Help needed.

[disneydolphin]

Hi all,

We are currently looking to travel from the UK to Vegas stay there for a few days and go see the Grand Canyon. It is hoped that we will be able to do the helicopter tour as my husband has been looking forward to seeing the Canyon ever since we visited America in 2003 but didnt get around to the GC.
We would then like to drive to Disneyland. At present its undecided whether we will need to stay onsite and I have been scouring the net for nice places to stay offsite near DL. Then we will be heading back to Las Vegas to fly home.
What we are having difficulty with is arranging the separate parts of the holiday.
Does anyone have prior experience of splitting holidays like this or maybe travelling from the Uk to California? We have heard that Virgin organise hols similar but we need to fly from Manchester, not London.

Hoping someone can help.



PS Have not spoken to travel agents yet as in 2003 we were astounded by the difference in prices/knowledge and saved a lot of money by researching via the net. So we will contact them but not til we know the gist of things, eg where not to stay and which car rental company we dont want.

ETA: Have already realised that we may get Disney adult tickets for child prices as we will be there just at the right time! Cool! Or would it be better value to use Citypass?

 

[Blackunicorn]

I'm not sure I understand your questions, but I had one or two thoughts.

My first thought is, how are you going to get to DL from Vegas? If you rent a car and drive, it's not too far (keep in mind that my family drives from Colorado, so "not too far" may be relative), but paying mileage may be pricey.

DL is fortunately as close or closer to offsite hotels as it is to onsite hotels. Two of the best offsite hotels (based on reviews I've read on this board) for both price and quality are going to be Howard Johnson's (also known as HoJo) and the Candy Cane Inn. HoJo is closer to the park. For onsite hotels, the Grand Californian is the closest to the parks (and priciest), the Disneyland Hotel is next closest (and next in price), and the Paradise Pier is the most distant (and the lease expensive) of the three. According to various reports, the Bonita Tower at the Disneyland Hotel may be as far away from the parks as the Paradise Pier Hotel.

I don't exactly understand what you mean by "splitting holidays", but I think what you mean is that you're going to spend your time in two different places? If that's the case, then my family does this.

 

[LucyKate]

We're from Australia (and I'm originally from the UK) and planned all our West Coast trip ourself.

If I was you, I would just get a cheap return flight to Los Angeles - America West for example does that route for $98.40 per person return including all taxes.

The closest airport to Disneyland is John Wayne or SNA, but you may find cheaper flights to Los Angles International (LAX) or Long Beach. (To SNA the sasme flights are about $150, and to Long Beach, another closer airport the flights are aout $115).

Then just get a shuttle such as Super shuttle - $15 each way, and they will take you straight from the airport to your hotel - so for about $260 you can get from Las Vegas to your Disney hotel.

We stayed at the HoJo and loved it, and together with Candy Cane, it gets the best reviews here and elsewhere for the moderate price hotels. If planning a big splurge, consensus is that Disney's Grand Californian is the place to stay.

 

[RalphMouth]

if you don't stay and pay $300 per night at the Grand Californian then Howard Johnson's Anaheim gets the 2nd best reviews at tripadvisor.com

HoJo's isn't fancy but I think it's clean and safe & only a 10 min walk to
Disneyland-

If you drive from Las Vegas to Disneyland it will take around 5 hours
depending on traffic (I'd avoid rush hour driving in LA area)

Car rental agencies-

I prefer National but you Avis or Hertz is fine too. Go to mousesavers.com
There is some great info over there about car agencies & some codes
you can use to save $$- I've saved $18.00 using one of their codes.

 

[disneydolphin]

Blackunicorn
Sorry if i wasnt too clear, but yes what i meant by splitting holidays was arriving in LA, staying there, then driving for 4/5 hours to DL, then back again to LA to fly home. I was referring to the fitting together of all various elements of the trip.
HoJo does seem to be liked on these boards, along with CandyCaneInn so i will keep them in mind. Moreorless decided to not bother staying onsite. Actually found a kidsuite (which was two adjoining rooms, one with 2 queens and one with bunkbeds) at the Comfort Maingate (i think) which sounded like an ideal size/layout for our family. Might look for something similar if i find bad reviews online about it.

LucyKate,
I had a look at those airlines you suggested and got quite excited by the low prices compared to what id already sourced but then read the small print to find that you can only book from America. Unless ive read it wrong.
TBH id never heard of shuttles..how regular are they? (naivesmilie)
Afraid im not planning a big splurge..would rather keep the money for things like days out (DL,G.Canyon helicopter trip, Zoo etc) We will only be using the hotel/s as a base and to sleep/refresh in so luxury wont be needed. (I was pleasantly surprised at the cleanliness of the budget hotels onsite at WDW)

RalphMouth
Thank you for the car rental tip and the reminder about mousesavers. I KNEW there was another site i used to use when planning our last trip.

 

[LucyKate]

We booked flights with America West, online, from Australia, using an Australian AMEX and address.

Your were probably using some discount air fare site - I know some only allow US addresses.

BUT the prices offered by the discount sites are nearly always available directly from thre airlines - so find a good price on a discount site THEN go direct to the airline and book it from there (which is how I did it).

Alaska, America West and South West (to name 3 we used and booked from Australia) all allow foreign residents to book from overseas. That price I quoted you was direct from the America West site, was available every day at many times during the day, and can be booked right now on line by anyone.

Shuttles are the buses which take you from the airport to the hotels - they are mini-vans carrying about 9 people and they will stop at 3-4 hotels i one trip.

You can book in advance or just walk out to the road in front of the terminal, join the queue, wait for a shuttle with a sign saying "anaheim" and off you go - very efficient, much cheaper than a taxi and much faster than a bus.

 

[Earstou]

Southwest Airline has airfare between LA and LV for $39 or $49 one way right now. I think this offer has to be booked by March 3rd. Don't know your dates, but maybe this would work for you!

 

[disneydolphin]

Hi again,
Just rolled out of bed and came straight to check the boards..how sad am i!
Lucy ...thats fantastic news. Ill check the sites more carefully later on today and see what i can find.

The shuttles sound really good. How long a trip is it from LAX (which IS cheaper to travel to, so thanks again!) to Anaheim via shuttle, approx 5 hours? Im guessing my hb would prefer to drive (its his job at home) but we'll see..at least then he would see some sights. In your experience are the shuttles still operating in the evenings? I think the best flight i found arrived in LAX approx 8pm.

Earstou,
We are planning on travelling from 27th March. We are pretty flexible with the return dates, however the children need to return to school on the 11th April. This means we will probably have to leave by the 9/04 as the return flight is quite long and if we leave on the 10th they will be a little tired in school or even miss the start!
Thanks all

 

[luckey-lasvegas]

Just a quick tip : Make sure to check the price of flying into Long Beach instead of LAX or SNA. It's a smaller airport but about half the distance closer than LAX. I live in vegas and fly into Long Beach often.
You may want to try Jet Blue, and Hawiian airlines also. Hawiian air has one flight that continues on to California after a stop in Vegas and it's been very cheap from time to time.
South West airlines has packages for disney which include air hotels and tickets so you might want to consider grouping it together. If you need a Vegas address let me know.
SO much for a quick tip !

 

[Keggy]

We are doing a split vacation in May. Half the week and Disneyland and half the week in Vegas. We are flying into LAX, renting a car, driving to Dinseyland. Driving from Disneyland to Vegas, and we have a return flight home from LAS. It was actually very affordable!

Kelly

 

[LucyKate]

The shuttles sound really good. How long a trip is it from LAX (which IS cheaper to travel to, so thanks again!) to Anaheim via shuttle, approx 5 hours?

Please forgive me if I'm reading this wrong, but the shuttle from LAX to anaheim is about 1 hour - NOT 5!

(It is, however, a 5 hour drive from Las Vegas to Anaheim or LAX if that's what you mean!)

Long Beach and SNA are a lot closer airports to Anaheim (half hour shuttles) and much less crowded - but also likely to be more expensive.

 

[disneydolphin]

Thank you all so much for all your tips and for sharing your experiences.

Sadly, it seems that fate has stepped in and prevented our trip in March.


My elderly parents are having a level access shower fitted into their very old/dated property and the builders have let us down terribly, meaning that they have postponed their start date..bringing it too close to our departure for me to be happy leaving my parents sorting out the 'red tape' that usually arises.

I'm rather disappointed as I really enjoy the last minute planning (as you can see from my much earlier posts on our visit to WDW ) even tho' it gets a little intensive. Oh well.


The new plan will be to try and plan our trip for the next large school holidays (which is July) so hopefully all of what we hoped to do this Easter can still be done then. Trouble is, wont everyone be travelling to DL then, for the 50th Anniversary?


I'd better change my signature dates.

 

[diberry]

I've booked our holiday through Expedia - Long Beach, Las Vegas, San Diego & DL - booked all bits separately plus park tickets etc. No problems - but we haven't got there yet!!