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TheYeti
04-18-2007, 04:49 AM
We always have a beach day on our yearly DL trips and always enjoyed Santa Monica beach for the pier, food and easy parking. I probably always take my family there because it is where my dad always took me as a kid (he grew up in Venice). The drive is not that bad but it seems like the drive back when we are water logged, full and have sand where the sun don’t shine takes forever.

We would like to try one of the orange county beaches. Can any of the locals or regulars recommend a beach that has easy parking and a choice of restaurants? Also, hard to tell on the map, is the quickest route to these beaches from DL straight down harbor? If it matters, we will be arriving mid August and doing our beach day on a Sunday.
Thanks in advance!

AngelInside
04-18-2007, 08:40 AM
can't go wrong with Huntington beach.

Bytebear
04-18-2007, 08:53 AM
I second Huntington Beach. It's a very family friendly beach, and very easy access to the pier. If you go north a little bit, the public beach is next to a bird wildlife area, so you get a beach that is not urban in feel.

A better beach for couples is Laguna Beach which is more hilly for walking, but has great art galleries and restaurants.

Newport Beach, is a bit harder to get to, but is very urban and has a very classic "surfer dude" feel to it. It also has a small carival area with a few kiddie rides. For a special treat, you can take your car across a small ferry (it holds like 3 cars at a time) as well as pedestrians. It's fun to float your car across the bay.

There are other great beaches, but these three are the closest and give you the basics of what a beach has to offer.

Your choice of beach depends on what you like to do at the beach. If you give us an idea of what you want to do and what you are expecting, we can better direct your location.

UsBurchs
04-18-2007, 09:33 AM
I always recommend Newport Beach. Our aunt lives on the Balboa Bay side at the beach - I LOVE IT! The beach is fun, the rides and shops are fun and there are quite a few good places to eat. The original Ruby's is there (on the ocen side), on the pier. Kind of fun to stop in and have a burger. And yes, very much a surfer town! Be aware that sometimes the beach is "burmed" - the sand gets pushed up so that the waves don't crash over too far on the beach and flood the houses behind, down to the bay. Our aunt has a tiled bottom floor in her house just because of all the floods they deal with. I guess that's the price you pay for living in a beach community. Because of these burms, the beach can be hard to navigate at times, but it's still worth it!

At the amusement park area, there is a ferry to get you over to Balboa Island. Some fun artsy shops over there too. Another fun thing to do is rent "beach cruisers" (1 speed bikes) and ride along the path on the beach.

I also love the Laguna area - VERY pretty!!!

TheYeti
04-18-2007, 11:08 AM
Thanks for the great suggestions- I can always count on Mouse Planet. It makes me feel a little better about leaving my “comfort zone” and trying something different. I think I’ll research both beaches online now that I have some names.

Dumb question here but my wife loved the TV show The OC is Ruby's the dinner they always show on the show? It may not even be real so please forgive me. She would go nuts to eat there. She still complains on Thursdays that her show is not on.

As to what we like to do, we enjoy wadding in the surf and lying on the beach my 4 year old is already planning on building a sandcastle. We like walking on the pier and having lunch near the ocean. We live in Amarillo, TX so I can’t get enough of looking at the ocean.

Bytebear
04-18-2007, 11:17 AM
Ruby's is a chain, and almost every pier has one. Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and Laguna Beach all have Ruby's (although Laguna's is in an odd location with no beach view). I don't know which Ruby's the show uses, but they actually film up in LA (earthshattering, I know), so probably it is Santa Monica Pier or thereabouts.

duneprincess82
04-18-2007, 11:22 AM
They actually filmed the inside shots of the OC in Manhattan Beach....they may have used the Ruby's in Redondo......

UsBurchs
04-18-2007, 06:26 PM
Ahem . . . my husband reminded me that Newport Beach is SO fun for us because we have a clean bathroom, showers and a FREE place to stay while we are there! I guess you have to take my advice with a grain of salt. :) My favorite part, I guess, is tooting around in our aunt's little "party boat" - an electic boat they use to cruise around they bay. It's fun to go out in the evening, just before sunset and look at all the beautiful beach homes.

Ah . . . I can't wait. We hope to go visit the day after our Disneyland trip.

DizneyMommy
04-19-2007, 06:01 AM
I've lived in Huntington Beach for 26 years and my vote goes there for a real beach day with sand and water. If you are going for the boardwalk/beachtown/shops then Newport/Balboa/Corona del Mar is always fun too.

Rteneyck
05-02-2007, 10:49 AM
Hi everyone! We are going to be going to Disneyland in June and one of those days we want to go to the beach. Does anyone have any suggestions on any of the nearby beaches? If so, how far are they from Disneyland?

tothesea
05-02-2007, 01:50 PM
We went last year and it seems like Newport and Huntington were both about 30 minutes from Disneyland.

The second time, we went to Huntington because they have a dog beach, apart from the regular one. It was so clean, and beautiful! Can't wait to go back!

Try a mapquest from your hotel to the beaches and you can get drive times and directions.

avalosn
05-02-2007, 01:58 PM
You can try Huntington, Newport, Balboa, Laguna or Corona Del Mar. They all have a different feel so it kinda depends on what you are looking for. It's about a 20-30 minute drive from Disneyland......er, depending how you drive:) I like Huntington and Corona Del Mar the best though.

Huntington is fun because it's always hoppin'. Main Street always has tons of people hanging out and it has some cool shops and places to eat. The beach is right across the street and there is always so much life happening around there. It's a fun place if you have teenagers or you want a more hyped environment.

Corona Del Mar is different because it is so quiet and serene compared to Huntington. It's a good place to chill if you have little ones because the waves are pretty calm for the most part. Plus, you can go over to Little Corona Del Mar Beach where they have a little cove that has tidepools and it's a little more secluded.

Sooooo, those are my picks!:fez:

backsthepack
05-02-2007, 02:33 PM
I am going to use this info myself. We went to Long Beach last year. The beach was empty and kind of dirty!

PirateSmile
05-02-2007, 11:38 PM
We always go to Huntington. My favorite is Santa Monica because of the pier, but Huntington is much closer.

avalosn
05-03-2007, 08:13 AM
The diner where Ryan, Marissa, Seth and Summer used to hang out on the OC wasn't Ruby's, although they did use shots of it in certain scenery shoots. But yea, Ruby's wasn't the diner they went to.....the OC was like my crack, I'm in withdrawls now that it's gone:crying: