I just think your Figure 8 idea is going to add too many miles to your trip. Unless you can add extra days, that is. Especially when you factor in that you have kids with you and you need to allow for time for them to get out of the car to explore, burn off the wiggles, etc. So you never make quite as fast of time with kids. Add to that, there is so much to see and do along the coast areas you're thinking about driving that you are really short-changing yourself zipping through there that quickly, in my opinion.

And having done the drive from Washington state to see The Mouse many times when my kids were younger, I can tell you that you will just really want to focus on getting there. The kids will be too excited to get to Disneyland to enjoy the detour...based on my experiences anyway.

I think once you do a roadtrip and discover how much fun it is, and once you get exposed to the wonderful land of Disney, you will end up making more trips there. I would save the detours to the coast for future trips and spend more time in Disneyland and doing the other fun things near it. We enjoy Universal Studios and Knott's Berry Farm just as much as we enjoy Disneyland. So, if it was me, I'd spend my extra time there and really do it up good for the kiddies on their first adventure to these magical places and save the sightseeing for future trips. In fact, that's just how we did it.

If you really want to add a coastal portion, I think anyplace along the coast in California and Oregon are stupendously beautiful. You can't go wrong. But I would leave it for the trip home.