Kids want to go to California....Need help!!!

As for airports it can all depend on where you are coming from and possibly your budget. For us LAX is usually by far the cheapest and flight wise best option as far as times and frequency go. It can also depend on if you are taking a non-stop or having to make a change. Use a website like Orbitz to get an idea of cost, flight times, and stops. You can have it look for all LA are airports or just a certain one. When you book however use the airlines own web page.
 
We'd love to do a show taping but my kids aren't old enough for them.

Not sure how old your kids are but this could help you a or someone else. Some show taping allow for kids as young as 10. I was surprised as I figured it would be older.

This is another website that has show tickets I found and has shows that allow kids 10 and up. They have All That, Raven's Home, and Fuller House.

http://audiencesunlimited.com/
 
I must defend my town. Yes, the homeless situation is pretty bad and very sad. But, in no way is Hollywood FULL OF TRANSIENT AND SEEDY CHARACTERS...
Agree with this. A big city is a big city, and, sadly, the homeless situation is part of the landscape in just about any big city you visit these days. NYC, Seattle, Portland, L.A., San Diego, SF, etc. all have issues with homelessness. It doesn't mean that any one of these cities is horrible or not worth visiting or more dangerous than any other big city. And all these places have great reasons for visiting and things well worth seeing, too. If a city is large enough to have a lot of things worth seeing, there is probably going to be some sad/bad, too. Just a part of life in the 21st century...
I agree that traveling anywhere requires using common sense and street smarts, and this includes traveling in smaller and larger cities. And even at DLR -- Disney magic is no reason to leave your common sense at home. As long as the OP and her daughters bring their good travel sense, they should be just fine. :)

OP: this thread is from a poster who did an L.A. trip that might interest you and your daughters: Mini trip report & video of LA/Hollywood/Santa Monica Pier.
 
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I’m not sure what your budget is, but here is what I would do. Fly into Burbank and stay at the Magic Castle Hotel in Hollywood. It’s close enough to Universal Studios as well as Warner Bros. Studio tour and Griffith Observatory (which also gives you a view of the Hollywood sign). Do a tour bus as well. Staying at the Magic Castle Hotel also gets you into the Magic Castle. On weekends kids under 21 are welcome when they do a brunch. 3-4 days should cover it. Then go to Disneyland Resort. Either stay on property or one of the nearby hotels like Candy Cane Inn. Take a non park day and go down to Newport Beach, Laguna, or Huntington Beach. Pro Tip—go to High Times in Costa Mesa if you need adult beverages. They have everything! After that, go down to San Diego. The zoo and Balboa Park are great. The Midway is awesome! Go to Coronado for the day and cruise through the Hotel Del Coronado. Fly home.

Honestly, there are so many things to do in L.A., Orange County, and San Diego that you can find anything and everything you want to do, regardless of budget.

And we haven’t even touched other trip worthy locations: San Francisco, Mendocino, the giant Redwoods and Sequoias, Santa Barbara, Hearst’s Castle, Monterey Bay, Napa Valley, the Eastern Sierras, Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, and yes even Death Valley.
 


Not sure how old your kids are but this could help you a or someone else. Some show taping allow for kids as young as 10. I was surprised as I figured it would be older.

This is another website that has show tickets I found and has shows that allow kids 10 and up. They have All That, Raven's Home, and Fuller House.

http://audiencesunlimited.com/
Thank you! The ones I looked at were all 16 & 18. My youngest is 10 so she would be left out of those. I'll check these out thank you
 
There is so much to see and do in California and it’s huge. If you’re sticking to Los Angeles and Orange County, a week will probably be OK. Three days at Disneyland Resort. I always suggest Laguna Beach for tourists. You could do a studio tour in LA.

If you want to see San Diego or San Francisco too, better make it two weeks.
We’re doing the same here in a couple of weeks. Laguna beach for a couple days then off to Disneyland right after.
 
Are you serious? I thought Santa Monica was the cleanest beach I've ever been to in my life. I also loved Santa Monica, but the area is busy, I'll give you that.
Huge crowds, I could find a better beach with a more moderate amount of people (we like to have a decent amount of people for safety reasons). Every single step I took in that water my foot got caught in seaweed, my sister (3 years old) was almost pulled under the water after a piece of dirty seaweed in the water twirled around her ankle and she tried jumping around. Tons of trash on the pier. Saw a bunch of sketchy looking things going on. The entire area looked dingy. Restrooms were disgusting and smelled of waste. Water was faulty. Everything was rusty.

We didn't go to any other beaches in CA other than La Jolla, where you can't swim.
 


... We didn't go to any other beaches in CA other than La Jolla, where you can't swim.
Next time you want a swimming beach in SoCal, be sure to ask here first. For us, Santa Monica = restaurants and shopping, not swimming. Every beach has its own high points -- local posters here will be more than glad to help you find a good fit for your family. Next time, look at the beach at the Laguna Ritz Carlton. You can have lunch at the hotel, then go down to the beach (open to the public) afterward. It is a small beach, but nice and clean.
 
Next time you want a swimming beach in SoCal, be sure to ask here first. For us, Santa Monica = restaurants and shopping, not swimming. Every beach has its own high points -- local posters here will be more than glad to help you find a good fit for your family. Next time, look at the beach at the Laguna Ritz Carlton. You can have lunch at the hotel, then go down to the beach (open to the public) afterward. It is a small beach, but nice and clean.
Good advice, I’ll do that next time. :)
 
Just some ideas for you from our recent trip:

We just got back from our first family trip to CA! (Daughters ages: 19 and 13) We flew into Santa Ana (John Wayne International). We flew in from the east coast and got in at 10:00 pm CA time...1:00 am our time so we just stayed at the Hilton/Irvine near the airport. The next morning we got up early and got a rental car from the airport. The hotel has a free shuttle to and from the airport. We loaded up the car and headed to Laguna Beach. It was so pretty! We had an awesome brunch there and really enjoyed walking on the beach and exploring the tide pools. We headed back to our motel (Tropicana Inn & Suites) in Anaheim. It is literally right across the street from Disneyland! We turned in our rental car because we wanted to stay in the Disney bubble for our time in Anaheim. We explored Downtown Disney that night and got excited about being in the parks the next day. We spent two full days enjoying the parks! We then woke up early secured our next rental car and headed south to San Diego! Along the way we stopped at San Juan Capistrano and got off the interstate and drove where you can see the ocean. Things we did while we were in San Diego: Gaslamp Quarter, La Jolla, Coronado Island, Seaport Village, and Balboa Park. We stayed at the Westin in the Gaslamp Quarter. I highly recommend all the hotels/motels we stayed at. They were all very clean and conveniently located. Really great service and extra amenities.

Happy Planning!
 
Thanks for all the advice and tips!! It is really helpful!! We live on the East Coast, so would fly out of BWI. Talking with my family and reading all your comments, we plan on doing a week trip. Want to do some Hollywood tours and other things in LA area first, and then spend three days at Disneyland. What airport do you suggest? My thought was to arrive, rent car, stay somewhere in LA (needs suggestions) for three days. Do some tours, kids want to see Hollywood sign, maybe a studio tour. I saw some things on TripAdvisor to do. Bike tour of Venice Beach and Santa Monica looked fun. Then mid-week head down to Disneyland for three days (Need suggestions for place to stay). Budget friendly, but not a dump. My thought is we won't be in rooms very much on this trip. I don't want to spend a lot on a room that we are only sleeping in. Staying close to Disneyland that we could walk or catch shuttle is ideal. I have never been to Disneyland but have been to Disney World many times. Is it better to go thru them to book rooms and tickets, or do I book room and go to somewhere like Undercover Tourist to get tickets? Defiantly want the hopper pass with fastpass. Any other suggestions are welcome! Thanks again!
 
We have been to Disneyland every year for the last 10 years. Typically we spend half the week at Disneyland and the other half in the San Diego area (really from Carlsbad down to San Diego because we have friends that live in Carlsbad). Going that direction we have found that all of the beach areas from Carlsbad to San Diego are pretty nice. Coronado is nice. The San Diego Zoo Safari Park is great and the San Diego zoo is fun too.

This year we changed it up and stayed in the LA area after Disneyland instead of going south. We did Balboa/Newport beach; Santa Monica pier/beach; Universal; Hollywood area; Warner Brothers Tour; Griffith Observatory. My DD is 13. We thought the Balboa/Newport beach area was nice-- the beach was really clean and nice, you could do harbor tours or whale watching tours, and there are lots of fun shops. Universal was fun-but we were glad we bought the express pass because with the lines there was no way we could have done everything in one day without it-- our favorites there were the Harry Potter area and the Studio Tour. The Warner Brother Studios Tour was an absolute highlight. Other than Disneyland, it was my daughter's favorite thing (but she loves Disney/Theatre/Tv/Movies/acting/writing/costuming and wants to either be an Imagineer or if she can't get there to work in the entertainment industry someday). DH and I really enjoyed the Warner Brothers tour also. We did the basic tour not one of the VIP tours. Aside from being able to tour the back lot where a lot of movies/shows we knew were filmed, there are costumes and props from lots of movies (Harry Potter; DC; Star Is Born; Batmobiles); we got to tour the Warner Brothers prop room and the All American Set (a CW series that I didn't know- but it was still really fun to walk the set) and they have the Central Perk set from Friends moved after filming ended to a tourist area where you can take pictures. As Big Bang Theory filming is over they have moved that set into the tourist building too and you can take pictures on it-- we missed the opening of that one by less than 2 weeks. After going to beaches in the San Diego area for years and going to Newport/Balboa, we were not at all impressed with the Santa Monica Pier or Beach-- we did find them much more dirty and crowded than what we are used to in California. That area was a one and done for us. We will not be returning. We had been looking at staying at a hotel in Santa Monica and were glad that we had not done that. Rodeo Drive was fun to drive through and see, but DD lost interest really quickly when she realized they were not stores we would actually be buying her any clothes in. She was not interested in browsing the stores and seeing things she liked that there was no way we would be buying. We have been to NYC several times, and to us Hollywood Blvd is pretty much a smaller, dirtier, times square without all the lights-- and without a green zone to keep the "characters" from coming up to you and asking for money for photos unless you step into their zone. That said, it was really fun to see once. and we did have a good time in that area. It was fun to see the Chinese Theatre and DD loved seeing what stars' hands and feet were the same size as hers. There is a brochure that we picked up at our hotel that had all the locations of the specific stars up and down the street, so we could track down the ones DD really wanted to see. We went to Madame Tussards' wax museum and had a great time taking photos with all the "stars". That might be really fun for the teens. We all really liked the Griffith Observatory. DD liked seeing the place she had seen in so many movies (particularly La La Land which she loves), and she also likes science so she found it interesting for that too. The Griffith Observatory has a great view of the Hollywood sign. We went right at opening- got there before it opened and took pics of the sign and entered right when it opened- and there is also a cafe that has good food and you can sit outside with a view of the sign. We did not go in the evening, but in the evening you can look through the telescope which we heard was great--- be aware that the Hollywood sign is not lit at night though.
 
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Huge crowds, I could find a better beach with a more moderate amount of people (we like to have a decent amount of people for safety reasons). Every single step I took in that water my foot got caught in seaweed, my sister (3 years old) was almost pulled under the water after a piece of dirty seaweed in the water twirled around her ankle and she tried jumping around. Tons of trash on the pier. Saw a bunch of sketchy looking things going on. The entire area looked dingy. Restrooms were disgusting and smelled of waste. Water was faulty. Everything was rusty.

We didn't go to any other beaches in CA other than La Jolla, where you can't swim.

Oh well, that explains part of it- I don't really swim in the ocean.
 
Thanks for all the advice and tips!! It is really helpful!!... Then mid-week head down to Disneyland for three days (Need suggestions for place to stay). Budget friendly, but not a dump. My thought is we won't be in rooms very much on this trip. I don't want to spend a lot on a room that we are only sleeping in. Staying close to Disneyland that we could walk or catch shuttle is ideal. I have never been to Disneyland but have been to Disney World many times. Is it better to go thru them to book rooms and tickets, or do I book room and go to somewhere like Undercover Tourist to get tickets? Defiantly want the hopper pass with fastpass. Any other suggestions are welcome! Thanks again!
From the Disneyland (California) board -- the DLR trip planning forum:
Start with this sticky at the top of the first page: * DLR Info/Links - Maps, Hotels, DISer Reviews, Hydroguy's tips, NEWBIE INFO here! -- TONS of great information and threads here!
From that sticky:
A DLR Guide for WDW Vets -- this is pre-SWGE, but still very, very helpful!
HydroGuy Tips Compilation -- so much good information here!
Hotel Info: Read these threads then ask any questions on the DLR board
"HydroGuy's Hotel Rule" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1199862
"Choosing the Right DLR Area Hotel for You" www.disboards.com/threads/choosing-the-right-hotel-for-you.3656512/ -- at DLR, it's all about location, location, location! If you can be walking distance to the gates, great! If not, be walking distance to one of the parking lots so that you can catch the free shuttle buses or the tram. Or be a quick Uber/Lyft ride away. But the less commuting you have to do to get to/from the parks, the easier your trip will be.
Book hotel and tickets separately -- you'll save more money that way. Unless you find a package deal that gives you perks that you want, e.g. Costco packages. But at DLR, booking separately is easy and cost effective. UT is well liked here, and they now offer MP with their tickets. LMT is good, too -- use Google to find a free membership code. Check Mousesavers.com for the latest deals on hotels, tickets, car rentals, etc. If a vendor is listed there, they are authorized and legit.
 
As someone whose spent a lot of time in Hollywood (my husband works there), I don't think that there's any disputing that while there are many very nice, expensive parts of Hollywood, the part that tourists will most likely be spending time in (Hollywood Boulevard) is in fact full of transients and seedy characters. It's only fair to warn people who may have their experience affected by that, and/or are coming from places where they have never experienced it. If they can live with that and move beyond it to the amazing experiences and restaurants the city has to offer, they will have an amazing time.
 

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