someplace cheap, day’s inn is generally nice, had some good times there. I seriously doubt anyone has fat wallets and extremely deep pockets during the recession. the parks already cost like $100 a day and the cheap, useless junk you buy is like another $100. rather then go broke with all that spending and $150 a night hotels, the "cheap" motels can help you save some money.

route: pacific coast highway or 5 fwy
direction: south
order: universal (1 or 2 days)
disney 1-2 days
seaworld 1 days
redwood forest 2 days to 2 weeks, reserve early, camp if you’d like, however a hotel is recommended. there’s like only 2 hotels so no possibility of a cheap motel 8 or something. Redwoods also found at Yosemite national park too.

distance: down from WA state to Universal Studios, CA: 700+ miles (I don’t know, its a guess)
<30 miles SOUTH Universal to Disneyland
approx 110 miles SOUTH from disney to seaworld, San Diego, CA.
>200 miles NORTH from sea world to Sequoia or Kings Canyon National park.
>100 miles NORTH from Kings/Sequoia to Yosemite Park.

I’ve had many great experiences at motel 8, holiday inn and day’s inn.

Gas in Southern California is $2.80 to $3.20, please drive a fuel efficient car, otherwise you’ll be broke from the gas cost.

avoid driving into cities in the morning,and leaving them at the evening.
morning rush hour: 7.30a to 9.30a, noon rush 12p to2p, evening rush: 3pm to 8pm.

avoid the 110 freeway in Pasadena, 710 most of the route, 710 has construction from the 405 to the 91, avoid this route. there is a choke point in traffic flow at where the 91 and 5 freeways cross, there is a construction area a bit north of that for some odd reason people like to slow way down and cause a jam.

near downtown LA freeway speed limit is 55 for all vehicles and 45 for trucks and heavy vehicles.
California #1 in the USA for speeding tickets/speeds, so don’t speed too much and don’t get road rage is someone appears to nearly hit you while passing at the high rate of speed. It happens a lot. don’t travel in the carpool lane if you can’t drive up to 85. People get pissed and tailgate you if you drive 65 (speed limit) when traffic is light.

I recommend post 2005 maps of the LA/Orange County/Riverside and San Diego county maps, there’s been lots of change on the freeways and roads.

Lego land is in San Diego, as so is this really wilderness big zoo. all within 30 miles of seaworld.

while Mexico is real close to San Diego, do not go into Mexico. Do be careful in San Diego, some Mexican gangs have taken to kidnapping Americans for hostages or ransom. Its extremely rare, but still be careful.

you can visit universal studios, see Hollywood, see downtown LA, disney, and Knotts berry farm (amusement park like disney but more for teenagers) all going south on the 5 freeway.

other parks I recommend
Six flags/Magic Mountain
Disney California adventure
Knott’s berry farm
Long Beach Aquarium
San Diego Zoo
See Hollywood,
Visit downtown LA
Visit historic San Diego and Visit downtown San Diego
Visit historic Santa Ana, Orange, LA.
Visit downtown Long Beach (more tall buildings than downtown LA)

Come live in Oceanside or Carlsbad area then you r in the middle where you can go to lego land local. Beach is awesome you can go to Sea World in half hr Disney land in 45 mints Universal Studio in an hr and Red wood forest and Yosemite in five hrs. if i know you well you would hv stayed with us lol. Enjoy your california stay nice place for vacation.

This is why people in LA must drive cars. Everything is far apart. Going from North to south:

Redwood forest: Way up north, you should post a question in the San Francisco forum for this.
Universal Studios: North of downtown, a good place to stay would be in Hollywood, at the Orchid Suites, Hollywood Celebrity, or Holiday Inn Walk of Fame. That’s only one subway stop from Universal, and it’s right next to the Walk of Fame, Chinese Theater, El Capitan, and Hollywood & Highland Complex.

Disneyland: 38 miles south of Universal. I always recomment the Howard Johnson and Candy Cane Inns. There are cheaper hotels (motels, actually), but these both give outstanding value, and are a short walk to the front entrance (about a block).

Legoland: 64 miles south of Anaheim, in San Diego County.

Sea World: 31 miles south of Legoland. I’m not an expert on San Diego. You should either post a question in the San Diego forum, or visit http://www.localwally.com. He’ll give you the straight scoop on San Diego.

I always use mousesavers for my money saving when going to disneyland or disneyworld, they are great and you can find the best stuff for your trip there. And I use trip advisor for my hotel selections, it is nice to see what other people think about the hotel, not just the "experts" I hope that this helps and have a wonderful trip.