San Diego with an almost 4 year old

[Tink]

Hi everyone. Well, I am starting to plan next years trip. We have pretty much decided on San Diego, with just a few nights at Disneyland.
Since this will be Alex's second trip to San Diego, this time we want to do what he will enjoy most.
I am thinking of Sea World and the Wild Animal Park. Possibly the beach again. But, Sea World is very expensive. Is Alex going to be old enough to enjoy it, or would we be better off skipping it and going to Disneyland that day?
I do think he will enjoy the Wild Animal Park, but is that a full day thing?
We are open to ideas. Lay it on me! <img src='images/emotions/biggrin.gif' height='20' width='20' border='0' title='Big Grin' align='absmiddle'>
Leanne

[disneydreamer]

We actually attended my brothers wedding in Redding &amp; then went over to Vallejo &amp; went to Sea World (i think thats right), Derek would have been around 3-4 yrs &amp; he loved it, especially the shows with the whales jumping !!
We have a wonderful aquarium here in Oregon (where Keiko used to be......"Free Willy") &amp; Anthony had a ball, going from tank to tank to look at the fish, the sharks, the otters &amp; especially the seals &amp; sea lions. He actually had a sea lion hang upside down at the window &amp; stare at him for minutes at a time. It was the funniest thing I'd ever seen. We did this right around his 4th bday, so I'd say yes on the Sea World thing in San Diego..... I think he'll be at a great age for it !!

[cljake]

Hi Tink!I have been reading a lot of your posts and I thought I could help you with your San Diego trip planning. I live in the San Diego area and I have a 4 yr old and a 2 1/2 yr old.
Sea World is a huge hit with both my kids. They love spending the entire day there. We have annual passes so we go often. The whales and all the shows are fantastic. My son (4 yr old) loves getting wet and he has plenty of opportunity at Sea World. I understand that your son doesn't like getting wet so watch out for the Splash Zones. All the shows have the first 15 rows clearly marked as splash zones and they mean it. As a special treat, you can dine with Shamu. It's a great opportunity to get very close to the whales. If you would like to take advantage of this, make your reservations as early as possible. You will get the best seating to get inches from one of the Orca Whales. It was an amazing experience. Sea World also has a huge play area for the kids. My kids will spend half the day there. Sea World has a couple of water rides and my son is tall enough to go on it. The height limit is 42 inches. If you are going to be around San Diego for a few days, Sea World offers a PreSchool Camp. I took my son to it this year and he loved it. It's for 2 hours a day for 3 days (admission included). The kids visit all the different animals and they present it in a very educational format. The day concludes with arts and crafts. I feel the classes at the Wild Animal Park are better but my son still talks about this camp. Here is the link: <A href="http://www.seaworld.org/adventure-camps/swc/index.htm">http://www.seaworld.org/adventure-camps/swc/index.htm
The Wild Animal Park is a great adventure. I have yet to spend an entire day there. It may be because of the heat. The Wild Animal Park is located in Escondido (30 miles North of San Diego) and it gets very hot here. During summer, the temp easily gets up to 90+. It's hard to spend the entire day here (I live about 10 mins away). The good news is they open early and close late you could see everything within a few hours. The offer a train/tram ride (about 1 hour) and my kids have a hard time sitting for the last 10 minutes. You will see more than 50% of the park by tram. During the summer, the park is open late and that is an option as well. At night the park offers a variety of entertainment options. The San Diego Zoo/Wild Animal Park offer a lot of bonus packages. You can go on a variety of safaris or even a sleep over. The Caravan Safari will take you into the center of the park's exhibit by jeep. You can feed the rhinos and giraffes. It's pretty cool but I believe there is an age limit on that. The sleep over is a camping with the animals. They have tents set up and visitors sleep in a grassy area around the exhibits. I hope to do that one day. For young children, the park offers KinderArt. It's a great program. It's a 90 minute program that educates the kids about an animal. They have games, stories, arts &amp; crafts, even meeting animals. My kids first went to Tiger Tots (for 2 yrs old) and then to KinderArt. They just look forward to both programs so much. I can't say enough for the instructors at the Wild Animal Park. Mrs. Zane is wonderful and my kids run up to her every time they see her. Any of the special programs, will need plenty of preplanning. They sell out very quickly. Go to the website for more info: <A href="http://www.sandiegozoo.org/calendar/calendar_highlights.html">http://www.sandiegozoo.org/calendar/calendar_highlights.html
While you are here in San Diego, don't miss the San Diego Zoo. It's in a much cooler part of the city and it's a full day. They have so many great exhibits that it's hard not to see animals up close and personal. Right now, San Diego is crazy over the current Panda cub. Next year, the cub will be on it's own so it will be a big deal.
Legoland is also in San Diego. It's in Carlsbad (30 miles north of San Diego - coastal) and 4 is a great age for Legoland. My son just can't wait to go. The rides there are designed for the 3-7 age group and I think that might be a good stop for you.
The beaches are always a bit hit for kids of all ages. We have so many great beaches that are kid friendly. From Coronado to Oceanside there are plenty of beaches to go to. Depending on when you arrive, San Diego offers a lot of different things to do. The San Diego Fair in Del Mar is from Mid June to right after July 4, The Del Mar Horse Races begins mid/late July to after Labor Day.
I am currently planning my daughters 3rd birthday at Disneyland. I have to admit I am having a blast making all the plans. I have taken your advice and we are going to stay at Howard Johnson. Thank you all of your insights on Disney. I have learned so much.Have fun in San Diego!Catherine

[Tink]

Catherine,
Wow. Just Wow. That was so helpful and informative, thanks so much for posting all of that information. That will be great not just for me, but for others. In fact, I may ask in the future if we can put that info on our website. It was incredibly helpful and very well written, thanks!
I am glad you have found so much information to help you plan your trip to Disneyland. Now, head on over to that section and tell us when you are going! We love to share excitement with others!
Oh and Catherine? Welcome to the DML message boards! I hope you enjoy it here.
Leanne

[cljake]

Hi Tink!
Please feel free to post the information on the site. If you want more information, I will be happy to put together more information. We have a lot of other things to do like tours of the military ships, boat tours and more. San Diego has so much to offer.
I also posted some questions and asked for suggestions on planning my daughters on the Disneyland Forum.
Thanks so much,
Catherine

[Mulan112501]

Hi Leanne -
I may be totally late on this one - but last year - this was our first trip to CA. DL 4nights then San Diego 4nights. Husband was at a conference in San Diego, so I took my then 3 going on 4 year old daughter to Sea World and the San Diego Zoo. I have to say that she LOVED Sea World. Still carries around the box she got with a snack - shaped like Shamu - every day. You could just go sit in Shamu stadium and watch the trainers working with the whales..which Miss G did...for 2 1/2 hrs straight! No budging for the dolphin show, etc. We then had prime seats (out of the splash zone) for the show, and we also had lunch with Shamu - which was great. Even my husband was amazed at how close the whales got to your dining experience. Miss G loved it.
We also had a great time at the San Diego Zoo - I highly recommend it. We could have spent 2 days there easily. It is really hilly though - so take some good walking shoes and be ready to push the stroller up and down some significant grades - but totally worth it.

We are going back to do the same activities this Feb - my husband felt so left out of the San Diego part that we have to go back! HA!

Wishing you a great trip!

Anna C

[Tink]

Anna,
No response is ever to late on a topic like this, so thanks so much for posting! And we are still thinking about next years trip (the 'original' plan was to do Disneyland and San Diego) so we will definitely have to think about that!
I am glad your daughter had so much fun! If we go next year, Alex will be almost 5 and now I know he will love it.
Leanne

[Disney5]

Disneydreamer -you're thinking of Marine World in Vallejo. Sea World (totally different experience) is in San Diego (about 6 hours difference.)
Leanne - I do not believe you actually said "do you think Alex is too young to get anything out of it!" You've got to be joking! You know how many people say that about kids and Disneyland! Same thing with Sea World! It's amazing and if Alex likes water and/or animals, he'll love it. I think you said he likes the aquarium, which means Sea World will have him happy and in hysterics!!!
Now, go and enjoy!!! You know it's the right thing to do, it's okay to give up your Disney for one day and try something new! lol - the shops will wait for you!

[Tink]

lol Shawna, good point. But the fact is - he loves Disneyland. Would he be happy being so close and going somewhere else?

[Tink]

And would I be happy? lol

[fantasmicmom]

Tink, I'm not sure how I missed this topic but I LOVE San Diego. In fact, that's where we went for our first big family vacation in '05 and we had a hard time deciding where to go in'06 because we wanted to just do San Diego again. Of course then I found your site and we went to Disneyland!LOL
Corinne was almost 4 and Makenna was just 8 months when we did this trip. I can not say enough about it! We did 2 days at Seaworld, 1 day at San Diego Zoo, 1 day at Legoland, and 1 day at the Wild Animal Park. One great thing that we did for all of these(except Legoland) was to buy a 3-for-1 pass. (Ask your travel agent or just google it). This gave us unlimited access for 5 days (I think it was 5) to any of the 3 places-San Diego Zoo, Wild Animal Park, and Seaworld. I think they ran around $100 for adults but where we ended up doing 2 days of Seaworld it was totally worth it!
San Diego Zoo was our least favorite. It's possible that this was due to the fact that we had 2 strollers to push and collapse every time we rode the bus to get around the zoo. It's a big zoo and there are lots of hills. The animals seemed really spread out to us, but we probably just didn't do it right. They did have a great animal show that showed trained cheetas and other big cats. That was really neat.
Seaworld was amazing! My girls absolutely loved it! The whale and dolphin shows are great and even though my daughter claimed she wanted to get wet, I bought us all rain ponchos just in case! That was great because we were closer to the whales and dolphins. We got splashed but we were still dry! You can feed seals, dolphins, or stingrays. We got to feed some fish to the seals (costs a few dollars) and we pet the stingray. (They feel so cool!) We spent forever holding starfish! Those things are awesome. We've got some great pics of all of us holding some starfish, even baby Makenna had one on her hand! The tunnel with the sharks swimming all around you is great. Corinne couldn't stop ooohing and aaaahing! They also have a water area for kids to play in. We bought a swim suit there for Corinne so she had dry clothes to wear when she was done playing! They also have a carnival like area at Seaworld. Scott spent $12 on 2 buckets of rings (the ones you have to throw onto a bottlepop) and ended up winning a HUGE stuffed Shamu AND Dolly the Dolphin! They were bigger than the girls put together! (That was real fun getting them home on the airplane let me tell ya!LOL) All the wet animals are great but they also have the most amazing Pet Show with everything from pigs to birds! Corinne and Makenna loved that show! We loved seeing all the shows at Seaworld which is why we spent 2 days there. It rained on the second day, so it was actually more like a day and a half. Seaworld is amazing because it's like a theme park and a zoo combined. Alex will love it.
Our favorite was a toss up between Seaworld and Wild Animal Park. We went in March so the weather was perfect. The operating hours were on the winter schedule so I think it was only open from 10-5 or 10-6. So we stayed the whole day and it was perfect! WAP is like a futuristic zoo where all the animals are in herds so you start to forget you're in a zoo. (Think Jurassic Park) It is very well done and the tram ride(make sure you get in line first thing because it is extremely popular and the only "ride" there) was so neat! Makenna got a little fussy because she needed to eat, but Corinne enjoyed the whole thing. We could barely keep her inside the tram! You go around the whole perimeter of the park and just get to see herds of giraffes walking around with zebras and rhinos and gazelles. It's like a safari! (I am really hoping that the ride at Animal Kingdom in DW is like Wild Animal Park.) The highlights of that day were feeding the lorakeets and giraffes! They have a bird aviary and for a couple dollars they give you a cup of nectar and let you go in and feed the lorakeets. These are very beautiful and colorful birds! They land right on your arm and drink out of the cups! (If that might scare Alex, you can also set the cup on the ground and just watch them. They get very close without actually touching you!) Watching my 3 yr old feed a giraffe was so amazing! You buy a long biscuit and just hold out your arm. The giraffes reach right over the fence and take it out of your hand with their long black tongue! I have amazing footage and pics of this!
If it's a slow day, like when we went in March, Legoland can easily be done in a day. I'm not sure how Alex will feel about this because he is such a Disney veteran! It doesn't compare to Disneyland, but my girls really had a good time and they don't even like legos! All of the rides are geared for young kids so nothing would scare Alex. They have a dragon roller coaster that Corinne loved. It was fun but it wasn't scary. The details at Legoland are really neat. Almost everything is made of legos. They have an animal safari ride where the animals you see are built out of legos! They have a boat ride that shows you different.
Before I write a novel, I have to go make dinner but I will write more on Legoland later!

[Tink]

Wow Katie, thanks for all the details, you now have me again thinking about adding San Diego back into the trip for next year. lol
I will get back to thinking about that trip after our December trip, but definitely keep the info coming!
Leanne

[Disney5]

Lol Leanne - here's what I think.

YOU will miss your Disneyland. Alex will still get to see it and enjoy it, but he will also enjoy San Diego and seeing some other things. He'll love it. You'll love it, but you'll still be missing your Disneyland (I think YOU could go every day of the year and it wouldn't be enough - and you know I mean that nicely!)

[Tink]

lol no kidding. But then I might get tired of it, so won't push that issue. We have to seriously think about this.

[fantasmicmom]

I think that choosing one or the other vacation would be too hard. Doing both San Diego for a few days and then Disneyland would be the PERFECT vacation! The experiences with the wild animals is awesome and then Disneyland is amazing, of course. How do you guys feel about trains? Scott LOVES trains and our girls do too. I looked into a vacation where we would fly into San Diego, do Seaworld and/or Wild Animal Park and the beach, then take a train ride from San Diego to Anaheim for Disneyland! They have shuttles that go between the train station and your hotel. It wasn't very much money and would be way more fun than a car ride! Then of course we would still get time at Disneyland! We would then fly home from Orange County. It sounded so fun! We were going to do that this year but since it was our first time taking the kids to Disneyland, we decided to spend the full amount of time at DL. If we ever start going to DL more than once a year though, we will definitely be doing this!

[Tink]

We did San Diego first 2 years ago, and yes it was fun. Our last day was to be a beach day again, but we didn't really feel like getting dirty, so just headed to Disneyland early. lol
What did you find out about the train? How long a trip is it? I have actually checked into taking the train from Denver to California but it takes 2 days so that is out. It would be fun to take from San Diego though!
As for the Zoo, I am thinking we would probably skip that at this time. I went years ago and loved it, but since there are other things we can do in San Diego that we can't do here we would probably do them instead.
Sea World and Lego Land are the two I am thinking about, especially since Alex is a Lego nut.

[Disney5]

Alex would LOVE Lego Land. I'd say you should hit Disney FIRST - you'll be in too much of a hurry to get to it if you have to wait even an extra minute.

[fantasmicmom]

I don't remember the exact duration of the train ride but I think it was around 1-2 hours or about the same as driving. I beleieve it was an Amtrak station.
Legoland is really neat but definitely do it before DL or you will probably be dissapointed. (Just because of the size difference and the kiddie rides and of course, no Disney magic!) None of the rides are too scary because they're all geared for young ones. They have even added another water area with rides and play areas since we went in 2005. Corinne loved the knights kingdom area. This is where the dragon roller coaster is as well as the renaissance princess costumes! LOL. They have awesome 10 ft. Bionicle toys that make great backgrounds for pics! They have a boat ride that takes you to see different wonders of the world built to scale out of legos! Mt. Rushmore is amazing! They even have a car track where kids get to drive their own cars around the track and get their very own license at the end! They had a fake gas station in the middle of the track loop and Corinne kept stopping and trying to get out because she said her car was out of gas! Anyway, all of the lego models are really neat and I think it's something Alex would really enjoy! It's definitely doable in a day so you wouldn't miss out on too much Disney!
Oh, and one more thing I remember about Legoland. When we were going into the park we saw something about upgrading your ticket for a special pass. With this pass you could get on all of the rides faster or wait in a special line. (Something similar to FP at DL but it was for all the rides) I'm a little fuzzy on all the details, I'm not even sure if they still do it. Ehat I do know is that we were going to buy it cause it wasn't all that much more but the lady told us to save our money because we would pretty much get on all the rides w/o a wait anyway b/c it was a slow day in March. I think it must get pretty crowded in the summer so you might want to think about that! I wish I could give you more info but maybe someone else knows what I'm talking about. I don't remember it being on the website but I haven't looked since our trip. If you have any more questions, just ask!

[Disney5]

Great info Katie, thanks!
Now, I've not been for years and we didn't have kids then, so I don't remember a lot of it. How old do you think kids should be to enjoy Legoland (obviously they enjoy at any age, but as far as the rides go too.)

[Tink]

Katie, thanks for the info. Definitely something to consider!

[fantasmicmom]

Legoland really is geared for the younger kids. It's not as big as DL, and the rides don't have many height restrictions. Corinne was almost 4 and she loved it. Makenna was only 8 months old and she could still ride quite a few of the rides. If you happen to have a baby, or a toddler that's too short for a ride they do a parent swap. We would all wait in line together, then Scott and Corinne would ride the ride while I waited at the exit with Makenna. When the ride was over, Corinne would stay on and Scott and I wouls swap places. Corinne loved it because she got to ride her favorite rides twice in a row without getting off!
I would say that the ideal age for Legoland would be maybe 4-8. I don't have boys so they might love it even more than Corinne did. I know my nephews really want to go.

[Disney5]

Sounds like a plan for when we visit my girlfriend and her little one in San Diego!

[fantasmicmom]

It's definitely worth visiting, especially if you'll be in San Diego.

[fantasmicmom]

Oh, you should check out the Legoland website. It's got alot of neat info and all the height restrictions for rides.

[Disney5]

Thanks Katie! Now, you've got to refresh my memory - where are you coming from?

[Tink]

Next year Alex will be almost 5. We are going to have to think about Legoland!

[fantasmicmom]

I'm in Southeast Idaho, but the long winters always draw us to California for vacations!

[Disney5]

Yes, CA is very attractive to anyone east of us!