Things for the kids to do on the West Coast ?

RickT · 9 Jan 19, 03:02 PM

Things for the kids to do on the West Coast ?

Will set the scene...

We have started to become what feels like regular'ish travellers to Florida, went twice in 9 months last year, this years summer holiday as expected is / was always going to be Florida... (We have been 4 times in last 5 years) but still not booked yet for this summer.. Kids are now 6 and 9 so enjoy the parks etc...

Back in November, me and the Mrs headed to Vegas for a 4 night trip leaving the kids with the grandparents, We managed to fit loads into the days coving best part of 500 miles plus, out of the door at 4am and back for lunch plus all the vegas strip stuff, as part of the research to get the most out of the trip and our time there i like the idea of heading out to the west coast to spend time exploring etc... (it would be approx 18 to 21 nights)

I would happily spend the holiday doing the mileage from place to place as "my" holiday, but with the kid its not really that fun for them at this age sat in the car for hours on end and not really a "holiday", which got me thinking about some form of split stay of Disney, Universal, Beach, even Grand Canyon for a night or 2 (i know its 480 miles east :-)

What im looking for is a bit of advice saying it sounds like a good idea and we did x,y z or its a non starter really with the kids at this age and we should come back to the idea in 5 or 6 years.. ?

Welcome your thoughts.

thanks in advance.

jdouds · 9 Jan 19, 07:22 PM

Hi at the age the kids are at you could possibly do a bit of a road trip keeping in mind things for them to do. As you have been to vegas you are aware there is stuff there they could do. After that you could possibly head to yosemite with a one night stop and spend a couple of days there, some walks ,rafting, swimming in mountain lakes and possibly a snow ball fight. From there San Fran or Monterey ,whale watching, aquarium,beach and then take 2/3 days on coast and finish with Disney/universal in LA. Hopefully some food for thought.

Vinniecat · 9 Jan 19, 07:35 PM

Mine are older but loved the west coast and I know that they would have enjoyed it at your children's ages. They enjoyed San Francisco and particularly alkatraz and Segway at golden gate park (think yours might be too young for that).They would have loved to cycle the Golden Gate Bridge. They enjoyed the boardwalk at Santa Cruz on the way to Monterey. Disney of course was a winner but I think their favourite was San Diego zoo. We als did seaworld in San Diego. We had to miss Yosemite because of the fires but that would be something they would have enjoyed even when younger.

2littleboys · 9 Jan 19, 07:39 PM

Bambikate recently went a west coast trip with her girls.

I believe she has started a trip report however I haven�t had the time to start it yet!

RickT · 9 Jan 19, 08:59 PM

Thanks all for your input.. 👍👍

Buzz242 · 9 Jan 19, 10:04 PM

Originally Posted by Vinniecat

Mine are older but loved the west coast and I know that they would have enjoyed it at your children's ages. They enjoyed San Francisco and particularly alkatraz and Segway at golden gate park (think yours might be too young for that).They would have loved to cycle the Golden Gate Bridge. They enjoyed the boardwalk at Santa Cruz on the way to Monterey. Disney of course was a winner but I think their favourite was San Diego zoo. We als did seaworld in San Diego. We had to miss Yosemite because of the fires but that would be something they would have enjoyed even when younger.

This is exactly what I would write too, so much for kids to enjoy - my two loved the west coast when they were younger and still do now they're adults

daytonababe · 10 Jan 19, 01:07 PM

What do the kids like to do ?

Mine have never been theme park mad so we�re quite happy in Vegas , LA , Phoenix etc ,

Mine have been to the west coast 10 times basic rules we have is no stay shorter than 3 nights , no driving day more than 5/6 hours ( that said in November we broke that driving form Miami to North Carolina in one go 750 miles with a 11 week old and it was fine ). Ours have always been used to traveling a lot by car though so we�ve never had them moaning they are bored etc

We go back to the west coast in March and will have a 6 month old with us

Mine were 3 & 7 When we went to the canyon I can�t say they got much from it , and in all the times we�ve been back ( they are now 16 & 20) they�ve never shown any interest in gojng back .

Disney is fab for 2/3 days , universal is a 1 day park , Knotts berry might suit their ages , we like the studio tours like Wanner but you need to be a minimum age of 8

Of the 3 weeks we�ve gone each year 10-14 days have always been spent in Vegas it�s all of ours fav place .

Melbatb · 10 Jan 19, 09:30 PM

We loved San Diego - we stayed for 8 nights and could have easily stayed longer! I did a trip report (SoCal). We also did Joshua Tree which we also enjoyed - though my kids are older!

RickT · 12 Jan 19, 03:45 PM

Thank you for sharing your experiences... we are completely undecided what to do and where to go (when i say go, i mean to any destination !)

Vinniecat · 12 Jan 19, 05:59 PM

Originally Posted by RickT

Thank you for sharing your experiences... we are completely undecided what to do and where to go (when i say go, i mean to any destination !)

We had the same dilemma looking for next August. Initially we booked a Mediterranean cruise and were looking for somewhere to spend a week in Europe as well. However we ended up cancelling that cruise and booking a different one because we liked the look of the ship. We did love the west coast though and would happily return. We also loved the smoky mountains. Dollywood is my personal favourite theme park.