In August, we (the family with young children) are visiting California.   We are planning on flying into LA and visiting Anaheim (Disney) for 2 days and then going down to Legoland and the San Diego area.  I have never been to CA so I have no idea what this driving might entail....

Is it a good idea to stay somewhere centrally located (like the Legoland area Carlsbad) and then drive up to Anaheim for the day to see Disney or down to San Diego to see the zoo and a couple of other places, coming back to the hotel at the end of each day......Or should I fly into LA, see LA and Anaheim for a couple of days then check out drive drive down to a different hotel in San Diego).  

I will be flying into and renting a car in LA, then returning it and flying out of San Diego.

I hear the traffic in California is worse than New York traffic, so is staying centrally located (maybe Carlsbad) and driving around doable or am I out of my mind?  I don't really have to drive during rush hour.  

Is Carlsbad a 'safe' area?  Plenty of restaurants?

What should I do, where should I eat in LA, Carlsbad, and San Diego?   Any hotel suggestions?



Thanks in Advance guys for your help/advice!

If it were me and especially with kids, I'd stay at one of the Disneyland hotels for those two nights.  For the kids, it is an event by itself (pools, costumed characters walking around, etc).

Legoland has an adjacent hotel that's nice but there are other nice ones near by in Carlsbad.  As a town, Carlsbad is relatively small but has adequate good restaurants, shopping, etc.  If Legoland is a one day visit, consider staying in San Diego and driving back there for the day of fun.

San Diego has a bazillion hotels.  If I were visiting San Diego for one day, I'd consider a room high up in the Marriott (Harbor area) with a nice view of the Harbor.  The Marriott has great pools, too.  Good food, pool-side bar, etc.  Hotel Del Coronado is a popular tourist spot but is far from being the only place to stay.  There is so much to see and do, you cannot go wrong.

2 hour drive from Anaheim to San Diego.  Just saying.

In the past I have done the same trip with my kids.  Couple of days at Disney and a couple of days in SD.  My recommendation would be to stay close to the attractions and limit travel when possible.

With all the walking you are going to do, I would want to stay at a close hotel.

Drive to Disney and stay at a close hotel, then drive to Carlsbad and stay at another hotel.
Carlsbad is safe, and theres a few food places right off the freeway, around the corner from lego land.
Then drive down to SD for whatever.

I stayed at the Grand Pacific Palisades Resort and you can walk across the street and get into legoland.
Its nice, and not as expensive as the lego hotel.

Fly into Long Beach, John Wayne, or Ontario instead of LAX. LAX is a nightmare and the traffic is worse.

Do not plan to stay in northern San Diego County, like Carlsbad, and drive to Anaheim for days at the Disney Resort.  There is basically only one route through there (I-5) through Camp Pendleton and through southern Orange County until you can break out and go west on the 405, north on the 55 or 57, etc.  The toll road alternatives aren't convenient at all for Disney/Anaheim so all of the morning rush or go home traffic is going to be going the same ways you want to go.  Or, you can hold off and get there later.  Disneyland is crowded during the summer even on hot weekdays, so you'd lose a fair amount of time trying to avoid or sitting in traffic.  You'd be much better off staying near the resort to minimize travel times, etc.  If you want to stay in the greater L.A. area and see more of L.A. than just Disneyland that opens up a lot of possibilities.  Carlsbad to San Diego?  My impression is the San Diego "rush" is less intense and doesn't last as long as L.A.'s but I don't typically go to San Diego during the work week.  My daughter does but not using the I-5 coastal route.

If you aren't planning on being in the L.A. area west side,the Santa Ana and Ontario Airport alternatives should be considered.  LAX is busy, crowded, and traffic in the area is generally very heavy, you'll spend more time than you might like just getting to/from the airport.  Unfortunately, fares are usually better to LAX and sometimes a whole lot better.  Urban traffic is bad in the Bay Area and greater L.A. area mostly because of the volume, but my wife just spent some time in NYC and reported the traffic was horrendous.  Gridlock was common and the response to having hung oneself up in an intersection was to honk, not avoid entering intersections you know you won't get through.  My impression is that L.A. pedestrians will not shove tourists into traffic.  "Nobody walks here"  and "Nobody drives there" aren't all that true.  Outside of the big urban areas, Ca. traffic seems fine.  However, if your idea of "heavy traffic" is a two land divided highway, moving at worst slightly under the speed limit, 5-8 lanes of traffic moving from stop to 50-60 or faster and back to stop and go again, with two lanes or so of truck traffic where you want to merge on and off as well as motorcyclists splitting lanes along the diamond (car pool restricted) lanes, traffic may come as a bit of a challenge to you.  Off freeways, traffic is traffic.  Cities are congested so if you've driven in New York, Boston or Washington, DC, and survived, L.A. wont seem bad.  San Francisco, though is 3 dimensional with toruists wandering everywhere, so it's a bit of a bigger challenge.

Carlsbad is apparently fine.  I haven't really been there except passing through for years so don't have any really useful recommendations.  My daughters were never interested in Legoland and I think were too old for it.  Not sure but have never been there.  So don't have any ideas on lodging and restaurants but would expect little problems in finding nice places.

"L.A." and San Diego have an  amazing array of attractions, restaurants, communities, foods, etc., and I guess to get answers, we'd need some help as to how old the family is, what you like, what you don't, how adventurous you/they are, etc.  I'd suggest looking at the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park night time offerings.  In years past, they had added entertainment, etc., in the evenings which was nice as the animals and the tourists are more comfortable after the heat of the day.

Thanks for all the advice.   So it looks like we are going to fly into LAX and stay in Anaheim right by Disney for 2 days.    Then we are going to move to a different hotel further south, either in Carlsbad or Escondido (Welk resort looks nice!)

From there, we will drive into San Diego as needed (should be about a half hour drive).  The Animal Park is definitely high on our list of things to do, as is Legoland for my boys.  

I'm looking at Welk resort in Escondido because it looks quiet and relaxed, as opposed to staying somewhere near the beach which would probably be too crowded.   Days hanging out at the pool is what I'm looking forward to.

Steven

If you are not staying at a Disney Hotel, take a look at the Howard Johnson's on Harbor.  Great pool area for kids.  If a pool is not a concern, look at the Tropicana.  It's a motel, but the rooms are clean, staff is friendly, has a coffee shop and mini mart on property and is a 5 minute or so walk to the parks.

Stay at or near disneyland for the time you'll be there.

San Diego...you have options.

I was born/raised in SD, and have a house in Vista (currently enjoying the weather in Vista)

I would stay closer to Poway.....
Weekday commuter traffic is pretty much done by 9am.  The 15fwy is better than the 5fwy for traffic.

Everyplace you'll want to go is a 15-30  minute drive (Zoo/balboa park, wild animal park, legoland, point loma tide pools, La Jolla cove, Mission Beach, etc.)
Plenty of different food options, Walmart/Costco/every other store is there, and a pretty nice gun range too....


.

The new Courtyard by Marriot is across the street from the Howard Johnsons in Anaheim (and also across Harbor from Disneyland) and has an even larger pool/water play area.  As a newer/larger hotel, that may be more expensive and/or crowded with those who bailed out of Disney due to heat or not ticketed in the Parks every day, etc. My impression of the Welk resort in the Escondido area is that it's aimed at the Welk generation and golf and while the pool might be OK for a relaxing adult, I'm not sure the resort is kid oriented.  The current Google map/Earth view looks a little drab in the area because I think it's post fire.  the hills should be greener now.

The Welk resort might be full of old people, I presume it is, but I might be wrong.