Disneyland/LA area (ADDED VIDEO)

Amw1064

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jan 29, 2012
Update: mini trip report in post 56


Anyone want to offer suggestions for which days and how we should do this. Will arrive by 10am on a Friday and leaving LA area some time on Monday. Staying in the Hollywood area (undecided at this point) Loews, Orchid Suites, HIExpress Hollywood? Will have a car. Or should we stay up by Universal area or The Grove area? Any hotel recommendations?

Santa Monica Pier, Warner Brothers Studio Tour, The Grove/Farmers Market, Griffith Observatory, Hollywood sign, Walk of fame, Chinese Theater, Hollywood/Highland mall, a Hollywood tour either Ultimate or Access Hollywood. They also want to try the Dragon's breath at the Chocolate Chair.

We ended up getting 5 day hoppers for the Disneyland portion of the trip and are using DVC points for Grand CA.

Original post:
We will be going with another family next summer with (2) 15 year old girls. We know we are doing Disneyland for 4 days and the girls want to do Warner Brothers tour, see the Hollywood sign, Walk of Fame, Chinese Theater & Santa Monica pier. We will split our hotel between the two areas. Any other things of interest we should do. Also where should we stay when doing the Hollywood/LA area things? Any help or suggestions are appreciated. Moderate price hotels. I doubt we will be in them much.
 
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Do they want to do Universal Hollywood? You could stay in Universal city, last time I stayed it was around $169, but that will depend on season, or Studio Cit area. I also recommend La Brea tar pits when near the area.
 
15 year olds would probably also enjoy The Grove/Farmer's Market. Near that there's also LACMA, La Brea Tar Pits and Petersen Automotive Museum. Of those 3, personally, I'd pick LACMA.
 
Depending on how Hollywood-y the girls want their day to be, they might enjoy the Grove/Farmer's Market more than a museum. (Agreed, I would choose LACMA, too; but I'm not 15!) There are usually pretty good celebrity sightings at both places. And lots of fun shopping and dining, too.
 


Do they want to do Universal Hollywood? You could stay in Universal city, last time I stayed it was around $169, but that will depend on season, or Studio Cit area. I also recommend La Brea tar pits when near the area.
They do not want to do the actual Universal theme park. We live in Florida and go to ours. Everyone recommends the tar pits and I do not understand exactly what they are.
 
15 year olds would probably also enjoy The Grove/Farmer's Market. Near that there's also LACMA, La Brea Tar Pits and Petersen Automotive Museum. Of those 3, personally, I'd pick LACMA.
Ok, I have to ask. What does LACMA stand for?
 
Depending on how Hollywood-y the girls want their day to be, they might enjoy the Grove/Farmer's Market more than a museum. (Agreed, I would choose LACMA, too; but I'm not 15!) There are usually pretty good celebrity sightings at both places. And lots of fun shopping and dining, too.
Any area you would recommend to stay near for our 2 or 3 nights over in that area?
 


Ok, I have to ask. What does LACMA stand for?


Lacma is the LA County Museum of Art. If you go to the tar pita you can walk next door there too. The tar pits are literally pits if tar where mammoths and other animals got trapped in the ice age etc. so tons of fossils on display and you can watch them clean and organize fossils etc, great and fascinating learning interaction there.

https://tarpits.org/

And if they/you like art, http://www.lacma.org/
 
Lacma is the LA County Museum of Art. If you go to the tar pita you can walk next door there too. The tar pits are literally pits if tar where mammoths and other animals got trapped in the ice age etc. so tons of fossils on display and you can watch them clean and organize fossils etc, great and fascinating learning interaction there.

https://tarpits.org/

And if they/you like art, http://www.lacma.org/
Hmmmm, not sure if they would like that. They are both very into Disney and anything Hollywood/movie stars. Their #1 goal is to hike to the Hollywood sign if that gives you an idea. (we just flew into LA after Aulani and went right by the sign. Had I been prepared, I could have gotten a picture and crossed it off the list, haha) Maybe we can mix it up with some other things. Lots of people have recommended the tar pits.
 
Hmmmm, not sure if they would like that. They are both very into Disney and anything Hollywood/movie stars. Their #1 goal is to hike to the Hollywood sign if that gives you an idea. (we just flew into LA after Aulani and went right by the sign. Had I been prepared, I could have gotten a picture and crossed it off the list, haha) Maybe we can mix it up with some other things. Lots of people have recommended the tar pits.

Ah, ok, hiking to the sign is completely different than seeing it from one of the viewpoiints. To hike up, i've only done the Brush Canyon trail which is a bit of a hike. I did it to also see "the batcave". But there are a couple easier/shorter trails, not sure how good a shape everyone is in for the hike. Some spots are hard to park in. It can also get pretty dang hot so whatever you do bring more water than you think you will need!

The Hollywood and Highland center is a cool mall that is next to the walk of fame and chinese theater. Not far away is the wax museum which they may also like
 
I would Google The Grove and see if they want to go there. It's next to The Original Farmer's Market, so Google that too. It's also right next to CBS Television City, which isn't accessible to the public, but you may be able to get free tickets to So You Think You Can Dance or Dancing with the Stars if either are going during your visit. I suggested LACMA because of the Urban Light installation, which lots of people post on social media. It's less than a mile to walk from one to the other. For the Hollywood sign, you'll see it from Hollywood & Highland (next to Chinese Theater), but they might like the view from the Griffith Observatory too. There's a hiking trail to get closer to the sign from just outside the observatory parking lot. I wouldn't invest too much time with the walk of fame or Chinese Theater, you can easily see those and walk up and down the street for an hour or however long you get in free parking at Hollywood and Highland. In addition to Santa Monica Pier I'd add Third Street Promenade, which is a few blocks away. Again, I'd look at Google to see what you'd want to do there.
 
Any suggestions where to stay to do all the above activities. I have a reservation at the Hilton Universal but am thinking we will not go there since we just went in orlando a year ago. Don't want something too expensive- so under $200-$300/night but central to all.

Any tours to recommend like Access Hollywood or TMZ?
 
Any suggestions where to stay to do all the above activities. I have a reservation at the Hilton Universal but am thinking we will not go there since we just went in orlando a year ago. Don't want something too expensive- so under $200-$300/night but central to all.

Any tours to recommend like Access Hollywood or TMZ?
Sportmen's Lodge and The Garland both have free shuttles to USH, so you can do CityWalk or add a day at USH if you decide.
 
From something in another thread I just thought of some more places to Google. Malibu Country Mart/Malibu Lagoon State Beach, Brentwood Country Mart/Montana Ave (Brentwood), The Getty Center (or Getty Villa in Malibu), The Ivy/Robertson Blvd (or The Ivy at the Shore), West Hollywod (Griddle Cafe).
 
Thanks for all the ideas. I think we would need the easiest hike (if any) to the Hollywood sign. I will look up all these suggestions. We are flying in early on a Friday. How many nights should we plan for the LA/Hollywood part? Wanted to make sure we hit Disneyland during the week.
 
Thanks for all the ideas. I think we would need the easiest hike (if any) to the Hollywood sign. I will look up all these suggestions. We are flying in early on a Friday. How many nights should we plan for the LA/Hollywood part? Wanted to make sure we hit Disneyland during the week.
You have to decide what you want to do, how much time you want to devote to each activity and where you're staying. We want to go to Hollywood and see the sign and celebrities is really vague.
 
You have to decide what you want to do, how much time you want to devote to each activity and where you're staying. We want to go to Hollywood and see the sign and celebrities is really vague.

Exactly, the longer hike is over 6 miles with quite a but of elevation, so could be half day or longer right there. If you do one of the "stars' homes" tour that could be a half day. If you do the hop on hop off bus that could be half/full day.

For a shorter hike, google all of the trail heads. I know there was one that was much shorter and steeper, and there was an "easy" one but I remembered the residents at one of them complaining about all the people parking in their neighborhoods and littering etc so there were some parking restrictions and possibly trailhead closure or hours etc.
 
Exactly, the longer hike is over 6 miles with quite a but of elevation, so could be half day or longer right there. If you do one of the "stars' homes" tour that could be a half day. If you do the hop on hop off bus that could be half/full day.

For a shorter hike, google all of the trail heads. I know there was one that was much shorter and steeper, and there was an "easy" one but I remembered the residents at one of them complaining about all the people parking in their neighborhoods and littering etc so there were some parking restrictions and possibly trailhead closure or hours etc.
If you mean Beachwood, yes, it's completely closed.

What are their expectations with hiking to the sign? There are fences around it and you can't get very close. If they just want to do a popular hike that lots of people post photos of, I'd look into the short loop at Runyon Canyon. One thing you could do is since you're arriving on Friday morning, let the kids make a plan for what they want to to for most of Friday and all day Saturday. Plan to actually stay Saturday in the LA area, so that you can step in and shift things to a half day Sunday before heading down to DLR for Sunday night and parks Monday. It also really depends on how much you're really letting the kids dictate your activities. But since they seem to be the ones with the interest, let them research the options.
 
Agree about the Runyon Canyon recommendation. Do the girls understand that the sign itself isn't on public property? You can be arrested for trespassing for hiking right up to the sign itself. Did they see and like "La La Land"? You can Google many lists of the landmarks in the movie and how to find them. That might make a fun day if they want to choose which landmarks they really want to see. We have friends from the midwest who just did a day tour of "La La Land" sites: e.g. Urban Light installation, Observatory, Chateau Marmont, etc. Got great photos and had a great time.
 
Agree about the Runyon Canyon recommendation. Do the girls understand that the sign itself isn't on public property? You can be arrested for trespassing for hiking right up to the sign itself. Did they see and like "La La Land"? You can Google many lists of the landmarks in the movie and how to find them. That might make a fun day if they want to choose which landmarks they really want to see. We have friends from the midwest who just did a day tour of "La La Land" sites: e.g. Urban Light installation, Observatory, Chateau Marmont, etc. Got great photos and had a great time.
Omg, my daughter would flip for a La La Land tour. She already told me she wanted to find all the spots for the movie including the street scene when they walk to the cars together. Yes, I have read that you cant actually go to the sign, I miswrote what I meant for that. They just didn't want the sign to be a spec in the distance but none of us parents would be up for the kind of hike I think it requires to get really close. (also I am not that adventurous or have any plans of getting arrested)
 

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