Dad's Dream for trip to West Coast
 

2 Dad's are wishing to make a long held Hollywood/Disneyland dream come true for their 3 teenage daughters 11,14,15 (combined). We have planned for 17 days in last week August to mid-September to visit LA, SF and San Diego with about 8 or 9 days in LA area. All the usual sights (Disney, Universal, Warner, Hollywood, drive up to SF and visit Golden Gate, drive down to San diego and visit Zoo, Wild Park etc). Now looking for accomodation we are a bit worried by US prices of accommodation, as we're from Aussieland prices of $250, $300 + per night are quite steep. Are there any hotels or similar accomm that has reasonable prices (say up to US$125 per room)? Are there any good accomm places which can handle 5 people in say 2 bedroom apartments as a more cost-effective option?
Any ideas about sights to visit?

Thanks

There are tons of hotels/inns/motels under $125 per night if you are not looking for super luxurious accomodations. (I think it's better to stay in 2 rooms: give the teens their own separate room and they will be much happier.)

Just glace at the prices by searching on www.mobissimo.com. If you want to book, go directly to the hotel's website and compare the prices.

I will fly into either San Fran and drive down to San Diego or vice versa.

If you plan Disney and San Diego towards the end of your trip, the hotel prices will be better not to mention the lines at the park. August can be rough.

Perhaps you can find air tickets INTO San Francisco and RETURN from Los Angeles or San Diego?

You'll need to find an Aussie agency that handles car hires in U.S. that include insurances required for foreign citizens. Usually the website prices are high and do not include this insurance and for two weeks this can be $300 or more additional.

RE: Hotels within your budget. You should be able to find hotels for such prices. However, you might have to stay a little farther out from the main attractions to do so. EG: Staying in Glendale or Burbank vs. Hollywood proper. Staying in Garden Grove vs. Anaheim.

Look for suite hotels such as Homewood Suites, Homestead Suites, Springhill Suites, Staybridge Suites, Embassy Suites, etc. They usually serve a complimentary breakfast and also have kitchens in the rooms, which allows you to stock drinks and snacks to save a little $$. The rooms are generally a bit larger, as well.

Once you have it narrowed down to several hotels in each area within your price range, you can ask the helpful Californians here on this board about the suitability of the neighborhoods.

Good Luck! Sounds like a fun trip --Lucky teenage daughters! :)

it was one of the suite hotels a couple of miles from disneyland but friends stayed there with 5 adults and 3 kids in a three bedroom condo. full kitchen etc and i think she paid about $250/night.
in san diego, check for rental units in mission beach or solana beach (just 20 minutes north of san diego).
you will enjoy yourself much more paying for a condo where most of the teens have a private room to go to. might mean driving a little further but worth it.
i'd do less days in la. maybe 5. san diego is much more enjoyable in my opinion.
have a blast.

Have you already bought the plane tickets??? If not, do an open jaw instead - Into SFO and out of either LAX or San Diego. It does not make sense to go to LA, then drive up to SF and then drive all the way back down to San Diego.

Both drives are more than a day's worth - and the drive from SF to San Diego is better as a 2 or 3 (or more) day drive.

If you are stuck w/ into and out of LAX - then I would look into flying from SF to San Diego. This does complicate things and increase costs because there are 5 of you, and you'd have to deal w/ two different rental cars.

Hi Janis, just a curiosity question. Don't rental cars hold 5 people? I ask because all our vehicles do. Two passengers in front and three in the back, with seat belts for everyone.
Thanks.

Bozi if you can delay your trip a week or so...you will save on hotels, and the amusement parks will start to have special offers. Monday Sept 5 is a U.S. holiday and prices will be high for accomodations until then, especially along the coast.

For Hollywood, Check out the Comfort Inn Suites on Highland Avenue, they are quoting $118 for 5 persons in a room including extra bed, breakfast included. Short walk to subway. www.choicehotels.com

No problem. Look on the internet for Choice Hotels (Comfort Inn, Quality Inn, etc.), Holiday Inn, Hampton Inn, Fairfield, and Best Western. They are all reliable motel chains in your price range.

There are cheaper chains too--Motel 6 and Super 8, for instance. Some people love these places, but I've had bad luck with them.

One problem with all the chain motels is that they are sometimes not located next to restaurants and other amenities you might want. For instance, we once stayed at a Hampton Inn in San Diego that was located in a rather dreary neighborhood of car dealerships. On the otherhand, in San Diego we have also stayed at a Best Western very nicely situated in Old Town.

I like using the Hilton.com website because you can choose to search for ALL the Hilton group hotels for certain dates including Hampton Inn, Homewood Suites and Hilton Garden Inns.

Also, you can do similar searches for Holiday Inn's group of hotels at www.ichotelsgroup.com.

I usually stay at the mid-priced hotels in my neck of the woods for well under $100. You should EASILY be able to find options for less than $125.

At the Holiday Inn group, kids usually stay free and the Holiday Inn Express offer free breakfast (as do Hampton Inns and Homewood Suites).

The open jaw flight suggestion is an excellent one.

LoveItaly - Yes of course all 5 will fit in one car.

But I think you misunderstood me. I meant if they flew from SF to So Cal it would be more expensive because there are five of them, ergo 5 tickets, AND they would also have to rent two different cars - one for the drive to SF and one after they got to LA or SD.

Marriots and Holiday Inns are always more reasonable than other hotels. In SF particularly, this is true. CHeck online first for deals or discounts ahead of time. The Holiday Inn in SF is on the wharf practically and I doubt if it's over $100 U.S.

Hi All,
We are also Aussie's planning our trip for November with kids 15/ 13 and 11. So far our trip planning goes like this-
2 days LA (universal studios)
3 days San Diego ( Sea World, ZOO or Animal park)
4 days Anaheim ( DL, maybe Knotts)
3days driving up to San Francisco via Big Sur, Monteray
Then we have 10 days in SF visiting friends and seeing the sights.
We would like longer in LA and driving the coast, but our time is limited and we want to get to our friends in SF for Thanksgiving.
We have found accom. in Anaheim, across the road form DL for $49 per night using the entertainment book discount
(www.entertainment.com)You may be able to find other hotels willing to give you the ent. book discount.
Howard Johnson Plaza is 7 min walk to DL and while not being a luxury hotel, have extensive lush grounds and is quoted to have a resort feel and gets great reviews.
You could get 2 ajoining rooms for $100 US plus tax.
The xchange rate is so much better than it was 5 years ago, but it still cost us more!!!
Have agreat trip and let us know of any tips you pick up along the way.
Carin

LoveItaly:
The rental car will fit five...
But will it hold three teenage girls' luggage!
:)
Sounds like a great adventure, Bozi!

hampton inns, a hilton property, have always provided consistantly reasonable rooms with respect to clean and amenities. they also all have buffet continental breakfast that has things like cereal fruit, juices, coffee and tea, bagels(not the good ny kind!) toast muffins etc. this is a savings too. these are at most places. i agree that san diego may have more going on, including roadside beaches where you can watch the surfers do their thing. you have the zoo, sea world, balboa park, just enjoy!

carinv: A couple of thoughts....

Please consult a map. San Diego is the southernmost point in your Southern California portion. Anaheim is 90 minutes to two hours to the north. Los Angeles (which is a huge metropolitan area) is another 30 minutes north. I imagine you want to start in LA since you're flying from Australia, but honestly I'd try to either fly into San Diego or grit my teeth and set off for SD from LAX.

I think four days in Anaheim is, well, at least two too many. Other than the Rathole, it's suburban Generica-- not much else to see. And Knott's is in Buena Park, a bit northwest of Anaheim. In any case, I would have sprung for a hotel somewhere-- ANYWHERE-- else-- unless it were the Disney Grand Californian (which is phenomenal). But that's me.

carinv: You're kids are way too old for Knott's Berry Farm... I'd skip it!

Hi Moneygirl,
We are getting a South. Cal. city pass ( which inc. 3 days DL, 1 sea world, 1 zoo or animal park, 1 day universal and 1 day knott's )otherwise we wouldn't be including knotts.
But I thought Knottsberry Farm had ginormous roller coasters that would be too frightening for anyone much younger than 10 or 11???
Carin

Er, not Knott's. The roller coasters are a bit tamer. You must have it confused with Six Flags Magic Mountain up in Valencia-- which does have some real shriek-inducers.

Hi rjw_lgb_ca,
Thanks for that.
I don't know anything about 6 flags, but I have also only picked up info on Knott's from message boards and the like!!
Is it somewhere we could stop into for say 2 hours (seeing as the ticket price is included in our pass) on our way to somewhere else? At least we could say we had seen it!!
US is just soooooo big and we don't have the time or the money to see as much as we would like.Oh well, next trip ( I wish!!)
Carin