Need help on planning a trip :)

[serenitygr]

Hi everyone on the west side of the country I've never posted on the Disneyland boards before- mainly I'm a Fort Wilderness fan at Disneyworld. But this coming fall (first 2 weeks in October) we are planning our first family trip somewhere other than Florida! We are coming from MN. We will be coming for 2 weeks, and plan to fly into San Diego - spend 3-4 days there and go to the zoo, LEGOLAND, and also do a whale watching tour , then go to Disneyland and spend 4 or 5 days there. Then we're going to head north and eventually fly home our of the San Francisco airport. We'll have about 5 days to make that trip north, and the only definite thing we want to do is go to Alcatraz Island, which I think is near San Francisco.

I'm looking for any advice/help in planning that last 5-6 days. Should we go up the coast on 101 and spread the drive out over several days, assuming there are some interesting things we could stop and do, and get a motel each night along the way, or should we go straight up the interstate and make it a one day trip, and then spend 4 days in the San Francisco area before we go home?

For consideration- we have 4 kids- 2 boys who will be 14 and a boy and girl who will be 11 at the time of this trip. None of them are super good on long trips in a car- especially my daughter who gets car sick fairly easy. We'll be renting a minivan while we are there so we'll have our own transportation.

Looking for any and all suggestions! Thanks so much to everyone!

 

[usnuzuloose]

It is a long drive up the coast. But if you do Alcatraz order your tickets online as trying to get them the same day you go may not happen as it fills up very quickly. Santa Cruz is a nice stop you can enjoy the pier and the rides there. On your way there is Monterey , Carmel , Big Sur. I am sure you can google for all kinds of things on the route. Just to let you know the trek from Carmel to the other side is quite windy, so I don't know how well your daughter would do. On that Road is Hearst Castle. All kinds of eating places. Monterey is very nice, they have the Aquarium, and 17 mile drive. You can see the world famous Pebble Beach and go out on the 18th hole and get pictures. Monterey has great eating places and shopping in Cannery Row. Carmel which is a short drive is nice and lots of shopping and eateries. The Hogs Breath inn is a great place to eat ,the one owned Clint Eastwood. A little pricey but good food.

We always go to Monterey at least 2x's a month. There is a lot to do in SF as well.

There is some websites to visit for discounts.

Groupon.com

Livingsocial.com

Travelzoo.com

just put in the city

You also have the Walt Disney Museum in the Presidio as well. Well worth the money to visit.