Planning a DLR, Yosemite combo trip...

[holcomb-mania]

...and am I nuts?

There is so much to see in CA, and I want to make a 7-10 day trip count. I know I'll miss oodles, but that can't be helped.

I'm thinking of 3-4 days at DLR, with some sight-seeing around So CA (not San Diego, though). The balance would be spent at Yosemite, because I want us to see and experience something amazing.

Naturally, we'd rent a car. I estimate the Anaheim-Yosemite trip at, what, 7 hours?

Should we start at Yosemite and end at DLR in order to have quick access to ONT for our flight home (Ontario seemed to have the best selection of flights/prices)? Or do we do DLR and then unwind at Yosemite? I prefer the latter, but a day of the trip would be gone for getting back to ONT.

Any recommendations on Yosemite resorts and other advice is welcome!

 

[DoomBugger]

Sounds cool. Climb Half Dome!

If you plan to hit Yosemite make some reservations in advance as it is one of the busiest parks in the country.

 

[holcomb-mania]

Sounds cool. Climb Half Dome!

If you plan to hit Yosemite make some reservations in advance as it is one of the busiest parks in the country.

Yeah, I'm planning this trip for 2010!

 

[Sleepless Knight]

It's definitely doable and I think hitting Yosemite and Disneyland is making sure that you experience the best two things in California.

In my opinion, hitting the highlights in California would involve flying into San Francisco, spending maybe a day or a day and a half there at most, head to Yosemite(4 1/2 hours with no traffic from San Francisco I think) for 2-3 days than then Disneyland for 3-4 days. I'm biased living in NorCal, but I think San Francisco is one of the most beautiful cities in the world and the Golden Gate Bridge is a neat sight. The climate is similar to San Diego, but the Golden Gate Bridge sets it apart.

You can do DLR in 3 days without much problem. Disneyland itself is 2 days and DCA(if you do everything, some of which you're not missing much if you skip) is one day. Doing the best of DCA gives you half a day to play with after hitting DCA. 4 days in DLR just gives you extra time to revisit highlights and experience them again if you want.

Yosemite can be just as busy as Disneyland, but in a different way. There are a lot of hikes that are available, so keep that in mind since you'll be doing a lot of walking in Disneyland alone.

Probably best to do Yosemite first on account of the easy airport access for the getaway day(and one less thing to stress about).

 

[dizneekrazee]

I was just looking at Yosemite lodging last night!! We live about 2 hours from Yosemite, but I havent been since I was like 11. I would love for my kids and husband to see the place. There website was saying the usually book within minutes (depending on time of year of course) of opening reservations, the start acpeting on the 15th of each month at 7am PST i believe, 5 months in advance. If it was me, I would start in Yosemite and end in DLR (saving the best for last for me!!).

HTH!!

 

[holcomb-mania]

Thanks for the info.

Any recommendation for a Yosemite resort? I'm planning on using DVC points in DLR and SF if we fly in there.

Would 2 nights/3 days do it for Yosemite?

What should I try to see in SF? The good stuff, not necessarily the tourist-y stuff.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

In SF, I think Golden Gate park is nice. Depending on when your 2010 trip takes place, the Walt Disney Family Museum may be open in the Presidio. Walking around Pier 39, you may catch a glimpse of seals and such, but it's more touristy. If you have the time, I recommend going to Marin County(right across the Golden Gate Bridge). They have some beautiful redwood forests there(in fact some of the Endor scenes in Return of the Jedi were filmed there), but I can't remember the name of it.
If you're a baseball fan, try and catch a Giants game at AT&T Park. It is one of the nicest ballparks in the major leagues and is located in downtown.

If you do San Francisco, make sure you're prepared for cold weather even if it's in the middle of July or August. It is usually not a warm city sitting right on the bay.

 

[DoomBugger]

As Jack London once said, "The coldest winter I ever had was the summer I spent in San Francisco."

SF weather is nothing like San Diego weather, it is atleast 10 degrees colder at all times. The weather is nice but it gewts brisk and cold, especially at night and the wind usually never lets up.

 

[ScooterL]

If you want lodging in Yosemite, rather than a campground, they start taking those a year and a day in advance - and you want to book as soon as possible on the day they start taking reservations - things fill up FAST. So today you can make reservations that start on June 1, 2009. I made my reservations for May/June 2009 last week. I believe it is the campground reservations that are on the 15th, five months in advance.

For a Yosemite resort...the cheapest (and easiest to get) are tent cabins without bath. They furnish the bedding. But those are NOT bear proof, so you have to store any food, toiletries, etc. in a (provided) bear box - you can NOT leave it in your car. Next up are the cabins without bath - these are hard-sided cabins so you CAN leave foodstuffs inside, but they still have no bathroom. Next are the cabins with bath - these are actually my favorite, but they are hard to get since there's not very many of them. All of those are at Curry Village. There's also some motel rooms at Curry Village, but not many so they are also difficult to find.

Yosemite Lodge has nicer and larger rooms, and is a bit more upscale - the rooms there have TVs and phones. And then there's the Ahwahnee, which is a very nice full-service hotel, and most rooms have views of Half Dome, but it'll cost you $500 a night!

There's also Housekeeping Camp, which is tent camping without the tent - they provide a concrete block walled, canvas topped structure for you to stay in. There's cots with mattresses, but you provide your own bedding.

I prefer either the cabins with bath or a room at Yosemite Lodge, but the others are doable - it's certainly much better to be staying *in* Yosemite Valley than to have to drive in from your lodging place outside. Nothing is cheap, though - I think even the tent cabins are running close to $100/night now, and rooms at Yosemite Lodge are $150-$250 depending on the time of year. Visit www.yosemitepark.com for information/photos on the types of accommodations that are available.

3 days will be enough time to give you a taste of Yosemite, but you won't be able to do everything. Though it depends on how much hiking you want to do. If you're not really into that, and are just planning to go to places you can drive to, then you could spend one day in the Valley, one day going up to Glacier Point, and hit the Mariposa Sequoia grove on your way either in or out of the park.

If you're flying in/out of Ontario, I'd be tempted to do Yosemite first, because you don't want to be stressing out about missing your flight because you got delayed in the long drive back from Yosemite! As a previous poster mentioned, San Francisco would be closer - could you fly into Ontario and out of SF, or vice versa?

 

[Jenn1116]

I love the warf and pier 39 even though I've lived only 1 hr away my whole life and visit often. Must ride a cable car, although I think it's gotten really pricey. Visit Coit tower. GG Park is a must. I really enjoy the zoo too, but you may not want to waste time there. Definitely walk across the GG Bridge - amazing experience. There's also the Bay Area Discovery Museum right across the birdge where there are AWESOME views of SF and the GG Bridge, especially on clear days!!

 

[Sleepless Knight]

No matter which order you choose to do things in, I would do Yosemite in the middle since it's far away from the airports. Much better to finish the trip in either SF or Disneyland given their proximity to an airport. Yosemite also has slower speed limits as you leave the park, which will add to your travel time.

 

[beauty222]

The Ahwahnee hotel reminds me a little bit of the Grand Californian hotel at Disneyland. I don't know how much it is, but like someone said above it is expensive.
We have been camping there for the past two years but now it is almost impossible to get a camp site. I would try to go through a travel agent. The drive through there is beautiful.

 

[NostalgicDad]

We did Yosemite and DL last year and it worked out really well. We originally wanted to add in SF but we also wanted to do the San Diego Zoo. So, with time playing a role, we opted for the zoo this time around. You can read the thread at the link below to give you another discussion on this subject. I provided a little more detail there as well. Someone else mentioned Glacier Point at Yosemite. For us, that was one of our favorite places. You must see the vistas during the day but try to do a night visit to see the stars as you've never seen them before. Hopefully you can do it when the astronomers are there with their super-powerful telescopes you can look through as well helping to identify everything up above. I enjoyed simply laying on my back and watching satellites move around, etc.

We hiked a lot and our feet reminded us of that when we were at DL on the last leg of our trip. Just something to keep in mind. Have a blast!

Click here for the thread from last August.....

 

[mmmears]

Yosemite is really beautiful -- and the complete opposite of DL! It's all nature, hiking, waterfalls, no smog, no city nearby... I would definitely say it's a must-do if you want to see the natural beauty of California up close.

It is very hard to get reservations, like everyone says. But if you are starting so far in advance, you should be able to get a room. We stayed at the Ahwahnee once, for 2 nights because we've always wanted to stay there, and it was great, but expensive. It's an gorgeous old lodge and the rooms aren't big or fancy, but the location is great. There is an excellent but very expensive restaurant in that hotel. Yosemite Lodge is also in the valley, as is Curry Village. I would recommend staying in Yosemite Valley -- you'll see much more from there.

Also, about the order of the trip, it might be a nice place to unwind after all the hustle and bustle of DL, but keep your feet in working order since there is alot of walking to do there, too.

Glacier Point is an amazing overlook of the valley that puts you right at the edge of the granite cliff drops -- check it out -- it's worth the drive!

 

[momto2nenas]

We did SanFran, Yosemite, and DL all w/ in 10 days last June, it was amazing! We didn't get to nearly do/see everything in SF or Yosemite but ending the trip at Disneyland was perfect!

We went to a Giants vs. A's game for 1/2 the day and then drove/walked around to see the sights and take pictures. It was COLD on June 10th when we were there. Like 60s, we were coming from Hawaii so I'm sure that made it worse!

Yosemite - be prepared for the drive to get TO it. OMGosh. DS got carsick and well on the side of a cliff there isn't many places to pull over...

 

[holcomb-mania]

Awesome replies.

We'd (and by that I mean DW) prolly want some type of comfortable hotel-type room...with a bath and bear-proof locks. My big problem is that I have no idea of what is available out there. Kinda like planning my first WDW trip, I was nearly overwhelmed by the scale of the possibilities.

Yosemite Lodge has nicer and larger rooms, and is a bit more upscale - the rooms there have TVs and phones. And then there's the Ahwahnee, which is a very nice full-service hotel, and most rooms have views of Half Dome, but it'll cost you $500 a night!

The Yosemite Lodge sounds like the plan. Ahwahnee ain't happening. It's already gonna cost $2 grand to fly out, and there's no telling where airfare and fuel costs will be two years from now.

The SF/Yosemite/DLR trifecta sounds very cool. I totally gapped it and didn't even think about the GG Bridge.

Checking out the stars at night sounds sweet. But would we have to hike back at night, or is there transportation or could I drive?

The more I think about, the more time I want to spend at each place (and add more). This one's gonna be a budget-buster.

 

[2munchkins]

We're doing a similar trip this summer, for two weeks.

We are flying into LAX, then spending 7 days in Sequoia, Kings Canyon and Yosemite National Parks. Then we are returning to LA/Hollywood, to see a few sites and a Dodgers game (huge fans ). We're ending the trip with four days at the DLR (Disneyland Hotel! ).

We've already been to San Francisco, so no need to go that way again.

For lodging at the national parks, we couldn't get any rooms at the lodge because of not making our plans early enough. So, we are renting one of the smaller RVs for that portion of the trip (a 21'). We love tent camping, so being in an RV is a step up! We are able to stay in the parks, and save money oner the lodge costs. This helped to give us the money needed to splurge on the Disneyland Hotel

Have fun in whatever you decide! San Francisco is a really great place to visit. If you cross the GG bridge, keep going up to John Muir Woods. It's beautiful.

 

[holcomb-mania]

For lodging at the national parks, we couldn't get any rooms at the lodge because of not making our plans early enough. So, we are renting one of the smaller RVs for that portion of the trip (a 21'). We love tent camping, so being in an RV is a step up! We are able to stay in the parks, and save money oner the lodge costs. This helped to give us the money needed to splurge on the Disneyland Hotel

Sounds like an awesome trip.

Where did you rent the RV? And did you really save money over a lodge? Are there always available parking/hookups/whatever they're called?

 

[Jynohn]

We're doing a similar trip this July. We had initially hoped to start off in San Francisco, spend a few days in Yosemite, then spend our last few days in Disneyland and fly out of LAX or San Diego, but we weren't able to find an affordable one-way rental car option from SF. We were quoted over $700 for a compact! Instead, we're going to fly into San Jose, spend the night there and visit the Winchester Mystery House, drive to Yosemite for two nights (staying at the Tenaya Lodge), then finish up at Disneyland. I've been tweaking the details for the past 6 months, so hopefully that's the final itinerary.

I'm very excited about this trip. I've never been to California before!

 

[holcomb-mania]

We were quoted over $700 for a compact!

Not good!

Have a great trip!