Help planning Disneyland/Yosemite/Vegas round RCI cruise

[earn]

We are booked on a RCI cruise from LA on 19th April next year( myself husband and two boys aged 8 and 10). This is a big holiday for us. We live in Scotland and want to make the most of our three week break. We plan to arrive in LAX on the 6th of April and want to do Disneyland, Universal, Yosemite and Vegas in the two weeks before the cruise. Is that too much? Can anyone help us plan what to do when? We thought it world be best to do Disneyland/Universal during the first week (4 nights LA) avoiding weekends, then on to Yosemite then Vegas and back to LA the night before the cruise. Can anyone tell me what the school holiday period is in the US, as we would prefer to aviod that at Disney.

 

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

[crusinmama06]

:eek: :eek: :eek: Wow now THAT's a trip.

 

Disney is busy around Easter time, so when is Easter next year? And then you'll have spring break to contend with...not just one specific week.

[Ula]

Earn,

We live in So CA and I just read your plans to Mr Ula. We are so excited for you. Have a question are you going to rent a car? There are various ways to get from Vegas to Yosemite one driving through Death Valley. The falls in Yosemite are beautiful in April. Also there you might want to side trip to Bodie, a real western ghost town from the gold rush. Mark Twain lived there briefly.

These things over 2 weeks before the cruise are not really too much. If you have any specific questions please ask.

[cb at sea]

Wow! That's a huge trip! Vegas is great--I could spend 2 weeks there! The weather that time of year is to die for! You can do as much or as little as you like! The 1st 4 or 5 days will be spent just gawking at the beautiful hotels and designs they have! Where will you stay? If you haven't picked a hotel, pick a nice one--not one of the older, cheaper hotels! It will make a HUGE difference in your stay!

[6rugrats]

Easter in 2009 is on 12 April, so you certainly will run into people on spring break everywhere you are planning to visit. Spring break in the US varies by school district, and schools have a spring break anytime from March through the middle of April.

 

You will not be able to avoid the crowds at Disneyland or Universal Studios, even going mid-week.

 

I understand your desire, after traveling so far, to pack a lot in, but your trip looks exhausting. What are you planning to do in Vegas and Yosemite?

[SelectSys]

...We plan to arrive in LAX on the 6th of April and want to do Disneyland, Universal, Yosemite and Vegas in the two weeks before the cruise. Is that too much? ...

 

Is it possible, sure. Realize that April in Yosemite means snow - at least in the mountains and perhaps even on the valley floor if the weather turns chilly. Also, Tioga pass, the route east will be closed with snow unless we are in an extreme drought next winter. This means you won't be able to drive through Death Valley on your way to Las Vegas.

 

If it was me, I would skip Vegas unless you're really into gambling or really want to see the hotels or shows. I would think about making a loop in CA such as Disney/LA, Yosemite, San Francisco, Carmel, Santa Barbara, etc. Disclaimer - Vegas isn't really my favorite town as I don't really enjoy gambling.

[gisele21]

I would skip Vegas too, as there's not as much there for kids. Save it for another trip.

 

I think Disney, Universal, and Yosemite are enough. As the previous poster said, Tioga pass will be closed so you will not be able to get over to 395 (you can't get the Bodie, or go to Vegas that route). In additional, Yosemite is a pretty far drive from S. CA (7 hours?) From the SF Bay Area to Yosemite Valley is about 4.5 hours. Yosemite is pretty big, so you'll want to spend a good 2 full days at least in the area. There's a lot to see and do there, especially if you plan to do any hiking in the area.

 

I don't know how many days you want to spend at Disney but to really see everything takes a few days, especially if it is crowded. Considering the driving times, I think you have enough to see those three throughly without getting bored.

[earn]

Thanks for all your thouts and help. I suppose Easter is Easter all over, and thereofre it will be busy. I just wondered if most schools would be off the week before easter or the after, but I expect both is the answer. My husband and I have spent three weeks in CA pre children, about eleven years ago, and really enjoyed it.

 

We will hire a car from LAX, and drop off before the cruise art Long Beach. The boys (10 & 8), and keen to see Vegas, and I think it would be fun for them. We stayed in the Luxor before, which was quite new at the time. Any suggestions, which are not OTT in price would be welcome. I was not sure what the weather in Yosemite would be like and hadn't got round to checking, though would have before booking. We went through Death valley last time, but doesn't look like that will cut it for this visit. Yosemite was our favourite place in CA, but we did visit in September. Maybe we shouod give it a miss this time, and just do LA and Vegas. Wouldn't like to get stranded in the snow and miss the cruise! We enjoyed Napa and the drive down the coast from san fransisco to LA, but I don't think the boys would really appreciate it.

 

Loads of thoughts at the moment. None terribly well formulated, but plenty of time for that.

 

thanks again

[gisele21]

That sounds like a better plan then, LA and Vegas. Then you don't have to go so far for Yosemite, and you were just there not long ago.

 

Pretty much the whole month of April is spring break because schools have different schedules. Kids from N. California go down there. My son's break this coming year begins April 9-16. I would go to Disney earlier than later in your visit.

[CruisenLexie]

Do you know where you are going to stay in Yosemite or are you staying outside the park? If you are going to stay inside then you might want to start looking at reservations NOW. We just got back and were told reservation fill up early on, even a year in advance (camping sites or hotel/lodges). We stayed at the Ahwahnee. Quite nice however I would suggest eating dinner in the bar and breakfast in the dining room.

 

Vegas is something to see (hotels, lights) and I know it is a long flight from Scotland, but adding Vegas in might be too much. You don't want to be exhausted before the cruise :) .

 

The Monterey Bay Aquarium was nice as was Hearst Castle and the Getty Museum. We stayed at the Hotel Pacific in Monterey and it was lovely. It had a little kitchen area (no cooking) sitting area, fireplace, balcony. Not your usual hotel room. If you wanted to splurge for dinner one evening in Monterey make reservations for Fresh Cream. It is right on the water and the food, well it was my favorite meal.

 

If you are driving up/down the coast between Big Sur and LA and you see a restaurant called Ragged Point Inn and it's time to eat, stop there. I don;t recall many places to stop in certain areas. The menu had a wide variety, food was good and it is a great place get out and walk and bring your camera.

 

Whatever you do, have a great trip.

[mommyx2]

Hi, We live in So. Cal and are visited all those places lots of times with our kids 6 and 10. We are off for spring break last 2 weeks of march, i know san diego kids are off end of march as well. Kids in yosemite area are off first week of april. so it will really depend on each school district.

 

I would fly in and do disney and universal. then drive approx 6 hours from disney to vegas. There is lots of hotels that have great kids pools like "Monte Carlo" it has a wave pool and lazy river they also have an arcade. The "south point " has a bowling alley, movies, arcade and a big pool its down a mile or two off the strip. There are all kinds off activites to see and do in LV( like water show at Bellagio, masquarade in sky at Rio, pirate show at Treasure Island. You can also visit Grand Canyon from hear they offer lots of day tours and Lake Mead is only 30 minutes away from strip.

 

SOmething else to think about is Zion National Park in Utah, it is only about 3 hour drive for Las Vegas and Bryce Canyon is near there as well. So that would cut down on driving if you saw those national parks instead of yosemite, but if yosemite is top on the list then you can drive back toward LA and cut over on the highway that will take you up to Bakersfield, ca then its about 3 1/2 hours past there to Yosemite.

Yosemite is beautiful it will probably still have snow, which you can go skiiing at Badger Pass inside Yosemite. There is a Sugar Pine railroad thats fun for the kids as well as horse back riding close by. The town outside the gates to Yosemite is Oakhurst, they have a few hotel that are less expensive than the ones in the park.

 

Have a great time. Which RCI cruise are you going on out of Los Angeles?

If you need more help or have questions, let me know your email address i will will give you mine.

Have fun planning..

Tami

[earn]

Thanks, what great information. I will look at Monte Carlo in Vegas. We had thought of the Stratosphere as seems good value, and kids would like the tower. Thanks for the Yosemite info too. We get a bit of snow in Scotland, so that is not too much of a novelty. I imagine everywhere else we go will be warm at that time of year, so going to Yosemite would require q whole set of different clothes, which is probably not too practical. My hasband is probably bringing his lilt to wear on formal nights etc on the boat, and that weighs a ton! The other national park in Utah sounds a really good idea, and pehaps we could do Bryce Canyon instead of the day trip to Grand Canyon from Vegas.

 

We are sailing from LA on Mariner of the Seas on the 19th of April. Thanks also for the school holiday info. I thought most holidays would be April rather than March, so maybe it won't be too busy. We Scots are not used to loads of people, so it will all be busy anyway for us!

 

Iwould love to give you my email, but not sure how I can do that without the world being able to use it.

 

Thanks again

[Ula]

Earn,

If you are looking to go east of Vegas, another wonderful place to visit is Mesa Verde. That is an ancient park with cliff dwellings. We loved going there and they have a nice hotel. Bryce and Zion are also wonderful.

[earn]

Thanks again everyone. Have just had a look at the national park info, and Mesa verde looks great. You have such a wonderful country to explore. I am starting to think we will try to do only LA and Vegas, with perhaps a couple of days in San Diego to do Sea World. No doubt we will be back, and next time we will come in September when the weather is better. We get enough snow/cold and rain at home in Scotland, so would probably prefer some nice warm weather on holiday.

[SelectSys]

... with perhaps a couple of days in San Diego to do Sea World. No doubt we will be back, and next time we will come in September when the weather is better...

 

You'll have a great time in San Diego if you decide to visit. We have much more than just Sea World and the Zoo to see. I would recommend staying right down in Mission Beach at the Bahia Hotel as you'll have a car. Your kids will have a blast as you can visit the boardwalk (ride the giant dipper) skate and bike along both the bay and ocean, people watch, and swim in the ocean.

 

My recommendation would be to spend at least 3 days in San Diego. Other area attractions include the aircraft carrier Midway, Coronado Island - hotel and beach, North county beach towns, La Jollla, Legoland , wild animal park, and old town.

 

Also, the weather should be pretty nice when you visit - certainly compared to Scotland. The days should be around 22-23 and possibly warmer in the desert. The water will not be warm but I still see plenty of people but it is ok for short dips.

[earn]

Thank you so much for the advice. My husband and myself were in San Diego about 11 years ago, and loved it. We know some people in Oceaside who I worked with when I was with Hughes, so could pop in to see them on the way down. We stayed at the Hyatt at the Marina before, butit was quite expensive. We ate the biggest pizza I have ever seen in our lives there! Coronada was lovely. My brother stayed there last year, and loved it, so we might pay a visit there too.

 

We usually holiday in Majorca at Easter, so used to nice weather, but cold sea! Thanks alos for other tips as to places to see.

[14ersco]

This past June we spent a week between LA and San Diego with our then 4 y/o and had purchased the City Pass. Six days worth of attractions (did the zoo, not animal park). http://www.citypass.com/city/socal.html

 

Also used a guide book for disneyland called unofficial disneyland; by following the books suggested itinerary and having lower crowds we were able to see all of our must rides (20+) in both parks on a Saturday! No running, this book just has researched peak times for the rides and efficient use of fast-pass.

 

I would not recommend going east of Las Vegas to any of the National Parks in April. This is the begining of mud season; might be dry or you could get pinned down for days by a major snowstorm. In '03 spent the third week of April under 7 feet of snow, for the entire week. :eek:

[cruise kitty]

we've had annual passes for DL for the past 18 years or so, we go for a few hours almost every weekend, so here's my advice. It will be spring break for many schools so it's gonna be a bit crowded but you can make it work. Try to stay at one of the Disney hotels, you'll get early admission to the park and it really makes a difference. If you don't get early admission still try to arrive 2 hours early on a sunday morning,(seem to be less crowded on Sunday mornings) buy your tickets first, have breakfast at Downtown disney, they'll let you into Main Street anywhere from an hour to half hour before the scheduled opening time. ( Plus there's a cool little ceremony when they open the gates) Get and use the Fast passes! First get one for splash mountain, as soon as your next one is available (before you use the first one) get one for Indiana Jones, then Space Mountain. Keep them and use them during the most crowded time of day. You can keep them all day, and use them after the return time, the only thing you can't do is us them before your return time. If you don't have time for it don't waste your time at California Adventure ( or misadventure as we call it) Go on the Tower of Terror and California Screaming, and then get out of there!

 

As for Vegas, we usually stay at the Bellagio, but I'd recommend the Venetian for a family, all the rooms have a very large separate sitting area, it a very good size and a family of four with kids would be comfortable in one room.

 

Lake Mead is only about 40 minutes from Las Vegas, you can rent a boat, there are some really beautiful canyon areas to explore, and you can boat really close up to Hoover Dam.

 

Sorry this post was so long, hope you have a great time!

[earn]

Thanks again for the advice. We will stay clear of the National Parks I think. Want to make the cruise! Will go on Amazon and buy the Dl guide, and use the fastpass ect as advised.

 

It is fab that we are able to tap in to the wealth of knowledge of you locals.

[14ersco]

Thanks again for the advice. We will stay clear of the National Parks I think. Want to make the cruise! Will go on Amazon and buy the Dl guide, and use the fastpass ect as advised.

 

It is fab that we are able to tap in to the wealth of knowledge of you locals.

 

 

Here is the link to the amazon uk of the book:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Unofficial-Guide-Disneyland-Guides/dp/047008961X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219848471&sr=1-2

 

We stayed off site at Marriott Residence Inn. Only a mile away, but about a third the cost of a Disney hotel. Had a breakfast buffet daily and a kitchen. Around Disneyland is the Anaheim Resort Transit (ART). They have 16+ routes that each link 3-4 hotels near Disneyland to the front entrance. The ART schedule is set to Disney's schedule. So if there is a magic morning the buses run early. With the Southern California pass we had one magic morning where you get in an hour early. The ART dropped us off a half hour before magic morning started. So we where the second group through the gate. With a younger child we went to Finding Nemo first; Disneyland is the only Disney park with this ride and there is no fast pass. The line was over 30 minutes long within 15 minutes of the start of magic morning. On the way to Nemo we got a fast pass for Buzz Lightyear. Another trick with fast pass is that you can have fast passes for more than one ride at the same time. You just need to wait until the time to ride on your first fast pass has started before getting a fast pass for another ride. There is a site for Disney like this site is for cruises: http://www.mouseplanet.com/

[SelectSys]

...We stayed at the Hyatt at the Marina before, butit was quite expensive...We ate the biggest pizza I have ever seen in our lives there! Coronada was lovely. My brother stayed there last year, and loved it, so we might pay a visit there too.

 

We usually holiday in Majorca at Easter, so used to nice weather, but cold sea! Thanks alos for other tips as to places to see.

 

Hyatt Islandia? If you don't want to pay for the Bahia, consider other hotels in the Mission / Pacific Beach area when travelling with kids. Coronado is actually the best beach but a bit isolated and I wouldn't recommend staying their with kids.

[lovesublime]

We have done a very similar trip and I have some suggestions. I would probably skip Yosemite and save it for another time. If you're determined to go to Vegas then I HIGHLY recommend driving to the Grand Canyon for 2 or 3 days-(south rim will be open in April). Bryce Canyon or any other place cannot hold a candle to Grand Canyon. Instead of Yosemite, I suggest driving the Pacific Coast Highway (from L.A.) down to San Diego and staying several days there. The San Diego zoo and Seaworld are fantastic and the drive is beautiful. It's just my opinion, but I think Yosemite requires a lot of planning and logisics to make it successful whereas the other places are a lot easier to do.

 

BTW, when we did our similar trip, we drove from Vegas to Grand Canyon and then from GC to San Diego and then up to L.A. (actually Long Island). Good luck with your planning!

[kaiiak]

We live in So. Cal. and visit Vegas a few times a year and Yosemite every other. You can easily do these - both trips are around 5 hrs. from LA (with some traffic). Yosemite is beautiful, but you can really see/do it all in a 3 night trip, same with Vegas with the kids.

 

I would NOT go to Stratosphere! It is pretty seedy there. Mandalay Bay is a bit pricy but has the best pool area for kids in Vegas. They also have the shark tank and a mall. Mirage has a nice pool too. Good shows for kids are most Cirque shows (TI's Cirque is the cheapest) or Lance Burton magician.

 

Yosemite is VERY reasonable as long as you don't stay at Ahwahnee (but beautiful there - that is where we got engaged!) Camp Curry is nice - if you call you can get one of a few larger cabins w/ a living room and bathroom.

HOPE this HELPS;)

[earn]

Thanks for all the help. I think we are almost there with deciding what to do. It is looking like this. Arrive LAX and shuttle to Hayatt Regency Anaheim for five nights. 3 day disney hopper and one day to recover. Pick up hire car and head for Las Vegas. Stay there for 4 nights there. Haven't quite managed to confirm where yet, but thining of Luxor (tower rooms as I belive the pyramid rooms need updated. Shame as we loved them 11 years ago, and deos everyone not want to sleep in a pyramid? Also considerring Desert Rose resort as it gets a very good crit. South Point looked great and we were going to book there until we discovered the $22/night extra charge for each of the children. After Vegas drive back to LA and stay somewhere in Burbank for three nights to do Universal Studios and Hollywood etc. Last night at San Pedron if we can book a hotel. There is an Idi car race on at Long Beach that weekend.

 

Thanks again for all of your help.

[mommyx2]

your plans look good. Have fun at disney! 5 days is alot of time there, you may try a day at Knotts Berry Farm( it is another park close by disney with more roller coaster type rides if you all like that)

In Vegas i would not recommend the luxor like you said the tower rooms are old and need updating. I am surprised about South Point charging extra for kids I have 2 and have never gotten charged extra. It is usually alot better priced than the strip, did you check out Monte Carlo they have some good deals now I have been getting emails daily from them.

Universal and Hollywood is fun.

Then off to your cruise thats when all the fun starts!!!!!!!!!

Any other questions, please ask

tami