wildblueyonder

If you were driving from Palm Springs to San Diego and couldn't check into your SD hotel until 4:00pm and wanted to make the most of your day, would you spend a couple hours at Universal Studios (which grown son would love) or Disneyland (heck, I LOATHED Eurodisney - so can really cross that one out!) or Legoland, which I know is for young children and we're way over 8, but those little lego men look so cute (reminds me of the Fred and Amy my sons used to play with!)
And, would you risk leaving your hire car, filled with your luggage, laptop, 4 weeks' souvenirs etc, parked at one of these places?

tchoiniere

Based only on parks and that you mentioned grown son, I would go to Universal or Disneyland. Legoland is geared for young children. It probably comes down to geography. Which one is on your route from Palm Springs to SD? Go with which one is easier to get to.

Luggagewise, I would make sure that everything is in the trunk and that there was nothing to make the insider of your car look like a tourists.

Honestly, all of this may be a moot point depending on which day of the week and time of year. These parks both might be too busy to enjoy for a few hours. Have to factor in how long of a drive it may be (including traffic).

What are your plans in SD? Maybe hit the Wild Animal Park on the way to SD? Another option may be to get to SD, spend the day wherever then head to the hotel.

tchoiniere

Now that I looked at a map, none of those options makes any sense as Universal and Disney bring you the wrong direction from SD. (its 92 miles to Anaheim - based on Google, its up to 3 hours in traffic. I don;'t like the sound of driving 3 hours to walk around a packed amusement park in hot weather then to have another 3 hour drive in traffic (could be less - I did the drive in 2 hours last year with no traffic).

However, the route from Palm Springs to SD brings you right past the Wild Animal Park (Route 15).

wildblueyonder

It's about 2 hours and a bit from PS to Universal Studios and another 2 hours and a bit from there to SD. So doable - and that would be the favourite option, even though we wouldn't be able to spend too much time there. They do a deal which gives you entrance and a 'to the front' for the studio tour, which would be great for us, as that's what we would like to do - but the offer ends on June 15.
I'll maybe leave it and just stop at a few beaches on the way.
As for San Diego - well we have nothing much planned, apart from a baseball game, for which we've already got tickets. We thought just to have a relaxing last couple of days before flying home from LAX - and hadn't planned to visit either the Zoo or SeaWorld - but we do plan a visit to Old Town one evening.

wildblueyonder

Sorry tchoiniere - our messages crossed. I think you're right - we'll consider the Wild Animal Park (although I'll still be worried about leaving all our stuff in the trunk!)

tchoiniere

Its more than 2 hours from Universal to SD when you factor in traffic based on what business contacts in SD have told me. Probably closer to 3-3.5 at certain portions of the day. Are you looking at a weekday or weekend?

wildblueyonder

LOL - our messages crossed again! It will be a Saturday. Daft idea eh?

tchoiniere

Traffic won't be as bad as a Saturday but the parks maybe busier. I still would go with either the beach route or Wild Animal Park. I love the Wild Animal Park and highly recommend it, if you have interest in seeing animals like that.

Sites I would recommend in SD (besides Sea World, the Zoo and WAP)
1) Cabrillo Monument - great viewpoint above SD Harbor.
2) Midway Aircraft Carrier. Near it is my favorite seafood restaurant - the Fish Market.
3) Driving along the coast from Del Mar down thru La Jolla and Pacific Beach
4) Gaslamp District (do it the night you go to Petco Park). Lots of great restaurants and bars.
5) Coronado Island

On the way from Palm Springs, maybe get off Route 15 and drive to Del Mar. From which you could do #3 and then #2 before heading to your hotel.

Enjoy your trip. San Diego is a great city and a lot of fun. Petco is one of my favorite stadiums (I'm in the midst of going to all of the MLB stadiums and it is among my top 3)

Looks like I may be coming to SD sometime in the next 2 weeks for work so I can't wait.