DisneyLand (Ca)

Oh my goodness; you're going to need a vacation after your vacation! I think for your age group of kids, 2 days at Disneyland will be more than enough. I'd skip Sea World altogether and hit Universal Studios, instead. Whale watching is really cool; you can do that in Orange County right out of Newport Beach or Dana Point. If you're really set on San Diego, the zoo IS cool; but your boys may enjoy the Wild Animal Park right next to it the most.

Just a warning on the drive times; freeways are a nightmare here. It takes about 2 hours to get from OC to LA on most days; and about 1.5 to 2 hours from OC to the zoo.

Have a great time!

It does sound like you have a lot planned and may have to prioritize and cut down on amusement parks. That said, I had to chime in about Legoland because we've been several times and loved it. Whether your boys would like it depends on their interests and expectations. It is not primarily a ride experience like other amusement parks, although it does have a good roller coaster or two. If you go there expecting a day of wild rides you will be disappointed. However, if your boys are at all into Legos I consider it a must-see. They have amazing Lego re-creations, entire cities, people, animals, etc. The rides are sometimes a litte more unique and interactive than rides you would find at other amusement parks. I think they've added an aquarium since we were last there. It is located in Carlsbad, about midway between LA and San Diego, although a little closer to San Diego.

I probably wouldn't do Sea World, the Zoo AND whale watching. I might pick one or two of those. If you've been to Sea World before I think they are all pretty similar. It's been several years since we were there, but I thought the Sea World in San Diego looked a little worn and run down to me.

Have fun.

If you do Disney on a weekday, you can see plenty in one day, especially with older boys. You could spend a second day at Cal Adventure but. personally, I think 3 days is too much Disney. There are other things to see in SoCal and you are coming from far away so I'd plan for some variety.

My boys are 16 and 18 now. We spend a week or 2 in soCal every year. Some things my guys liked best:
Doheny Beach - clean, uncrowded and near Dana Point Harbor. Drive past the day use parking and you can park in metered parking for just an hour or two...take a picnic lunch. There are showers and bathrooms so you can swim (green flag means it's safe), clean up and go on to another activity later.
Legoland until they were 12-14 yo
USS Midway in San Diego. They loved this and your boys might, too. We spent the whole afternoon here and couldn't see it all, my boys want to go back.
Medieval Times, Buena Park - something about eating with their hands and making alot of noise cheering for their knight made this fun for them.

Attractions that my boys thought were just so so:
Sea World
Knotts Berry Farm
San Diego zoo
Birch aquarium La Jolla, although I loved loved loved it.

Best time to drive between LA and OC or San Diego is Sundays. No work/commute trafffic. With no traffic: 1 hour 15 min. from LA to Dana Pt, about the same from Dana Pt to San Diego. With traffic, 1.5 to twice as long or more if there is an accident.

I live in San Diego and know all of these things well. March can be cool here it's unpredictable so bring clothing for warm and cool. San Diego is about an hour and a half drive from Anaheim. The commute it killer in all southern California from about 7-9:30am and then again from about 4:30-7pm. Magic Mountain will take you another hour and a half from where you are so if you're going to drive, might as well do the zoo.

I would reccommend 2 days for disneyland and california adventure- some of it is the same as Disney world. There is knotts berry farm near by which is fun and has some good roller coasters. Not extreme like magic mountain but fun. Whale Watching can be fun, or you could see nothing, it's a gamble. If it is choppy or foggy bring dramamine. They also do whale watching in SD downtown so if you do go that way you can plan to do other things that are right there, where if you go to Dana point, there's not a lot to do near by but would work if you plan on staying in Anaheim area.

Seaworld is fun, (similar to the one in florida) also the San Diego Safari Park is a neat experience and you can camp in the zoo, or do a ropes course among other pretty fun activities at this location. Mission beach has an aquatic center where you can rent out things like boats etc or take lessons like paddle boarding. But the ocean is super cold in March so rent a wetsuit ( or bring one). There's a lot of cool museums and I max theatre in Balboa park which is right next to the zoo and is very cool as well. I hope that's a little helpful.

We were in SD and Anaheim this past summer with 3 kids much younger than yours. It was a jam-packed, ambitious itinerary but we did get some beach time, too. Not sure what the ocean's like in CA for the beach in March.

We went to the Safari Park rather than the zoo and paid extra for the safaris where you can see the animals in a more natural habitat, i.e. the rhinos were with the giraffes in a vast, open space to mimic the savannah. Be sure to get tickets for the cheetah run!

Legoland in Carlsbad is very cool. Someone else recommended it and said your boys would not be too old.

The MAJOR attraction at the California Adventure Park is the Speed Racers ride in Cars Land, which opened this past June. Luckily, the woman at the ticket booth gave me some tips. We were there in August, so the frenzy may die down a bit by March. Anyway, the fast passes for this ride are gone by mid-morning. Here's how we did it: my husband and older son arrived at the gate at 7:30 (30mins before opening). When the park opened, they went straight to the ride. I arrived about 8:30 and went straight for a fast pass. The line for the fast pass was 20mins!! and that's with park employees running your tickets through the machine to make it go even fast. You're constantly moving in the line, so that just gives you some perspective on how many people are in line. Anyway, by the time I got 2 fast passes, my husband and son were off the ride and got in line for fast passes for later. So...I arrived at 8:30 and my fast passes were for 3:15 in the afternoon. When my husband got in line, his fast pass was for 7:00pm. Without a fast pass, you'll easily be in line for 2-1/2 hours.

My husband wishes we would have just stayed in SD and had a couple more beach days. When you're that close to Anaheim and with the new Cars Land, we felt we really ought to go.

We went to Sea World because my boys are completely nuts about the ocean, but if you've been in FL you can skip it unless your kids really want to go back.

Have fun!!

I would definately do one day at Disneyland and one day at California Adventures. That should be plenty for Disneyland. If you've been to Sea World in FL, then I don't know if you really need to come down here to SD for it. Near Disneyland and also in Orange County is Knotts Berry Farm and that is another amusement park that is fun. Universal Studios is really unique and is in LAish area. In Northern LA is Six Flaggs Magic Mountain, which is for older kid's and has a TON of roller coasters. Like LeeLee said, you can also go Whale Watching in Orange County, so you don't need to come down to SD for that.

If you decide to come down to San Diego we have the whale watching, Sea World, the San DIego Zoo, and also like LeeLee suggested, we have the Wild Animal Park which is pretty cool and unique, and is about 40 minutes away from the zoo.

Enjoy your "vacation!!"

I just checked my email and there was a Groupon or Living Social special for Whale Watching. Before you come out this way, you might want to sign up and see if there any good deals you can get while you're out here. Also, that way you already spent the money so it will be like bonus money here!
Have fun!!

DisneyLand/California Adventure is not all that big. If you go when it opens and stay all day you can pretty much cover everything in 1 day.

Six Flags (Magic Mountain when I was growing up) is not that close, its by the grapevine and is a bit of a drive....unless they have put in a new one closer to San Diego that I haven't heard about? It does have better roller coasters for the bigger kids/adults though.

San Diego Zoo is amazing...way better than SeaWorld, IMO.
I love Universal Studios...it is a bit cheesy and you and the kids will be disappointed by how fake everything looks in real life...but that's the reality of what they can do and the magic of TV/Movies!!

Your boys are a good age...If I were you, I would do:
1 day at Magic Mountain (perfect world 2 days here)
1 day at DisneyLand
1 day at San Diego Zoo
1 day at Universal Studios
Whale watching
Venice beach
Hollywood

Have fun!

Do the Disney passes include California Adventure? If they do, you can definitely spend two days at Disneyland and the third at CA Adventure. I think the boys will have fun at both parks.

Six Flags is a long drive from Anaheim - probably about 90 minutes. You could have a lot of fun on thrill rides at Knott's Berry Farm, which is probably 15 minutes from Disneyland in Buena Park. There aren't as many coasters as at Six Flags, but there are several good ones, plus regular rides, and it's much closer. Six Flags is not close to anything else that you'd want to go to.

If they are sports fans, consider getting tickets to see the Lakers, Clippers, Kings or Ducks. I'm sure at least one of the teams will be in town that week. The Ducks play pretty close to Disneyland in Anaheim; the other three all play at the Staples Center in downtown LA.

Griffith Park Observatory is a cool spot that isn't too far from Universal Studios.

I've heard great things about the Whale Watching Festival in Dana Point but haven't ever been. From Anaheim, it's about a 30-45 minute drive and wouldn't have traffic if you went outside of rush hour or on a weekend.

If you have already done Sea World, you should definitely do the San Diego Zoo instead, if you decide to head down to San Diego at all. It's really cool. You could also check out the Wild Animal Park, which is about 30 minutes or so inland, so not super close to the zoo, but is a neat destination.

ETA: Just skimmed the other responses. I would SKIP Legoland. Your boys are too old for the rides there and you will be bored very quickly. Plus, it's really expensive for what you get.

We went to California this summer but went at the end of August when a lot of kids were already in school. We did 1 day at Disneyland and 1 day at California adventure which was plenty of time. We also did 1day at universal but I didn't think it was worth it too much especially since universal is on the northern side of LA. If it is warm enough I would go to the beach. We went to Newport Beach which I think was about 1 hour from Anaheim.

Hi K., when are you going? just wondering if its summer or winter. If its summer be sure to get some beachtime in when you are in San Diego. Lots of good beaches all with fun beachtown vibes.

I grew up in LA area but lived in San Diego for about 5 years after college. I would highly recommend the San Diego Zoo! A great zoo. It's pretty big, you'll be walking a lot. I recommend the beach more in San Diego. I like the northern beach towns- La Jolla, Del Mar, Encinitas. The gaslamp district (downtown) is nice to have dinner in one night and just walk around, if its baseball season and your kids like sports, consider squeezing in a Padres game, it's a pretty neat stadium and right downtown.

Disneyland, You could do it in one day if you plan to spend the whole day there and you pick a day that is not too crowded (not saturday and not a week when every single other person in the world is on a break from school). With two tween-age boys that could probably last from open to close, I think you can get it all in. You might want two days though if you want to do both parks (Disneyland and California Adventure). California Adventure would not be as long of a day as Disneyland. It's worth a visit though, it has some good rides and ambiance.

I would definitely skip whale watching. I have never seen any whales off the coast of california. I have been whale watching on a boat and it was terrible (cold, rocky, no whales, trapped for several hours). Honestly you might see more whales going up to the Point Loma lighthouse in San Diego (actually I think it might be called the Cabrillo Lighthouse, but it's in Point Loma), it's high up and great view of the coast and you ca occasionally see whales there (though I myself never have, not that I;ve been up there THAT much!)

I also don't think Sea World is that great, but I guess it is cool. There aren't many places to see giant marine animals in the world. If I had to pick between Sea World and the zoo, I would definitely pick the zoo! And I would pick the Zoo over Wild Animal Park. The WAP is more lazy, spread out, and the animals are further away (they are more in their natural habitat though). The zoo has more variety of animals. Side note, the food at both those places are pretty decent, and they sell beer throughout the parks ;)

Universal will not take you the whole day and I think it is also one to skip if you have to cut something (being that you went to the one in Fl).

I think the best park to hit up is Disney/Ca Adventure, I mean nobody does it like Disney. Then I'd spend a lot of time in San Diego!

And ditto LeeLee about the driving between Anaheim and San Diego. And don't plan to drive to San Diego on a Friday between 1pm and 7pm. Or drive back up to LA on a Sunday afternoon/eve.

I think you are planning too much. Too many amusement parks anyway. Your whole trip will have been spent in line. We stay at disney 2 or 3 days and have still only seen part of what the parks have to offer. Seaworld in Florida is better IMHO. I think Dana point is beautiful and really easy to get around. And for me, the wild animal park is more fun then the San Diego zoo. Buy tickets to ride down in the main enclosure and feed giraffes and rhinos. It is really amazing. Also, depending when you are there the wild animal park has a sleep over in the park which was truly wonderful.