readwithem Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 (edited) My dd is dancing in Vista the last weekend in June. We are planning to stay in Carlsbad for those two days. The rest of the week we want to visit Legoland, the SD zoo, the beach, and possibly the wild animal park. Does it make sense to stay in Carlsbad for the rest of the week, or should we move hotels? I've looked online for a condo but can't find anything ~ $1000. So how long will it take to drive from Carlsbad to the SD zoo? I noticed there are some Shakespeare performances in the summer - are they worth doing? (the ones in Houston are just plain weird). I also read the Wild animal park is hot since it's inland. Any thoughts? Would the San Diego card be worthwhile? Thanks so much for any and all advice! :) Edited April 13, 2009 by readwithem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdie Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 When you have a minute, search on "San Diego" on the boards. There has been some great trip advice that you don't want to miss out on. I'm not sure about the distance between the two cities. We have stayed at the Embassy Suites in San Diego near the harbor. It is a great location plus they have a free breakfast and the suites are large enough for a family of 5. Not sure about the price though because we tagged along on my dh business trip. I just wanted to mention that of all the things we did in San Diego, the Wild Animal Park was my least favorite. I thought it was very expensive. So if you have to limit outings due to finances/time, I would cut that one. We loved the zoo, Legoland and the beach. All were amazing and wonderful. They have some museums in Balboa park that are great. We also visited the Hotel Del Coronado, too and spent a day on the beach. Have fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFSinIL Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 We stayed, via VRBO, on the beach in Oceanside for a week last June (My brother lives in inland Oceanside - we wanted to be close to him since we had not yet seen his kids - ages 2/4/6). I had hoped to go into San Diego a few times for the zoo, Maritime Museum and the aircraft carrier Midway museum - we did do Midway and Maritime (close together) BUT the drive in from Oceanside was almost an hour each way. So we only went into San Diego once. You need to look at the drive from Carlsbad to sites you wish to see - you may want to move closer to San Diego for part of the trip. Look at VRBO, too, for places, not just motels etc. from Expedia (or whatever travel site you prefer. I tend to check every site and compare places when I book trips.) Note - since we were on the beach, we had coastal FOG/low cloud cover most of the day. Ah, June in Southern California - I GREW UP there and forgot about the June cloud cover at the beach. If we drove inland just a mile we were in sunshine! Perhaps by late June you will get some sun at the shore. Note also - even with cloud cover you still need sunscreen (ouch - ask me how I know this!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 It won't be that hot in June that the Wild Animal Park would be out of the question. You could go to the tide pools at Point Loma (Cabrillo National Monument). There's the Birch Aquarium in La Jolla, and while you're in La Jolla you could go to the Cave Store. And there's an Antique Gas and Steam Engine Museum right there in Vista. Sometimes there are really nifty programs (there are lots of programs, but not all of them are that interesting to everyone, lol). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shannon C Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 Definitely go to La Jolla if you get the chance. It's fun to see the sea lions in the Children's pool and Harry's Coffee Shop is awesome for breakfast--we drove there every day from SD just to eat!!! The little aquarium was also nice. Be careful at Point Loma if you go there, I almost fell into the ocean while my husband tried to take a pic of me and our dd! Let's just say rocky slopes and flip flops don't work together!!! There are no fences to prevent you from falling over the edge. We did a lot there, I will have look again to see what we did exactly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shannon C Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 We also did the museums at Balboa and the miniature train museum was pretty cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
readwithem Posted April 13, 2009 Author Share Posted April 13, 2009 Thanks for the hint to search, I found some great ideas :) If we drop anything, it will be the wild animal park. I don't like heat and your comment about it being your least favorite makes it easier to drop it. thanks!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
readwithem Posted April 13, 2009 Author Share Posted April 13, 2009 I looked at the Midway website - my dh would LOVE that (I think the rest of us would enjoy the docents :)) I had looked at VRBO, that's where all the condos were > $1000/week. I hadn't even thought about fog - thanks for the heads up! Once we get everything nailed down, we may look at using a different hotel for the SD (vs. further north) part :) - thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
readwithem Posted April 13, 2009 Author Share Posted April 13, 2009 Thanks for the ideas, Ellie. Did your dd's ever dance at SD? It seems really well organized (plus it's a 2-day comp so we get more bang for our buck, so to speak). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
readwithem Posted April 13, 2009 Author Share Posted April 13, 2009 Thanks for the ideas about La Jolla and Balboa - and I'll plan to leave my flip flops at home :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAMom Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 I wanted to add that Carlsbad to SD is not too bad of a drive depending on what time of the day you are doing it. We've done it while on vacation. We were staying in Carlsbad and drove to SD a few times. Just make sure you drive down to SD after morning rush hour and come back after evening rush hour. If you do that, you're looking at about a 30 minute drive each way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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