Sup y’all. Taking my lady and lil girl to Disneyland in 2 weeks.. first time going to LALaland. Going to Disney for 2 days, other 3 are to explore. Staying at Santa Monica for those days. give me your best things to do To see To eat To avoid need all the tips I can get. Ps. Save the , why you going during pandemic talk, for another time.
Check out the Getty Museum since you'll be near Santa Monica. It's free, but requires timed ticket. So book in advance. I was there a few weeks ago. Drive down the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) if you have a rental vehicle. Start near Laguna Beach and drive up back to Malibu. Great, scenic drive along the ocean.
Knott's Berry Farm Huntington Beach...eat at Duke's https://www.dukeshuntington.com/ and Porto's (potato balls are fantastic!) https://www.portosbakery.com/
If you have a chance drive down to Laguna Beach or Newport, very cool stuff down there and nice, but it will be a full day and a lot of driving so may not be worth it. Agreed that going to Getty and driving up PCH through Malibu is a great experience. There is a pier in Malibu that is nice, also Malibu Seafood company or something like that is a good restaurant to check out that's just on the side of the road. If you want to go hiking, I would avoid Runyon unless you just want to feel like an influencer or say that you hiked at Runyon. There are some great trails in Palos Verdes or Malibu. Food-wise it's all up to you, but try some Korean BBQ in K-Town, some Mexican street tacos, or some Thai food. The pandemic has hurt some businesses along Fairfax Ave but may be worth it to check out the Famers Market and The Grove. Walking down Hollywood boulevard is worth it just to experience. If you want to see more of the "posh" side of LA, try walking Rodeo Drive or Melrose Places to avoid: Downtown, just not worth it and it's also pretty dirty. Pasadena, some nice spots there for sure, just not worth the drive (to me) when you are only visiting for a couple days. The Valley, nothing there to see.
I'm sure everyone else will cover the LA stuff. But to name a few things: The Getty, get drunk in Korea Town, see a comedy show at Largo Disneyland tips: Hit Space Mountain and Radiator Springs Racers first in each respective park, those get the worst lines (granted idk if Covid changes any of this). Eat your meals at California Adventure, the food at Disneyland is pretty bad generally (and make reservations). See the Fantasmic show if they are doing it. I also like taking the cartoon drawing class lol.
I second the advice on Disneyland, especially Radiator Springs because it's definitely one of their (if not THE) best rides. I took my family to Disneyland this summer and we saved Radiator Springs for last due to lines but doing it at night in cooler weather was fantastic. I don't know if they've re-started the express pass option yet but when we went that wasn't an option and the only rides that used the Disneyland app for line queue was Spider-Man and Star Wars (both are highly recommended btw). Let me know if you have more questions as we did Disneyland AND California Adventure all in one day. As for LA...our Airbnb was in Santa Monica so we went to the beach a couple of days. The pier is ehhh and forgettable. Hollywood was not what I thought it would be (e.g. clean and not smell like urine?). We enjoyed Korea Town very much and just ate a lot. I grew up in Houston and lived in Philly for a couple of months and am currently witnessing the chaotic traffic that is DFW but nothing, I mean, nothing compares the nightmare that is LA traffic. Inside roads aren't bad but their highway system is completely F'ed. Good luck if you're renting a car.
If you're eating at Dland, I always go to the Plaza Inn for their fried chicken plate. It's next to a restroom, which also happens to have a small gate where you can cut the outdoor lines. Hollywood is a time sink, imo. Traffic is always heavy and it's dirtiness messes with your expectations. Plenty of Asian food there. I think youre close to Sawtelle which has plenty to choose from. If you like ramen there's Tsujita Noodle, which features tsukemen, dipping ramen. If you dont care about noodles or there's a line, there are other decent restaurants there to yelp. Parking's a pain like everywhere else there. They enforce it pretty regularly. The potato chicken balls (lulz) are the best. Greasy, fatty crack. Cant miss with their entres ranging from cubanos to steak tortas. I also recommend their pastries if you're into that. Great value but the lines can get long.
I still have this post marked. I was in San Diego, and couldn’t find time to make it up there, but pass your recommendations to others, for sure.
ur little one will love Legoland, which is in North San Diego country. She'd also like the San Diego Zoo. Carlsbad is ~ 45 mile south of Disneyland, SD is another 40 mi south. What kind of food do you like? not true for downtown LA and Pasadena Downtown Great eating places / shopping in Grand Central Market, on Broadway and 3rd The historic/original Clifton's Cafeteria, on Broadway and 6th Ave The Bradbury Building on Broadway and 2nd Ave is where they film the BladeRunner, which also included some scenes of the Grand Central Market Pasadena Norton Simon Museum The Huntington Library Museum / Botanical Garden The Rose Bowl Great resturants/eating places on Colorado Blvd parking tickets in Beverly Hills can be > $300
2 more food recommendations for Downtown LA the birth place of the French Dip sandwich, https://www.philippes.com/ Many NewYorkers say that https://www.langersdeli.com/ has better NY-style deli than the joints in NYC