Amy
TUG Member
We will be flying into San Diego and checking into the Lawrence Welk Resort on Saturday, March 11. This will be our first visit at Lawrence Welk, and we have a 2BR unit reserved for our family of three, DH, DS (23 months) and me. I picked the original Lawrence Welk over the newer Villas on the Greens after reading the TUG reviews. I'm planning to call the resort this week to place a couple of requests (such as request for non-smoking unit) and would appreciate some guidance. I also need help with misc. matters.
DRIVE FROM AIRPORT Google Map shows the distance to be around 44 miles with an estimated driving time of 50 minutes. Is the drive time fairly accurate from the airport to the resort parking lot?
UNIT LOCATION I get the sense that the units are clustered near three pool recreational areas, the Boulder Springs Club House and Waterslide area, the Broadway Hill Recreation Center, and the Harmony Hill Recreation Center. From the descriptions on the resort website the coolest sounding area is the Boulder Springs Club House. I can't get a good sense of the facilities from the limited photo shot on the website. Is the "interactive water playground for children" at Boulder Springs one suitable for a toddler or more geared toward older kids? Would we as exchangers be able to request [or receive] a unit near Boulder Springs or are the closer units part of the new phase -- the Villas on the Greens? Would folks recommend we request a unit near one of the other two recreational areas instead?
UNITS The reviews from last year mention all the villas were undergoing refurbishment. Does anyone know if the resort has finished refurbishing all the units? If not, I'll make sure to add a request for a refurbished unit if available. Also, are do all the 2BR units come with two double beds in the second room?
FOOD First, I was so excited to find a reference to a local Trader Joes in a TUG review! We moved away from LA several years ago to an area without TJs and I've really missed those stores. So I'm not even planning on visiting a "traditional" large supermarket for this upcoming trip -- I just want to get our stuff from TJs! That said, we'd appreciate some recommendation for local restaurants as well because we enjoy eating out on vacations; we've never spent any time in Escondido before -- our previous trips to the area were limited to visiting the Wild Animal Park.
TRAVEL TO LA We'll be heading up to LA (San Gabriel Valley) for one night in the middle of this trip. From various map searches I see two possible routes, one familiar to me would mean heading west to the 5 and going north while the other (unfamiliar to me) would mean heading north on the 15, then going west on the 10 to reach our destination. We're planning on the LA trip on Tuesday and returning Wednesday. We plan to drive during the period that coincides with DS's nap time (on Central Time schedule), roughly from 10 - 11 am Pacific Time, which hopefully means we won't hit as much traffic. Would heading north via 15 be the better route?
Thanks for your help.
DRIVE FROM AIRPORT Google Map shows the distance to be around 44 miles with an estimated driving time of 50 minutes. Is the drive time fairly accurate from the airport to the resort parking lot?
UNIT LOCATION I get the sense that the units are clustered near three pool recreational areas, the Boulder Springs Club House and Waterslide area, the Broadway Hill Recreation Center, and the Harmony Hill Recreation Center. From the descriptions on the resort website the coolest sounding area is the Boulder Springs Club House. I can't get a good sense of the facilities from the limited photo shot on the website. Is the "interactive water playground for children" at Boulder Springs one suitable for a toddler or more geared toward older kids? Would we as exchangers be able to request [or receive] a unit near Boulder Springs or are the closer units part of the new phase -- the Villas on the Greens? Would folks recommend we request a unit near one of the other two recreational areas instead?
UNITS The reviews from last year mention all the villas were undergoing refurbishment. Does anyone know if the resort has finished refurbishing all the units? If not, I'll make sure to add a request for a refurbished unit if available. Also, are do all the 2BR units come with two double beds in the second room?
FOOD First, I was so excited to find a reference to a local Trader Joes in a TUG review! We moved away from LA several years ago to an area without TJs and I've really missed those stores. So I'm not even planning on visiting a "traditional" large supermarket for this upcoming trip -- I just want to get our stuff from TJs! That said, we'd appreciate some recommendation for local restaurants as well because we enjoy eating out on vacations; we've never spent any time in Escondido before -- our previous trips to the area were limited to visiting the Wild Animal Park.
TRAVEL TO LA We'll be heading up to LA (San Gabriel Valley) for one night in the middle of this trip. From various map searches I see two possible routes, one familiar to me would mean heading west to the 5 and going north while the other (unfamiliar to me) would mean heading north on the 15, then going west on the 10 to reach our destination. We're planning on the LA trip on Tuesday and returning Wednesday. We plan to drive during the period that coincides with DS's nap time (on Central Time schedule), roughly from 10 - 11 am Pacific Time, which hopefully means we won't hit as much traffic. Would heading north via 15 be the better route?
Thanks for your help.