We are planning a one week trip to California at the end of July. I will be traveling with my wife and two kids (4 and 1 year). We are planning to head to LA first to meet some people and then visit the theme parks, zoo, sea world etc. in southern California and then head to San Francisco for few days. Any help in regards to the following will be appreciated:
Cheap but decent accommodations in San Diego or LA area or its surroundings.
Cheap passes to the attractions like Sea world, Disney, Zoo etc. I have been to the websites of these attractions and we can purchase the packages but they are so darn expensive, I am a poor man. Anyone knows of any tricks and deals?
Cheap and convenient way to get to San Francisco from San Diego or LA … drive is too long with kids?
AAA members usually get some discounts on the theme park tickets. i might be able to get tix at discount rates for some parks apart from AAA rates, so if you can let me know what parks you are interested in, i can find out the rates for you.
LA to SF drive would probably be around 6 hrs if you pick a decent time to drive up. San Diego would be another 2 to 2 1/2 hrs. you could always fly (check southwest) or take the greyhound.
dont know much about accomodation coz i'm not sure what's "decent" for families. i'm quite cheapo as far as accomodation goes, and just book whatever crappy motel i can find online thru any of the websites like orbitz, travelocity..
Thanks queer .... I am intrested in Disney, San Diego Zoo & Sea World ... since the kids are too young to enjoy the Universal Studios we'll skip that on this trip.. anything else worth visiting?
If you and the family are going to be in San Fran than you absolutely have to visit The Monterey Bay Aquarium. You’re kids will love it. I personally like it more than the San Diego Zoo. It is just so beautiful. Kids under 3 are free, age 3-12 its $8.95, and adults $19.95. Their website is packed with information.
As far as the accomodation goes, the best bet you have in the LA area is homestead studio suite which comes with a kitchenette including fridge and microwave, which will be perfect for a family. Please PM me, and I will try to get that for you for under $40 near disneyland.
Disneyland itself is pretty expensive these days, atleast 50/person/day. A suitable alternative would be knotts berry farm (which a lot of locals prefer over disneyland) which has a special running for only 24/person/day (even cheaper for kids). Again, contact me for the special coupon (i dont think if they have it on their website).
San fran accomodation is generally expensive. But if you go there on the weekend, I can try to help you as I know some hotels actually have cheaper rates available on the weekend.
You may substitute sea world in san diego with aquarium of the pacific in long beach (just south of LA). There is a huge price difference.
Personal opinion never liked knotts berry farm. I would rather spend an extra day at Disney.
Plus when your kids grow up inshAllah and are asked the ultimate questions on the playground "have you been to disney" they can say they have had the Disney experience, who ever says i've been to knotts berry.
Chachoo you are coming from east coast with kids for a vacation arent you? You cant substitute Disneyland with Knotts Berry Farm and aquarium at Long Beach with Sea World. You will miss out big time. Dont worry about spending a few extra dollars, youll have heaps of fun and California could sure use the tourist money :D
I would suggest Univeral Studios as well. There is tons for the kids to enjoy there as well. If you havent seen it already or wont be coming down here anytime soon then i suggest you accomodate that into your itinery as well. More soon
I agree with your initial plan. Disneyland, SeaWorld are a must for your 4 year old. 1-yr old will not remember anything anyway, so for him (her?) your biggest concern would be to keep him comfortable in a stroller.
We just went on a three day trip to San Diego and Santa Barbara over the July 4th weekend. Though admittedly my kids are a bit older 9,6 and 5, driving has always been the most pleasurable option. I-5 is the fastest and straightest route and you can get from LA to SJ/SF in 5-6 hours. However if you want a more scenic route take 101 and add another 30-50 mins to your travel time.
Once you are out of LA's traffic, San Diego is only 1 - 1.5 hours (depending on how fast you wanna go). If you are not coming on a particularly busy holiday weekend, for accomodation, I can make another suggestion too. Book a hotel in LA from the web. Once in LA, you can pick a copy of Traveller's Discount Guide (available in most Denny's, IHOP's etc). They have coupons for some great savings. We got a $150/night Best Western right on SB's beace/State Street for $64. The only catch is you can't make a reservation and have to walk-in. If your travel dates are weekdays, this will work without a glitch as most hotels have plenty of vacancy. Traveller's Discount Guide has hotels all over California, including San Francisco and other Bay area and Monetery locations.
Thank you Faisal, JaGGa, and belle for your input… Faisal, 1 year old is a boy as well, and mashaAllah very active one who hates stroller… JaGGa, not east coast midwest more specifically Chicago… I left the east coast at Matsui, Madhanee, and Roman’s rehm-o-karam… belle, yes I have to be answerable to my kids one day
With Jayzee’s help I have been able to secure a pretty sweet deal for accomdation. Holiday Inn @ 7000 Beach Blvd., Buena Park, CA 90620 for only $51/night, 3.5 star.
We were able to get discounted passes for Disney via eBay and some local (CA) BBs after intense negotiations … for almost $25/day per person per day. We will be at Disney for 2 days.
I was able to get a pretty nice deal for car rental via expedia.com. Air fair was the killer but still cheaper than other places on expedia. Driving was out since the 1 year old is a Mama’s boy and can’t stay in his car seat for more than an hour or so…
We want to go to Sea World for sure but can’t decide to either opt for San Diego Zoo or Safari (or what ever it is called)? Any suggestions? Are there better options?
Universal is out in this trip, due to the busy schedule and the fact that we will be in the are for only 5 days and then off to San Fran via Southwest from LA.
While in San Fran we plan to go to Alcatraz (or how ever it is spelled) any ideas if Friday is a busy day for it? Should we purchase tickets in adavance?
What else is worth visiting like in the evenings with kids?
Yes, JaGGa lot of tourist $$$, someone’s loss is someone’s gain..
A choice between San Diego Zoo or Safari.. I would say go for Zoo, as your 4 yr old will enjoy it more.
If you wanna visit Alcatraz, then definitely book the cruise in advance. There is rarely an open spot if you walk-in on the day of travel. If you are not planning to drive to Monetery for the aquarium then you can also check out the aquariam of the bay right on Fishermen Wharf (Pier 39) in SF. Actually, the whole Pier 39 is pretty good and kids can have tonnes of fun there for a whole day.
Evenings, you can check out the North Beach area for a nice meal. Its the intersection of Columbus and Broadway.
Oakland Zoo and SF Zoo are nice too, but since you would have checked out SD's Zoo, so might as well not give an over-dose of monkies.
Golden Gate park is very nice and also has a very nice stretch of beaches.
Ghirardeli Square (Pier 41) is very nice and kids can have a lot of fun there.
You can drive over the Golden Gate bridge and spend time on the Marin side on two vista points.
i would have recommended you trendy beach front areas and ferry trips to Catalina Island and Balboa Island but i suppose the kids may not enjoy as much.
Here is a link to some useful info on amusement parks and others around LA area. Play with the links in the left-hand sidebar.
Thanks JaGGa... The Nautilus might be a nice addition for evening to see the undersea night life... 4 year old will love it not to mention his Baba.. :)
Thank you for the your input and suggestions…. with your help and some planning the vacation starts tomorrow afternoon. We will be arriving in LA tomorrow night and then:
Saturday & Sunday at Disney
Monday Sea World
Tuesday Lego Land
Wednesday socializing and then off to SFO in the evening
Thursday, drop wife at her friends with the 1 year old and taking the 4 year old to a zoo or museum
Friday, Alcatraz and some choti moti activity
Saturday, lake Tahoe with some friends
Sunday, relax and head back to Chicago
Monday, back to the grind …
We plan to spend 5-6 hours at the amusement parks since I know that kids can’t take more than this at this age so evenings we will be driving around. Any sugestions?
It is pretty ambitious plan but is very much flexible especially since the little one came down with viral flu couple of days back, but he is doing a bit better now and hoping he stays well, inshaAllah.
Reporting back .... most of the plan remained inatct with the exception of Lego Land, Alcatraz, and Lake Tahoe ... Kids and wife were too tired for a 4th staright day of outing plus Lego Land is closed on Tusedays and Wednesdays... For Alcatraz it turned out that I needed almost 2-3 week advance reservations.. so that got tossed out as well... Over all the trip went really well...
