California with a toddler, plus other complications :)

[Teapig]

I travel to California for work later this year and I'd like for DH and DD (14 months) to come along and tag on a family holiday. We're looking at going in October when she'd be 18 months.

I work less than an hour's drive from LA and I'm looking for tips on what to do with a toddler in California. I want to make sure she has a great holiday, I know she's young for a lot of the kid-orientated stuff. DH and I have been to LA, San Fran, Santa Barbara and Yoesmite before but that was in our pre-baby days.

Does anyone have any recommendations on where to go in California with a toddler? Is she too young for Disney? We're not big on Disney but if it has stuff to offer we'd definitely take her. We'd like a bit of beach, some bike hire through some nice scenary etc.

I was thinking of Yoesmite but the extra complication is that DD has some serious food allergies (egg, dairy, nut) and when DH and I stayed in Camp Curry the food was pretty limited. We'd prefer to go self catering and eat out as and when we feel brave enough and I'm not sure there's much of an option for that in Yoesmite. We didn't have a car back then mind you so perhaps we'd find more options this time.

Also any tips on how to manage an 11 hour flight with a toddler would be fab.

books books & more books for the flight. I walked around with mine, too.

I now loathe Disney & never would have seen the point of taking an 18month old even when I did think I liked the place. You could walk around the Disney shopping mall (Toons town); they often have live entertainment there & it's free.

Great age for just hanging out on the beach. Where exactly will you be staying?

go to the local charity shop buy a dozen small toys/books. wrap in Christmas paper. take on as hand language. let your toddler open one every hour. make a big thing of it, feeling it first see if you can guess what it is etc. save toys and re wrap for flight home.

I live in LA with my 2DC (since DD was newborn and DS 3.5yo, now they're 2.5 and nearly 6)

by all means take a few new toys, preferably books as they aren't noisy and can't get lost but don't bother wrapping them - mess and annoyance. Having done the transatlantic trip on my own 9 times with my two, I find best thing is to take a hand luggage full of nappies and changes of clothes just in case, an ipad loaded up with anything your DD is interested in (and don't let her see it for a week before the flight to make it new and exciting) and all snacks and food you know will keep her happy and quiet. Calpol to be administered as soon as you board, or before, and again an hour before you land, to help with ear pain. More milk than you think you'll need if she still has a bottle...this is about survival!

We're currently planning our first trip to Yosemite so can't advise there but the longer I live in LA the more I find for us to do. I personally wouldn't bother with Disney, we've been twice and thankfully for free both times, I wouldn't want to fork out that money then have my toddler have a toddler day and end up leaving after an hour!

Feel free to PM me about specific LA toddler stuff but most of it you can take her to - Getty Museum and Huntingdon Library are very child friendly, loads of restaurants are both child and allergy friendly, in fact LA is the best place to go to if you are vegan/gluten free/egg free/any allergy - they cater to all!

Not sure how much time you have nor how travel friendly your DD is, but I'd stick to one or two places, the flight alone is a long time and tough so you don't want to subject her to lots of road trips as well. Where are you flying into?

I have friends with toddlers in SF as well so can find out specific details for you if you're more NorCal based.

Failing everything, beaches and piers, beaches and piers!

also once you know where you want to stay, look up AirBnB for self catering options

Thanks so much for the advice! We will give Disney a miss, Dh and I were not keen so not disappointef to hear that it's not worthwhile for a toddler.

lljkk, yes the beach is a good plan.

mummymiester, good idea on hitting the charity shop for books I'll do that.

Wow americas, I salute you for doing that kind of flight with two kids alone. Your local knoweldge of LA would be great, DH and I have only spent a night there.

I'm not sure where to go, would like to do some beaches and also hire bikes somewhere quiet. We fly into LA and stay in Thousand Oaks while I work for a week and will then have a 10 day holiday. DD is good in the car but I don't want her to have to do loads of travelling given the length of the flight. We'd like a base somewhere.

Americas if ok I will PM you later, thanks!

americas, I'm sooo glad to hear that LA restuarants are big on catering for allergies. DD carries an eoipen as her allergies are so severe so it's good to know we should be able to find somewhere to eat.

We definitely want self catering accommodation so I'll check air bnb out.

We lived in Brentwood, LA for a short but fabulous while. My DS was 3 so a little bit older but he loved the beach at Pacific Palisades and the park there. In fact there were loads of good playgrounds everywhere. We also made one trip across LA to a train museum (?) where he could climb over all these huge American trains and steam engines. Can't remember the name of it, but hopefully Americas will know what I'm talking about! He loved the Getty Center in Brentwood and also this huge interactive Noah's Ark at the Skirball www.skirball.org/noahsark/noahsark

Further afield, we had a short break in Laguna Beach which I loved, and would think is a nice resort for toddlers. It's only a bit further down from Disney.