Kids Korner

Visit Sunny San Diego! LEGOLAND® San Diego Zoo Mission Bay Beaches Learn to surf or zoom down a giant wooden roller coaster. Eat dinner with Shamu or sleep with rhinos. Drive a kid-sized LEGO car or get nose-to-nose with a bunch of apes. Check out a 21st Century space station or an aircraft carrier. In San Diego you can do all that and more. (Check out www.sandiego.org to find out what's new.) You're guaranteed to have a blast, even with annoying siblings along.

Did You Know?

• Sea World San Diego is the place to go to get up close and personal with Shamu the killer whale, as well as penguins, sharks, manatees, and scores of other sea creatures. There are plenty of theme park thrills, too, like the Journey to Atlantis wet and wild adventure that tells the story of the lost city of Atlantis through earthquake and floods. If you need more chills, try R.L. Stine's Haunted Lighthouse. There's Shamu's Happy Harbor play area for younger kids and the guaranteed-to-please Shipwreck Rapids water coaster. If you're 13 and your parents are willing, you can sign on to be a Trainer for a Day, working with killer whales, dolphins and other animals. It costs $295 (www.seaworld.com).

• It took more than 30 million LEGO bricks to build all the creatures and buildings in LEGOLAND – from a life-sized elephant that squirts water to the tiny replica of the Statue of Liberty. Nearly 50,000 parents and kids just helped to construct the tallest LEGO tower ever built – 83 feet tall, using more than 500,000 bricks. Visit the website at www.legoland.com to learn more.

• With more than 4,000 animals at the San Diego Zoo, there's a new baby born nearly every day – including a giant panda. The San Diego Zoo is the only zoo in the country to successfully breed and rear healthy cubs and one of only four where you can see these giant cuddly creatures. Mei Sheng was born in August 2003. Go to www.sandiegozoo.org/kids for a special area of the website just for kids.

• More than 165,000 active duty military and defense personnel are stationed in San Diego. That's why you see lots of ships – and men and women in uniform. Visit the famous aircraft carrier Midway at the new San Diego Aircraft Carrier Museum along San Diego bay (www.midway.org).

What Other Kids Say You Should Do While In San Diego . . .

Meet Samantha, 15, and Alex, 13, who live in San Diego. The Doerners are daughters of San Diego-based Southwest Employee Roberta Doerner.

They Say: “The best part about living in San Diego is the sunshine and the beaches, especially La Jolla Cove, where you might see the harbor seals, and South Mission Beach. It's also fun to take the ferry to Coronado where there are more beaches and great shopping!

Visiting Kids Should Definitely Not Miss: SeaWorld San Diego, the San Diego Zoo, and hanging out on the beaches

Must Eats: Pizza at Fillippi's Pizza Grotto in Little Italy (1747 India Street, 619-232-5095) and ice cream at Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour (10606 Camino Ruiz, 858-578-9895)

Must-have Souvenirs: Some shells from the beach, a San Diego T-shirt, anything from the zoo or SeaWorld, and a tan!

Tell Your Parents: If you're planning to hit a lot of San Diego's attractions as well as Disneyland, only about an hour and a half drive away, save money by purchasing a Southern California CityPass. Check out www.citypass.com for details. Also check out www.sandiego.org for hot deals on places to stay.

See Past Editions of Kids Korner.

By: Eileen Ogintz, Author of Taking the Kids™