San Diego: SeaWorld, Zoo, Beach Great for Kids

I hate change, so for me vacation happiness means going to the same place each year.

This undated photo released by the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau shows whales jumping during a whale show at SeaWorld in San Diego, Calif. (AP Photo/SeaWorld San Diego)

(AP)

Which is why I've taken my girls, aged 11 and 14, to San Diego for six years running over their spring break.

Our motto: See SeaWorld, and see a lot of it. But we also include the San Diego Zoo and the beach on our visits, a perfect combination for a family vacation with kids of any age, from toddler to teen.

Visiting SeaWorld requires planning if you want to pack in as much as possible. The park hands out a map with the day's schedule at the entrance and we find it's best to spend a little time using that to decide where to start. The 11-year-old, an avid Animal Planet watcher and bossy to boot, usually calls the shots.

First stop is the Shamu show, showcasing the big black-and-white orcas for which the park is famous. We find the earnest introductory narration a bit goofy. But when the big mammals start swimming, we're riveted.

The dolphin show is always fun. We listen to the same corny patter and old jokes every year and still thrill at the sight of the animals leaping and twirling above the water.

If we're feeling adventurous, we sit in the "splash zone" — the front rows where you're warned you may get wet. They're not kidding. Unless you have something waterproof to protect expensive cameras etc., you really should move. You may get cat-caught-in-the-rain drenched. We took a pounding at the dolphin show last year, but luckily, we had our official SeaWorld plastic ponchos at the ready.

The park also offers quieter attractions. The 11-year-old can spend half an hour leaning over the wall of the bat ray pool (stingers removed) reaching out to stroke their soft, velvety backs. Feeding the rays is fun, too, although it's definitely an odd sensation the first time you feel them suck the fish out from your fingers.

At night there's Sea Lions Tonight — running in the summer and during a few weeks in the spring — parodying the park's other shows with surprisingly irreverent wit.