Any fun places to stop on the way to Disneyland from N. Cal?

[ExcitedMama]

We are just a few days away from our magical trip and getting very excited and of course as the Mom I'm getting nervous about all the planning. My children will be 4 and 1 and the youngest hates the car and neither will nap in their car seats. Any fun places to stop along the way with the little ones? I'm sure going to Disney will be more fast pace so we can get in and enjoy everything but we will still need put stops of course and on the way back home we may slow down the pace and enjoy the scenery more. Most likely we will take 5 straight down and possibly the same route back or we might come back up 101 if we can meet up with some people on the way back.

Anyone happen to have any magical tricks to keeping a baby from screaming the whole way there? Or getting her to nap in her car seat?

 

[crystal1313]

Do movies help? I know it's hard for a little one to watch an entire movie, but it helped my kids a lot when they were little. Especially since they had never really seen any movies, so it was kinda special.

We drive down from the east bay. My DH likes to get to our destination as quick as possible, so we make only one stop usually. the 5 is SO boring....we usually stop in Buttonwillow for gas top off and starbucks for us! Sometimes we have to stop a little earlier at Kettlemen City........we never use rest stops, but I would imagine they could stretch their legs the best there. Off hand, i can't think of anything fun worth stopping for.

My kids have a really hard time sleeping in the car, even when it's way past their bedtime and dark outside. We've found playing lullaby's in the car really helps. We tell them it's bedtime and they cannot talk anymore (they still do, but we limit how much. DS4 is a talker when going to sleep, so he's especially difficult to wind down). Of course we make sure to have their loveys near by too. And make sure they are not too hot/cold. This past trip we made in July was the first time we got them to sleep before going over the grapevine. I would also consider bringing something for them to chew on going over the grapevine.....DS5 is fine, but DS4 has a terrible time with his ears hurting. We try everything to alleviate the pain. Gum doesn't work because he just swallows it. Yawning doesn't work either. Luckily, while asleep he was fine and it didn't wake him up.

Oh, and I suggest not getting over the grapevine at LA commute time. Took us 2.5 hours to get to DL from the grapevine last Friday......we had no choice as my DH got called into work in the morning, when we were leaving.....

 

[JadesFire]

I'm from the Sacramento area and lived for four years in SoCal for school and have made this drive more times than I can count... It's pretty awful. The trip up and down 5 is wretchedly boring and doesn't have any interesting stops. We have standard places that we stop for Starbucks and bathroom breaks, but that's not really saying a whole lot. (Santa Nella -- if we hit for a meal time, we grab food at Andersen's Split Pea; Patterson, Buttonwillow. Exactly which stops we take depends on what time we left home and whether we're going north or south. We always take gas around Buttonwillow, though, since I can't make the trip on only one tank.)

We took a family trip to Disneyland this past February when my nieces were 4 and 2, and they more or less did surprisingly well. We actually didn't need to take as many stops as we had thought we would, though we did take a lengthy break in Santa Clarita to meet up with a friend, which probably helped a bit. My nieces do sleep in their car seats, though... My SIL just packed a TON of things for them to do -- books, colouring books, small toys, etc.. My nieces also both LOVE Grandma's iPhone, which has games on it for them, so they also occupied themselves a bit with that. We rented a van so that we could all fit into one car, and I think half of it was full of things to keep the girls busy. The trip home was a lot worse -- both girls were getting over colds when we were in the parks and were exhausted by the trip home. The older one was fine, but the younger one screamed most of the trip home. There was NOTHING that could comfort her, and she was at that point where apparently screaming is better than sleeping. Poor kid.)

Maybe you should consider 99? My in-laws always take 99 when they visit us because there are more stops along it. You have to take stretches of 5 to get from here to LA and Orange County, of course, and it is a longer drive, but they prefer the stops there. I've never taken it, though, because that's not what my parents ever did and it is out of the way a bit, so I don't really know anything about the route other than that.

 

[Jaylens Papa]

If you come down the 99 there is a cool place just north of Visalia. It's called Bravo Farms. They have lots of antiques, old farm equiptment. A store with neet nic nac's. Dried fruit, wine and cheese tasting. A restaurant and outside BBQ with good tri tip sandwiches.
Other than a bunch of farm towns, there's not much more to do on this route. But you don't have to endure the " Stinky Cows" on the 5 down by the 198.

 

[disney4cam]

Honestly the drive sucks and there is nothing to see. We are in the camp of just plowing through and getting there ASAP. I don't know where you are in NCal, but we are just east of Sacramento. We stop once for breakfast in Buttonwillow and we get to Disneyland in about 7 hours. We leave at 4:30am, and roll up to the hotel by 11:30.

What worked for us, is DVDs, activity books, car games, and forbidden snacks (chocolate donuts, etc.). We have decided to start flying, though, since on our last drive dd nearly overflowed a mixing bowl with puke. Ewwww!

I think the most important thing is to minimize traffic. Our timing was perfect because we never hit traffic. The way home is tougher.

 

[aliceindisneyland]

There aren't a lot of attractions, though there is the Bugseum in Shafter (Bakersfield area) that's a couple miles off the freeway. It's a one room toy store and butterfly/bug museum. Takes about 15 minutes to see everything inside and my kids love it, though no way would I waste time headed to DL on it There's also an airplane museum on the same road, but we haven't been there.
We always stop at the Laval Rd West exit right before you hit the Grapevine [Don't go to Laval Rd East - it is a yucky travel stop.] Starbucks, In N Out, McDonald's, gas -- all with clean restrooms. That way we don't have to stop again until we are at Disneyland - usually. If we do, we stop at Lyons Ave just past Magic Mountain, because the first town you hit on the LA side of the Grapevine is Castaic and everyone stops there so the restrooms are awful. If you must stop in Gorman (on the Grapevine), go to the McDonald's, NOT the Carl's Jr. When we were backed up on the 5 for hours headed home one night, we were dying for gas and restrooms and went to Carl's and even the men were coming out of the restrooms refusing to go because they were so disgusting. We raced across the freeway to McDonald's and the line was out the door but the restrooms were sparkling clean and they had 2 employees in there keeping it up - way to go!
With kids that small, I find it's all about the restrooms

 

[tinkermell]

If you come down the 99 there is a cool place just north of Visalia. It's called Bravo Farms. They have lots of antiques, old farm equiptment. A store with neet nic nac's. Dried fruit, wine and cheese tasting. A restaurant and outside BBQ with good tri tip sandwiches.
Other than a bunch of farm towns, there's not much more to do on this route. But you don't have to endure the " Stinky Cows" on the 5 down by the 198.

They also have a shooting gallery that looks like it is from Cars, the biggest gingerbread Tree house, huge sandbox a with bunch of toys to play in, a petting zoo, a miniature golf course, ice cream store, and if they are making cheese, that's fun to watch. This place is a kid's paradise, besides Disneyland.

Jaylens Papa, we live in Tulare also.

My son works for Bravo, but mostly the one in Tulare and Visalia. He does some of the art work for them, and helped with the design of the restaurants. At Kettleman, Bravo Farms is working on a huge development that looks like a western town. He is also helping with the interior design and layout of that. It's going to feature tons of things to do and see also. So when that finally opens it will be a great stopping place on the 5.

 

[crystal1313]

We saw that western town being built in Kettlemen! It's right across from the Starbucks. We were wondering what it was! It reminded me of a place that used to be on our way to South Lake Tahoe called Sam's Town. It was in Cameron Park. It had lots of old arcade games (and new ones too), an old fashioned candy store, a saloon with saw dust on the ground, and a bunch of other fun stuff. I loved it as a kid. Sadly, they tore it down. I'll have to research Bravo farms. Sounds fun!

 

[WestMom2two]

I'm from the Sacramento area and lived for four years in SoCal for school and have made this drive more times than I can count... It's pretty awful. The trip up and down 5 is wretchedly boring and doesn't have any interesting stops. We have standard places that we stop for Starbucks and bathroom breaks, but that's not really saying a whole lot. (Santa Nella -- if we hit for a meal time, we grab food at Andersen's Split Pea; Patterson, Buttonwillow. Exactly which stops we take depends on what time we left home and whether we're going north or south. We always take gas around Buttonwillow, though, since I can't make the trip on only one tank.)

I'm from Sacramento too! We are headed down to Disney in 30 days again. Last year the only stops we had to make were restroom breaks. We also make sure we leave early in the morning, like 4:00am, so that the kids will sleep most the way. Last September we took 99 down. I thought it was better then 5. We plan to take 99 again. I bring the kids LeapPads and pack snacks but for the most part the were ok.

 

[monkeymers]

We are just a few days away from our magical trip and getting very excited and of course as the Mom I'm getting nervous about all the planning. My children will be 4 and 1 and the youngest hates the car and neither will nap in their car seats. Any fun places to stop along the way with the little ones? I'm sure going to Disney will be more fast pace so we can get in and enjoy everything but we will still need put stops of course and on the way back home we may slow down the pace and enjoy the scenery more. Most likely we will take 5 straight down and possibly the same route back or we might come back up 101 if we can meet up with some people on the way back.

Anyone happen to have any magical tricks to keeping a baby from screaming the whole way there? Or getting her to nap in her car seat?

Are you from the Sac area? We live along the coast and try to stay away from I-5 as much as possible. We take 101 until the 46 cutover at Paso Robles. There's more to look at, and it makes potty stops easier to find. Although it tends to add about 30 min to the drive.

Another thing we do is try to leave around a nap time or while it's still dark in the morning. Hopefully the young ones sleep while we drive. I always stop at Target the day before we leave and pick up some kind of special car toys like etchasketch, magnadoodle, etc.

And you can never underestimate the power of a car DVD player. If you don't have one hardwired into your vehicle, you can pick one up pretty cheap at Target or Walmart that will fit over headrests.

 

[Minuet888]

I've lived at both the Bay Area and the farthest north in Humboldt County I know several places to stop for something small and fun but need to know where you are coming from, how far up the 5?

 

[tinkermell]

We saw that western town being built in Kettlemen! It's right across from the Starbucks. We were wondering what it was! It reminded me of a place that used to be on our way to South Lake Tahoe called Sam's Town. It was in Cameron Park. It had lots of old arcade games (and new ones too), an old fashioned candy store, a saloon with saw dust on the ground, and a bunch of other fun stuff. I loved it as a kid. Sadly, they tore it down. I'll have to research Bravo farms. Sounds fun!

I know exactly where you are talking about. My sister lived in Placerville for years, and I still have nieces and nephews up there.

 

[Jaylens Papa]

They also have a shooting gallery that looks like it is from Cars, the biggest gingerbread Tree house, huge sandbox a with bunch of toys to play in, a petting zoo, a miniature golf course, ice cream store, and if they are making cheese, that's fun to watch. This place is a kid's paradise, besides Disneyland.

Jaylens Papa, we live in Tulare also.

My son works for Bravo, but mostly the one in Tulare and Visalia. He does some of the art work for them, and helped with the design of the restaurants. At Kettleman, Bravo Farms is working on a huge development that looks like a western town. He is also helping with the interior design and layout of that. It's going to feature tons of things to do and see also. So when that finally opens it will be a great stopping place on the 5.

My accross the street neighbor and his brother are the ones who built those wooden waterwheels and wooden carts. He built the long trough for gold panning too. I haven't been to Kettelman yet but I hear it's going to be cool.

 

[ExcitedMama]

We live in Monterey so we have a few different options. We could backtrack a little to go north and connect with 5 in Hollister or take Hwy 101 to 46. The kids are usually early birds so we are hoping to leave by 7:00 a.m. next Thursday. Should we stick with 5 for the quickest arrival? DH has a work conference so after Disney we will be in downtown L.A. for a week so I'm not sure if we will take 101 straight back home. Is 46 worth a drive through? Thanks so much everyone!

 

[Minuet888]

Hi,
I live in Southern CA and my family lives in Santa Cruz so I travel the 46 all the time there are a couple of wineries in the beginning of the 46 otherwise there is NOTHING! The 46 is an hour drive between 101 and 5 and there is NOTHING no restrooms nothing for an hour all fields and hills, just warning you. I just realized most of the stuff I knew where to stop is before above Monterey

The only minor interesting thing about the 46 is there is a highway connector there about halfway through the 46 where James Dean crashed his car and died.

 

[monkeymers]

We live in Monterey so we have a few different options. We could backtrack a little to go north and connect with 5 in Hollister or take Hwy 101 to 46. The kids are usually early birds so we are hoping to leave by 7:00 a.m. next Thursday. Should we stick with 5 for the quickest arrival? DH has a work conference so after Disney we will be in downtown L.A. for a week so I'm not sure if we will take 101 straight back home. Is 46 worth a drive through? Thanks so much everyone!

We live in Santa Cruz. Honestly, it is a MUCH better drive going 101 to Paso Robles and taking the 46 to I-5. There is literally no time difference. There is a great place to stop at the 46/101 interchange. There is a Starbucks, a pizza place, Subway, etc. all right there. As well as gas and McDonalds. They are redoing 46 so now it's a 4 lane road each way, much safer. I will never again go up and over the Hollister way. SOOOO boring and lonnnnnnng with very few options if you need to stop. You can take 101 all the way as well, and it really doesn't add more than 30 to 45 min. We've gone to DL about 20 times in the past 6 years. Seriously, take 101 to 46.

 

[larina]

I'm of the "just take 5 and get there" mind. I drove 46 last night (I'm in Grover Beach for a wedding) and it was slow (semis that would NOT pull out) and painful. There's nothing to see except a rest stop, I don't understand why people do if they don't have to.

 

[kevdo]

Not sure how well this would be for toddlers but Pea Soup Andersen's can be fun if you're going for a retro vibe.

 

[BirdsSingWords]

Not sure how well this would be for toddlers but Pea Soup Andersen's can be fun if you're going for a retro vibe.

Yep, Andersen's is a must for us. Great midway point to stretch legs, have a nice breakfast or lunch, and eat some of that electric orange cheese and crackers from a barrel.

 

[ExcitedMama]

Anderson's is in Gustine which is actually North of Monterey so that would be the wrong way for us.

Any more votes for going 5 or 46? I think its a tie now so I'm not sure which way to go.