Help with planning a trip to California?

Question

Me and my fiance are going on a honeymoon to Cali. We plan to visit Six Flags, Universal Stuido's and Disneyland. Could anybody give any tips in which order to go in so we save money with driving and all. We will be flying into LAX airport. We will be going beginning/middle of may next year. Any good suggestions for in-expensive nice hotels? Thanks!

Answer 1

Six Flags Magic Mountain is quite a ways out in Valencia. You might consider Knotts (www.knotts.com) instead of six flags. Its about 15 minutes from Disneyland so you wouldnt have to change hotels/motels to go there. You dont say if your going to rent a car or not, you may not need to but if you do expect to fight traffic. I would book the first night close to Universal and go there first, then move to a place near Disneyland. There are tons of hotels and motels all around Disneyland with prices from $60.00 to $500.00 a night. If you can afford it stay at one of Disney's hotels, they are all very nice. If your like me and cant afford that you can try one of the discount websites for lodging. We are staying here next trip
Days Inn Anaheim West
1030 W. Ball Road
Ball & Disneyland Drive
Anaheim, CA 92802 US
Phone: [phone]
We stayed here before and its a nice place, free internet, Cont breakfast, under $100 per night, and pull out of the lot and 10 feet to a right turn and your pulling into the Mickey and Friends parking garage. Its only about 15 minutes to Knotts also, very easy drive. 35 Miles from Universal so you could even stay here and go to the other parks without switching motels. (thats what we are doing in November)
If you want to find a place within walking distance there are lots of places right across the street form the Disneyland Entrance on Harbor Blvd. Also, if you dont want to drive to Universal I noticed on their website yesterday they had a ticket that included shuttle service from Anaheim for the same price as their one price pays for two days ticket so you can look into that also.
For good information on the theme parks take a look at:
www.disney.go.com
www.knotts.com.
www.universalstudios.com
www.sixflags.com

For hotels also try AAA, www.cheaptickets.com and www.hotels.com

Answer 2

Ok, I am pretty close to all, so I never stay in a hotel, but my #1 tip is that you will have to have a car!
I would suggest staying in a hotel near universal at first because you can experience CityWalk (a shopping/club district ajacent to Universal) even on the first night you are in town (just have to pay for parking). Then you can do either Universal (only 1 day will really be needed to see all of this park in May) or Six Flags (another 1 day at this time - unless you really love coasters, then go ask at customer service and you can get a bounce back pass for like $20 good for 1 day within the next week or so) while still at the same hotel. LAX is only like 15 min on the 405 freeway (to the 101 N) to the Universal area and Universal is close to Hollywood (walk of fame and Mann's Chinese Theatre) and about 40 min from Six Flags. Six Flags is an easy enough park that you can easily do the drive back to the Universal hotel after a full day at the park.
As for Disney, well, I would move to a hotel closer to it before starting on that area. It is also only about 40 miles from Universal, but you can get stuck in some major traffic in that area (I-5 to 101 N) and it isn't fun doing it after a full day at Disney (which can be a very full day!) If you look now, you might even be able to get a good rate for the Disney resorts! May isn't too busy, but it is good weather (80-ish) and it may be pretty busy on the weekends. I would try to go on either Tues-Wed-Thur. And there is two parks, Disneyland and California Adventure. CA adv. can easily be done in 1/2-3/4 day but you will probably need a day and 1/2 for Disneyland to really enjoy everything. Between the two parks there is also the Downtown Disney area (more shopping/clubs) and you will want to spend some time there, but it's not really interesting. Also in the same area (about 10 miles away) is Knotts Berry farm. It has good theme (Snoopy) but some bigger rides too. If you have time, it would be another good place to visit (1 day will do you).

Good luck and have fun!

PS. as for discounted tickets to the parks, send out another question around the time targeted to So. CA's to see which grocery stores or fast food joints have promotions with the local parks to save the most money
(I would offer to let you know, but I am moving out of the area later this fall - sorry!)

Answer 3

If you are set on going to all three (which are all great parks), I would suggest the following:

Start with either Disneyland or Six Flags. Which one are you looking forward to more? How many days apart will you travel to them in? I would suggest Six Flags first since you stand around a lot and do nothing most of the time while you wait in line, and that is really tiring on my feet. But it is also my favorite theme park of the three since I absolutely LOVE their roller coasters. Unlike another user, I recommend you jet over to the coaster you don't want to miss first thing in the morning since lines will be shorter then. After that it is kind of the same across the board. I am not entirely sure that Six Flags is open during the week at that time, so I would check, but if possible, try during the week or shorter lines.

Because it is so far north, your Six Flags spot should pretty much stand alone. Stay there and then move down to Universal. At Universal Studios, you not only get the theme park, but there is also a nice shopping/entertainment area that is alongside it where you can easily spend time or get dinner. There is also the Universal Amphitheater which holds concerts which may offer something that interests you during your trip.

Then you can drive over to Anaheim and visit the happiest place on earth.

LAX is pretty central to the three so there is no real linear way to visit all the parks and get back to the airport.

Check traffic411.com or abc7.com for traffic especially if you do visit these parks during the week since you will definitely be battling with hard core LA rush hour traffic and most of these have multiple routes to get you to them. Traffic will most likely guide your route.

Answer 4

You should check what the weather is going to be like on weather.com, The day or the week you go, of course. A good hotel would be Holiday inn, it isn't usually very crowded and pretty cheap. Try checking the traffic report if you are driving, Take the freeway if it is moving nicely because it uses less gas to be going at a steady pace than to be stop, go, stop go, 40mph, 30mph,ect. Also bring plenty of sunscreen, light clothes, expect warm weather. Bring some snacks for the car ride and plane ride. When you go to Six flags, make sure you go on a day they are open later and bring alot of extra money for parking, food, souvineers, lockers, and don't forget tickets. If you get a park hopper, you can go to hurricane harbour without buying more tickets-it's just a small fee off of the tickets to just go to the dry part of the park. Remember to go on the rides with the longest wait last, Try to keep electronics e.g. cell phone, camera, ipod, ect. in a waterproof bag or a ziplock bag so they don't get wet. Try and wear cargo pants/shorts- the pockets will come in handy. Also, wear comfy shoes and bring something to drink. Wear and bring plenty of suntan lotion. If you are getting souvineers, try and save the shopping for last so you're not lugging it around all day. (The last thing anyone would want would be lugging around a giant stuffed bunny all day!)
Also remember to try and get a map at the very beginning, or try and see if you have one from a last visit (if you have ever been to Six Flags Magic Mountain before) and try and plan out your day. You can also look at the rides at www.SixFlags.com. I can't really prepare you for the other two places because I've never been to them. Hope this helps!

Answer 5

Find a nearby hotel near all of these places and go to the closest one first and go to the farthest last.

Answer 6

if you use a travel agent the sooner you book your trip then the better price an try to go in the off seasons most hotels an places offer great discounts for their off seasons

Answer 7

six flags area:

http://travela.priceline.com/hotel/POI-Points_of_Interest-83737306.html?session_key=420011AC5C0011AC20070821190026077e40941670&plf=pcln&refid=PLINKTOMI&refclickid=POI11_83737306

universal area:

http://www.arestravel.com/losangeles/universalstudios_hotels.php

disney area:

http://shop.arestravel.com/722_hotel-list.html/?locationID=m8&checkIn=08%2F24%2F2007&checkOut=08%2F27%2F2007&numRooms=1&numGuests=1&numChildren=0&submit.x=38&submit.y=12

i would start at either disney or six flags and go up/down from there. universal is basically in the middle of both.

Answer 8

universal
disney
six flags