What to add/remove from a SoCal trip

[Keyser]

We are considering a trip to Southern California (San Diego and LA) next summer. It will be my wife and I , and our two daughters, who will be about 4 and 10 and half, and we'll probably go for about a week, total (maybe 9 days). We've made a list of several places that sound interesting, and of course it's more than we can reasonably do. So, I'm wondering what others think about stuff we might want to drop (or add, if we've missed something good). The list:
- San Diego Zoo (this is the most definite for us)
- San Diego Safari Park (too much if we are doing zoo?)
- San Diego ship tours (interesting enough for kids?)
- San diego harbor tours (not sure it's interesting enough for kids)
- Sea World (have been to the one in San Antonio, and liked it, but we will probably be returning to that one - is San Diego's much different?)
- Beach in San Diego (have no idea where would be good, but seems like this would be a good "rest day" on the trip, and kids would love beach).
- Legoland
- Disneyland/California Adventure (1, 2, or 3 days?; Different enough from WDW?)
- Universal Studios (It's been >20 years since I was there - does it still emphasize the movies, or is it more about rides now? Would both kids enjoy it?)
- Hollywood - walk of fame, Mann's, etc.
- Santa Monica pier/promenade
- Beach in LA area (where?)
- La Brea tarpits (I think it's cool!)
- Pacific Coast/Malibu
- Reagan Library (Air Force One would be cool to see; would kids find enough?)
Obviously, that will have to be cut down

We want this to be not just a "go to amusement parks" trip. The idea is to see Southern California, not just hop around to places that could be anywhere in the U.S. I have traveled to the area quite a bit on business, and been to many of these places (though sometimes not in a long time), so I have some sense of a lot of it, but have difficulty figuring out what would be best for an overall trip. I haven't ever done much "nature" oriented around there, other than Huntington Gardens and driving along the coast; would there be something worth going to in the area (in the mountains or elsewhere)? Anything else I might have missed?

One other thing - we will be treating this as probably our only family trip to this area (too many other places to go...), so we don't want to treat it as a "see this on this trip, and catch other stuff another time" - if there's a "must see", we want to be sure to see it this trip.

 

[sonnyjane]

We are considering a trip to Southern California (San Diego and LA) next summer. It will be my wife and I , and our two daughters, who will be about 4 and 10 and half, and we'll probably go for about a week, total (maybe 9 days). We've made a list of several places that sound interesting, and of course it's more than we can reasonably do. So, I'm wondering what others think about stuff we might want to drop (or add, if we've missed something good). The list:
- San Diego Zoo (this is the most definite for us)
- San Diego Safari Park (too much if we are doing zoo?)
- San Diego ship tours (interesting enough for kids?)
- San diego harbor tours (not sure it's interesting enough for kids)
- Sea World (have been to the one in San Antonio, and liked it, but we will probably be returning to that one - is San Diego's much different?)
- Beach in San Diego (have no idea where would be good, but seems like this would be a good "rest day" on the trip, and kids would love beach).
- Legoland
- Disneyland/California Adventure (1, 2, or 3 days?; Different enough from WDW?)
- Universal Studios (It's been >20 years since I was there - does it still emphasize the movies, or is it more about rides now? Would both kids enjoy it?)
- Hollywood - walk of fame, Mann's, etc.
- Santa Monica pier/promenade
- Beach in LA area (where?)
- La Brea tarpits (I think it's cool!)
- Pacific Coast/Malibu
- Reagan Library (Air Force One would be cool to see; would kids find enough?)
Obviously, that will have to be cut down

We want this to be not just a "go to amusement parks" trip. The idea is to see Southern California, not just hop around to places that could be anywhere in the U.S. I have traveled to the area quite a bit on business, and been to many of these places (though sometimes not in a long time), so I have some sense of a lot of it, but have difficulty figuring out what would be best for an overall trip. I haven't ever done much "nature" oriented around there, other than Huntington Gardens and driving along the coast; would there be something worth going to in the area (in the mountains or elsewhere)? Anything else I might have missed?

One other thing - we will be treating this as probably our only family trip to this area (too many other places to go...), so we don't want to treat it as a "see this on this trip, and catch other stuff another time" - if there's a "must see", we want to be sure to see it this trip.

So, I know you said that you're trying to make this trip not about amusement parks, but do you want to make Disneyland an important part of your trip or not? Out of all of the attractions you mentioned, Disneyland is by far the "best" as far as bang for the buck. Most (including myself) would suggest at least three days at the parks, especially during summer. Yes, it has some similarities to WDW but it is also an entirely different animal - and it's "the original". You'll really be cheating yourself and your family if you only went for one day.

The San Diego Zoo is a full-day affair. Sea World is also a full-day activity. SW San Diego has a few different shows, rides, and exhibits than San Antonio. It really depends on how much you enjoy SW, as it is an expensive park. The Safari Park is nice and if you didn't have such a loaded itinerary I would recommend it, but since I want to encourage you to spend more time at Disneyland, you can probably stick with just the zoo.

By SD ship tours, do you mean the Midway museum? If so, that won't take all day. In fact, the harbor tour ship is literally docked right next to the museum, so if you did decide to do those two things, you could do the morning harbor excursion and the museum in the afternoon or vice versa. The harbor tour will pretty much guarantee you see birds and sea lions and usually dolphins but that one I can't promise (I used to volunteer on the ship Marietta through San Diego Harbor Excursions).

If you're doing the beach someone up north (you mentioned Malibu), then you don't really need to do it in San Diego. If you do go to the beach in San Diego, go to La Jolla and Children's Pool so you can see the seals and sea lions, but that's a quick stop.

The Walk of Fame and theater really don't take much time at all to visit so you might be able to swing by on the same day as Universal if you decided to go there.

 

[mamacatnv]

The La Brea tar pits are awesome, glad to see it on your list.

Whenever we fly down to LA we try to allot 3 days for D-Land/Ca Adventure.
We usually dedicate a full day to each and then split up the remaining day to go back and do things that we want to do twice.

Sea World - I have been to both SA and SD, I personally think they are similar enough that I would take this off the list.

Hollywood is seedy and icky IMO. Sure it's something to see if one understands what they are looking at but given the ages of your kids I am not sure they would get a lot out of it.
IMO given the age of your kids I would put it at the bottom of the list of must do's if it were on the list at all.

My favorite beaches when we lived in So. Ca. were the coves of Laguna. Beautiful beaches and fairly calm water.

AAA has some great What to do with your Kids in So. Ca. guide books. I'd look at a few of those.

Happy Planning!

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Hi Keyser,

Where abouts do you live? That would influence my recommendations for you.

 

[Keyser]

Thanks for the replies!

I've been to Hollywood, so I know it's not much, but my older daughter wants to see the sign (we can do that just driving) stars on the sidewalk, and theater. She thinks she'd like to see Beverly Hills, but my memories of the
"mansions" on a tour as a kid were that the houses were actually underwhelming, and I didn't know enough about expensive shopping to even be impressed by the stores on Rodeo Drive, etc.. Maybe we can make that a quick stop in the morning, and go to a beach or something the rest of the day.

We live in Texas, but travel outside of Texas a fair bit. It's just that when we look at the trips to other areas of the country that we'd like to take in the future, and considering we can only do about one a year, this is probably the only time we'll take a family trip to Southern California (though I expect I'll be traveling there about once every year or two for business).

We are Disney fans (have been to WDW several times), and I know we'll want to spend at least 1 day at Disneyland/CA. However, we didn't want this to be a "Disney" trip so much as a "California" trip, so I wasn't sure how many days we'd want to allocate. If we could kind of see all the main things (or at least the things more unique to Disneyland) in 1 day, or 2, we'd probably consider opting for something else instead of a third day. But, if we really would need three days to get the full experience, then maybe we could work other stuff around it. For example, if we had 3 days, would it be better to do all 3 at Disney, or 2 Disney, and 1 Universal Studios.

Again, thanks for all the advice - I do appreciate it.

 

[sonnyjane]

We are Disney fans (have been to WDW several times), and I know we'll want to spend at least 1 day at Disneyland/CA. However, we didn't want this to be a "Disney" trip so much as a "California" trip, so I wasn't sure how many days we'd want to allocate. If we could kind of see all the main things (or at least the things more unique to Disneyland) in 1 day, or 2, we'd probably consider opting for something else instead of a third day. But, if we really would need three days to get the full experience, then maybe we could work other stuff around it. For example, if we had 3 days, would it be better to do all 3 at Disney, or 2 Disney, and 1 Universal Studios.

Again, thanks for all the advice - I do appreciate it.

Well, I'll be honest, and it's not coming from a "this is a Disney board and Disney is the greatest" standpoint One day at Disneyland is not even remotely close to being long enough, even if you just wanted to do rides that were only at Disneyland and California Adventure. Two days is enough to hit several main attractions and a couple of the shows, but still missing quite a bit. Three is the "magic number", and honestly since you're going in the summer, and this summer is going to be busy (as always) with the opening of Carsland, many would suggest even more than 3, but I know that I would never convince you of that

A lot of people that have been to WDW make the incorrect assumption that Disneyland is "small" and just a day park. This couldn't be farther from the truth. Disneyland has almost as many attractions in its two parks as WDW does in its 4, they are just closer together and compacted into a smaller space. Would you try to do ALL of WDW in a day, maybe two??

Universal Studios in Hollywood is typically not recommended as highly as Universal Studios Orlando. Obviously you won't know which you prefer unless you go to both, but many people on the boards that HAVE been to both prefer the one in Florida.

 

[Keyser]

Universal Studios in Hollywood is typically not recommended as highly as Universal Studios Orlando. Obviously you won't know which you prefer unless you go to both, but many people on the boards that HAVE been to both prefer the one in Florida.

Thanks. We've never been to Universal in Florida (and I was only at Universal in CA more than 20 years ago...), so the one in CA would be pretty much all new to us. We might be faced with choosing either Universal or a third day at Disneyland.

If we were able to fly in on a Fri. night, leave on a Sunday, I wonder whether something like this would work:
- Fly in (Friday)
- San Diego Zoo (Saturday)
- San Diego beach (Sunday)
- Either Sea World OR San Diego Safari Park (Monday)
- San Diego harbor/ships, and drive to LA (Tuesday)
- Disneyland (Wednesday, Thursday)
- Disneyland OR Universal (Friday)
- Drive around Hollywood (stop briefly at some attractions), then to coast: Malibu, Santa Monica (Saturday)
- Drive back to San Diego for flight home (Sunday)

Things that leaves out:
- Legoland
- Either Sea World or the Safari Park
- Either 3rd day at Disneyland or Universal
- Reagan library
- La Brea tarpits

The precise order might change (e.g. to have more of a break in the middle), but would you all suggest swapping any of that around?

 

[sonnyjane]

If you choose the Safari Park over Sea World, I would do it on the day that you head up to Disneyland, if that makes sense? It's about 45 minutes away from the rest of the attractions you plan on seeing in San Diego, and is about half-way between San Diego and Disneyland. So in other words, I would make your "Drive to LA" day ALSO your Safari Park Day, IF you chose that route. If you spend a full day at the San Diego Zoo, the Safari Park might seem like a bit of a repeat. There are laid out differently, but the animals you'll see at the park are the same animals you'll see at the zoo, just in different exhibits. I know you have to be selective, so Sea World might be a little bit more of a unique experience for you.

You might still consider getting a 3-day parkhopper ticket for Disneyland and going to Universal during the day on your third day but returning to Disneyland at night. Most agree that Universal will only take a few hours to see all the attractions. The cost difference between a 2 day and a 3 day almost always makes that third day worth it, even if it's not a full day.

Were you wanting to make a full day of the beaches (Malibu/Santa Monica) or just stop by? If so, then you could try to do your Universal trip in the morning and stop by the Hollywood stuff later in the day to avoid having to make the drive twice, unless you were planning on getting a hotel near Universal on Friday night? That wasn't clear in your plans.

 

[bobistheman]

if i were to drop something from the list, I would drop LA area beach. since you are already going to malibu...

 

[Sugar-Magnolia]

I could have written this post. We (my husband, sons (4 and 11), and I) are planning a trip to LA and San Diego (and are considering adding a day in Palm Springs.) We too are huge Disney fans and plan to spend a day at Disneyland (the kids have been to Disney World lots, but never Disneyland). We also want it to be more of a California trip than a disney trip.
Current Plan:
2 days in LA: Day 1: Hollywood, Santa Monica, Tar Pits etc.. Day 2isneyland
1 day in Palm Springs Aerial Tour and Jeep Tour
4 Days in San Diego: San Diego Zoo, Sea World, Old Town, Lego World, La Jolle Beach, Catalina Island (maybe)
1 day remains unplanned

We our planning to go in Mid to late May. Our kids are about the same ages and we it seems as if we are planning the same type trip. I would love any tips on Hotels, restaurants, or must do experiences you discover. I would be happy to share information with you as well.
Comments or suggestions from anyone would be appreciated.

 

[PHXscuba]

Of course how much you see depends on how many this you are willing to pack in a day, but I think you could fit in a couple more things.

I think you're right to focus on things you can't see near home or easily on another trip. That would knock Sea World out of a crowded schedule. My family are big animal lovers, so we'd always pick the Zoo AND Safari, but many would be happy with just one. I personally prefer the beaches of Orange County to San Diego, but it may be easier to fit in during that trip segment.

As for Legoland or Universal, are you likely to see them in a future trip to Orlando? I believe your daughters are a better age for Legoland than for Universal if I had to pick.

So with all that in mind, here's how I'd spend the trip:

Friday: Fly in, take a harbor tour (time change works in your favor)
Saturday: San Diego Zoo or Safari Park
Sunday: Beach plus ship tour etc.
Monday: Legoland, drive to OC
Tuesday: Disneyland
Wednesday: Disneyland
Thursday: Reagan Library (morning), Disneyland
Friday: Orange County beach, drive to LA area, tar pits
Saturday: Hollywood tour, Malibu, Santa Monica, etc.
Sunday: Drive to San Diego and fly home

PHXscuba

p.s. I feel your pain over so many places to go and so few years to do it with your kids. My oldest in 15 and we are almost out of years with the whole family traveling together.

 

[sonnyjane]

I could have written this post. We (my husband, sons (4 and 11), and I) are planning a trip to LA and San Diego (and are considering adding a day in Palm Springs.) We too are huge Disney fans and plan to spend a day at Disneyland (the kids have been to Disney World lots, but never Disneyland). We also want it to be more of a California trip than a disney trip.
Current Plan:
2 days in LA: Day 1: Hollywood, Santa Monica, Tar Pits etc.. Day 2isneyland
1 day in Palm Springs Aerial Tour and Jeep Tour
4 Days in San Diego: San Diego Zoo, Sea World, Old Town, Lego World, La Jolle Beach, Catalina Island (maybe)
1 day remains unplanned

We our planning to go in Mid to late May. Our kids are about the same ages and we it seems as if we are planning the same type trip. I would love any tips on Hotels, restaurants, or must do experiences you discover. I would be happy to share information with you as well.
Comments or suggestions from anyone would be appreciated.

Only one day at Disneyland seems woeful, especially for a first-time visit, even when you're not trying to have a "Disney" trip. You need at least two or three to get a taste of the parks. So many people that are used to WDW plan only one day at Disneyland because they think it's small and end up not getting to see even a fraction of the parks and being disappointed in their experience. I know a lot of people on the boards say one day at Disneyland is better than no days, and I agree with that to an extent, but I almost want to ask why even bother paying so much money for one day when you will only be able to scratch the surface!

Catalina Island is not in San Diego. You can take the ferry from Long Beach (about two hours north of here). Old Town and La Jolla can be done in the same day.

 

[kathie859]

I wanted to cast a vote for the LaBrea Tar Pits. It was several years ago I visited--but it was so interesting! As I recall, it was very close to the Art Museum and that was worth a "look see", too.

The Santa Monica Pier at night is interesting (remember the movie "Lost Boys"?)
and I wanted to throw out seeing the Queen Mary in Long Beach--also interesting. Oh, and Catalina Island......too many choices