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[bensmum]

I have just booked my flights to California for April 2010. Arrive San Francisco at the beginning of April, I will stay there with relatives for about a week. I am then planning to drive down H1 and stop off at Disneyland before visiting other relatives near Temecula. I will fly to Hartford around the 18th. I have only booked flights to San Francisco and return from hartford, nothing booked in between so I have plenty of leeway with dates .
I am looking for help in choosing where to stay both on my drive down the coast and when I am at DL. what are the distances involved in walking aroud the park?
I am travelling with my son who while 11 has Down Syndrome. He is great behaviourally but slow unless running away from me, tires easily and will enjoy some quiet time. He likes to rest in the afternoon.I have always chosen hotels in the resort for this reason. Is there anything I shouldn't miss? I did Sea World 25 years ago but don't remember much.
Any hints welcome.
Have to say I'm so excited I can't wait /

[davewasbaloo]

This is a toughy, it depends on budgets and tastes for where to stay. For me, the highpoints exclusing San Francisco and Disneyland are:

Yosemite National Park and Sequoia National park. They are breath taking and responsible for the international National Park movement (that said, for a smaller version, while you are in SF, you could go 20 miles north to Muir Woods - Endor in Return of the Jedi).

Monterrey is great for coastal scenery and has an excellent aquarium that your son (and the rest of the family) would probably love. Also lots of spanish and art deco architecture and great sea food.

Santa Barbara is a lovely town.

San Diego is a must!  The zoo (with Pandas) is one of the world's greatest. I have seen nothing on the same scale here in Europe.

Old Town SD is great too. Sea World is wonderful as well. Then there is the Hotel Del Coronado (made famous in Some Like it Hot - similar to the Disneyland Hotel in Paris). Great beach there too. And wonderful ice cream.

San Diego has some of the best mexican food in California (7 miles north of the border). and there is also an Air Craft carrier you can visit (it is huge)

If you like Art, when in LA, the Getty is a wonderful museum and it's free. Great coastal views too. In Griffith Park - with the famous observatory and where Walt Disney's first train is on display, there is the Gene Autrey Western Museum that gives a great overview of cowboy and indian art, history, and how it influenced the Western genre of books and films.  Really good.

I really like Universal Studios, not as a theme park, but as a real movie studios to look around.

Then there is of course Death Valley for the deserts.

Also, from SF, Napa Valley has great wineries, but if you head east, Sacramento is the state Capitol. The Capitol building has a bigger dome than Washington DC and Sutters Fort is there, which was where gold was first confirmed to be found in the great Gold Rush of 1849 (old town and the railway museum has a real Frontierland feel to it). But even better, head for the mountains for the real gold rush towns like Placer, and Hang Town. If you are going that way, might as well head to Lake Tahoe - bigger than Loch Ness, and beautiful (if you watched Bonanza, it was filmed there). There are also Vegas style shows and Casinoes over the border in Nevada. Then if you go another hour or so east of Lake Tahoe, the amazing Virginia City is there. It was the town Frontierland in Paris was modelled on, as well as being where all the wealth of San Francisco came from, and Mark Twain ran the newspaper there. Awesome.

There is much to see and do, I suggest research.

For San Francisco, there is the touristy stuff like the Cable cars, the boudin bakery, Pier 39 for the Sea Lions, Lombard Street etc. But the museum Machanique has some lovely things your son will like. Of course there is the Walt Disney museum that has just opened at the Presidio (as well as the lovely Palace of Fine arts being there). For something really special, I recommend breakfast at the Mark Hopkins Hotel - Top of the mark. It is posh, but family friendly, and offers amazing 360 degree views of the city.

Also, Golden Gate Park with the Crystal Palace, the De Young Museum, the herd of Buffalo and the Japanese Tea Garden are great.

I can offer hotel ideas once you decide on where you want to go. as for hotels near Disneyland, if budget is not an issue, that the Grand Californian is perfect. My favorite Disney hotel anywhere, and one of my fav hotels in the world (literly one the gates of DCA and 2 minutes from DL. Or if on a budget, either the Candy Cane Inn or Howard Johnson are good choices. They offer shuttle service, but are still closer to the parks that the Sequoia Lodge is to DLP.

Any other questions, let me know.

[bensmum]

Thanks for the reply. I forget that distance is not as much of an issue in the states. Will rethink my tourist plans now to take in one of the national parks. As it is just me and the wee one I am more intersted in safe and convenient places to stay ans visit. Ben is not really one for sight-seeing but I really want to see something of the coast, enjoy the relaxed atmosphere and the food.

[davewasbaloo]

Well San Francisco and San Diego could deliver on the coast (though Monterrey is nice and I suspect you would have fun at the aquarium and cannery row).

To me though, the Mountains are the true beauty of Calfornia. But I am biased, although I was born in San Francisco, I grew up in the Mountains and got married at Lake Tahoe.

To make life easy, though it is not cheap, there are day trips on buses that go from San Francisco to Yosemite (or perhaps family would take you). So you could do that as part of your SF stretch. Or not as cool, but still neat and convenient - Muir Moods and Stinson Beach are about 30 mins north of SF.

Then pop down to Monterrey for a night, Santa Barbara for a night, and then either DL or San Diego (or the other way around). Staying near Disneyland is very convenient, and there are bus trips to different parts of San Diego - Zoo, Sea World etc. if you prefer (though it is only a 90 min drive on average).

Let us know, and then ask any questions. Reibi and many others I am sure will chime in. I took my kids on a 4 week road trip of California when they were 2 and 4 to show them their roots.

[Riebi]

Hurray! California! If you have any questions just feel free to ask everything!  /

[bensmum]

Its less than two weeks till we jet off to the states. Thanks Davewasbaloo and Reibi, I now have a very basic itinerary.
We arrive in SF on the 2nd April and stay there until the 7th. We will do the classic tourist things. We fly down to San Diego, we are staying with my cousin and aunt and have two other cousins to in the area. Plan to do san Diego zoo and either Sea World or Wild Animal Park...I have a SOCAL pass.We head up to Disneyland on the 13th for 3 nights at the Grand Californian(all your fault Davewasbaloo :lol: as if I need an excuse to stay there) Will be going to Universal Studios for 1 day Disney for 3.
I decided against the drive down H1 this visit as I have so many relatives to see, I haven't seen them since 1983 and my cousin who is in the navy will be home when I am there now.
Finally we head over to Hartford on the 16th for 6 nights, two more cousins and we are hoping to make it to both New York and Boston.

If I can finally work out how to post pictures(luddite alert :oops: )I wil do trip report on my return.
And finally for Davewasbaloo..its getting a bit warmer up here now but you are brave doing the North of Scotland in April :lol: Hope you enjoy, lynne