USA Holiday Advice

[ash.1111]

Hi Guys,

 

Me, Mum and Dad are planning to visit the USA for my 16th Birthday in March. (This Year)

 

We are going to be hitting Los Angles, San Fran and Las Vegas over about 3-4 weeks.

 

Is there any great things we should visit over there and any crappy things that we shouldn't visit?

 

Now I know there's topics like this elsewhere on the forum, though I'm not just after theme park advice, I would like to know some other great stuff to visit. (One of which is the WB Studio Tour - I've heard great stuff...)

 

Any feedback would be great!

[ash.1111]

Guys, I've talked with my fokes and they've said they would rather go in June (if weather suits) because of my school's longer holidays during that month.

 

In LA (June), what is the weather like? Now we have to be careful because my mum has whiplash and the rain can upset her neck.

 

In June, does LA have a lot of storms/rain? What is the temp and also is it a dry/wet heat?

 

Any info would be great! Thanks.

[Wes]

It rarely rains in June here, it's usually 80's-90's, and it's dry heat.

[Miller Lite]

In Frisco it's pretty much low to mid 70's and pretty windy durring June.

[ash.1111]

Thanks Guys. Are the parks busy during June?

[terrancew_hod]

^That's summertime and schools out. And people from all over usually use summer to vacation. Expect crowds; buy one of their Flash passes to get through some of the rides.

 

 

Terry "Can't do amusement parks during the summer that don't have some type of fast pass" Weaver

[sixflagsguy5]

It really depends on what park you're going to in the summer. I know that you're going to LA, San Fransisco, and Las Vegas, but you didn't specify which parks.

 

I've been to all of the Vegas 'parks' that have decent sized coasters and usually there weren't any lines, just because those places are pay per ride. The longest wait was about 5-10 minutes for the coaster at New York New York for the front row. Speed at NASCAR Cafe waits 5 minutes inbetween cycles for some reason (not sure if they always do this), but I was the only one on the coaster.

 

I haven't been to CA ever, but from my experience at other amusement parks I can say that the parks that aren't owned by any of the large amusment companies probably won't have huge lines. Parks that are owned by Six Flags or Cedar Fair will probably have longer lines during the summer (if the weather is good). It also depends on what day of the week you go to the parks. If you're going to spend a few days at the beach or at a museum, maybe do those things on the weekends in order to wait less at the amusement parks during the week. Usually if I'm doing a family trip I'll talk them into doing all of the boring stuff on weekends and save the amusement parks for the weekdays.

[ash.1111]

Ok thanks for the advice. The three months we've thought of was March, June and September.

 

Is September busy as well?

 

Sorry for asking a lot but when you are spending this amount of money, it's best to know about the place you are going to.

[dougr]

Ok thanks for the advice. The three months we've thought of was March, June and September.

 

Is September busy as well?

 

Sorry for asking a lot but when you are spending this amount of money, it's best to know about the place you are going to.

 

Generally the last week of March is spring break. This year Easter is late March, so you got two breaks in one. It's crowded, but the worst crowds I've seen are July-August.

If you go in September, the kids tend to go back late August. We went August-September 2006, it was like a switch was flipped. One day monstrous crowds, the next, almost dead.

You can still get major heat in September. It was about 95F at USH and over 100F when we went to Magic Mountain. I commented on how hot it was at the motel and somebody mentioned how much hotter it had been in July. (Remember the 2006 California heat wave?)

[Purplepills]

If you visit in September check the opening dates of places you want to visit. In 2007 Magic Mountain was open for the week after Labor Day (first Monday in September), then it only opened weekends after that. I would recommend visiting Major attractions on a weekday after Labor day if possible as schools are back in and the parks will be fairly empty.

 

Check the park websites for opening hours and suchlike.

 

Things to do in the LA area would be

 

Disney

Magic Mountain

Universal Studios

Sea World

Hollywood

If you like beaches try Newport beach, can't comment on the others.

 

There's a lot more if you have more time to do it.

 

 

Depending on when you go, you might want more than one day at Disney/Magic Mountain, really depends on what you wanted. We did Disney in one day on a busy day, and would've gone back for a second day if we had the time. We did get on all the rides though at least once though. If you're in the Anaheim area Downtown Disney has some decent places to eat and a nice family atmosphere for the evenings, easy to get to and free parking for 3 hours.

 

You probably wont want a hell of a lot of time in Las Vegas itself (most people I think would find 4-5 days enough), but surrounding it you have national parks and the Grand Canyon, well worth a visit.