Ideas For Los Angeles

jue

Our family are lucky enough to be going to the west coast of the USA in August. We are splitting our time between San diego and Los Angeles. Has anyone any hints and tips for these cities. We would be particually interested in ideas for evenings out. We are 2 adults and two teens (17 and 13).
We are planning to visit 6 flags theme park as well as Sea World and do some shopping!!
Thank you in advance

telly-addict

What strikes you as a visitor to LA in comparison to the rest of the states is how absolutely huge and sprawling the city is. There is no discernible centre and the roads are immense. We had been to a number of US cities before and we found the highways around LA quite daunting by comparison - 8 lanes each side of the road is not unusual. If you aren't used to driving in the states you may want to pick a hotel nearest to the attractions you want to visit the most.
When we visited we stayed in Anaheim which is where Disneyland is. There was a lot of redevelopment going on then (1998) so it wasn't very scenic. Disneyland has a Tardis effect - you can drive round the block around it, quite different from WDW in Florida, but it didn't seem that small inside.

San Diego is really nice - much nicer than LA, IMO. We did an 'Old Town Trolley' tour which gives you a good feel for the city.

We stayed also at Santa Barbara which is really lovely - an hour or so from LA? Probably nicer to stay there than in Anaheim, just depends what you want to do.

Universal Studios is pretty much like the one in Florida if you have already been, as is Sea World, really, but I really like Sea World.

Mann's Chinese Theater in Hollywood (not at all scenic!) is a bit disappointing.

I did like the 'tours of the stars homes' that you can do by getting a map from anywhere round there - usually includes the 'George Michael toilets' and other well known spots.

Shopping - I think we went to Newport Beach (Fashion Mall, or something like that) rather than LA.

Hope that is of some use! Sorry if you already know, but I would suggest you get a bigger car or minivan there than the one allocated to you by the rental company as the boots of the cars are much smaller than ours, and with all that shopping you will need somewhere for the extra suitcases you are bound to need! As two adults and two pre-schoolers we found the minivan brilliant.

nelly_2

Im a theme park junkie so my stuff will be along them lines.

San diego zoo is supposed to be the best zoo in the world.

http://www.sandiegozoo.org/


Then they have 2 superb six flags' theme parks

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

Magic mountain is the biggy but Marine world is to be realy good too.

http://www.sixflags.com/parks/marineworld/

You can buy your tickets online and print them out this saves time at the front gate, could save half an hour on busy days.

DO NOT visit any American theme park at the weekend, even though the kids are off school in August, the parents arnt, minimise queing by going midweek. Get there early and get a fast pass too, their only $15 dollars each and can save hours of queing.

When we do theme parks we are there before they open and have generally done the lot by dinner time, and leave and chill out round the pool or whatever while others are stuck in massive queues.

X the ride in MM can have 3 hour queues if your unlucky and its constantly breaking down, head to thaet ride 1st.

Also Knotts berry farm has a load of the good stuff http://www.knotts.com/

Xcelerator launches you from 0-82 mph in 2.3 seconds.... yeah baby

Also Disney land and Universal studios, but they arnt as good as the Florida versions.

What ever you do you'll have a great time and I'm dead jealous

nevh2001

Hello,

I visited LA 2 years ago and did the same trip as you. We stayed in Santa Monica in LA as its close to all the main attractions, i.e not too far from downtown LA itself and you are v. close to Beverly Hills and Hollywood. Santa Monica boulevard is great and you might see a film star or 2 !!

Do the "Stars and their Homes" tour when in Hollywood, its fascinating.

We drove to San Diego and stayed by the beach. Great times!

jue

Thank you so much for your ideas
we have thought about going to a baseball game too, has anyone ever been? thought this would be fun

carmenes82

I love Los Angeles- here are some of my highlights:

-Sky Bar at the Mondrian or the bar at the Fenix at the Arygle for a drink- perched on Sunset Strip, you get the most amazing views of the City at night. Sky Bar has red-rope policy, Fenix tends to be a bit more relaxed. It isn't cheap though.
-Santa Monica- the Pier is old, a bit tacky and, if you put it in the UK you'd avoid it, but the ferris wheel etc. take on a unique charm under the Cali sun!
-The Bev- this is the shopping centre at the end of Melrose Ave.- great for star spotting if you like that kind of thing and some nice shops too.
-Melrose Ave.- great for your teenagers to both browse (at the very expensive places like Fred Seagal) and buy as well. Cutting edge, funky fashion.
-Getty Center- this is FREE to get into and has a spectacular collection as well as good views of the LA Basin...you need to book online well in advance.
-La Brea tar pits- watch wolly mammoths surface through the bubbling tar!!
-Six Flags- awesome!
-Universal Studios- tame rides, but goods shows for a younger audience.

Hope that helps.

One final key bit of advice is DON'T try to walk anywhere...the City is designed for cars and looks far better and works more smoothly when you drive.

If you are looking for accomodation, try the Secret Garden B & B run by Raymond- a Google search should bring it up.

Car.

jue

WOW Car thats wonderful thankyou so much, the off to find details on the tar pits right now, that sounds great. Also gonna look at the Getty centre for sure

nelly_2

We went to a baseball game in Toronto verses the Boston red sox.
It was a right laugh, they have loads of entertainment going on all through the game, we stayed about 2 hours, didnt have a clue who was winning or loseing or why, but it was just great fun start to finish, got seats right behind the batter booked online before we went.

They have "beer dudes" who walk up and down the aisles flogging beer, foot long hot dogs, burgers the lot, you just that feeling of the "all American" experience, we finished the night off with a meal.

It ended up being our second best night out ever , although granted the meal was in the revolving restaurant at the top of the CN tower.

jue

Wow Nelly
thank you for sharing, must book a baseball game

mrvolleyball

I was there in 2002 so things might have changed but:

You could take a trip to Las Vegas which is an amazing place even for non-gamblers (me).The hotels are like nothing else I've seen before, one has a canal inside it which you can take a gondala ride on. Think you can get cheap flights from local airports outside LA. We could have flown from Long Beach (about 1 hr south of LA) but decided to drive because there are some great outlet stores on the way. However it is a long drive (7/8 hours ish I think).

Would agree with previous people, that San Diago Zoo and Sea World are both well worth a visit.

If you go to Universal Studios there is a chance you could get to see the filming of an episode of a sitcom. When we went, there was a booth near the entrance where you could get FREE tickets to see the filming of "3rd Rock from the Sun" that evening. They brought you in a bus from Universal Studios to ABC ( I think) studios nearby, then brought you back afterwards. Was the highlight of my holiday ( even managed to get a signed script from the show).

carmenes82

mrvolleyball wrote:

However it is a long drive (7/8 hours ish I think).

Will take 2-2 1/2 hours max from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Love Las Vegas too, but with 10 days I reckon you'll find plenty to do in LA and SD.

Car.