Have you done Anneheim and San Diego?

[lilpixie]

My family is planning a trip to DL -- but now my girls are completely obsessed with going to Sea World also. Originally I had thought we could go to Sea World/San Diego in summer and DL in fall. Then I wondered if we should just combine the 2. Would that be way too crazy to do DL first and then drive to San Diego and do SW and then stay over night there? Has anyone else done both -- let me know your stragegies if you have some great tips!!
thanks!

 

[Mom2micayla]

We've done both a couple of times. We actually usually do SW in the middle of our DLR vacations. Our thinking is that it's a nice break for the kids from Disney and then they get to look forward to that the next day. SW is about 1.5 hours away. So we'd just get up and on the road about 2 hours before SW opened. Then we'd spend the day there and head back to our hotel by DLR. Sometimes we'd eat in San Diego for dinner, other times Anaheim. Just depended on how long we spent at Sea World that day.

But anyway, yes it's totally doable. The drive, barring any major accidents or construction, isn't that bad between the two. It's fun to drive down the coast and see the ocean.

 

[amw]

For our vacation, we're planning 6 days in Anaheim and 6 days in San Diego. On the San Diego leg, we're going to visit SeaWorld, the Zoo, Legoland, Balboa Park, and the beaches. It'll be the easy, relaxing end of our trip. And, if it's completely boring, we can always jet back up to DL for a fix

 

[CindyH]

But for my family, I'd do Sea World first, then DL. I know that if we did it the other way, the entire time at Sea World (while they're having loads of fun, mind you) the kids would be asking "When are we going back to DL?"

When we were at Legoland in December, they loved it, but again, DS5 kept asking "When are we going to DL?"

 

[azgal81]

Yes we did both of them a few years ago you might want to look into the www.citypass.com. We had a break day in between DL and the san diego stuff so we wouldn't be all burnt out. We did the zoo as well and knott's because that was part of the citypass at the time but now I believe it is universal.

 

[blackjackdelta]

We did both last year in a weeks vacation time. Seaworld was extremely busy but well worth the drive down Left at 0600 from Anaheim and came back around 2300. Spent the next day shopping and park hopping in a non-commando way.

Jack

 

[MATTERHORN]

But for my family, I'd do Sea World first, then DL. I know that if we did it the other way, the entire time at Sea World (while they're having loads of fun, mind you) the kids would be asking "When are we going back to DL?"

When we were at Legoland in December, they loved it, but again, DS5 kept asking "When are we going to DL?"

CANNOT AGREE MORE!! We absolutely must do the San Diego portion first on our combined trips. We love Sea World and the Zoo, but for us we have to save the best for last. I would be dissapointed and not want to head down to San Diego if I knew my Disney portion was over!!! I would probably change my mind and stay at DL the whole time

I like the San Diego portion first and I know I still have Disney to look forward to after all the animal fun at Sea World and the Zoo.


Andrea

 

[kelmac284]

We are doing this exact vacation this June. We are going straight to SD first since it is the farthest away (we live in Northern CA) and we plan to spend all day Saturday driving straight down then going to the zoo on Sunday, Sea World on Monday and on Tues we may go to the WAP, tour SD or just head straight back up to DL. Haven't made a final decision yet. But regardless we plan to be in Anaheim by Tuesday night and then we plan on spending 2 days at DL and one day at Knotts.

We go to DL a lot and really don't NEED to go to DL again BUT we just can't go all the way down there and NOT go to DL LOL.

In fact my mom and I are taking the girls in 2 weeks but dh isn't going with us and if we didn't go in June we would not be going back till Oct so you know we just HAVE to go

I personally like to go down and stay over down there so I am not doing all the driving and touring in one day but I think it IS doable and last time my mom and I took the kids to SD we did a few days in SD and then skipped our last day there and did 1 day at DL. Couldn't pass it up LOL and just flew back out of OC instead of SD. So it is DEF doable!!

 

[nun69]

we are doing this same trip in Mar-April...going to get to San Diego (since we are driving from WA) on Mar 29th and do SeaWorld on the 30th and Zoo on the 31st and then head to DL on the 1st...I figure my kids won't want to leave DL to go to San DIgoe so we figure we will work our way up to DL....

 

[melmacd]

On our last trip to DL, we went down to Seaworld and just did the tour so neither of us had to worry about having to actually do the driving. Bus picked us up from the hotel in the morning and dropped us off in the evening. Having to get up early didn't seem to matter much since we could rest during the trip.

We chose to go in the middle of our vacation... spent three days at DL, then went to Seaworld... then back to DL for two days. It was nice to break up the trip a little, take things at a slower pace.

On our trip in April, our itinerary will look the same.

Hope that helps!

~mel

 

[TinkBellRellaMom]

We are doing both in 3 1/2 weeks with the So Cal Citypass. Except, we are doing the Disneyland portion first. We will be in Anaheim for 5 nights and then San Diego for 2 nights. I am hoping that the sadness of leaving Disneyland will be helped out a bit by looking forward to Sea World, the Zoo and the ocean. I am hoping that the San Diego portion will be a bit more relaxing.

 

[victorandbellasmom]

We did this trip in Oct '05 with extended family as a family reunion. We did 5 nights in San Diego and 6 nights in DL. We did Seaworld, San Diego Zoo, WAP, and Legoland and then headed to DL to finish off the trip. We had 5 kids under 7 and this trip was their 1st time to any of these amusement parks/zoos (except for my 2 kids). We figured we'd saved the best for last (DL) and take the kids to San DIego first that way they wouldn't be comparing the parks to DL. It was a great trip and we all had a great time.

We're heading back to DL at the end of the month for 8 days. We've tossed around the idea of going back to Seaworld or going to Universal Studios for a day or 2. I think it can easily be done. If we do decide to go to Seaworld, we're proabbly going to do a day trip since Seaworld closes early (6pm). We can easily drive back to DL and close the park (DL) down if we do it on a weekend when the park closes at midnight.

 

[Charlie_Y]

If you are using the SoCal City Pass, remember that the first use must be at Disneyland Resort. We are going in April with the CityPass, and starting at Disney (4 nights), then down to San Diego for 3 nights and doing Seaworld, the Zoo, and adding on Legoland (as that's not on the pass), and then going up to LA for one night to go to Universal.

 

[caimakale]

We always do San Diego first! We fly into San Diego get a rental car and stay at the Dana on Mission Bay. We spend a couple days there relaxing and going to SW. We are always anxious to get to DL. We often try to find ways to extend our stay in DL when we do go so if we did the DL leg of the trip first, I don't think we would ever make it to San Diego...we would end up canceling that part to stay in DL longer

 

[brenda1966]

I agree with all the others. It is very doable, but do Sea World at the beginning or in the middle of DL. We did DL first, but luckily had saved one last day to head back to DL before our vacation ended. At SW my daughter kept saying "where are the rides? I want to go on rides!" She did love SW, but not nearly as much as DL. I was relieved to be able to tell her we would be spending 1 more day at DL.

 

[Ksquared]

We are going in April and spending our first week in San Diego.....going to the Zoo, Legoland, Sea World, Beach...then driving to Anaheim and doing 3 days in DL at the end of our trip..I'll also be enjoying a day or so at our resort so we get to relax a bit at the beginning of our trip...then we'll be ready to go, go, go once we get to DL....

 

[amjt660]

My family is planning a trip to DL -- but now my girls are completely obsessed with going to Sea World also. Originally I had thought we could go to Sea World/San Diego in summer and DL in fall. Then I wondered if we should just combine the 2. Would that be way too crazy to do DL first and then drive to San Diego and do SW and then stay over night there? Has anyone else done both -- let me know your stragegies if you have some great tips!!
thanks!

Hi
We (DH, DW, DD11, DD10) have done 2 California trips, both in August both essentially the same.
1 week in Anaheim/LA doing DLR (3 -4 days) and Universal and other stuff (Getty Center, Santa Monica, Malibu, Newport Beach) and then down to San Diego for 3-4 days which has included the Zoo, Seaworld, Wild Animal Park and a special San Diego Padres game on my 40th Bday. (We did not do all the SD stuff in the same year).

Our logic was that the LA area time was go go go and have lots of fun and the SD time was more chillaxing on the beach and going to the Zoo etc.

It worked well for us.

Now one note, I am a true Disney fanatic and had alread taken the girls to WDW 4 times so DLR was new and exciting but not a first trip. The advice of others on this post may be more relevant if it is a first time.

Hope this helps

Drew

 

[ladyandtramp]

I have a 2 day work session in San Diego, but I convinced DH to come with me and start it off with a trip to DL ;-).

But to make it easy (and a heck of a lot cheaper), we are going to fly in and out of Anaheim. My dh will fly home, and then I was planning on taking amtrax down to San Diego, spending my two days, then returning by amtrax to the Anaheim airport and flying home.

It appears it is 20.00/ 2 hours one way. Hard to get lost in a train

It has been several years since I took the amtrax - anyone do it lately?

Jan

 

[disykat]

If you are using the SoCal City Pass, remember that the first use must be at Disneyland Resort. We are going in April with the CityPass, and starting at Disney (4 nights), then down to San Diego for 3 nights and doing Seaworld, the Zoo, and adding on Legoland (as that's not on the pass), and then going up to LA for one night to go to Universal.

What? I didn't see that anywhere on their website! I'm going back to read the fine print.

 

[disykat]

I just checked the citypass website and I still don't see it. Does anyone know - can you use the tickets in any order?