San Diego after Spirit to DL

[Donnask8pro]

Hey guys need some help. I posted on another thread but thought I would post in the correct place.

 

We get in on the Spirit Sat am. Want to debark asap so I can drop off our luggage at the Ramada Inn, car rental to DL and back again the same night. 6:30 flight Sunday morning to PHL. AM I dreaming? Is this too hard to do with an 8 yr old?

 

Best advice please. Thanks so much..

[caa]

DL = Disneyland? Which Saturday? Which Ramada Inn?

 

My DH takes the ferry to work, and says he usually sees the cruise ships docking between 7:00 and 7:30, but they aren't yet letting people off. So let's say they start debarking around 8:00 and you get off in the first group, find your luggage quickly and make it through customs with no trouble.

 

First check if there's a rental car counter at your hotel or in a hotel nearby. If there is, just take a cab to whichever Ramada it is and rent the car there. If not, it's less than 3 miles from the pier to the rental car agencies across from the airport. Your best bet would probably be to take a cab from the pier to the airport rental car offices and rent there. Then you're returning it to the same place. There are some agencies that have offices downtown as well, but if you have to get a cab anyway in order to get to them, it's probably no faster than going to the airport or directly to the hotel. You could also try Enterprise and see if they'll pick you up at the pier.

 

In any case, I don't see how you can accomplish the renting of the car, hotel check-in, luggage drop-off process in much less than an hour, so it's now 9:00.

 

OK, so once you get your rental car, it's about a 1:45 drive to Disneyland on a normal Saturday morning with no rain and no unusual traffic events. So, you can get there around 10:45. Park and shuttle over to the ticket booths and stand in whatever lines are left at that time of day to buy tickets, and it'll be after 11:00 when you get into the park.

 

Depending on the date, the park will probably be open until 11:00 PM or Midnight, so you could have 12 hours there. How crowded it will be depends upon which Saturday. We're going for my birthday next weekend (1/10) and it's always pretty dead then. You can probably do everything you want to do in 12 hrs if you go any time before the end of Feb except MLK or President's Day weekends. After that, you'll start running into Spring Break crowds.

 

After your day at DL, then you have to make a 1:45 hour drive back to San Diego that night and get up in time to return the rental car and be at the airport by 5:15 AM. For me personally, this is not doable because driving while exhausted is a bad idea. You may have more stamina than I do, and the 8 year old (who can sleep in the car) will probably not have a problem.

 

If you do it, don't forget to take your jackets. Lots of people get surprised by how cold it is in Anaheim once the sun goes down.

[Donnask8pro]

I agree. Once I started reading what everyone was telling me I realized it is out of the question. Crap.. lol you cant blame a girl for trying.. lol thanks so much

[caa]

Hey, we have lots of excellent things to do in San Diego though. You could do a trip to the zoo or Sea World without renting a car -- both places have cab stands as you exit. You could also spend the afternoon on the waterfront touring the Midway or the ships at the Maritime museum, or you could walk around Old Town or Mission San Diego de Alcala (the latter 2 are less fun for kids though.) Balboa park has museums dedicated to model railroads, aerospace, and antique cars in addition to those that are probably similar to museums you have at home: science, natural history, anthropology, art.

 

If you do rent a car, you could go to the Wild Animal Park which is quite different from the zoo. Or you could take a drive up to the Mt. Palomar observatory or to Julian.

[cruiserbryce]

DL is doable but considering that you wont get off the ship, through customs and get to the hotel/pick up the car until probably 10am you are taking a lot of time out of the day and not leaving much to get up to DL and back. I would try to find some enjoyable things to do in SD. There are a lot of attractions here to enjoy

[kenish]

I highly recommend Legoland. It's about 30 minutes north of SD in the city of Carlsbad. Your 8yo will love it; it's a bit pricey but check AAA, tourism websites, etc. for discounts. The park is spotless and the cafes have a lot of healthy menu items. They just opened an adjacent aquarium which I believe charges a separate admission. Never been to the aquarium and my 16yo has unfortunately outgrown the Legoland demographic.

 

I agree with the other posts that DL is a big "stretch", especially with a lot of things to do in SD.