1 wk in LA, Nov.

[Howie]

Hello all, long time reader-first time poster.

Me and the good lady are coming from England to LA in November for a week (plus another week driving round Monument Valley, Grand Canyon and Vegas) and are just sort of wondering what we can expect in terms of crowds, queues and weather and stuff.

 

We've been to Orlando in early Nov and it was very quiet indeed, the vast majority of rides and attractions being walk-on. Will California be the same? SFMM is only open on weekends in Nov right? Gotta say, VERY excited about SFMM, particularly Tatsu and X2... they WILL be open, right???

 

While I would happily spend the whole week hitting theme parks, girlfriend is determined try and do some 'other' stuff so I was wondering, seeing as we've already done Orlando and done it well, do we really need to be doing the whole Disney thing again? We've each got a 5 day 'Go LA' card already lined up which (hopefully!!) allows us entry into Universal, Knott's and SFMM so we'll definitely be going to those parks, but are the Disney ones worth it? Especially as we much preferred the Universal parks in Orlando anyway??

 

The Go LA card also allows access to the movie studio tours, are they good? Which is best?

 

Anything really, hints, tips, must-do's, must-avoids - any advice will be greatly appreciated!

 

Howie

[atem122]

^Personally, I think you should do Disney since it's a little bit different than WDW (and there's DCA there too), and, it's MUCH better than Universal Studios. Don't really expect a Universal Studios Florida kind of park in USH, there isn't really all that much to do there ride wise. They've got the tram, Jurassic Park, a Simpsons simulator, and a (worse than Florida) Mummy coaster. Everything else there is just a show.

 

I haven't done any movie studio tours in LA, but I'd imagine that they're not all that exciting. Besides, since you're going to USH, the tram ride there is basically a better version of a movie studio tour. It takes you through some real sets in Universal Studios, and also some attractions built just for the tram (they just got a new King Kong show put in for the tram).

 

Now as for crowds, you really shouldn't have a problem at all. I'm betting Knott's will be next to empty, and the only waits you'll see at Magic Mountain will be for X2, Tatsu, and Deja Vu. The rest of the rides will probably either be walk ons or station waits.

 

So in conclusion, I think you should do Disney, but if you miss it, it's not THAT bad because Disney World is 100 times as amazing.

Hope this helps!

[Howie]

It does help, thank you kind sir. Maybe we should call in to Disney after all then?

Good news about the crowds though. I don't mind a bit of queueing but seeing as it's pretty much a once-in-a-lifetime kinda trip, I wanna make sure we get to do all the stuff we want to do. SFMM - can it be done in 1 day if the queues are short?

[RCFreak]

To answer a few of your questions from a slightly different point of view, I would say your decision to go to Disneyland is whether or not you go to Disney World because it's Disney World or because it's the biggest thing to do in Orlando. It's definitely different enough that if your Disney fans you can not feel like you're at the same park in Orlando (plus it's only one and a half parks) but if your not don't feel horrible on skipping out.

 

 

Keep in mind about Universal Studios Hollywood is that it's first and foremost a film studio that has a couple of solid rides and shows as opposed to Universal Orlando that is pure theme parks and you won't find nearly as much to do there. You could probably combine one of the Studio Tours and USH in one day if you wanted to. I've heard nothing but good things about the WB VIP tour (but if you are Hollywood film fans, then I doubt any of the tours would be time wasted) and you can get in Hollywood sight seeing.

 

If you wanted to check out a taping of a late night Show or a game show, check out http://www.1iota.com or TV Tix about a week or two before your trip and see if anything stikes your fancy. Jimmy Kimmel Live (through 1iota) records his show later in the evening (7:45pm) and it's right near the Kodak theater and Manns Chinese Theater (or basically what everyone thinks of when they think "Hollywood") so not too far off from a day of sight seeing.

[atem122]

It does help, thank you kind sir. Maybe we should call in to Disney after all then?

Good news about the crowds though. I don't mind a bit of queueing but seeing as it's pretty much a once-in-a-lifetime kinda trip, I wanna make sure we get to do all the stuff we want to do. SFMM - can it be done in 1 day if the queues are short?

^He pretty much summed up how you should feel about doing Disney.

 

As for SFMM, if the lines are short, then you can absolutely get everything you want out of the way. You'll wanna get there about 30 minutes before park opening and wait in the line outside the gate (park opens at 10:30). Once the gates open, you'll want to run to X2 first since it gets the biggest line (make sure you know which direction to run in first, it might be kind of confusing to find if you're a newcomer). After X2, book it to Deja Vu in the back of the park since it has one of the lowest capacities out of the major coasters. After that, do all of the major rides in the back of the park as that place is usually empty for the first hour or two of park operation. Also, I forgot if you mentioned this or not, but SFMM is only open on weekends during this time of year: I'd recommend going on a Sunday though as lines are much shorter (but so are park hours). Tatsu should have a shorter line sometime around 3pm-5pm, so that'd be your best time to hit that ride up after park opening.

[Howie]

Thanks for the advice guys. A studio tour plus USH sounds good, as does another day doing the Disney highlights. And yeah, we both like our Hollywood movies so a bit of sightseeing will be cool. Maybe a pilgrimage to Nakatomi Plaza? Can't wait to get my picture taken in front of THAT building!!

[atem122]

^I actually live kinda close to that building, and if you want to do it, then go for it! Beverly Hills is just a quick 5 minute drive away from that building too if you want to go there. UCLA and its neighboring area, Westwood are also a short drive away. Also next to that building is Fox Studios (although I'm not sure if you can tour it or not) and the Century City mall, which is a nice outdoor mall with a movie theater and a bunch of cool shops. If you want to eat around there, then you can go to Marty's, which is just up a street right near it. Marty's is a small hamburger stand, but it's freaking delicious as all hell. And if you're daring, you can try their combo, which is a burger topped with a hot dog. Even without getting the combo though, it's really delicious.

[Howie]

Wow, living close to Nakatomi Plaza - that's just awesome! It might be 'normal' to you, it's just the place you live in, but for someone who lives in a non-descript town in the middle of England, believe me - it's awesome! Especially someone who just happens to think that Die Hard is the greatest movie ever made by anyone, ever...

For what it's worth, some scenes in 'Clockwise' (mediocre 1980's Brit-flick starring John Cleese) were filmed in the countryside around my town, does that count??

[Sir Clinksalot]

If you are going to be here for a week, make sure you do Disney during the week (Tue/Wed/Thu) and you should be fine with crowds. Although I'm not sure when Veterans day is observed so you may want to avoid that day.

 

As for SFMM, being that it's "technically" the off-season things could be closed, no way to really tell this far out though unfortunately.

 

If you've never been to USH you could easily spend a full day there doing the tour (you may want to do it multiple times) the shows and the rides. None of the rides are really THAT great (Jurassic Park is still the best ride in the park, but it's pretty similar to IOA's version).

 

Have a fun trip!!

[atem122]

Wow, living close to Nakatomi Plaza - that's just awesome! It might be 'normal' to you, it's just the place you live in, but for someone who lives in a non-descript town in the middle of England, believe me - it's awesome! Especially someone who just happens to think that Die Hard is the greatest movie ever made by anyone, ever...

For what it's worth, some scenes in 'Clockwise' (mediocre 1980's Brit-flick starring John Cleese) were filmed in the countryside around my town, does that count??

Good enough. But they filmed some of Arrested Development at the park I used to play baseball at. And Tom Cruise's daughter played soccer at the same park as me.

 

Just so you don't run into a navigational nightmare, the building isn't really called Nakatomi Plaza (in case you didn't know), it's really called Fox Plaza on a street called Avenue of the Stars.

[Top Thrill Dragster]

You could also go to Staples Center/LA live to catch a NHL or NBA game. Its not that far from Hollywood (a trip on the metro redline to 7th street metro station). Sporting events are always a fun time.

 

 

http://www.staplescenter.com/

 

http://www.staplescenter.com/doublecol.php?section=parking&page=publictransportation

[cedarpointfangirl]

I am not sure what type of budget you have, but I did the USH VIP tour back in 2009 when I came for WCB. At the time I got it for 199.00 p/p. We had front of the line access to shows and rides. The tour was great, instead of the traditional tram tour they took us on our own trolley, our group was about 15 people. They let us walk around some of the sets, took us to the 3 level prop warehouse and to some other areas where they build the sets. One set we went on was the show "Life" which was a cop show. I don't think its on tv anymore. The lunch was terrific, not just a food coupon for lunch in the park. All in all it was a great experience. Well worth the money IMO.

 

This next year when I come for WCB I will meet up with my friend Jim again that I met at 2009' s WCB. Were gonna do Disney, and do stuff like the original Pinks, La Brea bakery, maybe hit up The Griffith Observatory, catch a movie at Graumans, whatever comes our way. Hollywood and Highland is also a great place to visit. You can catch alot of the bus tours right there. The Kodak Theater is also there, and they offer tours as well. I loved the double decker bus tour, I just did the hour long one, they take you by alot of great places. Johnny Depps bar, the football field where Greece was filmed, some of the celebrity nightclubs, I even remember one prop house we drove by had the Dumm Dumm statues from Night at The Museum, the were sitting outside.

 

So much to do in L.A. so little time!!

[jray21]

We did the Deluxe WB VIP studio tour last year and it was absolutely worth every cent. It was almost an all day event, and you got to see some really cool stuff. If your a Harry Potter fan, you would especially like it.

[Howie]

Well, we're back and I gotta say the trip was an uber-success, many thanks to you all for your hints and tips.

USH was great, stayed in the Holiday Inn Beverly Garlands which was just round the corner so we popped in and out of Universal several times, got everything done, fab park. Definitely more of a Universal guy than a Disney guy, in fact, we didn'y even go to either of the Disney parks. Already done Orlando and Paris, didn't feel the need to do it all again, not when there's so much other stuff to do that's unique to LA.

Did the Paramount studio tour (not bad), the sightseeing double-decker bus tour, the Walk of Fame, the Kodak theatre, Madame Tussaud's, LA Zoo, Rodeo Dv, Farmer's Market, Century City (Nakatomi Plaza - woo hoo!) and all that stuff.

 

Wasn't overly impressed with Knott's though, was very crowded for some reason and the parks queue management leaves a lot to be desired. Best bit was Montezoma's Revenge cos it reminds me of one of my all time favourite rides - Alton Tower's ThunderLooper (now residing somewhere in Mexico, I believe).

 

The highlight though was definitely SFMM - what a park, loved it. In fact, it's now my new favourite theme park, and X2 is my new favourite coaster, but Tatsu, Viper, Riddler's Revenge, Batman, Terminator Salvation - all awesome! Will definitely be coming herev again one day.

 

Once again, thanks to all for the advice!

Howie.