Going to Disneyland, Beach Recommendations?

[DisneyLuver2013]

Hi there!
We are planning a trip a month away from now to Disneyland. We are going to be taking one day out of our trip to go on the OC Beach Tour that has the 3 beaches. I was curious to know if anyone else has gone on the beach tour and what beaches you would recommend. The beaches that the tour takes you to are Newport, Huntington, and Laguna. What beach(es) would you recommend?

Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks for your time!

 

[pmaurer74]

I have researched this a lot and everyone has different ideas. There are some threads on this on the southern California board. We considered the bus tour but DH is worried we would be stuck. He wants to be able to leave if he wants to. We are renting a car instead. Laguna is further away. I have heard that some have playgrounds but I cannot remember which ones.

here is the thread:

http://www.disboards.com/threads/which-beach-for-kids.3381823/

 

[SMorgan711]

We were at Huntington Beach and we loved it! When researching, we were deciding between Newport/Huntington/Laguna. We decided on Huntington since it was a little cheaper than Newport (we were staying overnight). Our plan was to lunch in Laguna and then go to Huntington but we just went to the latter to spend most of our time there. We ate at Duke's which was right at the beach near the pier and walked around. It was a cute beach! It's also nicknamed Surf City USA!

 

[starjazz]

Huntington is nice, lots of cute shops and restaurants. Beach is big. Its just a wide swath of sand. There's a nice pier there, and the waves are decent for boarding. Just north of Huntington Beach, there's another little spot - can't recall what its called, but its literally like 2-3 miles up the PCH. That is a great spot because there are rocky area to climb around on, and a little more topography. Further up the PCH is Seal Beach - this is like a mini-Huntington. They have a pier as well, nice beach area, cute downtown, but just basically smaller and a bit less posh than Huntington. Anything beyond those two, and you'll be driving for 45 minutes or more depending on traffic.

 

[tiffjoy]

Huntington is nice. We went there last year in August for the first time on a DLR trip. Our only issue was the wind. We are from the Bay Area and are all too familiar with windy beach days, but when we go to SoCal, we like it nice and warm. Nothing anyone can do about it- it was just the day. But we ended up leaving after just two hours because the wind was just insane and we can get that at home. You might consider that when booking a tour vs renting a car. Otherwise, it's a very pretty beach, nice sand, and big. I like Newport beach, as well, but there is something about Huntington as a tourist that feels really cool since it's a famous LA beach. I do think this summer, we will stick to Newport or Laguna, though.

 

[freckles04]

Interested to read replies. We booked the OC Beach Tour for our trip in July.

 

[Disney127]

We were going to do the OC Beach tour too in July but worried that we wouldn't have enough time to do everything that we wanted to. So, now we have rented a car and will be driving to Huntington Beach. I haven't driven in Orange County before and hubby is not coming along for this trip so it should be interesting!

 

[nancy drew]

What OC Beach Tour are you all talking about? We would love to do something like this, and looked into it on our last trip, but couldn't connect with the tour company that had been recommended. Do you have a link or contact info for this tour? I'd be so excited to make this happen if we go this summer!

 

[freckles04]

What OC Beach Tour are you all talking about? We would love to do something like this, and looked into it on our last trip, but couldn't connect with the tour company that had been recommended. Do you have a link or contact info for this tour? I'd be so excited to make this happen if we go this summer!

This is the company we booked with. I hope the link is allowed. https://www.anaheimtourcompany.com/

 

[nancy drew]

Thanks!!!

 

[DisneyLuver2013]

We were going to do the OC Beach tour too in July but worried that we wouldn't have enough time to do everything that we wanted to. So, now we have rented a car and will be driving to Huntington Beach. I haven't driven in Orange County before and hubby is not coming along for this trip so it should be interesting!

Oooh, that should be interesting... Well, I wish you good luck!!!

 

[DisneyLuver2013]

Thanks for all the suggestions!