Hey I wrote in the forum awhile back about taking my kids to San Diego, so here is a trip report:

Day One we were wiped out from the plane ride so we spent the first evening enjoying our Hotel Del Coronado bedroom. During our stay, we loved it’s red-roofed towers and wonderful rooms. We really had a nice stay there and enjoying the white sandy beaches. We decided to have our picture taken as a family to send out with our Christmas cards this year (cheesy I know, but better than our weedy back yard!) My husband I enjoyed the hotel’s gorgeous atmosphere, and the kids loved the beach. They are very receptive to children, too.

Tuesday - Balboa Park and the SD Zoo where we used our 3-day Go San Diego Card to get into the Fleet Science Center which may have been a little old for my five year old, but my nine year old daughter loved it. Kid City, in the fleet center, was great for my five year old son though. Be sure if you do this you go to the Balboa Park visitor center to pick it up because they do not have the card at the SD Zoo gates. The Best Value ticket gave us the bus tour and aerial tram (my kids loved the tram). It truly is the greatest zoo ever, my kids had only been to the Columbia Zoo in South Carolina—so they couldn’t believe all the animals. The double Decker bus tour through the Africa/Asia habitats was amazing. I’d never really gotten to take a good look at Zoo animals before. It was amazing. I’m glad the San Diego Card came with all those benefits. Afterwards, we went to a few more museums. It was nice to be free to wander in and out of them with the card, so that was good that it was so easy. We had dinner in Old Town at Casa Guadalara which was a Fodor’s choice for kids. We really enjoyed the mariachi players but the food was average.

Wednesday- We woke up early and went to Mission Bay to enjoy breakfast at Ricky’s Family Restaurant. The Belgian Waffles are awesome and it was cheap, too! Then we spent the day enjoying La Jolla. We went to Children’s Beach to see if we could get a look at natural wildlife. Afterwards we went to the Birch Aquarium instead of going to Seaworld (we went to Seaworld in Orlando not too long ago...) However, it didn’t seem like the kids missed it much, they had a great time at the aquarium and loved the hands-on tidepools. We also had decided Legoland was going to be our major theme-park for this trip.
Thursday: We drove to Legoland. The lines weren’t so bad because we went in the middle of the week . We used our Go SD card to get into the park which was perfect for our kids. If you have children, this park is a must-see

Friday Relaxed at our Hotel for the Day. Hotel Del Coronado is perfect for resting after hitting up all the San Diego attractions. We spent the day on the beach, our kids went on a treasure hunt with one of the Hotel Del Coronda’s kids camps. Even better, my husband and I laid around and enjoyed drinks near the gigantic pool. We had such a nice time.

I had such a great time and the kids were constantly entertained which was a wonder indeed.

Sounds like a good trip. I haven't stayed at the Del, but I have been there a couple times to hang out - and you are absolutely right, it is an incredibly relaxing place.

Thank you for taking the time
to post. We loved San Diego and
hope to return someday.

Sorry You haven't had more feedback.
This will top your post and
you will hopefully hear from
more readers.
Don't take it personally, it
just seems people are more
into controversial posts lately,
(God only knows why)

Your report was thoughtful and detailed
and will help others planning
their trips.
Thanks again for posting.

Hello FamilyOfFive, I enjoyed your trip report. I have always thought that San Diego was a great place for a family vacation. My dear aunt use to take me there when I was growing up and I have so many wonderful memories.

And my 14 year old grandson was there this summer with his buddy from Washington DC and his buddy's Mom. He came home so excited about his trip to San Diego.

BTW, don't know the ages of your children but my GS and his buddy went to LegoLand and loved it. But he asked us not to let any of his friends here at home know because it was really for "little kids" LOL. Sometimes it is fun to be a "little kid" again. That is what I love about travelling with children. Seeing the world through their eyes. Wishing you more fun family vacations!

What a nice trip! We have stayed at the Del quite a bit and always had a wonderful time. The hard part is prying the kids off the beach, lol!

So glad you had a great time at the zoo... an encouragement to me.. haven't taken my boys yet.

There is nothing like staying at Coronado.

Thanks for your report!

We also loved the San Diego Zoo! Glad you had a great trip, FamilyofFive!

Wow, what a great trip report. Hope you get more views on this because I'm trying to plan a trip with my wive, reading this helped me decide on SD! Great job!

What a fabulous trip report. I have two questions. Do you feel the GoSan Diego Card paid off? Also, would you tell me more about Lego land? My kids (10 and 9 would love to go. But, some posts have said they may be too old.
Thanks

ttt

misha2~ my eleven yr. old went to Legoland last week. His dad went with him while I entertained our teen(we went to the beach in Carlsbad after wolfing down In "n Out burgers and watched the surfers on a beautiful day).
My husband and younger son were there for five full hours. My son builds the technical models and was not bored or disappointed. My husband said he wished all of us had gone together. They toured the facility, did some interactive things, rode on rides, had a good lunch, and really raved about how interesting the place was designed. My son took two rolls of photos as well.
I highly doubt your two boys would regret the experience based on how much my son and husband liked it.

Wow, i hadn't checked this in so long and now i have tons of replies. Thank you guys for reading, and I hope that it helped you out! To answer the last question, yes, i think that the Go San Diego Card suited our needs very nicely. Especially with the trip to Legoland. In the end I think if you're going to be hitting up the major attractions like Legoland, birch aquarium, SD zoo, balboa park, etc it really does help. With a family of five we saved money (about 30 dollars a piece) which really adds up. Also, there are shopping deals and discounts--it comes with a little color guide book which has each attraction listed by location with photos, directions and maps--that was extra helpful. So I would say if you're doing a similar itinerary you should really try it out. They also have the card in other places--now it looks like there is one for the USA, Miami, San Francisco, Orlando, etc--so I would look into those too. We thought it was neat how we could just skip some lines, they'd slip our card in a machine- and we'd walk right in, too.

Oh! And Legoland--I would say kids ages 2-10 would enjoy it very much--but as kids get older they probably would think it catered too much to little kids. There are some neat things liks the Block of Fame with a collection of busts of famous people like Marylin Monro created from lego blrings. Also, there is Miniland Florida a race cours where you can race remote lego cars. Lots of stage shows and food--I would say it was a very nice day.

Thanks!

I'll have to look into buying it over there since we leave Saturday am!