Hello E.,
This past Christmas holiday break my son was 2 1/2yrs old. We took our first family trip to San Diego. We live in Buena Park so the drive was perfect, we left when it was his naptime, he slept the whole way and was ready to go when we got there. We did a 3 day trip.
Started off with Sea World, this is great. Since your daughter loves the hands on part. My son held a starfish, a sting ray gave him a high 5, he fed the dolphins twice (this would have to be his favorite because you get to pet them before you feed them. He also fed the sea lions, which one of them ended up playing peek-a-boo with my son. It was wonderful!!!! Oh yeah, he also fed the ducks. Now at Sea World they have the Elmo's World Bay of Play, we can't wait to go back this October!
The second day was the San Diego Zoo. It was nice, saw a few of the shows and totally missed the kids zoo part, it was closed by the time we got there. The next time to go we are going to do the San Diego Wild Animal Park.
The third day was Sea World again, which he did the same thing as the first day. He loved it so much. I think the next time we go we will do Sea World, Wild Animal Park and then Legoland.
Another trip we did (as a reward for potty training) we did 3 days at Disneyland. Yes, we live right down the street from it so we didn't have to pay for a hotel. We ended up getting passes for Disneyland (oh yeah Sea World too.) But, we took our time at Disneyland knowing that we had 3 days there.
But, I loved the San Diego trip, you could even stay a day on the beach. I think I will have to talk to my husband again about maybe going to San Diego sooner than October, I am starting to want to go just by talking about it.
Good Luck,
M.