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Thanks all - I'll review the suggestions with the wife - she's amazed how responsive this place is.
Santa Barbara would be great, but a bit far for this trip. Thanks for the jacket suggestion BFD. Coming from the Bay Area, we always have jackets with us.
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venice, manhattan, hermosa and redondo are at least a good hour + drive from disneyland, even longer with traffic
a better bet might be long beach -- they have an aquarium small pier or even the queen mary (excellent brunch, but not cheap) -- plus all the usual tourist stuff, outback, bubba gumps, etc
really catered towards tourism...
no waves, since the beaches are inside the harbor, but only about a 20 mintue trip to disneyland
try downtown for fun for the kids, have lunch at the yardhouse (100 beers on tap =) or
head over to second street/belmont shore to have lunch at hofs hut or anything else on the street, most of its good
for bigger waves, head down the coast highway to seal beach or huntington beach -- both are straight shots to disneyland
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I think with the cooler weather that the Queen Mary and Aquarium in Long Beach are pretty good ideas as suggested by jdc. The restauraunts at the Pike by the Aquarium are very good as he said, I especially like Gladstones.
However, if you want the beach experience, I think that Huntington Beach Pier would have been my choice for visiting. There is also a 50s diner at the end of the Pier that the kids would like called Ruby's. Plus some shops and stuff on the street up from the Pier.
Seal Beach Pier is nice too. Also has Ruby's on the Pier -- but the Ruby's at Huntington Beach Pier is soooooo much nicer.
Jeff (Long Beach Resident)
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Huntington Beach is probably your best bet. Not far from the theme parks, plenty of GOOD restaurants and shopping on main street.
If you want a more small town feel then Seal Beach would get my vote (of course I'm a little biased here) nice, old fashioned wooden pier.
Be advised that the ocean water is still quite cold, in the low 60's and there has been a terible Red Tide condition going on for several weeks now at most of the beaches in SoCal. bring a kite or pick one up at a shop while your here and enjoy the weekend!
The Aquarium in Long Beach is nice but it's nothing compared to the one in Monterey, and still a bit on the expensive side.
I'll trade you one of those Macbooks of yours for some space on the living room floor and a pitcher of Margaritas!!
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[quote SKYLANE]
Jeff (Long Beach Resident)
and the "j" stands for Jeff (an - ex-Long Beach resident)
grew up in virginia country club area, went to LB Poly
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Venice will be packed like sardines this three day weekend. Belmont Long Beach is the way to go.