How does this itinerary sound?

fredandkell

I'd rather be cruising
Joined
Apr 4, 2013
Day 1 - Fly to San Diego. (Coming from East Coast so gain a couple hours.) Drive to Los Angeles. Drive around to see Hollywood sign, Walk of Fame, Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills. Sleep Burbank area.

Day 2 - La Brea Tar Pits. Will Rogers Beach. Sleep Burbank area.

Day 3 - Universal Studios Hollywood. (This will be on a Tuesday in April. Will I need Fast Passes?) Sleep Burbank area.

Day 4 - Drive to San Diego. Cabrillo monument and tidepools. Sleep San Diego.

Day 5 - USS Midway. Padres game. Sleep San Diego.

Day 6 - San Diego Zoo. Board DCL Wonder in early afternoon. Sleep ship.

Day 7 - Enseneda. Take La Bufadora kayak tour. Sleep ship.

Day 9 - Dock. Fly home.

Thoughts? Ideas? Alternate suggestions? There's so much to do in the LA/San Diego area that I know not everyone will share our interests; just wanted to run a "do-ability" test by y'all. Also, reason we are doing R/T San Diego and not fly into LAX and out of San Diego is we will be using companion tickets on Delta and you can only do R/T's with those, not multi-cities. From what I understand it's a 2.5 hour drive between the two so hopefully not too onerous on a Sunday mid-day?
 
Day 1 - Fly to San Diego. (Coming from East Coast so gain a couple hours.) Drive to Los Angeles. Drive around to see Hollywood sign, Walk of Fame, Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills. Sleep Burbank area.

Day 2 - La Brea Tar Pits. Will Rogers Beach. Sleep Burbank area.

Day 3 - Universal Studios Hollywood. (This will be on a Tuesday in April. Will I need Fast Passes?) Sleep Burbank area.

Day 4 - Drive to San Diego. Cabrillo monument and tidepools. Sleep San Diego.

Day 5 - USS Midway. Padres game. Sleep San Diego.

Day 6 - San Diego Zoo. Board DCL Wonder in early afternoon. Sleep ship.

Day 7 - Enseneda. Take La Bufadora kayak tour. Sleep ship.

Day 9 - Dock. Fly home.

Thoughts? Ideas? Alternate suggestions? There's so much to do in the LA/San Diego area that I know not everyone will share our interests; just wanted to run a "do-ability" test by y'all. Also, reason we are doing R/T San Diego and not fly into LAX and out of San Diego is we will be using companion tickets on Delta and you can only do R/T's with those, not multi-cities. From what I understand it's a 2.5 hour drive between the two so hopefully not too onerous on a Sunday mid-day?

You will actually run into quite a lot of traffic going north from SD to LA on a Sunday afternoon. Lots of people go to SD for the weekends and head back up Sun afternoon. 2.5 hours is a best case scenario. Plan at least 3 hours.

Otherwise, your day 2 is kinda light. You won't need more than an hour at the tarpits, and April is definitely not going to be beach weather, so you may want to figure out something else to do on that day.

I would swap day 4 and day 6 activities. You cannot do the zoo on the same day you board the ship. Not enough time.
 
You will actually run into quite a lot of traffic going north from SD to LA on a Sunday afternoon. Lots of people go to SD for the weekends and head back up Sun afternoon. 2.5 hours is a best case scenario. Plan at least 3 hours.

Otherwise, your day 2 is kinda light. You won't need more than an hour at the tarpits, and April is definitely not going to be beach weather, so you may want to figure out something else to do on that day.

I would swap day 4 and day 6 activities. You cannot do the zoo on the same day you board the ship. Not enough time.
Thanks for the suggestions! Very helpful. I like your idea of the tide pools the morning we board the ship. I was just talking to a coworker who said she thought the zoo was overcrowded and too expensive (and she was there on a weekday). Now I’m kind of second-guessing the zoo?
 


Thanks for the suggestions! Very helpful. I like your idea of the tide pools the morning we board the ship. I was just talking to a coworker who said she thought the zoo was overcrowded and too expensive (and she was there on a weekday). Now I’m kind of second-guessing the zoo?

I don't like zoos in general, but it's a nice zoo. The San Diego Wild Animal Park is much more interesting, but it's about 30 miles from downtown San Diego. How into animals are you? There are some hands on experiences at the Wild Animal Park if you are into that.
 


I don't like zoos in general, but it's a nice zoo. The San Diego Wild Animal Park is much more interesting, but it's about 30 miles from downtown San Diego. How into animals are you? There are some hands on experiences at the Wild Animal Park if you are into that.
We are not super into animals; I've always just heard that the San Diego zoo is supposed to be one of the best. I live in Atlanta, so I already have a pretty good zoo.
 
We are not super into animals; I've always just heard that the San Diego zoo is supposed to be one of the best. I live in Atlanta, so I already have a pretty good zoo.

I was underwhelmed. There is a lot of hype surrounding this zoo and I'm not quite sure why. Skip it if it's not a must do.

Do you have small kids? Legoland is great!
 
OK, glad to know this! Very helpful! My kids will be 10 and 13 at the time of the trip/cruise. Also, since we are doing Universal, I will be be "theme-parked" out by that point. :) (I have a low theme park tolerance. I am in awe of people who can go like 5 days in a row without collapsing!)
 
OK, so after taking what y'all have said into consideration, here's the revamped itinerary.

Day 1 (Sun) - Fly to San Diego. (Coming from East Coast so gain a couple hours.) Drive to Los Angeles. Drive around to see Hollywood sign, Walk of Fame, Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills. Sleep Burbank area.

Day 2 (Mon) - Universal Studios Hollywood. Sleep Burbank area.

Day 3 (Tues) - La Brea Tar Pits. Will Rogers Beach. Sleep Burbank area.

Day 4 (Wed) - Warner Brothers Studio Tour. Drive to San Diego. Sleep San Diego.

Day 5 (Thurs) - USS Midway. Padres game. Sleep San Diego.

Day 6 (Fri) - Cabrillo Monument/Tidepools. Board DCL Wonder in early afternoon. Sleep ship.

Day 7 (Sat) - Enseneda. Take La Bufadora kayak tour. Sleep ship.

Day 8 (Sun) - Dock. Fly home.

I have intentionally kept Day 3 light as a way to a) recover after a full-throttle themepark day, and b) to catch anything we may miss from the night before if traffic is bad from SD to LA. I realize (now! thanks!) that the weather will be too cold for a true beach day in April, but the kids still want to go see the Pacific Ocean and a "real California beach" so we will probably go walk on the shore for a couple hours, just not swim!
 
Is there a particular reason why you chose Will Rogers State Beach? There is really nothing noteworthy there. For a true "California beach experience," I would recommend Santa Monica Beach/Pier/Venice Beach. It is much more of a tourist destination with lots to see and do since you won't actually be swimming. You can walk the bike/jogging path between Venice and Santa Monica, watch the surfers, play some games on the pier, eat, shop, etc. Its much more fun. Will Rogers beach is literally just a beach.
 
Glad someone warned you on the traffic. I live fairly close to SD airport, so I have rarely made it to or from LA in 2.5 hours.

I would actually say your Day 5 may be light. Depending on what time the Padres game is (and if you are staying close to downtown), the Midway doesn’t take more than 2 hours. If it’s a night game, you may have an entire afternoon open. And if you are looking for food recommendations in the area, I am happy to help, as it literally my neighborhood. :)

Per the Balboa Park question, going to the Park itself is free, and it’s beautiful just to walk around (and larger than Central Park). What costs is the museums, but you can choose which you want to go to or buy a package with several. There are also several things that are free like the gardens, organ concerts and world cottages.
 
I totally agree on the traffic, plan for 3 hours to be safe. Otherwise your plan is doable and you shouldn't have any problem fitting everything in. I'd skip the zoo with your kids ages if you're not really into zoos. The Midway and the Padres game are great. As for Universal, you shouldn't need Express passes on an April Tuesday as long as it's not Spring Break week (April 15-19).
 
I totally agree on the traffic, plan for 3 hours to be safe. Otherwise your plan is doable and you shouldn't have any problem fitting everything in. I'd skip the zoo with your kids ages if you're not really into zoos. The Midway and the Padres game are great. As for Universal, you shouldn't need Express passes on an April Tuesday as long as it's not Spring Break week (April 15-19).
It is spring break week. Hmmmm...
 
You are correct that Los Angeles has theirs the week that we are going but Orange county is a different week. So still not quite sure what to think regarding purchasing a fast pass. We are early birds, usually get there when the park opens but I don’t know if that will be an advantage.
 
I'd recommend staying in Hollywood rather than Burbank because it seems like you want to see more Hollywood stuff. The Warner Bros. Studio Tour (which is great) is the only reason to stay in Burbank. It looks like you have a lot planned for day 1. If you stay near Hollywood and Highland, you can see a lot of the sights on foot (plus it's a pain to drive and park at of those different locations).

Also, the MaxPass is worth every penny. It'll save you hours. The first time I used it about a year ago, my friend and I kept saying, "This is too easy! It feels like cheating!" We were standing on Main Street looking at each other like, "What do we do with all of this free time?"
 

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