I did this tour a few weeks ago.

I had an amazing time. Our tour manager, Tara, was great.

A few things to know:

-the hotel is great, 2 pools 2 spas. It's actually in anaheim, about 45 minutes outside of LA but a 5 minute walk to the entrance of disneyland. You can get a 24 hour bus pass for $3 at the front desk of the hotel. Downtown Disney is great for at night, you don't need a pass to get in it's free.

-If doing this, be prepared, the first day of the tour is hectic. You do a walking tour of Hollywood Blvd then you have some free time, maybe half an hour. Then they do a "drive through" tour of Sunset Blvd. Rodeo Dr. and Beverly Hills. Then you go to Santa Monica, they drop you off right at the pier, you can walk to the 3rd st. promenade. We got a little less than 2 hours in Santa Monica. From there we went to Venice Beach, we got a little more than 2 hours there as well. Then that night we went to Buco Di Bepo for dinner. Then Tara and another great tour manager, Camille, so sweetly arranged for a bus to take us to the Standard Hotel bar in downtown LA. Not part of contiki, just something they thought everyone would enjoy doing. I'm glad I ended up not going, it took them an hour and a half to just get up to the bar from the hotel lobby and drinks were outrageously priced/ The next few days are yours to do whatever you want with.

-Plan to spend an entire day at DisneyLand/California Adventure park. A ticket to both is $91 and WORTH IT. By an entire day I mean open to close. Even then you may miss out on a few things. Take advantage of the fastpass.

-Personally I was not impressed with the San Diego Zoo, but Sea World was beyond amazing. If you feel comfortable, DO the wild arctic experience, it was beyond amazing to swim with beluga whales. By far the best thing I've ever done, even better than swimming with dolphins.

-Do not expect to get a lot of time in Los Angeles. If you want to go back amtrak is your best bet. I was there for an entire week and still did not get to go back to the beaches.

This is an amazing tour and so much fun! I became great friends with a lot of amazing people, and am planning on going to Australia to meet them.

hey thanks alot im going on this tour in feb 2009 and cant wait it seems like alot of fun, you answered alot of my questions so thanks.

that sounds really good. the tour i'm going on in November...nothing is mentioned about the San Diego Zoo OR Seaworld?

I did this in June this year. I had the tour guide Christina. She was so perky and friendly, she was great! Apart from the first day, you pretty much get the rest of it to yourself, and you can do the extras if you want. Personally, I did none of the extras and got myself a 5 park Southern California pass, taking myself Disneyland and California Adventure Park (I planned for one day but spent two here and used up all my tour time!), after the tour ended I visited a friend in San Diego and went to the zoo and Seaworld. Both were fantastic, in my opinion, and Balboa Park was great, too. The LA and Hollywood Tour was action packed, but I still didn't feel as though I missed out on anything, although I'd love to go back and experience the LA nightlife.

Just a personal opinion, the zoo wasn't worth the money or the time it took to get through it, but that may be because I'm used to the Philly Zoo.

Im going on my first overseas trip in May this year and am starting with this tour. Than my sister and I are heading to Hawaii for 6 nights after I cant wait. We were just planning on going to Hawaii until my sister said lets go to La so i can do Disneyland. Its been my life long dream to go to Disneyland and i know for certain that one of my free days will be spend doing disneyland. BRING IT ON