Where to stay in L.A.

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#3276729 29-Aug-2024 14:19

Have a look at Great Wolf Lodge in Anaheim, we stayed there with kids. It is not far from Disneyland. We rented a car and drove to Long Beach and Newport Beach for sightseeing

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nova

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#3276730 29-Aug-2024 14:20

We went to Disney 2 years ago, and stayed at Homewood Suites Anaheim Convention Center, Most of the people staying there seemed to be going to Disney, it had nice pools and a great breakfast buffet. It is next to the Toy Story Parking lot, which has almost continuous free shuttles into Disney. You clear security in the parking lot and then bypass security at Disney, so get to go straight to the ticketing booths. It is only a 5 minute transfer, and traffic never seemed to be bad. It would have been nicer to have a hotel that you could go back to during the middle of the day. The best times for queues at Disney are first thing and in the late evening, so spending all day there with a siesta in the middle of the day is a good option. There also wasn't a lot around in the way of shops / restaurants in that part of Anaheim, but that may be true for many of the hotels, it seems like things were spread out. The Lightning Lane multipass is more expensive than it used to be, but worth considering, it covers photos as well. In general you want to save these up for when it is busy, and as soon as you get on a ride book the next one. If you use them first thing in the morning you will end up wasting them, as you can only use it once on a particular ride and if the queue is short your better to do that and save it for later, to give you something to do when all the queues are long. When we did it with park hopper you could use it in both parks on the same day which helped.

nztim

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#3276744 29-Aug-2024 15:33

Wheelbarrow01:

That's two trips and 2 accidents - a 100% strike rate for our family LOL. So I'd never hire in the USA without full insurance/zero deductible.

On the Avis website there is 2 options "Cover the Car" "Cover my Liability" I tick both and it's about 13$ USD per day extra, and worth every penny

Any views expressed on these forums are my own and don't necessarily reflect those of my employer.

tdgeek

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#3276752 29-Aug-2024 16:32

Stu1: I’m hoping driving on the right hand side is not too confusing. I have never done it before

We used a rental a few years back, driving in and around LA, to Vegas, to SFO, flew to DC, drove to NYC, drove in Manhattan. For me, I just focused on keeping the steering wheel in the middle of the road, easy. The first foray driving there a few years before each year, was doing my brain in analysing what side to be on when turning. Keep the wheel in centre road, can't go wrong. But there was the odd oops moment lol

eracode

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#3276755 29-Aug-2024 16:48

tdgeek:

Stu1: I’m hoping driving on the right hand side is not too confusing. I have never done it before

We used a rental a few years back, driving in and around LA, to Vegas, to SFO, flew to DC, drove to NYC, drove in Manhattan. For me, I just focused on keeping the steering wheel in the middle of the road, easy. The first foray driving there a few years before each year, was doing my brain in analysing what side to be on when turning. Keep the wheel in centre road, can't go wrong. But there was the odd oops moment lol

It’s easy to forget and go wrong when turning at a T- or X- intersection. Just have to remember ‘righty-tighty’ and ‘lefty-loosey’.

Driving in the States is very easy and a lot of fun. Americans generally drive exceptionally well and considerately compared to many Kiwis. You seldom see people exceeding speed limits on any roads - even Interstates.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

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#3276757 29-Aug-2024 16:51

tdgeek:
Stu1: I’m hoping driving on the right hand side is not too confusing. I have never done it before

We used a rental a few years back, driving in and around LA, to Vegas, to SFO, flew to DC, drove to NYC, drove in Manhattan. For me, I just focused on keeping the steering wheel in the middle of the road, easy. The first foray driving there a few years before each year, was doing my brain in analysing what side to be on when turning. Keep the wheel in centre road, can't go wrong. But there was the odd oops moment lol

I’m keen to give it a try have to drive to Carmel at least , still tossing up if continue to L.A. or drive back to San Fran and fly down to L.A. . It’s about 6 and a half hours I think to Disney land from Carmel . Will definitely book flights to and from the states soon

noroad

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#3276758 29-Aug-2024 16:54

I’m keen to give it a try have to drive to Carmel at least , still tossing up if continue to L.A. or drive back to San Fran and fly down to L.A. . It’s about 6 and a half hours I think to Disney land from Carmel . Will definitely book flights to and from the states soon

Here is the golden rule with the USA, assume everything is further away that you thought it was. This applies equally to driving and waking anywhere.

eracode

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#3276763 29-Aug-2024 17:00

noroad:

I’m keen to give it a try have to drive to Carmel at least , still tossing up if continue to L.A. or drive back to San Fran and fly down to L.A. . It’s about 6 and a half hours I think to Disney land from Carmel . Will definitely book flights to and from the states soon

Here is the golden rule with the USA, assume everything is further away that you thought it was. This applies equally to driving and waking anywhere.

Yes and that’s partly because they use miles. When driving (or looking at a map) you see a place that’s say 50 miles away and you sort of automatically think ‘50km’ - when it’s actually 80km.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

tdgeek

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#3276764 29-Aug-2024 17:06

eracode:

Americans generally drive exceptionally well and considerately compared to many Kiwis. You seldom see people exceeding speed limits on any roads - even Interstates.

100% on that.

A good race track to visit is................ NZ open roads :-)

roobarb

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#3278198 2-Sep-2024 13:26

I hear that Hotel California is 'such a lovely place' and has plenty of room any time of year.

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#3278200 2-Sep-2024 13:32

roobarb:
I hear that Hotel California is 'such a lovely place' and has plenty of room any time of year.

Might be safer than San Fran ,draft pick got shot in union square for his Rolex . The crime rate there now is terrible since Covid

nova

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#3278257 2-Sep-2024 14:00

Stu1:

Might be safer than San Fran ,draft pick got shot in union square for his Rolex . The crime rate there now is terrible since Covid

Yes. Have you considered staying outside of San Fran? 4 nights seems quite a bit, are you planning to do day trips to places like Yosemite? And if you drive, the Pacific Coast Highway is highly recommended, instead of just going down I-5. Driving is do-able, but it helps a lot to have a co-pilot that's paying close attention to what your doing to help prevent mistakes. I find unmarked areas like supermarket car parks the hardest. It also takes a bit to get used to road markings, signage, and the position of traffic lights, which are often only hung overhead and don't have anything to the side. Make sure to give way to pedestrians, and note the last part of this: "California Vehicle Code section 21950 VC gives pedestrians the right-of-way while crossing the street at an intersection whether the crosswalk is marked or not."

Stu1

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#3278258 2-Sep-2024 14:09

nova:
Stu1:

Might be safer than San Fran ,draft pick got shot in union square for his Rolex . The crime rate there now is terrible since Covid

Yes. Have you considered staying outside of San Fran? 4 nights seems quite a bit, are you planning to do day trips to places like Yosemite? And if you drive, the Pacific Coast Highway is highly recommended, instead of just going down I-5. Driving is do-able, but it helps a lot to have a co-pilot that's paying close attention to what your doing to help prevent mistakes. I find unmarked areas like supermarket car parks the hardest. It also takes a bit to get used to road markings, signage, and the position of traffic lights, which are often only hung overhead and don't have anything to the side. Make sure to give way to pedestrians, and note the last part of this: "California Vehicle Code section 21950 VC gives pedestrians the right-of-way while crossing the street at an intersection whether the crosswalk is marked or not."

Wasn’t sure how many days would be worth staying there for , only going there for a wedding . Main things I want to do is alactraz, cable car and Golden Gate Bridge . Could prob to it in 2 :)

noroad

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#3278265 2-Sep-2024 14:27

Yes. Have you considered staying outside of San Fran? 4 nights seems quite a bit, are you planning to do day trips to places like Yosemite? And if you drive, the Pacific Coast Highway is highly recommended, instead of just going down I-5. Driving is do-able, but it helps a lot to have a co-pilot that's paying close attention to what your doing to help prevent mistakes. I find unmarked areas like supermarket car parks the hardest. It also takes a bit to get used to road markings, signage, and the position of traffic lights, which are often only hung overhead and don't have anything to the side. Make sure to give way to pedestrians, and note the last part of this: "California Vehicle Code section 21950 VC gives pedestrians the right-of-way while crossing the street at an intersection whether the crosswalk is marked or not."

I hate the four way stop intersections the most. So you are supposed to take turns on who goes, what could possibly go wrong?

invisibleman18

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#3278280 2-Sep-2024 15:56

Stu1: Wasn’t sure how many days would be worth staying there for , only going there for a wedding . Main things I want to do is alactraz, cable car and Golden Gate Bridge . Could prob to it in 2 :)

We had 2 full days there. Did Alcatraz and explore around the pier area on the first day. Hop on/hop off bus the 2nd day and felt we saw everything we wanted. Make sure to book Alcatraz in advance once you know your dates as it's popular and you generally can't get a ticket on the day as it's sold out.

By coincidence my cousin from LA went to SF with his partner the same weekend we did and he didn't realise you needed to book these days as he had been years before when you could just walk up (his partner hadn't been). They couldn't do it on that trip as it was all fully booked for the days they were there.

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