HELP!! Seaworld, SD Zoo, and Legoland tips for Spring Break trip

[bdlily]

Hey there vacation lovers! I am taking my 5 (yes, you heard right) children to SoCal in 2 weeks. Not my time of choice but our local school district picked the week before Easter to do Spring Break this year. When will they learn?

Anyway, we are hitting the San Diego area before we head to Disneyland. I am a Disneyworld veteran and a huge Tour Guide Mike fan. I need the same kind of advice for Disneyland, SeaWorld, the San Diego Zoo and Legoland. Meaning, I need ideas for which exhibits/rides/attractions are the most popular so I can try to get those in first and then age-appropriate recommendations for everything else.

Our party includes me (33), my brother (30), mom (mid-50's), baby brother (16), DS (8), DD (6), DS (4.5), DS (2.5) and DS (1). So we do have four adults to wrangle the five kids. We have three days to spend in San Diego and two for Anaheim.

I'd love any and all advice you have, including food advice. We already have accomodations so don't worry about that.

Thank you SOOOOO much!

 

[ScooterL]

I can't help very much with the rest of it, but can give you some advice on the Zoo...it's always good to get there before it opens, so you can be parked and at the gate when it opens. The animals are usually most active first thing in the morning, so you can see the tigers and other big cats doing something other than sleeping. I believe that the panda exhibit opens at 9:30 (30 minutes after the park does), and usually you can see them eating instead of sleeping, and there's no line so you can spend as much time as you want watching them.

The Zoo is very hilly, so you might want to get tickets for the "Express Bus" - with that one you can get off and on at various spots around the Zoo all day long, and save your feet a little bit.

I think your kids would enjoy the Childrens' Zoo - most of the exhibits there are at kid-height, and there's some interactive components to some of them, and some kid play areas, too. I enjoy the shows - the kids might enjoy the show in the Wegeforth Bowl (I don't remember the name) rather than the Wild Ones show that's at the bottom of the canyon in the Hunte Amphitheater.

Zoo Highlights:

The pandas
The koalas
Tiger River
Absolutely Apes (where the orangatans are - they seem to love watching the people on the other side of the glass!)
Gorilla Tropics
Polar Bear Plunge
Childrens' Zoo
Young grizzly bears in Bear Canyon
Monkey Tales and Forest Trails

The only thing I think you'd find much of a line for at the Zoo is the pandas, though the line for the bus tour can get pretty long, too.

Hope that helps.

 

[bdlily]

Thank you! It's been 20 years since I've been to the SD Zoo so that is very helpful.

 

[annacali]

We've been to San Diego the last 3 summers and it is now one of our favorite places. I have two little ones (DD6 and DD4) so my plans/needs may be a bit different than yours but here is our touring plan:

SDZoo: Can't help a lot here. My girls are total animal lovers but the zoo proves to be just tooooo much for my oldest. She is "too old" for the stroller and balks but there is sooo much walking here and much of it up and down STEEP hills. Plus, there is just too much "in between" time since it takes a while to get from one animal to the next. We did it twice and haven't been back. My best advice with such little ones would be to get there early as suggested and make a beeline for the double decker bus tour. That will give you a great tour of the entire zoo while you are sitting down, on a bus, and let you see a lot of the animals quickly. Then you can decide which you want to go back to the most. Definitely use the buses if you can, though if you have a lot of strollers they may be more hassle than help. And check the map before you decide you want to see something...those polar bears, when they say steep grade and not recommended for wheelchairs etc---really they mean it. At least a 20% grade all the way up...not a short walk...and even scarier pushing the stroller tilted all the way back to keep from losing the children all the way back down!

Sea World...our FAVORITE!!! Seriously, we love this place! Our day starts with Breakfast with Shamu (great food and the upclose whale interaction is amazing) followed immediately by the first Believe! Shamu show. From there we usually feed the sea lions (watch out for the birds!) before heading to whichever show starts at 12:30---usually Pet's Rule. Then a trip through the Manatee Rescue and Shark Encounter before a 1:30 show (Dolphin Show?) then we spend some time having a snack, and touring the Wild Arctic and the Penguins before heading over toward the Cirque de la Mer show. We usually swing by the Clydesdales on the way out, do some shopping and are done by 5:30 or so. There is lots of other little stuff we stop and see along the way and we don't spend much time in the Happy Harbor---my two are way more about the animals at SW than the rides but it is a full day and they are usually sleeping on the way home!

Legoland: We stay in Carlsbad so it is easy for us to get there early! Getting there at opening is best. If you want to ride the Sky Cruiser go straight there because the line for that moves at a snails pace and is usually about an hour or more all day long (not even sure there is a height requirement if everyone rides with an adult) After that, send the older kids to the newer area toward the back where the roller coasters and bigger rides are if you trust them together or send one adult with them, and someone else can take the little ones to the kid play area which is more in the middle, while a third adult takes the 6 and 4 year old on the rides they can go on (helicopters, legoland racers, dinosaur coaster, fantasy land boats, safari ride etc). There are definitely some family rides like the boat cruise around miniland but I don't think there is ever a line for that so you can do it at the end. If you want to do the water area, save it for the end of the day...the kids will get soaked and there are not great places to change!

 

[bdlily]

annacali- that's some great advice, I really appreciate it. Thank you so much!