For various reasons, I really need a vacation, and of the multiple round trip flights that I have, it looks like the flights I have to Los Angeles the second week of February will be the dates I can travel.
I fly in Sunday afternoon (5 ish), and leave Thursday 9 ish. I’m trying to decide how I want to spend my time.
I was thinking of a getting a Disneyland package, and staying in the good neighbor hotels within walking distance to the park.
Must haves: Monday and Wednesday at Disneyland. I’m planning to get park hopper tickets and LLMP. Tuesday will be Universal Studios Hollywood.
Is two days enough at Disneyland? Should I give it extra time by going Sunday evening or will it need a full third day and I go on Thursday? If I can, I’d like to visit Knott’s Berry Farm Thursday.
I’ve been to Disney World twice, and UOR more times than I care to count right now, but I’ve never been to the West Coast versions.
I keep kosher, so I’m planning to bring all my food with me or buy in local stores. I’m not planning to eat any park food.
If you focus attractions that are unique to DLR or have significant differences (like Pirates and Space) from their WDW counterparts and aren’t traveling with a large group or young kids, I think you’ll be somewhat rushed, but be able to see the highlights with 2 days. I tend to recommend 3 minimum to be able to enjoy it and do some repeats over. And I always bump that to 4 if going with kids or a large group so you can still accomplish a decent amount with midday breaks for kid naptimes/rest.
However, I do think Knott’s is very much worth a visit so I wouldn’t sacrifice your day there for it. I would recommend cutting out Universal Hollywood if you want to prioritize 3 days at WDW. We love UOR and have visited several times in the last couple of years but I cannot bring myself to pay for a day at Universal Hollywood knowing how much smaller it is/how much less it has to offer (but I also have young kids and every time we’ve considered it so far we’ve also had passes to DL where admission was already settled so those factor into my considerations). Also, the drive between Anaheim and LA, especially right where Universal is, can be significant. It can be as little as 45-60 minutes without traffic, but can be 2-2.5 hrs if you catch the worst traffic. So you’d want to make sure however you’re getting there, you use a Navigation app that factors traffic (I like Waze, Google is also fairly decent too).
Also, I don’t know that I would plan for DLR on Sunday for a 5pmish arrival for the extra time. Especially if that 5pm time is when your flight gets in and you’re coming in to LAX or Burbank (because again that drive from LA to Anaheim).
If you’re coming to a closer airport like Long Beach, John Wayne then maaayyybbee, but I would definitely look at the difference in the price jump from 2 to 3 days and look at the closing time for the parks and consider how much time you’d actually be able to spend in the parks vs. what you’re paying to add that.
Also, I do see that on Sun Feb 9 (not sure if that’s your arrival Sun or not) there is a Sweetheart’s Nite After Hours event at DL which means it will close earlier than normal for an after ticket event that goes from 9pm-1am and that may impact the evening crowds in both parks to be busier than they would otherwise be (so you wouldn’t get an evening with the crowds dropping off as it got later like you would if the parks were open their normal hours).
I agree with all of this. Do you have other things going on in Los Angeles that require you to be there? You know how much I LOVE Universal, but the logistics and costs made it unfeasible for me to go. When planning my budget just for one day at USH, staying one night nearby, was $500 - $700.
One day I’ll check out the USH version of JPRA, WaterWorld stunt show and the Studio Tour. However, IMHO, that’s pretty much all there is that I really care about. Sure there are a couple attractions for younger audiences that I’d check out like Secret Life of Pets or DreamWorks Theatre. They aren’t enough make a trip there “worth it” for me right now. Maybe the new F&F coaster will be what gets me motivated to go to USH…
I’m not trying to talk you out of it at all. I only want to make sure you are comfortable with the issues commuting there and etc…
For me, I chose to add an extra day in Anaheim rather than arrive at LAX / USH.
I’ve never been to DLR either, but in my TPs I’d really be rushing to do things in only two days.
I can’t wait to hear about your Knott’s day. That’s on my plan as well and I hope it’s fun!
It sounds like you really love Universal and that LAX is really your only choice, right? If that’s true, is it possible for you to stay near Universal on Wed, and then visit it on Thur until you must head to the airport? That would eliminate the hard, 2 way commute. You could leave Anaheim late on Wed after your park day, and, a bonus, LA traffic would be light by then.
I would avoid the parks on Wed, as history shows that the parks tend to be very crowded on days sandwiched between After Dark days. I recommend Mon and Tue in DLR, Wed in Knotts, and Thurs in Universal. A third day in DLR would be ideal, but Sun evening would be a waste since you could only do DCA for a few hours due to Sweethearts Nite in DL. If you would consider dropping Universal, then I think adding Thur to your DLR days would be worthwhile. If your LAX flight leaves at 9, then do plan on leaving the parks hours ahead of time due to commute traffic. Even so, you can have a great time in the limited hours.