We’re going to be visiting San Diego Dec 28-Jan 1 (Me, DH, DS12 & DS8). I want to spend one day each at the San Diego Zoo, Safari Park & Legoland (only me and DS8 will go there). We are staying closer to the Legoland area than SD.
My questions:
-is there any benefit to going to any of these attractions on a certain day, or does it not matter? (ie- I assume NYD may be less busy)
-I can’t find much about “Touring Plans” for any of these- any tips other than getting there early?
-for Legoland, I see there are various “skip the line” optional purchases- are these worth it? It’s only for two of us so not a huge expense, but I’m not sure which one to get (if any)
-any other hidden gems around the area that we shouldn’t miss? I want to do lots of nature walks, beach/ocean views, tide pools, etc.
-any restaurant recommendations? Quick and take out options are best for us.
Lots of their advice is really good. The zoo is not flat, and not laid out on a grid. It can be tricky to figure out how to get from A to B. Or where you are.
Get the app on your phone. It works similar to the WDW one, with a map that shows your location. You can click on any attraction or dining icon to get more info. Very helpful to figure out exactly where you are.
Get a paper map when you are at the park.
Ride the Guided Bus Tour first. It’s a good way to get your bearings. For some animals, it might be a good drive-by viewing of something that is out-of-the-way and you might otherwise run out of time (or energy) to go see.
You can bring your own food, snacks, and water. Yes, you save money, but you also have it with you when you need a snack.
We had a chance to prioritize what we wanted to see, and used the free buses and aerial trams to save our feet. Plan your routes to walk downhill more than uphill.
Have fun!
Also in San Diego, is the USS Midway Museum. We did not visit it, but it’s right near a cruise terminal.
We’ve never been to Legoland but from what I’ve gleaned over the years, expectations should be set low on how efficiently the lines move/rides are loaded and that their ride heights don’t always make a lot of sense.
For general SoCal travel advice, SoCal Daily has had some good tips in the past. She lives in Oceanside, CA, mainly goes to DL and WDW and has tons of advice for each of those parks, but does also have some high level info all about travel to San Diego. In that page she has lots of links to other things like info to tide pools, hikes & overall strategies for the zoo & zoo park. And she separately has a Legoland Complete Guide. Both of these are done from the frame of coming to CA for a Disneyland trip, but you can ignore the advice about it as an add-on to DL (mostly driving directions to & from the Anaheim area).
As for our on the ground experience in San Diego. Love, love love the zoo and zoo park both. A day is not enough for either of them but you’ll cover good ground (and take just as many steps as a Disney day) if you do full days. The tip to use the busses in the zoo is a fantastic tip.
And then, every time we’ve done San Diego we’ve stayed in the area of Old Town/Sea World and Old Town is one of my favorite places in San Diego. We’ve loved any and all food we’ve tried in that area & the Sea World fireworks are visible from the Old Town parking lot if that’s at all an interest to you (and if they still do fireworks, which I imagine New Years Eve might be a big night for fireworks).
And then for beaches in the area, we’ve only done the Coronado beach but that was a fun nod/tie-in to Disney with the Coronado hotel being the model/inspiration for the design of the Grand Floridian (and the style of both is absolutely what I envision as my own personal heaven to be designed).
When you do San Diego trip from December 28 to January 1, maybe visit places like San Diego Zoo, Safari Park, and Legoland. On New Year’s Day and during weekdays there are usually fewer people around. Arrive early, use official apps for knowing wait times and show schedules. At Legoland, using “skip the line” options can help save time on important rides. Also visit Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve for walking trails, Cabrillo National Monument to see tide pools, and La Jolla Cove to watch seals. For quick eats, you try Phil’s BBQ or Oscar’s Mexican Seafood. For burgers, Hodad’s is good choice. Point Loma Seafoods is very nice for seafood takeout. Enjoy your trip!
I’ll double check the height requirements. Thanks for those links- they seem to be what I was looking for! I had no clue there was a train from Anaheim to Legoland either, which doesn’t matter this trip but maybe would in the future.
Thanks, I’ll check out the apps. Do you take the bus tour all the way around the first time, or did you hop off at some point? I think my kiddos will be too excited to sit and wait for the whole thing. Could you actually see the animals well from the bus tour?
We took the free “Guided Bus Tour,” which uses an open air double-decker bus. It lasts 35 minutes. I don’t recall any chance to stop and get off or back on. The hop-on-and-off bus is a different system, The Kangaroo Bus. It stops at 4 different locations.
I thought it was very entertaining. Someone (the driver or another employee) talks the whole time, to point out the animals you can see on the tour, and maybe tell jokes. I think the bus paused in a few places for people to spend a minute or two watching the particular animals. It’s similar to the Kilamanjaro Safari ride at AK, only on a much larger vehicle, for a longer time, and the animals can’t get in the way of the bus.
I always bring a small backpack with me to disney (easily fits on all the rides). I’m seeing that for legoland, I may not be allowed a backpack on all rides and it would have to go in a cubby. Is that correct? I’m sure not putting my wallet in a cubby. It’s just me and YDS so there is no one to hold my valuables. Should I bring both a backpack and a belt bag? I assume I should be able to wear a small belt bag on all rides?
A short recap for anyone searching for this topic in the future!
San Diego Zoo. We went on Sunday, Dec 29. Arrived at 8:45 for 9AM open. We scanned the QR code for the pandas as soon as we arrived- got a time of 11:15. It got busier throughout the morning, as expected. Went to the reptile/basecamp area first since we heard it got busy more quickly. I was surprised that we had about a half hour wait at the skyfari at 10:15- that was annoying. We should have just walked, but I didn’t realize how long the line was. Food was extremely expensive and pretty bad. After the pandas we made our way back to the exit, checking out the penguins and other animals along the way. I think we saw about 75% of the park in 3.5 hours (and like 1.5 of those hours were wating for the skyfari and pandas!). It was extremely peoply at the end and my kids were done.
Safari Park- we did this on Jan 1 (I suspected it may be less busy that day). We got there at opening and spoke with a staff member. He suggested a route for us and said that they didn’t expect it to be very busy that day, which was accurate. We started with the upper section (tigers, condors and Australia) and really enjoyed it- more than the zoo. Then we went to the bottom section and found it pretty boring. The safari tram ride wasn’t a long wait (maybe 10 min) but it wasn’t very exciting. Disney’s safari ride is much better! We left about 12:30 again as we had seen almost everything by then.
Legoland- went Dec 30, just me and YDS8. Got the top tier reserve and ride because I was worried about crowds. Got there at 9 for opening.
-reserve & ride worked great. Wish Disney’s was more like it. We could have easily got hte mid-tier one to save some money, since there is plenty to do while waiting.
-the rides were…okay. Nowhere near the level of Disney of course, but YDS enjoyed it them.
-I LOVED that there were playground and other activities to do between rides. The ninjago playground was huge!
-I did not like that they did not allow bags (even small ones) on some rides. Like no thanks, I’m not leaving my purse with my wallet in a cubby I can’t see and that everyone has access to- I’m not stupid.
-we were both pretty much done around 2, but had to finish up some other rides that took a bit longer. Ended up leaving at 5.
-Aquarium is very small and not worth it at all.
-Bottom line is that the park is fine for younger kids and worth it if you happen to be going to the area anyways. Don’t make a special trip centered around it, unless you live close by!
Oh and Cava was soooooo good. I’d eat there every day if they were near me. In N Out was good but I don’t really get the hype!
