beneficial to fly in to LAX on an evening, then have the next full day in LA, then drive to Anaheim for the rest of the trip.
 
Griffith Observatoy for great views of the city

This is the building in LaLaLand, right? They had incredible views of the city at night and it's the scene with the yellow dress? Can you get good views of the city at night, like in the movie?
 
... Now I'm starting to think it might be beneficial to fly in to LAX on an evening, then have the next full day in LA, then drive to Anaheim for the rest of the trip.

If you really want to see a list of things in L.A. first, this sounds like a better plan. Plus, you might find cheaper flights in to /out of LAX. Another option would be to fly to LAX, see L.A., drive down to DLR, fly out of SNA.
 
This is the building in LaLaLand, right? They had incredible views of the city at night and it's the scene with the yellow dress? Can you get good views of the city at night, like in the movie?
I haven't seen the movie but I believe so. It is a great view from up there, unfortunately quite smoggy the day we went up. It's also a good spot to see the Hollywood sign, and the observatory itself is worth a visit.
 

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