Hi all,

As a coaster enthusiast ( and a Disney fan! ), I'm visiting LA for the first time this summer. However, I don't drive. I found this company which does tours to various LA area parks from Anaheim:

http://www.allanaheimtours.com/

Does anyone have any experience with them? Any experiences, tips, or general advice would be very welcome! :)

Although I don't know the company, these appear to be based on someone staying in Anaheim, which isn't really Los Angeles.
They seem to have reasonable rates, but with advanced planning, you might save some money and have a more flexible schedule.

For LA Parks and such, you might consider staying in Hollywood.
The Metrorail makes many of LA's sights accessible without a car.
Magic Mountain, the coaster must, is a bit out there.
But, there are way to get there

When you want to visit Disneyland, Knott's or sights around there, find a place to stay around Disneyland.
Many of this area's sights can be visited by bus.

If we had a better idea of you itinerary, we might be able to help you plan transportation and such.

Hello there,

Well the basic idea is to stay at a hotel near Disneyland. The itinerary is pretty packed ( I like my trips short and intense ).


Flight NYC-LAX
Knott's Berry Farm
Six Flags Magic Mountain
Las Vegas
Las Vegas / Grand Canyon
Las Vegas
Universal Studios + short LA Sightseeing
Mexico
Disney land
Disney's California Adventure
Disneyland 50th Anniversary
Flight


This is all based on those bus tours though, plus the 2nd to last day which has to be july 17th ( for obvious reasons ;) ), but many things could change if you have better suggestions :)

If these guys are legit, they seem very competitively priced.
Because you will use Anaheim as your base, they will also be convenient.

"#1 Anaheim Disneyland Area Tours is the largest online tour & travel provider based in Anaheim, California"

The operation is run out of Las Vegas, NV (all telephone numbers, email and domain registration).
But, there is a local address in the "About Us" section.
I'll try to cruise by and see what it looks like.

That would be great! My greatest concern is indeed if they are legit or not :)


As for Vegas: What do you mean with off-limits? My main goal is to ride the coaster and thrillrides. I know I can't gamble there - I don't want to anyway. But can I enter casinos and just see them from the inside, or not?

Also a day trip to the Grand Canyon is planned, but I'm sure there's no real age limit there ;)

Went looking for #1 Anaheim Disneyland Area Tours.

What first bothered me about their address was that it was simply "110 Harbor Blvd".
Every address I've seen on Harbor Blvd is designated either North or South.

Drove by "110 N".
There was no 110 North Harbor. There's a 100 North Harbor, but nothing resembling this enterprise.

The entire 100 block of South Harbor is a vacant lot.
The first building is 200 S. Harbor.

Disneyland is one of the biggest tourist draws to Southern California.
That makes it one of the best baits for scams.
Personally, I wouldn't contact these people unless I had more information from someone I trusted.

Now you need to try to get itineraries from us. :p

Buy a City Pass, and rent a car. And insist that the rental have navigation.
Done.

Hmmm, very strange, as they seem to have a lot more of these tour-companies in LA, New York, Miami etc. etc.

Unfortunately renting a car is out of the question due to my age - I'm not allowed to drive in the US unless I'm 21 or older :(

Edit: So how about other guys...there seem to be a whole bunch offering tours around LA, like:

http://www.hollywoodtours.us/
http://www.lacitytours.com/

etc.

Called "We-Be-All-Anaheim-Tours-N-Stuff".
They now seem "legit" although I still don't like misleading statements: "Based in Anaheim".
If you were to have a problem, you'd have to hunt them down in Vegas.

Did find out that they use VIP Tours, a company doing business in California for quite a while.
Their rates are couple dollars more than All Anaheim's, but then again, their website is current.
I wouldn't be surprised if one might get a new rate quote if calling All Anaheim.

VIP's website is http://www.viptoursandcharters.com/
This is not an endorsement, but other than that they are a legitimate company, with a local office (1700 S. Harbor).

Those VIP tours look good, too! And this is a legit company that I can rely on?

VIP is an actual tour provider, not a broker.

Since you're not 21, you might save some time/money and give the Vegas/Grand Canyon tour a pass.
You probably won't get enough of the canyon for the money and much of Vegas won't be acessible to you.

I've used VIP before to go to Magic Mountain. It was $79 for the day. I usually use CoachUSA since they're cheaper, but they don't offer trips to MM. Their office is across from Disneyland. There are other companies that offer trips to MM, but only on weekends. VIP went there on a Friday, so it was less crowded at the park.

Ah, very good, I've been looking for a weekday-tour to SFMM!

Could you tell me, how much time did you have at the park? What time did you arrive and leave?

There was a bit more traffic than usual on the way to MM, so it took an extra 1/2 hour. I still had about 7 1/2 hours in the park. Being a weekday, the lines were anything from a walk-on to about 10-15 minutes. Except for X, that was still an hour, but it's better than 3-4 hours like some people have waited.

I had time to go on 17 rides, but it was my first time there so I wasn't familier with the layout, and kinda wandered around a bit. It's definately not laid out as well as Disneyland. :)

I'll be there again in about 3 months. Can't wait! :D