A.M. rush hour drive time La Mesa/San Diego to Anaheim?

[VandVsmama]

In order to save an extra buck or 2 on our June DL trip, I changed our reservations at Hojo's so we'll be spending Sunday night in La Mesa with family & driving from La Mesa (suburb of San Diego) to Anaheim on Monday morning.

So I've looked at Google Maps and there are 2 possible routes:
Route #1:

• I-8 West to I-5
• Merge onto I-5 North
• Stay on I-5 North until we hit Anaheim. Google Maps says 1 hr 47 min, but I know that's without traffic.

Route #2:

• I-8 West to I-805 North
• Merge from I-805 North to I-5 North
• Stay on I-5 North until we hit Anaheim. Google Maps says 1 hr 35 min.

So I have a couple of questions:

1. Does anybody know if 805 has any carpool lanes?
2. Are there carpool lanes on I-5 between La Jolla & Anaheim?
3. We are not necessarily targeting to get to the DL gates right at park opening on Monday with this new game plan. If we left La Mesa by 7:00 am, would 2-2.5 hours be realistic or are we looking at closer to 3 hours if there's really bad traffic?

Thanks for your help everyone!

 

[dtnrhi]

This is the route we took from Super 8 La Mesa (I know that isn't your starting point, but that's what I remembered.)

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Sup...e75ec5f835513c5!2m2!1d-117.914052!2d33.812902

We left about 7:30am trying to get to Anaheim. Took us about 2.5 hours (with one stop) to get there using the HOV lane when available. I seem to recall there being a carpool lane most of the way.

 

[tarheelalum]

I always do the 805 to the 5 route. It's heavy during rush hour in the morning but its moving so if everything goes well without any wrecks you can make it in your listed times plus 30 minutes +/- depending on heavy your right foot is.

 

[nkushch]

I prefer doing 805 to 5. You won't be on the 805 for very long.

Yes, there are carpool lanes on the 5. For San Diego, I believe they start around the 56 and end around Manchester. Up north, they start around the 1 and you'll take that all the way to Disney. There will be a left hand exit from the carpool lane for you

I live further up and inland so can't help you much on timing. Plus the 5 can be unpredictable at times.

Enjoy your visit!

 

[VandVsmama]

Thanks guys! This is very helpful!!

 

[VandVsmama]

dtnrhi - That Super 8 is super close to where my BIL & SIL live!

 

[mrkyyyle]

Carpool lanes end right around La Jolla/Palomar I believe on the SD side, and start up again around San Clemente so you have a stretch of freeway without them.

I'd say 2.5 hours would be a good guesstimate