Planning for the future...

[psimon]

I am starting to lay out a trip for the fall of 2005. In doing that I am looking at options and what it will cost. We are a family of 5. By fall 2005, we will be 2 adults, a 16yo girl, a 9yo boy and 9yo girl.

I am looking for suggestions as to accomdations for the five of us. I don't want to go 5 star, but I don't want to slum it either. Moderate to slightly higher would suffice ( I guess 3 to 4 star out of 5 is my area).

Our plans are to hit the DL twice (once on Halloween), a day at CA and DD, a day trip to the San Diego Zoo, a day checking out Southern California places like Santa Monica, etc, and so on. Am I trying to bite off too much for about a week? Coming from NJ, I lose an entire day for return, so I will essentially have Sat through Friday.

All thoughts greatly appreciated...

---Paul in Southern NJ

 

[Amberle3]

I'd suggest looking at the suite hotels, particularly the Hampton Inn and the Residence Inn. Both have family suites - 2 bedrooms, livingroom area with sofa bed and full kitchen. They have fairly substantial breakfast buffets (included) as well.

 

[psimon]

Can you tell me about transportation? We are used to driving everywhere we want to go. Is it advisable to drive from the Residence Inn over to DL? How much is parking at DL? Is parking tough to get?

What about driving to San Diego? Tough drive?

Know anything about Lego Land? Worth the time with kids in the age group that I have?

Many thanks...


---Paul in Southern NJ

 

[Firefly777]

Parking at the DLR costs $9 for the day. I don't think you should have any trouble finding parking there. There is a huge parking garage (largest in the country) and they have other lots if that gets full.

Also, I'm not exactly sure of the routes, but most likely the ART shuttles stop at the Residents Inn which take you to DL. It costs a certain amount of money to use it (you pay for it all at once). So that's another transportation option.

 

[lulubelle]

psimon-
I have been to Legoland and I think your children are too old to really enjoy it. It is geared towards the 4-8 year olds. Unless your 9 year olds are REALLY into Legos. Anyway, the drive from DL to San Diego really depends on the day and time. You can technically make it in 90 minutes, but the traffic factors could double that time. Here in So Cal, traffic rules our lives There is enough at the DLR to keep you busy the entire time, it will be hard to break away to Santa Monica or other attractions. Have fun planning (I soooo enjoy it) and I hope you have a fabulous trip.

 

[LuvTigger]

Regarding your San Diego plans, you might want to consider staying there for a night. We've done that drive several times and it usually takes at least 90 minutes each way, so you're looking at 3 hours of driving in one day if you commute (and that's at a minimum). The San Diego Zoo is really huge and requires a bit of walking, so you might not be in the mood to face a 90 minute drive back to the hotel.

I think you could spend a day driving around Santa Monica and those areas. It'll probably take you 45-60 minutes to get there from the DL area. That's definitely doable.

While there is enough in DL to keep you busy for a long time, I can understand that coming from the East Coast you probably want to see as much as you can. I think 3 days is a reasonable time to spend in DL/DCA, and you can devote the remaining days to other adventures.

If you decide to stay in San Diego for a night, you might want to consider going to Sea World too. It really is quite different from the one in Orlando, and San Diego is a beautiful place. You could do quite a bit of sightseeing there as well.

 

[Amy23]

My family went to CA this past April. We too are from the east coast. One thing you may want to think about is flying into LA and flying out of San Diego. The price difference was minimal for both the airline and the rental car. I would also suggest that you buy the Southern California City Pass. It includes 3 days admission to Disney parks, a day at Sea World, a day at either the San Diego Zoo or the Wild Animal Park, and it also includes Knotts Berry Farms which is in Buena Park. You can save an awful lot of money with that pass if you plan to go to LA and San Diego. I believe it was $129 when I bought ours. Also, as far as a nice place to stay. We stayed at the Hampton Inn and suites in Buena Park. We had what they called a family suite. When you walk into the room, there were 2 beds and a bathroom off of it. Then there was a door which led to another bedroom with a King sized bed and another bathroom. What a great thing that was to have 2 bathrooms. It also had a refrigerator and a microwave. The continental breakfast was great. They had all 3 or 4 kinds of juice, coffee, teas, fruit, yogurt, donuts, muffins, 3 kinds of cereal, a variety of breads, bagels, waffles, etc. It was great. It ony took about 10 minutes to get to the Disney area. It was right down the road from Knotts Berry Farm. Since you planning an off season trip, you may even get a good AAA rate right at Disney. We did stay at the Disneyland Hotel for 2 nights as well. I booked through AAA and bought a package. I never do that for WDW, because I can always do better booking things seperately. But, this was the way to go in this case. I booked the 2 nights and the passes. Then they give you extras. We each got a pin and lanyard and cerificates for priority seating at 3 or 4 different shows, which was very nice. Also, you get unlimited fast passes. We walked from ride to ride getting fast passes, rode things with short lines and then went back through all the fast pass lanes in no time at all. It was awesome.

In San Diego, I would suggest the Embassy Suites in downtown San Diego. It is right near Seaport Village, which is a bunch of little shops. It is a lot of fun to walk around. They have a cooked to order breakfast there and you can have as much as you want. It was delicious. We had stayed one night at a Comfort Inn at Sea World/San Diego Zoo. I would highly recommend staying clear of that place. We only stayed 1 night instead of 3. I had chosen it because it had a king bed and bunks and the refrigerator, etc. but there were many problems, ranging from cleanliness problems to beds that were as hard as sleeping on the box spring itself. They have a 100% money back guarantee, and you can be sure that I got my money back.

I almost forgot, we also received a coupon booklet for several discounts from AAA with the package too.