San Francisco > Monterey> LA > Disneyland

Madison2018

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jan 19, 2018
Hi all,
We just returned from an incredible 10 night trip starting in San Francisco and ending up in Disneyland. It was such a fun trip and I spent a lot of time researching it - thought I would post a quick round up of our itinerary in case someone was planning a similar trip. Feel free to ask any questions!

We flew into SFO on Friday 6/21, arriving late afternoon. We stayed in Fisherman's Wharf at the Argonaut - great location for us. Our first night we spent exploring the Fisherman's Wharf area.

Saturday 6/22 -Started with a cable car ride, then Dylan's E-Tuk tour - 2 hour highlight tour of the main SF attractions, including Lombard St, Golden Gate Bridge, Full House house, The Painted Ladies, Chinatown, the Presidio, etc. - we loved this! Also did a scavenger hunt/tour of Chinatown and North Beach, dinner in North Beach.

Sunday 6/23 - Alcatraz Tour, Musee Mechanique on the Wharf, drive across GGB, Go Car Tour, Urban Putt and dinner in Chinatown.

Monday 6/24 - rent car (early), drive to Henry Cowell State Park (my favorite thing we did the whole trip), Santa Cruz Boardwalk, Monterey Cannery Row, check into hotel in Monterey.

Tuesday 6/25 - Whale watching tour, drove part of Big Sur, lunch at Nepenthe, McWay Falls and then back towards Monterey, stopping at Pfeiffer Beach. Dinner in Monterey.

Wednesday 6/26 - Point Lobos (walked a few trails, beautiful!), photo op at Bixby Bridge (stopped for construction traffic, so got a fantastic picture from the side road of the bridge with the ocean in the background and not a single car on it!), Ragged Point, lunch at Morro Bay then on to LA. Checked into our hotel in LA, walked to dinner close by.

Thursday 6/27 - Turned in rental car, then We Love LA tour -full day tour, saw all the sights. This was a great tour with just our family. Hollywood sign, Venice Beach, Santa Monica pier, Farmers Market, Bel Air, Rodeo Drive, Walk of Fame, Chinese Theater, etc. fun day.

Friday 6/28 - WB Studio Tour, Hermosa Beach area for lunch, uber to Anaheim. Got caught up visiting with family in Hermosa Beach then had to go back to hotel for luggage, which made for a late start towards Anaheim and a traffic nightmare, 2 + hours, ugh. Check into hotel, spent a few hours in Disneyland, Mickey pretzels for dinner!

Saturday, 6/29 & 6/30 Disneyland, yay! So much fun - this was our first trip to Disneyland after many to Disney World and we loved it! So much more of a relaxed experience.

Monday 7/1 Character Breakfast, pack up 10 days worth of stuff. Check out of hotel, then uber to SNA for flight home. Exhausted, but had a wonderful time!

Feel free to ask any questions. There were definitely a few times when I felt I could have planned something better or where things didn't go as planned, our last day in San Francisco and the drive to LA being the top two things. But overall it was an action packed trip and we fit in things that everyone in our group wanted to do and just had a fun time and made a lot of great memories.
 
Can you please tell us more about Dylan's E-Tuk tour? Was there one price for all travelers? Were you able to get out of the vehicle for photos, etc?
 
We loved it! While it was a little pricey compared to other hop on hop off type tours, it was worth it for us, as we had so much we wanted to see and not a lot of time to do it all. This was just our family, so it was very personalized. Most places we were able to get off and take pics or even explore. The guide was also great about taking pics of all of us. It was $350 for up to 4 passengers. They also provided bottled water and some blankets (it was chilly by the bridge.) Also, because it is a smaller vehicle it can go places the big buses cannot. We rode down Lombard Street, went to the Palace of Fine Arts, Fort Point to view the bridge and so many other places. Just look up Dylan's Tours in San Francisco. They have a lot of options and were very friendly and well reviewed.
 
Great tips! We are doing the opposite direction - starting at Disneyland for three days, doing an LA day, then renting a convertible and driving up the coast. 2 nights in Pismo Beach, a night in Monterey, and then 3 nights in San Francisco before we fly home. I'm super excited!! Just DH and I.

Pismo is going to be more relaxed after 4 days of DL/LA crazy. Maybe a winery, kayak tour, that kind of thing. Then we want to hit Hearst Castle on our way to Monterey, make a few stops in Big Sur and Carmel, and then just a relaxing rest of the time in Monterey.

Still working on what to do in San Francisco. Alcatraz is top of the list for sure. And before we ditch the rental car in favour of public transit, we do want to drive across the Golden Gate bridge, as well as drive across to Oracle Arena. We are Raptors fans, so we just want a few photos of where the last Golden State game was played. :)

September is never going to get here!
 


This sounds like a great trip! I'm planning something similar for next Summer. What were the ages of your group? Did everyone enjoy this itinerary? Sounds like y'all did a lot each day, did you feel exhausted at the end of the day? How was the weather, this will be around the same time frame we will go?

TIA
Tammy
 
Hello there! I know this is an old thread but I just came across it while looking for trips just like this! My DD and I want to do something similar next summer for her graduation.

If you're still around, how was the drive down the coast? I was looking into maybe driving down the PCH but I kind of hate driving and it seems like a scary drive with all the twists and turns. That said, it looks beautiful and may be a once in a lifetime experience so I might be willing to try.

How old were your kids on this trip?

Also, what was it about the drive to LA that you would have changed?
 


Bumping this up because we are planning a similar trip, minus the Disneyland part (doing that in 2024!)

We are doing this:
June 24-July 4, 2023

Family of 4 - daughters aged 11 and 14. We take lots of road trip vacations with a different room each night, we prefer to see more than stay comfy in the same place (although there is a time and place for that style of vacation!) We like nature over the city but are excited to spend some time in SF.

This is my overview, with the rooms I have booked.

Day 1: Fly in San Francisco, hope to see Alcatraz, stay at Argonaut
Day 2: Explore SF, Stay at Argonaut
Day 3: Rent a car in SF, Drive to Monterey Bay, stay at Carmel Country Inn
Day 4: Drive Big Sur to Hearst Castle, stay at Cambria Beach Lodge
Day 5: Drive to Kings Canyon, stay in Wuksachi Lodge
Day 6: Explore Sequoia NP, stay in Wuksachi Lodge
Day 7-8: Drive to & Explore Yosemite, Stay at Ahwanee both nights
Day 9-11: Drive to & Explore Lake Tahoe in Air BnB both nights
Day 11: Fly Home from Reno, NV

If anyone has any tips, they are appreciated!
 
Bumping this up because we are planning a similar trip, minus the Disneyland part (doing that in 2024!)

We are doing this:
June 24-July 4, 2023

Family of 4 - daughters aged 11 and 14. We take lots of road trip vacations with a different room each night, we prefer to see more than stay comfy in the same place (although there is a time and place for that style of vacation!) We like nature over the city but are excited to spend some time in SF.

This is my overview, with the rooms I have booked.

Day 1: Fly in San Francisco, hope to see Alcatraz, stay at Argonaut
Day 2: Explore SF, Stay at Argonaut
Day 3: Rent a car in SF, Drive to Monterey Bay, stay at Carmel Country Inn
Day 4: Drive Big Sur to Hearst Castle, stay at Cambria Beach Lodge
Day 5: Drive to Kings Canyon, stay in Wuksachi Lodge
Day 6: Explore Sequoia NP, stay in Wuksachi Lodge
Day 7-8: Drive to & Explore Yosemite, Stay at Ahwanee both nights
Day 9-11: Drive to & Explore Lake Tahoe in Air BnB both nights
Day 11: Fly Home from Reno, NV

If anyone has any tips, they are appreciated!
That looks like a great trip! We did a road trip in June hitting some of the same places. Definitely try for Alcatraz. That was a favorite of my 13 yr old! I wanted to stay at the Argonaut but they were booked for our dates. We ended up at the Hotel Zephyr which was nice as well.

We were at Yosemite for 3 days and it wasn't enough time. I wish now that we did Kings Canyon and Sequoia, too.
 
We were at Yosemite for 3 days and it wasn't enough time. I wish now that we did Kings Canyon and Sequoia, too.
So cool that you hit some of the same spots! We are looking at doing Alcatraz at night...thoughts?

What were the highlights of Yosemite for you?
 
Bumping this up because we are planning a similar trip, minus the Disneyland part (doing that in 2024!)

We are doing this:
June 24-July 4, 2023

Family of 4 - daughters aged 11 and 14. We take lots of road trip vacations with a different room each night, we prefer to see more than stay comfy in the same place (although there is a time and place for that style of vacation!) We like nature over the city but are excited to spend some time in SF.

This is my overview, with the rooms I have booked.

Day 1: Fly in San Francisco, hope to see Alcatraz, stay at Argonaut
Day 2: Explore SF, Stay at Argonaut
Day 3: Rent a car in SF, Drive to Monterey Bay, stay at Carmel Country Inn
Day 4: Drive Big Sur to Hearst Castle, stay at Cambria Beach Lodge
Day 5: Drive to Kings Canyon, stay in Wuksachi Lodge
Day 6: Explore Sequoia NP, stay in Wuksachi Lodge
Day 7-8: Drive to & Explore Yosemite, Stay at Ahwanee both nights
Day 9-11: Drive to & Explore Lake Tahoe in Air BnB both nights
Day 11: Fly Home from Reno, NV

If anyone has any tips, they are appreciated!
What area of Tahoe? So many things to do depending on which side of the lake you're staying in. The weekend you're there will likely be extra busy due to the 4th. Not necessarily a bad thing, but a good idea to expect it and anticipate extra traffic around the lake and the need to plan ahead for dining, etc.
 
So cool that you hit some of the same spots! We are looking at doing Alcatraz at night...thoughts?

What were the highlights of Yosemite for you?

We did Alcatraz during the day, and it was great! If we're able to go back, we might do the night tour, too. I honestly don't know enough about the night tour to have any feedback.

We loved every inch of Yosemite. We stayed at the Yosemite Valley Lodge, so we had a quick walk to lower Yosemite Falls and that was my sons favorite. We climbed around, up to the top. We did as many smaller hikes/walks as we could because there are so many different areas and things to see. Mariposa Grove is a must do. Tioga Pass should be open, so if you have time, there are wonderful stops along there, too.
 
Skip San Fransisco. It has turned in to a cartoon of itself. Everything that used to be cool and fun about it is gone. Go to Alcatraz, then leave. Unless you want to see a bunch of homeless druggies taking dumps on the sidewalk. Use the extra time to increase your stay in Yosemite.
 
Bumping this up because we are planning a similar trip, minus the Disneyland part (doing that in 2024!)

We are doing this:
June 24-July 4, 2023

Family of 4 - daughters aged 11 and 14. We take lots of road trip vacations with a different room each night, we prefer to see more than stay comfy in the same place (although there is a time and place for that style of vacation!) We like nature over the city but are excited to spend some time in SF.

This is my overview, with the rooms I have booked.
Have done almost all of this stuff over the past 3 years, and will be doing it again next year. Here's my input.
Day 1: Fly in San Francisco, hope to see Alcatraz, stay at Argonaut
Add time to visit the Walt Disney Museum at the Presidio. Takes three hours or so. Really neat to see the artifacts and read the stories from the family's point of view. As you are here on these boards, obviously you're a Disney fan, and can relate to all the stuff.

Take time to see the Golden Gate Bridge at each end. A photo of your kids at Fort Point at the south end with the bridge in the background would be iconic. Go out to Land's End. Killer views back up the bay toward the bridge. Muir Beach overlook is also great.

The Ferry Terminal is worth a visit, with the Bay Bridge in the background.
Day 2: Explore SF, Stay at Argonaut
Day 3: Rent a car in SF, Drive to Monterey Bay, stay at Carmel Country Inn
Monterrey Bay Aquarium, Point Lobos, Seventeen Mile Drive, Cannery Row.
Day 4: Drive Big Sur to Hearst Castle, stay at Cambria Beach Lodge
TAKE YOUR TIME driving Big Sur and pull over often and take pics. The most spectacular drive on the North American Continent. Bixby Bridge, Point Sur Lighthouse. Nepenthe for late lunch.
Good choice of Wuksachi Lodge - is better than Grant Grove. See Big Trees Trail, Moro Rock, The Giant Forest, General Sherman, Congress Trail.
Day 6: Explore Sequoia NP, stay in Wuksachi Lodge
Day 7-8: Drive to & Explore Yosemite, Stay at Ahwanee both nights
Waterfalls, all of them. Drive to Tunnel View and Glacier Point. Stop in the Ansell Adams shop to see his photographs.
Day 9-11: Drive to & Explore Lake Tahoe in Air BnB both nights
Stateline Fire Lookout has great views south over the lake. Don't know how interested you are in the Comstock, but we found Virginia City interesting.
Day 11: Fly Home from Reno, NV

If anyone has any tips, they are appreciated!
 
What area of Tahoe? So many things to do depending on which side of the lake you're staying in. The weekend you're there will likely be extra busy due to the 4th. Not necessarily a bad thing, but a good idea to expect it and anticipate extra traffic around the lake and the need to plan ahead for dining, etc.
We are staying in Incline Village. Hoping to do a beach day with a clear kayak. Possibly rent an ATV for a few hours on the other half day.

Have done almost all of this stuff over the past 3 years, and will be doing it again next year. Here's my input.
This was most helpful, thank you!! I am hoping to do the Walt Disney stuff in Presidio, especially if the weather isn't great. Love the photo areas you suggested!! Because you know we love a good photo op! Writing down all your tips in my notes!

Skip San Fransisco. It has turned in to a cartoon of itself. Everything that used to be cool and fun about it is gone. Go to Alcatraz, then leave. Unless you want to see a bunch of homeless druggies taking dumps on the sidewalk. Use the extra time to increase your stay in Yosemite.
I know a lot of people think this, but we are going to give it a try. We are trying to get a mixture of city and nature in this trip!

We loved every inch of Yosemite.
I think it will be one of my favorite National Parks! I hope we can navigate a crowded holiday weekend, but this is our typical travel period so we are used to lots of people. Can't wait to see the sights with my own eyes!
 
We are staying in Incline Village. Hoping to do a beach day with a clear kayak. Possibly rent an ATV for a few hours on the other half day.


This was most helpful, thank you!! I am hoping to do the Walt Disney stuff in Presidio, especially if the weather isn't great. Love the photo areas you suggested!! Because you know we love a good photo op! Writing down all your tips in my notes!


I know a lot of people think this, but we are going to give it a try. We are trying to get a mixture of city and nature in this trip!


I think it will be one of my favorite National Parks! I hope we can navigate a crowded holiday weekend, but this is our typical travel period so we are used to lots of people. Can't wait to see the sights with my own eyes!
Don't know if you're a Hallmark movie fan, but this recent one has a lot of great Yosemite scenery. Worth it to watch for that, imo.
https://www.hallmarkchannel.com/marry-me-in-yosemite
 
We are staying in Incline Village. Hoping to do a beach day with a clear kayak. Possibly rent an ATV for a few hours on the other half day.
Clear kayaks sound amazing. The water really is so clear...when my kids were young they had cheap-ish underwater cameras and their Tahoe videos always turned out really well. You'll probably be tired after a day at the lake but if you are interested in theater, the outdoor amphitheater at Sand Harbor is a great way to spend an evening (Google "Lake Tahoe Shakespeare"). Summer 2023 is Little Shop of Horrors. Last year we saw Mamma Mia and it was so much fun!
 
We were in Yosemite in May 2021 (Memorial Day weekend). We hiked the Mist Trail to Vernal Falls and then on up to Nevada Falls. Our kids were 9, 8 and 3 that trip and although it was a hike for them, it was a highlight of the trip. It was about 10
Miles round trip so not for the faint of heart or unprepared. I would also do some research and make sure the falls are still flowing well then but we absolutely loved it! We’ve done almost all the national parks out west and that particular hike still gets talked about!
 
Clear kayaks sound amazing. The water really is so clear...when my kids were young they had cheap-ish underwater cameras and their Tahoe videos always turned out really well. You'll probably be tired after a day at the lake but if you are interested in theater, the outdoor amphitheater at Sand Harbor is a great way to spend an evening (Google "Lake Tahoe Shakespeare"). Summer 2023 is Little Shop of Horrors. Last year we saw Mamma Mia and it was so much fun!
I saw some things about that in my research! That sounds super fun, thanks for the tip!

We were in Yosemite in May 2021 (Memorial Day weekend). We hiked the Mist Trail to Vernal Falls and then on up to Nevada Falls. Our kids were 9, 8 and 3 that trip and although it was a hike for them, it was a highlight of the trip. It was about 10
Miles round trip so not for the faint of heart or unprepared. I would also do some research and make sure the falls are still flowing well then but we absolutely loved it! We’ve done almost all the national parks out west and that particular hike still gets talked about!
Definitely sounds like something we need to do. We love hiking!! Thank you so much for sharing!!
 
We were in Yosemite in May 2021 (Memorial Day weekend). We hiked the Mist Trail to Vernal Falls and then on up to Nevada Falls. Our kids were 9, 8 and 3 that trip and although it was a hike for them, it was a highlight of the trip. It was about 10
Miles round trip so not for the faint of heart or unprepared. I would also do some research and make sure the falls are still flowing well then but we absolutely loved it! We’ve done almost all the national parks out west and that particular hike still gets talked about!

Just going up to Vernal Fall and back is doable for most people. The National Park Service categorizes it as "difficult" but that's because it's a lot of elevation gain. But I think it's pretty easy and relatively short at about 3 miles round-trip.

Also - I went to San Francisco last weekend and had a pretty good time. There might have been a fair share of big city problems, but it was fun. I started off by going to my go-to spot now (Tartine Bakery), followed by Chinatown (where I got dim sum to go and ate outside plus some to take home), and to a bunch of places. The new Presidio Tunnel Tops (over the tunnel to/from the Golden Gate Bridge is amazing. And kids absolutely love that new playground.


https://www.presidiotunneltops.gov/

They have various spots there including counters as well as lounge chairs and small tables. I just kicked back there with my food and a beer (they also have vendors selling food, including food trucks). There will be a lot of children and a lot of dogs.

I also got around on MUNI using a $5 day pass. That is a really good bargain, which gets access to all of the San Francisco Municipal Railway (ironically mostly a bus system) except for cable cars. Even if I drove into San Francisco, I would probably get that because certain areas have really nasty parking issues. I saw a lot of tourists getting around by bus.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!






Top