I have to go to San Diego the first week in April for business so my husband and I decided to make a family vacation out of it since he has never been there and we haven't done the Disney/Sea Work/Universal Studios thing with our 7 year old. Although I went to UC Irvine, I don't remember the area well. I am trying to plan an itinerary based on the following:
Day 1 fly into John Wayne airport early afternoon. Free Days 1, 2 and most of day 3. I have to be in San Diego late afternoon/early evening day 3 for a short meeting. I am working Days 4 and 5 so my husband and daughter will have to hang out in SD. We are free Days 6, 7. 8 and fly out of LAX on the red eye on day 9.
We would like to visit Sea World, Disney and Universal Studios. My husband would love to see the coast along PCH.
I'm interested in hearing all suggestions and recommendations surrounding the itinerary, restaurants, attractions, discounts etc.
Thanks!
Re: So CA vacation
Are you flying into John Wayne and then driving directly down to San Diego or are you going to be staying in OC for the first few days? Universal Studios is a looooong trip from San Diego on some of our worst (traffic/construction) freeways. Driving to Disney from San Diego would be a long day, but far more do-able.
If it were me, I would stay in Orange County the first two nights at least and drive up to Universal Studios the second day.
Day 3 you can drive down to San Diego on PCH for a lot of the trip (at least through Orange County) in the morning and check into a hotel there and be there for your meeting. Then one of your "family free days" you can drive up to Disney.
I'll give you a bunch of things to do that your 7 year old might enjoy and you can decide what your husband would like to do with her and what you'd like to do as a family:
- Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad
- Legoland in Carlsbad (my niece and nephew are obsessed with this place)
- Children's Beach in La Jolla for a chance to gander at the sea lions
- Wild Animal Park
- Sea World
- Balboa Park - Science Museum, Natural History Museum, Aerospace Museum, Model Train Museum, Carousel, Train around the park, Puppet Theater
- The Zoo
- New Children's Museum downtown (which is not too far from Seaport Village which would also be fun for her)
- Old Town
Definitely take the kiddies to the zoo and SeaWorld! The resort we stayed at (Paradise Point) is a fantastic family resort, and you can walk to SeaWorld from there.
See my review of San Diego above