California advice/Best time to visit with kids

[Minniebella]

Hi

I am planning a trip to California for my Husbands 40th next year (2020)
We last went to California 9 years ago, before kids, now we will have a 9 & 8 year old in tow!
Does anybody have experience of going at the end of August, is it like Florida in the way that the parks/attractions are not overly busy as most US kids have returned to school?


Ideally we would have 3 weeks or at least 18 nights minimum.

Places to visit/stay are (in no particular order)

Disney for a mid week 4 night stay
Universal for a 2 night stay
Santa Monica for a few nights (would either use this as a base to explore coastline or do 2 nights and then work our way to Santa barbera for 2 nights)
Either six flag or Knotts Berry Farm or both?
San Diego for at least 5 nights

DH would like to visit San Francisco, but do we leave that for another adventure?
I feel like a complete novice and am totally overwhelmed by all of the fabulous places we want to see

Any advice is welcome

[Edie ray]

Hi we have been twice at the beginning of the summer holidays and Disney and Universal were very busy

Not sure what then end of August is like but Star Wars Land is due to open in the Summer so I would expect Disney to be rammed whenever you go

San Diego is just lovely, I would love to go back

[400ixl]

It doesn't really make much difference over the summer. When the schools go back, the blackout days stop, so you just get more locals back in again.

You could fit in San Francisco if you shortened other stays.

In your LA schedule:
Universal is a 1 day park
Disney can be done in 2, but would suggest 3 as a minimum with younger children.
Six Flags is a park if you like bigger roller coasters, maybe not ideal for 8/9 year olds unless they like those sort of rides. It is also on the way between north LA and Santa Barbara
Knotts Berry we found to be one we wished we hadn't bothered with but others really like it. Can be done from the Anaheim location as it is 20 minutes from Disney.
Santa Monica is nice to visit for a few hours, but could be done as part of the drive across from Universal area to Santa Barbara, along with Malibu.

San Diego I assume you want to do Sea World, Lego land and the Zoo. Add to that a general day of sight seeing for Old Town etc and you could do it all in 4 days (less if you don't do all of the parks).

3 weeks if you flew into San Fran and out of LA could be

3 nights San Fran then drive down PCH to
2 nights Monterrey (Spend day at Aquarium and Whale watching then continue down PCH to)
2 nights Santa Barbara
3 nights North LA (do Santa Monica on the way across along with Hollywood etc, then 1 day Six Flags and 1 day Universal, followed by drive to Anaheim)
4 nights Anaheim for Disney (3 days and 1 day Knotts Berry) then drive to San Diego after KB
4 nights San Diego and drive back to LA for flight home on last day

That is 18 nights, but better if you stretch it by a couple to give some slack in the schedule (Anaheim and San Diego maybe).

[mickeyismybff]

We were at Disneyland the 28-29-30 of August this year and the crowd level had dipped lots from the level two weeks earlier. They do adjust the staff so fewer CMs with the smaller crowd, but it was a good date for us, and their bank holiday is a week after ours so we aimed to get out of there before their three day weekend, but the make the most of ours to minimise days off work.

But yes... this was before Star Wars land. All bets are off. BUT because California is much more a 'locals park' than WDW, the mornings are where it's at. The crowds surge when school gets out and when people get off work and things are packed of an evening (thinking Epcot and World Showcase crowds - same phenomenon) but first thing in the morning it's just families for the most part. Main Street in the morning is just lovely!

Get park hopper tickets so if the crowds in DL are too much, you can go to DCA as it's so close. Everything will be more crowded with SW land but at least you can have extra space and find some quieter areas. Downtown Disney is also right there on the same walkway, and Grand Californian and Disneyland Hotel are worth a walk around if you want something themed but quieter than the parks. (Paradise Pier hotel not so much.)

I agree with the earlier post that 3 days in Disneyland/DCA is good for children. I've done everything from half a day to 5 days in a row, and 3 is a lovely balance for kids to get to see most everything they want and not be too run down for the rest of your holiday.

[cornishfrogboy]

We visited at Easter. The temperatures were really good and clouds practically non existent. There was obviously no summer smog over LA.
The advantages were.
1. Prices were much better on the hotels than during the summer.
2. No smog
3. Probably not as busy (but LA still horrendous to drive in).

Disadvantages.
1. Limitations on nights due to length of Easter school break. We took our boys out 2 days early.

Whilst LA and San Diego are a mere 90 or so miles apart, San Francisco is nearly 500 miles N of LA. We managed to fit all 3 in during our 14 nights, but allocated nowhere near as much time to LA as you intend. The one thing that we are supremely glad of was that we allocated 5 nights to San Diego. San Diego was in our opinion the highlight of the 3 cities and LA, the pits.

I would go for the 3, particularly if it is a 'one off' . Flying into SFO and leaving from LAX. This worked very well for us and I have no reason to believe that it will work less well for anybody else. I would not have changed any aspect of the plan we used.. other than I would much prefer your 18 days to our 14.

Good reading are 'Aims' sticky on San Diego and hopefully!.. my report, California N to South at Easter, which is all on the one thread. I only planned my own trip after exhaustively reading the reports of other DIBBERS and using their experiences. I also asked many questions of fellow DIBBERS, invariably receiving excellent replies.

If I had one tip for anybody, it would be to not have a car for any San Francisco element. It is all walkable/cable carable and car parking fees are absolutely astonishing. If arriving or leaving from SFO, the BART is really good.

[Vinniecat]

We were in California for 23 nights last August the last 5 nights which were from the 27th were in Anaheim. The parks were very busy during the day and exceptionally busy in the evening. It was also very hot in Anaheim although apparently it had cooled down considerably! We started our trip in San Francisco which was cold we needed jumpers and coats. Other places we stayed Monterey, Pismo beach and Santa Barbara had beautiful warm but comfortable weather. San Diego was hot but bearable. We loved the whole holiday particularly San Francisco and Monterey. My least favourite part was Disney because of the queues but I am glad I went. We did the zoo in San Diego which was amazing also did seaworld where absolutely everything was a walk on. I would definitely visit in August again.

[red cuillen]

With a 9 and 8 yo I think best to leave SanF for your next visit, unless you fancy flying into SFO then fly to LAX? Nice scenery down the PCH, but I guess it depends how much your children like car journeys! I would say KnottsBerry is perfect for that age group, 6 flags is more a full on thrill ride park. Santa Monica is nothing special tbh, though nice for the beach. There will be a far few vagrants there (and in San F), especially if you visit Venice Beach, never had any problems, and would be something educational for the kids to understand.
1 day would probably suffice for Universal. Agree with the advice about Disney being a locals park and always busy in the evenings. It will be HOT HOT HOT!

[daytonababe]

Universal is only a 1 day park , Disney you can do in 2 days , 3 if you want to repeat stuff

[Minniebella]

Thank you for all info and replies.Will sit and read through/research over next couple of days
I completely forgot about Star Wars Land