Los Angeles Travel Forum

My wife and I will travel to LA for two days in early October, we will spend one whole day in Disneyland and the other day around Hollywood, where is a decent place and hotel to stay? money is a secondary issue.

I will fly in and our of LA.

Thanks

any hotels sorrounding Disneyland are really nice. from 3 stars to 5 stars ... if u really dont care bout money stay in the disneyland hotel¨, really nice and comfort.

I agree--the Disneyland hotel is wonderful. Especially the new Grand Californian, which is built in a Craftsman style and is a work of art. It's just a lovely place to stay.

I would suggest you consider staying in two hotels. You can stay down in Anaheim for the night after your Disney day (and/or the night before), and then up by Universal or in Hollywood the other night. You can easily and safely travel from Universal city to Hollywood and vice versa on the red line subway (info in my transpo tips about this, or visit www.mta.net), so you can hit both without a lot of trouble and without driving.

I don't know a lot about the Universal area, but there must be hotels. In Hollywood, I recommend the Renaissance hotel at Hollywood & Highland (I think it's still Renaissance although it might have recently sold). Anyway, it's the big hotel at the HW & Highland mall. It's a nice hotel and I think they give great deals. You'll be in the middle of the HW action but it's very safe and clean. Touristy, but fun. And the subway station is directly beneath the mall there.

The reason I recommend moving hotels is that these two theme parks are in really different areas, about an hour or more apart, and there's not really anywhere convenient and nice in between.

Well, you could stay downtown. The Biltmore offers an $89 per night weekend deal in the fall, which includes parking (normally $20-30 night). It's an easy jaunt down the 5 to Anaheim, and you could take the subway up to HW & Universal. There's a ton of info (and shortly there will be photos!) about DT in my travel pages, as I live there and am basically the biggest cheerleader for the area that there is. (fun note: depending on when you arrive, you might be able to see something at the new Disney Concert Hall!)

Email me if you want more advice--I think I've gone on enough here!

I have stayed at the Days Inn at 7023 Sunset Blvd in Hollywood. I can honestly say, it's a nice motel. We stayed there in 1996, and found it nice back then. They even offer a continental breakfast that's quite filling. You can easily walk to all the best places and tourist traps on Hollywood Boulevard. Mann's Chinese, The El Capitan Theater, etc. There is even a GREAT Mexican restaurant next door to the Days Inn.

EASY 10 minute drive to Universal Studios.

Disneyland is only about 30 miles away and takes about an hour to get there, we found.

NOTE: You can often find free tickets to shows like The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. There are often people hawking show tickets on Hollywood Boulevard. (Burbank is only a 20 minute drive away - where The Tonight Show with Jay Leno is filmed.)

I agree w/Stasigrace. The Renaissance (http://www.renaissancehollywood.com) on Hollywood and Highland is a classy hotel w/a convenient location and reasonable rates. The underground metro is just steps from the hotel and you can go to Universal from there. Plus there's a whole bunch to see including the Kodak Theatre (home of the Academy Awards) in the Hollywood and Highland Mall (which is accessible from the many, guests' only entrances from the hotel).

As for Disneyland, I always enjoy staying in the resort's hotels. But if you want to stay off location. I recommend the Howard Johnson or Fairfield Inn on South Harbor Blvd. Both are very inexpensive, clean, and within walking distance to both parks' entrances (Fairfield is much closer though.)

Thanks for the helpful information.

One of my friend just recommended that I should make Santa Monica a home base and extend my trip to 3 days. I am leaning towards taking
her advise but want to run through all of you before making my decisions.

I will rent a car on my way out of LAX, but I have no idea how long the drive will be from Santa Monica to Disneyland. If within one hour I would probably .skip the trouble moving my luggages between two places.

Also you guys think Santa Monica is good choice, then which hotel is your recommendation? thanks a bunch.

Cheers

Santa Monica is lovely. However, it is not convenient at all to Disneyland or Universal. And the hotels there are VERY expensive (beach location). But if you have a friend there, it might be more fun for you. And if you'd rather sit by the beach, then you'll be happy.

It's about 25 mins (no traffic--w/traffic, up to an hour) from SM to Hollywood, add another 15-30 (depending on traffic) to Universal, and I'd guess it would take about 45-55 mins w/no traffic to Disneyland, and about 2-2 1/2 hours w/traffic.

My best advice is to look at a map. Disneyland is essentially directly south of Universal & Hollywood. SM is way west of both. So it's out of the way. But it does have beaches and your friend.