Legoland San Diego, questions

[cath_b]

We are spending 4 days in San Diego:

• If you have been or have stayed around the area could you recommend a hotel? Total of 6 people: 4 adults and 2 DC
• We are taking an almost 3 year old (DD is only 1 year old), would you recommend the Sea Life Aquarium?
• Is a one day visit enough for Legoland and another day for Sea Life?
• Do you recommend a visit to the San Diego Zoo and the Wild Animal Park? Is it worth it or should we skip?

DS loves animals. We brought him to the California Academy of Science and got a kick out of the penguin diving into the water. He started cheering it on, "Go penguin! Go penguin! Go! Go! Go!" He loves to feed the goats at the petting zoo. He pretends to be a lion or sometimes a tiger.

Your thoughts are greatly appreciated.

[sadie427]

We really liked the West Inn and Suites in Carlsbad. It's very close to Legoland and they have a shuttle so you don't have to pay to park. We had heard the Sea Life Aquarium (that's the one owned by legoland, right?) was not that great, so we skipped it. One day at Legoland was enough. You will need enough adults that the one year old can stay off the rides when the three year old goes.

But honestly, three is a bit young for Legoland IMO. Five is just about the perfect age. And it sounds like your son would really like the zoo since he's so into animals! I might just do the zoo and/or Wild Animal park for those ages, although I haven't been to either in years. Hopefully other people will chime in.

[cath_b]

Thank you for your input, we will have to try the West Inn and Suites.

Anyone else been to the San Diego Zoo lately? Would love to hear some input from you as well. TIA!

[pinay]

My DD is 3 years old and had a blast at Legoland- she keeps begging to go back even though it's the one park we don't have annual passes to in the county! There's plenty for a 3 year old to do, they just have to be accompanied by an adult on a lot of things. The West Inn and Suites are great, you might even be able to get a good deal on priceline. We haven't been to the Sea Life Aquarium, so I can't comment on that but if you've been to the aquarium in Monterey I think it would be a bit underwhelming. Oh, the Legoland Water Park has also opened recently and I've heard rave reviews about that, so if you go on a hot day you can add it on for I think $10 and go back and forth between the Water Park and the regular park.

If your son is really into animals, I would definitely suggest going to the SD Zoo. They've recently re-done the elephant area and it's wonderful. Lots of things for kids to look at, they can even see the elephants getting "pampered" It's really hilly, so make sure you have a good stroller. The polar bear area also has been revamped and has lots of stuff for kids to do.

We love the Wild Animal Park, but if you're planning on being here in SD during the summer it's going to be ridiculously hot (unless this weird cold weather we've been having this past week continues). They do have extended summer hours and are open until 8PM so you could go later in the day and take advantage of something else in the morning/early afternoon closer to the coast.

[cath_b]

Thank you so much for the great info! We may have to do Sea Life Aquarium last as we really like the Monterey Bay Aquarium. If we have enough time then we will mosey on down to Sea Life. We could probably replace it with Sea World? Any thoughts on Sea World? I have never been, this will be mine and DS's first time. I think DH has but it was a long time ago as well.

We will be going in September so it shouldn't be too hot. My in-laws will be coming so there will be plenty of adults to accompany DS. The zoo is definitely in then. I just went to the SD Zoo website and they showed a clip of the Elephant Rush. Looks like fun!

Thanks again for the info Pinay!

[pinay]

I would definitely do Sea World if you have the time in your schedule. DD LOVES Sea World, we are there at least once a week every summer The new show, Blue Horizons, involves dolphins, birds, acrobatic performers- it's pretty cool and DD really likes it, hopefully they'll have the kinks worked out as we went on Friday and they ran into technical difficulties about 10 minutes in and had to cancel it There's lots for the kids to do- there's a whole Sesame Street themed play area that has a small water play section as well, plus 3 rides that can all be done by your 3 yo along with an adult. The Shamu show is always a big hit as well. You can feed the dolphins if you time it right, and there's lots of interactive animal exhibits as well. I definitely think it's worth it, if you couldn't tell

[Tondi G]

We take a trip down to San Diego once a year usually. We stay down in SD in Mission Bay at the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay. They did major renovations a few years back and put in water slides in their pool area (2 larger ones and 1 smaller on for toddlers). My boys love it!

I've heard good things about West Inn and Suites in Carlsbad as well as the new Sheraton they built that has a private entrance into Legoland. In addition to the sea life aquarium they just opened an adjacent waterpark to Legoland!

Wild Animal Park will be HOT even in september. Sea World is another family favorite. Lots of touching/feeding areas (dolphins, sea lions, bat rays) the touch tank has sea stars and urchins etc. several shows and the Sesame Street Bay of Play has 4 little kiddie rides and a huge rope climbing structure and water play area.

I got a lot of info on San Diego from this website!

http://www.localwally.com/

[cath_b]

I would definitely do Sea World if you have the time in your schedule. DD LOVES Sea World, we are there at least once a week every summer The new show, Blue Horizons, involves dolphins, birds, acrobatic performers- it's pretty cool and DD really likes it, hopefully they'll have the kinks worked out as we went on Friday and they ran into technical difficulties about 10 minutes in and had to cancel it There's lots for the kids to do- there's a whole Sesame Street themed play area that has a small water play section as well, plus 3 rides that can all be done by your 3 yo along with an adult. The Shamu show is always a big hit as well. You can feed the dolphins if you time it right, and there's lots of interactive animal exhibits as well. I definitely think it's worth it, if you couldn't tell

Sea World has been penned into the itinerary. I love dolphins personally but I think DS will get a kick out of Shamu! He loves whales. I will have to copy and paste the responses here for DH to read.

[cath_b]

We take a trip down to San Diego once a year usually. We stay down in SD in Mission Bay at the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay. They did major renovations a few years back and put in water slides in their pool area (2 larger ones and 1 smaller on for toddlers). My boys love it!

I've heard good things about West Inn and Suites in Carlsbad as well as the new Sheraton they built that has a private entrance into Legoland. In addition to the sea life aquarium they just opened an adjacent waterpark to Legoland!

Wild Animal Park will be HOT even in september. Sea World is another family favorite. Lots of touching/feeding areas (dolphins, sea lions, bat rays) the touch tank has sea stars and urchins etc. several shows and the Sesame Street Bay of Play has 4 little kiddie rides and a huge rope climbing structure and water play area.

I got a lot of info on San Diego from this website!

http://www.localwally.com/

Thanks for the input and the link. We can't wait to visit San Diego now. September could not come any sooner.