Southern California Trip

If you think they would be into exploring tide pools, my kids enjoyed this area.
Cabrillo National Monument (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

Lots of seals hauling out on the rocks and things.

 

KONOs cafe for breaky! Love that place. It’s at the crystal pier. No frills & amazing

 

One day may not be enough for Disneyland to do all the rides. My kids like California Adventure more which has the “Cars” and Avengers rides.

Depending on how old/young your kids are, consider the San Diego zoo, Safari Park (a personal favorite) where you can even camp overnight. USS midway museum is great too. Gaslamp Quarter has a lot of great restaurants and bars. Try to catch a Padres game. Coronado island is beautiful.

In LA, would suggest Griffith Observatory. Can’t go wrong with any of the beaches south of LA. A drive on Route 1 is absolutely beautiful.

 

If you’re doing California adventure then one day should be enough. Don’t miss the Radiator Racers (do this in the evening when the lights come on), the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Incredicoaster rides.
Personally San Diego zoo is the best in the US and doesn’t feel as theme parky as Animal Kingdom. Haven’t been to Busch gardens

 

No problem. Hope you guys have fun in libbie-land

to clarify, Safari park is different from the Zoo and I recommend both. Safari park is maybe more like Animal Kingdom but the Cheetah run and the overnight camp options are great.

I haven’t been to Universal Studios in Florida but the studio tour in Universal Hollywood is great and takes you around sets from different movies (the war of the worlds one is amazing)

 

Have a great trip, Bluke. SanDiego is on our short list of places to visit.

 

Safari Park is a more natural setting. It's about 45 minutes N of San Diego proper in Temecula. It wasn't built as a park originally, but a way to house the animals in a more natural setting. They built the park around the land, and while the SD Zoo is amazing, the Safari Park is better. Temecula is also San Diego wine country, and when we go with the kids, we make a deal to spend most of the day at the park, then hit a winery or two on the way back. Our favorite is Orfila.

As for food, must visit one of the Extraordinary Desserts if you are a fan of sweets. Great coffee shop with award winning cakes, cookies, and pastries. Karl Strauss Brewing has a few restaurants in the area. They were one of the original brew pubs and the beer is good. But they brought in great chefs to pair the beer with excellent food. The downtown location is great, but we prefer the location off of Scranton Road north of the city. It has an amazing koi pond and deck.

Last, make sure to take time to walk around the waterfront. If you are staying in the downtown area, there is a free rideshare service from the city called FRED. It can take a little time, but it's great to use. If not, we usually park in Seaport Village, which is an outdoor mall with shops and restaurants, and eat at one of the waterfront spots to get our parking validated. The mall is cute, but the surrounding park and marina is one of our favorite spots.

Let me know if you want more specifics. San Diego is where half of Arizona spends the summer, because from Tucson or Phoenix, it's only a 6-hour drive, and often 30-40 degrees cooler!

 

Been a few years...zoo is awesome, safari was good. My son was only maybe 5, so we did Lego Land and like you we were Disneyed out.

 

One last thing. Coronado Island. Best beach, and if you get there early enough on a weekday and get lucky, you can even get free parking! Just remember, the water is the Pacific in CA is coming down from Alaska, and is always cold. If your kids are used to Florida Gulf or Atlanta water, it will be a shock and an adjustment period. But Coronado is great.

 

Yea, the pacific is always cold and have light jackets for the family even in the summer.

 

Go to seaport village. Take the ferry from there to Coronado Island. Walk around then ferry back. Both areas are great. Balboa park and old Town are awesome as well. There is craft beer everyday and you can't go wrong if your into beer. Mission Beach has the iconic roller coaster and surrounding amusement but there area around there is sketchy especially at night.

 

I suggest looking for AirBnB’s in San Diego itself and then another hotel in LA/Anaheim when you go there.

Carlsbad (Legoland is here)/Oceanside are nice towns and right in between LA and SD. If you plan to spend a lot of time closer to San Diego, then the traffic on I-5 can be horrendous from these towns both ways.

 

we were last there Thanksgiving 3 years ago & had a sweet VRBO on mission beach. next time I go I'll do that again.