You don't need to take a bus from LAX to Pasadena... you can take the light rail train or whatever they call it ... I think it's under $30.00 per person. If there are many of you traveling, it will be cheaper to rent a car for the time period you'll be trveling around LA.

I have a three year old.. and he has two older brothers... and I believe it would be EXTREMELY difficult to entertain him on any bus tour... you've mentioned three during your visit. I'd rethink that... for your own sanity as well as for the others on the tour.

I suggest that you spend two or three days in SF... fly to LA and spend three days in Pasadena with your freinds, taking day trips from there ( NOT on a bus... rent car and see what you can see) and then choose to spend your last few days either at the beach, OR Disney, OR in Las Vegas.

Welcome to California!

Thank you canterbury & moneygirl for guiding me on this.I was not aware of this train from LA to Pasedena. Will

check it out. This plan seems reasonable. thanks for advising.
Based on all the above expert advises/tips, now I need to sit down and re-schedule my plan.
I am thinking of skipping sea world. Tentatively, I am thinking of plan as below:

Aug31 night - reach SF and check-in
Sept 1 : SF tour (5 hrs) -- http://www.sanfranshuttletours.com/?...FRUHWAod4TDB7Q
Leave late even to Burbank (flight) to reach Pasedena
Sept 2 : Rest
Sept 3: LA downtown, Hollywood
Sept 4 : Universal Studio
Sept 5 : rest
sept6 : disney
sept7 : rest (and / or LA beach, by car)
Sept 8 : fly to LV by noon
Sept 9 : return to burbank by even
sept 10 : leave back to "sweet home" by early morning flight.

(this way, we can avoid weekend traffic at disney, Universal studio). In case, if it too warm / too tired, we will drop LV

and enjoy LA by car. What do you think of this plan? (having rest alternatively, should charge up my 3yr old to enjoy disney- right?)

cabovacation : link for erie beach. Its very nice :

http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/statepar...esqueisle.aspx

bond007: Your new plan is much better. (You are a quick learner :) )

Having said that -- The 1 day in San Francisco still sticks out like a sore thumb. You fly in and after a looooong flight, you have to get to the Ferry Bldg, sit in a coach for 5 more hours, then the hassle of going back to SFO and sitting around there for 2 hours, then flying down to BUR and getting to Pasadena. This would be a tough day for a fit adult - but for a 3 yo it would be horrible. (BTW what are you doing w/ you luggage while on the tour bus?)

janisj : thank you for comments :))
I agree. I can think of taking next day morning flight to burbank (stay back in SF on sept1 night).
Reg : Luggage, I was planning to check out and request hotel to put it in lock room (or similar place). What do you think?

oh - oops - I somehow missed the Aug 31 arrival. I Yes you probably can leave your bags at the hotel.

1+ day in SF is OK - but still pretty hectic. I'd still urge you to leave San Francisco for a trip where you can spend at least 3 or 4 days.

I agree, it will be hectic, but anyways, we are taking a full day rest at Pasedena, and hope that, it should be ok for us.
Now, I am aware that, LV will be very warm during that time, how about SF,LA area?

Any suggestion on transport from SFO to hotel (I have not yet finalised on hotel, but any general recommendations), hotel to ferry?

Btw, the rate for Chelsea Motor Inn, for 1 night is USD 125 !. Is this reasonable deal?

Transport SFO to the city: The supershuttle (shared ride van service) is $16.00/pp. I paid $36 plus tip for a taxi from the airport to the city when I was in San Fran in February.

I don't know if there is any less expensive bus service.

San Francisco is a very expensive city. I'd say $125 for a hotel would be a very good deal for a hotel that's been recommended here by others as being a decent hotel in a decent location.

Thanks for the inputs swaymock.

Hi bond007 -

FYI - I was in Vegas last week (June 13 -16), and it was 100 degrees at midnight ones of those nights. During the day it was approx 105. I assume that early Sept will be the same if not warmer. Bring some sunscreen from home b/c I paid $11 for a small bottle (although, well worth it)!

Have a wonderful trip!!!

Thank you very much jcb.
How was you trip? any particular hotel suggestion?

I can see that you're trying to see as much as you possibly can in a short period of time but I'm afraid you're going to end up hot, tired and miserable after your very ambitious schedule.

As far as weather, Las Vegas at that time of year will be in the 100+ range, Pasadena and Los Angeles can both be in the high 90's. Ditto for Disneyland. Your best weather will be in San Francisco, probably in the low 80's.

If you're only going to be in San Francisco for the one day and just to take the bus tour, I'd recommend staying at a hotel/motel that is close to where the tour departs....cabs can be quite costly in San Francisco. Public transportation is available, tho.

Downtown Los Angeles and Hollywood will show you a lot of traffic on the freeways and not much else unless you're planning to visit specific destinations.

If you're going to the theme parks, you should plan to get there as soon as they open (or even before they open) as the lines for attractions can be unbearably long. They will probably be quite crowded based on the dates you'll be there.

Since you want to see the fireworks at Disneyland, I'd suggest going early in the morning for the rides, going to the beach for the afternoon and early evening, and then returning to the park.

Like so many others, I really would recommend skipping Las Vegas....not much there to recommend it, especially with a 3-y.o. in tow.

I hope you have a wonderful trip and return home with good memories. I'm a native Californian and have lived half my life in the San Francisco Bay area and the other half in Southern California (currently in the Santa Barbara area). Our state has a tremendous amount of natural beauty and I hope you get a chance to see at least part of it.

marionkp : You just read my mind. ;)
I will plan LV,depending on the energy left for us. If not possible, we will enjoy, as you said.
Thanks a lot for SF hotel tip. I will search, where it starts and look around for the hotel.
Regd : disney, I have to check, whether they have fireworks/laser show, after 3rd sept. I really dont want to miss that.

Bond0007- Also close to the Chelsea Motor Inn, is the Coventry Inn one of their sister hotels. You may want to check their rates also. I've stayed there, and the rooms are nice and clean: http://www.coventrymotorinn.com/

Here's another one of their properties I've seen highly rated: http://www.columbusmotorinn.com/index.htm

If you dump Las Vegas-which I still think you should-then DO come down to San Diego for one night. We have great-beaches and the best zoo in the world and Sea World.

trippinkpj : thanks for the inputs. I queried both these hotels, $135 per night. So, if you experts are saying thats fair deal for this hotel, and if this is convinient from airport / tour, I will go ahead with one. Thanks again.

Thank you Barbara for the invitation :). I will try my best, with all these suggestions.

That sounded a little high to me for these hotels, though then I see that it's the Friday of labor day weekend. In that case, those are decent prices. Are you renting a car in San Francisco?

No, not planned.
Planning to take either taxi / bus from airport to hotel.
Next day, taxi/bus from hotel to tour point.
Taxi/bus from hotel back to airport.
Any suggestions !!!!

I will defer to people who have kids about this question, but I would think that going to Universal with a 3 year would not be very much fun. Most of the rides are adult-oriented (i.e. roller coasters and the studio tour) and the children's area is very small. I think you should get some opinions from people who actually have been to Universal with kids but when we were there, we didn't see many kids under the age of 5 or 6. So, I would drop your day in Universal and spend an extra day in San Francisco.

Then you may do better being based out of Union square. Do you know your city tour pick up spots?

Or add a day to San Diego --- San Diego is truly fabulous and one of my favorite cities in the country. Your son will love the zoo. When my brother and I were kids, we used to love going to the tide pools in San Diego (I'm from Atlanta and we don't have anything like that here).

trippinkpj : My friends have suggested below tour :
http://www.sanfranshuttletours.com/?...FRUHWAod4TDB7Q
Their website says, tour starts and ends at :Ferry Building on Embarcadero Street at the end of Market Street . To be frank, I dont know this location.

Do you think, above mentioned hotels are convinient?

Thanks akila for inputs - I had been to atlant,GA zoo. that was nice as well heard that, baltimore has some show, similar to sea world. That can be covered here, being in east coast. So, thinking that, to cover universal studio.

Of the hotels mentioned, Columbus Motor Inn is closest to the Ferry Building (about 2 miles) so wouldn't be a bad taxi ride or you could jump on the bus. I know a bus stops right outside Columbus Motor Inn but I am not sure of its route towards the ferry building since we used it to get to China Town.

To akila's comment about Universal Studios, I hadn't really thought too much about it for a 3 year old but she is right. Several of the rides have height restrictions so you wouldn't be able to take your child on them. Here is something I found on a page that was discussing Universal Studios.

"I had a good time however, after visiting with 2-10 year old girls, I wasn’t impressed with Universal Studio’s Hollywood’s activities for children. Unless you want to spend most of your day watching your kids play in the Blast Zone or catching a show at Animal Planet Live, there are basically no activities for younger children. Most rides at Universal are too intense for younger children (and some 10 year old girls)." Here's the link to that page.
http://www.wdwinfo.com/disneyland/sc...l-Studios.html

You are probably a little frustrated with us because we are trying to talk you out of some of your plans. However, we want this to be a great experience for both you and your spouse and child. You seem really set on Las Vegas but if you don't do that then putting San Diego back in the plans might work. The San Diego Zoo is known worldwide and Sea World is so much fun for younger children.

When you are in Las Vegas, will you and your spouse take turns sitting with your 3 year old while the other is in the casino? Just to let you know what it's like, you can walk through casinos with children but you can't even stop. If they see you stop, the security guards will come up to you and tell you to move on. They really prefer that you don't even cut across the casino but stick to the walkways that move you through the casinos. So it is strict. The only allowance is that you can go into restaurants with your children. There are some arcades for children but your son might be too young for them. And there is the pool which would be fun. Some hotel pools are more kid friendly than others.

Paula1470:
You are being so kind. Me frustated with you experts : NO way. Actually, I must say a big thank you, for providing me with such a valuable info to make my trip a success. To be frank, I was initially, not 100% sure of success of this trip, being so hectic and being CA :) But now, getting some confidence.
Thanks a lot for casino inputs. Mostly, we will not be into casino, playing, but, saw some awesome views on travel channel , so kind of wish to see that. But, now we will rethink about universal / sea world. Anyway, I will have rented car that time, so can tweak my plan accordingly.

Thanks for SF hotel info.

while checking the flight cost/schedule, from SFO to Burbank (BUR), I am getting 22 hr flight time :(

can anyone guide me on burbank airport code?

bond007-The code for Burbank Airport is BUR so you are correct. It's weird, though, because I looked up prices for you on Southwest and thought I saw SFO to BUR. But now it looks like Southwest doesn't fly into BUR from SFO. Southwest is just starting their service again from SFO then end of Aug but it looks like they don't fly into any of the LA area airports (LAX, Burbank, Orange County or Ontario). So I must have put in San Francisco and the flights that came up were from Oakland Airport. I use Oakland all the time. It's a little further from the city than SFO but the BART (train) goes directly there. So sorry for the confusion.

To book Southwest you have to go directly to their website as they don't use Expedia or any of the other travel websites. www.southwest.com

Thanks Paul1470 for clarifying my doubt.
One more Q: I dont see any multi segment booking on southwest.com, its only roundtrip, which does not suit me.
I need buf-sfo-lax(instead of burbank now)-buf

Now that the plan is more or less finalised (Thanks a ton to all of you),I need guidance for further action i.e. any info/link on deals for disney/universal/sea world tickets?
Rather, any money saving ideas ?? (this saving can go in food/shopping though :))

Bond,

You do know that you have to provide a car seat for your 3 year old in CA. Even in a taxi for a short ride. What will you do with it while touring? Do you have one on wheels?

bond007-If you are going to use Southwest Airlines, you will have to do a seperate booking. You would fly Delta roundtrip from BUF to SFO and then LAX to BUF. That is the ticket that I priced on Expedia for $258.00 Personally I would buy the ticket directly on the Delta website. Then you would need to go to Southwest Airlines and buy a one way ticket from OAK to BUR. That is the ticket that's $59 including tax. So if you buy your ticket from Delta at $253 (save your $5 from Expedia) and then the SW ticket at $59, your cost per person would be $312. This is a savings from the $365 person you had originally. You would have to fly from Oakland instead of SFO but you would be going into Burbank which is much closer to your friends in Pasadena.

If you have any questions, let me know.

paula1470:
Let me repeat, what I understood:
1. Book from delta for Buf-SFO and LAX-BUF (as one round trip, $253)
2. Book southwest one way, OAK - BUR ($59)
Is that right?
If yes, one Q : where should I stay in SFO, from OAk airport point of view? If I stay in above mentioned hotel, will be too costly taxi from hotel to OAK airport?

I am not 100% sure of the cost of a taxi from either SFO or OAK because I usually rent a car. A taxi from OAK would probably be around $15 more than from SFO. Start a new thread about ground transportation and someone can help you. You can take the BART from OAK into SF but with your son and all your luggage I wouldn't recommend it.

paula has been wonderfully helpful in looking up the appropriate flights for you. I's suggest getting those tickets as soon as you're certain, because fares like that don't last long!

Travelling from SFO into town, take BART. It's easy and cheap. Taxis are too expensive.

Also take BART from SF to Oakland Airport.

BART = Bay Area Rapid Transit. Look them up.

If the tour that you are taking starts from the Ferry Building and you will NOT have a car, then I'd suggest you locate yourself in Union Square. Those hotels like Columbus Motor Inn are more for people with cars.

Have you ever used Priceline? You can get a very good rate for a hotel on Priceline.

But first, get those good airfares quickly! :)

Forgot to add: you can rent a child's car seat from the car rental company. Just let them know when you book your rental.

Super Shuttle also serves the Oakland airport. You can call them at (800) 258-3826 for info and costs.

Another thought, your son might enjoy a visit to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.

I did lots of traveling with young children and I'd really suggest rethinking some of your itinerary so you'll enjoy your trip.

A 5 hour bus tour of San Francisco could be miserable for a 3 year old and everyone else. If it's a tour where you get on&off the bus a lot it will be better than one where you have to sit there and look out the window. Toddlers need frequent change of activities.

Downtown LA and Hollywood will not interest a child (hardly interests me), and Universal Studios is for teenagers and up. Sea World is for school age and up.

I'm not suggesting that you have to build your entire trip around your child, but if you're traveling with one that young, he has to be seriously considered. Toddlers are not old enough to be reasoned or bargained with.

Additionally, you are completely missing the most beautiful places that California has to offer.

If I was showing you around California, I'd take you on a drive from SF to Monterey to visit the Aquarium, the Dennis the Menace playground, the Carmel mission, and see a little of the Big Sur area and walk through the redwoods. Then drive down the coast on Highway 1 and see the elephant seals. Stop in Santa Barbara at the beach, walk around town a bit. You can do that in two days.

Drive on down to LA, visit your friends. Sightsee LA, Hollywood.

Disneyland. Best way to tackle that is to start early in the morning, leave in mid-day for lunch and a nap back at your close-by hotel, then back for more in the afternoon and evening show. Doesn't sound like you can do that so think about beginning a little later in the morning. After Labor Day they cut back on the evening shows.

Then head for San Diego, enjoy the beaches and the zoo. The Wild Animal park is boring for little kids.

You really should skip Las Vegas on this trip and come out sometime with your wife. It is NOT a toddler or stroller kind of place.

easytraveler-Thanks for the compliment. As far as ground transportation, I mentioned BART but they will probably have quite a bit of luggage and a 3 year old so figured a taxi or shuttle would be better although obviously more expensive. I looked at a couple of threads about using BART from OAK and I was a little confused so figured you locals could give bond007 the best way to use it.
As far as rooms, I agree about Union Square but looks like they want to spend under $150 so wasn't sure about recommending hotels in that area.

Thanks mowmow, BarbAnn,easytraveler and of course, paula1470:
1.Thank you for car seat tip. I was not aware of that.
2.And, YES, I am going to book the flights at the earliest.
3. Only things is that, I have to get the data for taxi/shuttle fair from union square hotel to OAK airport (I agree, bus will

not be confy with luggage and 3YO)
4. Paula1470 : I checked for OAK-BUR $59 flight (southwest), it is at 6.55pm . I am not sure, after taking 5hr tour (starting 11AM) , will it be possible to catch the flight? (other carrier flights are $99 (i.e. 30*3 = 100 extra, which I can spend in hotel and take rest)

IF not, I am planning to stay back in SF (have a night view of city, if possible) and take next day morning (sept2 ) flight, which is at 10.15AM ($59 again) . This way, we can rest a bit in SFO as well enjoy night view.
Pls let me know your comments on this.

5. As far as hotels at union square are concerned, I did a quick check and found below :
club quarters & Monticello for $89 and $99. Beresford hotel ($109), Grosvenor ($108)

Could someone pls comments on these deals and hotel quality.

Again, thanks a lot for your valuable tips.

The Beresford is basic, but clean and well-located. My sister lives in SF and she often recommends it. Also, near Union Square, we have really liked the Hotel Rex, a Joie de Vivre property. It's a nice boutique hotel.
:)>-