Dland then SDiego Zoo?

[seajay]

If we also wanted to add San Diego Zoo (want their up close and personal feeding tour) during our Disneyland trip.... do we take a bus down to San Diego? Do they have buses that go back and forth same day and bring you back to Anaheim?
Would it be best to rent a car, check out of our hotel, drive down, find a hotel in SD and stay a couple days - see the zoo and maybe throw in a second day at SeaWorld?

Anyone done this?
Any ideas welcome,
Seajay

 

[Chuckers]

San Diego is a beautiful city. I lived outside of Anaheim for 4 years. I would find a place to stay in San Diego. If you've got younger ones, you could also stop at Legoland on the way down.

The San Diego Zoo actually has two facilities. There's the main zoo that you're thinking of and then there's a wild animal park. I really enjoyed that park. The thing I really enjoyed was the area where you could feed the Lorkeets. I think it was $5 for a small cup of nectar and you stand in an enclosed area. The birds will come and land on you and eat directly from your hand. At one point I had five birds on me and it was so much fun.

This site leads to information and some multi park ticket savings:
http://www.goingtocalifornia.com/pages/amusement-parks/san-diego-wild-animal-park-tickets.html

 

[nikkislaght]

http://www.allanaheimtours.com/?pref=02&aid=ltg1455&gclid=CIT6ocej-78CFQimaQodxnMA-g

all Anaheim tours will take you their and bring you back.. they use coaches .
if you google tours to San Diego make sure you do from Anaheim and not LA.. if you book from LA you still have to get to LA to start the tour and that can take over an hour...

We have done both used this company for SeaWorld and LEGOLAND.. and have no complaints other than the trip cuts a lot of time otherwise spent in the park.. You don't leave their depot until 9am.
and we have hired a car and spent the day there and back. with leaving early in the AM we had more time in the parks..
I would recommend both ways depending on what you want.. its not a real big deal to drive there.. very very straight forward .
and if you want to sit back relax and let someone else do the driving then the coach is the way to go..

there are other companies that do this tour.. but the one I linked is the one we used..

Hope you have a great time

 

[bumbershoot]

Would it be best to rent a car, check out of our hotel, drive down, find a hotel in SD and stay a couple days - see the zoo and maybe throw in a second day at SeaWorld?

If you have enough time that you can do that AND really have time at Disneyland, I would do that. The zoo is huge and exhausting and can easily take all day without even seeing everything, so the idea of 1.5 hours of car rides at the beginning and end of the day just makes me a little ill.

 

[laughinplace199]

We'll be there this week! Leaving tomorrow for a few nights in DL, then driving down to San Diego for a few nights (we'll do the zoo, museums at Balboa Park, USS Midway) and then drive back to Anaheim for a few more days. Can't wait!

 

[kirstie101]

We haven't done it before but are planning to next summer. Our plan is to go to the Parks for two days. On the third day we'll drive down to SD early in the morning, go to the zoo for the entire day, spend the night with family and then have a beach day the next day. We'll return to Anaheim that evening and then finish up our trip with a couple more park days. We originally were thinking of doing the bus trip but I agree that it eats up some of your zoo time. So since we'll have the car we will just drive down there ourselves and stay the night.

 

[Maddysdaddy]

If you are planning on an overnight stay (which it appears you are as per your original post), then a car rental is an absolute must - and car rentals in California are so inexpensive (compared to what I am used to here in Canada), that I have trouble envisioning that taking a motorcoach tour would be less expensive; we've been able to rent from the agency in DTD for less than $30/day.

After all of our San Diego trips, we finally managed to make it to the zoo a few weeks back (there is just so much to do in the SD area for families), and spent a long day there, and still feel like we missed half of the park. We'd always heard how "large" the SD zoo is, but really had no idea until we arrived how much truth there was to that statement.

 

[sweethannah]

We've done the San Diego Zoo day trip from Anaheim with Greyline. They picked us up early in the morning and we returned at about 9 that night so it was a very long day. Part of the reason was traffic on the way back was brutal.

TBH I don't think I would do another long day trip like that from Anaheim unless I had time for a down day right afterwards. It definitely doesn't replace a day off from Disney like a typical pool day does and it's just as go-go-go as a Disney day. We did Universal on our last trip and that was better because the drive time to the Studio is much less than to the Zoo.

If you could arrange it I would spend a few days in San Diego to enjoy the Zoo and Sea World. It would be far more relaxing and would enable you to enjoy the time at the Zoo without thinking about the 3 hour drive/trip home.

To add a little opinion about dining. I had made reservations at Alberts for our visit because we were traveling with my elderly mom and we had a really nice meal on the shady patio. It's not as cheap as counter service but it was a nice break after doing lots of walking in the hot sun.
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/zoo/alberts/menus

 

[bumbershoot]

We'd always heard how "large" the SD zoo is, but really had no idea until we arrived how much truth there was to that statement.

It is truly astonishing as to how big it is! I think we had gone there 3 times (my brother lives in San Diego) and I was still seeing new things* on that 3rd visit. So big, so hilly! So hot at times. Did I mention the hills?


*not just new animals, but whole different areas of the park that we had never ventured into before.

 

[CassieF]

As said, it is very large and quite hilly. I have a membership and go several times a year. My suggestion is to get a hotel down there for the night then the next day you could spend at the safari park (about 45 minutes away, north and inland) before driving back to Anaheim if you can fit the extra day in. The zoo has more traditional enclosures whereas the safari park is much larger and has larger more natural enclosures. I'm actually heading down to see their new Tiger Trails next week!

At the zoo I HIGHLY recommend doing the bus tour and doing it early (I'd swing by the pandas very first as their line can get quite lengthy). It gives you a great overview of the park and you see quite a bit, although it's a brief glance, but it gives you an idea of what you want to focus your time on.