Planning southern California trip. Is this itinerary do-able?

Comic Con brings in about 170,000 people to San Diego that weekend. It's basically the weekend where all the downtown businesses go from Red to Black for the year. If you will be only going to tourist locations like Sea World and the Zoo, you should be fine. If you want to go anywhere near downtown/gaslamp to eat or stay it will be very very crowded. Your kids might have a lot of fun watching all the crowds in costume though. If I go to Hilton's site right now, everything in the areas I listed above are sold out. It really depends on where you are planning to stay if you'll be effected. The traffic coming south from LA to San Diego can be pretty terrible Wednesday and Thursday with all the studio people coming down from Hollywood also.

I think that the OP should consider doing LA, then San Diego, then drive up from San Diego to Anaheim on that Thursday (day 1 of Comicon). Go into the DL parks on Fri & Sat, fly home on Sunday. Or San Diego first, then LA, then Disneyland.
 
You could keep your Disneyland Reservation as is and go to San Diego the weekend before with LA in the middle... Or you could stick with the plan and just stay somewhere in North San Diego, plenty of great beach communities along the 5.

Comic Con is a blast. We've been going every year for over 20 years. But it might not make for the kind of San Diego weekend you were envisioning. Better to be forewarned so you can plan ahead.
 
But would Disneyland be more crowded on a weekend?

During the summer? Usually no.
Why? Because the So Cal APs are blocked out on those days.
And because usually Deluxe APs are blocked out on Saturdays, too.

Those 2 factors combined can translate into "it's not mobbed" in the parks, especially in the first 3-4 hours that the parks are open.
 


Just so I understand...why wouldn't flying into SD and driving to the LA area on Saturday work?
Because you said:
Sat: arrive (long flight from NC). Head to Santa Monica Pier in afternoon/evening
After a long flight from NC into San Diego you would have a two plus hour drive to Santa Monica. I was just making a guess you wouldn't be landing in SD early in the morning. However, if you don't mind the long drive after a long flight then flying into SD may be just the thing.

I have another follow up question - my SIL said when they went to Santa Monica pier that it was not nice. She said they saw a lot of sketchy stuff (people doing drugs) and she wasn't comfortable there with her kids. Is this common? Should we plan something else?
Take the advice of someone you know and trust over those of us who live in the area. You will see things you do not see in Charlotte. If you are like your SIL you, too, may be uncomfortable there. On a Saturday afternoon/evening the pier can get quite colorful. Nothing I have seen there has made me uncomfortable with kids. I say take the advice of your SIL.
 
Based on everyone’s input, I think we’ve decided that we’re going to keep our Disneyland days the same because it’s just easier not to have to reschedule the hotel. We’re going to fly into LAX and then drive down to San Diego to start our trip. We’ll end the trip in L.A.

Thanks everyone!
 

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