San Diego Zoo or Sea World About This Page:

[disneyjan09]

We are heading to DL in Jan and would like to take a trip down to San Diego and was just curious and to what you thought would be better. I have 3 kids, 10, 7 and 4. Kids and Hubby have never been to DL so I am very excited for all of them. I just want to plan a fantastic trip for them. Will be at the HOJO for 7 nights so we have a 4 day hopper pass and have a few more days to do stuff. Do you think it worth the trip down to San Diego??

Thanks for your opinions!!

[QueenMommy]

I lived in SD for 8 years and would definitely say it would be worth the trip. The zoo is one of the best in the world and you could spend a full day and only see half of it! Sea World is OK but just like every other Sea World. Sea Port Village is an interesting area with lots of unique shops and tourist attractions. Mission Bay is gorgeous place to spend the afternoon and Balboa Park has some great Museums and backs onto the Zoo. My DH and kids have never been there either and I am trying to figure out how to get them to the zoo there before my oldest DD (15) graduates from HS in a few years.

Good-Luck!

[w-steele]

QueenMommy pretty well summed it all up about our lovely city of San Diego but you can also visit the Wild Animal Park up in Escondido (about 30 miles north of SD), you can also go get your feet wet in the ocean, sand in your hair out in the desert or breath FRESH air(what's that????) up in the local mountains. You can take a tour of the USS Midway aircraft carrier, ride the roller coaster out at Ocean Beach or ride out to the Point Loma Lighthouse. Yes, there is a lot of thing to do down here which makes me so glad to call San Diego home.

[DyanKJ130]

We just visited the San Diego Zoo in February. We spent the entire day there and didn't even come close to seeing everything. (I wrote about it in my TR - see my signature for link, if you'd like to take a look) After the zoo, we had a fun dinner at the Corvette Diner, which we can also highly recommend!

[shellybelly72]

I was also trying to decide what else to see when we go to DL in July..

Thanks for the info-

[chezp]

San Diego is a beautiful city and I can thoroughly recommend it to anyone. When we were there, we went to the Zoo and that was amazing. There is just so much to see and do there.

[disneyjan09]

Thanks for all you suggestions. If we do decide on going to San Diego what would be the best way for us to get there. I know we can book through a tour company, but would you suggest a different way. Also how long does it take roughly to get to the zoo from Disneyland??

Thanks!!

[HeatherD]

I definitely recommend the zoo or Sea World over the Wild Animal Park. The park is nice, but not as interactive as the zoo (unless you spend extra for the photo tour, which is totally cool).

We love both the zoo and Sea World, but with younger kids I think I'd lean toward Sea World still if I had to choose. But we loved the zoo when we did both in one trip. Be advised that the zoo has some uphill walking that can be tiring, so younger kids might whine a bit (we ended up pushing both DD and DS in one stroller up the balance of the hill ).

As a drive, San Diego is only about an hour or so (maybe an hour and half) from Disneyland. Since w-steele visits so frequently from SD, I'm sure they can give you a pretty accurate timing (we tend to either do LA or SD, but not combine them, since we live so close). I'm not sure if it's better to do public transporation (a train?) or to rent a car and check it out on your own....

[w-steele]

If it is within your budget, I'd rent a car and drive down. It's about 100 miles and it could take about an 1 hour and 20 minutes. As to ease of getting down this way, all you need to do is get on Interstate 5 South and before you know it, you'd here. Seaworld has an exit just before you reach I-8 and just a few miles further south is an exit for the San Diego Zoo.

[Meggera]

If I had to choose between the zoo and Sea World, I would choose the zoo. It is fabulous! The Sea World in Orlando is better in my opinion. We really enjoyed the drive down to San Diego. We had gotten a City Pass which included three days at DLR, the zoo, Sea World, and Universal Studios Hollywood. So, we drove to San Diego twice, and the drive is not bad at all. We, too, ate at the Corvette Diner in SD. Fun place to eat with great atmosphere.

[alisonhinsley]

I too would recommand going to San Diego. I wished I had more time. We went to the Wild Life Park but have heard much better things about the Zoo

[bradk]

although i wouldn't recommend commuting between SD and DLR (I think took amtrak),

I have done the wild animal park (the deluxe photo safari in fact), the zoo and sea world.

i love sea world. it's loads better than orlando's, particularly in the education department area, but between it and the zoo, the zoo has to win.

unless the prospect of seeing giant pandas in the flesh does nothing for you. they also have koalas which are a relative rarity in north america. the zoo itself is huge and far from level (as is the wap) and will take all day to explore by foot which includes a little back-tracking in some areas. they do have an internal shuttle system as well as a guided tour though (which i didn't get to do for the sake of time). the exhibits range from new and well done to downright painful to look at (at least they were that way when I was there last).

and as mentioned, but the zoo is part of balboa park, a large and beautifully landscaped area that's home to many museums and public events

Balboa Park