LA + Vegas, need tips and recommendations!

Murphy_The_Cat

fatboyonadiet wrote:

Well took the plunge MTC and got the flights for £480 each, can't grumble, was a bit gutted as I thought I'd missed the boat with AA but glad I still only paid this price, especially when the nearest was £550.

It still is a week in LA unfortunately, a place I've always wanted to go, been to a lot of places I wanted to go but this place and Vegas were still on the map, I know I couldn't do more then 3 days in Vegas, just wouldn't enjoy it.

Thanks again for all your help with this and for convincing me to fly to Vegas instead of drive. I've booked the Luxor and paying $119.99 a night which isn't bad and got a convertible to LA which is costing me $269. Just need to sort out my hotel in LA now...

Hi fatboyonadiet

£480 is a cracking fare, you should be really, really chuffed. Are you going with BMI ?

I've got some bad news for you though, your holiday itinerary is only £350 incl tax on the AA website this morning :eek:

aaarrrrrrghhhhhh, got you, I'm only kidding.

The AA website is a law unto itself, you can hit refresh and the fare can rise or fall by several hundred pounds each time. In the past I have made Mrs Cat absolutely pigged off as I've sat there for ages on end waiting for a cheapy fare to pop up (by mistake, who knows) and then booking it on the spot. I am travelling Manchester - Tampa, then touring, then Miami - Manchester in November this year with my wife and son and I got the flights for £946 inc tax (with superb flight times, pre assigned seats and another 10000 ovely AA airmiles on the card)for the 3 of us. The price for the same flights this morning is £1701.70, the price has peaked at £1898 and has dropped as low as £1200, but it's never got near £1000 again.
Expedia wanted nearly £1200
Airline Network £1027 (which is a lot better than a fortnight ago)
https://www.opodo.co.uk are after £1290
ebookers £1098.00
traveljungle £1100

I love the AA computer :beer: :j :beer: :j

When I stayed in LA, I stayed a the Beverley Hills Sofitel, which was very acceptable (bullet proof glass, armed guards, machine gun nests on the roof, sorry I'm just pulling your leg), shop around, get a deal and I don't think you'll be disappointed. Watching the traffic lights change is like watching your own private motor show. Light goes red and they line up in front of you - Merc, BMW, Ferrari, Jag, Range Rover, Lincoln, Hummer, Porsche, Aston Martin, Lambo, BMW, Limo etc etc and it just goes on. However, leave Beverley Hills and the neighbourhoods are "ahem" less nice.
The tacky tours of the stars is good fun, but verrrryy tacky !

If you get fed up with the crazies in LA, I can recommend 2 x drives for you.
No1 is a 200 mile round trip & No2 is a 400 mile round trip, but you end up at one on the nicest places I've ever been to.

& I've got a wild card idea for you as well.

MTC

Murphy_The_Cat

nelly wrote:

Sandeago <--- ??? you know what I mean
sandiego zoo is supposed to be the best in the world, and also one of the worlds best theme parks is in LA

http://www.sixflags.com/parks/magicmountain/index.asp

if your into that

San Diego is only 120 miles away and is as beautiful as LA is [STRIKE]crappy[/STRIKE] not beautiful. If you decide to look at San Diego, drop me a line and I'll happily give you some ideas.

MTC

fatboyonadiet

Murphy_The_Cat wrote:

£480 is a cracking fare, you should be really, really chuffed. Are you going with BMI ?

I've got some bad news for you though, your holiday itinerary is only £350 incl tax on the AA website this morning :eek:

aaarrrrrrghhhhhh, got you, I'm only kidding.

You almost had me for a minute then! It's BMI but the internal flight isn't (can't remember who)

Murphy_The_Cat wrote:

When I stayed in LA, I stayed a the Beverley Hills Sofitel, which was very acceptable (bullet proof glass, armed guards, machine gun nests on the roof, sorry I'm just pulling your leg), shop around, get a deal and I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Again, almost had me!

Murphy_The_Cat wrote:

Watching the traffic lights change is like watching your own private motor show. Light goes red and they line up in front of you - Merc, BMW, Ferrari, Jag, Range Rover, Lincoln, Hummer, Porsche, Aston Martin, Lambo, BMW, Limo etc etc and it just goes on. However, leave Beverley Hills and the neighbourhoods are "ahem" less nice.

And then there will be me beaming away in my Chrysler Sebring! Fast forward a week to LA and I'll be beaming in my Ford Mustang!

Murphy_The_Cat wrote:

If you get fed up with the crazies in LA, I can recommend 2 x drives for you.
No1 is a 200 mile round trip & No2 is a 400 mile round trip, but you end up at one on the nicest places I've ever been to.

& I've got a wild card idea for you as well.

Tell me more, I might take the sat nav option as well so no chance of me getting lost!

fatboyonadiet

nelly wrote:

Sandeago <--- ??? you know what I mean
sandiego zoo is supposed to be the best in the world, and also one of the worlds best theme parks is in LA

http://www.sixflags.com/parks/magicmountain/index.asp

if your into that

If anyone needs it link for the zoo is: http://www.sandiegozoo.org/ and there is a water park next to the theme park: http://www.sixflags.com/parks/hurricaneharborla/index.asp anyone know how long it would take to drive to either of these?

pbright

Los Angeles is great...its under-rated from tourists as they dont spend a long time there and only see certain places. Quick tourists to LA have biased opinions, and it is my favourite city in the world and there is still so much i have to see there. The richest, most famous, most successfull people in the world CHOOSE to live their...their must be a reason for that. Universal studios Hollywood is the best of all the universal studios by far because of the location, city walk and on the tour you are dodging desperate housewives and other actors(true story). Six Flags magic mountain is great with the perfect sunshine, and you always see it in movies. Disneyland Anaheim is the original and has the fastest.most thrilling disney ride in the world....the rollorcoaster one...forgot what its called? You have the pacific beaches of Hawaii in Orange County, the City life of Boston down town, the glamour and sights of New York in Hollywood, the Theme parks of Florida in Anaheim/Hollywood, and much more.

fatboyonadiet

pbright wrote:

Los Angeles is great...its under-rated from tourists as they dont spend a long time there and only see certain places. Quick tourists to LA have biased opinions, and it is my favourite city in the world and there is still so much i have to see there. The richest, most famous, most successfull people in the world CHOOSE to live their...their must be a reason for that. Universal studios Hollywood is the best of all the universal studios by far because of the location, city walk and on the tour you are dodging desperate housewives and other actors(true story). Six Flags magic mountain is great with the perfect sunshine, and you always see it in movies. Disneyland Anaheim is the original and has the fastest.most thrilling disney ride in the world....the rollorcoaster one...forgot what its called? You have the pacific beaches of Hawaii in Orange County, the City life of Boston down town, the glamour and sights of New York in Hollywood, the Theme parks of Florida in Anaheim/Hollywood, and much more.

Cheers for that, how long did it take to get to 6 flags?

Murphy_The_Cat

pbright wrote:

Los Angeles is great...its under-rated from tourists as they dont spend a long time there and only see certain places. Quick tourists to LA have biased opinions, and it is my favourite city in the world and there is still so much i have to see there. The richest, most famous, most successfull people in the world CHOOSE to live their...their must be a reason for that. Universal studios Hollywood is the best of all the universal studios by far because of the location, city walk and on the tour you are dodging desperate housewives and other actors(true story). Six Flags magic mountain is great with the perfect sunshine, and you always see it in movies. Disneyland Anaheim is the original and has the fastest.most thrilling disney ride in the world....the rollorcoaster one...forgot what its called? You have the pacific beaches of Hawaii in Orange County, the City life of Boston down town, the glamour and sights of New York in Hollywood, the Theme parks of Florida in Anaheim/Hollywood, and much more.

& pbrights post above is why MSE forums is so good.

I really dislike the place and couldn't wait to leave (like others have said), but pbright has given all sorts of reasons why you might like to stay even LONGER.

options, options, choices, choices


Fatboyonadiet, I'll post my suggestions for you later - sadly I have got to get some work done !.

MTC

nelly_2

pbright wrote:

. Disneyland Anaheim is the original and has the fastest.most thrilling disney ride in the world....the rollorcoaster one...forgot what its called? .

California screamin

pics --> http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=California%20screamin&btnG=Google+Search&sa=N&tab=wi

pbright

California Screaming...Thats the one. Seriously though, i even think that the Disneyland parks in LA are just as good as Florida...as Florida is padded out with "dull-kid" rides......Disneyland & Disneys California Aventures(right beside each other) are fun for the slightly older kids with rapids, rollerocasters etc + California adventura looks like a lot of money has been spent on it..its a great park(Dont buy tikets in advance, there will be some offer on a coke can, or a coupon in a guide when you get over there). Six flags was an hour drive for me from Hollywood....its an easy drive aswell. Six flags is great fun, and when you see movies with a theme park scene its usually there, i just recignised it the other night in true romance i think it was? If you stay late till when it closes it is really quiet and we stayed on the rollercoasters time and time again without getting off...it was great seeing the sun set from the top of the highest rollercoaster in California, its a great view from the top. Universal studios is awesome, but i am sure your plan is to go there. Again, dont buy tickets in advance, they will be cheaper than at the ticket office however even more so than Disneyland-there will be 2 for 1 deals or better evrywhere for Universal Studios. Tourists who dont like LA tend to have a typical tourist experience of LA. Typically this is a short visit in a longer trip allowing them to take in what they view as the main spot which is Hollywood, which is great for a day to see the sign, manns chinese, etc but thats it. I know many people who give themselves 4 or 5 days in LA, get the shuttle along that dirty freeway(5 or 101 i think??) to there Hollywood hotel. They are carless and stuck in Hollywood, and have to get bus tours around the area...there opinion is biased as they arent seeing a overall view of the city. Thats great you will have a car, as its vital...dont ever go if you dont to LA. Go to Orange County...Laguna Beach is like St-Tropez, its got a kind of european beach look, mixed with Beverly Hills...its very famous in America, and is just down from Newport Beach also in Orange County. La Jolla in between Orange County and San Diego is really nice aswell...its a town north of San Diego and is popular with american tourists but int. tourists seem to miss it. It has the San Diego Hard Rock Cafe(San Diego want to be associated with is so bad that they pluck their hard rock cafe there ). Dont know what else to tell you...how old is everybody whos going and where are you staying??? Also one more comment, everybody thinks that New York is the US's gem...i would say its LA and southern California in my opinion. New York is great, but for some reason its surprisignly popular with brits hence all the focus on new york. It may be because of proximity but most brits go to New York mostly when visiting the US, however the rest of Europe, and particulary Italy choose to visit both LA and NY equally. & Asia and Australians tend to visit LA, firstly...but again this is due to proximity.

fatboyonadiet

Wow - thanks, did you stop for breath? Ages are 27 and 25. I noticed tickets for 6 flags and the water park are cheaper on their website, should I also wait to get them as well?