We discussed this. Our flight in is to Burbank with arrival at 9:35 am. I figure we are in our rental by 10:30am. (We are flying Southwest which is in meltdown mode right now). We did not want to do Universal on a Sat nite from years if reading this place. We were going to work our way down the Griffin Observatory, The Walk a Fame, La Brea Area to Santa Monica. I figure any place for haunts on Sat would be ridiculously busy so we were reluctant. Considering where we are coming in at going up to Valencia and SSMM made the most sense. But, would have done numerous Six Flags haunts. It is my Son's 18th birthday trip and he's a Senior and we were going try and snap some pics at the obvious places. So logistically it just flowed working down to the Pier and position ourselves for Universal on Sun with a sleep late morning. Monday allows for sleeping in a bit. And still getting somewhere around 12. Since our next two nights is in the Disney area, Knotts seemed pretty close with 6pm closing, allowed for us to get back and hit up Downtown Disney dinner.
If you are thinking Knotts is not miserable experience on Sat, I'm listening. I wouldnhave to switch up hotel stays on Sat night as that's too much back and forthing it in a "Mustang or similar" ride at over $4 bucks a gallon.
But we do want to do the pier, homeless issues or not, and we plan on being back one day for other stuff and San Diego.
Our flight is out of SNA at 9:30 on Wed.
I'm huge craft brew fan, any suggestions beside what's around the parks. I've had over 30 different Oktoberfest styles this year. I love Marden style lagers. I suspect Dufftoberfest is a Mass produced macro version but what the hell.
Anyone had the Fruity Pebble Churros?
Won’t have time to get into everything right now, but Knott’s is the grandaddy of theme park haunts and it seems a bit of a waste to plan on going and not seeing at least some of the event. You could easily do a few rides and a few of the mazes on a Sat. Night. I’ve heard their scarezones are exceptional as well. Will it be packed? Yes, but packed for Knott’s is like a 50 min wait for a maze versus HHNH’s 2+ hours.
LA Haunted Hayride is another option and is absolutely delightful. It’s located on the valley side of Griffith and you could easily do everything there in a couple hours, even on a weekend night.
Being from NC and moving to SoCal, I don’t find the micro breweries that exciting here. Lots of IPAs and sours, which I enjoy, but right now I’m having a hard time even finding good pumpkin beers in different stores. Haven’t even attempted Oktoberfests, so I don’t have any recommendations.
Regarding the homeless: same rule as every major city applies - don’t talk to strangers. Don’t engage and keep walking and you’ll be fine. Had this happen to us yesterday walking down Hollywood and had to remind my partner where we were.
Speaking of which, there’s an excellent Pink Floyd exhibit happening at the Vogue Museum on Hollywood. Lots of their gear, posters, concert props (including puppets and inflatables). Takes about 2-3 hours to go through everything. That’d also give you a chance to see some of the walk of fame (not worth seeing every block, but always a fun surprise seeing one of someone you admire - yesterday was Angela Lansbury!).
Anyways, just a few thoughts. Whatever you decide on doing, I hope you have a great trip!