Winter is prime whale watching season in Southern California, and there are several ways to spy on the giant mammals as they pass through on their 6,000-mile quest for Mexican romance. Each year, between December and April, roughly 20,000 Pacific gray whales migrate past our beaches, and March brings particularly high traffic because that's when the underwater procession starts to turn around.

With reduced capacity and ocean breezes, whale watch cruises are a safe outdoor activity, making these tours book up fast—so be sure to make a reservation. If your landlubbers have touchy tummies and like to stay on shore, with a little luck and clear skies, simply Sand Sledding on the Los Angeles Sand Berms or a Day Trip to One of Our Favorite SoCal Beach Towns can turn into a whale watching outing.

Getting in free at Disneyland: it's one of those precious moments of childhood that if you blink, you miss. But unlike the ones you can't put a price on, this one is worth about $100. In other words, it's really worth keeping track of when those free admission deals for kids run out. If you're working your way down our Bucket List for Los Angeles Kids, you should probably coordinate with the cut-off ages below; some of the museums you can catch on their free admission days (and happily, some are free every day!), but the theme parks, museums, and other attractions listed below really drive home the bittersweet point that you're only young once.