5 Days in Los Angeles: Theme Parks and Family Highlights

Los Angeles is often sold as a theme-park weekend, but the three big parks families ask about — Universal Studios Hollywood, Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm — do not sit next to each other, and none of them rewards a rushed half-day visit. This five-day plan treats them as three separate outings, each with its own base and its own pace, and wraps a Hollywood day and a Santa Monica beach day around them so the week has some breathing room.

Why three parks need more than a weekend

Universal Studios Hollywood sits in Universal City, a short drive from Hollywood itself. Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure share the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, and Knott’s Berry Farm is a few miles further west in Buena Park — both in Orange County, roughly an hour south of central LA depending on traffic on the 5 or the 405.

Treating all three as one combined day is the single most common planning mistake families make here: each park is designed around a full day of walking and queuing, and stitching two together usually means leaving one early, arriving at the other late, and getting a diminished version of both. This itinerary keeps One Day at Disneyland: A Complete Anaheim Itinerary as its own separate, single-park option for families who only want that park, and instead spreads the three theme parks across days 2 through 4, with a change of base along the way.

The day order below is not the only workable sequence. Some families prefer to close the trip on Disneyland rather than open the theme-park run with Universal, on the theory that the youngest kids have the most patience for character meet-and-greets when they are freshest, not most tired. Either order works with this base pattern; what matters more than which park goes first is that no two full park days sit back to back without at least a lighter day, like day three below, somewhere in between.

Families deciding between the two headline parks in the first place may want Disneyland vs Universal Studios Hollywood: Which One First? before locking in ticket dates. For a broader look at how many days a Los Angeles trip needs before adding theme parks on top, see How Many Days in Los Angeles?.

Day 1: Hollywood and orientation

Start where most first-time visitors expect to start: Hollywood. Hollywood Boulevard, the TCL Chinese Theatre forecourt and the Walk of Fame make an easy, low-effort first morning after a flight, and there is no theme park queue to rush toward. From Griffith Park, the Hollywood Sign and Griffith Observatory are visible from several marked viewpoints and trails — there is no path to the base of the sign itself, so plan on photographing it from a distance rather than hiking up to it.

For families who want the layout of the city explained rather than self-navigated, a guided overview on day one removes a lot of first-day guesswork:

a guided Hollywood Sign hike that explains the viewpoints and the neighbourhood from ground level

Keep day one light on driving. It is also the day to confirm timed tickets for the parks ahead — Disneyland admission in particular is sold for a specific calendar date, and a preferred day can sell out during school holidays, so this is not something to leave until arrival. Background reading: Disneyland vs Universal Studios Hollywood: Which One First? and Theme Park Tickets and Avoiding Lines in Los Angeles.

Day 2: Universal Studios Hollywood

Universal Studios Hollywood is the closest of the three parks to a Hollywood-area base, which is why it comes first. It mixes a working-studio identity (the studio tour tram ride past soundstages and sets) with a modern theme park of rides and immersive lands, so budget the entire day — arriving at opening and building in an afternoon break for younger children makes a real difference to how the day feels by evening. Tickets are dated and bought in advance rather than at the gate on a walk-up basis, and any line-skipping product (Universal Express) is sold separately from base admission, not included in it.

Useful reading before this day: Universal Studios Hollywood and Theme Parks With Young Children: How I Pace an LA Trip, which covers age-appropriate rides and rest breaks. Do not plan a second park for the evening of this day — one park per day is the working rule for this itinerary, and driving south to Anaheim after a full Universal day usually means an exhausted arrival.

Booking admission ahead of arrival matters here as much as it does for Disneyland:

Universal Studios Hollywood general admission tickets

Families who want the studio-tour side of the park explained by a guide rather than pieced together alone, or who simply prefer not to queue for anything that can be arranged in advance, have a VIP option too:

a Universal Studios Hollywood VIP tour with guided access

Day 3: Move south and settle into Anaheim

Day three is a transition day rather than a park day. Relocate the family base south to the Anaheim/Buena Park area — driving time from Hollywood is roughly 45 minutes to just over an hour outside peak traffic, longer during the morning or evening rush. Use the extra time this frees up for a lighter activity: a guided overview of the wider area, or simply settling in and letting kids decompress from day two.

a half-day sightseeing tour from Anaheim that covers LA’s landmarks without another full theme-park day

This is also the moment to double-check park reservations for the two remaining days, since Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm both require their own separate, dated tickets — neither is bundled with the other, and neither is bundled with Universal Studios Hollywood. See Theme Park Tickets from Los Angeles: Disneyland, Legoland and Universal for how the different ticket types and add-ons work across the three parks.

Day 4: Disneyland Resort or Knott’s Berry Farm

With the Anaheim-area base set up, days four and five can flex to the family’s priorities: most families give Disneyland the full fourth day, since Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure between them are enough to fill it, then treat Knott’s Berry Farm as the fifth day’s option — or the other way around for families who prioritise Knott’s coasters and its Old West theming over Disneyland.

Whichever comes first, arrive at opening. Both parks sell their own paid systems for skipping standard queues at the most in-demand attractions — Disney’s Lightning Lane products at Disneyland, and a comparable paid option at Knott’s — and these are purchased on top of the base admission ticket, not included in it. Waits at headline attractions can still run long during busy periods even with a line-skipping product in hand, particularly around school holidays and the Christmas season; see Christmas Crowds at the Los Angeles Theme Parks if travelling in that window.

For families who prefer a single well-planned day at Disneyland over a longer, more improvised one, One Day at Disneyland: A Complete Anaheim Itinerary covers that narrower brief in more detail than this five-day plan does.

For the park that lands on the fifth slot instead of the fourth, the same advice about arrival time and paid line-skipping applies. Families choosing between the two on ride style rather than logistics — Disneyland’s storytelling and character presence against Knott’s Berry Farm’s coasters and Old West theming — may find Theme Parks With Young Children: How I Pace an LA Trip useful for matching either park to a child’s age and stamina before committing a full day to it.

Day 5: Santa Monica and the coast

After two or three consecutive theme park days, day five deliberately has no ticketed park on the schedule. Head back toward the coast and Santa Monica for a slower final day: the pier, the beach, and a walk or bike ride along the boardwalk toward Venice. The Pacific here runs cold year-round, closer to a bracing dip than a warm-water swim, so treat it as a beach day rather than a swimming day if that matters to younger kids.

a Santa Monica pier tour that also points out the Hollywood Sign from the coast

Families wanting a bit more coastline and a look at Malibu’s shoreline on this last day have a beach-focused option too:

a guided beaches day trip that runs from the Anaheim area out to the LA coast

For a gentler self-planned version of this last day, One Day in Santa Monica and Venice Beach and Pacing a Family Trip Between Theme Parks and Rest both cover how to balance a rest day against the theme park days around it. Families who would rather stay on two wheels than walk the boardwalk have a guided alternative that covers more ground along the same stretch of coast:

a guided Santa Monica and Venice Beach bike tour

Extending the trip: Six Flags, Legoland and Catalina Island

Five days covers Universal Studios Hollywood, Disneyland Resort, Knott’s Berry Farm, one Hollywood day and one beach day — the core version of a Southern California family theme-park trip. Families with more time, or with kids who want a fourth park, have a few ways to stretch this plan without abandoning its one-park-per-day pacing.

Six Flags Magic Mountain sits north of central LA rather than south toward Anaheim, so it suits an extra day tacked onto the Hollywood end of the trip rather than the Anaheim end — it leans toward taller, faster coasters, which makes it a better fit for older kids and teens than for young children. Legoland California sits further south near Carlsbad, past Orange County, and works better as an add-on for families continuing toward San Diego than as an extra day squeezed into this LA-and-Anaheim loop.

For a change of pace rather than another theme park, Catalina Island is reachable by ferry and makes for a full day away from queues and pavement, with hiking, snorkeling and a small harbor town at Avalon in place of rides. Families who want to add it without giving up a day of driving have a faster way across:

a helicopter transfer between Catalina Island and Santa Monica

Families building a longer Southern California trip around this one, rather than simply adding a day, may prefer to start from 7 Days: Los Angeles and Las Vegas or 7 Days: Southern California Grand Tour, which both build in more time than this five-day plan allows for.

Planning notes for this itinerary

Day	Base	Focus	Drive time from previous base
1	Hollywood	Orientation, Hollywood Sign viewpoints, ticket check	—
2	Hollywood	Universal Studios Hollywood (full day)	~15-20 min to Universal City
3	Anaheim/Buena Park	Relocate, light sightseeing, ticket check	~45-70 min south
4	Anaheim/Buena Park	Disneyland Resort or Knott’s Berry Farm (full day)	within base
5	Santa Monica (day trip)	Beach, pier, boardwalk	~45-60 min from Anaheim area

A few things this plan will not promise: it will not fit all three parks into one combined day, and it will not promise zero waiting at Disneyland, Universal Studios Hollywood or Knott’s Berry Farm during their busiest attractions, even with paid line-skipping products. Both are common expectations that tend to disappoint families who go in expecting otherwise.

On logistics: budget for a rental car or a realistic rideshare budget across the week, since Universal City, Anaheim/Buena Park and Santa Monica have no direct transit link between them. Parking is a separate cost at every park and at most Hollywood and Santa Monica attractions, typically in the $15-30 per day range depending on the location, and is rarely included in ticket prices. Build in a genuine rest afternoon somewhere in the middle of the week if the family’s youngest children tire easily — day three’s lighter schedule is designed for exactly that, and skipping it in favour of a fourth consecutive park day is the most common way this kind of trip goes wrong.

Beyond the tickets themselves, a five-day trip built around three theme parks is not a budget trip by default: admission for each park, food inside the gates, and a mid-week hotel change all add up faster than a beach-only LA week would. Families watching the total cost closely may find Los Angeles on a Tight Budget and Tipping and Taxes in Los Angeles useful for trimming the days that are not built around a park gate, since the theme park days themselves have little room to cut.

Los Angeles: Family is a broader starting point for family-specific tours and activities beyond the three parks covered here, and Los Angeles: Planning covers the logistics side — car rental, timing and neighbourhood choice — in more depth than a single itinerary page can.