We will be visiting Disneyland for 4 days/3 nights in October and then traveling to San Diego for 3 days/2 nights.
We will be visiting SeaWorld for one of the days but as for the remaining day we don't know whether to go to San Diego Zoo or Legoland. We will have a (just turned) 5 year old girl and a 6 month old baby.

Clearly the Zoo has lots of advantages and appears to be the 'safe choice' but Legoland sounds very appealing except for the reviews which describe (a) long lines for 2 minute rides! and (b) not very efficient staff.

What to do?!?! We are aiming the vacation clearly at our 5 year old but we don't know which park to choose from; Zoo or Legoland. Help!

Hi there. We live in Carlsbad and get annual passes to the SD zoo each year and this past year we bought annual passes to Legoland as well. We've had SeaWorld passes in past years.

I don't recall the lines vs. ride length at Legoland being any different than any other California theme park (I know I've waited much longer at Disneyland in fact)... I guess it just depends when you go.

While the SD zoo is great, there are zoos all over the US so you could have a similar experience elsewhere. Legoland, on the other hand, is sometime different as it is a theme park particularly great for younger children.

If you want something different than a zoo, but want to see animals, you might want to check into the SD Wild Animal Park near Escondido (also affiliated with the SD Zoo). The line for the tram (which you can ride on to hear a narrated tour and see the animals) can be long, however, depending on when you get there. If you choose this option, you might want to call and see when the tram line will be the shortest (probably early in the day... shortly after they open).

Any of the 3 choices would be a great!

My son liked Legoland better than Disneyworld. My boys aren't totally thrilled with animals - I was impressed with the SD Zoo, but they liked Legoland better.

I personally love the San Diego Zoo but I think your 5 year old would enjoy Legoland. When they opened Legoland, my daughters were almost teenagers so never took then there. However, my older daughter worked there one summer as part of the entertainment. She would get free passes so I would go see the show. The park is very clean and geared just right for a 5 yr old. All of the kids seemed to be enjoying themselves. For the adults, you will be impressed with the Lego cities, New York, San Francisco, etc. It's amazing what they do with the Lego's. In October the lines shouldn't be as bad as in the summer.

Your 5 year old will like Legoland the best. Our boys preferred Legoland to Disneyland. 5 is the perfect age for Legoland.

Oh, yes... as was mentioned above... Legoland is an extremely CLEAN park.

Legoland is the one your daughter will remember. The zoo is a very good zoo, but there is nothing like Legoland. As far as the ride lines, the only one that I've found is really bad is that one where you're up above on a track pedaling a car thing. On that one the line takes forever even when it's the park is uncrowded. There are things to like about Legoland for adults too--gourmet coffee stop right at the entrance and apple fries, mmmmmm.

My son is 6 and loves Legoland more than life itself. We have Disneyland passes, but he'd rather we hauled to Legoland. Something about it, kids adore it. However, my husband and I hate it. It's so corny and boring and dull. I would pick the zoo any time. It's a world class park; Legoland is just plastic.

The zoo is in San Diego. Legoland is in Carlsbad, about a 45-55 minute drive (depending on the time of day) north of San Diego. However, if you are visiting Anaheim and San Diego, you must have a car.

The distance isn't an issue really - more one of which park would my daughter best enjoy...so far, Legoland appears to be the overwhelming vote....any more opinions from anyone?

My daughter who is 6 loves Legoland. We have been two times in the past three years. She would prefer going to Legoland over the zoo anyday.
Legoland is a clean park and easy to experience in a day. I highly recommend Legoland!

It seems clear that LegoLand is the way to go. Not one vote for the Zoo! We are going on a 'package deal' and they sell the tickets to LegoLand for $37 (for adults and kids - same price) Does anyone know if you can get them cheaper once we actually arrive there?

Thanks for all the input. We've changed our plans and will be going to Legoland rather than the zoo. We hope our daughter loves it! Our next task is to try and find some discount tickets for the place!

Do you have an AAA membership? We were just there over the holidays and got a 25% discount with the AAA card. Because there were seven of us, it pretty much paid for the annual membership fee. My 3 and 5 year old nephews loved it, by the way. My 11 year old liked it too, but not quite as much. The lines were pretty manageable until after lunchtime, then the waits were a bit on the long side.

The zoo is quite nice, too, but we happen to have pretty nice zoos at home.