SD Zoo, DL, San Francisco...Help!!

[lisatx04]

Let me start by saying I am a WDW veteran and have only been to San Francisco once. Am in the early stages of planning a trip for June 2014 for me, DD17 and DS 15. Must do's on our trip are the San Diego Zoo, DL and San Francisco since DD wants to go to Alcatraz and I have a dear friend who lives in a SF suburb.

My dates are flexible but I would like to go in June. I would also like to travel the Pacific Coast Highway so my kids can see some of the coast.

I was originally thinking of flying into SF, spending a weekend in SF,driving to Anaheim and spending 4 days there then driving to San Diego for 3 days and then flying home. Do you think it matters if I reverse it? I am just thinking of traffic. Is 4 days enough in DL? Is 3 days too many in San Diego?

I am thinking of staying at a Good Neighbor Hotel near DL and have gotten some suggestions on this board. Need to research hotels in San Francisco and San Diego next.

Any ideas or thoughts you guys have that would help would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks!!

 

[alex881]

Since your dates are flexible I don't think it matters where you start/end.

For Alcatraz, make sure you get tickets early-try sell out weeks to potentially a month or more out in summer.

We just drove the coast and I'd think about how much time you want to spend on that as well. We spent 2 nights between LA and SF (San Luis Obispo and Monterrey) and felt rushed. Especially through Big Sur...just so many places we could stop to hike and see cool beaches. You can go note quickly and you'll have more daylight in summer vs winter so that'll help but it's a terrific drive.

3 days in SD isn't too much. Besides the zoo you can explore Balboa park, Old town, the USS Midway, Coronado Island, La Jolla, and a ton of other stuff. Plus you could spend some time at the beach (not sure where you're coming from). It may not be super warm yet but still nice to be in the ocean.

Have a blast.

 

[DLfan4]

We went to Disneyland/California Adventure during the slow season, and 3 days were perfect. you are going during a busier time, so I would guess 4 days are good.

if your only doing the Zoo, then you could easily drive to/from San Diego back to Anaheim the same day.

 

[WiganTony]

We visited both San Diego and Anaheim in August. We had four full days in Dan Diego, and felt this really wasn't enough!!

in SD, we had a day in La Jolla where we also did a Segway Tour (discounted via Groupon), a day at the Zoo Safari Park at Escondido (again discounted but with Living Social), a day's touring SD using the Old Town Trolley service, and a day shopping at Fashion Valley plus lazing around the hotel pool prior to hitting Disneyland. We didn't get near to Balboa Park (which as well as the zoo has several museums), and we would have liked to have spent time at Coronado Beach.

We stayed at the Best Western Island Palms on Shelter Island, which is around a 15 minute drive to Seaport Village (near to the Gaslamp Quarter), although there is a bus to the Old Town Transit Center where you change to the tram to get downtown.

We then moved up to Anaheim where we had 5 full days. We had a 3 day Disney Ticket with hopping option, that also gave us one early entrance. Although Touring Plans was suggesting our days would be quite high crowd levels, we were pleasantly surprised that it appeared less busy than WDW at the same time of year, and the three days was more than enough for us.

There is also the option of taking a bus tour to Los Angeles, something that we did consider, but ended up driving over to Newport Beach one day, and visiting the Ventura County Fair another day, between our days at DLR/DCA.

We stayed at the Ho Jo on Harbor Drive, only a 10 minute walk to the park entrances. Room was fine - quite spacious with the usual fridge, microwave and a good coffee machine. Quite a few restaurants in the vicinity as well, so no need for staying in the parks to eat - again, less than 10 minutes walk to a number of restaurants.

HTH.

 

[jonsmom57]

Let me start by saying I am a WDW veteran and have only been to San Francisco once. Am in the early stages of planning a trip for June 2014 for me, DD17 and DS 15. Must do's on our trip are the San Diego Zoo, DL and San Francisco since DD wants to go to Alcatraz and I have a dear friend who lives in a SF suburb.

My dates are flexible but I would like to go in June. I would also like to travel the Pacific Coast Highway so my kids can see some of the coast.

I was originally thinking of flying into SF, spending a weekend in SF,driving to Anaheim and spending 4 days there then driving to San Diego for 3 days and then flying home. Do you think it matters if I reverse it? I am just thinking of traffic. Is 4 days enough in DL? Is 3 days too many in San Diego?

I am thinking of staying at a Good Neighbor Hotel near DL and have gotten some suggestions on this board. Need to research hotels in San Francisco and San Diego next.

Any ideas or thoughts you guys have that would help would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks!!

Lisa,

I also am a WDW Veteran planning a trip to So. California. We are flying into San Francisco and will stay for 3 nights, doing the usually touristy stuff. We are then driving to Anaheim via the Pacific Coastal Highway, staying one night @ Pismo Beach. When we arrive at Anaheim we are staying @ the Candy Cane Inn. We stayed there on our first trip to DL 5 years ago. Its a great hotel, with a fabulous continental breakfast and clean rooms. Its an easy walk to DL and they also provide a shuttle.

We will be there for 3 nights. One day in DL, one in DCA. One travelling to Warner Bros/Sony for a tour.

We are then driving to San Diego. Doing SeaWorld, Trolley Tour, Beach Day & Balboa Park. We will then fly home from San Diego.

If I can give you any help. Let me know. Its very different planning a WDW trip than DL Trip. That's for sure.

Joanne

 

[MondaysChild]

Lisa,

I also am a WDW Veteran planning a trip to So. California.

Joanne

Joanne, we have almost the same itinerary for a potential July trip if I can score some decent airfare. Sounds like you have a great trip planned!! I am thinking of pricelining hotels all the way down except for Anaheim where I was thinking of renting dvc if avail.

Good luck!

 

[jonsmom57]

Joanne, we have almost the same itinerary for a potential July trip if I can score some decent airfare. Sounds like you have a great trip planned!! I am thinking of pricelining hotels all the way down except for Anaheim where I was thinking of renting dvc if avail.

Good luck!

I bought airfare in September - right at the 330 day mark of our return. We got airfare for $349 p/p. Not bad at all. We are flying United non-stop from Boston to SFO and then returning from San Diego on United. Its cheaper to fly round trip as opposed to one way fares.

We always plan early - flights always seem to get higher.

We are travelling with my cousin's family - they don't get to travel very often so we were looking for clean, hotels. All of our hotels are under $150 including breakfast.

We did book an apartment in San Francisco in Fisherman's Wharf. Splitting the cost made it a no brainer. I used VRBO.

 

[MondaysChild]

Our airfare is pricing out about 379-388 right now. Actually not horrible! Waiting on southwest to open up flights since I prefer flying with them and we have some points coming to us. Only trouble is we are in nj and non stop flights for southwest come from Baltimore not Philadelphia...may have to do a little baltimore aquarium trip first! I did a similar trip 10 years ago and used Priceline and hotwire for all except a little place called Asilomar near pacific grove. I stayed in 4stars for no more than 100 per night...hoping inflation won't be too bad! It's a great trip. My girl loves Sea world so we will need to save San Diego for last!

 

[tzeitel]

We are WDW vets as well. On our first trip to Anaheim we spent 4 days at DLR (3 would have been fine but we did the Halloween party). One day we drove to Sea World - left before 9AM, spent the whole day at SW and back to Anaheim by 7PM.
We stayed at HoJo and the room was huge, it was close to DLR and a bunch of restaurants.

Then we did a San Diego only trip - it was 4 days and we missed some stuff, so of course we are planning another trip Click on my signature f you would like some quick reviews on the hotel we stayed at and the restaurants we visited on that trip.

Our next trip will be a SF to SD roadtrip - I used to live in SF but DH has never been so we will probably spend most of our time there.

 

[jonsmom57]

Our airfare is pricing out about 379-388 right now. Actually not horrible! Waiting on southwest to open up flights since I prefer flying with them and we have some points coming to us. Only trouble is we are in nj and non stop flights for southwest come from Baltimore not Philadelphia...may have to do a little baltimore aquarium trip first! I did a similar trip 10 years ago and used Priceline and hotwire for all except a little place called Asilomar near pacific grove. I stayed in 4stars for no more than 100 per night...hoping inflation won't be too bad! It's a great trip. My girl loves Sea world so we will need to save San Diego for last!

The airfare is not terrible at all. When will Southwest open their schedule. I hate waiting for that. I like flying with them as well as JetBlue. But their prices (especially WDW) are so so high.

I love SeaWorld too. Let me know how your planning comes along.

Joanne

 

[jonsmom57]

We are WDW vets as well. On our first trip to Anaheim we spent 4 days at DLR (3 would have been fine but we did the Halloween party). One day we drove to Sea World - left before 9AM, spent the whole day at SW and back to Anaheim by 7PM.
We stayed at HoJo and the room was huge, it was close to DLR and a bunch of restaurants.

Then we did a San Diego only trip - it was 4 days and we missed some stuff, so of course we are planning another trip Click on my signature f you would like some quick reviews on the hotel we stayed at and the restaurants we visited on that trip.

Our next trip will be a SF to SD roadtrip - I used to live in SF but DH has never been so we will probably spend most of our time there.

Tzeital,

We have done one trip to DL and that was almost 5 years ago. We spent 3 days @ DL. That was enough for us I thought.

Then we headed to San Diego. What are your plans for SD? We did the Zoo, SeaWorld, the Trolley Tour. We stayed on Shelter Island, which was nice, but quite a distance from everything. We had no car. We used public transportation.