Grand Canyon Or Disneyland First?

[jhaig]

We are planning our first family trip out west for 2017 (two adults and 16-yr old daughter). I am trying to figure out the best way to arrange things and I don't know whether we should end the trip at Disneyland or at the Grand Canyon. We would like to visit Vegas for a day, the San Diego Zoo, and maybe Sequoia while we are there as well, so we are planning at least two weeks (I don't wanna spend the whole trip driving!). Any thoughts?

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Hmmmm.... Where are you coming from? Are you driving in or flying in?

 

[jhaig]

We are coming from upstate NY and we will fly into either San Diego or Phoenix depending on where we want to start

 

[JimMIA]

Your answer may depend on where you want to stay at Grand Canyon and how availability there affects your travel plans. For Grand Canyon, including links to lodging, go to www.nps.grca

Another important factor would be whether you are round-tripping from SAN or PHX -- or flying "open-jaw" arriving at one and returning from the other. If open-jaw, be sure to check car rental drop-off charges (if any) carefully.

In both of your main destinations, Disneyland and Grand Canyon are literally the tip of the iceberg of things to see and do.

For example, we spent two weeks in northern AZ last summer, but only two nights of that was at Grand Canyon itself. We were based mostly in Sedona and Flagstaff. Our itinerary was Sedona (2 nights), Flagstaff (4 nights), Monument Valley (1 night), Grand Canyon Maswick Lodge (2 nights - canceled the 3rd we had reserved) and back to Sedona for 4 nights. In addition to Grand Canyon, we visited Sunset Crater Volcano, Walnut Canyon, Wupatki, Montezuma Castle, and Navajo National Monuments, and Monument Valley, Antelope Canyon, and Four Corners Navajo Tribal Parks...plus a couple of AZ state parks. The best two hours was Lower Antelope Canyon, the cell phone picture in my avatar. We could easily have spent another week just in northern AZ.

 

[hodad]

My vote, having done everything: Grand Canyon, Vegas, Sequoia, Monterey, drive down the coast, Disneyworld, zoo.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Since we started in Los Angeles, what we did was go to Disneyland, then drive up to San Francisco, visiting Monterey along the way, also Mission La Purísima. From San Francisco, we drove to Yosemite, spent a couple of nights, drove home, but took the scenic route through Sequioa, visiting Hume Lake for some fun down time, and then visiting the General Sherman. Got back to Los Angeles, rested the next day, then drove to Grand Canyon, spent a couple of nights there. From there you can go to Las Vegas, then down to San Diego for a couple of nights. Then finish trip in Los Angeles, visiting the sights here, and/or Disneyland again.

Whatever you decide to do, you have to build in a couple of rest days to re-energize, wash clothes, etc. Rest days could include the beach, or a sleep-in day, visit the city, early night.