Planning help please

[3DisMunchkins]

I may have to shorten my next trip to 7 days. Arrive early Saturday (8ish) July 15th and fly out Friday evening (7ish) the 21st. I had planned to have 9-10 days in California with 1-2 days at Legoland and 1-2 days at the beach, but now would have to shorten to just day trips for each. We are staying at Motel 6 maingate because it's cheap and perfectly fine for us. I'm thinking I'll just keep it the whole trip and rent a car for our day trips. We have 5 day hoppers and will probably do 1st and last day at Disney.

1st...Any suggestions on days for Legoland and the beach taking into account traffic and crowds at DL? D23 Expo is 14-16 so I expect evenings might by busier but would that make the following week much busier? I know at that time of year it may not make much of a difference. We're ok with crowds and know how to make most of mornings,fast pass, etc. I'm thinking it makes most sense to do them two days in a row for rental car cost.

2nd...I'm trying to plan the beach day with some fun activities. Looking at Newport or Huntington. Whats your favorite things to do for the day? ps...DD gets sea sickness pretty bad so we'll probably avoid boats.

Thanks!
Jana

 

[SMD]

Have you looked into flying into SD, starting at Legoland and doing an SD beach, then arriving in Anaheim after D23?

 

[3DisMunchkins]

Updating because I'm still trying to decide which days to venture out. We are flying into SNA (tickets purchased) on the 15th (Sat) and out on Friday so those will definitely be Disney days. Changed hotel to Grand Legacy because I found great rates and it's closer, even though we'll have to pay parking for rental car on our outing days.
Do you think the parks will be busier on Sunday or Monday, the day after D23? I'm guessing traffic to Legoland would be much better on Sunday??
Thanks again!!

 

[SMD]

I think that there are a lot of people who will have no clue that D23 is happening that will be there on Sunday. I don't know if they've posted the hours yet, ut typically the convention ends earlier on Sunday, leaving plenty of evening park time. But, with the 17th being the actual anniversary date and all of the people who are big enough fans to travel for a convention, I think many will stay for the 17th. Both will be very crowded, with potentially the 17th being more crowded. If I had to guess, I'd do DL on the 16th, thinking many people will go for drinks in DCA and DCA on the 17th thinking most people will want to be in DL itself on the actual day.