What to do on a short SoCal vacation with young kids?

August 7, 2005 8:24 AM

A four day SoCal vacation with two small children (7 and 3).... what can we do that isn't Disneyland?

My wife and I are getting sick of the staples (Disneyland, Universal Studios..) so we are wonder what other fun / interesting things there are to do for families in that region. (btw... we are going to Legoland...)

posted by cowmix to sports, hobbies, & recreation (12 comments total)

Kids generally love the beach.
posted by cmonkey at 8:39 AM on August 7, 2005

Have you been to the San Diego Zoo? They have a new monkey exhibit that looks sort of great. Balboa Park is also trying to reinvent itself as a kid destination. Here are some more idea pages: San Diego and LA
posted by jessamyn at 9:22 AM on August 7, 2005

As a child, I always loved the La Brea Tar Pits. The California Museum of Science and Industry is also fun, and usually has a number of kid-friendly programs about.
posted by thomas j wise at 10:00 AM on August 7, 2005

Yeah, I second the beach - you could go to the camera obscura in Santa Monica - and heck, while you're there, play on the pier.

Also, if you are going to be near San Diego, the Wild Animal Park is pretty neat, and Sea World is relatively near there, both of which are pretty fun (and exhausting) for kids.
posted by annathea at 10:33 AM on August 7, 2005

Long Beach Aquarium is nice - my kids love it. They also love Santa Monica beach and hanging on 3rd street. We went to La Brea tar pits museum yesterday - that's about 45 min worth of entertainment. If they are boys into cars (gee, ain't I sexist) there's the Petersen automotive museum almost next door with a large exhibit of real-life-size models of weird HotWheels. LA zoo is better than the San Diego zoo, by a long shot (except for the polar bear exhibit).
posted by johngumbo at 10:53 AM on August 7, 2005

Scripps Oceanographic Institute in La Jolla has a good aquarium. Your kids will love the whale sculpture (for scale, note woman and child beween the whales).
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 11:08 AM on August 7, 2005

Griffith Park's Travel Town and the next-door Live Steamers model railroad club. Their main site seems to be down, so here's a google search.

You could also check out the Griffith Park Observatory and their famous carousel.

La Brea Tarpits is pretty awesome too, as is the Museum of Science and Industry.
posted by loquacious at 11:37 AM on August 7, 2005

Visiting the Queen Mary, floating in Long Beach harbor, is a great way to spend a day.
posted by soiled cowboy at 12:25 PM on August 7, 2005

Knott's Berry Farm. (well, you said not Disneyland...)

Plus, although it wasn't mentioned above, the California Museum of Science and Industry is actually now the California Science Center and is in the middle of Exposition Park, which also has the Los Angeles Natural History Museum. And I spent many many many Saturdays in both when I was growing up.

The La Brea Tar Pits are nice, but they do have a human skeleton in their collection, which I know scared me when I was little. Plus, the tar pits themselves have mammoth models embedded into the large tar pit-ish large, and there are recordings of elephant noises, so if your kids are likely to spook easily, be warned about that.

Long Beac Aquarium is nice, if usually rather crowded, and I do love the L.A. Zoo — don't forget to save your dollars for the Mold-a-rama machines!
posted by Katemonkey at 1:42 PM on August 7, 2005

Kids love tidepools. I know of Leo Carillo, north of LA, but there are many including the Cabrillo tide pools near San Diego. Both the Redondo and Santa Monica piers are fun places for all ages. AAA tourbooks are an incredible resource if you can get your hands on one. They are free to members. It looks like even non-members can search online. The California section of this Travel for Kids website has some good info as well.
posted by euphorb at 3:28 PM on August 7, 2005

As a charming, lower-cost alternative to the Long Beach aquarium (which is indeed nice in a differrent way), I suggest the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro. The sharks and the touch tank were a hit with the kids I took, as well as as the playground on the beach in front of the aquarium.

If you're staying somewhere not too far from Pasadena, consider Kidspace, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, and aimed at kids aged 2-9.
posted by PY at 5:44 PM on August 7, 2005

The Museum of Jurassic Technology in Culver City (LA).
posted by mark7570 at 11:57 AM on August 8, 2005