Give up a day in DL to stay in San Diego?

[candy0730]

I need some help figuring out our SD/DL trip. We have been to WDW 3 times but this will be our first visit to DL.

Our plans are to fly into LAX on Saturday 3/17/11 11:00 am and depart for home on 3/24/11 at 6:00 pm (the flights are cheaper and the car rental is cheaper at LAX). We are going to drive to San Diego and spend the night there. Initially I was thinking we would visit La Jolla the day we arrive, go to Sea World on Sunday then drive to Anaheim Sunday night. We would then have 5 full days Monday-Saturday (6pm flight home) at Disneyland.

Now I am thinking that I would like to do a whale watching cruise in San Diego. Should we stay in SD a second night and do the cruise on Monday? That would leave us with 4 full days and part of Saturday at DL. Or do you think 5 full days in DL would be better since it is Spring Break time?

What would traffic be like on a Monday at around 4pm from SD to Anaheim? Probably not good I assume.

Is there a good whale watching cruise closer to Anaheim? If there is we can still leave for Anaheim Sunday night and spend one afternoon during the week whale watching instead of going to the parks.

 

[gabsandalex]

I adore San Diego and can think of tons of things I could do there in an extra day. With that being said, if a whale watching cruise is what you want to do, I would keep to your current plan to drive north on Sunday evening and try to find a whale watching excursion closer to Anaheim...perhaps Newport Beach, Laguna Beach or Long Beach? I suspect Sunday evening traffic would be much better than Monday evening traffic too.

 

[skiingfast]

If you could leave SD at 3 on Monday the drive would be ok. If 4 it will be painful.

With 4+ days at DL that should work out fine

I agree with the above, you may want to look at whale watching cruises around LA as well. You might want to do DL for a couple days, break it up with whale watching, then get another couple days at DL.

 

[croppincolburn]

That late in the season I'd do one of the longer whale watching tours. JMHO There are lots of other fun activities you can do on the water.

(lived there till I was 37 which but I'm only 39

 

[mouseymommy]

My Dh and I have planned a whale watching tour out of Newport Beach through Davey's Locker. I even found a coupon for $13 a person! It is normally about $35. I read the google reviews, and they seem pretty good.

 

[skiingfast]

My Dh and I have planned a whale watching tour out of Newport Beach through Davey's Locker. I even found a coupon for $13 a person! It is normally about $35. I read the google reviews, and they seem pretty good.

That reminded me, there is currently a Whale Watching coupon in the link below. I've seen other companies have offers in this link, but the offers vary.

http://anaheimoc.org/coupons

 

[mirage0306]

I need some help figuring out our SD/DL trip. We have been to WDW 3 times but this will be our first visit to DL.

Our plans are to fly into LAX on Saturday 3/17/11 11:00 am and depart for home on 3/24/11 at 6:00 pm (the flights are cheaper and the car rental is cheaper at LAX). We are going to drive to San Diego and spend the night there. Initially I was thinking we would visit La Jolla the day we arrive, go to Sea World on Sunday then drive to Anaheim Sunday night. We would then have 5 full days Monday-Saturday (6pm flight home) at Disneyland.

Now I am thinking that I would like to do a whale watching cruise in San Diego. Should we stay in SD a second night and do the cruise on Monday? That would leave us with 4 full days and part of Saturday at DL. Or do you think 5 full days in DL would be better since it is Spring Break time?

What would traffic be like on a Monday at around 4pm from SD to Anaheim? Probably not good I assume.

Is there a good whale watching cruise closer to Anaheim? If there is we can still leave for Anaheim Sunday night and spend one afternoon during the week whale watching instead of going to the parks.

Holy heck, if you value your sanity at all, do NOT do this!!

 

[DSNY4ever]

If it were me I would do La Jolla, the zoo, and balboa park or the wild animal park and skip Sea World. Have you already been to the one in Orlando? San diego is so gorgeous, I would see the stuff you can't see elsewhere first. You only need about 3 full Disneyland days. I don't know anything about the whale watching cruises though.

 

[candy0730]

Thank you all for the helpful information. The main point of our visit is DL but since I started planning this trip I have discovered San Diego and thought it would be fun to spend some time there. Unfortunately we only have a week so I guess it comes down to prioritizing what we want to do.

I adore San Diego and can think of tons of things I could do there in an extra day. With that being said, if a whale watching cruise is what you want to do, I would keep to your current plan to drive north on Sunday evening and try to find a whale watching excursion closer to Anaheim...perhaps Newport Beach, Laguna Beach or Long Beach? I suspect Sunday evening traffic would be much better than Monday evening traffic too.

I have always wanted to see whales in their natural habitat so that is high up on my list of things to do. I wish we had a week to stay in SD to do some of the neat stuff there is to do.

If you could leave SD at 3 on Monday the drive would be ok. If 4 it will be painful.

With 4+ days at DL that should work out fine

I agree with the above, you may want to look at whale watching cruises around LA as well. You might want to do DL for a couple days, break it up with whale watching, then get another couple days at DL.

I was thinking of breaking up our DL days with the whale watching. I was thinking we could spend the morning at the park and then do an afternoon cruise.

That late in the season I'd do one of the longer whale watching tours. JMHO There are lots of other fun activities you can do on the water.

(lived there till I was 37 which but I'm only 39

Can you elaborate about the fun activities?

That reminded me, there is currently a Whale Watching coupon in the link below. I've seen other companies have offers in this link, but the offers vary.

http://anaheimoc.org/coupons

Thanks!

Holy heck, if you value your sanity at all, do NOT do this!!

Good advice. Thanks!

If it were me I would do La Jolla, the zoo, and balboa park or the wild animal park and skip Sea World. Have you already been to the one in Orlando? San diego is so gorgeous, I would see the stuff you can't see elsewhere first. You only need about 3 full Disneyland days. I don't know anything about the whale watching cruises though.

We have never been to Sea World. Initially I was planning on the zoo since I have read so many wonderful things about it but I thought SW would be more fun for my 6 year old. He does love the zoo but at his age a zoo is a zoo. Which things in Balboa park would you recommend? I have read about Reuben H. Fleet Science Center and that sounds very cool.

 

[ColoradoMom!!]

What a wonderful fun trip! We made the drive from SD to DL on Sunday Dec. 18th around noon, and encountered very little traffic - but that was Sunday at noon! The traffic from DL to LAX blew our mind - we left about 6:30 on a Thurs. night, and still hit lots of standstill traffic - so be prepared with a 6 pm departure, you may not get too much time in the park that day.

The best thing about having a car is freedom!! SO - if you come back on Monday, drive halfway, hit a great beach - say Laguna - grab some dinner - and then drive the rest of the way after 7.

Personally I think 3-4 days at DLR is good, but we stay all day.

Oh, and check out the City Pass if you do Sea World and DL - I thought it was a good deal.

Have fun!!

 

[dabrosis]

You've already gotten some really go advice above, especially when it comes to the traffic in SoCal (which is just as bad as everyone says).

I just wanted to throw in my opinion that right now Disneyland Resort (Disneyland & CA Adventure) is in the middle of so much construction that three days is really a fair amount of time to see/do everything, assuming you're planning full days at the parks. CA Adventure especially feels like a half day park lately and until this summer when Cars Land and the new main entrance area opens it will stay that way.

Just my opinion, anyway, but after many trips to WDW and now living by Disneyland, the amount of time to "do everything" in California isn't nearly as great as that of in Florida. However it shakes out, I'm sure you'll have a great trip!

 

[Brady's Mom]

Spring Break can be VERY crowded. We've been during our kid's spring break and vowed to never do it again!

I would strongly encourage as many days in DLR as you can (5 is good when it's that crowded) and take the afternoon to go whale watching. That will very likely rejuvenate you.

We find we get overloaded with the high crowds and taking an afternoon out of the parks mid-visit works really great for us. We are in Utah - so no beach for us - so we hit the beach one afternoon after we've been in DLR since opening. It gives us a chance to relax and hit somewhere off-site for dinner. If we feel up to it and DLR is open late we go back to the parks with FP in hand and hit up a few rides at night. That way we feel like we've gotten our money's worth out of our tickets, but still enjoyed doing something else.

 

[croppincolburn]

You asked what fun thing there are in San Diego. As was mentioned the zoo is wonderful "world famous." It is also a registered botanic garden. Birch aquarium in La Jolla is good if you want something smaller than Sea World. I like a harbour cruise or to go sailing, preferably with someone else in command. (I took lessons but I stink) A little farther up from La Jolla is Del Mar, home of my favorite restaurants (Jakes and Pacifica Del Mar) and just down the road from Torry Pines state park.

We will be there the week after you, before and after DL. I tell you, it is really rough going home to San Diego to visit my family.

 

[KCmike]

Where are you staying in San Diego? A visit to the historic Hotel Del Coronado would be fun. Think of the Grand Floridian before the GF existed. A historic landmark hotel that all presidents and many other famous people have stayed at. It's right on the ocean and is so much fun!

 

[Mugglemama]

We've done a whale watching tour out of Redondo Beach. RB is about half an hour from DLR, if you don't have to deal with too much traffic. It was about $25 per person, but that was 15 years ago.

There should be a whale-watching tour in Long Beach....right?

IMHO, I would say go ahead and plan the extra activity in lieu of one of your DLR days. We were just in the parks for 3 days, but packed Chinatown and Olvera Street into the day prior to arriving at the parks, on our drive down. I'm so glad we did! Even on a crowded day...if you're not trying to accommodate huge group or ride everything 5 times each, 4 days (plus you said you'd have part of Saturday, too?) is enough time to do just about everything at DLR.

Our 3 days this time was done entirely without an itinerary (something I haven't done in *years*), and we were able to do less in the parks because of it. On a "normal" trip though, it would have been plenty of time for us because I would have had a plan. Without a plan, I wouldn't expect to be able to do everything in 4 days (because a lot of time gets spent just wandering around figuring out what to do next).

On our trip previous to this one, I had to plan for a party of TEN people (six children!), including my MIL who had to be pushed in a wheelchair the entire time. It was smack dab in the middle of Summer, so obviously very crowded. We rode everything we wanted to (multiple times), saw F! and the fireworks, and we were only doing partial days. We would have had to give up some extra ride time if we'd wanted to fit in a parade, WOC, or Aladdin....but we ended up opting for ride time, instead. Still, it could have been done.

My experience has been that with thoughtful planning, you can fit in what you want to in 4 days, even when it's busy.

 

[candy0730]

What a wonderful fun trip! We made the drive from SD to DL on Sunday Dec. 18th around noon, and encountered very little traffic - but that was Sunday at noon! The traffic from DL to LAX blew our mind - we left about 6:30 on a Thurs. night, and still hit lots of standstill traffic - so be prepared with a 6 pm departure, you may not get too much time in the park that day.

The best thing about having a car is freedom!! SO - if you come back on Monday, drive halfway, hit a great beach - say Laguna - grab some dinner - and then drive the rest of the way after 7.

Personally I think 3-4 days at DLR is good, but we stay all day.

Oh, and check out the City Pass if you do Sea World and DL - I thought it was a good deal.

Have fun!!

Thanks and I appreciate the info about the traffic. The last thing I want to do is sit on the freeway for hours. I think staying all day will be pushing it with a 6 year old so we are planning on mid day breaks.

You've already gotten some really go advice above, especially when it comes to the traffic in SoCal (which is just as bad as everyone says).

I just wanted to throw in my opinion that right now Disneyland Resort (Disneyland & CA Adventure) is in the middle of so much construction that three days is really a fair amount of time to see/do everything, assuming you're planning full days at the parks. CA Adventure especially feels like a half day park lately and until this summer when Cars Land and the new main entrance area opens it will stay that way.

Just my opinion, anyway, but after many trips to WDW and now living by Disneyland, the amount of time to "do everything" in California isn't nearly as great as that of in Florida. However it shakes out, I'm sure you'll have a great trip!

Curious as to why you think DCA is a half day park. Even with the construction aren't all the rides and shows still happening? I didn't see many refurbs going on but may have to re-think the plan if DCA doesn't take a lot of time.

Spring Break can be VERY crowded. We've been during our kid's spring break and vowed to never do it again!

I would strongly encourage as many days in DLR as you can (5 is good when it's that crowded) and take the afternoon to go whale watching. That will very likely rejuvenate you.

We find we get overloaded with the high crowds and taking an afternoon out of the parks mid-visit works really great for us. We are in Utah - so no beach for us - so we hit the beach one afternoon after we've been in DLR since opening. It gives us a chance to relax and hit somewhere off-site for dinner. If we feel up to it and DLR is open late we go back to the parks with FP in hand and hit up a few rides at night. That way we feel like we've gotten our money's worth out of our tickets, but still enjoyed doing something else.

I wasn't too nervous about the crowds until I read this. We are used to going to WDW in September when crowds are low. I guess we better be mentally prepared for all the people.

I agree that it will be a good idea to break up the park days doing something less hectic. Thanks for the advice.

You asked what fun thing there are in San Diego. As was mentioned the zoo is wonderful "world famous." It is also a registered botanic garden. Birch aquarium in La Jolla is good if you want something smaller than Sea World. I like a harbour cruise or to go sailing, preferably with someone else in command. (I took lessons but I stink) A little farther up from La Jolla is Del Mar, home of my favorite restaurants (Jakes and Pacifica Del Mar) and just down the road from Torry Pines state park.

We will be there the week after you, before and after DL. I tell you, it is really rough going home to San Diego to visit my family.

Wow, some great ideas! Is Jakes and Pacifica Del Mar kid friendly? The menu looks great.

Where are you staying in San Diego? A visit to the historic Hotel Del Coronado would be fun. Think of the Grand Floridian before the GF existed. A historic landmark hotel that all presidents and many other famous people have stayed at. It's right on the ocean and is so much fun!

We are staying at Hampton Inn San Diego-Kearny Mesa. I checked the website for Hotel Del Coronado and it looks gorgeous!

We've done a whale watching tour out of Redondo Beach. RB is about half an hour from DLR, if you don't have to deal with too much traffic. It was about $25 per person, but that was 15 years ago.

There should be a whale-watching tour in Long Beach....right?

IMHO, I would say go ahead and plan the extra activity in lieu of one of your DLR days. We were just in the parks for 3 days, but packed Chinatown and Olvera Street into the day prior to arriving at the parks, on our drive down. I'm so glad we did! Even on a crowded day...if you're not trying to accommodate huge group or ride everything 5 times each, 4 days (plus you said you'd have part of Saturday, too?) is enough time to do just about everything at DLR.

Our 3 days this time was done entirely without an itinerary (something I haven't done in *years*), and we were able to do less in the parks because of it. On a "normal" trip though, it would have been plenty of time for us because I would have had a plan. Without a plan, I wouldn't expect to be able to do everything in 4 days (because a lot of time gets spent just wandering around figuring out what to do next).

On our trip previous to this one, I had to plan for a party of TEN people (six children!), including my MIL who had to be pushed in a wheelchair the entire time. It was smack dab in the middle of Summer, so obviously very crowded. We rode everything we wanted to (multiple times), saw F! and the fireworks, and we were only doing partial days. We would have had to give up some extra ride time if we'd wanted to fit in a parade, WOC, or Aladdin....but we ended up opting for ride time, instead. Still, it could have been done.

My experience has been that with thoughtful planning, you can fit in what you want to in 4 days, even when it's busy.

Sounds like you are an awesome DL planner. I saw your mini trip report and can't wait to read the rest. Thank you for putting my mind at ease about what we should be able to accomplish in just 4 days. Like I said above we are used to going to WDW during slow season so DL in peak season is a little overwhelming.