My husband, myself and our 8 year old are planning trip to San Diego in mid March. I have been researching and researching and am to the point that I am totally baffled by all the information. We plan to visit Legoland, Sea World and the zoo for sure. We will be there about four days. We will be renting a car. I need to know which hotel to stay in that might be between Legoland and SeaWorld, close to beach and moderate in price. Any advice is extremely appreciated. I would love to stay at the Del...but not that RICH.

We stayed at the Hilton San Diego resort when we went in December and loved it. It's 2 miles from Sea World.

Looks like they are closed for renovation until March 8, which is still ok...as long as they are truly done with renovation.

What about parking fee?

whoops, looks like this is only the pool that's being renovated...thanks for the info but still a little pricy.

A brand new Courtyard by Marriot an a Hilton Homewood Suites opened up in Liberty Station (Point Loma section of SD.). We had to put up a relative while her house was being repaired by the fires and it was fabulous and very reasonably priced. She paid $189 for a two bedroom suite with breakfast. It overlooks the bay and the beaches of Ocean Beach and Mission Beach are no more than 5-10 minutes away-over the hill.

Since Sea World and the zoo are close to each other and legoland is the only thing in north county and with only 4 days the above location might be better suited to your stay with a child. Plus there are lots of places around to eat near them.

If you want additional places, you have the following choices (although I have not checked trip advisor.com for reviews).

La Jolla
Colonial Inn
Empress Hotel
La JOlla Shores Lodge (might be wrong on the name but its in lj shores)
La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club
Hyatt (both at UTC and Near UCSD).
Travel Lodge

Del Mar
At the 5 and 56 freeways are a bunch of hotels but traffic around there can be a nightmare during certin times of the day.

Pacific Beach

Catameran Hotel
Bahia Hotel
Dana Inn
Hotel Islandia

Also check biddingfortravel.com if you want to go the Priceline route.

And of course you could do the Mission Valley course-lots of hotels and you take the 8 freeway to the end and it hits the beaches (about 10-15 minutes) Not scenic but filled with hotels. We had to stay at the Residence Inn and liked it.

FYI, our costco has discount tickets to all 3 attractions. I think even a combo tickets so you might want to look into that.
Good luck and i hope this helps.

YES, YES and YES!!! Thank you so much. We are looking into Doubletree in Mission Valley but will check out the first option you mentioned as well!!

OK, so if I were you, I'd consider staying two days in "inland" San Diego county so you can see Legoland and the Wild Animal Park (which are both about an hour's drive from the city of SD). I'd spend the remainder of the time in the city of San Diego, so you can hit up Sea World and the zoo (both easy drives from downtown).

We stay in San Diego almost every year. This last year, we stayed at the "San Diego Marriott Gaslamp Quarter", which was a nice stay for two reasons: 1) it's really close to the best parts of downtown SD; and 2) it's an overall well-maintained hotel. But it tends to be expensive. For a cheaper option, we have stayed before at the Best Western Hacienda Hotel in Old Town San Diego. We like this hotel alot if you dont care about being close to all of the "action." I've also heard good things about some of the "hotel circle" hotels in Mission Valley.

Try Priceline. We got our room for $70/night.

We've made the kid-oriented trip to the San Diego area twice (the most recent was in November, with our 9-year-old daughter), and each time we stay in La Jolla. This last time, we stayed at the Scripps Inn, $175, which is across the street from the ocean. It's called a B&B, and provides a continental breakfast that's included in the price. You can eat in your room or at their tables outside (looking out over the ocean). The room (one double bed, one sofa bed) was a good size, and quite luxurious (especially given the price).

We like La Jolla because it's right on the ocean, and we love watching the seals at Seal Cove, and the surfers (or rather, attempting-to-surfers) everywhere. I can also go running up and down along the ocean. La Jolla is more of a grownup sort of town, but we (including our kids) all love good food, and there were certainly enough dining choices for us.

On each trip, we've visited Legoland, the Zoo and Sea World. Someday we'll also go to the animal park! As I recall, it took us about 35 min. to get to Legoland from La Jolla, and about 20 minutes to get to Sea World and the Zoo.

I liked Johnny's suggestion. Wild Animal Park is really cool. It would be first on my list. You might consider staying actually at the zoo or animal park if they have the Roar and Snore program at that time of year.

I live in the area and I really don't think it is necessary to stay in two different hotels. Think of the time spent switching. La Jolla is a good choice. The only day you'd have to drive a little would be when you go to the Wild Animal Park and really it's not that far from La Jolla-30 minutes or so.