Need help planning San Diego trip with kids
 

Does this look like a reasonable travel plan (for June)?

Day 1 (Tues.) - arrive in San Diego at 12:30, check into Best Western Lamplighter Inn, Corvette Diner for dinner
Day 2 - San Diego Zoo, Ghirardelli Ice Cream Shop, The Fish Market for dinner
Day 3 - LegoLand theme park
Day 4 - Cornado Island/Beach, Cafe Coyote for dinner.
Day 5 - Sea World
Day 6 (Sun.) - Old Town Trolley Tour, Balboa Park. Casa de Pico for dinner.
Day 7 - Beach (Cornado or another beach)
Day 8 - depart in the morning

Is San Diego Wild Animal Park with going to? I have a 5 and 7 year old. I am not sure if they can handle a lot of walking.

Where can I find a good fish taco in this area?

With that short of a trip, Id skip the WAP.

This seems reasonable. Would your kids be interested in touring an Aircraft Carrier? Id try to fit in the Midway.

If baseball fans, look into a game at Petco Park. There are cheap tickets available. Id look into the CF bleachers. There is a wiffle ball field for kids.

If there are other attractions we should see, we can add one or two more days to the trip.

You aren't really walking alot at the WAP--you go around in a tram or something like that as I recall. BUT the animals can be far away and not easy to see, which is why we skipped it. (My kids are similar ages)

Sea World was cool. Lego Land was sheer heaven for my son. In fact, the other night he was having trouble going to sleep so I tried doing a "relaxation tape" with him--and when I said Imagine your happy place--his was "The Lego Store". Yep, we got think about the colors and the toys etc. My blood pressure was going up but he was happy as can be!! We saw the Aquarium next to Lego Land because when we went it was raining and nobody was at LL thus we had wonderfully short lines. I don't know that you will have time to do that though.

Looks pretty good. As mentioned above, the kids would love the Midway tour. For beaches, I would head to La Jolla one day instead of a repeat of Coronado.

Where are you staying?

FYI, regarding the WAP it is great but I would put it third behind Zoo and Sea World. And, IMO, you have enough animal parks on your list as it is.

Your itineray looks pretty good. Your kids are the ideal age for Legoland. The Wild Animal Park is great, but far and you're already doing so much I would skip it this trip. Keep in mind that even if you luck out with a sunny beach day, the water here is pretty, darn cold right now, though the kids probably won't care. Go to Rubios for fish tacos.

If I want to go to the beach, is August a better time to go to San Diego?

I have several comments on your trip. I'll give them to you as separate posts.

On your itinerary, I suggest you make the the Old Town Trolley Tour the first thing. One intent of the tour is to acquaint visitors with the overall "lay of the land", so to speak. I apologize if you already know the following.

It's a hop on-hop off setup. You can get off at any stop, stay as long as you want, then get back on a subsequent bus to continue. Two of your stated destinations are stops, and the Midway is another. It could turn into most of the day, with the stops. Anyway, you can see a map of the route and all the stops here.
http://www.trolleytours.com/san-diego/

After taking the tour, you may decide to modify your itinerary somewhat, based on what you see.

My kids love the wild animal park. The walking part is nice on a sunny day. We've had great experiences with the docents - a wild african cat one time (they bring it to a protected low fenced area on a leash) and a hedgehog rolled up in the palm of the docent's hand. The lion exhibit is nice and my DD loves the Okapi. It has a lovely wild animal carousel (great for photos). If your kids like Zooboomafoo, they might enjoy watching the lemurs on Lemur Island. They also have one of those Lorikeet feeding stations where you get a little cup of nectar and they land on your hand to drink. My DH loves the California Condor exhibit but it is a long walk. The tram tour is good (and nice for resting weary feet). We usually lunch at the restaurant near the kids playpark so they can run around while we relax.

<i>Is San Diego Wild Animal Park worth going to?</i>

This kind of question is always hard to answer. Enjoyment per dollar? I like POlson's answer.

Attendance is about 2 million a year, so quite a few people have voted yes.

Whether your trip is "too much" or "too many animals" is your call.

I suggest you look at their web site to see what they offer. Things have been changing rapidly the past few years. And it's now called the San Diego Zoo Safari Park to reflect those changes. Looks to me like they've done a lot since my last visit 5 years ago.

Whoops. I forgot the link to their web site.

http://www.sdzsafaripark.org/

<i>Where can I find a good fish taco in this area?</i>

Rubio's was mentioned. It's a west coast chain that started in SD. Their fish tacos are good, but not necessarily the best. I suggest you Google "Best fish tacos in San Diego", or just start a thread on the subject.

<i>If I want to go to the beach, is August a better time to go to San Diego?</i>

Yes. It's more likely to be sunny in August. See:

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/sgx/climate/san-san-month.htm

August is a better month than June. We typically have "June Gloom" here and the mornings can be overcast until about noon. Of course, these days we never know what the weather will be like.

August is hot. If I were you, I'd go to the Wild Animal Park website, it's linked with the zoo. During the summer hours they have sleep overs in the park, there are opportunities to get up close photos. The zoo keeps longer hours in the summer.

Take the advice to go to Coronado only once, if that. La Jolla is a nicer beach.

I like Rubios fish tacos and there are Rubios everywhere. There may be better Mexican food to be had but why drive way out of your way for a fish taco? Rubios is very good.

I like your itinerary, looks good but I agree with the other posters about the WAP. I have been many times and although my daughter enjoyed the tram ride, her favorite part was just running around the park and rocks. I also would like to make a comment about looking into the Town and Country Resort. They have great packages for families with free tickets to Zoo/Sea World and breakfast each day is included. The rooms are clean and comfortable and there is a pool to use.
GG

Those caravan safari tickets are really expensive! I decided to stay at Hampton Inn (Kearny Mesa). We did not want a fancy hotel since we would probably be out most of the day anyways and don't really do much in the evening. I'll do two different beaches since that sounds like a good idea.

Is the hike at Cabrillo National Monument suitable for a 5 and 7 year old? We'll also check out the tidepools.

Theres nothing challenging about the hike at Cabrillo Monument. Mostly paved paths. I would definitely recommend it.

I have read that the hotel at Liberty Station is nice. (never stayed there) did I read that they had kitchenettes? can't remeber I imagine that the parking is free because of the location.

You'll get a car, right?

I would check the Hampton Inn Liberty Station as well. Kearny Mesa is in no-mans Land and very isolated whereas Liberty Station is near a lot of restaurants and sites.