travelpye

I am bringing my sister and her granddaughter with me to San Diego Manchester Grand Hyatt while I am attending conference. They will sight see, with the two most distant destinations on their wish list being wildlife park and Legoland. It looks like car rental is cheaper if car is picked up at Hyatt, not airport. Hyatt charges $40 a day parking, nearby convention center surface lot doesn't allow overnight parking.

Uber, walking, bus will get them to most other destinations they have in mind: Balboa Park and museums, Midway, Children's museum, whale watch tour.

So, here is my question: what is most economical way to get them to Wildlife Park and Legoland? It looks to me like we will just need to rent a car at the Hertz location at hotel for two days so they can drive there and pay the Hyatt the parking fee. But am I missing something?

Thanks!

darthbimmer

Uber rides to Legoland and the Safari Park are likely to be around $40 each way from downtown San Diego (could be higher if during heavy traffic and/or surge pricing). Compare that to your all-in cost for renting a car, filling the gas, and parking it for at least one night at the hotel.

TWA884

Amtrak.

VickiSoCal

Why not rent in the morning and return that night? No parking fee at all.

CalVol

There are some tours available. Of course, that diminishes some of the flexibility that comes from having your own vehicle. Still, it might be worth considering.

A quick google search turned up this. Pricing is $82 per person for transportation and admission. There are others.

Enjoy your trip.

I just noticed you were looking for the "most economical" options. This isn't likely to be it. Sorry.

SanDiego1K

Also consider taking the Coaster to the Poinsettia Station in Carlsbad and Uber on to Legoland. The Coaster runs more times a day than Amtrak. It is a commuter llight rail, so its schedule is heavily weighted to morning and late afternoon. Amtrak and the Coaster use the same rail so from San Diego you can take whichever comes first. From Legoland, you need to decide whether to go north to Oceanside, which is both a Coaster and an Amtrak station or to Poinsettia which is only a Coaster station.

From the Legoland website:
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

The Oceanside Amtrak Station (7.5 miles)
Carlsbad Poinsettia Station (3 miles)
Carlsbad Village Station (4.5 miles)
Guests then travel to the Park by cab.

The tracks run close to the shore much of the way with particularly pretty views as the train goes thru Del Mar. They can also stop at Old Town State Park on their return to San Diego or use that as a separate outing another day.

This is an excellent suggestion, especially for the visit to Safari Park. Parking costs $12 there. I think the train ride along the beach heading to Legoland is a tourist activity that will appeal to a child just as much as many other sights.

travelpye

I want to thank each of you for responding. I have already checked estimated Uber rates, and this weekend I will price out rail tickets and one day car rental price. (I had only thought of doing a 2-day rental, not two one days.)

Thank you all for these excellent suggestions.

VickiSoCal

The Wild Animal Park is excellent, btw, but gets very warm. If you can get there right when it opens it is best.

calwatch

If you are downtown you could take the 235 Rapid Bus from downtown San Diego to Escondido Transit Center and get an Uber/Lyft there. It is faster than the Amtrak/Sprinter option. There is a city bus to Safari Park from Escondido - http://www.gonctd.com/wp-content/upl...edules/371.pdf - but it runs infrequently. The same for Legoland - http://www.gonctd.com/wp-content/upl...edules/446.pdf - if you plan on getting there when it opens and leaving when it closes (which may be too much), this is an option.

travelpye

We are back from the conference and trip and just wanted to say thank you to all who posted again. Also, thought I would report experience in case anyone else reads the thread and is considering doing the same thing.

We did take the 235 bus to Escondido. The ride seemed a bit longer than I expected but I did not time it. At Escondido transit center, something went wrong with Uber. Ride to Safari park would have been $7, but app kept showing arriving in one minute for quite a long time and then driver cancelled. We took cab, which was there waiting, and fare was $30 with tip. No uber showed available when we were leaving park, so we called cab driver, who had given us his card, thankfully, and took cab back to Escondido. We enjoyed the park very much, and recommend taking the "safari" that is included with admission more than once, as we did. We saw different animals up close on each ride through.

They took Coaster and taxi from Santa Fe station to Legoland. They enjoyed it, but it was spring break there, so park was pretty crowded. All went well, except taxi driver had told therm they would have no problem getting taxi on way back--they would be there and waiting for fares. But they exited park at closing to find no taxis at all. They walked to Legoland hotel next door, and a taxi was called for them. They therefore missed the last coaster back and had to wait two hours until the next Amtrak. I believe she checked for an Uber too, but no luck there either.

So, I would have a back up plan with the number for a cab when visiting either Safari Park or Legoland. Doorman at hotel told them that in peak season cabs probably would have been waiting, though.

Bus to zoo and Balboa Park was easy and less than 30 minutes from Santa Fe station.

It helped that our hotel, Grand Manchester, was only 3-4 blocks from Santa Fe train bus depot.

The nearby Ralph's supermarket and Horton's Shopping Plaza with its food court and CVS came in handy. They picked up missing items, such as goggles for swimming, at CVS at a good price, and my great niece LOVES Panda Express, which was at food court. (Yes, I have introduced her to non-food court Chinese food, but she just loves Panda Express.)

She loved the Midway and the museum of natural history and even the whale watch tour--though they did not see whales, just sea lions and dolphins.

Thanks again to all for their tips and advice!

Oh as an aside, I ate twice at Puesto, the taco place just across street from Hyatt in the little shopping center they made of the old jail. I loved the cactus taco and the chicken al pastor. I highly recommend it, though not necessarily for kids. I also liked Buster's in Seaport Village. I enjoyed the blackened ahi tuna burger, and just generally found their food better than the San Diego Pier Cafe, the other place in Seaport Village that I ate while attending the conference.