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..

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.

[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 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)

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...


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 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.