which beach would you visit from DL area

[WendyLovesPeter]

considering a beach day from DL - which family beach would you visit during spring break?

& how would we get there of course

 

[AmericanItGirl]

I'd say rent a car and go to Laguna Beach. The beach is across the street from the "downtown" area, so you can walk around there if you don't want to spend the whole day sitting on the beach. Renting a car gives you the freedom of arriving and leaving when you want to.

 

[HydroGuy]

Not sure what you are expecting but personally I would not go to the beach in April in California. The water will be way too cold to go in, and the weather will probably be too cold to do anything other than walk the beach and/or boardwalk.

If all you want to do is "see" the beach, then consider driving over to the Santa Monica Pier. It has lots of interesting things to do. I would guess it is 40 miles or so from DLR.

If you really want to go to a beach near DLR then Laguna is a good one. Personally I would probably go to Newport Beach as I am more familiar with it (spent lots of time there as a teen) and it is closer.

 

[LucyDingo]

I agree with Hydro...April definitely isn't very beachy weather. We do enjoy going to just walk around though. We typically go to Newport. It's easy to get to and there's usually decent parking. The times we've gone to Laguna the parking wasn't so great.

 

[Amy&Dan]

We enjoyed Huntington Beach very much. Its about a thirty minute drive from the Disneyland area. I agree with Hydroguy that it may be too cold, but its a nice place to see and you can always just wear a sweater and enjoy the sand and surf from outside the water! We really liked this restaurant there called Ruby's Diner. Our server at one of the character meals told us about it, it was like a 50's diner, burgers, sandwiches, shakes and onion rings sort of thing and it was on the end of the pier. From our table by the window, we were right out over the water which my kids loved. It was a nice afternoon. And there were lots of surfers out, I have seen that year round in So. California (I guess those wet suits keep you warm) and my kids enjoy that too.

You can directions to any of the beaches from your hotel desk or by going on mapquest. Newport and Huntington are probably the closest.

 

[rainyday77]

I would disagree about not visiting the beach. I am from Alberta so any excuse to play in the sand and put your toes in the freezing ocean is fun for kids. I book marked 2 beaches in the area which have great playgrounds for younger kids - but it is on another computer. If this info. would be helpful let me know and I can search for it. Maybe one was Huntington and 1 Laguna??? I searched oc and beach playgrounds or something

 

[lillybug]

We really liked Huntington beach. When we went a couple years ago it was in late November/early December and we still had a great time playing at the beach. Of course most of the cm's at Disneyland were wearing heavy coats, and we were in shorts. So

 

[blackjackdelta]

Not sure what you are expecting but personally I would not go to the beach in April in California. The water will be way too cold to go in, and the weather will probably be too cold to do anything other than walk the beach and/or boardwalk.

If all you want to do is "see" the beach, then consider driving over to the Santa Monica Pier. It has lots of interesting things to do. I would guess it is 40 miles or so from DLR.

If you really want to go to a beach near DLR then Laguna is a good one. Personally I would probably go to Newport Beach as I am more familiar with it (spent lots of time there as a teen) and it is closer.

I agree. We love Huntington Beach, but not that fun when it is coolish.

Jack

 

[King_of_FastPass]

I wasnt impressed with Hunington Beach. Surfers everywhere. Wasnt much shopping/dinning to close to walk to. We really enjoyed Venice Beach. It was about 45 minutes from Disneyland. Lots of shops off the beach. Only problem was all the smoke shops. My son had no idea what it was, but.... Lots of shops for the women. Good food too. They also had a lot of street performers, which was very entertaining.

 

[blackjackdelta]

I wasnt impressed with Hunington Beach. Surfers everywhere. Wasnt much shopping/dinning to close to walk to. We really enjoyed Venice Beach. It was about 45 minutes from Disneyland. Lots of shops off the beach. Only problem was all the smoke shops. My son had no idea what it was, but.... Lots of shops for the women. Good food too. They also had a lot of street performers, which was very entertaining.

My mistake, I thought the OP said beach. My teen daughters and son learned to surf there a few years back so that is where we go. Never thought about shopping at a beach..Venice is OK, but junky. Like to shop, go to Laguna or Manhatten where I use to live.

Jack

 

[LucyDingo]

My mistake, I thought the OP said beach. My teen daughters and son learned to surf there a few years back so that is where we go. Never thought about shopping at a beach..Venice is OK, but junky. Like to shop, go to Laguna or Manhatten where I use to live.

Jack

Shopping.....ugh.

 

[DisneyNic]

....We really liked this restaurant there called Ruby's Diner.....

Sorry to nose in for a second, but I have a question about Ruby's. I just looked it up on Tripadvisor and it says that the average price is $20 per person. Is that true???

 

[blackjackdelta]

Sorry to nose in for a second, but I have a question about Ruby's. I just looked it up on Tripadvisor and it says that the average price is $20 per person. Is that true???

I also love Ruby's. Compared to where I live, SoCal is an expensive place to live. They have many items that are less than $20. Here is the link to their menu.

http://www.rubys.com/1-menu/lunch.aspx

Jack

 

[WendyLovesPeter]

being from Ohio we would have to at least walk the beach & play in the sand and waves. We are not sunbathers, so that is not an issue anyway. But we would have to splash around a bit - it would probably seem warm to us Also my kids have not been to the Pacific, so that is another reason. Are there any boardwalk areas at any of the above mentioned beaches?

 

[KCmike]

I wouldn't go to Santa Monica. I would choose either Newport (which is closer) or Lagunape (which is the nicest). Our first time we went to Newport and watch huge waves come crashing in. Every pier has a Ruby's diner type of restaurant at the end. Newport also has boat excursions from it. Laguna has cool little shops and eateries. It is a little ways away from Anaheim though. We drove thru the laguna hills and saw billy goats on the hills and million dollar homes with awesome views of the Pacific.

 

[Amy&Dan]

Ruby's: Hmm, I guess if each person got a meal, drink and dessert with tip it might be $20. The portions are large and we could have totally shared (but didn't thinking we were starving and could eat all of it). I want to say for all four of us, it was around $60 for lunch with the tip.

And we are from Colorado so we'll be visiting the beach in late October. As long as its not raining. Probably won't do more than stick a big toe in the water but we just love the water! There are actually some nice shops in Huntington (at least I thought so). And if you like more upscale dining, Dukes is very good. Much more expensive than Ruby's but very nice. We have eaten at one of their locations in Del Mar and my brother ate at one in Maui. Nice food and always some sort of very nice view!

 

[iKristin]

I always go to my hometown of Huntington Beach. It's only about 15 minutes down the freeway from DL and it's a great beach for families. Bon fires allowed plus there's the pier with Ruby's restaurant at the end and then main street with tons of shopping and food across the street from there. It's loads of fun!

 

[jakoky]

hi there, september 07, our family (5 of us me, dh, dd- then 16, ds-then 14, dd-then 12) and another family of 5 rented a car and drove 40 min. down harbour boulevard to newport beach...we had a blast....the beach was great, the kids ALL the kids had a blast in the water...there was a nice boardwalk and some great stores...We had a really great day there, and my husband was very that he didnt have to drive on the california freeways ...if you are interested, i can email me you some pictures of our day there, it really shows how nice it was....my kids all want to go back in may when we go to disneyland again....
sharon

 

[lntsmom]

I used Tony the Limo King for transportation. Here's what I'll say about the service: if you got a kick out of the original opening of Aladdin, you'll love Tony. Make sure you get his quote in writing, since his prices have a way of changing if you don't.

I got his name and number from the Anaheim tourism bureau website. He charged me $100 round trip. The nice thing was, I didn't have to hassle with parking or driving and they were on my time- whenever I wanted to go, they'd pick me up, whenever I wanted to return, they'd come get me. My boys got a huge kick out of riding in a limo- they'd never been in one before.

When I looked at bus service I found that it would take 2 hours one way to get to the nearest beach. Cabs were more spendy than the limo!

You could rent a car for the day- I think there's a Budget rental right on Harbor. Their "walk away" insurance in CA is only $9.99 a day...so for probably $35 you could get there if you want to drive.

BTW...if you choose Laguna, there's a little shop right on the entrance that rents beach equipment...don't haul your own if you don't want to. There's a play area (swings, slide, etc) for the kids and a wonderful ice cream shop just across the street. We didn't eat there, but there were tons of places to eat, ranging from spendy adults-only places to pizza places.

 

[veddermax]

If you go to Newport be sure to check out the Wedge. It is one of the best bodysurfing spots in CA. If the waves are a decent size, it is a great place to people watch.