So we are going to have an extra day in San Diego in July. Should we add a second day to Legoland? A second day to Sea World? Or are there other things that we should spend that extra day on?
This will be a first for us as far as our vacations. We always spend our time at Disneyland (holding that off until December this year). I have been to the San Diego Zoo, my husband and son have not. We are only planning one day there as well. My son refuses...and I mean refuses...to go to the Wild Animal park, he is afraid the animals will have a chance at getting to him. LOL!
I really don't want a second day at Legoland if we can avoid it. But if there isn't anything else to see or do, maybe we will.

**edited to add that my son loves the ocean/sea life/sharks. Are there any other aquariums or anything to see? I seem to remember something about a small aquarium being featured on our local morning news.

There is the Birch Aquarium, defintiely not an all day thing.

You can easily spend a day exploring Balboa Park. Lots of museums, the gardens, etc. There's a pass that gets you into everything with the zoo as an add-on. Do NOT go to the WAP in July. It will be miserably hot by 10 am.

Or take the 2.5 hour harbor cruise, my kids really enjoy that and it's interesting to see all the Navy stuff. There's a Midway/cruise combo that along with a stroll along the waterfront will eat up most of a day.

There's the rest of Balboa Park (http://www.balboapark.org/) with tons of museums and gardens, Seaport Village (http://www.seaportvillage.com/), lots of beaches (http://www.sandiego.org/article_set/Visitors/5), the Birch Aquarium (http://www.aquarium.ucsd.edu/). Lots of fun things to do in San Diego :D

I'd buy the Buy a Day get the whole year free ticket and hit Seaworld for a second half day or night and Birch for the other half. My 3 yr old loves anything fish also and loves these both

Thanks for the tips! I haven't been to San Diego since I was a child, so it is hard trying to remember what there is to do there.
The heat won't bother us in the least, we are from Arizona, so actually the temps there will feel like heaven to us.
Off to reasearch everything you all have posted about. We are driving over and will have our own vehicle, so we should be able to get around and see everything. Maybe another extra day isn't out of the question.
Thanks a million.

The WAP hits 105and up in July and August and requires about 2 miels of walking to see it properly. Also most of the animals tend to hole up and be pretty inactive when it gets hot.

Hiking around in 105 degree blazing sun to see sleeping animals may be your idea of heaven, but it's not mine. I LOVE the Wild Animal Park, more than the zoo, but I really can't take it in the summer.

How old is your son? The USS Midway is a floating museum down by Seaport Village and my boys have enjoyed it.

Adrienne

No, I agree, hiking in 105 wouldn't be fun. We can handle that temp though for normal outside activities. But again, my son won't go to the WAP, so that is out anyway. I do hope that those temps won't make a difference at the regular zoo, will the animals be out and about?

My son is 9 (well, he will be as of Tuesday). Curious to hear more about the USS Midway.

Downtown SD is about 20 degrees cooler than out where the WAP is, which is why I always reccomend the zoo durign the summer. The Midway is great. My 9 and 6 year old daughters both enjoyed it a lot.

Ok, that makes sense. Boy, what a drastic change in temps though. Here you have hot, hotter and holy moly!

I am off to google the Midway. I bet he will love it. I did research the Birch Aquarium. It sounds great and he is excited.

A good rule of thumb is to add about 1 degree for every mile you go inland. I recently rode my bike to the beach and back. Left my house at about 7:30 am, it was already close to 80. 18 miles later I was at Huntington where it was overcast and about 60, by the time I got home at 11:30 am the sweat was pouring off of me as it was 97 degrees.

I recommend the Midway. It will easily take up your day, and is really neat for boys. I also think Pacific Beach can be fun. It has a midway with a roller coaster and a few carnival rides, a big park and a beach. What more can you want? Balboa park also has enough museums to keep you busy for hours even without going to the zoo. There is a train museum and an aviation museum that are both great for boys.

Now you have me super excited that we have a few extra days in San Diego, as well, backs. Are you going to be there for holy hot or just this hot we're having right now? ;)

We will be heading over mid-July, so we will be escaping our holy moly hot for a few days...I think I have my husband talked into 5 days now.

I also found the Whaley house. We are so totally going there. I am not telling my son that it is "haunted"...just that it is an old house that he needs to see so that he understands how people use to live. I love haunted stuff.

So our final plans are 1 day Sea World, 1 day Zoo, 1 day Legoland, 1 day Midway/Birch Aquarium and 1 day seeing the museums, houses, etc. and the beach.

I really appreciate all of the advice and help you have all offered. It is sure to make our trip wonderful.

Oh, one place I almost forgot. Cabrillo Monument. It is high on the cliff peninsula. There is a statue of Cabrillo (the Spanish explorer who discovered the cove) and a museum with a film all about him. Outside there are spectacular views of the city and ocean (did I mention it is on a cliff peninsula?) . There are a few small hiking trails including a walk up to the lighthouse on the hill which you can also tour. Down the hill a ways, you can see the other lighthouse, and there are tide pools as well. The drive is quite beautiful and scenic too.

http://www.nps.gov/cabr/

I really like the Birch Aquarium. I spent about 3 hours there last month, but that's because I was literally reading every description and playing with every interactive exhibit they had. If you head north from the aquarium a couple miles, you hit a nice stretch of beach if you want to go walk in the sand and water, but parking is sometimes difficult. If you head a few miles south from the aquarium (ask for directions at the aquarium gift shop), you'll end up in La Jolla and there are some cool places to eat and walk around, plus a bunch of seals that sleep in this little alcove called Children's Beach, I think. It may not be a ton of fun for your son, but if you're interested in a slower pace for the family that day, it might work for you.

The Midway does sound interesting, and I have yet to visit it.

The midway has planes on the deck to see, the triple bunks where the enlisted men slept, the barber shop - I don't know what all is open to the public these days (we slept overnight on board with cub scouts and saw things that weren't open to the public at the time, but this was a couple of years ago so I understand some things have opened up more since then.) Here's a link (http://www.midway.org/site/pp.asp?c=eeIGLLOrGpF&b=3038957)

If you're down by the Midway, I have two restaurants to consider:

The original Filippi's (http://www.realcheesepizza.com/) in Little Italy is the place that every local San Diegan will recommend. It was good but the line can be long.

My favorite restaurant in the area is a little bit north of the Midway, near the airport on Harbor Island C-Level (http://www.cohnrestaurants.com/cohn/cohnrestaurants/islandprime.php) We've eaten lunch there twice - once was "about" lunchtime and one was a late lunch on a weekend. They had a kid's menu so they boys were satisfied, too.

There's going to be a LOT right there at the Village down by the Midway, too, of course. We stayed one block north of the Midway for 7 days last November so the kids and I got to know the area pretty well. ;)

Adrienne

Thanks again for all of the info. This trip should be a blast thanks to all of you.

Good tips adriennek. I love Filippi's restaurant and is a must do for the Italian lover. For Mexican, you can't beat Old Town, another day trip to consider.

Right in that waterfront area is plenty to do. Seaport Village as was said has a lot of shops and restaurants. It's a short walk from the Midway. Also, you can catch a ferry to Coronado Island. There are tours and the "aquabus" but the best bang for your buck is to just take the commuter ferry ($6) to the island. Where it lets you off is another small village of shops, but you can catch the city bus ($1) which takes you right to the Hotel Del Coronado. We ended up taking a cab back to the ferry dock. It's really quite convenient if you are comfortable being without a car for a few hours and relying on public transportation.

http://www.seaportvillage.com
http://www.midway.org
http://www.coronadovisitorcenter.com/
http://a-zcoronado.com/coronado_island_ferry.html

This has become a fantastic thread! Definitely have lots to do when we're there next weekend. Now I want to stay a few days longer to get more stuff in! :D

By the way JenInAZ, my name is Jen as well!


Ok, so anyway, I believe I have this worked out for up to 6 days now. I found some pretty killer deals on hotels, so why not? As long as the time off of work comes through I think we will do that. You guys offered up so many wonderful things to see and do that I want to do it all!!

Have fun next weekend, Jen. I expect a full trip report when you get back!;)

Jen's of the world, unite! :D

I know what you mean, I'm trying to convince DH that we should stay a few days longer. He has the whole week off work, so why not?? Plus the weather looks to be great in CA right now. It's supposed to really heat up here this weekend, so we're getting out just in time. :cool:

I'll report as we go since we'll be gone for 10 days between DisneyLand, Universal Studios, and all the San Dieogo stuff. I'm so excited, we're leaving in less than 48 hours :D

Hope you have a wonderful and safe trip! Enjoy the cool down.

We are heading up to Prescott this weekend to escape the record temps down here.

I just saw this link and thought I'd throw my two cents in! You have all made some great suggestions! I live in SD, and one of our favorite places is the Ruben H. Fleet Science Museum in Balboa Park. It is like a giant exploratorium with cool science stuff that you get to play with. There is an IMAX theater there that shows some amazing nature films. I highly recommend it if you have extra time and if your son likes hands-on science. You can google the Ruben and see if it interests you.

Have a great trip!

There are lots of beautiful beaches.....

Enjoy your trip!:)