What else to do? Traffic?

For once DH is actually going to a great place for a work conference and staying in a nice hotel (DLH) so I very excitedly started planning. His conference is 3 days so I figured I would take the kids to the parks and we would have a weekend there with him too. I figured one day we would go to USH. Then he found out he has another conference the week after at a different hotel but still in Anaheim for 5 days. Now I'm wondering what to do. The last time we were with him for a work conference was at an awful hotel in downtown L.A. and I don't remember traffic being too bad when I drive the kids to the parks but now when I've looked at going the opposite way, Anaheim to LA it looks like 1-2 hrs. Is that about right? Is traffic just worse that direction? I'm wondering about doing some things with them like the Natural History Museum, the Endeavor and American Girl bistro during DH's conference. My kids will be 7.5 boy and my daughter will just turn 5 before we leave. They were only about 4 and 2 the last time so I wanted to do some of the things we did before that they don't remember and I think they'd appreciate dinosaurs and the Space shuttle more now. Anything else to do in Anaheim? I'm trying to plan out days to decide what we could do and see what's worthwhile so I can figure out what I should do about buying park tickets. The second hotel has a shuttle so it's super close to the parks but I think by then we may have already done 5ish days there so it could be fun to do other things. However if it's that much sitting in the car it probably wouldn't be worth doing everyday. Thanks!

Other good OC area activities with kids: Discovery Cube in Santa Ana, the beaches, Aquarium of the Pacific (Long Beach), La Habra Children's Museum.

I think you could justify a trip up to LA one day to see the Natural History Museum, Science Center with Space Shuttle, and the American Girl store (they're all relatively close). It's a lot of driving and you're almost guaranteed to hit rush hour one way or both.

I think on another thread you said you lived in Northern California, maybe you could hit a couple things in LA on your way back home with your husband?

PHXscuba

Yes, traffic can be bad. Accidents can last a long time on the freeway. They also have a lot of car chases as well and if one of those goes wrong you can get up to many hour wait. So always give yourself plenty of time.

Traffic will be horrible heading into LA at rush hour. If you wait until after 9 (or even better after 10) the traffic will be much better. For coming back, leave before 3 (earlier on Friday) or after 8 to head back to Anaheim or it will take a couple hours. In OC, my kids love the Discovery Cube, Irvine Park, Santa Ana Zoo or the beach (we love Corona del Mar for little ones).