Plan for a month in OC July 2013

[Liltx]

Hi all! We are renting a house in Irvine next summer with my 7 and 9 yo girls. I am trying to make a plan so i can set a budget for this trip. I am thinking it will be somewhere around $7000-8000 but want to get a better idea. We are not budgeting for food since we eat out at home a ton and we will have a kitchen for many meals. In other words we plan to eat simliar to at home. It is so hard to plan for such a length of time. We will be driving to CA from TX. This is our first road trip, Yikes but we will take three days each way. We will drive to San diego three times for full days and plan to do nothing the day after each trip. We will also drive to LA each Saturday to try to avoid the most massive traffic. I would like advice on the following activities that seem interesting to us if anyone has experience.

LA:
Day in LA tour

Getty and Natural History Museum

Tar Pits and Farmers Market (American Girl)


Orange County:

Carbon Canyon Park for guided tour on a Sunday

California Citus State Historical Park

Newport Beach

Laguna Beach (friends live here so several visits) Aliso is our favorite

Corona Del Mar near Newport Beach

Disneyland for 5 days

Discovery Science Center

Tanaka Farms Watermelon Tour

Baseball! We all love it and will go to various games in many of the cities!

San Diego:
San Diego Zoo

San Deigo Wild Park

Coronado Island and Maritime Museum

The off days we will swim, visit parks, see movies, ride our bikes.

Thank you!

 

[Liltx]

Oooppps

Forgot:
Birch Aquarium and Jolla Shores

Also, we are not interested in other theme parks like Lego Land, Universal, Knotts. I really hate theme parks other than Disney and we have Six Flags and Sea World in our home town. Just didn't want anyone to think I forgot about them. I really appreciate your help. My kids are finally old enough to be gone from home for a month and our plan is to do this in different cities every summer from now on.

 

[endy]

I'm jealous of the whole month.
We go for two weeks, 2 day drive each way. We tent camp tho. I can't stand cooking at home so I don't want to when I'm away, there's only ds & I tho.

We go to baseball games where ever we are too. You can sign up for the kids club for great deals and coupons for games. I think it was 10 or 15$ for Angels kids club a few years ago, with that a tshirt and more. My ds was signed up with the Padres a few times and got a tshirt, watch, free tickets, baseball cards, etc.

Birch Aquarium I love. LaJolla shores we did last summer and I loved it.
WAP is great and hot.

Sounds like a great way to explore without being on a time crunch and way more enjoyable.

Catalina Island is beatuiful if you have a day or 2 to visit. I wouldn't want to just spend a day if can swing an overnight trip.

 

[Liltx]

Thank you, our cousins said that the aquarium was awesome too!

We do eat out a lot, more than I would like too around 3 times a week. At home we cook organic, whole grains, little processed but that is killed when we eat out. Sad I know. I don't mind cooking when i have time.

I think Catalina is out. To add the boat, a couple nights hotel, and activities in the summer would add about $1000. There are so many other things to do that to us it's just not worth it. Also, we cruise every spring break so we get plenty of water/beach time.

We are only doing a few vacations this coming year so that we can spend the month in OC. A trade off for us. My parents are taking the kiddos on a Disney cruise in Oct. so that will hold them over. Other than that we will drive for a short ski weekend in NM and that's it. Well, my brother lives 20 minutes from the gulf but that's as close to free as you can get so I don't count that.

 

[AddictedtoDoleWhip]

What about the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica? It's close to L.A., and the Santa Monica Pier is pretty neat too! Unless you are seeing that with the LA tour thing.

 

[Liltx]

Yes, thank you. I will add the Santa Monica pier and third street promenade. I think the tour does cover it but will make plans to visit for longer too! This is just the kind of information I am looking for!

The most time we have spent in OC is 9 days so we have only hit the major places. This time we would like to visit lesser known sites as well.

 

[endy]

The aquarium at Long Beach is a great 1/2 day place to go and then a few hours at a nearby beach.
You could check out the Entertainment Book, I just saw an ad for them for $8.99 we get the SD one and find a good amount of coupons to use (mind just came in the mail this week). You could check the Orange County book and maybe buy two if there are coupons for places you will go twice. Whoops you are going next summer but usually the books drop in price in the spring. Just the grocery coupons will pay for the book as long as the store is close to where you stay.

 

[Liltx]

Thank you! I will add purchasing an Entertainment book to my list of things to do. That is a great tip I wouldn't have thought of.