OC/Los Angeles

[hoteljunkie]

Hi, i'm emailing from newport beach. we are on our hols and are here from the uk. we have plans to go to disney for 2 days and then La for a week. i wondered if anyone has any tips esp for LA? we have a dd who is 4.5yo and a ds who is 2.5yo. have done laguna beach and san diego zoo which were fab. thanks!!

bump

We are out there in the middle of August. We go every other year and love it.

Last time we did Universal for a couple of days' and got the VIP passes. It really is worth it as you'll be straight to the front of the queues. My two, when they went last time, were 5 and 3 so a similar age to your 2.

Venice Beach on a Sunday morning is good. Afternoon it's less buzzy as things start to close. Santa Monia and the pier and fun fair is great. Also LA Zoo was a big (albeit hot!) success.

Disney is great - California Adventure is a great favourite of ours.

HTH

thanks1 i wasn't sure about universal but may check it out. thought it was mostly rides fo older ones.

another vote for Santa Monica, also Santa Barbara. Mission there is lovely for a bit of respite. Gorgeous gardens in area called Huntingdon, iirc.

Universal had that fire recently, would suggest you check that it's open as normal. It has a fab water park for little ones, but check out the options for little ones as you might find height restrictions apply to a lot of the rides.

Santa Monica beach is beautiful. Lots of other beaches and the parks around such as Yosemite worth exploring.

Knotts Berry Farm is an option for a different theme park and has the snoopy section for smaller children, but not in the same league as Disney in terms of atmosphere. You also have 6 flags furtehr north of LA, but I've not been there as we stuck to the Disney thing and love it. Are you sure 2 days will be enough!? ;)

Gilly

do you mean huntington beach? we were thinking of going there? i'll check out universal too- like the idea of the water park

There's a lot less rides in Universal in California - loads of rides in Universal Florida - it tends to be more shows than anything else.

According to the website, Universal opened up in a matter of days' following the fire. The studio tram tour has been slightly affected insofar as the King Kong bit has been damaged, but other than that it's all operational.