USA West Coast road trip this March

mollymunchkin

I'm attempting to get some ideas together for a 2 week road trip in March, starting in Las Vegas and finishing in San Francisco. I need some suggestions as to where to stay, places to avoid, etc. We will be on honeymoon with our 5 year old so family friendly places to visit would be good. So far I have Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Disney World (any tips on discounted entry for a day or two?), but not much else. Maybe a visit to Alcatraz would be fascinating to a 5 year old (he loves his Lego police station complete with cells :rotfl:).

Thanks.

Nordictat2

I don't know your budget for hotels but they have TravelLodges over there https://www.travelodge.com/Travelodge/control/home as far as places to stay but whatever hotels you decide... don't forget to check out Trip Advisor! https://www.tripadvisor.com

Useful info regarding DisneyLAND in California. http://gocalifornia.about.com/cs/disneyland/a/distickets.htm

As far as goo and cheap places to eat...give Dennys a try. My husband and I like their food http://www.dennys.com/en/cms/Restaurant+Locator/43.html and they are spread out all over the US.

jaypr

mollymunchkin wrote: »

I'm attempting to get some ideas together for a 2 week road trip in March, starting in Las Vegas and finishing in San Francisco. I need some suggestions as to where to stay, places to avoid, etc. We will be on honeymoon with our 5 year old so family friendly places to visit would be good. So far I have Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Disney World (any tips on discounted entry for a day or two?), but not much else. Maybe a visit to Alcatraz would be fascinating to a 5 year old (he loves his Lego police station complete with cells :rotfl:).

Thanks.

First of all i'd reconsider the Las Vegas part, unless you've already booked.

I'd go San Francisco to LA, but Vegas is for adults. You will not be able to be around the gaming tables or any of the machines with a 5 year old.

Personally, i cant think of a worse place to take a kid.

Jason

Innys

Try the National Parks - Yosemite and Sequoia. Much better for a 5 year old than Vegas

cubegame

Look for the Jelly Belly Factory near San Francisco. Sure a 5 year old will love it!!

ENILORAC

Hiya,

My OH & i went to San Francisco, Vegas & LA a 3 years ago & it was fab!

In San Francisco we stayed at Union Square at a hotel called the Chancellor, really nice boutique style hotel. Definitely go to Alcatraz, it was prob my highlight of SF. You get an audio guide tour included in the price with options for kids or adults, it was great! We also hired bikes from Blazing Saddles & cycled over the Golden Gate Bridge, quite hard work but worth it! You could also visit the sealions at Fishermans Wharf & maybe do a Duck Tour of the bay? Go to the Cheesecake Factory on the top floor of Macys for fantastic food (portions are massive btw so no need for starters). Ditch the car when you get to SF, its a good walking city & the cable cars are fun too & it'll save you a bit of cash.

In LA we went to Universal but Disney would def be better for a 5yr old. Disney is in Anaheim, which is quite far away from the Walk of Fame & Rodeo Drive & Hollywood sign etc. We did drive to Santa Monica though. Their is a nice pier with a ferris wheel & other rides & the beach is lovely.

We stayed in New York New York hotel in Vegas. Again a really nice hotel. I disagree about Vegas being for adults only, there lots to do for kids too. We visited the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay hotel, watched them feed the lions at MGM, went to Madame Tussauds, went to a car museum at the Imperial Palace, went to Sigfried & Roys Dolphin thingy(soz cant mind the name!), swam in the hotel pool, watched the fountains at Bellagio & loads more!

We also pre-booked a tour to the Grand Canyon with Papillon tours. This was around £100pp at the time & was well worth it IMO.

Hope some of this helps!

Caroline xx

jackieblack

ENILORAC wrote: »

You could also visit the sealions at Fishermans Wharf

It would appear this might be a wasted visit!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/6913773/San-Franciscos-sea-lions-disappear-from-pier.html

Murphy_The_Cat

jaypr wrote: »

You will not be able to be around the gaming tables or any of the machines with a 5 year old.

Personally, i cant think of a worse place to take a kid.

Jason

Innys wrote: »

Much better for a 5 year old than Vegas

I'll add my tuppence on that as well - the sheer number of 'touts' who are literally throwing cigarette cards of 'escort' girls at passing visitors can make any walk along the strip something that you would choose for your 5 year old to avoid.
However, if you really, really want to visit Sin City with your 5 year old, my 4 year old (at the time) enjoyed staying in a Castle (the Excalibur Hotel), the dancing water (Bellagio fountains), going inside a Pyramid (Luxor Hotel) and the roller coaster hotel (Circus Circus), plus using the pool /outdoor jacuzzi. - you can avoid the worst of the !!!!!! peddlars if you take one of the buses that take you up/down the trip.
LV was our first stopping point in the US for that trip and we arrived late at night, crashed out, had one day in LV, slept over and headed out the next morning, Via Lake Mead/Hoover Dam.
For us, LV added very little to our family holiday.

If your son enjoys Naval Ships, he may well enjoy touring the USS Hornet in Alameda Harbour, across the bridge from San Francisco.:beer:

Alan_Bowen

I have to agree that Las Vegas is not, despite the previous attempts of the Las Vegas tourist board to claim otherwise, family friendly. The resort is full of men attending conventions and rather large ladies spending their kids intended inheritance. That's not to say I don't like it, I do, for 3 days maximum and without any children. Circus Circus is a good hotel for children with specific areas to amuse them, at a price, but the hotel itself is cheap, just a three star at best. Vegas can be exhausting for children and as others have commented, walking down the Strip with children (or grandparents for that matter) is downright embarrassing, selling sex is big business and the streets are littered with invitations from ladies in various states of undress.

On the assumptiion you are committed to Vegas because you have booked the flights, don't prolong your stay and if you are arriving at a weekend, be aware that room rates can double from Friday to Sunday because of the number of Californians who come just for the weekend. Staying mid week will save you a lot of money. My advice would be to leave on Interstate 15 and go south west to San Diego, a great family resort, the world's finest Zoo in one of the world's greatest parks, Balboa, beaches if you want them, a maritime museum on the water (including a ship from the Isle of Man) Sea World with whales, sea lions and penguins and there should be good weather in March.

As your son likes Lego, drive 30 miles north to Carlsbad and visit Legoland, open every day from March 11th(closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays before then) You can spend the whole day there and then either return to San Diego or continue north on Interstate 5 to Anaheim (Disneyland) which will take you an hour or just a little more or stay on the coast at somewhere like Newport Beach. It has easy connections by Freeway to Anaheim, Santa Monica and Universal Studios, although as these are north of downtown LA, it might be better to see them on the day you plan to leave LA to drive further north.

If any of you like boat trips you can take a day trip on the Newport Flyer to the island of Catalina 22 miles out in the Pacific which is just idyllic for a day, virtually no cars (electric golf carts are the main mode of transport) and a very relaxing day doing nothing, as an antidote to everything else.

Going north you should stop at Santa Barbara and perhaps Hearst Castle.San Francisco may be much colder than further south, I would question taking a child to Alcatraz, it is a prison after all and it would not be on my list of to do things with children. He would much prefer an afternoon at the Exploratorium which is a science museum that is completely 'hands on' and great fun as well as educational

I hope these thoughts may give you some ideas, you will love the trip, you just have to work a little harder with a 5 year old!

mollymunchkin

Thanks for all your help and advice. We will only be stopping in LV for a night or two before heading out to the Grand Canyon and definitely won't be gambling or going into casinos. I'll be checking out all the other places mentioned, like the San Diego zoo. The area is so vast it is hard to decide where to look first

mollymunchkin

Nordictat2 wrote: »

Useful info regarding DisneyLAND in California. http://gocalifornia.about.com/cs/disneyland/a/distickets.htm

Haha oops. Personally, I can't stand Disney and have no idea what the parks are all called. Makes searching for prices a bit easier if I have the correct park name!