West Coast of USA

[WCE87]

Planning on spending some time in L.A. next April. Will spending 3 days at Disney. Looking for recommendations of other theme parks to visit and days required to get full experience from them?

[Jpw251]

9 minutes ago, WCE87 said:

Planning on spending some time in L.A. next April. Will spending 3 days at Disney. Looking for recommendations of other theme parks to visit and days required to get full experience from them?

 

Depends on how long you are there for. Knotts can be done in a day. SFMM can be done in a day but it is a mission better with two days.

[WCE87]

Just seen 6 flags, how good does it look. 2 day min.

[WCE87]

Would 3 days at Disney be enough, looks to be a lot going on there?

[shall2269]

Get a park hopper with Disney ! With a 3 day park hopper I would spend 2 full days in Disneyland and the other day in Disney California Adventure  🙂 100% go to Universal  Studios it was my personal favourite 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Depending on the season, Disney can be done in 3 days. Usually you'd do a day each at DL and DCA, and then spend the third day catching up what you missed. Its important to know what your must do's are, and do them first. Check the schedules as you get closer and don't commit certain days to the park until you see the lineup. Some days, one park is open later than the other, and the nightly shows can vary too.

Knott's is well worth the day. You'll have plenty of time at Knotts and it won't be rushed unless its silly season.

While you're in the area, Universal is also worth the trip, as is SFMM - as some have said SFMM is crazy, but you can do a lot in a day - i stupidly went on a weekend when it was busier, but with a flash pass, we got most everything done.

 

these would be my must do for an LA trip. Depending on where else you're going (if you are) then there are other stops worth the trip but it'd depend on what your plans are.

[WCE87]

Thanks all, so a minimum of

3 days at  Disney California?

1 day at Universal?

1 Day at Knotts Berry?

2 Day at SFMM?

We go to the Gold Coast and can spend 23 days straight going to each of the parks.

Edited July 10, 2018 by WCE87

[ambe_bambe]

45 minutes ago, WCE87 said:

Thanks all, so a minimum of

3 days at  Disney California?

1 day at Universal?

1 Day at Knotts Berry?

2 Day at SFMM?

We go to the Gold Coast and can spend 23 days straight going to each of the parks.

Definitely a good minimum, though you can get a 10 Day Disneyland/California Adventure Hopper (exclusive to AU/NZ residents). 3 Days is your bare minimum for Disneyland Resort to get through the highlights.

You really don't need any more time than that at any of the other parks to get through everything, only if you're after a lot of re-rides. 

You could also look at hitting up some of the smaller parks (Castle Park, Adventure City Anaheim, Santa Monica Pier, Belmont Park) as well as Legoland and Sea World San Diego. 

Edited July 10, 2018 by ambe_bambe

[Meep Meep]

Sorry, but what is SFMM?😛

We are also looking at going, so any hacks to save cash would be fantastic. 😆

[Gary86]

@Meep MeepSix Flags Magic Mountain 

Edited July 11, 2018 by Gary86

[ambe_bambe]

10 hours ago, Meep Meep said:

Sorry, but what is SFMM?😛

We are also looking at going, so any hacks to save cash would be fantastic. 😆

Find a good Travel Agent - they can save you or often offer bonus value adds (free upgrades, breakfast, etc). Personally, I know which wholesalers/companies give my clients the best rates or inclusions and I definitely exploit that a lot! A good agent will also tell you if you save money by taking an Uber vs pre-booking a transfer, and other tidbits like that.

[Rivals]

Okay so next year im going to california, but i can only go to 3 parks, so does anyone know what parks i should go to? Im thinking about going to SFMM, Knotts then SFDK

[Brad2912]

Are you avoiding Disney on purpose?

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

On ‎13‎/‎07‎/‎2018 at 8:45 PM, Rivals said:

i can only go to 3 parks

3 parks, or 3 days?

If you only have 3 days (which is more likely) then it is probably best to avoid Disney. As has been said countless times you do need 3 days there as a minimum. If you do that, you miss out on a lot of variety, whereas in the same time you could smash Knott's, Universal, and the majority of SFMM (or all of it, with a flash pass) - I think the diversity wins in this argument, but it all depends on whether you're after Quantity or Quality.

By the looks of the parks you suggested (MM, DK and Knott's) it seems like you may be more interested in 'just rides' rather than experience and quality - and if that's the case, then probably the parks you've chosen are the way to go. If you're keen to see what a park with a proper attraction budget can do, then switch out one for Universal so you can see what 'quality' actually is. If Universal impresses you, and makes you wish you went with Quality - then its time to plan a revisit to do Disney justice. If you weren't impressed by Universal - then keep returning to Six Flags... it keeps the lines shorter at Disney for us!

[New display name]

On 12/07/2018 at 6:53 PM, ambe_bambe said:

Find a good Travel Agent - they can save you or often offer bonus value adds (free upgrades, breakfast, etc). Personally, I know which wholesalers/companies give my clients the best rates or inclusions and I definitely exploit that a lot! A good agent will also tell you if you save money by taking an Uber vs pre-booking a transfer, and other tidbits like that.

I've never found a good travel agent and find I get better deals doing the work myself.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I share similar sentiments. I've only been on one 'travel agent organised' holiday in my life, and whilst the package put together was nice and it was good to have so many things organised and you just provided a voucher on the day (which also let you budget things better as most things were already paid for), at the end of the day, every other trip I've ever done, I've been able to plan things myself and get them far cheaper than anything a travel agent has offered me - which then offset any sweeteners or incentives they could offer like free breakfast (in some cases, I've rung the hotel and asked if they would comp it because that's what the competitor was offering, and they just did, so hardly a TA exclusive deal).

I don't want to start a TA bashing discussion - and clearly one or more respondents are favourable to travel agents, or possibly are travel agents - so let me make it clear, there are benefits to using an agent - those are usually convenience, budgeting in advance to do the things you want to do, and not having to stress or worry about the details. However, and this is just for me and my own opinion, if your primary concern is cost, then you can save more by doing your own legwork - especially since most travel agents work on a commission - so at the very least you can save that much, if not more.

I will usually contact 1 or 2 agents when I'm planning a trip, and ask them to put together a few quotes for options on what they'd recommend. Invariably, I can get closer to what I'm looking for, for a cheaper price. The day a travel agent can offer a better deal than I can get myself, i'll book with them - but as I said - I've only been on one in my life (and I wasn't the one paying the bill).

[iwerks]

Used to use travel agents a bit back in the 90s. They do serve their purpose. Good ones will know what is possible and what is not possible. Their commission is usually off set by the large discount the agents get.

One thing is for sure, if anything goes wrong, they will look after you. Once had a family member miss a flight. I was meeting them in Hong Kong. The travel agent called my room and told me they would be a day late. Now, that’s service.

[WCE87]

I know this a very broad question, what are peoples thoughts on $25000 for approx. 22 nights in USA including flights.

Family of 4.

Edited August 14, 2018 by WCE87

[cheski]

43 minutes ago, WCE87 said:

I know this a very broad question, what are peoples thoughts on $25000 for approx. 22 nights in USA including flights.

Family of 4.

Im guessing you mean 25k for flights, accomodation, transfers, tours, theme park admission, food ect.. 

IMO that would be far than enough money for you and the family to make a trip to the USA.

If we are talking west coast USA, then you should be able to get flights $4-5k for the whole family, and $5k for decent accomodation (around $250 p/n). Try and find hotels with free breakfast to save a bit of money. 

Therefore $15k for food, admission, tours, and souveniers seems like more than enough.

It obviously depends on your standards of accomodation (e.g. only like 5 stars or want to stay at a Disney hotel), and what (and how expensive) the activities you want to do are, how fancy/expensive the restaurants you want to eat at are, though normally when my brothers family of 4 go for 14 days to the USA, they normally do it for around $12k. 

[Brad2912]

Really comes down to accommodation choice. Some prefer somewhere fancy as it’s a holiday, some are happy with something basic as you’ll only be there to sleep. 

$5k for flights roughly. 

I’d work off $10-$12k spending money for admissions, food etc 

[rappa]

With the way the dollar is tanking $25k is probably not all that unrealistic a figure presently. 

[Gazza]

It sounds about right, whenever I spend 4 weeks in the US it usually ends up being $6000 all in, and that's with a bit of stinginess that you might not get away with on a family holiday.

[tomwilson]

On 13/07/2018 at 8:45 PM, Rivals said:

Im thinking about going to SFMM, Knotts then SFDK

Unless you are a theme park junkie (like me) and want the credits, I don’t think SFDK is super worth doing. Unless you really run out of shit to do in sanfran. 

[Gazza]

14 hours ago, tomwilson said:

Unless you are a theme park junkie (like me) and want the credits, I don’t think SFDK is super worth doing. Unless you really run out of shit to do in sanfran. 

I think that's being a bit dismissive of the place, it's got an RMC and a big ass floorless coaster, and  then a few unique rides OP probably hasn't ridden like the Superman sky rocket coaster and V2.

Worst comes to worst, just stay for a few hours?

Edited September 16, 2018 by Gazza

[tomwilson]

5 hours ago, Gazza said:

I think that's being a bit dismissive of the place, it's got an RMC and a big ass floorless coaster, and  then a few unique rides OP probably hasn't ridden like the Superman sky rocket coaster and V2.

Worst comes to worst, just stay for a few hours?

Yeah... I guess. IF you are going to San Fransisco anyway then you might as well. IF you are flying to San Fran just for SFDK - fly somewhere else instead like Ohio