Wife and I are planning our summer vacation (2 kids 11 & 6) and are heavily considering Southern California. The thought right now is flying into San Diego and staying there for 2-3 days to hit the zoo, Legoland and maybe Sea World then going north into LA to hit Disneyland and maybe Universal.

My questions....

1) are we biting off too much trying to hit so many spots?
2) are there any places not listed above that we should plan to stop?
3) how many days should we allow each for Disney & Universal?
4) anything else we should know / consider?

Apparently there is an aquarium at Legoland. Might do that instead of also adding Sea World.

Yeah, I just add Sea World as an option. It's lower priority since we've been to the one in San Antonio a good bit.

Based on info we have gotten from friends we are leaning...

Fly into SD on Fri
Zoo, beach, shops...
Checkout and drive to Legoland Sun
Leave Legoland, drive to Anaheim and check-in to next place
Disney (2 days), Universal, beach, shops...
Fly home Thur or Fri

We are trying to figure out...
- the timing of everything
- best places/areas to stay (thinking near zoo for SD and possible near beach for LA)
- any others places we should hit
- any other outdoorsy attractions

I think it is too much.

We went to Disneyland in 2014 with a 9, 7, and 1 year old.

Day 1. Drove down from Monterey. Visited the California Science Center. They have the Endeavour, which should be in Houston, not LA. Caught an Angels-Rangers game.

Day 2-4. Got a 3 day park hopper. Day 1 in the Park was all Disneyland. Day 2 was all California Adventure. Day 3 of Disney, the kids were still going but the parents (my brother and his family came too) were dragging.

Day 5. Everyone was dog tired. Drove through Hollywood without stopping except at the sign. Drove back to Monterey.

Your itinerary sounds very similar to what we did back in 2002 when my kids were 4 & 6.

Saturday & Sunday, drive from Denver to San Diego.
Monday - San Diego Zoo
Tuesday - Legoland
Wednesday - Laguna Beach
Thursday - Disneyland
Friday & Saturday, drive from the OC back to Denver

We had a great time. Kids loved it, parents loved it.
Now, we were in my 1999 Ford Expedition so we had plenty of room.
And in my role as dad, I did the vast majority of the driving and had to make sure we made our movements to stay on schedule - check out of hotels, check into next hotel, etc.

As somebody who lives 5 minutes away from Universal Studios and hasn't been since 1983 (I've been to Citywalk a bunch though), I'd completely skip Los Angeles and do it on a different trip. For this trip, I'd focus on SD/The OC.

I sent our rough itinerary to someone this morning including Universal and after hitting send I immediately felt like we may be biting off too much. Universal was a late addition. Original plan was SD/OC and I'm thinking we may need to go back to that.

So time frame likely stays the same (2 flight days and 6-7 activity days). You have...

SD Zoo - 1 day
Lego Land - 1 day
Disneyland Disney Adventure - 2 days

The rest (2-3) days would be beach, shopping, outdoor activities, etc... So what is a must see? What beaches (SD and/or OC) are the best for kids. Also worth mentioning for outdoor activities that my son (6) is an absolute rock hound. If we could go someplace where he would be inclined to find some cool rocks that might make his day.

San Diego:
Visit Hotel del Coranado
Eat fish tacos at Rubios

Drive up "the" 5 to Orange County:
Stop off at La Jolla
Eat at Cappy's Cafe in Newport Beach (the non-driver needs to get a Bloody Mary) and then hit the Newport Beach pier
Go to Huntington Beach for sand & surf and hit up Jack's Surfboards right across the street (the kids will be impressed)

It can all be done in one day, but it will be a long, long day.

Coronado Island is worth a visit. Rent some bikes, go to beach by Hotel Del Coronado.

definitely stop in La Jolla to see the seals. Kids love it.

Is there enough to do in La Jolla to make a full day of it or should that be part of our travel day from SD to OC?

chjoak said:

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Is there enough to do in La Jolla to make a full day of it or should that be part of our travel day from SD to OC?

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Probably not enough for a full day, but there's so much around that you can go visit other places nearby La Jolla and still make a day of it.

Did a similar trip two years ago:

Day 1 - Land in AM, California Science Center, Drive to Carlsbad
Day 2, 3 - Legoland, Aquarium, Water Park (lots to do in 1 day in my opinion)
Day 4 - La Jolla, Children's Beach, Drove to Anaheim, Character dining in Disneyland hotel
Day 5 - Visited Spanish Missions, Relaxing evening visiting with relatives
Day 6 - Disneyland
Day 7 - California Adventure

I will say be wary of traffic in CA; plan to travel during non-peak times and you should be okay even though you'll still encounter traffic.