Preliminary plans for CA trip

[BrightScouter]

OK,

It looks like we will have nine days to work with on our trip. We tentatively decided to get a 3 day Passport Plus that will actually give us 5 days in the park. That leaves us 4 more to work with. From suggestions out here, we have decided not to try Universal. We want to hit SFMM and do one day as just sightseeing,( ocean, maybe take a high priced worthless tour, etc. We had considered a trip to KBF or the San Diego Zoo or San Diego Wildlife park. Some people have suggested the wildlife park is better, but we kinda want to see the pandas and koalas. Now for the questions,,,

Which "zoo" would you go see?

Is Knott's worth a day trip?

We will try to get into the GC hotel while there. Would it be worth moving to a different hotel to be closer to some of the other attractions either at the end or beginning of our trip? If it is, where or even what hotels would everyone suggest?

Any thing else I've forgotten, or any other suggestions?

Thanks for the help. We know this will probably be our only trip to the land with the kids and we want to make it as good as our trips to the world usually are.

 

[silence]

I absolutely loved the San Diego Zoo. I had never been to a zoo that large before, it was definately worth the price and drive for us to visit this park. We paid the extra for the bus tour too which I recommend as well, lots and lots of hills (mountains!) to climb if you don't.

 

[LuvTigger]

I've been to both San Diego Zoo and the Wild Animal Park, and for your first visit, I would recommend the Zoo. It really is a great zoo. And like the above poster mentioned, it is worth the couple of bucks extra for the bus and skyway rides. I would start off with the bus ride, which takes you around the zoo, then walk around after. Our bus driver gave us a great tip, he said to "ride up, and walk down." It's very hilly, as is Magic Mountain btw, but they do have escalators.

Personally, I would stay in San Diego a couple of nights and also hit Sea World, it's very different from the one in Orlando, esp. since it's right on the Bay. Most of San Diego is very nice, and there's a neat little place calles Sea Port Village where we go at night to eat and look at the shops. It's about a 1 1/2 hour drive each way, so after spending all day at the zoo, it might be a bit tiring to drive back to Anaheim.

Knott's is VERY close to DL, maybe only a 10-15 minute drive. I really like that park a lot. It's not a big "thrill ride" park, but they do have a couple of big coasters. I once planned to stay there for about 6 hours (thinking that's about as long as we would need), and we ended up staying until closing! They also have a great bunch of shops outside the park, which I visit even if I don't have time to go to the park.

I LOVE GC, we stayed there last year and totally fell in love with it. They have a free tour of the hotel every afternoon, I think it was at 2 p.m. and lasted about an hour. I would highly recommend taking the time to do that, it made me appreciate the hotel even more!

As far as moving around, the main thing I would consider at this point in your plans is staying in San Diego for a couple of nights.

Sounds like a great trip you have planned, keep us posted!

 

[Bob O]

We went to the San Diego Zoo and while it was a nice zoo and they have Panda's which can only be seen at the national zoo besides San Diego i was somewhat disappointed in the zoo. They have a nice collection of animals but compared to other zoo's i have been too(and we always visit zoo's inwhatever city we go too) i was surprised how outdated the zoo was in the old rock foramtions they used and also barred cages. In alot of other zoo's they have rainforests etc where the animals are kept in what would be considered more real like seetings and not in large rocky area's.(Im sure this will change as they are in the process of building new animal settings.
Considering the ages of your lids i wouldnt reccomend SFMMM. the park has 15 roller coasters now and are building a 16th. so unless your kids are over 54 inches tall or at least 48 there isnt a lot to do at the park. For a roller coaster lover it is great but the amlunt of other rides/attractions they have are limited(though my 6 yr old did like the kids area). The food is awful, the park is dirty and the park employee's are sub standard so you need to take that into account, also the park tends to have a rougher type of guest(escpecially on weekends) that what you will find in other parks.
We really enjoyed Knotts and thought if had some good rides for all age groups and also had some good shows and guest interaction with Snoopy, so i would recommend the park!!!
Universal Hollywood is worth a visit but pales in comparsion to the parks in FLA if you have visited them. The tram tour is nice/edcuational and the park has some good rides/shows(very good stunt show)but the park needs more attractions IMHO.

 

[jdm_dkm]

If there are more than two of you in the party when you go to San Diego Zoo or wild animal park, it will be worth your while to get a 1 year membership. The membership costs about the same as four passes to the zoo. It give the members unlimited acess to the zoo and WAP for a year plus two free guest passes. Also includes discounts on busses in the zoo and gift shops. Check out the zoo's website for details.

We thought both were great. San Diego Zoo is in Balboa Park which also has a lot of museums, check their website and certain museums are free on Tuesdays...

GC is a great hotel. We also enjoyed Paradise Pier which also has a private entry to DCA, though it is across the street.

 

[marciemi]

Your trip sounds just like ours! When are you going? How old are your kids? We also are from MI and have 9 days to work with. We're going over the midwinter break - leaving Feb 19th after school and returning March 1st for a recovery day before going back to school. My kids have a half day Fri so they'll only miss a day and a half of school. We did the same thing - were going to spend 2 days at Disney, then decided the 3 day pass was a better deal, then got the 5 for 3 special.

We've decided to spend one day at the beach/visiting the places my husband grew up (he lived in Claremont until he was 9), 5 days at Disney, 1 at Magic Mountain, 1 at Knotts, and - the thing everyone's looking forward to the most - 1 at Legoland.

Some suggestions - I don't know how old your kids are. We do a lot of theme (ie rollercoaster, not Disney) parks. If they are 48 inches and will do roller coasters, do MM. If not, everything I've read and trying to remember from the last time I was there (in 90), I'd skip it. If you do decide to go: we purchased season passes via telephone for $52.99 - only $7 more than the 1 day price. Included with that we got a coupon book with each one for a free day parking, and a free admission (& lots of other coupons). If you have 4 in your party, and never plan to go again - you could buy 2 passes, and get your other 2 in free with the coupons. Or like us, you could plan to use your passes again all summer at SF Worlds of Adventure in Cleveland or SF Great America in Chicago and come out way ahead.

Similar advice for Knotts. We already have our Cedar Point season passes and will use them there. If you might go there this summer either, again season passes aren't that much more!

Have you considered Legoland? If not, and anyone else - is there a reason not to go? My boys are 7, 9, and 10 and LOVE legos so we're definitely planning on a full day there.

Feel free to email me with any other questions/advice/suggestions - I'd love to hear what you decide on and how it all goes!

 

[BrightScouter]

I like the ideas of the annual passes. We do go to both Michigan's Adventure and Cedar Point. And the Six Flags annual sounds like a great deal if you can still get the extra one day pass with it. We don't go to Six Flags parks often enough to make 4 worthwhile.

It sounds like we will fly in and go to San Diego and stay in a Comfort Suite or Holiday Inn Kid's Suite for a couple of days. Probably go to the SD Zoo and the beaches/sightseeing. We will probably move to the GC on Saturday and start using our DVC points up.

We are going right after school is out. The middle of June. Our boys are 10 and 13, so I think Legoland is questionable. My older son is a coaster fanatic, but my younger son might like it.

Let me now how the trip goes.

Del

 

[marciemi]

I agree about Legoland. From earlier posters, I was guessing you had little kids. Sounds like MM will be a nice break for them with "big" rides. I'm looking at my season pass stuff right now. The 52.99 price is good until Feb 23. I had to call to get it because you can only order online if you live within a certain distance from the park. Included with my 5 season passes were 5 "Season Pass Value Books". Each of these has on page 3 a free parking ticket, and page 4 a free "bring a friend admission". Unlike the passes we always got at SF in Cleveland, the free friend offer doesn't specify any blackout dates - just that it expires Dec. 31, 2003, and that you must present your season pass/passholder to use it. They also state all coupons must remain in the book until they tear them out (not you!)

They also each have a free Hurricane Harbor coupon and a $15 admission for Hurricane Harbor so if you think you might want to go there, you could all get in for $30 total - still less than you would have spent on 4 day tickets total! There are also discount coupons, games coupons, kids eat free coupons, bring a free kid under 48" coupons, etc - about 30 in all. If you're interested, I'd just make sure that the Season Pass still includes the coupon book when you call to order. Also, a direct line to season passes is 661-255-4804 so you can talk to someone who knows what they are talking about! Ask for a map when you call & they'll send you one to help plan your day. Good luck!