Doing a 4 day LA family (4+2 babies) trip that includes Disneyland, Hollywood, etc... hotel prices in LA seem to be skyrocketing.. are there better options? Is taking a motel in Anaheim and driving down an hour to LA a better option? Other options?

Itinerary is as follows:

Day 1: Rest at hotel
Day 2: Hollywood hills, blvd, signs, Walk of Fame, etc.
Day 3: Disneyland
Day 4: Santa Monica, Pier 69, Bev Hills, Venice Beach, etc

Advice please?

LA is expensive. Staying elsewhere is an option but Id choose a place where you don't have to drive through all of LA in days 2 and 4 cos that will probably ruin your whole day. For this kind of stuff you'll probably find better answers on tripadvisor.

I found a room on AirBnB for $85 in Rowland heights. 45 min drive to Disneyland, Beverly, etc.

A good rule about driving in LA is, take whatever length of time your map app says and multiply by 2. That will be your average drive time with normal traffic. So if google maps says 45 minutes, expect to be driving at least an hour and a half to your destination. Forget about trying to "avoid rush hour."

You should plan to do Disneyland at the beginning or end of your trip, since it is so far from everything else on your itinerary. I would suggest staying in or around Anaheim for the night before and/or after your Disneyland trip. There are literally hundreds of hotels and probably air bnbs within a 5 mile radius of Disneyland, I'm sure you can find something in your price range. You just won't want to be driving an hour or more after an entire day at Disneyland to get back to your hotel.

For your last two/three nights you need to be closer to Central LA or the beach areas if you don't want to spend all day in the car. If you want to save money I'm sure you can find something reasonable in Burbank, North Hollywood or near LAX, which are all WAY more accessible to the things you want to do and see than somewhere as far out as Rowland Heights.

i've pricelined LAX hotels lots of times. very affordable although seem to get incrementally more expensive as time goes by and we get further from 2008 credit crisis.

i might be nuts, but i don't find the traffic that bad in LA. traffic is bad in any city in rush hour. but non-rush hour the north-south highways are great and you can always take pacific coast highway for more scenic trip - at least partway.

other obvious hotel choices are anaheim - as you mentioned -, beach communities south of LAX or down near san pedro/long beach etc........ most other places are not central at all - pasadena? - or too expensive - beverly hills, santa monica etc.

fire away with any questions you might have.