April 25, 2024 • 35 mins
Prepare to elevate your beach game to expert level as we journey down the Southern California coastline with Matt. From the quaint allure of Redondo Beach to the swanky stretches of Hermosa and Manhattan Beach, Matt unveils a shoreline suited for every preference. Sandcastles and sunsets await as we navigate you through the best spots to complement your Disneyland escapades with a taste of the Pacific's finest.
Discover the quintessential beach gear that promises comfort and convenience, and hear why lugging a heavy cooler is a rookie move when local eateries beckon with tantalizing bites. We'll even help you tackle the sandy aftermath with a handy baby powder trick. So, tune in and let's make your next beach day as blissful as the California dream promises.
Right now, our tools are just for Disneyland, but we hope to expand to other parks soon. Disney changes policies, prices, and shows often. Be sure to visit our website at Parkmagic.com or Disneyland's Website for more information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome to the Park Magic Podcast, your place for
insider tips for your nextDisneyland adventure.
Whether you're a first-timer orfirst-time-in-a-while visitor,
we're here to unwrap the secretsto creating and simplifying
your dream Disneyland vacation.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Welcome to the show Today.
I know a lot of people areplanning to go to the beach when
they go to Disneyland.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
especially if it's your first time coming to
California, you might want tohit up that beach when you're
coming on that trip.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
If you're coming all the way to California, it might
seem silly not to go to thebeach, because the beach in
California is beautiful.
It's different than a lot ofother beaches around the country
and it can be a great way tohave like a rest or a down day
in between your day at Disney.
So I have somebody today thathas lived so close they could
see the beach for many years.
He has spent a lot of timebiking from one beach to another
(01:04):
and he really kind of knows thevibes of the different beaches
that are kind of near the areaswhere you might want to visit if
you're going to the beachduring a trip to Disneyland.
So, matt, thanks for coming.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Thanks for having me, Robin.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
When it comes to people wanting to go to the
beach for their Disneyland trip,I think that it can be a little
overwhelming because there's alot of beaches that are nearby
and like they each kind of havetheir own vibe right.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
They do, yeah.
Different beaches up and downthe Los Angeles and Orange
County coasts, they've gotdifferent vibes to them, as you
put.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
So I thought some of the things we could talk about,
like what beach is the closest,and then what beach might be
good, best for like a family,and what beach might be best for
maybe like just a couple,because some of them, like you
know, have piers where you knowthere's like more shopping and
some of them are just reallygreat places to like set up your
beach blanket, and there's someplaces that even have like
rentals where you can like rentwagons and stuff that, will you
(01:58):
know, you can use for the beachas well.
Let's start with what would beyour favorite beach and how
about how far is that fromDisneyland?
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Okay, well, I'm gonna reveal my bias here.
My favorite beach is RedondoBeach, because that's where I
lived for so long.
Putting my bias aside, I feellike there's a lot that it has
to offer.
There's a whole pier and marinaarea that's really great to
walk around.
There's a lot of restaurantsand shops right up on the pier
itself and within the marina.
There's a lot of restaurantsand shops right up on the pier
itself and within the marina.
(02:26):
It's a very family-friendlyarea.
Lots of different types of foodand you know, you got seafood,
you got your regular bar andgrills and a little bit of
everything in between.
Great walking area also forRedondo Beach.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Some of the things that I really like about Redondo
because you know, obviously youlive there, so I visited you.
A lot is there's kind of like aramp that gets you down and
then there's it's like a.
It's a.
It's a longer beach, likebefore.
You have like a longer area ofsand before you get to the water
and so there's more space tospread out.
But, like you said, not everyplace has food.
That's nearby and it's prettyclose to the Los Angeles airport
(03:00):
.
If somebody was doing the LAX,then it actually isn't that far
and it is a really beautifulbeach.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
That's true If you are coming into LAX or are going
to be around that area at all.
I would also highly recommendDockweiler State Beach.
It's got lots of parking, whichis good, because when these
places fill up, some of thesmaller beach towns have really
great beaches and really niceshops and restaurants.
But parking is, either, youknow, pretty much a nightmare to
find in some of these some ofthe other beach towns.
(03:28):
At Dockweiler State Beachthere's lots of parking.
There's actually fire pits setup on the beach that are first
come, first serve.
So you get there, you could puta grill top over it and
barbecue or something like that.
And the cool thing aboutDockweiler is you can sit there
and watch the planes taking offfrom LAX right overhead.
They really do come rightoverhead, so it's pretty cool to
(03:49):
see.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
That's really cool.
What do you think about likeHermosa Beach?
If they're in LAX, would youskip Hermosa?
I mean, I feel like Hermosa ismore of like a fancy place.
I feel like the food's moreexpensive there.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
I think Hermosa Beach is also really great.
If you're in Redondo Beach,it's really not that far to get
to Hermosa Beach.
It's only two or three milesaway.
You could easily rent a bike andgo up there and do it on the
beach path called the Strand.
If you're feeling moreambitious, you can ride all the
way to Santa Monica and back,but that's over 20 miles each
way.
But you can easily reachHermosa Beach or Manhattan Beach
(04:22):
, which are the other two beachcities in that area.
Hermosa Beach is more like asmall, like old school beach
town and then it getsprogressively more upscale as
you get to Manhattan Beach,which is more like boutiques and
really nice and luxurious typeof place.
So they're all family friendlyfor sure.
But if you're doing the couplesthing and you're going to be in
the LA area, there's lots ofgreat places in Manhattan Beach
(04:46):
and Hermosa Beach as well.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
So, like these, like LA X, like adjacent beaches,
would you say that like they'reall pretty like the same amount
of surf, or are there ones where, like you'd have to be like
more cautious if you have like alittle one?
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Well, that's a good question.
It's probably just depends onthe day.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
The surf comes in there and there will be surfers
out in some areas.
You know just wherever thewaves are.
That being said, there arecertain areas of the beach that
are flagged off from surfing.
They're swimming only, and theyhave lifeguards there through
the summer months, and so youknow you always want to be
cautious when getting into thewater, but there are some areas
where you're not protected fromthe surf, but you're protected
(05:26):
from surfers coming in onto yourterritory.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
The nice thing about these beaches, like if you came
from Florida, so maybe you'reWalt Disney World, or like
that's maybe coming from KeyWest.
Those beaches are kind of likeswampy and there's lots of
critters that are in the sand.
California beaches are verylike the sand is pretty much
really dry until you get up tothe water Very like clean sand.
For the most part these onesdon't have a lot of rocks, you
(05:50):
know, so it's a little bit.
They are all places where youcan comfortably get in the water
.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Yeah, I would say the LA County beaches in general,
and even some of the ones inOrange County that we haven't
mentioned yet, the sand isreally nice and fine and clean,
nice and soft, easy to find aplace to put a towel down.
You know, some of the beachesare a little narrower than
others, depending on where youare.
In general the sand is prettysoft.
There's rocky areas here andthere, but they can pretty
(06:16):
easily be avoided.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
The one thing is, on the longer beaches like Redondo,
where you have to walk furtherto get to the water, make sure
you have flip flops or sandals.
Water shoes do not work well onthe beach.
It's a once the sand gets inthere it's really abrasive, but
the beach is in the summer.
That sand does get pretty hot.
So make sure that you've gotsomething to protect little feet
(06:38):
or have them riding insomething with very big wheels
to you to get down to the beach.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Yep, for sure, that sand does get scalding hot and
even if you think you could takeit, sometimes you make it about
a quarter away there and thenstart digging for your flip
flops, because it's prettyscorching hot in the summertime.
If you're thinking about drivetimes to the beach.
These are all quotes withouttraffic which you know.
Depending if you're thereduring the week and you're going
outside of rush hour, you canmake it around pretty easily.
(07:06):
If you're there on the weekend,going in the middle of the day,
you can make it around prettyeasily.
But you can obviously add 50 to100 percent to these times if
you're considering trying tomake the trips in rush hour.
(07:29):
No-transcript planes take offfrom LAX.
That's about 45 minutes to anhour.
Also, hermosa Beach, redondoBeach, manhattan Beach all about
the same distance.
You just branch off at the endof the trip.
Long Beach is about 30 to 45minutes away.
Long Beach also has a lot ofstuff to do family friendly.
(07:49):
It has a great aquarium.
It's got a home marinawaterfront park set up, lots of
restaurants over there, lots ofgreat walking areas just cool
stuff to see.
It's actually a good place foreither couples or families
because it's got a lot to offerand it's right near long beach
itself.
You can be on the sand and bejust a couple blocks away from
(08:10):
downtown.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
It's pretty cool to have the city right up on on the
waterfront like that and um,lots of family-friendly
entertainment in long beach aswell I feel like long beach is
really good because, like, ifyou're not sure how your kids
are going to react to the beach,like you're not sure if they're
going to want to, if the babieswill be too much or if the sand
will be too much, like you can,there's lots of places to sit
and see the water but also haveother experiences, like the
(08:33):
aquarium and there's.
So I feel like there's a lot ofthings that you could do where
you could still see andexperience the ocean, even if
you're not sure if your familyis really going to be the kind
of people that want to sit atthe beach and just hang out in
the waves and the sanddefinitely.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Yeah, long beach is that kind of town, for sure, and
really it's, you know, 30 to 45minutes away from the resort,
so it's not too bad of a drive.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Uh, even if you were staying in one place you know
it's staying in one or the otheryou can stay in long beach and
still make it into disneywithout too terrible of a drive
yeah, I mean I, you know, whenwe do Disneyland and we do the
beach, a lot of times we will doLong Beach because there's like
there's an area that has likeall these cute like little old
shops and in that part of thebeach they had like a little
(09:15):
ramp.
That was like that like helpedlike walk down to the, the
beachfront, which made it easier.
But what I liked is I likethere were so many food options
so we could pick up pizza ortacos and then eat them on the
beach if we wanted to, and thenthere were like ice cream stores
and then there were also.
We last time we were there werented like umbrellas and stuff
(09:36):
like that there that we wereable to pick up and then take
down to the beach in a wagon,which was kind of nice, because
my son, my husband, is a ginger,he's redhead and so he burns
really easy, so it was nice tohave some shade for him.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Yeah, if you're not from Southern California, you
may get to the beach and itmight only be 70 degrees, but
you can get burnt really fastout there.
I highly recommend unlessyou're already living in climate
where you get to spend a lot oftime outside and you're already
primed for it lots of sunscreenand find an umbrella or some
kind of shade when you're at thebeach, for sure and queen
mary's at long beach too right?
Speaker 2 (10:10):
it sure is, yeah, yeah which is something that is
like a if can be a fun thing todo, depending on the age of your
kids and how much they likehistory.
And there's some really coolhotels, like there was a hotel
maya that a lot of the hotelswill have, like s'mores and
things that you can do.
And there's some niceinexpensive things and if you're
flying into Long Beach Airportor out of Long Beach Airport, it
(10:33):
can be really nice to kind ofhit that up.
You just have to think abouthow much sand is going to be on
you and finding a place toshower.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Yeah, this is a little off topic, but I highly
recommend flying into Long Beachinstead of LA.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
It's my favorite airport, like, like, even like,
like Santa Ana airport's great,like it's my second favorite.
But Long Beach I love beingable to like, just like, get off
the plane with the ramps, likethe old school ramps, and it's
kind of like this really coolbeach vibe and it's so simple.
Lax is so complicated and sostressful and Long Beach is very
(11:06):
much like if an airport couldhave beach vibes.
I feel like Long Beach is theairport that has beach vibes.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Definitely.
Yeah, highly recommend it.
Some other beaches that areclose to the Disneyland Resort
If you want to stay in OrangeCounty and check out some of the
beaches down there, huntingtonBeach is probably the closest.
It definitely has a beach towntype of feel Lots of shops and
restaurants, real close to thewaterfront and close to the pier
.
It takes about 30 minutes toget there, so it's pretty easy
(11:33):
drive.
If you're at the resort andwant to just go straight to the
beach, huntington Beach is yourchoice.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
And there's usually pretty decent parking there,
right.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
Huntington Beach has decent parking.
Yeah, it definitely gets full,you know in prime times on the
weekends and things like that,but there are parking lots and
there's some street parkingaround that you can find in
Huntington, still fairly closeto the water.
A little bit further down thecoast from Huntington you start
getting into the more luxuriousOrange County beaches.
Newport Beach is also about a30, 35 minute drive from the
(12:05):
resort.
Really really nice beachcommunity, lots of nice walking
areas on the sand.
It's really kept up well and onthe Balboa Peninsula is a great
place to try and go just to seethe beach up there and to walk.
It Really nice area.
And then a little further downthe coast, Laguna Beach, which
is about a 30 to 45 minute drivefrom the resort.
(12:26):
Highly recommend, especially ifit's a couple's trip.
You can go down there.
There are tons of greatrestaurants where you can make a
reservation or lots of nicehotels Great.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
It's like.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
The scenery there is absolutely beautiful.
The mountains go right up tothe water.
The beach there is kind ofshort but it's definitely, like
you know, really nice views andpicturesque setting.
The drive there is also supernice, depending on which way you
go.
If you are going straight fromthe resort, you'll probably take
the freeways down and then youend up on Laguna Canyon Road and
(12:58):
it just like winds through thisreally steep canyon with, like
beautiful mountains on bothsides.
It's all forested and lush andit's really beautiful.
Or if you are a little moreadventurous and have some more
time to burn, I highly recommendtaking PCH from Huntington
Beach down to Laguna Beach, evenfurther down to Dana Point if
(13:22):
you'd like, for a SouthernOrange County beach feel, but
you'll be right up on thewaterfront, the mountains on one
side, the ocean on the other.
It's not quite the same asdoing the PCH drive in Northern
California or the Central Coast,but if you're at the Disneyland
Resort you're only about 30minutes away from Huntington and
if you start there it's about,you know, 30 to 45 minutes down
(13:44):
to Laguna and then about an hourdown to Dana Point.
So if you have some time toburn, you know, doing that loop
and there's plenty of.
There'd be a million places tostop along the way.
Kind of pop in and do someshopping or, you know, hit a
restaurant along the way.
But very picturesque drive.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
And if you're not familiar with California, pch is
like Highway 1.
And so it just goes rightacross, like you can see the
beach for almost all of it.
There are a couple areas whereit gets a little congested and
it can take time.
So you know, if you're somebodywho hates sitting in traffic,
it might not be as enjoyable insome parts as others but, like
especially around Redondo andHermosa, I feel like yeah, and
(14:19):
over there there's a milliontraffic lights and most of PCH
Pacific Coast Highway.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
you can't actually see the beach from it.
So in the LA County area Iwouldn't really recommend taking
it, unless you're already inSanta Monica and are going north
from there, cause that's aboutthe point where it's right up on
the coast and there's mountains, you know you drive up toward.
Malibu, for example from Santa.
Monica probably take you aboutan hour, but you know you'll be
right on the coast with themountains on one side and the
(14:46):
ocean on the other.
That's probably like an hourplus to get to Santa Monica from
the resort, so you'd reallyhave to have a lot of time to
burn to do it up that way.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
There's a pier there too, though, right In Santa
Monica.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
yeah, so if you wanted to go to Santa Monica
also on the family-friendly listbeaches it's great for
everybody really.
But there's actual rides, likein a little amusement park right
on the pier and there's walkingpaths and all sorts of shops
and restaurants, just like ifyou started in Redondo.
The same bike path is all theway up there so you can rent
(15:19):
bikes, ride maybe from theredown to Venice beach or
something like that.
Venice beach.
I don't know if I'd call familyfriendly there, unless you know
.
You're ready to see pretty muchanything, but it is an
interesting place to go.
It's an experience, it's anexperience for sure If you rent
a bike and ride down there.
Like parking is terrible downthere, so I wouldn't recommend
(15:40):
trying to drive into VeniceBeach, but if you can find
another way to get there.
It's got like a boardwalk feel,you know.
There's like lots of likelittle shops and restaurants
right up on the walking path andbut there's also like street
vendors and people wearing likeneon, everything and, you know,
doing cartwheels on rollerskates and there's also muscle
(16:00):
beach, which is like that famousgym that's right up on the sand
where all these bros aregrunting really loud.
You know, uh, it's, it's justlike you think it's gonna be, um
, but yeah, it's, it's kind of,it's very unique.
So if you, if you, if you'rebrave, uh take the trip down to
venice beach from s, from SantaMonica, on the bike and then
pedal right back.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
So I usually recommend and tell me if you
disagree.
If you're looking for closebeach to Disneyland, so you're
just trying to get somethingclose, then I would say I
usually recommend Long Beach orNewport Beach, but Huntington
Beach is a great option.
If you're looking for a nearLAX, then yeah, I agree with you
.
I love Redondo, the other onethat you suggested, and then the
(16:41):
.
The beaches that are passed upnorth, like towards Malibu there
are gorgeous too, but they arequite the drive yeah, yeah, if
you've got some time to kill andyou know you, you want to go
see them.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
The beaches in Malibu are amazing.
Um, if you go even further upthe coast, I mean if you want to
like make a day trip out of it,I'd highly recommend driving
all the way to santa barbara.
You know, I mean it's probablygoing to take three, three and a
half, maybe four hours each way, so maybe even like take a
night out and do it, but thebeaches are spectacular up there
, um, really really great, pier,and it's.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
It's like it has all the things of a city but it
feels like a small beach town atthe same time uh, and then if
your family's into history too,that's also where some missions
are, and from santa barbarathere are things like
parasailing and you know someother opportunities.
They're like, you know, likesunset cruises and stuff that
run out of santa barbara yep,that's definitely a beautiful
(17:36):
area, but Redondo has that too,redondo has like whale watching.
It sure does.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
Yep, yeah, I'm definitely biased, but I would
highly recommend it.
Yeah, One other thing if you'reinto history, a little bit of
different kind of history, Ifyou are staying in Orange County
and want to go to a beachthat's not too far from
Disneyland, you can go to BolsaChica State Beach.
Bolsa Chica Beach andDockweiler Beach, that's in LA
(18:00):
County.
Both have lots and lots ofparking, which, if you don't
want to fight, you know up anddown little beach streets
looking for a parking spot.
And you want to stay in OrangeCounty at Bolsa Chica Beach, the
beach is nice and it's familyfriendly.
There's not as much like rightup on the water there.
There's not restaurants andshops and everything.
It's going to be like we'regoing to go do a beach day,
(18:21):
maybe even pack a lunch with youif you're going there.
Right on the other side of theroad there is a ecological
preserve and a marineconservation area which is nice.
There's like a little walkwayyou can go up and there's a
lookout point.
From there you can seedifferent wildlife and things,
but the history part is acrossthe inlet.
(18:41):
From that there's a huge areathat sort of still shows the
history of the oil and gasexploration in California that
used to occur there and there's,you know, just like a huge
swath of land that's on theinner part of that inlet that
still has like some of the oldinfrastructure and all these
weird colored ponds.
It's interesting.
(19:02):
If you ever have a few minuteson google maps, take a look at
the ecological preserve and thebeautiful state beach on one
side and then the history of oiland gas exploration in
california on the other side.
It's definitely an interestingjuxtaposition.
But but also it is a closebeach.
If you're at Disneyland andjust want to get down to the
beach, you want to stay awayfrom the crowds.
You know Huntington it seemslike a little too much and maybe
(19:24):
the other places are a littletoo far.
You just want a nice quietbeach day.
Pack up your picnic lunch andtake it down to Bolsa Chica.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Should we talk about Catalina Island, and briefly I
mean you could do like fourprobably island, and briefly I
mean you could do like four,probably four episodes on
catalina island, but it's.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
It's an expensive island, um, and it can be kind
of pricey to get there, but itis a tourist destination in and
of itself.
Yes, it is, um.
You can go to long beach andthere is a ferry that will take
you to catalina island.
It is absolutely beautiful.
The island is amazing.
If you want to make it anovernight trip, try to book your
hotel way in advance.
I mean, they definitely havepretty high occupancy at all
times.
They're super pricey, but it'sworth it.
(20:05):
It's like this own littleparadise, right?
You'd never know.
You're right offshore from agiant city.
It's the super quiet vibe.
You can rent these electricbikes because it's very hilly
there, but you rent the e-bikesand you can just like loop all
over the place up and down thesehills.
Amazing views, the air is likenice and crisp and clean out
there.
The water is beautiful and youknow it could be done in a day.
(20:32):
You take the boat out in themorning.
You spend all day there.
You come back on the boat at.
You know the last boat of theday For the boat out in the
morning.
You spend all day there.
You come back on the boat at.
You know the last boat of theday, for the amount of money
you're spending, you might aswell just get the hotel room and
make a night out of it yeah,yeah, so you don't have to just
limit yourself to the beaches.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
Beaches, too, because there are lots of like little
boat tours, whale watchingduring certain times of years,
glass bottom boats there's not alot of snorkeling in southern
california.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Uh, there's just if you're a scuba person.
Uh, apparently there's reallygreat spots just offshore uh
from.
Some of them are from santamonica and malibu, but uh also
from palos verdes.
There's uh reefs right offshorefrom uh I'm trying to.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
We went to tide pools as kids.
I can't remember where the tidepools were some of those are in
palos verdes palos verdes, ohyeah they're kind of hard to get
to and it's beautiful there.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
It's a great, really nice drive.
If you have the chance to go.
Also, if you have some time toburn, drive from redondo beach
to long beach.
But don't take pacific coasthighway, which cuts inland.
Take palos verdes drive and ittakes you all the way around.
You're on the edge of the cliff.
It's a really gorgeous drive,but along the way there's a
couple spots you can stop.
You pretty much have to, like,find the little hiking walking
(21:44):
trail from where you parked, youknow, down to the beach.
It's not easy, like you know.
You can do it in flip-flopskind of thing, but it's kind of
steep and uh.
But once you get down therethere's these little tide pools.
There's like sea urchins livingin there.
There's all sorts of littlefishes swimming around.
It is pretty.
It could be dangerous becausethe tide changes a lot and
you're standing on these wetrocks and all of a sudden
(22:05):
they're very slippery.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
People get hurt sometimes.
Yeah, the waves are coming in,tides coming in faster than you
think, but so be very carefuland that wouldn't recommend you
know that would be the only timeI would recommend water shoes
at a beach too, but there's somecool stuff to see that you can
just walk down and and take alook at a little tide pool
ecosystem right there in ranchopals where it is but, like the
long beach aquarium, has like atide pool exhibit, um, where you
(22:30):
can see a lot of thosecreatures in like a more
controlled environment, ifthat's something that's
interesting to you as a parent,um, should we talk about what to
bring to the beach a little bit?
Because I, um, because I thinkthat.
So, first off, if you wanted todo boogie boards or if you
wanted to surf, there are store,there are shops all up and down
(22:50):
that you can rent, that you canrent wet sweatsuits, you can
rent umbrellas or you can buyumbrellas.
So know that those are just aYelp search away from pretty
much all of these beaches havesome service that is pretty
close by.
I know that you and your wifenormally go to the beach without
(23:11):
children, so we could startwith that, and then I could add
some things that I usually bringfor the kids.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
Sure, children, but so we could start with that and
then I could add some thingsthat I usually bring for the
kids.
Sure, I just want to add toRobin's list also bicycle
rentals in most of the beachtowns super easy.
Just, you know, google bikerental and there's probably a
place right there, and most ofthe beach towns have bike paths
that connect to the next town.
So you can definitely, you know, park one place and get around
quite a bit on the bike.
Um, back to your question bringyou what to bring what to bring
(23:41):
.
You'll probably want to bringsomething to lay on, you know, a
nice blanket or towels orsomething like that.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
I like the turkish beach, the turkish towels really
they fold up really well and,yeah, they're bigger nice.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
Yeah, I like to have a big beach blanket personally,
um, you know, and just have alot of space, because these
beaches don't get so crowdedwhere it's.
You know, like I grew up in theeast coast where, like you had
to get there early in themorning, you still parked like
three miles away and then youhad to find like just enough
space for like a couple towelsand a cooler or something that
you had like you know, lug thecooler all the way from the car,
(24:16):
whatever like even the mostcrowded beach in california.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
If you have somebody within like 10 bdb, that's rare.
Usually people are a lot morespread out.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Yeah unless it's, like you know, fourth of july
weekend volleyball tournament islike right up the street and
you know like then there's kindof there can be crowds for
certain events, but usually mostof these beaches there's plenty
of room to spread out so youcan bring yourself a nice big
blanket.
I would definitely recommend anumbrella it's hard to travel
with one, but a lot of beachtowns like Robin said, you can
(24:43):
rent one.
It kind of depends on what yourspeed is.
If you just want to sit thereand hang out, you can bring food
onto all these beaches.
Certain beaches, likeDockweileriler, has fire pits
and things where you can evencook your own food, although
people do start claiming thempretty early in the morning.
So, um, you do have to getthere early if you want to do
(25:05):
something like that.
But if you're the kind ofperson like you just want to sit
and chill, then you know youcan bring sandwiches down, you
can bring whatever down, and ifyou're going to some of the
state beaches that aren't goingto have stores and restaurants
nearby, you're going to need todo that.
If you're, but a lot of thesetowns have, you know, dozens of
(25:25):
restaurants within a coupleblocks walk of the beach.
So then all you need to bringis your debit card or some cash
yeah, we'll get pizza or tacosor sandwich.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
You have to be careful, as you hand it to your
kids, that it doesn't end upbeing a sandwich, um, but um,
we've eaten, we.
I mean we've eaten all sorts offood.
I mean I wouldn't recommendchinese food on the beach, but
you know, you can eat almostanything on the beach, and then
there's usually, like fruit, uh,fruit vendors that have amazing
fruits.
That's nearby for most of themtoo.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Yeah, yeah.
So you don't, unless you'regoing to one of the state
beaches.
Where you're, you know you'renot going to have the whole town
right there next to the water.
You don't really need to bringall that much, because as long
as you have a place on the sandwhere you got your towel out,
you know.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Some bottled water maybe?
Speaker 3 (26:13):
Yeah, definitely bring some water, like, just so
I can get burnt on those coolerdays, towel out you know, some
bottled water maybe?
Yeah, definitely bring somewater like just like you can get
burnt on those cooler days.
It's really easy to getdehydrated on a, you know, on a
day that's not that hot and, youknow, the good thing is there's
lots of water fountains andthings like that, like along the
beaches, so you can just bringa water bottle and refill it as
you need.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
I think bring enough sunblock to reapply and reapply
often and make sure it gets make.
The big thing that I see thatpeople do is they don't let the
sunblock dry.
You really need to let it dryon your skin, um, before you
wash off um and then um.
So we put that with blankets.
We got some food, um.
With the kids I usually bringsome sand toys, but a lot of
(26:58):
times if I was traveling by air,we would just rent them there
or we would buy a cheap thing atthe grocery store.
You can even just bring somecups from the buffet.
They'll keep themselvesentertained.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
That's something I feel like you might find at a
dollar store.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Yeah, beach sand type toys, yeah, and you can get
those away from the like.
If you get those like at thestore, like next to the beach,
they're going to be moreexpensive.
So, um, there's a conveniencefactor there.
But um, and then the.
The other thing that I highlyrecommend bringing is gonna
sound weird, but it's babypowder.
Especially if you're notstaying nearby, baby powder is
(27:36):
amazing to get the sand to dryenough to get it off of you.
So most of the beaches havethese little showers, but some
of them don't, and especially ifyou're going to get in an Uber
afterwards, then you're going towant to get the sand off of you
.
If you're going to take an Uber,make sure you bring towels or
something.
Make sure you're completely dry, completely sand free, just out
(27:58):
of respect.
You know it takes money out oftheir these drivers pockets if
they have to vacuum the carbefore they can pick up their
next guest.
So just be considerate there.
But you can definitely take theUber.
You can take an Uber there andback.
You can also rent a car atDisneyland.
There's a rental place indowntown Disney where you can
rent a car, and there's like abudget rental.
That's like just down thestreet as well.
(28:19):
So there are options.
If you wanted to just rent a carfor that one day, and then I
had somebody ask me, they werelike, okay, so what our plan is
is we're going to do Disneyland,we leave let's say we leave on
Thursday night at 10 PM, we'regoing to get up at nine, we're
going to go to the beach andthen we'll go to the airport
from there.
I told them that was not agreat idea because the idea of
(28:43):
me taking my kids sun-soakedfrom the beach, crabby, with
sand all over them, like, andnot having a place to like
really shower and change.
I told them that it would bebetter to do it, like the day
that they arrive.
But I don't know, would youhave a different thought on that
?
Like when the good time to dothe beach in a trip like that?
Speaker 3 (29:02):
in a family trip, when you have kids with you.
I don't know if you're drivingyourself in your own rental car.
It kind of depends.
I mean, like robin said, havinga kid who you just had to drag,
you know, away from the beach,kicking and screaming because
they wanted to stay there forthe rest of their life, and then
you got to go on a you know.
Then you're sitting in trafficfor 45 minutes to an hour
(29:24):
potentially to get back to thehotel.
At the same time, depending onhow far you're traveling in from
you know you may not want toland and then go straight to the
beach because that's kind of abig day, uh, if you, you know
you may not want to land andthen go straight to the beach
because that's kind of a big day.
Uh, if you, you know, flown herefrom the East coast, for
example, so I don't know.
I would just say preparationwould be your best bet there.
(29:45):
Just make sure you have extratowels with you.
You know, bring a big old,especially if you're going on an
Uber or some kind of ride share.
You know, bring a big duffelbag with you that's got extra
towels, a change of clothes forthe kids.
You should be able to find sometype of like public restroom
slash, like, you know, sandshower type of thing to at least
get them cleaned off enough andchanged into something more
(30:05):
comfortable before you head backin the car for your drive back.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
And I think the other thing is, on the beach, I
usually will always have my kidson a long sleeve, um, rash
guard, um, and if like, and thereason for that is that, no
matter how much you apply,there's so much sun that's
happening.
I find that we have a lot lessburn.
And then I have them wear likea big, like floppy hat or
something in the beat at thebeach too, especially because
(30:30):
you know they're you might belaying under the umbrella, but
for the most part, the kids aregoing to be running back and
gathering shells and you knowdoing all sorts of.
They're going to be runningaround, so having that like
permanent sunblock on them ishelpful.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
Yeah, definitely the last thing you want is for your
little one to get toasted whilethey're out there.
So you know, make sure you'reapplying it maybe before you
even leave your hotel, so thatit's had time to soak in and dry
on them before you actuallyhave them out in the sun.
And uh, you know, the whitefloppy hat it is serves two
(31:03):
purposes keeps the sun off thekids and it looks super cute
yeah, it does look super cute inthe pictures.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Um, and then the other question I think people
have is restrooms, and most ofthese pretty much all the
beaches I think that we talkedabout today have some sort of
restroom.
Does Wilder have one?
Speaker 3 (31:21):
So here's the thing they have restrooms at Bolsa
Chica and Dockweiler State Beach, but they're closed from like
Labor Day to Memorial Day.
They're closed from like LaborDay to Memorial Day and there's
(31:41):
still totally beach weather inbetween the first week of
September and the last week ofMay.
So you might be there on aperfectly nice beach day and
then walk up to the restroom andlike the door is locked.
So just be prepared and thenmake sure you know if you're
there, that time of yearprobably got to cut your trip
short or like find a restaurantclose by, or you know, there's
always the ocean, I guess.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
And especially if you're like alone with your kids
you really got to think aboutthey're going to have to go to
the bathroom.
That means you're going to packeverything back up to go back
out or, you know, leave yourstuff and hope that it's still
there.
But I always make sure that weusually will walk down the
sidewalk of a beach until wefind the restroom and then we go
down that way to be closer tothe restroom.
(32:24):
Um, and we make sure everybodylook, if you can avoid using
those restrooms, you, you wantto.
Um, they're.
They're not the, they're notthe ritz-Carlton's of restrooms,
but they.
So if you could get people togo beforehand, that is great,
making sure there was enoughroom time for digestion from
breakfast and stuff along thoselines.
(32:44):
But I think that's it for beachtips.
Is there anything else that youwould recommend or anything you
would say hey, if you're thiskind of person, don't go to that
beach.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
You know I might have been wrong about that, Because
right now it's April.
Okay, and it says therestroom's open.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Oh, okay, so I guess we'll post a link to the beach.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
Take out my wrong bathroom.
Comment yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Vance, will you take that out?
Speaker 3 (33:12):
The restrooms are actually open.
I don't know.
I've come across a lockedrestroom before, and I only
tried to figure out where thatwas well.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
So, with all of the restrooms, the state beaches,
the beaches will have like afact page and we'll link to
those in the show notes and soyou can check to find out what
amenities are at each beach.
Um, to make sure that it fitsyour family's needs.
Um, it is what, if somebodyreally wants to surf, what's the
best beach for them to go to?
If they really want to surf,would it be to head back up
(33:41):
north towards Santa Barbara?
Speaker 3 (33:43):
There's a lot of people that surf in Huntington
and further south.
A lot of people like to surf inHuntington and then further
down the coast in the southernend of Orange County at Trestles
Beach, also called San OnofreBeach.
It's near the north end of CampPendleton and it's a pretty
(34:03):
famous surf spot.
Huntington Beach also, as Isaid, and people surf in Redondo
and Hermosa.
It kind of depends on the waves.
You'll see them in Redondo,hermosa, manhattan, sometimes
even El Segundo, just dependingon which way the waves are
coming in that day.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
So I hope this was helpful If you're planning on
heading to the beach.
If there are more questions,feel free to reach out, and we
hope that you have an amazingtime.
If you're planning on going tothe beach, just make sure you
wear lots of sunblock, drinklots of water and make sure you
don't wait till you're hungry toget food, because when you're
beach hungry, you are reallyhungry.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Park
Magic Podcast.
For more tips and planningtools designed to help simplify
your Disneyland adventure, visitparkmagiccom.
If you enjoyed today's episodeand want to hear more tips, be
sure to subscribe to the ParkMagic Podcast, and don't forget
to leave us a review.
Your feedback helps us spreadthe magic even further.
Leaving a review could alsohelp you.
(34:59):
Each month, we will beselecting one reviewer to win a
one-hour planning session withRobin.
Winners will be announced atthe end of the first episode of
every month.
Thanks for tuning in andremember that we are here to
help you have a less stressfuland more magical trip to
Disneyland.
Welcome to the Park Magic Podcast, your place for
insider tips for your nextDisneyland adventure.
Whether you're a first-timer orfirst-time-in-a-while visitor,
we're here to unwrap the secretsto creating and simplifying
your dream Disneyland vacation.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Welcome to the show Today.
I know a lot of people areplanning to go to the beach when
they go to Disneyland.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
especially if it's your first time coming to
California, you might want tohit up that beach when you're
coming on that trip.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
If you're coming all the way to California, it might
seem silly not to go to thebeach, because the beach in
California is beautiful.
It's different than a lot ofother beaches around the country
and it can be a great way tohave like a rest or a down day
in between your day at Disney.
So I have somebody today thathas lived so close they could
see the beach for many years.
He has spent a lot of timebiking from one beach to another
(01:04):
and he really kind of knows thevibes of the different beaches
that are kind of near the areaswhere you might want to visit if
you're going to the beachduring a trip to Disneyland.
So, matt, thanks for coming.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Thanks for having me, Robin.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
When it comes to people wanting to go to the
beach for their Disneyland trip,I think that it can be a little
overwhelming because there's alot of beaches that are nearby
and like they each kind of havetheir own vibe right.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
They do, yeah.
Different beaches up and downthe Los Angeles and Orange
County coasts, they've gotdifferent vibes to them, as you
put.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
So I thought some of the things we could talk about,
like what beach is the closest,and then what beach might be
good, best for like a family,and what beach might be best for
maybe like just a couple,because some of them, like you
know, have piers where you knowthere's like more shopping and
some of them are just reallygreat places to like set up your
beach blanket, and there's someplaces that even have like
rentals where you can like rentwagons and stuff that, will you
(01:58):
know, you can use for the beachas well.
Let's start with what would beyour favorite beach and how
about how far is that fromDisneyland?
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Okay, well, I'm gonna reveal my bias here.
My favorite beach is RedondoBeach, because that's where I
lived for so long.
Putting my bias aside, I feellike there's a lot that it has
to offer.
There's a whole pier and marinaarea that's really great to
walk around.
There's a lot of restaurantsand shops right up on the pier
itself and within the marina.
There's a lot of restaurantsand shops right up on the pier
itself and within the marina.
(02:26):
It's a very family-friendlyarea.
Lots of different types of foodand you know, you got seafood,
you got your regular bar andgrills and a little bit of
everything in between.
Great walking area also forRedondo Beach.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Some of the things that I really like about Redondo
because you know, obviously youlive there, so I visited you.
A lot is there's kind of like aramp that gets you down and
then there's it's like a.
It's a.
It's a longer beach, likebefore.
You have like a longer area ofsand before you get to the water
and so there's more space tospread out.
But, like you said, not everyplace has food.
That's nearby and it's prettyclose to the Los Angeles airport
(03:00):
.
If somebody was doing the LAX,then it actually isn't that far
and it is a really beautifulbeach.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
That's true If you are coming into LAX or are going
to be around that area at all.
I would also highly recommendDockweiler State Beach.
It's got lots of parking, whichis good, because when these
places fill up, some of thesmaller beach towns have really
great beaches and really niceshops and restaurants.
But parking is, either, youknow, pretty much a nightmare to
find in some of these some ofthe other beach towns.
(03:28):
At Dockweiler State Beachthere's lots of parking.
There's actually fire pits setup on the beach that are first
come, first serve.
So you get there, you could puta grill top over it and
barbecue or something like that.
And the cool thing aboutDockweiler is you can sit there
and watch the planes taking offfrom LAX right overhead.
They really do come rightoverhead, so it's pretty cool to
(03:49):
see.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
That's really cool.
What do you think about likeHermosa Beach?
If they're in LAX, would youskip Hermosa?
I mean, I feel like Hermosa ismore of like a fancy place.
I feel like the food's moreexpensive there.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
I think Hermosa Beach is also really great.
If you're in Redondo Beach,it's really not that far to get
to Hermosa Beach.
It's only two or three milesaway.
You could easily rent a bike andgo up there and do it on the
beach path called the Strand.
If you're feeling moreambitious, you can ride all the
way to Santa Monica and back,but that's over 20 miles each
way.
But you can easily reachHermosa Beach or Manhattan Beach
(04:22):
, which are the other two beachcities in that area.
Hermosa Beach is more like asmall, like old school beach
town and then it getsprogressively more upscale as
you get to Manhattan Beach,which is more like boutiques and
really nice and luxurious typeof place.
So they're all family friendlyfor sure.
But if you're doing the couplesthing and you're going to be in
the LA area, there's lots ofgreat places in Manhattan Beach
(04:46):
and Hermosa Beach as well.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
So, like these, like LA X, like adjacent beaches,
would you say that like they'reall pretty like the same amount
of surf, or are there ones where, like you'd have to be like
more cautious if you have like alittle one?
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Well, that's a good question.
It's probably just depends onthe day.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
The surf comes in there and there will be surfers
out in some areas.
You know just wherever thewaves are.
That being said, there arecertain areas of the beach that
are flagged off from surfing.
They're swimming only, and theyhave lifeguards there through
the summer months, and so youknow you always want to be
cautious when getting into thewater, but there are some areas
where you're not protected fromthe surf, but you're protected
(05:26):
from surfers coming in onto yourterritory.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
The nice thing about these beaches, like if you came
from Florida, so maybe you'reWalt Disney World, or like
that's maybe coming from KeyWest.
Those beaches are kind of likeswampy and there's lots of
critters that are in the sand.
California beaches are verylike the sand is pretty much
really dry until you get up tothe water Very like clean sand.
For the most part these onesdon't have a lot of rocks, you
(05:50):
know, so it's a little bit.
They are all places where youcan comfortably get in the water
.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Yeah, I would say the LA County beaches in general,
and even some of the ones inOrange County that we haven't
mentioned yet, the sand isreally nice and fine and clean,
nice and soft, easy to find aplace to put a towel down.
You know, some of the beachesare a little narrower than
others, depending on where youare.
In general the sand is prettysoft.
There's rocky areas here andthere, but they can pretty
(06:16):
easily be avoided.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
The one thing is, on the longer beaches like Redondo,
where you have to walk furtherto get to the water, make sure
you have flip flops or sandals.
Water shoes do not work well onthe beach.
It's a once the sand gets inthere it's really abrasive, but
the beach is in the summer.
That sand does get pretty hot.
So make sure that you've gotsomething to protect little feet
(06:38):
or have them riding insomething with very big wheels
to you to get down to the beach.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Yep, for sure, that sand does get scalding hot and
even if you think you could takeit, sometimes you make it about
a quarter away there and thenstart digging for your flip
flops, because it's prettyscorching hot in the summertime.
If you're thinking about drivetimes to the beach.
These are all quotes withouttraffic which you know.
Depending if you're thereduring the week and you're going
outside of rush hour, you canmake it around pretty easily.
(07:06):
If you're there on the weekend,going in the middle of the day,
you can make it around prettyeasily.
But you can obviously add 50 to100 percent to these times if
you're considering trying tomake the trips in rush hour.
(07:29):
No-transcript planes take offfrom LAX.
That's about 45 minutes to anhour.
Also, hermosa Beach, redondoBeach, manhattan Beach all about
the same distance.
You just branch off at the endof the trip.
Long Beach is about 30 to 45minutes away.
Long Beach also has a lot ofstuff to do family friendly.
(07:49):
It has a great aquarium.
It's got a home marinawaterfront park set up, lots of
restaurants over there, lots ofgreat walking areas just cool
stuff to see.
It's actually a good place foreither couples or families
because it's got a lot to offerand it's right near long beach
itself.
You can be on the sand and bejust a couple blocks away from
(08:10):
downtown.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
It's pretty cool to have the city right up on on the
waterfront like that and um,lots of family-friendly
entertainment in long beach aswell I feel like long beach is
really good because, like, ifyou're not sure how your kids
are going to react to the beach,like you're not sure if they're
going to want to, if the babieswill be too much or if the sand
will be too much, like you can,there's lots of places to sit
and see the water but also haveother experiences, like the
(08:33):
aquarium and there's.
So I feel like there's a lot ofthings that you could do where
you could still see andexperience the ocean, even if
you're not sure if your familyis really going to be the kind
of people that want to sit atthe beach and just hang out in
the waves and the sanddefinitely.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Yeah, long beach is that kind of town, for sure, and
really it's, you know, 30 to 45minutes away from the resort,
so it's not too bad of a drive.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Uh, even if you were staying in one place you know
it's staying in one or the otheryou can stay in long beach and
still make it into disneywithout too terrible of a drive
yeah, I mean I, you know, whenwe do Disneyland and we do the
beach, a lot of times we will doLong Beach because there's like
there's an area that has likeall these cute like little old
shops and in that part of thebeach they had like a little
(09:15):
ramp.
That was like that like helpedlike walk down to the, the
beachfront, which made it easier.
But what I liked is I likethere were so many food options
so we could pick up pizza ortacos and then eat them on the
beach if we wanted to, and thenthere were like ice cream stores
and then there were also.
We last time we were there werented like umbrellas and stuff
(09:36):
like that there that we wereable to pick up and then take
down to the beach in a wagon,which was kind of nice, because
my son, my husband, is a ginger,he's redhead and so he burns
really easy, so it was nice tohave some shade for him.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
Yeah, if you're not from Southern California, you
may get to the beach and itmight only be 70 degrees, but
you can get burnt really fastout there.
I highly recommend unlessyou're already living in climate
where you get to spend a lot oftime outside and you're already
primed for it lots of sunscreenand find an umbrella or some
kind of shade when you're at thebeach, for sure and queen
mary's at long beach too right?
Speaker 2 (10:10):
it sure is, yeah, yeah which is something that is
like a if can be a fun thing todo, depending on the age of your
kids and how much they likehistory.
And there's some really coolhotels, like there was a hotel
maya that a lot of the hotelswill have, like s'mores and
things that you can do.
And there's some niceinexpensive things and if you're
flying into Long Beach Airportor out of Long Beach Airport, it
(10:33):
can be really nice to kind ofhit that up.
You just have to think abouthow much sand is going to be on
you and finding a place toshower.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Yeah, this is a little off topic, but I highly
recommend flying into Long Beachinstead of LA.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
It's my favorite airport, like, like, even like,
like Santa Ana airport's great,like it's my second favorite.
But Long Beach I love beingable to like, just like, get off
the plane with the ramps, likethe old school ramps, and it's
kind of like this really coolbeach vibe and it's so simple.
Lax is so complicated and sostressful and Long Beach is very
(11:06):
much like if an airport couldhave beach vibes.
I feel like Long Beach is theairport that has beach vibes.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Definitely.
Yeah, highly recommend it.
Some other beaches that areclose to the Disneyland Resort
If you want to stay in OrangeCounty and check out some of the
beaches down there, huntingtonBeach is probably the closest.
It definitely has a beach towntype of feel Lots of shops and
restaurants, real close to thewaterfront and close to the pier
.
It takes about 30 minutes toget there, so it's pretty easy
(11:33):
drive.
If you're at the resort andwant to just go straight to the
beach, huntington Beach is yourchoice.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
And there's usually pretty decent parking there,
right.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
Huntington Beach has decent parking.
Yeah, it definitely gets full,you know in prime times on the
weekends and things like that,but there are parking lots and
there's some street parkingaround that you can find in
Huntington, still fairly closeto the water.
A little bit further down thecoast from Huntington you start
getting into the more luxuriousOrange County beaches.
Newport Beach is also about a30, 35 minute drive from the
(12:05):
resort.
Really really nice beachcommunity, lots of nice walking
areas on the sand.
It's really kept up well and onthe Balboa Peninsula is a great
place to try and go just to seethe beach up there and to walk.
It Really nice area.
And then a little further downthe coast, Laguna Beach, which
is about a 30 to 45 minute drivefrom the resort.
(12:26):
Highly recommend, especially ifit's a couple's trip.
You can go down there.
There are tons of greatrestaurants where you can make a
reservation or lots of nicehotels Great.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
It's like.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
The scenery there is absolutely beautiful.
The mountains go right up tothe water.
The beach there is kind ofshort but it's definitely, like
you know, really nice views andpicturesque setting.
The drive there is also supernice, depending on which way you
go.
If you are going straight fromthe resort, you'll probably take
the freeways down and then youend up on Laguna Canyon Road and
(12:58):
it just like winds through thisreally steep canyon with, like
beautiful mountains on bothsides.
It's all forested and lush andit's really beautiful.
Or if you are a little moreadventurous and have some more
time to burn, I highly recommendtaking PCH from Huntington
Beach down to Laguna Beach, evenfurther down to Dana Point if
(13:22):
you'd like, for a SouthernOrange County beach feel, but
you'll be right up on thewaterfront, the mountains on one
side, the ocean on the other.
It's not quite the same asdoing the PCH drive in Northern
California or the Central Coast,but if you're at the Disneyland
Resort you're only about 30minutes away from Huntington and
if you start there it's about,you know, 30 to 45 minutes down
(13:44):
to Laguna and then about an hourdown to Dana Point.
So if you have some time toburn, you know, doing that loop
and there's plenty of.
There'd be a million places tostop along the way.
Kind of pop in and do someshopping or, you know, hit a
restaurant along the way.
But very picturesque drive.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
And if you're not familiar with California, pch is
like Highway 1.
And so it just goes rightacross, like you can see the
beach for almost all of it.
There are a couple areas whereit gets a little congested and
it can take time.
So you know, if you're somebodywho hates sitting in traffic,
it might not be as enjoyable insome parts as others but, like
especially around Redondo andHermosa, I feel like yeah, and
(14:19):
over there there's a milliontraffic lights and most of PCH
Pacific Coast Highway.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
you can't actually see the beach from it.
So in the LA County area Iwouldn't really recommend taking
it, unless you're already inSanta Monica and are going north
from there, cause that's aboutthe point where it's right up on
the coast and there's mountains, you know you drive up toward.
Malibu, for example from Santa.
Monica probably take you aboutan hour, but you know you'll be
right on the coast with themountains on one side and the
(14:46):
ocean on the other.
That's probably like an hourplus to get to Santa Monica from
the resort, so you'd reallyhave to have a lot of time to
burn to do it up that way.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
There's a pier there too, though, right In Santa
Monica.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
yeah, so if you wanted to go to Santa Monica
also on the family-friendly listbeaches it's great for
everybody really.
But there's actual rides, likein a little amusement park right
on the pier and there's walkingpaths and all sorts of shops
and restaurants, just like ifyou started in Redondo.
The same bike path is all theway up there so you can rent
(15:19):
bikes, ride maybe from theredown to Venice beach or
something like that.
Venice beach.
I don't know if I'd call familyfriendly there, unless you know
.
You're ready to see pretty muchanything, but it is an
interesting place to go.
It's an experience, it's anexperience for sure If you rent
a bike and ride down there.
Like parking is terrible downthere, so I wouldn't recommend
(15:40):
trying to drive into VeniceBeach, but if you can find
another way to get there.
It's got like a boardwalk feel,you know.
There's like lots of likelittle shops and restaurants
right up on the walking path andbut there's also like street
vendors and people wearing likeneon, everything and, you know,
doing cartwheels on rollerskates and there's also muscle
(16:00):
beach, which is like that famousgym that's right up on the sand
where all these bros aregrunting really loud.
You know, uh, it's, it's justlike you think it's gonna be, um
, but yeah, it's, it's kind of,it's very unique.
So if you, if you, if you'rebrave, uh take the trip down to
venice beach from s, from SantaMonica, on the bike and then
pedal right back.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
So I usually recommend and tell me if you
disagree.
If you're looking for closebeach to Disneyland, so you're
just trying to get somethingclose, then I would say I
usually recommend Long Beach orNewport Beach, but Huntington
Beach is a great option.
If you're looking for a nearLAX, then yeah, I agree with you
.
I love Redondo, the other onethat you suggested, and then the
(16:41):
.
The beaches that are passed upnorth, like towards Malibu there
are gorgeous too, but they arequite the drive yeah, yeah, if
you've got some time to kill andyou know you, you want to go
see them.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
The beaches in Malibu are amazing.
Um, if you go even further upthe coast, I mean if you want to
like make a day trip out of it,I'd highly recommend driving
all the way to santa barbara.
You know, I mean it's probablygoing to take three, three and a
half, maybe four hours each way, so maybe even like take a
night out and do it, but thebeaches are spectacular up there
, um, really really great, pier,and it's.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
It's like it has all the things of a city but it
feels like a small beach town atthe same time uh, and then if
your family's into history too,that's also where some missions
are, and from santa barbarathere are things like
parasailing and you know someother opportunities.
They're like, you know, likesunset cruises and stuff that
run out of santa barbara yep,that's definitely a beautiful
(17:36):
area, but Redondo has that too,redondo has like whale watching.
It sure does.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
Yep, yeah, I'm definitely biased, but I would
highly recommend it.
Yeah, One other thing if you'reinto history, a little bit of
different kind of history, Ifyou are staying in Orange County
and want to go to a beachthat's not too far from
Disneyland, you can go to BolsaChica State Beach.
Bolsa Chica Beach andDockweiler Beach, that's in LA
(18:00):
County.
Both have lots and lots ofparking, which, if you don't
want to fight, you know up anddown little beach streets
looking for a parking spot.
And you want to stay in OrangeCounty at Bolsa Chica Beach, the
beach is nice and it's familyfriendly.
There's not as much like rightup on the water there.
There's not restaurants andshops and everything.
It's going to be like we'regoing to go do a beach day,
(18:21):
maybe even pack a lunch with youif you're going there.
Right on the other side of theroad there is a ecological
preserve and a marineconservation area which is nice.
There's like a little walkwayyou can go up and there's a
lookout point.
From there you can seedifferent wildlife and things,
but the history part is acrossthe inlet.
(18:41):
From that there's a huge areathat sort of still shows the
history of the oil and gasexploration in California that
used to occur there and there's,you know, just like a huge
swath of land that's on theinner part of that inlet that
still has like some of the oldinfrastructure and all these
weird colored ponds.
It's interesting.
(19:02):
If you ever have a few minuteson google maps, take a look at
the ecological preserve and thebeautiful state beach on one
side and then the history of oiland gas exploration in
california on the other side.
It's definitely an interestingjuxtaposition.
But but also it is a closebeach.
If you're at Disneyland andjust want to get down to the
beach, you want to stay awayfrom the crowds.
You know Huntington it seemslike a little too much and maybe
(19:24):
the other places are a littletoo far.
You just want a nice quietbeach day.
Pack up your picnic lunch andtake it down to Bolsa Chica.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Should we talk about Catalina Island, and briefly I
mean you could do like fourprobably island, and briefly I
mean you could do like four,probably four episodes on
catalina island, but it's.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
It's an expensive island, um, and it can be kind
of pricey to get there, but itis a tourist destination in and
of itself.
Yes, it is, um.
You can go to long beach andthere is a ferry that will take
you to catalina island.
It is absolutely beautiful.
The island is amazing.
If you want to make it anovernight trip, try to book your
hotel way in advance.
I mean, they definitely havepretty high occupancy at all
times.
They're super pricey, but it'sworth it.
(20:05):
It's like this own littleparadise, right?
You'd never know.
You're right offshore from agiant city.
It's the super quiet vibe.
You can rent these electricbikes because it's very hilly
there, but you rent the e-bikesand you can just like loop all
over the place up and down thesehills.
Amazing views, the air is likenice and crisp and clean out
there.
The water is beautiful and youknow it could be done in a day.
(20:32):
You take the boat out in themorning.
You spend all day there.
You come back on the boat at.
You know the last boat of theday For the boat out in the
morning.
You spend all day there.
You come back on the boat at.
You know the last boat of theday, for the amount of money
you're spending, you might aswell just get the hotel room and
make a night out of it yeah,yeah, so you don't have to just
limit yourself to the beaches.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
Beaches, too, because there are lots of like little
boat tours, whale watchingduring certain times of years,
glass bottom boats there's not alot of snorkeling in southern
california.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Uh, there's just if you're a scuba person.
Uh, apparently there's reallygreat spots just offshore uh
from.
Some of them are from santamonica and malibu, but uh also
from palos verdes.
There's uh reefs right offshorefrom uh I'm trying to.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
We went to tide pools as kids.
I can't remember where the tidepools were some of those are in
palos verdes palos verdes, ohyeah they're kind of hard to get
to and it's beautiful there.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
It's a great, really nice drive.
If you have the chance to go.
Also, if you have some time toburn, drive from redondo beach
to long beach.
But don't take pacific coasthighway, which cuts inland.
Take palos verdes drive and ittakes you all the way around.
You're on the edge of the cliff.
It's a really gorgeous drive,but along the way there's a
couple spots you can stop.
You pretty much have to, like,find the little hiking walking
(21:44):
trail from where you parked, youknow, down to the beach.
It's not easy, like you know.
You can do it in flip-flopskind of thing, but it's kind of
steep and uh.
But once you get down therethere's these little tide pools.
There's like sea urchins livingin there.
There's all sorts of littlefishes swimming around.
It is pretty.
It could be dangerous becausethe tide changes a lot and
you're standing on these wetrocks and all of a sudden
(22:05):
they're very slippery.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
People get hurt sometimes.
Yeah, the waves are coming in,tides coming in faster than you
think, but so be very carefuland that wouldn't recommend you
know that would be the only timeI would recommend water shoes
at a beach too, but there's somecool stuff to see that you can
just walk down and and take alook at a little tide pool
ecosystem right there in ranchopals where it is but, like the
long beach aquarium, has like atide pool exhibit, um, where you
(22:30):
can see a lot of thosecreatures in like a more
controlled environment, ifthat's something that's
interesting to you as a parent,um, should we talk about what to
bring to the beach a little bit?
Because I, um, because I thinkthat.
So, first off, if you wanted todo boogie boards or if you
wanted to surf, there are store,there are shops all up and down
(22:50):
that you can rent, that you canrent wet sweatsuits, you can
rent umbrellas or you can buyumbrellas.
So know that those are just aYelp search away from pretty
much all of these beaches havesome service that is pretty
close by.
I know that you and your wifenormally go to the beach without
(23:11):
children, so we could startwith that, and then I could add
some things that I usually bringfor the kids.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
Sure, children, but so we could start with that and
then I could add some thingsthat I usually bring for the
kids.
Sure, I just want to add toRobin's list also bicycle
rentals in most of the beachtowns super easy.
Just, you know, google bikerental and there's probably a
place right there, and most ofthe beach towns have bike paths
that connect to the next town.
So you can definitely, you know, park one place and get around
quite a bit on the bike.
Um, back to your question bringyou what to bring what to bring
(23:41):
.
You'll probably want to bringsomething to lay on, you know, a
nice blanket or towels orsomething like that.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
I like the turkish beach, the turkish towels really
they fold up really well and,yeah, they're bigger nice.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
Yeah, I like to have a big beach blanket personally,
um, you know, and just have alot of space, because these
beaches don't get so crowdedwhere it's.
You know, like I grew up in theeast coast where, like you had
to get there early in themorning, you still parked like
three miles away and then youhad to find like just enough
space for like a couple towelsand a cooler or something that
you had like you know, lug thecooler all the way from the car,
(24:16):
whatever like even the mostcrowded beach in california.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
If you have somebody within like 10 bdb, that's rare.
Usually people are a lot morespread out.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Yeah unless it's, like you know, fourth of july
weekend volleyball tournament islike right up the street and
you know like then there's kindof there can be crowds for
certain events, but usually mostof these beaches there's plenty
of room to spread out so youcan bring yourself a nice big
blanket.
I would definitely recommend anumbrella it's hard to travel
with one, but a lot of beachtowns like Robin said, you can
(24:43):
rent one.
It kind of depends on what yourspeed is.
If you just want to sit thereand hang out, you can bring food
onto all these beaches.
Certain beaches, likeDockweileriler, has fire pits
and things where you can evencook your own food, although
people do start claiming thempretty early in the morning.
So, um, you do have to getthere early if you want to do
(25:05):
something like that.
But if you're the kind ofperson like you just want to sit
and chill, then you know youcan bring sandwiches down, you
can bring whatever down, and ifyou're going to some of the
state beaches that aren't goingto have stores and restaurants
nearby, you're going to need todo that.
If you're, but a lot of thesetowns have, you know, dozens of
(25:25):
restaurants within a coupleblocks walk of the beach.
So then all you need to bringis your debit card or some cash
yeah, we'll get pizza or tacosor sandwich.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
You have to be careful, as you hand it to your
kids, that it doesn't end upbeing a sandwich, um, but um,
we've eaten, we.
I mean we've eaten all sorts offood.
I mean I wouldn't recommendchinese food on the beach, but
you know, you can eat almostanything on the beach, and then
there's usually, like fruit, uh,fruit vendors that have amazing
fruits.
That's nearby for most of themtoo.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
Yeah, yeah.
So you don't, unless you'regoing to one of the state
beaches.
Where you're, you know you'renot going to have the whole town
right there next to the water.
You don't really need to bringall that much, because as long
as you have a place on the sandwhere you got your towel out,
you know.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Some bottled water maybe?
Speaker 3 (26:13):
Yeah, definitely bring some water, like, just so
I can get burnt on those coolerdays, towel out you know, some
bottled water maybe?
Yeah, definitely bring somewater like just like you can get
burnt on those cooler days.
It's really easy to getdehydrated on a, you know, on a
day that's not that hot and, youknow, the good thing is there's
lots of water fountains andthings like that, like along the
beaches, so you can just bringa water bottle and refill it as
you need.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
I think bring enough sunblock to reapply and reapply
often and make sure it gets make.
The big thing that I see thatpeople do is they don't let the
sunblock dry.
You really need to let it dryon your skin, um, before you
wash off um and then um.
So we put that with blankets.
We got some food, um.
With the kids I usually bringsome sand toys, but a lot of
(26:58):
times if I was traveling by air,we would just rent them there
or we would buy a cheap thing atthe grocery store.
You can even just bring somecups from the buffet.
They'll keep themselvesentertained.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
That's something I feel like you might find at a
dollar store.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Yeah, beach sand type toys, yeah, and you can get
those away from the like.
If you get those like at thestore, like next to the beach,
they're going to be moreexpensive.
So, um, there's a conveniencefactor there.
But um, and then the.
The other thing that I highlyrecommend bringing is gonna
sound weird, but it's babypowder.
Especially if you're notstaying nearby, baby powder is
(27:36):
amazing to get the sand to dryenough to get it off of you.
So most of the beaches havethese little showers, but some
of them don't, and especially ifyou're going to get in an Uber
afterwards, then you're going towant to get the sand off of you
.
If you're going to take an Uber,make sure you bring towels or
something.
Make sure you're completely dry, completely sand free, just out
(27:58):
of respect.
You know it takes money out oftheir these drivers pockets if
they have to vacuum the carbefore they can pick up their
next guest.
So just be considerate there.
But you can definitely take theUber.
You can take an Uber there andback.
You can also rent a car atDisneyland.
There's a rental place indowntown Disney where you can
rent a car, and there's like abudget rental.
That's like just down thestreet as well.
(28:19):
So there are options.
If you wanted to just rent a carfor that one day, and then I
had somebody ask me, they werelike, okay, so what our plan is
is we're going to do Disneyland,we leave let's say we leave on
Thursday night at 10 PM, we'regoing to get up at nine, we're
going to go to the beach andthen we'll go to the airport
from there.
I told them that was not agreat idea because the idea of
(28:43):
me taking my kids sun-soakedfrom the beach, crabby, with
sand all over them, like, andnot having a place to like
really shower and change.
I told them that it would bebetter to do it, like the day
that they arrive.
But I don't know, would youhave a different thought on that
?
Like when the good time to dothe beach in a trip like that?
Speaker 3 (29:02):
in a family trip, when you have kids with you.
I don't know if you're drivingyourself in your own rental car.
It kind of depends.
I mean, like robin said, havinga kid who you just had to drag,
you know, away from the beach,kicking and screaming because
they wanted to stay there forthe rest of their life, and then
you got to go on a you know.
Then you're sitting in trafficfor 45 minutes to an hour
(29:24):
potentially to get back to thehotel.
At the same time, depending onhow far you're traveling in from
you know you may not want toland and then go straight to the
beach because that's kind of abig day, uh, if you, you know
you may not want to land andthen go straight to the beach
because that's kind of a big day.
Uh, if you, you know, flown herefrom the East coast, for
example, so I don't know.
I would just say preparationwould be your best bet there.
(29:45):
Just make sure you have extratowels with you.
You know, bring a big old,especially if you're going on an
Uber or some kind of ride share.
You know, bring a big duffelbag with you that's got extra
towels, a change of clothes forthe kids.
You should be able to find sometype of like public restroom
slash, like, you know, sandshower type of thing to at least
get them cleaned off enough andchanged into something more
(30:05):
comfortable before you head backin the car for your drive back.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
And I think the other thing is, on the beach, I
usually will always have my kidson a long sleeve, um, rash
guard, um, and if like, and thereason for that is that, no
matter how much you apply,there's so much sun that's
happening.
I find that we have a lot lessburn.
And then I have them wear likea big, like floppy hat or
something in the beat at thebeach too, especially because
(30:30):
you know they're you might belaying under the umbrella, but
for the most part, the kids aregoing to be running back and
gathering shells and you knowdoing all sorts of.
They're going to be runningaround, so having that like
permanent sunblock on them ishelpful.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
Yeah, definitely the last thing you want is for your
little one to get toasted whilethey're out there.
So you know, make sure you'reapplying it maybe before you
even leave your hotel, so thatit's had time to soak in and dry
on them before you actuallyhave them out in the sun.
And uh, you know, the whitefloppy hat it is serves two
(31:03):
purposes keeps the sun off thekids and it looks super cute
yeah, it does look super cute inthe pictures.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Um, and then the other question I think people
have is restrooms, and most ofthese pretty much all the
beaches I think that we talkedabout today have some sort of
restroom.
Does Wilder have one?
Speaker 3 (31:21):
So here's the thing they have restrooms at Bolsa
Chica and Dockweiler State Beach, but they're closed from like
Labor Day to Memorial Day.
They're closed from like LaborDay to Memorial Day and there's
(31:41):
still totally beach weather inbetween the first week of
September and the last week ofMay.
So you might be there on aperfectly nice beach day and
then walk up to the restroom andlike the door is locked.
So just be prepared and thenmake sure you know if you're
there, that time of yearprobably got to cut your trip
short or like find a restaurantclose by, or you know, there's
always the ocean, I guess.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
And especially if you're like alone with your kids
you really got to think aboutthey're going to have to go to
the bathroom.
That means you're going to packeverything back up to go back
out or, you know, leave yourstuff and hope that it's still
there.
But I always make sure that weusually will walk down the
sidewalk of a beach until wefind the restroom and then we go
down that way to be closer tothe restroom.
(32:24):
Um, and we make sure everybodylook, if you can avoid using
those restrooms, you, you wantto.
Um, they're.
They're not the, they're notthe ritz-Carlton's of restrooms,
but they.
So if you could get people togo beforehand, that is great,
making sure there was enoughroom time for digestion from
breakfast and stuff along thoselines.
(32:44):
But I think that's it for beachtips.
Is there anything else that youwould recommend or anything you
would say hey, if you're thiskind of person, don't go to that
beach.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
You know I might have been wrong about that, Because
right now it's April.
Okay, and it says therestroom's open.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Oh, okay, so I guess we'll post a link to the beach.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
Take out my wrong bathroom.
Comment yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Vance, will you take that out?
Speaker 3 (33:12):
The restrooms are actually open.
I don't know.
I've come across a lockedrestroom before, and I only
tried to figure out where thatwas well.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
So, with all of the restrooms, the state beaches,
the beaches will have like afact page and we'll link to
those in the show notes and soyou can check to find out what
amenities are at each beach.
Um, to make sure that it fitsyour family's needs.
Um, it is what, if somebodyreally wants to surf, what's the
best beach for them to go to?
If they really want to surf,would it be to head back up
(33:41):
north towards Santa Barbara?
Speaker 3 (33:43):
There's a lot of people that surf in Huntington
and further south.
A lot of people like to surf inHuntington and then further
down the coast in the southernend of Orange County at Trestles
Beach, also called San OnofreBeach.
It's near the north end of CampPendleton and it's a pretty
(34:03):
famous surf spot.
Huntington Beach also, as Isaid, and people surf in Redondo
and Hermosa.
It kind of depends on the waves.
You'll see them in Redondo,hermosa, manhattan, sometimes
even El Segundo, just dependingon which way the waves are
coming in that day.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
So I hope this was helpful If you're planning on
heading to the beach.
If there are more questions,feel free to reach out, and we
hope that you have an amazingtime.
If you're planning on going tothe beach, just make sure you
wear lots of sunblock, drinklots of water and make sure you
don't wait till you're hungry toget food, because when you're
beach hungry, you are reallyhungry.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Park
Magic Podcast.
For more tips and planningtools designed to help simplify
your Disneyland adventure, visitparkmagiccom.
If you enjoyed today's episodeand want to hear more tips, be
sure to subscribe to the ParkMagic Podcast, and don't forget
to leave us a review.
Your feedback helps us spreadthe magic even further.
Leaving a review could alsohelp you.
(34:59):
Each month, we will beselecting one reviewer to win a
one-hour planning session withRobin.
Winners will be announced atthe end of the first episode of
every month.
Thanks for tuning in andremember that we are here to
help you have a less stressfuland more magical trip to
Disneyland.
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