Anyone plan a california vacation?

[proud_canadian]

I am thinking I'd like to try DLR for our next trip instead of orlando. Was thinking of doing 3ish days at disney, and then maybe legoland and knotss or something else.

How would you spend a week in California? Where would you stay? Would you change hotels part way through? Would you rent a car for all or part of the time? If not, how do you get to your hotels? Is there anywhere you can stay for reasonably priced (even if longer drives) with kitchens?

 

[3monkeys4me]

We are from MN but I grew up in Northern CA. This summer we are flying into Northern CA for a short family visit and then driving down to San Diego. We are staying in San Diego for 5 days and going to visit the beach, the USS Midway, Seaworld, Legoland and the San Diego Zoo. I'd also like to get some shopping in but we will see how that goes. We ended up getting the San Diego 3 day Go! card from Costco. We booked a room at the Hawthorne suites since their two room suite was reasonably priced. We will then go to DL for 2 1/2 days. I would have liked to stay at DL for 3-4 days but we need to get back to No. CA for a wedding. We will be renting a car for the whole time we are in CA, we just prefer to have our ow vehicle available to us.

Have fun with your trip planning!

 

[maggieb9975]

Hey fellow canuck!

This is what we have planned it may help u with yours

Myself and DD age 19 we are from a small town and driving in California gives me heart palpitations!! so this is our non driving plans.

July 12 fly out of Toronto to LAX. Take super shutle for $43 to Hilton Universal for 3 nights. Do Universal Studios VIP tour, A Day in LA tour

July 15 take town car to Disneyland Hotel $112
July 20 take Amtrak train to San Diego $54
stay at Pacific Terrace Hotel for 5 nights. Do San Diego zoo, SeaWorld.
July 25 fly out of San Diego aiport back to Toronto.

This could be shorter but we wanted to do Disneyland leisurely and the hotel in San Diego is right on the water so want to enjoy some sun and sand!

 

[skiingfast]

I am thinking I'd like to try DLR for our next trip instead of orlando. Was thinking of doing 3ish days at disney, and then maybe legoland and knotss or something else.

How would you spend a week in California? Where would you stay? Would you change hotels part way through? Would you rent a car for all or part of the time? If not, how do you get to your hotels? Is there anywhere you can stay for reasonably priced (even if longer drives) with kitchens?

Above you got a good example of how to do a big trip.
Rent a car, switch hotel for the LA and SD parts of the trip.

If you don't want to drive it's possible but not simple. You can do a combination of taxis and trains. If you don't want to change hotels you can do package bus/ticket trips. http://tours.coachamerica.com/graylineanaheim/toursAna.cfm
I just wouldn't want to take this bus twice on the long drive to San Diego.

LL is great for kids in the 3-7 age group. If you have older kids, not very good.
Knott's is great for older kids. It has a lot of rollercoasters, it's kind of like a 6 flags with older historical part of the park too. It's ok for younger kids.
Disney is for kids of all ages, birth to death.

In SD things like the Zoo, Seaworld, Safari Park, USS Midway is really cool if part of the family likes aviation.

 

[Huff]

We always drive to California so always have a car. For a week stay we plan a several days in San Diego and a the rest of the week at Disneyland.

While in San Diego we visit Seaworld, Zoo, Beach and possibily the Safari park. The Safari park is

We get the Seaworld Funcard which costs the same as a 1 day pass. It allows unlimited visits for the rest of the year with few blackouts. We spend one full day at Seaworld but like to head back for nights after the beach or zoo.

We enjoy Mission Beach near Seaworld. It has typical beach shops, restaurants, life guards and showers. Theres a small old fashioned amusement park there as well.

Legoland is near San Diego and is fun if you have kids under about age 8. Older kids will not enjoy it.