Thanks for the welcome. We want to do the WB tour, too, and probably will come in a day early and do that prior to the BSM kick-off. If you come across anymore tips or insider stuff that might be helpful for fellow travelers, we'd love to hear it. See you in October!
The Tar pits are not too far - it's apparently in walking distance. I think there is a farmer's market within walking distance too. Also I read in other's trip reports they visited the Roosevelt Hotel, which is an older hotel that is themed in a 1930's style apparently, and some compare it to The tower of Terror hotel design - it's supposedly haunted, too! (I like a bit of spooky stuff!)
We are not planning a lot of pre ABD stuff. We are coming back to Burbank after the tour and staying at a hotel near the WB studio. The reason we are doing the trip that way is because we have to end up back at LAX for our flight home, and we plan on relaxing after the heavy walking ABD days.
Out plans are:
Sat: Fly in for dinnertime - Hotel #1
Sun: Transfer to Loews. (hotel #2)Tar pits, visiting Roosevelt Hotel (maybe - hopefully!) and maybe a trip to El Capitain, if we don't go there during ABD. (I'm waiting to see if people post trip reports to know if we go inside or not.)
Mon - Fri - ABD - And Hotel #3 - Grand Californian!
Fri - Sun : Staying at the GC till Sunday night - for some relaxing days!!! spend a bit of time in the parks - DL/CA
Sun:transferring back to Burbank for hotel #4!
Monday: WB Tour, then.. yes...insanity! transferring to hotel...#5!
Tuesday: Fly back to reality.
The extra hotels we are staying at are on points. Free breakfast/food too. After we booked the trip, I was laid off from work. I spent from last August (till April) trying to find a new job. We are doing the hotel hopping to save money. We could change from the GC to a cheaper hotel, but with 5 hotels already being planned, we drew the line there! I am now employed, but we are sticking with the hotel hopping because of the savings. It has worked out quite a bit.