Brainiac:

Hi MMM

Thanks for the info. Looks like I have to change my destination unless I strike TOTO. Lol!

Brainiac:

MMM:

[quote=\"Brainiac\"]Can anyone advise roughly how much it will cost for a 2-week holiday to L.A and LV for the accommodation, car rental and necessary expenses for the must-see attractions and theme parks like Disneyland, Universal Studio for 2 adults and 2 kids.

This is the estimate and based on exchange rate of 1.39 :

Airflight 1.8 - 2K each for ANA 8K
Accomodation Avg US$160 per night for family room 3K
Theme parks City pass (disney + Universal + seaworld) 1.7K
Car rental Cater for roadside assist/ normal saloon 1.5K
car/ gasoline
Parking at hotel Assumed US$12K per day for hotel 0.2K
Other tours such as grand canyon

For 4 person, you probably need to cater for around S$20K. Going to US and not going outlets is depressing. Similarly though we did alot of panda express (chinese food chain), there are days when you should really try their restaurant (eg. cheesecake factory, etc...). For us, the first thing we did when we arrive was to go to those target/ walmart where we load on carton of mineral water and snacks. The good thing is most hotel provide free and decent breakfast.

For LV, while accomodation is not expensive but it appear that those lower rates are good for couples and not family. So we ended up booking a family suite in MGM Grand that cost around US$240 per night. But it can accomodate all of us but it doesn't come with breakfast.

MMM:

Brainiac:

Can anyone advise roughly how much it will cost for a 2-week holiday to L.A and LV for the accommodation, car rental and necessary expenses for the must-see attractions and theme parks like Disneyland, Universal Studio for 2 adults and 2 kids.

This is the estimate and based on exchange rate of 1.39 :

Airflight 1.8 - 2K each for ANA 8K
Accomodation Avg US$160 per night for family room 3K
Theme parks City pass (disney + Universal + seaworld) 1.7K
Car rental Cater for roadside assist/ normal saloon 1.5K
car/ gasoline
Parking at hotel Assumed US$12K per day for hotel 0.2K
Other tours such as grand canyon

For 4 person, you probably need to cater for around S$20K. Going to US and not going outlets is depressing. Similarly though we did alot of panda express (chinese food chain), there are days when you should really try their restaurant (eg. cheesecake factory, etc...). For us, the first thing we did when we arrive was to go to those target/ walmart where we load on carton of mineral water and snacks. The good thing is most hotel provide free and decent breakfast.

For LV, while accomodation is not expensive but it appear that those lower rates are good for couples and not family. So we ended up booking a family suite in MGM Grand that cost around US$240 per night. But it can accomodate all of us but it doesn't come with breakfast.

Brainiac:

Can anyone advise roughly how much it will cost for a 2-week holiday to L.A and LV for the accommodation, car rental and necessary expenses for the must-see attractions and theme parks like Disneyland, Universal Studio for 2 adults and 2 kids.

thebusybee:

Hi Brainiac

For a thorough West Coast best give at least 3 weeks. (we did 21days)

My little bro is going for honeymoon soon, this is what my hubby suggested, for your reference:

Day 1: Pickup car/Sleep
Day 2: SF City Shopping/Dining
Day 3: 49 Mile Route 1 SF
Day 4: 49 Mile Route 2 SF
Day 5: SF-Napa Vallley Wineyards
Day 6: Napa-Yosemite
Day 8: Yosemite Hikes
Day 9: Yosemite - Mono Lake-Death Valley-LasVegas
Day 10: LasVegas
Day 11: LV-Hoover Dam-Williams
Day 12: Grand Canyon - Cameroun
Day 13: Antelope- Vermillion-Kanab-Bryce
Day 14: Bryce-Zion Canyon-LV
Day 15: LV-Tangerine-Desert Hills (both shopping)
Day 16 Desert Hills-Hollywood-Beveley Hills- (Westwood-UCLA)
Day 17 Universal City- Studios
Day 18: Malibu, Santa Babara, (part of Pacific Coast HW1)
Day 19 Anaheim(Disneyland) - Venice Beach
Day 20 Venice Beach- Airport

The plan is very much a 2500km road trip, taking you thru all the must see places of the region.
All the 4 trips into and out of Las Vegas are full day stop/visit/go/eat drives. LV hotel accommodation are relatively cheap

If want more shopping/civilisation, skip Grand Canyon land route with a heli-sightseeing flight from LV, (US$400-500 each pax), then can spend more days in the cities and do San Diego too. However, Antelope and Bryce Canyon are beauties.

San Diego is just see city/navy ships/dining, the Sea World and Zoo talked about, but same of not lose our local or HK Seaworld.

This is what we did in 2011 - Flying in/out LAX
http://i58.tinypic.com/equwox.jpg\">

This is 20 D -Flying in SF- Out LAX
http://i61.tinypic.com/16jm3d5.jpg\">

For budget wise, it depends on how luxury you want your trip to be.

For me, I always take the cheapest flight and accommodations, so that I have more $ for more trips every year and shopping as bonus!

Rough gauge of my 21 days expenses for 3A 1 child around S$ 8k-10k - air tix from China Eastern around 1K each (check Skyscanner.com everyday)

Car rental - SUV - USD$480

Accommodations - motel ranging from USD 50 -80 with 2 x queen beds. (but then also depending on which period, summer is their peak)

Food - generally quite cheap. Asian food served in huge portion, restaurants have takeaway box for diners to pack unfinished food.

I also subscribed to Groupon - SF / LA to look for deals. My bro booked his LV Hardrock hotel at very cheap rate thru Groupon.

* My bro pre-booked most of stays, majority are thru airbnb. Just make sure you read the reviews to make sure they are genuine before booking.

Hope you have fun planning the trip.

Cheers!

Brainiac:

thebusybee:

[quote=\"MMM\"]Hi,


Need help on the following :
* Recommendations on accomodations in LA/ LV/ San francisco/ San Diego. We've 5 pax. Looking for somewhere convenient (we intend to drive so need not be next door), safe environment and reasonably priced. If possible, big enough to accomodate all in a room. Pls share.
* For rental car - anyone has experience with the insurance options or watchouts? My observation is that insurance can be almost the same price as rental. Can we buy in Singapore for coverage in US, etc...?
* What are the must go places in west coast. We have around 15 days and the last we went was during our honeymoon.

Kindly share all the tips.

Accommodations-

I suggest motels as they are available in most places, which usually have big family room to accommodate 5 pax. You don't have to pre-book and be restricted by the itineraries. Some can even negotiate price. It's convenient that you just park your car outside the room, imagine lugging your luggage from the carpark to hotel room, especially when you forget something.

Rental Car

We rent from Alamo 2 years ago, with coupons from the web (google it) which give good discount. After discount, our 3 weeks big Chrsyler MPV only US$500. You can find coupon codes online for other rental companies (Avis, Enterprise, Hertz). Join as member before booking to enjoy some discounts too.

Hubby always think not worth to take the insurance (CDW or access) from any rental company. The cars there are very new and reliable, with experienced good drivers and you will be extra careful driving with family.
Any small knocks, just go workshop, leave for half day, and get it repair for $50-$200, no worries.
Dents smaller than golf ball size and scratchlines less than 5 inches, they won't ask you pay, very relaxed on customers.

Must go places

LA - Disneyland and Universal Studio should be must for kids? Venice Beach to watch people. Beverly Hills to spot stars?

LV- Casinos and shows.

SF- Seafood, shopping, Chinese Restaurants,Golden Gate bridge, Coit Tower at Telegraph Hill. Drive around the scenic tourist drive following the brown sign.

If you are flying in/out same place- LAX. You might want to take the round-trip route :-
LA - LV - Grand Canyon - Death Valley - Yosemite - SF - LA via the beautiful coastal drive. But that's about 3000km of driving! Or add few more days (best a week) for slower pace!

*If $ not an issue, to save time, fly in/out LV, take local tour / rent a car to Grand Canyon, return to LA then pick up another vehicle.

Enjoy your planning.

thebusybee:

MMM:

Hi,


Need help on the following :
* Recommendations on accomodations in LA/ LV/ San francisco/ San Diego. We've 5 pax. Looking for somewhere convenient (we intend to drive so need not be next door), safe environment and reasonably priced. If possible, big enough to accomodate all in a room. Pls share.
* For rental car - anyone has experience with the insurance options or watchouts? My observation is that insurance can be almost the same price as rental. Can we buy in Singapore for coverage in US, etc...?
* What are the must go places in west coast. We have around 15 days and the last we went was during our honeymoon.

Kindly share all the tips.

Accommodations-

I suggest motels as they are available in most places, which usually have big family room to accommodate 5 pax. You don't have to pre-book and be restricted by the itineraries. Some can even negotiate price. It's convenient that you just park your car outside the room, imagine lugging your luggage from the carpark to hotel room, especially when you forget something.

Rental Car

We rent from Alamo 2 years ago, with coupons from the web (google it) which give good discount. After discount, our 3 weeks big Chrsyler MPV only US$500. You can find coupon codes online for other rental companies (Avis, Enterprise, Hertz). Join as member before booking to enjoy some discounts too.

Hubby always think not worth to take the insurance (CDW or access) from any rental company. The cars there are very new and reliable, with experienced good drivers and you will be extra careful driving with family.
Any small knocks, just go workshop, leave for half day, and get it repair for $50-$200, no worries.
Dents smaller than golf ball size and scratchlines less than 5 inches, they won't ask you pay, very relaxed on customers.

Must go places

LA - Disneyland and Universal Studio should be must for kids? Venice Beach to watch people. Beverly Hills to spot stars?

LV- Casinos and shows.

SF- Seafood, shopping, Chinese Restaurants,Golden Gate bridge, Coit Tower at Telegraph Hill. Drive around the scenic tourist drive following the brown sign.

If you are flying in/out same place- LAX. You might want to take the round-trip route :-
LA - LV - Grand Canyon - Death Valley - Yosemite - SF - LA via the beautiful coastal drive. But that's about 3000km of driving! Or add few more days (best a week) for slower pace!

*If $ not an issue, to save time, fly in/out LV, take local tour / rent a car to Grand Canyon, return to LA then pick up another vehicle.

Enjoy your planning.

GiftedGem:

Publica:

Hi GiftedGem,

May I know which local tour you booked with for the West Rim tour? Thanks.

I booked our 'comprehensive' tour with Bravo Travel. It is run by Taiwanese boss and price is reasonable but service wise, so so ....
The guide was from China and cant speak proper Eng. The group tour is packed ( half Asia Pac Chinese and the other half are fr Latin America ). In the end, we made him speak Mandarin cos really catch no ball.....lol

http://bravotravel.com/trs/agt/B2C/ITou ... TourType=1

Fried chicken:

Has anyone been to the Vacaville outlet in SF? DH is Le Creuset mad and wants to check out the outlet store there. Anyone know what the prices/discounts are like? It's about 1.5 hours away from downtown SF and we don't have many days there so wondering if it's worth it.

Publica:

Hi GiftedGem,

May I know which local tour you booked with for the West Rim tour? Thanks.

MyPillow:

Good that I am not the only one that feel this. I was like screeching inside my heart. Hub think I am over reacting.
Actually going up is very scary too, we drove fr south Lake Tahoe to Yosemite, it was going up winding mountain road , for at least 0.5 hr drive ,single lane. I can see the steep cliff, no mood to take photo n video although it was really beautiful to see the rolling mountains

Fried chicken:

jjxy mum:

[quote=\"GiftedGem\"]If u are heading to canyon, must go for skywalk! The feeling of walking on transparent glass is simply awesome, with majestic view seeing Colorado river.

Yes. It is magnificent, but I think the skywalk wasn't there during our last visits. Too bad, will give it a miss this time as we decided to revert to our original plan.

@Fried chicken, I am glad that we managed to get two reasonable price accommodation (west YS & Jackson)..which are quite lose to YS! And has cancelled the other booking at Grand Canyon.
How much did you pay for FF inn? 300usd?

GiftedGem:

Book Worm:

GC is breathtaking but a costly tour as admission, skywalk and helicopter ride adds up to easily $200 or more for per person.


Yosemite is FOC and the national park is majestic and simply beautiful. The scary part is driving down on a single lane from the highest level and so near to the cliff that you have no eyes to see. Praying hard that the coach driver is constantly alert as there's no metal barrier at all.

Oh yes! In Yosemite, pretty scary coming down. Too near to the cliff.
The road is winding too.

GiftedGem:

Fried chicken:

GiftedGem, we wanted to do the skywalk as well, but the people on the Grand Canyon forum on TripAdvisor were saying the West Rim (where the skywalk is) was expensive and not actually the real grand canyon but is a private Indian Reservation version (or something like that!) so we decided to give it a miss and just go to the South Rim. We were also thinking of mule rides down into the canyon, but apparently that books up a year in advance! So we've decided to walk a little distance down into the canyon ourselves. Haha. Cheaper that way!

OIC. We booked the local tour in U.S. And went straight to West Rim. Pricey indeed but bit the bullet and paid. Once in the lifetime must try. 2 adults 1 child - abt $700 in total. Learning abt the tribe was also an eye opener too and we took some snapshots with the folks.

Fried chicken:

GiftedGem, we wanted to do the skywalk as well, but the people on the Grand Canyon forum on TripAdvisor were saying the West Rim (where the skywalk is) was expensive and not actually the real grand canyon but is a private Indian Reservation version (or something like that!) so we decided to give it a miss and just go to the South Rim. We were also thinking of mule rides down into the canyon, but apparently that books up a year in advance! So we've decided to walk a little distance down into the canyon ourselves. Haha. Cheaper that way!

Book Worm:

GC is breathtaking but a costly tour as admission, skywalk and helicopter ride adds up to easily $200 or more for per person.


Yosemite is FOC and the national park is majestic and simply beautiful. The scary part is driving down on a single lane from the highest level and so near to the cliff that you have no eyes to see. Praying hard that the coach driver is constantly alert as there's no metal barrier at all.

slmkhoo:

MMM:

[quote=\"Fried chicken\"]

people on the Grand Canyon forum on TripAdvisor were saying the West Rim (where the skywalk is) was expensive and not actually the real grand canyon but is a private Indian Reservation version (or something like that!) so we decided to give it a miss and just go to the South Rim. We were also thinking of mule rides down into the canyon, but apparently that books up a year in advance! So we've decided to walk a little distance down into the canyon ourselves. Haha. Cheaper that way!

Yes, that was what we read too. For us, we took a 1 day tour out to Grand Canyon. We set off at 7plus in the morning and only returned at night around 9 plus to LV. No skywalk in the \"real\" canyon the but it was really beautiful. During our honeymoon 16 years ago, we took those small flight to see grand canyon. But personally, this time round was so much better. Travelling time is long but it's actually manageable. The coach made a few stops along the way and there was buffet lunch at a decent restaurant. They also played movies on the coach so my 9 year old didn't complain about the long ride.

MMM:

Fried chicken:

people on the Grand Canyon forum on TripAdvisor were saying the West Rim (where the skywalk is) was expensive and not actually the real grand canyon but is a private Indian Reservation version (or something like that!) so we decided to give it a miss and just go to the South Rim. We were also thinking of mule rides down into the canyon, but apparently that books up a year in advance! So we've decided to walk a little distance down into the canyon ourselves. Haha. Cheaper that way!

Yes, that was what we read too. For us, we took a 1 day tour out to Grand Canyon. We set off at 7plus in the morning and only returned at night around 9 plus to LV. No skywalk in the \"real\" canyon the but it was really beautiful. During our honeymoon 16 years ago, we took those small flight to see grand canyon. But personally, this time round was so much better. Travelling time is long but it's actually manageable. The coach made a few stops along the way and there was buffet lunch at a decent restaurant. They also played movies on the coach so my 9 year old didn't complain about the long ride.

Fried chicken:

people on the Grand Canyon forum on TripAdvisor were saying the West Rim (where the skywalk is) was expensive and not actually the real grand canyon but is a private Indian Reservation version (or something like that!) so we decided to give it a miss and just go to the South Rim. We were also thinking of mule rides down into the canyon, but apparently that books up a year in advance! So we've decided to walk a little distance down into the canyon ourselves. Haha. Cheaper that way!

jjxy mum:

GiftedGem:

If u are heading to canyon, must go for skywalk! The feeling of walking on transparent glass is simply awesome, with majestic view seeing Colorado river.

Yes. It is magnificent, but I think the skywalk wasn't there during our last visits. Too bad, will give it a miss this time as we decided to revert to our original plan.

@Fried chicken, I am glad that we managed to get two reasonable price accommodation (west YS & Jackson)..which are quite lose to YS! And has cancelled the other booking at Grand Canyon.
How much did you pay for FF inn? 300usd?