One day away from Disney in LA, fun with family ideas?

I posted for good ideas for eats after my LA last minute trip for work with some success so thought I would try again.

This time I am heading down with my family for a week at Disneyland and looking for some family friendly ideas for a day away from the theme parks. I would like to do something touristy and cheezy like a bus tour but not sure the 6 and 2 year old will get much fun out of it.

I have been to Venice Beach and not sure the parade of oddities is super fun for kids. I am thinking about heading to one of the beaches but not sure the weather will be that great.

So far the only non Disney thing planned is In N' Out Burger by LAX to watch the planes, any family friendly ideas from LA SportsJournalists.com?

 

La Brea tar pits.
http://www.tarpits.org/
One of the richest and best studied assemblages of Pleistocene vertebrates, on the planet.
Educational and fun.

 

Thanks 3OF, never occurred to me.

 

San Diego Wild Animal Park which
is northeast of SD by quite a bit.

 

Maybe your kids are too young for it.
My girls love interactive museums, were trained early to gain appreciation for them.
L.A. has more museums and art galleries per capita than anywhere in the world, so you can't go wrong with most of them.

 

Haven't lived in SoCal since 1991, but the Museum of Science and Industry is fascinating.

 

Try the Discovery Science Center. It's in Santa Ana, pretty close to Disneyland, and caters to kids, and families with kids, of toddler-age on up to about 13 or so...

 

Huntington Beach is a quick drive from Anaheim and a great beach for kids -- no oddities, should be 70+ degrees this week, calm water, and enough of a promenade that you can head there if the water isn't happening.

 

Honestly, I would drive two hours and take them to the San Diego Zoo or Sea World.

Universal and Legoland are close by as well.

The tar pits are a good suggestion. The area by the Kodak Theater is really cool, especially this close to the Oscars. They have superheroes posing for pictures by the Chinese Theater and the walk of fame and it's always cute to get a picture of little kids putting their feet in the cement imprints of the stars.

 

My hometown of Long Beach, especially Belmont Shore (2nd Street) and all of the cool things to do on Ocean Boulevard, including the Aquarium of the Pacific http://tour.circlepix.com/tour/Nitro/loadingPage.htm?tourId=589846# ... I haven't been there yet (it was built after I moved away) but friends with kids rave about it.

There's also the Queen Mary, cruise around Virginia Country Club (oldest part of Long Beach with some killer homes, including the one they used for Ferris Bueller's Day Off), Horny Corner if you like pick-up basketball and beach babes, get on a boat and go to Catalina for the day. Ton of things to do.

It's only 20 or so minutes from Disneyland.

 

This week is supposed to be the wettest week in SoCal in 3 years.

Yikes.

Brea Tar Pits is a must-see for kids.

 

Santa Monica pier is a fun pier to spend a couple of hours at. There's the ocean, and a few kiddie rides.