hey i am planning on going to disneyland (3or4days) and universal studios(2days) Jan 28 - Feb 5 and this will be everyone in my groups first time. Im aware that they are about an hr drive from each other so what do you reccommend for accomadations? staying in one place for the week closer to disney? or staying in two different places closer to each attraction? Also if you have any other suggestions or tips for first timers they would be greatly appreciated!

My wife and I did a similar trip two years ago and stayed here https://www.google.ca/.../data=!4m12!1m6!3m5... . We rented a car. We went the same time of year and found traffic to not be a problem. Also the parks are empty, it was great! There was more than once where we had no line at all. We even got to stay in our seats on our first roller coaster at universal and ride it twice.
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The hotel is a five minute walk from disney land. We didn't drive the two days we where there. We also found One day at Disney land and one day at California adventure to be plenty because of no lines. We got to ride all the popular rides at least twice. The only down side of going in the off season is that one big ride at a time is closed for maintenance. At Disney land magic mountain was closed, but since it was only 12 degrees getting wet probably wouldn't have been fun any way.

Bernice Hennessy is an expert at Disneyland!!!

I stayed at the Sheraton LAX a couple years ago. It was a great hotel & location. Also, get your passes at Costco before you go, save around$20 per person

I would suggest shortening your disneyland time and adding Six Flags if you like big coasters.

is there a six flags near by?? didnt even know there was one around there!

Six flags magic mountain is two hours from disneyland and is awesome!! Some of the best pure roller coasters are there.

If you go to the Disneyland website and get your Disneyland passes from there they give you a Canadian resident discount. We just came back from Disneyland/La and wished we got a hotel near Disneyland for the three days we were there and the rest of time time in LA near all the hot spots. There is a lot of traffic on the highways there. It was such wasted time for us and we had two littles ones.

Stay in one location. That way you can call it home instead of packing up and unpacking. We've stayed right across from Disney at park vue inn and desert inn and suites.

Stay closer to each venue. After a full day at each park you won't feel like a long drive to your hotel. We did that last year ... stayed at the Universal Sheraton and the Anaheim Sheraton.

Disneyland has a 25% off discount for Canadians right now until February sometime. The tix are on discount....

We stayed at Residence Inn about a 15 minute walk from Disneyland. No driving although we had a rental car to transport 5 people to & from airport) we stopped on way to hotel and bought snacks at Target to take to park. Residence Inn has awesome breakfast included and snacks 5-7 Mon to Thursday. Great value! Great pool. We returned to hotel from about 1-4 most days and went back in evening after a nice break. Fanny packs were good to take with snacks. Don't want to wait in line to buy snacks so ate while waiting for ride line-up. I bought the Disneyland 2015 book which helped organize the day. Read up on Fast pass system!

We stayed at a place close to Universal when we went a couple years ago.. We did not like it nearly as much as Disney ( the park that is) - long lines, crowded conditions and just general 'meh'. I am sure Harry Potter makes it better but I would still bet you can see it and do it all in a day. Stay closer to Disney and use the shuttle- so much more to enjoy

Howard Johnson was decent

Stay at one place.. Too much work to pack.. Check out Check in.. The ride isn't that bad in my opinion.. We were in a group with range from 3 yr old to 65 yr old !! It was totally fine ! We even drove to San Diego zoo and it was no problem.. Universal was easy ! :l

I would chose Disney over Universal and spend more time there- do Universal on the next trip. Disney has California Adventure Park also right beside and there is so much to do....we stayed at Best Western down the street as I like the hotels with breakfast to feed hungry teens for free!

Definitely stay within walking distance to Disneyland. We stayed at Desert Inn and Suites. We had a 5 year old with us. Nice to be able to come home for a nap, a meal or a swim and go back to the park. Where ever you go in LA allow lots of time as the traffic is very busy.