Las Vegas to Los Angeles
The drive from Las Vegas to Los Angeles is a unique experience, particularly on a Sunday evening. To describe it as a 250 mile tailback would be most accurate. Literally all the way to LA, the traffic was nose to tail, though moving at 60+ miles an hour. As the sun went down it became even more interesting.
When the road straightens out, and it is dark, which it was later on, it is like watching an infinite glowing christmas rope light, heading into the horizon. It was actually a fascinating experience.
After 100+ miles driving alongside the same people, all on cruise control at identical speed, you feel like has been a bit of team effort and you should be wishing them luck and waving goodbye at the end.
Tip 34 – Leaving Las Vegas on a Sunday evening is busy. You may encounter traffic jams.
Our destination for tonight is Buena Park, home to Knotts Berry Farm – an amazing amusement park.
Knotts Berry Farm or Disneyland?
Two of the best Theme parks in the US are only 10 minutes apart. These are Disneyland Resort and Knott’s Berry Farm. We have been to Disneyland Paris with the kids several times and also visited the Magic Kindgom in Florida, so we felt like something different.
It was a good decision. Knotts Berry Farm is probably more suitable for older children as the rides are a little more adventurous. In some cases, downright scary. There really is something for everyone here, so it gets its own page.
You can extend your trip at this point to do both the parks if you wish.
Tip 35 – You may not need to stay that close to Theme Parks to get there early, as they open at 9-10am most days. Check the opening times.
In order to get to the park as early as possible the following morning, we decided to stay as close as possible. I used Google maps and TripAdvisor in concert to find somewhere close. When we arrived, I realised how close, we were across the street from the entrance!
This was the first time that using TripAdvisor let us down. There were only a handful of reviews and I hadn’t read them well enough. When I checked in, I realised that they reception was locked and the only way to communicate was through toughened glass.
Tip 36 – When using TripAdvisor be careful with hotels that have only a few reviews. They can rank highly but actually be very poor when you get there.
There were a few ‘enthusiastic’ young people in the car park, having a ‘good time’ in a car. Once checked in I walked past a lady sat on the stairs looking a little ‘zoned out’.
I locked the mini-van and then checked it twice. I was concerned about struggling to sleep, but I needn’t have worried because at 5am, some people outside decided that it was time to stand in the corridor and shout a conversation at each other. After 30 minutes, I rang reception and they said they would sort it out.
Another 30 minutes of shouting and laughing and I rang them again before giving up and then 20 minutes later, it went quiet.
Tip 37 – If you stay in a scary place, the staff may be reluctant to warn loud residents. Try and avoid these places by reading feedback from multiple reputation sites.
Because we had planned to spend the entire day at KBF, I had already booked a second night. After we had arrived however and after the car park incident, I checked with reception about cancelling. They said it would be ok, as long as we did it before 9am the following morning. I went to the office at 8am to cancel. Then, once confirmed, I fired up the laptop and Skype to book somewhere else.
The next destination was Hollywood, so I found a place 20 minutes away called Canoga Park. A bit of negotiation on the phone and we got a good price, so I booked it. I felt more confident about parking at KBF than the motel, so the extra $15 it costs was worth it.
Tip 38 – It costs $15 extra to park at Knotts Berry Farm, but it may be safer than leaving it at the motel. The parking is actually outside of the park itself, so the public do have access to the parking lot.
Onward to Knott’s Berry Farm.