Opinions/Suggestions on Southern California Itinerary

[bamagirl@hrt]

My family of 4 is beginning to plan our first trip to Southern California next June. Our kids will be 15 and 11 at the time. My husband has a conference in San Diego, so that determines the time of our trip. This is my first stab at our itinerary:

4 night at DL Hotel w/ park hopper tickets. This part will be "free" as we will use Disney Reward dollars to pay for the package.

2 nights in LA/Hollywood - want to see typical Hollywood tourist stuff, Griffith Park, hopefully something at Hollywood Bowl, maybe a Dodgers game

3 or 4 night in San Diego. Thinking of staying on Coronado, but will decide for sure when we get DH's conference info. We want to go to zoo and Padres game.

What do you think? Anything not on my list that we shouldn't miss?

Thanks for your help!

 

[sonnyjane]

I'm on my phone so can't write much, but one thing that stuck out to me was your potential choice of Coronado for your San Diego stay. That's not the most convenient location as far as getting to the attractions you mentioned is concerned. It's a beautiful place to stay, but you'll have to cross the bridge each time you want to get somewhere which can really be a pain depending on the time of day. For access to Sea World/the Zoo/downtown I'd probably look at hotels downtown or hotel circle unless you really want a beach location.

Also, you don't mention it, but definitely plan on renting a car.

 

[bamagirl@hrt]

Yes, we definitely will be renting a car. We will probably shuttle from the airport to Disney, and then rent a car before leaving Anaheim.

Coronado is just an idea. I really want to go see the Hotel Del. I thought the kids and I might like beach time while DH is at conference. However, I'm definitely open to other suggestions of things to do then.

 

[Escape2Disney]

In San Diego, we love going to Balboa Park and the SD Zoo. We also fell in love with the beach in Oceanside...not sure why, but it always seems to be on our 'go to' list.

 

[rsleleux]

We stayed in La Jolla and loved it! Definitely visit the Hotel Del Coronado, it is beautiful but I agree with Sonny Jane, it is not convenient. We went to Coronado on our first day and spent a few hours at the Del then ate dinner at Il Fornaio. I liked La Jolla because it seemed centrally located for all that we did! We went to Coronado, Zoo, Balboa Park, Seaworld , Birch Aquarium,Mission Beach and Legoland during our stay in San Diego. Then we drove down to Anaheim for 3nts/days in DL &DCA. We went to La Jolla Cove to see the seal lions and had an amazing breakfast out there before driving to Anaheim, we drove PCH 1 and stopped at Laguna Beach for a bit. Then we went to Downtown Disney for dinner at Catal. the next 3days were strictly Disney. It was an amazing trip! You will have so much fun!

 

[sonnyjane]

Yes, we definitely will be renting a car. We will probably shuttle from the airport to Disney, and then rent a car before leaving Anaheim.

Coronado is just an idea. I really want to go see the Hotel Del. I thought the kids and I might like beach time while DH is at conference. However, I'm definitely open to other suggestions of things to do then.

I agree that you should see the Del. It will make for a nice afternoon of looking at shops and seeing the beach.

I see you're planning a trip in June? There is a phenomenon here in San Diego called "June Gloom" of which you might want to be aware, not because it will ruin your trip by any means, but it might affect how you plan your activities. During the month of June, while much of the rest of the country is warming up for summer, we here in San Diego can actually have a pretty mild and cloudy month. We get a lot of "marine layer" that tends to stick around until late in the afternoon. During that time, the temperature can be in the very low 60's, and the water temperature isn't much different than the air temperature! In other words, while the beach is a lovely place to see, it's not, especially in June, like Florida beach where you can hang around tanning all day and go swimming. Now admittedly, I'm a big wimp and a local, and there are plenty of tourists that decide to swim and hang out at the beach, but you might want to have some daytime activities planned should your kiddos decide it's a little too brisk

 

[Sherry E]

I moved this thread over to the Southern California forum.