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Vegas July 2012 - West Coast tips/ideas

Nic

Strata Poster
Apart from knowing that I need to still be in Brighton on the 1st, then to have got to Las Vegas for the 8th July, the world is my oyster. I haven't got a ridiculous amount of cash to spend, but if I'm going to be spending approx £650 on flights anyway, I want to make sure I do plenty whilst I'm there. I can spend up to a fortnight out there (cost permitting) but I think about 10 days is probably realistic.

The obvious thing would be to go and do the LA Parks. Well, SFMM, the Disneys and Knotts. Universal Hollywood can eat my turds. Apart from wthat, are there any others that I shouldn't miss?

I looked at maybe heading north and doing California's Great America and Discovery Kingdom (and sightseeing in SanFran), but is it worth it?

I would even consider internal flights and spending the rest of the trip in a different area of the States altogether if the price was right. However, the ones I've looked at so far are going to add about £350 onto the cost, which will mean I would have to make the trip shorter.

Does anyone have any better ideas or suggestions?
 
Are you just interested in theme parking? Only because there's a ton of awesome looking national parks in that area an I know you're a keen camper, I'd be tempted to do a couple of days hiking in one of those parks if I were you.

If not then Cali really is the closest thing, or even San Francisco?
 
That's a very interesting point Jordan, and not something I'd really thought about. To be honest, I think I'd really be looking at sticking to mainly parks, if only to keep the length of the trip (and therefore the hotel/food/drink etc bill) down as much as possible. If I did head up to San Francisco then I'd definitely want to spend a bit of time sightseeing, as I've not been there before. I wouldn't be too fussed about sightseeing in LA though as I've seen most of it already.

So let's assume that it's mostly about creds. About 10 days (roughly 3 of which will be spent in Vegas). It would be feasible (read: affordable) to fly into Las Vegas, then fly home from San Fran for example, which would help make the most of limited time.

Which parks are a "Must Do"? Which parks have I not mentioned yet which are worth visiting? Which parks are not worth the bother? Is the trek up to SanFran worth it? Hotel/transport recommendations and tips are also very welcome

Thanks guys :D
 
Nic said:
It would be feasible (read: affordable) to fly into Las Vegas, then fly home from San Fran for example, which would help make the most of limited time.

I did somthing akin to that 2 years ago and it was pretty easy. Can do Vegas, drive to LA, do the parks you need there then up the coast (either the scenic coastal road via Hearst Castle to Monterey and Santa Cruz for the cred) or up the interstate - side trip to Yosemite is in order then. End up in SF and I think DK > GAM but do both of course before you dump the car and end up in SF for a couple of days cityseeing. Lovely.

TR from 2 years ago ; viewtopic.php?f=31&t=28596

TR from Vegas/SoCal last year with some alternative itinerary ; viewtopic.php?f=31&t=33069

Done a Vegas to Vegas loop around the national parks (Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion Canyon) too which was good, no creds there tho' but some nice rocks. :-)
 
Cheers Mr M :D I had a feeling you'd done something similar.

The more I look into this, it might actually cost about the same as booking a 2 week package deal in Florida (with all the park tix), and flying to Vegas and back for a couple of days.

Eugh! So many options!


EDIT:

Eugh, looking at costs, I think I'm going to have to scale this back a bit. I think it will have to just be Vegas and LA. Parks I've planned are Disneyland, Disney's California Adventure, Knotts and 2 days at SFMM. Even that lot will squeeze the top end of my budget. Any tips for good cheap hotels in any of these areas would be good please.

Also, any views on possibly doing without a hire car and/or bits of the trip I could live without one? Prob going to go without for the Vegas portion of the trip, and just pick one up for doing the LA parks. How easy would it be to do Disney/Knotts without? Has anyone done it?
 
^When me and AJ do California next month we're staying at two places I found on Hostelworld. They're not hostels though, but cheaper hotels. One of them has Disneyland in its address to give you an idea of proximity. If you go to hostelworld.com and then just search Anaheim it gives some really good results, same for anywhere in LA really.
 
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