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

Thanks for all the replies. I should have noted that we are not travelling until 3rd week of March. It is looking like day at the beach will probably the way to go.

If we had more time we would do LaBrea but we have this close to home that the kids love.

http://www.tyrrellmuseum.com/

No Compton gang tour for me unfortunately however may send my wife and 16 year old on the TMZ bus for something fun.

 

If you see a Tommy's joint, I'd hit it. You know, it'll wreck you digestive tract for weeks afterward but that only means it tastes to good.

 

The Universal tour is worthwhile for a family.

 

The Long Beach Aquarium is tremendous. Tar Pits is fabulous as well (we went to both this past summer).

 

Of course, a "storm" in Southern California often amounts to less than a quarter of an inch of rain. People in other parts of the country would laugh at what's considered "rain" or "a storm" in So Cal.

 

Newport Beach/Balboa Island is mellow, has one of the world's shortest boat rides ($1 ferry), you can walk around the island, there's a ferris wheel, you can eat fairly cheap at Ruby's at the end of the pier. Highly recommended.

 

Will second this, we love Balboa, we have done the ferris wheel and I love having lunch on the balcony at Newport Landing and watching the world go by.

 

Which isn't saying much.

 

If you have time, the Peterson Auto Museum in Mid-City near the LA County Museum. This is especially good if you have sons, but daughters will also enjoy it.

 

We spent an afternoon doing this during a spring break trip to the South Bay/Newport Beach area, and it was great. Rented two tandem bikes, rode up to Newport Pier and back to the Balboa peninsula, then refueled at the Ruby's at the end of Balboa pier. Even got to see some seals swimming among the waves.

A fun afternoon for two 42-year-olds and two adolescent kids.

 

Probably should update what we ended up doing.

Got a smoking deal on a full size from Dollar rent a car, $177 for 8 days. The upsell attempts were pathetic and desperate, these guys are real bottom feeders. I managed to work in a lame "I left my wallet in El Segundo" reference that freaked out my wife and got me blank stares from the king of the upsell.

In N Out on Sepulveda on night of arrival, family loved it and thought planes were cool.

Other than Disneyland we did Huntington Beach, Santa Monica Pier and Hollywood Blvd which was even worse than I thought it would be. Kids loved Huntington Beach. Next time we go back we will rent a beach house somewhere and just hang out.

We also experienced our first earthquake which was pretty freaky. My wife and I were sitting on the couch when everything started to rumble, seemed to last for quite a while. I compared it to moderate turbulence on an airplane.