Southern California Please help plan our 5 day stay

[sarefromoz]

Hi, we have a 5 day stay in San Diego planned in mid September (we're driving from the Grand Canyon and following San Diego with a 9 day stay in Anaheim). We are a family of five (me, dh, dd8, dd6 and ds4) wanting to visit Sea world, Legoland and possibly the zoo. What other activities do you recommend?

Also can you recommend any places to stay? We are looking at spending about $200 per night (a bit less if possible). I have looked at quite a few, but I have no idea where the major attractions are in relation to the different districts and have heard contrasting opinions over which areas are good for a young family. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[PHXscuba]

If you are staying for 4/5 nights after Labor Day, I'd look into a condo. A little more space to spread out and a kitchen are big plusses if you will be on the road that long. It's after "high season" for pricing and the condos don't all require a week's stay then.

We stayed in Mission Bay and I thought it was a nice area. The bay is calm for playing at the beach, and it is just north of Sea World. I didn't feel like it was a long drive to anywhere -- pretty good freeway access.

The best things in SD are pretty spread out -- downtown, harbor, Balboa Park, La Jolla, etc. A harbor tour is fun. We liked the Scripps Aquarium in La Jolla too -- a good scale for younger kids. Balboa Park has other museums too if any of the topics interest your kids.

Consider doing Legoland (half-hour north of SD) on your departure day from San Diego and continue on to Orange County that evening.

PHXscuba

p.s. I used Trip Advisor's San Diego forum for a lot of my planning. There are a lot of helpful people on there too.

 

[sarefromoz]

Thanks so much for your advice. It has helped a lot, particularly the San Diego forum in trip advisor. We have booked two nights to stay at the legoland hotel, but have not locked in the other 3 days yet.
Thanks again