help with August 2016 itinerary

[mhingher]

We'll be in the Anaheim area from 8/27-9/3. We're planning to get 3 day hoppers for 8/28-8/30. 9/2 I'm running the Disneyland 5k. Suggestions on what else to see/do? We've thought about going to San Diego for 2 days/1 night in between Disney and the marathon. Or we could stay in Anaheim, and make some day trips.

1) If we stay in Anaheim the whole week, any recommendations for day trips?
2) If we go to San Diego, any recommendations for a 1 night hotel stay? I guess if we do this we should get the Southern California Pass and do Sea World and maybe the San Diego Zoo?
3) While we're visiting the parks, our hotel choices are down to Tropicana, Camelot or Best Western Anaheim Inn or Park Place. Thoughts?

We've been to WDW numerous times (DVC members and own at Bay Lake Tower) but this will only be our second time in Disneyland, I feel so lost!

Thanks

 

[Ndusmama]

Okay deep breath.
1. If you stay the beach is always nice. Santa Mobica Pier. LA all had a zoo, not as spectacular as the two in San Diego, but it is there. Griffith park is nice. universal is near there. La does have a lot of things.
2. If you do an overnight stay the Hilton downtown is amazing with incredible views of either downtown or the bay. It can be pricey though. Most of the hotels in San Diego are located in what is called fashion Valley. All are decent and centrally located but not really any views. Sea world is a pretty flat area and has a lot of shows. So you would be walking to the different shows and then sitting to relax. The San Diego zoo is in Balboa Park. It has some steep inclines but there is a tour bus that takes you around major animals. Balboa park has TONS of museums. Also people think of San Diego zoo but really mean the safari park located in north county. Now that is a lot of hills and walking, but it is the zoo almost always referred to as the San Diego zoo. It's the zoos original breeding park.
3. I've personally stayed at Camelot. It was decent. I've had family stay at best western and again decent. I'd avoid the other two. Have you tried dvc staying at the hotels? The actual dvc rooms are always booked but you can convert to the other hotels. That's what I always do.
4. Just an FYI downtown San Diego (where actual zoo is located) is only a 90 minute drive away, sea world would take 60 minutes. Animal safari park 90 minutes or less depending on which route you take. All depends on traffic. So maybe a day trip to sandiego?

 

[Misskitty3]

I agree with the above that a day trip up to LA, Santa Monica or Mailbu would be nice. Or consider Huntington Beach or Laguna beach. We are thinking of visiting San Juan Capistrano on our upcoming trip in June.

For San Diego, Carlsbad is a nice little coastal town just north of SD. It would be a fun place to stay. Legoland is there too.

We have stayed at BW Park Place Inn and you can't beat the location. However, they do charge for parking and the parking is pretty tight and their pool is small and not the nicest. The rooms were fine and pretty spacious.

 

[mhingher]

Thank you both so much for the info. as you can tell I'm a big planner, I hate to waste time trying to figure out what to do on vacation. We have pretty much decided to stay in Anaheim for the week, and it sounds like the Camelot would be the best option. I'll try calling BW Park Place also. I thought a trip to Dan Diego was over 2 hours? An hour and a half might be doable for a day trip. I think we'll go to Knotts Berry Farm, and maybe the aquarium in Long Beach if we have a rainy day. I'm thinking a trip to Santa Monica Pier would be good also. It's hard with so many places to see and not enough time!

 

[Ndusmama]

The queen Mary and spruce goose are not far in marina del Rey.