Week 30 at Grand Pacific Palisades - Summer Vacation

Like many others, 2020 was a difficult year for our family, especially with our children doing remote learning from home.  One silver lining was that we accrued a lot of unused vacation time that we now get to enjoy this summer.  We used GPX to exchange our week 52 at Carlsbad Inn into week 30 at Grand Pacific Palisades.  This was our first time staying at this resort.

We were in a 2 bedroom/2 bath unit overlooking Armada Drive (“garden view”).  It was very spacious, with plenty of room for our 3 kids.  I took pictures of the unit before moving in.  Here’s a few:

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Although GPP is not walking distance from Carlsbad’s beaches, the resort offers a shuttle service that will bring you to and from the beaches.  We didn’t use the shuttle, and never made it to the beach this week, because we were busy enjoying San Diego’s parks and catching up with family and friends.  We tried to get all our sightseeing and visiting done this week because the following week we had reservations at Carlsbad Inn, and we wanted to enjoy as much beach time as possible.  During our stay at GPP, we spent a day at Legoland, which was lots of fun, and so easy to walk to.  In fact, after spending the morning at the park, we came back to GPP for lunch and a little rest, and then walked back to Legoland in the late afternoon to enjoy their water park.  We also spent time at the San Diego Zoo (it’s huge!), Old Town (lunch and shopping at Fiesta de Reyes), and La Jolla Cove (sea lions for the kids, boutique shopping for mom).  With all the time we spent running around San Diego, we needed a couple days of easy pool time at the resort, and GPP was great for this.  The pool has a fun splash pad for the kids, and we met lots of nice families from all over the country (hello Michigan friends!!). 

GPP would not be our first choice for a beach vacation, but for a very comfortable place to enjoy Legoland, and all of San Diego’s many other attractions, this is a great choice.