Day 3: We headed to Paradise Pier for Surfs Up with Mickey. We had the 740 reservation and it wasn't crowded at all. Food was pretty damn good, and the character interaction was fantastic. We would go here again. As for the hotel, it was nothing compared to the Grand California. It could use some updating, and I would have been disappointed if I had spent the money to stay there.

After breakfast, it was time to head down south. We stopped at Little Coronado Beach in Newport. The access is off Poppy Ave/Dr/St. We went right to visit some tide pools. Lots of urchins, anemones, crabs, etc. And the boys played in the ocean. They had a blast! Newport looked like a nice beach town to walk around/shop. But you'd better have deep wallets!!

Then we got stuck in traffic on our way to La Jolla. This was our only traffic of the trip. It was Friday afternoon.

We stopped to see the seals and then went to dinner at El Pescador Fish Market. We preferred the Mexican Shrimp tacos, but the fish tacos were good as well. This place is small with only a few tables. But the food is yummy.

After dinner we headed to our hotel...Hyatt Place in Sorrento Valley/Mira Mesa. Most hotels downtown were sold out so we ended up here. The hotel was in a business park. It was clean, the staff was friendly, and it was great to have a separate bedroom to get a break from the kids. Also, the complimentary breakfast was the best I've ever had at a hotel. They had lots of fresh fruit, muffins, eggs, waffles, bacon, cereal, bagels, etc. One day they had sweet potatoes that were delicious. I would stay here again if I were visiting for business, but I'd try to get a better location for pleasure. It was a great stay though.

Day 4: This morning we learned why the downtown hotels were sold out. They were having a ceremony at the new USS San Diego. We went down to the harbor to check out the USS Midway and discovered we couldn't get on due to security for the USS San Diego. So we just walked around a bit.

Then we went to Little Italy for the Farmer's Market. It's quite extensive. They have fruit, veggies, meats, nuts, flowers, crafts, etc.

After grabbing a bite to eat, we drove out to Poway to check out their steam train. Every weekend they offer train rides at their town park. The type of train varies week to week. It cost $6 for our family of four and the boys had fun.

Next it was out to Julian. We stopped at Dudley's Bakery on the way. I would recommend stopping if you are in the area, but I wouldn't make a special trip. The fruit bars and macaroons were good.

In Julian we visited an old fashioned soda fountain for some root beer floats. Then it was off to Smith Ranch for a "train ride" into an old gold mine. The boys got to pump water from a well and pan for "gold". This was a 1.5 hour tour and my kids had a lot of fun. I would not do this with just adults...those couples seemed bored. But it's great for kids.

For dinner we grabbed a pizza at Filippis. This was not good. Very thick, doughy crust and too much cheese.

Day 5: Today is Seaworld Day. We got there for opening. Park was quiet and we got to ride Atlantis 3 times with no wait. My 3 year old LOVED this ride. We got to "pet" some lizards and check out some parrots. Then we just slowly meandered through the park checking things out. We had reservations for the 1230 Dine With Shamu. My 3 year old started having a meltdown around this time. Thankfully the food and show cheered him up. The lunch was actually pretty good. And I really enjoyed the Shamu cookies. The show was good as well, but shorter than I expected.

After lunch the crowds were insane! There was a concert that night and it seemed like thousands of people standing in line for wristbands. I had never heard of the singer, but it did sell out. At this point there were too many people to get on any rides without a really long wait, so we went to the kiddy play area. The boys enjoyed the water area and my older one liked the climbing rope as well. I wasn't a huge fan as it was tough to track him.

After this we ended up at the rescue animal show. It's cats, dogs, bird, pigs, etc doing a sort of talent show. It was okay.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at Whole Foods in La Jolla for an easy dinner. Nothing like seeing a Rolls Royce in the parking lot. I'm too poor to live in California


Still working on days 6 and 7...will post soon.

Great report. I love seeing low key family trip reports like yours on Fodor's, even though our family is long past that stage.

Nice report so far, rizzo.

Lcuy is right; we need a variety of trip reports. Great details.

rizzo0904:

I love reading how how a young family can do this sort of trip and stay on budget. Reminds me of our family many years ago.

Where did you find the Visa car rental code?

Carry on please.

Sandy

Sandy: http://usa.visa.com/personal/discounts/index.jsp

Great report!

3 notes:

Von's is owned by Safeway. I think their prices are pretty normal for CA (not Whole Foods-like)

Good call on Dumbo! After I stood in line once (when my son was 3) I swore I'd never do it again. An hour for a 30-second ride Sheesh!

Pizza in California is generally-speaking a very bad choice of food genre (I'm from NY, but have lived in CA for 39 years. Except for a couple of gourmet pizza spots in SF, I have yet to find anything remotely like pizza back East)

Glad you had fun!

I'm impressed with your discounts.. savvy!
Enjoying your report so far and I think you did just the right amount of Disney with kids that age.
Hope you make it to the Midway on another day!

Day 6: Decided to just have breakfast at the hotel again. Then we headed out for the zoo. My hubby works for the airlines, so we got 50% off with his ID. Great deal!

The zoo is huge. There are buses available...one does a tour and the other is an on/off type of bus. We decided to walk through the zoo first, and then take the bus tour once the kids were tired. It worked out great. We saw about 80% of the zoo on foot, then got to see what we missed from the bus. The three year old slept through most of this.

The most annoying part of the zoo, for me, was the random play structures. Near the elephants, they had a digger the kids could play on. Trying to pry two pre-school aged boys away from that was quite a challenge.

The zoo was clean, with lots of bathroom facilities. The staff was friendly. And it is huge...so wear sneakers!

For dinner we went to Mira Mesa High School. They have a food truck meetup there on Monday nights at 530. Our favorite was Devilicious...the Cuban sandwich was yummy! We also got a great salad from an Asian truck...Tabe???... something like that.

Day 7: we headed downtown near the ballpark to watch trains from the pedestrian overpass. Then we had to head back up to the LA area. My MIL made lunch plans for us with one of her friends and we needed to be in Los Alamitos for noon. We stopped in Irvine on the way to buy some flowers at their Farmer's Market. Then we met up with the family friends for lunch.

From there we checked into our hotel...the Candlewood Suites in Hawthorne. The hotel was fine...clean with fine rooms. But the area is awful! It's very convenient to the airport, but you don't want to go walking around at night.

Since we didn't like the area, we headed to Manhattan Beach for one last swim and dinner at The Kettle. Food was okay. The muffins and soups were good. Entrees were just average.

Day 8: Time to say goodbye to California. We took Virgin America home. Check in and security were a breeze...much quicker and easier than in Boston. I was shocked. And we got our peanut butter confiscated...oops!

Flight was a bit difficult. We had an hour delay for maintenance and they left us on the aircraft. So that made for some cranky toddlers. Plus, there is NO leg room on Virgin America so every time the boys moved, they were kicking the seats in front of them. And you have to pay $25 for every bag and pay for snacks. Overall, I much preferred JetBlue....and no, that's not my hubby's company