LAX Pre Cruise

[wherenext]

We are coming in one day ahead of our cruise, out of SLC never sure of the weather situation and would like to go to Disneyland or Universal Studio for the day. Our question is what does one do with their luggage when the hotel has late checkin? Any suggestions as to which hotel area is the most convenient to either of these two parks so that I can start shopping hotels and then shuttle transportation to the pier the following morning. Any suggestions to get me started in the right directions would be appreciated.

[trish1c]

I can't speak to the location but most hotels have a storage room for before & after check in. They will hold your bags.

[pvmkmyer]

Disneyland and Universal are no where near each other, and neither is close to the port, so you will have to decide which one you want to do. Disneyland is in Anaheim. There are scads of good hotels in the area. You might want to start your search by checking the Disney website, as they usually have deals which include tickets to the parks. There are now 2 parks, Disneyland and California Adventure, right next to each other. I would not recommend doing both parks in one day, particularly because they have separate admission fees.

 

Universal is in Universal City, which is in the San Fernando Valley just north of Hollywood. The Sheraton Universal is directly across from the studios. I'm sure there are other hotels in the area as well. Keep in mind that Universal Studios is more like an amusement park and will not give you the flavor of touring a working movie studio. If you want that experience, take the tour at Warner Bros.

 

The ports for Los Angeles are San Pedro and Long Beach (depending on your cruise line.) They are next to each other. If you are coming in to LAX airport I would highly recommend renting a car to get around. It is more convenient and probably cheaper than hiring Super Shuttle to take you to Anaheim or Universal City and then to the port the next day. If you decide on Disneyland, check out flying in to John Wayne airport in Orange County, which is much closer to Disney.

 

Hope this helps.

[merela]

Universal studio is north of LAX, easily an hour away if there is a traffic jam on the 405. Disneyland is also an hour (or more) driving time southeast of LAX in Anaheim. There is no way you can to do both places in one day. If you have never been to Disneyland (and California Adventure), you'll need at least a day in each theme park.

 

The port is 25-40 minutes south of LAX on the 405.

 

It's much easier to do Disneyland or Universal Studios if you rent a car. There are many hotels around Disneyland that you can stay, most offer shuttles, but really, you'll need a car to get around southern California. If you don't have a car, you'll need to taxi to your hotel, then from that hotel to port. LAX to Disneyland is easily $100 on taxi meters (I'm guessing since I don't know the taxi rate from LAX to Disneyland), but it can take a long time, especially if you are stuck in traffic.

 

For more information about Disneyland and hotels in that area, check

 

http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=26

 

 

HTH.

[jstducky]

as the previous posters have stated, disneyland and universal studios are no where near each other...

 

renting a car is definitely the way to go. i rented a car 2 weeks ago from LAX and dropped it off the next day at John Wayne airport in Orange County and the cost was only $23, which would be much cheaper than getting a shuttle from the airport to the hotel, and then the hotel to the port.

 

if you are looking for a hotel around the disneyland area there are the disney hotels (the disneyland hotel, the grand californian hotel, and one other one that escapes my memory). there is also a holiday inn just down the street from disneyland. there is a fairfield inn across the street and there are a few best westerns and days inns around the area. if you are not staying at the hotel, most have either a shuttle to the front entrance or are within easy walk distance of the hotel.

 

the price for admission these days to either disney park is $49.75 per day. and that only gets you admission into 1 of the 2 parks. you can buy a park hopper ticket for 1 day that will get you into both parks and allow you to go back and forth between the parks, but the cost of that is around $70+. but as mentioned before, you woudln't want to do both in the same day. if you've never been to either before, do disneyland as it is the bigger of the two, the original, and it has a lot more rides, shows and things to do. also in between disneyland and disney's california adventure is an area called downtown disney. it has restaurants that you can have dinner or lunch at, its a nice little shopping district and has musicians performing outdoors all night long.

 

if you choose to go to universal studios, aside from the sheraton universal there is also the universal hilton which is also a nice hotel. and if you do end up doing a studio tour at say warner bros. the drive from universal city to warner bros studios is only 5-10 minutes.

 

if you've never been to either of these parks then my recommendation is that disneyland is a lot better of an amusement part than universal studios (i know i am biased as i used to work at disneyland!). universal is a place that you could go to and see and do everything within 1/2 day. disneyland is a place that would easily take you more than a couple of days to do, see and explore.

 

if you have any more questions, feel free to ask!

[wherenext]

Thank you all for your replys I truly appreciate it. Now I am trying to find out who in the group want to go to which park and then I can shop hotels and car/van rentals. It wears me out just thinking about it and then fighting all the people in line for the rides on Saturday January 1st. Maybe I will take the easy way out and fly in on Sunday and go directly to the ship and begin my vacation of pure relaxation.

[redrn13]

flying in day before Princess cruise with 8 in our party. need hotel for that night. would like to see Venice Beach that day. Need transportation from LAX to a hotel then to Venice and back, then to port the next day. On the return trip we will be staying 2 more days and would like to see Rhodeo Drive, may be some stars homes, Sunset Strip or any other suggestions. Any suggestions on Hotel for each part of the trip, how to get around and what to do. Some hotels I've come across is Furama Hotel for before and the Anaheim Islander Inn & Suites for after. good, bad locations?

[Splinter]

Venice is north of the airport near Santa Monica. Look for hotels there. I would recommend using Super Shuttle to the hotel from the airport for a group this large.

 

If you want to see Rodeo Drive and the tour of stars homes or other Hollywood sights I would recommend staying again in the Santa Monica or West LA or Westwood area, not in Anaheim which is 30 miles and at least an hour drive away. You might want to check out a local tour company that could take you on a bus tour to all these typical sights instead of attempting to drive and find places to park.

[pvmkmyer]

I would definitely pass on the Furama. It's a so-so business hotel, used by asian tour groups. Its worst feature is that part of it is leased to Loyola Marymount University for overflow student housing.

[redrn13]

have for go the Venice idea. Needing a rental to go from LAX to either Long Beach or San Pedro to stay the night and then drop of car and get on ship (Sapphire Princess). After Cruise then we need rental again to go to Knotts Berry for a few days then back to LAX. Any idea on which rental company. It sounds like Hertz is the mose likely. Also will be using Priceline or hotwire for hotel. We have 8 in our party.

[pvmkmyer]

have for go the Venice idea. Needing a rental to go from LAX to either Long Beach or San Pedro to stay the night and then drop of car and get on ship (Sapphire Princess). After Cruise then we need rental again to go to Knotts Berry for a few days then back to LAX. Any idea on which rental company. It sounds like Hertz is the mose likely. Also will be using Priceline or hotwire for hotel. We have 8 in our party.

 

From what I've seen on these boards, the only rental company that has an office in San Pedro, where Princess docks, is Enterprise. They are also at LAX, so you can pick up your vehicle(s) at LAX and drop off at the port. On the way back, pick up at the port and go to Disneyland with return to LAX. Enterprise is very good about transporting you to where you need to go, so I'm sure they will shuttle you to the pier.

 

By the way, this sounds much better than your first plan, because Disneyland should be much less crowded after Jan. 1, since school will be back in session. Now let's just hope you don't run into the rainy weather we had last winter!

[Splinter]

Just a caution...the Enterprise office near the port is closed on Sundays, so don't depend on it for a Sunday departure or arrival. You can cab to the Long Beach airport and access rental cars from most of the major rental agencies 7 days a week.

[JodiBB]

if you are looking for a hotel around the disneyland area there are the disney hotels (the disneyland hotel, the grand californian hotel, and one other one that escapes my memory).

 

The 3rd hotel is Paradise Pier/Pacific Wharf. But as Alisa said, there are PLENTY of wonderful hotels around D-Land and they all have shuttle services that will drop you off right at the entrance to the park!!!

 

the price for admission these days to either disney park is $49.75 per day. and that only gets you admission into 1 of the 2 parks.

 

The price for individual parks (D-Land or DCA) recently went up to $53/10y.o.+ and $43/9y.o. or under. It's better to get the park-hopper ticket as you can jump back and forth between the parks as much as you want. So if one gets too crowded then you just go to the other park and let the crowds pass. It's $73/10 y.o+ or $63/under 9 y.o.

 

I would also recommend D-Land over Universal Studios. The hours are longer and there's much more to do/see/experience. You can take advantage of Disney's FastPass program to ensure you get on the rides you don't want to miss!!

 

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!!