Moving to CA

[TinkerLori]

Hi! My family is moving to the Santa Barbara area, getting stationed at Vandenberg AFB. I would love to know of some things to do that are close to that area. We also would like to know more about Disney Land compared to Disney World. Just wondering if we will want to get a season pass or if we will be more likely to go to the surrounding parks.
Any info would be wonderful

 

[Disneykatz]

Santa Barbara has a small zoo, a natural history museum, a mission, wineries, and the pier and all the way down State Street are tons of shops & restaurants. About 20 min. North is Solvang, a little Danish village with more shops & wineries & restaurants as well as an Ostrich farm, miniature horse farm, a mission, & Chumash casino. About 30 - 45 min. South is Oxnard & Ventura with more beaches, piers, shops & restaurants and then the Camarillo outlet stores.

San Fernando Valley & L.A. are about 2 hours South & Anaheim is about 3 from SB with no traffic.

DL is smaller than WDW, only 2 parks & Downtown Disney but they are all in walking distance. DL & CA are a lot of fun, there are a lot of rides that WDW doesn't have.

 

[barkley]

dl vs. wdw? well, I grew up with dl, and despite several trips to wdw I still prefer it (as do my teens who have been to wdw more times than dl).

why?-only 2 parks (so not as much traveling time during a visit-though they MUCH prefer magic kingdom vs. California adventure). some rides have longer/more 'ride' versions-pirates (longer and there's the waterfall you go up at the end), haunted mansion (the riding part starts earlier at dl), small world (queue is outside with all the topiaries), railroad has stops in 4 corners of the park (SO nice if you want to get across and rest your feet). rides not at wdw-indiana jones in particular. outside events like fantasmic (no making reservations and sitting in chairs, just sit on the lawn or a rock by the show).


try it out, but before you buy season passes check out discounts you may be eligible to. besides military, depending on your new zip code you may be eligible to a southern California resident discount

 

[Plaid Princess]

I have some good friends based at VAB... They love it. That's a beautiful area!

As far as DL vs. WDW... I greatly prefer DL. About the same #of attractions as WDW (less the water parks etc) but all within walking Distance! Better food, greater detail overall... And of course: Walt was actually there for the construction and his touch is everywhere!

 

[bluedevilinaz]

My condolences on being stuck in Lompoc. haha. My family spent 4 years out there and the school district is horrible (spent 4 years in it myself so I have first hand knowledge of how bad it is).

The area is beautiful though. There's some great places to surf out there(Jalama Beach is one). Surf Beach is great for bird watching(but not surfing as the name would have you think) as it is a protected snowy plover nesting ground. You'll know when it's nesting season out there because there are signs posted and orange plastic fencing EVERYWHERE.

Santa Maria is where the county fair is every year. Santa Maria is about 20-30 minutes north and has the closest "mall" and major shopping outside of Santa Barbara or San Luis Obispo. Pismo Beach is about an hour north and is one of the only, if not the only, beach you can still drive onto at Oceano Dunes. There are a few off road vehicle(i.e. dirt bike/quad) riding areas out there too.

Solvang is a neat town to check out and is about 30-45 minutes away. Lake Cachuma is fun to visit as well and about an hour away. You can rent boats and go out and fish or just cruise around. There are quite a few wineries in the area as well if you're into that. Chumash Casino is near Solvang also.

The La Purisima mission is just outside Lompoc as well and is a fun place to visit. There are also a lot of hiking areas as well. There used to be a piper cub fly in at the Lompoc Airport every year in August, I don't know if they do it anymore(haven't lived there since 2002) but if they do it's a blast! Definitely get the local paper, the Lompoc Record, to stay up to date on local events happening.

There isn't much to do in Lompoc itself but the flower fields are absolutely beautiful to drive through in the spring and smell amazing.

Make sure you check out the tide pools on base. It's neat to see all the sea creatures that call it home. Make sure you know when they're launching rockets off and be outside about 5 minutes before the launch window opens. It's an amazing sight to see/hear day or night. I'll tell you what though, the first time you forget about a night launch and it goes off at 1am when you're dead asleep you will wake up freaking out thinking the house is going to collapse due to the shaking! haha.

On base there is also the Space and Missile heritage center at SLC-10 which is awesome to visit if you're a space nut like me.

Santa Barbara has a lot of things to do and see but Disneykatz covered most of it.

Keep in mind VAFB is about an hour to an hour and a half from Santa Barbara through the mountains and DL is 2.5-3 hours from Santa Barbara depending on traffic.

DL is MUCH smaller and easier to get around than WDW. My suggestion is to make it a weekend trip and stay off site. The hotels are usually cheaper, and sometimes closer, than the on site hotels.

That's all I can think of right now. Hope that helps!