LA in December

Sombra

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jul 5, 2017
Hello everyone,
We are finally making the trip to Disney with our kids who are now teenagers. Travelling from Au. Took longer than we thought to make it happen. We only have 8 days in total so we want to be organised to get the most from our short stay. Originally we were planning to stay at Anaheim the whole time and commute to Universal and Warner Bros etc. Planning two days at Disney. Are we better off staying half the time near Universal? If so where is the safest and best places to stay? Also want to visit the space centre and Observatory. Thank you in advance for your help.
 
With teenagers we found Homewood suites Anaheim convention centre to be great. They have free breakfast every morning. It is a few minutes walk to a Denny's and IHOP also Walgreens pharmacy that stocks useful things including some food items.
It is walking distance to Disney but you have the toy story parking lot next door that has shuttles to Disney that have worked perfectly for us every time we have gone. Most important for our teens was good internet and having a kitchen and lounge seperate was really useful. Remember to do the 3 rides that have Christmas themes including my favourite it's a small world. Make sure you make time and plan to see the night time shows for Christmas they are gorgeous. Check out the Disneyland thread there is some posts on Christmas 2017 that will provide you with valuable information. We went last year at the end of nov and loved it.
 
Thank you for your reply. So did you go to universal etc and just commute from Anaheim? I think this is what we will do. I will have a look at the Disneyland thread thanks.
 
No we did not go to universal the rides don't suite my family. They have prob with 3D and movement rides. We have been a few years ago and have been to Orlando universal. We have done Disney with a car and without. In nov we didn't have a car and used anaheim tour company to do some other things.
 


We are also going on our first trip Nov/Dec with our four kids (16,14,10,1yrs) we've decided to split our time up between Anaheim, Vegas and then spending 3nights in LA. We have booked The Magic castle hotel, which seems to be very popular with other Australian's and has great reviews on trip advisor. It's walking distance to the walk of fame and close to universal studios (only 1 metro stop). But the thing I love is all the freebies, breakfast, ice cream/blocks, candy, chocolate snacks/chips for the kids and they do all your laundry for free. I'm hoping it will be a great way to end our trip :flower:
 
Hi Sombra! Congratulations on your upcoming trip.:)

Last year we visited Los Angeles and Anaheim, staying firstly in Los Angeles (and visited Universal Hollywood, Warner Bros etc) before moving down to Anaheim to visit Disneyland. Los Angeles traffic can make the trip between Anaheim and Los Angeles long - on a good day it can take 35 minutes - other times over an hour (if you hit afternoon traffic). You might like to consider the travel times in your decision making.

In Los Angeles we stayed at Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City as it was walking distance to Universal Studios. This year (we are also going to be in Los Angeles/Anaheim in December) we will be staying at Hollywood Orchard Suites. Like where Our Aussie Six is staying, Hollywood Orchard Suites is walking distance to the Walk of Fame etc.
 
Thank you everyone for your replies. So many things to work out! I will check out the accommodation in Hollywood. So you felt safe enough staying in Hollywood Montanabel?
I guess more specifically do you feel safe on the subway especially at night. We want to stay at Universal Studios until it closes if possible.
 
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We have stayed with teenagers in Anaheim. We had a 2 bedroom at Residence inn Garden Grove. It was awesome. Came with hot breakfast free every day and 4 dinners a week also free. Rooms were great, clean, big, friendly staff, pool, basketball court, lots of restaurants around and a long walk (although we did it often) to disneyland, about 10 minute walk along or there is a shuttle which picks up right outside. it's on the same road as Disneyland so lots of hotels etc in the area and Target across the street.

We went to Universal from there (Universal is really a one day park in California, it's not big like the Orlando one). We also did day trips to San Diego and in to LA with a tour called Grayline. If you have an RACV/Q/NRMA etc card, you get the AAA discount (you can see the AAA symbol on the back of your card).
 
Great thanks Aussietravellers, I will check that hotel out. Great tip about the AAA discount.
 
Hi Sombra, understand your concern about Hollywood. When I was researching hotels, the main criteria was people in the feedback section saying they felt safe walking to the hotel in the early evenings. Where we stayed last time, was about 7 minute walk to University Studios/Universal CityWalk. We walked there and back every night and felt safe (with two children - DD9 and DD12). That being said, Studio City is not Hollywood.

I can't comment on the metro, we didn't use it. We either had a hire car or used Uber - which is (I thought) really good value for money. Maybe that might be an option for some evenings you are out late?

Anaheim is very different. We stay within a 10 minute walk to Disneyland on (Katella Ave, West end) and have always felt safe walking at night. There is always people either walking to the parks or walking home, and that pathways are really well light up.
 
Thanks Montanabel. Appreciate your help. It's going to cost a lot more to split the stay into two hotels so think we will just commute from Anaheim each day to wherever we want to go.
 
We'll be using the LA Metro a lot on our November trip (staying just @ Holiday Inn Express in Hollywood - was also concerned about walking at night, doesnt seem to worry Crazy Cat Boy!) so if i remember I'll let you know what our experience was like with it. We'll mostly be using the Red line to get from accom to Universal and downtown.
 
Your welcome, Sombra, your going to have the most amazing trip, no matter where you stay. :) No sure if you have thought about meals yet, but I highly recommend the Cheesecake Factory restaurants. There is one in Anaheim, about 15 minute walk from Disneyland. Their menu is huge but the main reason to go there is for the cheesecake. So many different flavours and big servings (which you can take with you if you can't finish it all).
 
We'll be using the LA Metro a lot on our November trip (staying just @ Holiday Inn Express in Hollywood - was also concerned about walking at night, doesnt seem to worry Crazy Cat Boy!) so if i remember I'll let you know what our experience was like with it. We'll mostly be using the Red line to get from accom to Universal and downtown.

Hey Crazy Cat Lady - I'd be interested in hearing about your experience with the Metro too. We've done the subway at NYC and found it really efficient (and I thought quite cheap) way to get around. Curious to hear if LA version is similar.
 
Will do. We loved using the NYC subway, last time we didn't catch one taxi while we were there.
 
Doing Yosemite, Yellowstone, Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, Vegas, side trip to palm springs, Disney and then 4 days in LA to round it out. Can't wait!!
 
Nice! I assume you are hiring a car and driving around these locations?

Yes, we'll pick up a car from LAX and keep it for the duration dropping it off just before we leave to go home. Can't wait, picked up some more US currency yesterday and keep looking at it on my desk and getting excited!
 

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