Univers/DL/SD?

[ltl engine]

I am attempting to plan our first trip to LA/SD area...but am totally LOST!! This will be for DS golden birthday in early November so I want to make it special but also relaxing. I know he wants to go to see Transformers at Universal and Carsland at DL. I was planning 2 days at Universal and 3 days at DL/DCA...There also seems to be fun things to do in San Diego. They also want to do beaches and a fun pool. Is there dolphin/whale watching in early November? Can anyone recommend somewhere to stay in between Universal and DL? or maybe a house/condo rental? I looked at VRBO but I am not sure what are to choose....any advice would be great!

(It will be me, DH, DS10, DS7 & DS2)

 

[DSNY4ever]

I have never been to Universal (well at least not in MANY years), so I am not much help there. But I am not sure if you will really need more than one day there. 2 days in San Diego would probably be nice. There are some hotels with cool pools there and you could go to the beach or do a zoo or safari park day or just walk around Old town and Balboa park.

A hotel to check out would be the Hyatt in Huntington Beach (very cool pool if you just wanted something close to Disneyland with a resort feel). I would check for booking it through Hotwire of Lastminutetravel though because it is kind of expensive and the have valet/resort fees. I am not sure how much money you would want to throw into a hotel with a fancy pool in November. Some Novembers have been warm enough to swim and some have been freezing!

I have heard great things about Dolphin Safari which is a whale watching boat tour, bundle up because it could potentially be very cold!