Planning: California

Hi guys,

I've been investigating a trip to do some of the main parks around California. I spoke with Virgin Holidays last week and they gave me a price of £1300 for ten nights, which included everything apart from food (breakfast was included), spending money, and Six Flags tickets.

The parks this included were Disney, Universal, Knotts, and Seaworld, and it was over Halloween time so they could also sort HHN at extra cost. The price the agent gave me included fastpass for Universal which I'm not sure would be needed, but I let him get on with it as he was on a roll.

So I am sure some of you have done this trip, and I was wondering if you had any feedback or advice?

Personally I am not bothered about Seaworld - would anyone advise either way?

Is over the Halloween period likely to be crazy busy? Have I missed out any vital attractions?

Can I do the trip for significantly less than £1300 for a decent hotel (it was more of an apartment with full kitchen which is better for groups), car, food, etc?

Is there anywhere recommended to stay close to Six Flags to avoid the 60-90min drive?

Is the trip worth doing at all or should I stick to tried-and-tested Orlando?

Cheers all!

I did Seaworld San Diego back in 2004 - it's good, but not a patch on Florida. Should you want to see animals, I highly Recomend San Diego Zoo.

The best place to stay to be close to Magic Mountain/Disneyland/Knotts Berry Farm is Anaheim.

California is the greatest place i've ever been to. if you go to California don't just do the theme parks because it's an amazing place. I recommend going to the Los Angeles Natural History Museum, and you must visit San Francisco. Alcatraz is incredible.

I sure there are others who can elaborate on other aspects, but if have stayed in a Hilton Garden Inn right next to SFMM a couple of times. Really nice, 5/10 min walk up to the park and plenty of restaurant options nearby!

I visited California last October, spent two weeks. Spent time in Hollywood area and visited Universal Studios, Magic Mountain, Knotts and spent a few days at Both Disney Parks.

its certainly worth visiting instead of Orlando for a change and we really enjoyed the parks and also enjoyed both Disney parks despite Having been to Disney world a number of times before.

Apart From Disney the parks werent too busy, Universal seemed busy but queues werent that bad and got to ride all attractions with the main rides (JP, Mummy and Transformers) aboutt 3 times each.

Knotts was dead (went on a tuesday) i have never been to a park so quiet, all rides walk on and no rides ran with full train/car the topspin was running with no more than 4 people per ride, the major coasters had less than 10 people per cycle.

Magic Mountain isn open every day in Oct so need to plan carefully we visited on a Friday and park was open 10.30am-1am with Fright fest taking over in the evening, park got busier in the evening and queues didnt seem to bad but we splashed out on a queue bot and were able to book spots on rides and had very small waits went on all major coasters multiple times (X2 was closed though)

Disney however was very busy spent two days at each park, but despite being very busy was very enjoyable and got on all major rides multiple times using fast pass etc was great walking from off site hotel to the parks within minutes something you cant do at DW. California Adventure was great and found it much more enjoyable than non magic kingdom parks at DW prob because the park has more major rides than the DW parks. On the first day even pirates had a 60 min queue! second day wasnt anywhere near as busy. Also need to plan carefully if want to see Fireworks or Fantasmic as only show at weekends in Oct and not every night.

Stayed at the Hilton Garden inn in Hollywood and also by Magic Kingdom both where great hotels and a Ramada Hotel near Disneyland.

The price you have got is good as Two weeks cost around £2k each and that was flying with Virgin.

I am travelling to California in June, and spending some time in Anaheim.

I've been looking into public transport options around the Disneyland area and you might find the 43 bus route useful in getting up and down Harbour Blvd. It also connects with Fullerton station for Amtrak into Unity Station in Downtown L.A.

If you can also get north of Magic Mountain and go up to Monterrey, San Francisco, Yosemite Park, the red wood trees at Sequoia and Napa Valley they are all worth a visit. I need to get back out there as my last visit was in 2005 and my family being over this week from there has made me realise I need to make the effort to go back. I'd love to also team a trip to California with a quick visit to Vegas in the future too.

Thank you for the positive responses, all.

I would love to do San Francisco and Vegas as well but it's down to a case of 'what the group wants' and keeping the costs down/everyone happy! I'm not comfortable doing the trip by myself unfortunately!

don't go to sea world there is currently laws going through to stop sea world keeping captive orca Wales and there other animals suffer terribly collapsed dorsal fins animals going berserk in the tanks and killing there handlers or each other the list dose go on.

chris556 said:

don't go to sea world there is currently laws going through to stop sea world keeping captive orca Wales and there other animals suffer terribly collapsed dorsal fins animals going berserk in the tanks and killing there handlers or each other the list dose go on.

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There's a lot of hearsay surrounding the Blackfish movie you're speaking of and a lot of rumour too. I wouldn't avoid Sea World just because of a questionable movie.

chris556 said:

don't go to sea world there is currently laws going through to stop sea world keeping captive orca Wales and there other animals suffer terribly collapsed dorsal fins animals going berserk in the tanks and killing there handlers or each other the list dose go on.

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Well that was a struggle to read.

I think Laura is quite capable of deciding where she wants to go without the need of a bias documentary. That's without mentioning the thousands of animals SeaWorld have helped over the years. [/blackfishdebate]

With that said, if I was you I wouldn't be overly fussed about the San Diego's SeaWorld. If you were going to Orlando then fair enough, as that park is practically a must visit at some point. But there seems to be plenty of other parks out in Cali that should prioritise over SeaWorld.

Regarding Vegas, I've been helping my mum plan her trip in October for several months now. She's visiting for 10 days and it still seems like she'd need more time to do everything she wants. I'd suggest doing a lot of research into the things you certainly want to experience in Vegas and see if it's possible in a short amount of time, as the quantity of things to do out in LV quickly add up.

I would avoid them anyway. Call me old fashioned but these animals belong in the sea, not being used for tricks. Its wrong. Best way to see whale, dolphins and sharks is strap on a scuba tank best experience guaranteed.

chris556 said:

I would avoid them anyway call me old fashioned but these animals belong in the sea not being used for tricks its wrong period best way to see Wales, dolphins and sharks is strap on a scuba tank best experience guaranteed.

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Well, that's just not true. The best way to see Wales is via camper van roadtrip!

I don't want to get into a Blackfish debate, my primary concern is that San Diego would be a bit of a detour if we're trying to keep the trip concise to save money, and whether it was worth that or not. It doesn't sound like it would be and I'm not *desperate* to do the other attractions there (sure it would be nice, but nice costs money).

I think Vegas probably warrants a separate trip although I do want to do that sometime, maybe when I've got a bit more cash to blow!

We have just returned from a California trip, so can probably help.

Six Flags - We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn in 2008, but this time stayed at the Best Western Valencia. 10-15 min walk, but includes a basic complimentary breakfast, the Hilton doesnt supply breakfast, its also considerably cheaper than the Hilton.

San Diego is a lovely city, we went down there as our cruise departed from there. Belmont Park has a fun classic woodie and you pass the Legoland on the way down (we still havent bothered with it. Its the most expensive theme park in CA with one day tickets more expensive than Disney !!).

We also did Vegas and will warn you that it is a Loooooong drive from LA. Took us 4 1/2 hours. You do pass Buffalo Bills for the awful Desparado on the way which is 30mins from Vegas. El Loco in Adventuredome is a decent new ride, but the Coaster at New York New York is still as painful as it was on our last visit to Vegas. We had 2 nights in Vegas and was well worth the long trip, but very tiring.

Knotts - Contact the park before hand to ask if there are any school visits on the dates you have planned, they are very helpful and will let you know. School visits can cripple the park.

Universal - Didnt go this time, so cant really comment as our last visit was in 2008 and we were not impressed.

Disney - Great parks, great rides, worth it for Cars Land alone !!! Was very busy but as the parks are so close together, the park hopper ticket really comes into its own.

We love California and prefer it to Florida, which we hated !!

Hope that helps.