I just got back from Cali last night. It was a great trip, 10 days in 3 cities.
Our first 6 days was in Corona for a hockey tournament. We stayed at the Ayres suites east which was nice. Corona was hot as hell though, with 107* being the peak and 102* the average.
We then moved on to the Great Wolf lodge in Anaheim which was a blast! The resort atmosphere was great, and the waterpark was almost too much fun. It got a little busy, as Rallydrv said, but we hit it up first thing in the morning, and for the last 90 minutes in the evening and had no issues with lines.
We finished up at the Doubletree suites in Santa Monica. At $500/night I had high expectations and they met them very well. The suites were really nice, and the service was great. Santa Monica pier is a shithole, full of druggies and homeless. Kind of a let down in the end.
Our last day was spent in Malibu. I'm a pretty comfortable guy financially, but damn! The Malibu folks know how to live. By the time we were ready to head to LAX, we were tired of Rolls Royce and Bentleys. Hell, AMG benzes and Maseratis were like Hondas there, littering the PCH
LA isn't very nice, but the inland areas were awesome. We met tons of great people, and enjoyed our time there.
One note..... Budget rent a car was our only option this time as all other rental car options were sold out. They fucking raped my wallet!!! First off, it took 90 minutes to get our Explorer. Upon our return, they charged me an additional $600 for insurance which I didn't agree to because my CC already offered insurance. I bought the prepaid gas option which should have only been $2.75/gallon. But when I returned the car they said it wasn't on my contract and wanted to charge me $10/gallon. I argued for 10 minutes but the bitch was stoic behind the counter saying I should have pored over the 6 page, fine print contract before leaving. Even though we had hundreds of people behind us in line, and had to be in Corona in less than an hour. Dealing with Budget LAX was one of the worst experiences I've ever had travelling, and I will tell everyone I know to avoid them.