Flaggstaff to Disneyland-Interstate 40 or 10?

We will be coming through Flagstaff on Interstate 40 on our way to Disneyland. Are we better off dropping down to Phoenix and crossing into California on Interstate 10? I have tried using a few map programs that take traffic into consideration and they all come up with the same outcome-40 is less miles but almost 3 hours longer due to traffic conditions! The programs I have used have not added much into the trip as far as traffic for Interstate 10 but I would love to hear from AZ or CA residents or anyone else who has made the same trip before we pick a route. Thanks in advance!

If we were making that drive I would come down to I-10. Easier to navigate around the worst parts of LA traffic coming in from that way.

Thanks for the advice That is exactly what I was thinking but we have never drove either way so hearing opinions is great!!

I guess I should mention that the driving will be done a Saturday-I'm not sure how that will affect the best route!

We used to live at the Grand Canyon and we would always take 40 to Disneyland. Traffic was never to bad. We went several times on different days including during rush hour and it typically took 6-7 hours. The people that we know that live in Flagstaff take 40.

It also depends on when you are going. When we lived in Texas we drove 10 and went the weekend after Thanksgiving and traffic was crazy before we even got to Palm Springs. We were stopped on 10 for over two hours and it was just due to the traffic, no accident. This was on a Sunday and it took us 9 hrs to get from Tucson to Anaheim.

We are at Joshua Tree NP now and there was a flash flood about a month ago that washed out a bridge on 10 at Desert Center and all traffic was diverted through the park and to 62 adding a couple of hours to people's drive time. They are working on the road now and it is down to one lane on both sides. Twice this summer they have had to divert traffic during flooding on 10. If traveling in the monsoon season be prepared for possible delays especially in the afternoon.

Two monsoon's have already gone through Arizona

FYI....
Monsoons hit both Arizona and southern Nevada. Arizona monsoon season starts in June and ends in September. Humidity goes up a bit and storms will often roll in the late afternoons. If it's an especially big storm, it can start with a dust storm (haboob), followed by intense rain.

Many times, it will rain so hard that you can hardly see in front of your car and then you drive a couple hundred feet in another direction and it isn't raining at all.

If you do hit a dust storm, you should put your headlights on low beam. If the dust gets so bad that you can't see safely enough to drive, you should pull over onto the shoulder and turn OFF your headlights and keep your pedal OFF of the brake. This is so you don't have your rear taillights on, which could confuse another car or truck into thinking that your vehicle is moving. Because when a dust storm gets really bad, many people will drive slowly and follow the red taillights in front of them.

In monsoon season, we can also go many days with no rain or wind at all. In the last week alone here in my part of Tucson, we've had several monsoon rainstorms go through town. But not all of them resulted in rain at MY house, for example.

If you are driving from Flagstaff to Anaheim in the winter months, then you should go the I-10 route. All other times of year? It's 6 of 1, half dozen of the other in terms of which route to take.

Wow! Thank you for all that local advice! Monsoons and dust storms are not something we are accustomed to driving in at all! We will be driving through the weekend of October 17th. Is that late enough to have the bridge construction finished and be safe from monsoons and dust storms or are we still taking a chance with Interstate 10?

Monsoon season will be over in a couple of weeks, so weather wise, you'll be fine. October is a really nice month for travel. Caltrans won't have the I-10 bridge rebuilt by then, but they DO have it open 1-lane in both directions right AT THe bridge. Other DIS'ers have reported that the delay is hardly noticeable now. My family and I will be travelling that route on 10/3. I will post about it and let you know!