Anything to do nearby DL?

[eddieras]

my family will be on a 4 week cross country trip and find ourselves at DL on Sat 7-11 - only for the one day. we'll be driving into the area the day before from the Bay area. we are staying friday nite at the Park Vue.

My question is - is there much to do nearby disney - for when we arrive on friday? our plan is to drive the Pacific Coast Highway from SF south and really didn't want to rush. will we be missing much if we arrive late friday and pretty much just head to the hotel and then we'd only do the parks the following day.

thanks!

 

[dsny1mom]

my family will be on a 4 week cross country trip and find ourselves at DL on Sat 7-11 - only for the one day. we'll be driving into the area the day before from the Bay area. we are staying friday nite at the Park Vue.

My question is - is there much to do nearby disney - for when we arrive on friday? our plan is to drive the Pacific Coast Highway from SF south and really didn't want to rush. will we be missing much if we arrive late friday and pretty much just head to the hotel and then we'd only do the parks the following day.

thanks!

You could hang out in DTD if you don't want to drive anywhere. Plenty of shops, restaurants and a movie theater too.

Since you will have a car you could drive over to Knotts for an excellent chicken dinner. There are a number of neat little shops outside the park itself and the area around Mrs Knotts Chicken Dinner retaurant is old west like. It's about a 10-15 minute drive.

There is also Garden Walk. It's an outdoor mall that has shops, restaurants and a bowling alley. You can walk there for your hotel.

dsny1mom

 

[eddieras]

thanks for the suggestions!

 

[Disney Dreams]

There are SOOOOOO many things to do in the Orange County area if you have a car.

Knott's
Pirate Adventure
Medieval Times
South Coast Plaza
Comedy Club (Improv)
Angel's Game if they are in town

If you are looking for stuff to do, the list could go on and on and on. If you are looking to go to your hotel after driving the coast and rest up for the next day, that's a great plan too.

- Dreams

 

[MagicalMomAZ]

Long Beach has an aquarium & just hanging at the OC beaches is good enough for me....

 

[AmericanItGirl]

Like others have said, there's lots to see and do, but a lot of it isn't really "must-see" like the parks themselves. Sure, South Coast Plaza is nice, but it's a mall. Mrs. Knott's has great chicken (and there's a replica of Independence Hall across the street), but it's a restaurant. Point is look at your options, but don't feel the need to go out and do an itinerary as soon as you arrive, because you're not going to miss much and the 6+ hour drive from San Francisco (taking either the 101 or the 5) is long and monotonous. If anything, I suggest heading straight for the beach and just crashing there for a while (if you arrive during daylight, on this I'm a little biased because I'm more impressed by the Pacific Ocean than Lake Michigan). The nice thing about California's Orange County versus the other Orange County is that it is never hyper-packed with tourists (at least in my experience). There's plenty of stuff that you can do without having to plan in advance for.

Another place you can go is an outdoor mall in Irvine called The Spectrum (15 mins south). One thing I suggest, if you're feeling brave enough, is having a fish taco for dinner if you haven't had one before (to most Midwesterners I meet, the fish taco is a disturbing and foreign concept, but they're really tasty). There's the fresh (Wahoo's, love their Mahi Mahi rice) or the fried (Rubio's, best fish tacos imo). And, a suggestion for lunch on the way down from the Bay Area, if you plan on eating in a restaurant, would be to stop in SLO (San Luis Obispo, cute college town) if you're on the 101 or Harris Ranch (amazing beef) if you're on the 5.

 

[SeansMom]

Disneyland Californian Adventure

 

[eddieras]

Like others have said, there's lots to see and do, but a lot of it isn't really "must-see" like the parks themselves. Sure, South Coast Plaza is nice, but it's a mall. Mrs. Knott's has great chicken (and there's a replica of Independence Hall across the street), but it's a restaurant. Point is look at your options, but don't feel the need to go out and do an itinerary as soon as you arrive, because you're not going to miss much and the 6+ hour drive from San Francisco (taking either the 101 or the 5) is long and monotonous. If anything, I suggest heading straight for the beach and just crashing there for a while (if you arrive during daylight, on this I'm a little biased because I'm more impressed by the Pacific Ocean than Lake Michigan). The nice thing about California's Orange County versus the other Orange County is that it is never hyper-packed with tourists (at least in my experience). There's plenty of stuff that you can do without having to plan in advance for.

Another place you can go is an outdoor mall in Irvine called The Spectrum (15 mins south). One thing I suggest, if you're feeling brave enough, is having a fish taco for dinner if you haven't had one before (to most Midwesterners I meet, the fish taco is a disturbing and foreign concept, but they're really tasty). There's the fresh (Wahoo's, love their Mahi Mahi rice) or the fried (Rubio's, best fish tacos imo). And, a suggestion for lunch on the way down from the Bay Area, if you plan on eating in a restaurant, would be to stop in SLO (San Luis Obispo, cute college town) if you're on the 101 or Harris Ranch (amazing beef) if you're on the 5.

great stuff and really hits on my dilemma about driving the 101 - it's the journey too! i don't want to just buzz down from SF just to get to the DL area - we want to enjoy that leg of our trip.

fish tacos would be perfect - and btw - i'm from CT originally - love all seafood - definitely NOT a Midwesterner- just live in chicago!
regarding the beach - - that sounds good- anyone in particular you'd recommend? also - just so you know - i'm an ocean guy - never even been in lake michigan! any beach that has to truck their sand in to make a beach is well, not really a beach imo! yes, they truck sand in for the beaches around lake michigan! i grew up a couple blocks from the beach in CT - no pacific ocean but better than a lake! seriously- where would you recommend we go for a the beach?
thanks once again!

 

[AmericanItGirl]

great stuff and really hits on my dilemma about driving the 101 - it's the journey too! i don't want to just buzz down from SF just to get to the DL area - we want to enjoy that leg of our trip.

fish tacos would be perfect - and btw - i'm from CT originally - love all seafood - definitely NOT a Midwesterner- just live in chicago!
regarding the beach - - that sounds good- anyone in particular you'd recommend? also - just so you know - i'm an ocean guy - never even been in lake michigan! any beach that has to truck their sand in to make a beach is well, not really a beach imo! yes, they truck sand in for the beaches around lake michigan! i grew up a couple blocks from the beach in CT - no pacific ocean but better than a lake! seriously- where would you recommend we go for a the beach?
thanks once again!

Like I said about the 101, head into SLO for lunch and take a few minutes to walk around (there's a mission close to the downtown area if you're interested). A lot of us on the board have our favorite beach in SoCal. Some like Newport, others like Huntington, and still others (like myself) like Laguna. Poke around for the pluses and minuses on each beach (there's numerous threads devoted to beach days), but one point in favor of Laguna is that it has a Wahoo's within walking distance of the local access point to the beach along the PCH.

 

[Disneyland Veteran]

Definately an Angels game, those are always fun, even if your not a baseball or Angels fan. Its only a 3 min drive from DL jus down the street. I go every time.