FAMILY IN CALI

I've just returned from the first family-of-four TRUE vacation. Airplanes, cars, theme parks, the whole she-bang. And I have to admit that aside from what you might think...travelling with kids is truly a whole other animal. And yes, I do need a vacation after that.

The thing about traveling with kids, and as a family, is that you need to let go of the idea that 'vacation equals relaxation'. You need to let it go. For years to come. This is NOT that kind of vacation.

Of course it's fun, and exciting. Of course! But it's also busy, stressful and overwhelming. And this coming from someone who is a planner. Yes, I planned the exact rides, in order, that I believed to be most efficient at Disneyland. Mock if you must, but that's how I keep it together.



As I spent weeks planning, reading, and researching the web, magazines and picking the brains of my friends on how to most sanely embark on a 5-day beach vacation with a day at Disney wedged in, I learned a lot. But I learned most by being there, doing it. It's kind of like that logic about parenting kids. You can tell them all you want, but they need to figure it out on their own.

So, if you are interested, take this information with a grain of salt and add it to your arsenal of what to-do and what not to-do.

FLIGHT DETAILS: Flight to San Diego. We decided to stay in SAN because we'd been there before and it was less than a 3 hour flight. Manageable and not insanely expensive. Using miles to discount 2 flight tickets, all four of us were able to travel for a total of $540!

I speak from experience on this one. Unless you want to be the people paged on the loud speakers at the airport, be at the gate at LEAST 45 minutes prior to your flight time. Regardless of when they say they are boarding, many times, they can board early and you don't need the extra stress, embarrassment and anxiety of the other passengers boring holes in your head as you are holding up the flight that was supposed to be departing early. Those big ol' Britax carseats are not a quick install on an airplane.

The flight is easy if quick, and as long as you have a couple color books, and some suckers, it's a piece of cake. The suckers are long lasting and relatively safer than gum for easing ear pain in 2 year olds...in my opinion.

CAR RENTAL: We saved a ton of cash by booking our car rental through Costco...I'd recommend it. For 5 days car usage, we paid $118 for a FULL SIZED car - 2010 model. Of course it helps to book over a Saturday and planning your return time earlier than your pickup time (insane but a true money saver), but we shopped around several companies and found Costco to be as much as $60 cheaper! And if you only use Costco for your car rental, you just broke even on your annual membership.

SLEEPING ACCOMMODATIONS: To accommodate a family of four, the lodging decision is HUGE! Most people I know don't want to sleep at 7:30pm, when they put their kids down, so some kind of a hotel with suite amenities is usually required. The cost of this can quickly eat up your vacation budget, so I recommend using private rentals. We stay in Oceanside (30mi North of San Diego and on the sand) to take advantage of renting a condo. For $120/nt we can get a 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo with full kitchen, and use of pools and hot tubs. This includes our parking and we walk to the beach.

FOOD: When planning a vacation, you always spend too much on food. I like to make an itinerary that allows me to plan out our meals. Since we stay in a rental with a kitchen, I plan to cook some easy meals and got a weeks groceries at a nearby Trader Joes and Target for a total of $70! This particular week's shopping trip consisted of 5 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 2 dinners, snacks and drinks...for a family of 4! This still allowed us a couple meals out and we made a point to enjoy some treats and ice cream when out and about.



ENTERTAINMENT: Everyone thinks that if you go to San Diego, or California for that matter, you MUST visit all the theme parks. At $100 a ticket, that's hardly realistic. Plus, many parks aren't always age appropriate. As much as I'd love to have dragged the kids to Universal Studios, how much could they truly have enjoyed it? Also, with annual memberships to my local zoos, the kids see enough wild animals to keep them from being phased at passing on the big expensive national zoos.

A beach trip is a) easy, b) massively inexpensive and c) highly accessible. There are no constrictive hours or lines to combat. There are no tickets or costly extras. And the best part? There is rarely any disappointment! The kids love it! There are endless hours of entertainment to be had on a beach, especially the soft, warm, sandy ones like in Oceanside. Or most of California. Saving so much money by planning to take advantage of our central beach location allowed us to surprise our kids with a single day at Disneyland! The big kahuna of California theme parks. Read on...

DISNEYLAND ON A DIME: Ok, first, it costs more than a dime. But in comparison to what it could have cost, or what this entire vacation could have cost... you catch my drift...

Have you checked the ticket prices for Disney lately? My under-3 little guy is free. But Sis clocks in at $89 and adult prices are $99 each. So nearly $300 just to get into the gates! But wait... try Craigslisting some discount and you will quickly find a "broker" system. Unsure about the legalities of this system, but you basically borrow someone else's multi-day pass. We paid $50/ticket for each of us - minus Buddy. And saved $150! We quickly spent that money inside the park, but it didn't feel quite so painful.

In addition to finding ticket discounts, we also reduced the need to splurge in the park shops by bringing some of our "souvenirs" from home. Target often has great Disney items in their $1 and $2 dollar bins (like the Toy Story water bottles that you can wear on your neck for a clearance price of $1.25 each). Walmart was a great source of Disney t-shirts for me and the kids. Since tees are being clearanced out, I bought a total of 3 t-shirts for $15. My shirt was regular price at $7...compared to the $30 price tag in the park! You can similarly save money using ebay or other stores. Also, beware that the parks' Bibbity Bobbity Boutique store sells girls' princess dresses for $65! I almost choked! You can buy those same dresses in the toy section of Target for $20...but often times less. Try the post-Halloween clearance rack to stock up on dress up favorites or your next trip to Disneyland.

Another big cost saver was taking our own pictures. But that's a no brainer here.

After all was said and done, we did spend some good money in the park, though well under $200. It helps to plan out your in-park meals, forgoing character meals (ranging from $20-60 per person!). We really liked the del Zocalo restaurant for large portions that pleased both us and the kids. And for meals in a $10 price range. We brought goldfish crackers, fruit snacks, water bottles and crystal light packets to stay satisfied and hydrated on the cheap.

We did choose to pay for stroller rentals, autograph books, mouse ears and other food treats like corn dogs, Dole whips and popcorn in souvenir buckets -- all marked up considerably, of course. But we wrote it off as a justified splurge. You can really only cut so many corners. And it was a first time for the kids, so we wanted it to be as easy and accommodating as we could handle. Maybe the mouse ears were more for me, but it was my vacation too.

In the end it's really about average expense, isn't it? You have a budget and can allocate costs accordingly. Some may choose to up their accommodations for favor of using free entertainment. Others might plan on multi-theme parks and choose to camp or limit other spending. There's a dozen ways to make it work.

So there you have it. Five days in Southern California for a budget-conscious family of four. Vacations are a believed necessity for me. And although Husband and I may disagree on it's requirement, he's been pretty great about allowing it. As long as we can come to an agreed budget and still have a great time, what is there to argue about?