I'll be going to California February 29th-March 9th, we are considering going to the San Diego Zoo, the Aquarium of the Pacific, Disneyland, and Universal Studios Hollywood

Any thoughts on these or other suggestions? We will have a rental car and lots of free time during the week. Any good shopping or restaurants?

[Edited on January 28, 2008 at 12:19 PM. Reason : ]

1/28/2008 12:17:56 PM

Drive up the PCH to Monterey - beautiful coast
I'd also drive on Sunset Blvd and Mulholland Drive, see the rich people in Beverly Hills

1/28/2008 12:23:56 PM

^Nice drive but that's like 7-8 hours each way.

Irvine is close to Disneyland but at least an 1.5 hours to the zoo and USH. You could do a 1 day trip South to San Diego and get some shopping in. The zoo is right next to Old Town SD and is pretty cool.

You will be pretty close to Newport and HB. A fun trip is to take the ferry to Newport Harbor, but that may have changed since the show came out.

Traffic will be awful so factor that in to your scheduling. Also, Knotts Berry Farm isn't too far-I would do that over USH. USH is near Hollywood if you want to hit up that area.

[Edited on January 28, 2008 at 12:26 PM. Reason : .]

1/28/2008 12:25:36 PM

Went to Anaheim last August, did all of those things you just said and had a blast. Make sure you travel w/ a friend so you can utilize the lifesaving (and time saving) carpool lanes.

Only other thing we did was drive to Vegas, which is cool if you don't mind 4.5 hours (one way) in a car through the desert -- it's actually an experience I recommend.

Anaheim White House is in a slightly weird part of town but had fantastic food, I might recommend Orange Hill for the view. Also, stop by La Jolla on your way down to San Diego. The downtown part (look up Hard Rock Cafe La Jolla's address and go there) has tons of botique shopping and a beach nearby, it's gorgeous there. Was my wife's fav part of SoCal by far, so hit that place up.

EDIT: Also, traffic down to San Diego was not bad at all when leaving ~9:30AM on a weekday. However, driving up to LA is a nightmare at any time of the the day, even in the carpool lane. We went to USH but didn't dare drive back anywhere near LA after that. Make sure you're not on a tight schedule and have fun w/ it.

[Edited on January 28, 2008 at 12:29 PM. Reason : .]

1/28/2008 12:25:53 PM

My sister went to grad school in Orange right next to Irvine. I don't have time right now to help you out but if you need any suggestions on anything specific PM me...

1/28/2008 12:26:29 PM

Universal Studios keeps moving down on our list, the zoo and disneyland are the only two that are guaranteed, wolfNstein has never been to anything disney and i am a huge animal lover

[Edited on January 28, 2008 at 12:31 PM. Reason : ^ i may do that closer to the date]

1/28/2008 12:30:53 PM

I would def. stay away from US. It's cool and all but there is so much else to do when you have that time...... Like go to the Disney California adventure, right next to Disneyland and pretty cool.

Also, it's out of the way but you could hit up the Wild Animal Park in Escondido (North San Diego) You couldn't do this and the zoo in the same day though. Don't know if you're into beer but the Stone Brewing Factory is ~10 miles from there.

1/28/2008 12:35:11 PM

The Zoo needs to be #1 on your list!! But other than that San Diego was completely lackluster for me. I spent my week between Venice Beach/Huntington Beach/Laguna Beach during the exact same week you are planning to go last year. It was about 5-10 degrees colder than here on average, so prepare for that.

I skipped Disney in favor of seeing some local punk bands at House of Blues and I did go to Universal Studios but the only thing there really worth seeing is the actual studio tour and "Universal City" outside the amusement park. You can get major coupons for both Disney and Universal all over town. I recommend wandering around Hollywood/Melrose/Sunset for half a day or so just to shop and hang out.

Someone mentioned it above and its absolutely true-- the carpool lane will save your day (literally) so whenever you go out in the car make sure you have a buddy.

I'm going to be in LA the first week of March as well --- if you see a chick wearing an NC State shirt it might be me =)

[Edited on January 28, 2008 at 12:59 PM. Reason : Spelling]

1/28/2008 12:58:47 PM

Yeah, be sure to drop by Redondo, Huntington, Manhattan, Newport, etc. beaches -- all great views. But bundle up -- the wind off the water can be shockingly cold. You watch TV & don't get the impression that SoCal beaches are cold, but compared to the OBX, it's quite chilly out there.

OH! And please do visit an In-N-Out if you never have. Darn close to being the Cook-out of the west coast.

[Edited on January 28, 2008 at 1:25 PM. Reason : .]

1/28/2008 1:24:40 PM

Do the damn Zoo! That was teh wins when I went.

1/28/2008 9:01:24 PM

Dunno, but someone told me there's a girl out there with love in her eyes and flowers in her hair.

1/28/2008 10:06:45 PM

yay i grew up in irvine, lived there for 10 years (5 to 15).

that being said, there's nothing to do there. disney/knotts are fun for a full day. the san diego zoos are all good. the long beach aquarium is good. for shopping, i'd pass on the irvine spectrum (the rectum) and go to either the block or fashion island (all outdoor malls).

i did disneyland in december, as long as you have a sweatshirt you'll be fine. same as any other outdoor park/zoo/attractions.

i'm personally not a fan of LA unless you have some specific place you have to go.

1/28/2008 11:05:12 PM

Do not go to Universal Studios- hollywood, biggest waste of money. If you can make it go to disney land.

1/29/2008 10:47:50 AM

Spectrum wasn't that bad. I didn't OMG when we went there, but it was a decent enough place to go shopping.

1/29/2008 11:43:14 AM

maybe its not so bad anymore, that place was horrible for the first few years it was open, and then it just kept getting bigger.... and then they added a ferris wheel (!?!?)

1/29/2008 11:52:49 AM

if you havent done sd zoo before, do it

i think sd's wild animal park is better than universal & disneyland, but if you do the zoo & aquarium too, you may not be too down for doing 3 animal-centric activities

restaurants, in n out burger is great if you want something quick and easy to eat on the way to one of your activities

irvine is heavily populated by asians (mostly japanese), so if you like japanese, then take advantage of that, places like tabento or chomp

also check out the improv in irvine, to see if there are any good comedians there that week

1/29/2008 12:22:11 PM

haha, does anyone remember the "Wild Kingdom" that used to be where the Amphitheater is now???

It was like a drive thru safari-we have an old family video from there. They closed it down after an attack iirc

1/29/2008 12:56:04 PM

Oh, and check out concerts in the area while you're there (http://www.pollstar.com)

Tons of venues around

1/29/2008 3:04:41 PM

^^lion country safari. i don't remember it ever being open, i think it was already closed down when we moved there in the late 80s... but that sign was up for a long time. the ampitheater didnt replace it though, wild rivers did.

1/30/2008 5:18:51 PM

haha, you're right... all I remember about that place is the fighter jets flying over all the time

1/30/2008 5:27:20 PM

sweet. thanks for all the advice! keep it coming!

1/30/2008 5:54:55 PM

if you are going on a big jet plane

they are not all the same

1/30/2008 8:20:45 PM

KNOTTS BERRY FARM FTW

<3 it

Peanuts characters <3

and lotsa jam


also if you have a free day or two, go to Catalina Island.

[Edited on January 31, 2008 at 7:14 AM. Reason : f]

1/31/2008 7:12:57 AM

What's on Catalina Island?

2/8/2008 11:39:16 AM

Somebody embed Led Zeppelin.

2/8/2008 12:37:53 PM

One day is enough on Catalina. You can snorkel and do a bunch of tourist stuff. There are no cars there, but you can rent a golf cart and drive everywhere. There are buffaloes on the island-they were brought onto the island for some movie in the 50's. I think there is a casino there, too.

2/8/2008 12:44:54 PM

I had a market work meeting and got to stay overnight on Catalina... it was really cool being in SoCal and not seeing ANY cars...

2/8/2008 2:30:46 PM

On a really clear day you can see them if you are up high enough

2/8/2008 2:32:57 PM

you can see catalina from my uncle's back yard.... he lives on newport coast. i only ever made it over there twice, once with the scouts for camping, and once with school for a special like 3 day field trip type thing.

2/8/2008 5:23:28 PM

can we crash on his couch?

2/10/2008 8:56:15 PM

bttt for less than two weeks away!

2/17/2008 5:45:18 PM

LA is a fun place. I enjoyed the aquarium of the pacific. Its nice and the surround area is nice too. When I went we ate at the Bubba Gump, and went over to Gameworks and played some video games.

if you like sushi and seafood, go to a todai restaurant. its an all you can eat buffet. it is delicious. http://www.todai.com there is a bunch in that area. i went to the one in studio city after going to universal studios. i found chowhound.com to be very helpful in my food endeavours.

There is japantown if you're passing by there. its a neat little plaza with little eaterys and japanese stuff lol. the MoCA is right over there too.

Also I would have done the citypass thing http://www.citypass.com/city/socal.html but my friend didn't want to spend that much.

2/17/2008 7:16:29 PM

^todai is cool, we have one down in SD.... but its a tad pricey unless you really love to eat lots of sushi.

2/17/2008 8:50:40 PM

Knotts Berry Farm (SNOOPY!! and eat at Mrs. Knott's Kitchen) & Santa Monica Pier, if you're in Oxnard check out all the fresh fruit esp strawberry booths. Too bad you're not going later around fair season If you're into art, Huntington Library is really nice.

2/17/2008 9:48:10 PM

Places of Interest:

UCLA on a weekend. The holy land of parties. Probably the most legendary of parties are thrown here.
Redondo Beach.
Huntington Beach.
Universal Studios
And anything close by that others have suggested. BUT SERIOUSLY try going to the three I mentioned and you will be very happy with that decision. (coming from a person who lived in cali for 10 years)

2/22/2008 12:57:31 AM

went to the zoo yesterday, checking out some beaches today

3/2/2008 9:29:36 AM

the weather wasn't great here by san diego standards yesterday, looks like today is already going to be better though... hope you enjoyed the zoo! and i think the water is ~57 degrees right now

3/2/2008 11:51:05 AM

i don't plan on swimming

the sun is shining and it looks great outside compared to yesterday

3/2/2008 12:34:06 PM

i figured, but i mentioned it more because it will feel cooler at the beach than inland due to the breeze off the cold water

3/2/2008 2:22:18 PM

pacific beach has fun shopping and fun bars.

you have to go to la jolla though, the seals are there.

3/2/2008 2:45:59 PM

Coming home tomorrow

Went to:
San Diego Zoo - awesome
Disneyland - YAY! Rode space mountain 10 times! the wait times were <10 mins per ride!
Knott's Berry Farm - Physics Fun Day But the coasters were pretty awesome <3 boomerang and silver bullet
Irvine Spectrum Center - went several times, can walk there from his parent's place, it was decent shopping and we ate at the Yard House - EXCELLENT! and they had 148 beers on draft
Aquarium of the Pacific - Great! and we did the harbor tour, good stuff.
UC Irvine - kris's dad works there, it's a pretty campus, go anteaters!!
Newport Beach - very scenic
Laguna Beach - too crowded and overrated


All in all an excellent trip! Thanks for all the suggestions!

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3/9/2008 12:25:10 AM