Advice on USA trip

[Gofigure]

Hey guys

We are off to Europe and states in a few months

For those who have been to New York and la la any particular things of interest from a pop culture perspective we need to look at? Obviously the family will be doing Disneyland and universal studios etc just thinking of any not so obvious

Also any toy or collectables comic stores of note I'd want to check out

Thanks in advance

[UltraMarginal]

last time I was there I did a couple studio tours which were very interesting. they aren't cheap though so may not fit within a family holiday budget.

I also went to the JPL LA site and did a tour there which was very cool.

between LA and New York there are 4 major league baseball teams, you could see a game and/or do a stadium tour. If you go to Dodger stadium, don't get a dodger dog, there is a much better slightly more expensive but worth it option available at some of the other internal eateries on one of the mezzanine floors I think, out along the 3rd base line seats.

If you have time and budget, Disney world in Florida is more than 3 times the size of Disneyland in LA. I would recommend putting aside at least 5 days to go there with a rest day or two in between. Florida also has the Kennedy space centre.. :cool:

The Disney sites use a fast pass system for the popular rides, I highly recommend structuring your day around this system, it will significantly reduce your wait times. I can go into more detail about this if you like.
There is also an art class at both sites, its only 30 minutes long and you come out of it with your own drawing of a traditional Disney character. we went in about 5 times on one day.

There was a little toy store that I stopped at on the way back to the airport from Botcon in 2014 that was pretty neat, probably more of a curiosity than an important stop. I'll try to remember the details of it and revise my post.

There is a LEGOLAND park south of LA, I don't know how far it is.
Six flags theme parks are more of a rollercoaster park than anything else, if you and your family love rollercoasters it's a must see.

Last time I was in NY was 1992, I suspect it's a little different than then. I have heard that the NY TRU is worth visiting just for the spectacle of the store. I'm not sure if it's available anymore but taking the ferry to liberty island and visiting the Statue of Liberty was pretty cool.

Just north of LA is Yosemite national park, well worth the visit, also the giant redwood forest, which is where the Endore scenes were shot in Return of the Jedi.

Rent a Mustang.


I hope there's some food for thought in all the rambling. :o

[griffin]

New York and LA are the two biggest tourist spots in America, so there are heaps of things to do... so probably best to do some "tourist" type search terms in google, and add in your interests (like movie studios, themeparks, sporting events, guided bus tours, monument, sightseeing, or even something specific like observation deck to find which buildings are open to the public for a fee for views of the city).

(check out viator.com as it often has tours and tickets to some of the real touristy things in many major US cities)

To see the various tours, themeparks, landmarks and other places of interest I've done in LA and NY since 2007, scroll to the bottom of this page (http://toycollectors.com.au/travel.html) and look at the different sections in the "Special Events" that relate to America. I don't do too much exploring beyond the very Touristy places, but there might be some things there that you might add to your list of things to do, or things you didn't find in a google search.

As UltraMarginal suggested, rent a car if you plan to be there for a while and need to get around, or need to get to something that isn't covered by public transport.
Taxis are pretty cheap over there compared to here, but if you are going for a while and want to do a lot of things, a rental car will be the best thing.... just be aware that they drive on the "wrong" side of the road, which is a bit of fun to get used to at first.

[griffin]

There was a little toy store that I stopped at on the way back to the airport from Botcon in 2014 that was pretty neat, probably more of a curiosity than an important stop. I'll try to remember the details of it and revise my post.

The store name and address is Big Lou's Toys & Collectables, at 5413 Sepulveda Blvd (almost opposite the ToysRUs).
(some photos of the store can be seen here (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/bc14jun23.html))

A map I did up for last year in case I had time to check it out between flights, and for Fatbot to use while in LA if he wanted to check it out as well...
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc15/l04.jpg

I can't believe it has been a year and a half already since we (UltraMarginal and I) were in LA for the convention and Hollywood tours... it just feels like it was the last BotCon trip from last year, not the year before.

[Blew]

Hey guys

We are off to Europe and states in a few months

For those who have been to New York and la la any particular things of interest from a pop culture perspective we need to look at? Obviously the family will be doing Disneyland and universal studios etc just thinking of any not so obvious

Also any toy or collectables comic stores of note I'd want to check out

Thanks in advance

We've just come back from a trip to California and Vegas. Highly recommend signing up to touringplans.com to pick your best days for Disneyland and Universal Studios. Also highly recommend doing the Warner Bros studio tour!

We didn't go to any collectable stores in LA but went to a few in Vegas. I found the stock to be bit too expensive for what the Australian dollar can buy nowadays, better to simply buy off eBay etc.

For New York, there is a massive TRU in Times Square worth checking out. Also go visit Midtown Comics! http://www.midtowncomics.com/

[Blew]

Oh and if you're going to London go visit Forbidden Planet https://forbiddenplanet.com/

[griffin]

We've just come back from a trip to California and Vegas. Highly recommend signing up to touringplans.com to pick your best days for Disneyland and Universal Studios. Also highly recommend doing the Warner Bros studio tour!

We didn't go to any collectable stores in LA but went to a few in Vegas. I found the stock to be bit too expensive for what the Australian dollar can buy nowadays, better to simply buy off eBay etc.

For New York, there is a massive TRU in Times Square worth checking out. Also go visit Midtown Comics! http://www.midtowncomics.com/

The Times Square ToysRUs closed at the end of last year (they didn't renew the lease), but they are supposed to be looking for a (cheaper) location within a couple blocks of that location, so hopefully it will still be a huge "flagship" store for NY and its tourists.

Downtown Vegas has a very large collectables toystore, near the Downtown Casinos. So big, they had two GIJoe Flagg toys (bed sized aircraft carrier from the 1980s), which was the first time I'd seen one in person.
If you can do a few nights in Las Vegas, there is plenty to do and see (most casinos have feature shows, performances and concerts most nights of the week).

[Gofigure]

Outstanding guys. Thx for the tonne of info

Yeah got pretty much all the bigger stuff sorted with regards to the theme parks etc

The smaller in and outs with the toy and comic stores will definitely check out! Also a baseball game is a great idea!

Cheers people

[Jetfire in the sky]

Hey guys

We are off to Europe and states in a few months

For those who have been to New York and la la any particular things of interest from a pop culture perspective we need to look at? Obviously the family will be doing Disneyland and universal studios etc just thinking of any not so obvious

Also any toy or collectables comic stores of note I'd want to check out

Thanks in advance

My wife and I just did five weeks in the USA (Oct/Nov '15) and it was great, to be honest New York sucked and we even went to NYCC!! The Empire State building was good but that was our main highlight, the subway sucked, times square sucked, actually broadway was OK because the day we went to see the Seinfeld restaurant the street was partially closed for a street market. We are happy we went but will never go back again.

Vegas was the go for collectable stores (and reasonably priced), and around there are some great sights to see including Hoover Dam, Oatman, and for a couple of days return trip Flagstaff/Grand Canyon South Rim loop.

LA was LA, We stayed in West Hollywood right next to Beverly Hills, we did a guided tour which was half for old people and half for everyone else, it finished on a high so we walked away happy.
We wanted to do Universal but after so much time in the States were tired of all the tipping and BS over there so skipped it. We went to a Lakers game which my wife loved but I am bit meh to the team, anyone but Lakers please :p Public transport is extremely poor there.

I also found a great collectables and pop culture store in Austin, Texas.

Please feel free to PM me on this, we literally drove around the whole country and saw some amazing things, so can give some tips on little gems here and there, despite some unpleasantries we would both do the trip over again in a second, and that includes 15 hour long days of driving!

[Paulbot]

Most of my suggestions have already popped up here.

Big Lou's in LA is worth checking out and it's in handy walking distance of a TRU and Target and near a bus route. I got around LA fine just using public transit (but I think I had the bulletproofness of youth because when I think about it now I'm not sure I'd highly recommend it). Everything is far apart though. The nicest part of LA I found was Santa Monica, would stay there if I went back.

Unlike NY were you can walk or subway it anywhere you need to get to. Midtown comics in NY was good, but also check out the New York store of Forbidden Comics (near Union Square subway station). While in New York if you're going to see a Broadway show go to the TKTS booth for discounts of up to 50% for same tickets. The Staten Island ferry is a good way of seeing the Statue of Liberty without the massive queues to actually visit the island.

[Jetfire in the sky]

The Staten Island ferry is a good way of seeing the Statue of Liberty without the massive queues to actually visit the island.

Absolutely true, just make sure you get there early before the departure time and get to the correct side, from memory right hand side as you board from NYC and left hand side from SI. We stayed on Staten Island so took this ferry a number of times. It is a free service.

[Gofigure]

Terrific suggestions and personal experiences guys much thx

Tipping is a little confusing. So 15-20% for dining out (excluding fast food restaurants) everything else seems a little complex; $1-3 per bag carried, $2-5 on pillow in the morning for cleaning staff in motels.....my god.....

[Ralph Wiggum]

Yeah, tipping takes a little getting used to. Pretty much 20% is the standard...even for cabs. Don't be afraid to leave your cash on your table and walk away...it's pretty much the thing to do. Every night I left $1-2 on my pillow for the housecleaning...I got a 'friendly' reminder about doing it in my room when I didn't know about it !

It sounds like a decent length trip so getting a local sim card is a MUST. Using google maps when you travel nowadays is a god-send. I think I walked into a T-Mobile store and got a pre-paid sim for $100.

When I was in New York in September 2014, I used an app called HopStop. It basically tells you how to get from point A to point B using public transport, telling you exactly which trains to catch and when the next one is. I'm not sure if it's only available on iOS and not Android, will need to follow up on that one. But I used it constantly in NYC and highly recommend it.

When in NY, use the subway. It's all you'll ever need. Sure it's got um..character but I felt pretty safe, even when catching it by myself at nighttime. Just ignore the beggers who make their presence known on the trains. Buy the 7-day unlimited use pass, you'll make the most of it.

In terms of shops, I tried visiting a few toy/comic book stores. Surprisingly the pickings were rather limited, especially for a place like NYC. But here is where I went to:

Midtown Comics - as previously suggested, I found this to be the most comprehensive comic store in NYC. I bought a few graphic novels there.

JHU Comics - again fairly big, but don't think I bought anything there

ImageAnime - probably the best toy store I could think of in terms of Transformers, Star Wars, nerd stuff etc.

Toy Tokyo - chocka block with old and new Toys. I did find the Transformers collection to be lacking at the time though.

FAO Schwartz - purportedly the biggest toy store in New York. It's basically a fancy version of Toys R US. Interestingly I found a Lego Ultimate Collectors Series B-Wing there which by then was quite rare. Sadly it was too big and bulky for me to lug home. Go there just to say that you did.

All the touristy stuff of NY I'm sure you can look up online. My favourite bits of New York were SoHo and the Highline. Oh, and you MUST see The Book of Mormon on Broadway. Absolutely pissed my pants watching it.

[griffin]

I've never thought about tipping the hotel housekeepers. Another thing to worry about with their tipping culture. I think that's why wages are so bad over there because 10-20% tipping is factored into their hourly rate... and employees are then left to hope they get the difference from customers. I think they should have it automatically included in the prices and passed onto the employees, and then you can bonus tip if they did an exceptional job as an incentive (rather than being obligated to tip for an average/standard service).

[Bladestorm]

In LA:
Definitely do WB studio tour if you have time and can afford it. It is more hands on than Universal and you get to see a lot as well as walk around some of the sets... if you're lucky they might even be filming so you get a glimpse of TV/movies at work (the day I went they were filming one of the last episodes of True Blood).
If going to LA Universal, go early and get all your favourite rides out of the way first (strongly suggesting hitting Transformers and Jurassic Park rides as many times as you can first) before the queues get horrible if you don't want to fork out for a VIP pass. Also don't leave the back lot tour too late as the wait time increases significantly in the early afternoon but remember that these days it is also just a "ride".
I recommend walking down Hollywood Boulevard and looking at the stars as well as the Chinese theatre - you can see if Optimus' tyre track and and Peter Cullen's hand prints have been cemented there yet and let us know! The Chinese theatre has all the autographed hand prints in front of it (as opposed to just regular stars with names on them that line the boulevard, as well as some of the adjacent roads).

Don't bother with the "celebrity home tours"... they are a waste of time unless you want to drive through neighbourhoods where the guides "speculate" people (and often only lesser stars from tv soaps) live (other than things like the Playboy mansion which are obviously well known).

Don't be afraid to consider the LA underground/trains if your hotel/motel is close to one and you don't have a car. We used it a lot and found it more efficient than Sydney. (i know - not hard ;)) There is a train station right on Hollywood Boulevard that is centrally located to the touristy things there.

As for tipping, unless the service is REALLY bad, for food always try to tip 10% - 15% minimum. The better the service, the better to tip. For example in Las Vegas we had a waitress who was utterly outstanding, so we tipped her 30% and she had tears in her eyes she was so shocked and happy.
Americans generally don't like serving Aussies and Kiwis much because their perception is we don't really tip ( which we don't because we don't know how as it isn't a part of our culture) so by going out of your way a little bit it helps break the stereotype but also as Griffin said, a lot of these staff rely on the tips to be able to live week to week.

We also tip the housekeeper servicing our room but on the last day normally, either by giving cash in hand to them or by leaving it on a desk or table in the room. We tend to leave $5/person sleeping in the room unless we've stayed longer than 2-3 nights in which case we would leave more.

Also don't forget the price on the shelf in stores for most items doesn't include tax and the tax varies depending which state you are in. I think NY has the highest tax from memory?

It's a shame the Toys R Us isn't on Time Square in NY anymore - that store was AWESOME!

Have a GREAT time. I love going to the US. It's always so much fun. You won't lack for things to do.

[tinyJazz]

Also any toy or collectables comic stores of note I'd want to check out


How about like, 100 stores in the same building? You should totally check out Frank & Son Collectable show (http://www.frankandsonshow.net/). It's about 50mins from central LA, but if you can get to it it's worth it. Plus it's on twice a week. Lots of pics of the place and type of stuff you can buy there on yelp (http://www.yelp.com.au/biz/frank-and-son-collectibles-show-city-of-industry).
I went on the Wednesday afternoon, though apparently it can be quite crowded on Saturday, so if you're parking get there early.

[UltraMarginal]

As UltraMarginal suggested, rent a car if you plan to be there for a while and need to get around, or need to get to something that isn't covered by public transport.
Taxis are pretty cheap over there compared to here, but if you are going for a while and want to do a lot of things, a rental car will be the best thing.... just be aware that they drive on the "wrong" side of the road, which is a bit of fun to get used to at first.

Good points you make, but I said that simply because driving a Mustang is fun and it's the cheapest way to do it. :D


The store name and address is Big Lou's Toys & Collectables, at 5413 Sepulveda Blvd (almost opposite the ToysRUs).
(some photos of the store can be seen here (http://www.toycollectors.com.au/bc14/bc14jun23.html))

A map I did up for last year in case I had time to check it out between flights, and for Fatbot to use while in LA if he wanted to check it out as well...
http://www.toycollectors.com.au/botcon/bc15/l04.jpg

I can't believe it has been a year and a half already since we (UltraMarginal and I) were in LA for the convention and Hollywood tours... it just feels like it was the last BotCon trip from last year, not the year before.

ahh that's it.

I too feel like it wasn't that long ago, I keep thinking it was last year, but it was actually the year before.


I used readysim as a sim card for my phone while I was there last time. look them up. once I installed the sim it took an hour or so to properly function with DATA etc. but then it was working fine for the entire trip.

[Gofigure]

Guys I must say this has been a comprehensive list of tips and tricks and it's very much appreciated by myself and my family

Sincerely thank you very much to the members here. It's really going to enhance our trip there I can tell. Really thankful!

[Lint]

Terrific suggestions and personal experiences guys much thx

Tipping is a little confusing. So 15-20% for dining out (excluding fast food restaurants) everything else seems a little complex; $1-3 per bag carried, $2-5 on pillow in the morning for cleaning staff in motels.....my god.....

Just on this point, make sure you have a sizeable quantity of $1 bills on you at all times. I frequently tipped more than I wanted because I ran out of dollar bills and even though it's only a couple of dollars at a time it really adds up over time.

Don't know if this has been mentioned but the kids would get a kick out of the LEGO store in Rockefeller Plaza.

If you have the time, take your family to Coney Island at twilight. It's a long ass train ride from Manhattan but its worth it IMO just for the boardwalk and carnival atmosphere.

Also allow for extra travel time on the subway on weekends. They're undoubtedly closing random tracks and stations for maintenance and it can really stuff you around in terms of time AND confusion