I'm looking for a CA. beach location to park my family for 10-14 days in August that will faciliate day trips to Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, maybe Disneyland, etc. The Embassy Suites in Mandalay Bay, Oxnard looks interesting (it's right on the beach), affordable (about $239/night), and pretty well located.

Has anyone stayed there?

Does anyone have a better idea?

Thanks!

Oxnard is a so-so beach town. Too far north though to be convenient for Santa Monica, Disneyland, etc. Just stay down in LA or OC and plan on driving up to Santa Barbara for a few days.

Stay in Ventura...only about 30 minutes away from Oxnard, and much more of a beach town. You can take the 101 to the 405 to get to any of your destinations.

I used to live about 1/2 mile from there and used to drive everywhere all the time - Santa Monica, Los Angeles, San Diego and Santa Barbara. It's the nicest resort in the Oxnard/Port Hueneme/Ventura area and it is on the beach and next to a city park. It's pretty far from everything though. It usually took me between 50 minutes to an hour to get to the Santa Monica Pier area w/o traffic down PCH. It's about 45 minutes to Santa Barbara and about 2 hours to Disneyland w/o traffic. The hotel has nice grounds, I stayed there a few nights as I was searching the area for places to live. It's ok but not super nice and luxurious but for that price for an oceanfront resort it's a bargain. The beach is very long and stretches about a mile south to the harbor and about 7 miles north to Ventura. you're kids will absolutely love it because it won't be as crowded or polluted as Malibu. There is a food court about 1/2 mile south (easy to walk to) with varied menus and a big grocery store 1 1/2 miles south on Channel Island Blvd. Not the most convenient but if you're not traveling for several day stretches it's a great place to stay since you will be visiting a large area. Ventura is so close that you can easily visit. Ventura is more of a surfer beach town but the resorts aren't nearly as nice as the Mandalay. oxnard is not a very nice city but the Mandalay is on the extreme western edge so you shouldn;t have to go into Oxnard very often. Here's my vote for the Mandalay!
By the way you and your kids will love Universal Studios. Much closer than Disneyland.

Do check out www.biddingfortravel.com for Priceline.com bids for Newport Beach. The Hyatt Newporter has had successful bids in the $35-$50 range (we paid $40 a couple of weeks ago) and would be a great south coast location. Maybe you could split half your time in the north end and half further south?

Thank you all for replying. I'm going to share all this info with my family and talk it over with the girls (ages 10 and 12). We have been to the beach in Puerto Vallarta many times (the El Camino Real) and have enjoyed it, but we thought it would be too hot in the middle of August. Also, we've never been to the beaches in S. CA. I'll see what they think.....

The suggestion for Priceline, et al. is also intersting.

Tom

Puerto Vallarta is miserable in August - thunderstorms and flash floods and way too much humidity. Southern California, however, will have much nicer beach weather in August.

I'd have to agree that Oxnard seems too far north for daytrips. I think the Newporter would fit your needs nicely.

On another note, I think your girls would enjoy a few days in San Diego more than Santa Barbara if you've never been to Southern California. Spend one week in San Diego and then spend another week at the Newporter.

Check with Embassy Suites to see if they offer the room with a big "entertainment card" discount.

If so, you still have time to buy yourself an entertainment card membership at entertainmentcard.com

I do agree that you should proabably split time between north and south of LA but The Hyatt Newporter is not on the beach and I wouldn't use priceline because you don't know what hotel you may end up with.