Rush hour is between 6:00 and 9:00 and between 15:00 and 19:00.

If you leave Anaheim at 9:00, you'll be parked and at the beach in Laguna Beach by 9:45 or so. Spend an hour or so at the beach and be back on the road by 11:00 or so.

You'll arrive at Sea World at around 12:30. Grab some lunch and spend some time there (maybe 3-1/2 hours, all together) and that will put you on the road at 4 pm back to Anaheim.

Unfortunately, 4 pm is in the middle of the afternoon rush hour!!

So, alternatively, you might do the trip in reverse:

1. 9:00: Leave Anaheim and arrive Sea World Arrive around 10:45

2. 10:45 to 1:45 -- enjoy Sea World/have lunch

3. 1:45: Head to Laguna -- arrive around 3:15 pm

4. Spend some time at the beach. Drive back to the hotel around 4:30.

You will hit rush hour either way but the ride from Laguna to Anaheim is so much shorter, your delay should be small compared to driving from Sea World to Anaheim.

Good luck!

SeaWorld takes MUCH longer than 3 hours... You are investing about $60 per adult to visit, and for most folks, about 8 hours is an average visit.

Going to the beach is wonderful, but I wouldn't plan to do it the same day visiting SeaWorld.

I would leave the Anaheim area around 8 AM or shortly thereafter, you would miss most of the rush hour traffic (the drive is basically 5 South to the Sea World Exit (just before the I-8 interchange).

On the drive back, I would wait until at least 7 PM, but if you can handle a long day, stay until SeaWorld has their Frieworks at 10 PM, then drive home.

My personal preference would be to leave for Sea World about 8 a.m., as Darkbeer says, and make no stops. Try to exit Sea World around 6 and stay in the San Diego area, going southwest to visit the beach in Coronado for sunset. I have done this in the past when I have visited the San Diego Zoo or Balboa Park. They are a little closer to Coronado, meaning that there is a possibility that you would miss the actual sunset there, but it shouldn't be dark quite yet. Anyway, you can't tell if there will be a little mist roll in, but it's really quite charming then.

So, when you get to Coronado, park on the street near the historic Hotel Del Coronado (parking meters), go inside for a peak in the lobby, then head downstairs and out to the beach (public beach, by the way) take a walk on the beach and then come back up and get a sandwich at the walk up counter or perhaps share an appetizer in the Babcock and Story Lounge. Outside seating is the best in the summer! Sometimes there is live guitar music. This may give the adults time to relax and maybe have a drink. Then as it turns dark, it's time to leave and you would have avoided that traffic going back.