California vacation - what to do
 

I'm planning a week long vacation to southern california, probably gonna check out disneyland/universal... any suggestions on where to stay and what to do?

I'm flying down and dont really want to rent a car unless I need to.

Try posting in the travel forum.

I stayed at westin south coast plaze a couple months ago. really nice and not bad pricing either.

it is right across the street from one of the top malls in the U.S

check out all the shopping places - Fashion Island etc.

L.A live is a pretty cool place, like a nicer DT vancouver with more going on.

If I were you, I personally wouldn't visit Disneyland. It's more for kids and they only have one roller coaster, although it's really fun but still not worth it I think.

Definitely hit up Universal Studios, worth checking out for sure.

Vist Beverly Hills & Santa Monica... lots of shit going on there, also the beach + houses are pretty crazy.

btw, you'll need to rent a car...

^
I agree, I did a day in Disney Land but yeah, it's really aimed at kids. It was a cool experience in all, but could have spent that day doing something better.

Seeing the Hollywood stars was pretty cool, lots of stuff going on on that street (Is that hollywood blvd?) to keep you busy for awhile.

Check out six flags if you want roller coasters and more adult rides. Although the line ups for the rides are quite long. I am not sure if they have that system in place where you get a ticket for a ride at a certain time.

I stayed at Hotel Menage last year and its pretty decent. Very close to disneyland. You'll probably want to rent a car though. I drove there last year.

thanks for all the info so far... yah i was looking on the map, looks like if i want to check out some stuff i would need a car...

Go to the beaches to check out bitches.

def. need a car - i wouldn't stay in downtown LA (scary place at night - i used to live there)

stay in santa monica, or west hollywood if you have teh cash, universal studios, six flags (in santa clarita, about 1 hr north of LAX), there's a water park at 6 flags too

PLENTY of beaches

go to tripadvisor.com and search for LA, and for things to do, places to eat, etc - gives you a good idea

personally, i think a 3 hr drive to san diego is also well worth it

i'm driving down to san diego on tuesday (w/ stops in oregon, san fran, LA) - my fav holiday!

also, i like to book hotels through priceline, just know what you're doing before bidding

Daikokuya for ramen and Shabu-Shabu House for, well, shabu shabu....all in Little Tokyo.

moving to travel with a link to this thread :)

If you do go to Disneyland, have a car and staying in Anahiem I'd highly recommend the Hilton Garden Inn. It's reasonably priced, clean rooms and the most comfortable hotel bed I've ever slept on in my life. A short drive to Disneyland and close to lots of restaurants and what not.

Hilton Garden Inn

lol at ppl saying don't go to disneyland... if you've never been to LA before or never been to disneyland, you should atleast try it once. Get a 1 day park hopper or whatever and if you get bored easily then just go next door for rides..

I've stayed at Annabella hotel (right across disney), the rooms were ok. I've also stayed at the Hilton hotel/convention (I personally would stay here again, such a nice hotel and can be booked cheap if you're lucky ;) )

I gotta agree with 411ken. It's one of those places you have to go to once in your lifetime to check out. After that, I probably wouldn't go again.

Universal is another one of those places. It's more of a theme park than a working studio so I don't know if it's all that interesting if you've already been there. On my last trip there, I think my favourite was the Warner Bros studio tour. It's a little pricey ($45pp which is about on par with Universal) but you get to see a lot more behind the scenes stuff. We were able to tour the set of The Mentalist, Big Bang Theory, Friends and they pulled around the Batmobile for some photo ops.

Like the others said, rent a car. You'll need it to get places since nothing is really within walking distance.

I went to Legoland instead of disney

thanks for the suggestions so far... does anyone know of anything "relaxing" to do in socal? i like running around checking out stuff, but the lady wants to take a couple days to relax...

i've been to the disneyland twice in aniheim...sure disneyland is for kids but they have some great rides at california adventures right next door.

I personally don't think the heart of LA/Anaheim is a place to relax imo... but me and my fiance drove up to Laguna beach to "relax" and it was great.the drive there is relaxing already. nothing beats just hanging out, walk around, eat dinner on the patio of our room looking at the sunset... relax the brain lol.. that's my take on "relaxing" in california....

You cannot "relax" in the cities. :p

Like 411ken suggested, you'll have to head down to the beaches of Orange County to chill out there. Mind you, it's summer all year long there so I don't know if you can really "relax" per se. :p

+1 for disneyland/anaheim . stayed at the red lion and the disneyland hotel last month... the disneyland hotels bed was by far the best hotel bed ive slept in. Food there was awesome as well.

was also my first time at disneyland, one day is definatly not enough time if you wanna see everything in both california adventure and disneyland.

Relax a bit by the beaches like the ones at Santa Monica. The beach there is pretty wide and long...so people are pretty spread out.

santa monica, orange county, i'll think i'll plan to go check out some of those beaches there. Does anyone have any other suggestions for other beaches or other places to go to.