First timers trip to California, some planning help needed

[1craftymom]

We are in the process of planning a trip, mostly Disneyland but some other stops. Family is myself, dh, ds14(turns 15 during trip) & dd6. Here is our initial plan.
June 12th fly into San Diego - want to go to zoo or safari
June 13- legoland
June 14-17th DL/DCA
June 18th fly home from SNA (4:30)

Is this too ambitious?
I want to stay at one hotel first 2 nights. So maybe somewhere in between zoo & legoland. Suggestions?

As far as DL hotel goes, I would love to stay at Disneyland hotel but 4 nights is out of our budget. Considering doing 2 nights & then switching to maybe Fairfield. Or we could do 4 nights at new courtyard, thoughts?

Do we need to do dining package for WOC &/or PTN? If we do, we would probably do Aladdin's & Ariels. We want to do one character breakfast, thinking goofy's.

We will be getting a rental car in San Diego but plan to return it when we get to Disneyland. Are there locations close, which company? I was thinking I would get a city pass & then upgrade to 5 day tickets. Not planning on using sea world tickets but still think this is cost effective. Unless someone has another suggestion.
Thanks for any help.

 

[TXAKDisneyFan]

We are in the process of planning a trip, mostly Disneyland but some other stops. Family is myself, dh, ds14(turns 15 during trip) & dd6. Here is our initial plan.
June 12th fly into San Diego - want to go to zoo or safari
June 13- legoland
June 14-17th DL/DCA
June 18th fly home from SNA (4:30)

Is this too ambitious?
I want to stay at one hotel first 2 nights. So maybe somewhere in between zoo & legoland. Suggestions?

As far as DL hotel goes, I would love to stay at Disneyland hotel but 4 nights is out of our budget. Considering doing 2 nights & then switching to maybe Fairfield. Or we could do 4 nights at new courtyard, thoughts?

Do we need to do dining package for WOC &/or PTN? If we do, we would probably do Aladdin's & Ariels. We want to do one character breakfast, thinking goofy's.

We will be getting a rental car in San Diego but plan to return it when we get to Disneyland. Are there locations close, which company? I was thinking I would get a city pass & then upgrade to 5 day tickets. Not planning on using sea world tickets but still think this is cost effective. Unless someone has another suggestion.
Thanks for any help.

We just did almost your exact itinerary in March, but stayed in San Diego a couple additional days and did SW instead of Legoland (I've heard Legoland much better for toddler aged kids, and thought DH and I, and DD8, would be bored).

We arrived in San Diego around 11 am, picked up our car at the airport (you have to take a shuttle to the rental cars), and checked into our hotel near the convention center (just dropped our bags - I didn't even go inside). We picked up lunch at a drive thru, and it was probably around 2 pm by the time we got to the zoo. We had considered the safari park, but it is 35 miles from the zoo to the safari park, and all the gps estimates said it was around an hour drive from our hotel. I think the zoo closed at 6 pm; we also went to the zoo all day the next day, since we hadn't even seen half of it on our arrival day.

I personally wouldn't stay at a DLR hotel unless I had a whole bunch of money just eating a hole in my pocket. There are tons of good neighbor hotels within easy walking distance (I've also read you can hop on a shuttle from the toy story parking lot to the park if your hotel is closer to the lot than the parks). The DLR hotels don't seem as intricately themed as the ones at WDW, and Paradise Pier is just a hotel Disney bought back in 1995 and rebranded.

We kept our rental car parked at our hotel while at DLR, and returned it at LAX when we left CA (renting the car for an entire week cost less than returning it a few days earlier).

 

[luulu1999]

there is an enterprise on Harbor and I bel an alamo in Dtd

 

[endy]

Depending on what time you land you may not want to drive up to the safari park and it is very hot in afternoons. Maybe SeaWorld if you're already buying the City pass and it may be open later. SO is just minutes from airport. The next day do the zoo or safari.

I also think Legoland is for younger kids. Your 15 year old may be bored and it's a lot of money to listen to him whining after a couple of hours. Although I loved LL when my DS was younger, it is very beautiful . If you want to split up one parent and 6 year old go to LL and the others go to the beach, the outlet mall both only a few minutes away.

It may be cheaper to keep the rental for the whole trip so you can enjoy the area around DL when not in the parks and maybe drop it off at SAN. Not sure the price difference but it would save the cab fare to airport. Check on Costco for rental cars, I've gotten really great deals for both SAN and SNA.
I would stay at one motel in DL and the Disney ones are way out of my budget and couldn't justify the cost when I'm only in the room to sleep and shower.
My thoughts on the parks are 3 days is enough for me. Especially 3 days in a row. Maybe take a down day and see some other things instead of upgrading to 5 days since your last day you won't be there much after lunch.
Maybe the Angel's are in town while you're in Anaheim. I love going to games for some down time, it's only a few minutes from the parks.

 

[KCmike]

Why fly into San Diego when most of your trip is in Anaheim?

 

[gottalovepluto]

I would definitely do the SD zoo on your full day, not arrival day. Safari has already been addressed. There is so much to see we didn't even see the whole zoo in 1 day. Maybe Legoland instead on arrival day?

With 4 nights a split stay is only worth it in my book of you REALLY want a couple days at DLH. If that's the case go for it, but if you'd be ok staying off-site for 4 days and just a bit bummed then I'd stay one place for all 4 days. You'll be busy enough as it is without adding a hotel switch. (Admittedly with 2 nights onsite you get EMH, so that's nice.)

 

[smellyia]

I initially booked the new courtyard for 4 nights the week before but then saw a code on the board for cheaptickets (traveler20) and got additional 20% off DLH spring special through their site. Had to pay in full though. Orbitz also had a 15% off sale (Surfsup - I think? It's on their site). But you don't have to pay all upfront. Free cancellation up to a few days before the trip.

 

[Supplanter]

Sounds like an awesome trip. As mentioned earlier, safari park is more inland and much warmer on hot days, the zoo is close to the coast (and airport) and stays cooler. Both of them could take more than a day to see totally and are both amazing.