anyone done the drive from disneyland (or LA in general) to las vegas

[disneyholic family]

i have our trip for next october planned out, airline and train tickets purchased, hotels and rental cars reserved.
The only driving sections will be Disneyland to Las Vegas, and then Las Vegas to LAX.

Anyone driven between LA and Vegas?
how was it?
Am i crazy for thinking we should do it?

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[atkinstogram]

Yea, we did it in Sept' 15 - drove from downtown LA to Vegas.

Honestly, it was a piece of cake. We had a big comfortable car, and it was a really simple cruise down. There's a really interesting solar energy plant as you get closer to Vegas too. Had us confused as to what it was as it sat there glinting away in the distance..

 

[disneyholic family]

Yea, we did it in Sept' 15 - drove from downtown LA to Vegas.

Honestly, it was a piece of cake. We had a big comfortable car, and it was a really simple cruise down. There's a really interesting solar energy plant as you get closer to Vegas too. Had us confused as to what it was as it sat there glinting away in the distance..

thanks!
DH keeps harassing me about driving through a desert, but from what i can tell, it's a major highway with lots of traffic going through there, so i really don't see how it would be a big deal..
and since it's almost at the end of the trip, i won't be tired from the flight the way i might be at the beginning...

now i just have to learn about disneyland..
crazy how clueless i feel...

 

[Pooh's-Honey-Pot]

Took us about four hours to drive. Roads are wide and easy. We stopped at a roadside chain diner and I ate something that gave me the worst food poisoning I’ve ever had in my life. Lost two days of Disneyland time! Use plenty of hand sanitizer if you stop and don’t eat anything!!!

 

[Dreams&wishes]

We did it too, it was beautiful a bit repetitive but beautiful

 

[disneyholic family]

i figure i'll have to stop often....i tend to tire on long drives..
when i drove from orlando to ft lauderdale, i stopped at every single rest stop along the way - or whatever those places are called on the turnpike..
but on this drive, it's just an interstate, so it won't be as obvious where to stop nor as easy, since we'll actually have to pull off the highway...

 

[disneyholic family]

this is a good webpage on the drive...
i sure hope we don't hit one of those 12 hour drive times !!
https://www.vegas.com/traveltips/top-10-tips-for-driving-from-la-to-vegas/
we will be there for the elections in 2020....that should be pretty interesting..
i wonder if there will be betting on it....for sure...don't they bet on everything...

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[Jon84]

Easy drive, we stopped at Peggy Sue's on the way out. And stopped at a retail park in Barstow on the way back for Coffee.

Theres not many places to stop, even less if you consider where you'd rather not stop if travelling in the dark!

 

[BadPinkTink]

I did it with friends in 2013. Yes it is driving in the dessert BUT its a major commuter route and a big normal motorway.

Huge amounts of people commute between LA and Vegas every day, Fridays LA to Vegas and Sunday Vegas to LA are the busiest times.

From LA to Vegas, the last town is Baristow. Make sure to stop here for gas (petrol) restrooms (toilets) and food. There are also some outlet shops here.

If you are using a phone in the car, don't leave it on the dashboard, as the sun through the windscreen will over heat it.

On travel days, allow for 6 hours between departure location and arrival location. Technically the drive is about 4 hours, but depending on the time and day you could get caught in traffic and also to allow for a stop.

 

[disneyholic family]

I did it with friends in 2013. Yes it is driving in the dessert BUT its a major commuter route and a big normal motorway.

Huge amounts of people commute between LA and Vegas every day, Fridays LA to Vegas and Sunday Vegas to LA are the busiest times.

From LA to Vegas, the last town is Baristow. Make sure to stop here for gas (petrol) restrooms (toilets) and food. There are also some outlet shops here.

If you are using a phone in the car, don't leave it on the dashboard, as the sun through the windscreen will over heat it.

On travel days, allow for 6 hours between departure location and arrival location. Technically the drive is about 4 hours, but depending on the time and day you could get caught in traffic and also to allow for a stop.

we'll be traveling to vegas on sunday, so going in the opposite direction of traffic, and heading back to LA on wednesday, which shouldn't be too bad, although with it being the day after the 'big' election next year, perhaps there will be. Hopefully no crazy people upset about the results, whatever they might be.

we're going on wednesday as our flight back home is on thursday.
i have an airport hotel booked at LAX for wed. night.
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[DLgal]

It's not TECHNICALLY a difficult or bad drive, BUT it can take a very, very, very long time. Going into Vegas can be easy, but coming BACK can be an 8+ hour ordeal if you time it wrong. Last weekend after Thanksgiving, there was a 20 MILE backup on the highway. As in, 20 miles worth of traveling at a crawl. It was taking people over 12 hours to get back to LA from Vegas.

In my experience, the FAR more enjoyable thing to do is grab a flight from Long Beach or SNA airport to Vegas for about $150 round trip and be there in under an hour. A car isn't needed in Vegas, and in fact, will just end up costing you money on parking anyway (no more free parking for the most part in strip hotels). No need to be paying for a rental car when you don't really need it.

What I would do:
Fly into SNA or Long Beach, rent car. Return car to airport and fly one way to Las Vegas. Then, return flight into LAX. Will save you almost an entire day of travel and allow you more time in either destination. All for just a couple hundred dollars. I would absolutely NOT want to drive a rental car through the desert. If you break down, it will be a huge pain in the butt. I would only drive my own car that I know is in good shape.

If you decide to forge ahead with the drive, do NOT go into Vegas on a Friday or Saturday and do NOT leave Vegas on a Sunday or Monday.

We live in So Cal and visit Vegas regularly. I won't do the drive anymore after out last trip home took 9 hours on a non holiday weekend.

 

[McNs]

We drove the other way on our trip this year. Decided to make a day out of it and drove via Death Valley. This is an awesome place and well worth visiting, it was a two hour drive from Las Vegas, we spent maybe 4 hours in the park, then about 4.5 hours to our hotel near Universal Studios.

 

[disneyholic family]

It's not TECHNICALLY a difficult or bad drive, BUT it can take a very, very, very long time. Going into Vegas can be easy, but coming BACK can be an 8+ hour ordeal if you time it wrong. Last weekend after Thanksgiving, there was a 20 MILE backup on the highway. As in, 20 miles worth of traveling at a crawl. It was taking people over 12 hours to get back to LA from Vegas.

In my experience, the FAR more enjoyable thing to do is grab a flight from Long Beach or SNA airport to Vegas for about $150 round trip and be there in under an hour. A car isn't needed in Vegas, and in fact, will just end up costing you money on parking anyway (no more free parking for the most part in strip hotels). No need to be paying for a rental car when you don't really need it.

What I would do:
Fly into SNA or Long Beach, rent car. Return car to airport and fly one way to Las Vegas. Then, return flight into LAX. Will save you almost an entire day of travel and allow you more time in either destination. All for just a couple hundred dollars. I would absolutely NOT want to drive a rental car through the desert. If you break down, it will be a huge pain in the butt. I would only drive my own car that I know is in good shape.

If you decide to forge ahead with the drive, do NOT go into Vegas on a Friday or Saturday and do NOT leave Vegas on a Sunday or Monday.

We live in So Cal and visit Vegas regularly. I won't do the drive anymore after out last trip home took 9 hours on a non holiday weekend.

we definitely might fly back, since we're headed to LAX anyway (for our flight out of the US on thursday)..
so we might fly from vegas to LA on wednesday, hang out at the airport overnight for our afternoon flight home...

i doubt we'll fly to vegas, since our starting point is disneyland.....
i did think about the issue of a rental car in the desert...
oh well...what will be will be...

we do need a rental car, as we're going to vegas on business, not vacation - personally i HATE vegas with a passion..
but my husband has to be there on business, so we're going at the end of our trip to so cal...
the trip is actually so that we can participate in the ABD DL/imagineering trip..
we tacked on a DCL cruise before it and then we'll go to vegas.

we're not staying on the strip and where we're staying actually does have free parking (and no casino)...
my husband will be in meetings, while i shop till i drop..
i have the stores mapped out already (mostly kohls LOL).....
yeah, when you come from overseas, shopping can be the most fun part of the trip..

if we have time, we'll do a bit of sightseeing - hoover dam, red rock canyon...
definitely not the strip....
we'll be there in november, so the weather should be easy...

if we do fly, we'll rent a car at mccarran airport...
we shall see...

but i do love road trips, so maybe...

 

[disneyholic family]

We drove the other way on our trip this year. Decided to make a day out of it and drove via Death Valley. This is an awesome place and well worth visiting, it was a two hour drive from Las Vegas, we spent maybe 4 hours in the park, then about 4.5 hours to our hotel near Universal Studios.

what time of year was it?
we'll be there the first week of november...

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[McNs]

what time of year was it?
we'll be there the first week of november...

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We drove through October 7th. It was warm in the valley but not unbearable (maybe 35C?). First week of November should be good.

 

[disneyholic family]

We drove through October 7th. It was warm in the valley but not unbearable (maybe 35C?). First week of November should be good.

ok...off to look at a map to see what you're talking about!!.

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[atkinstogram]

We drove through October 7th. It was warm in the valley but not unbearable (maybe 35C?). First week of November should be good.

We pootled on through Death Vally in September 2015 on our way up to Yosemite. It was 46C.

As a pale faced Englishman, it was.... educational.

 

[disneyholic family]

We pootled on through Death Vally in September 2015 on our way up to Yosemite. It was 46C.

As a pale faced Englishman, it was.... educational.

Mad dogs and Englishman go out in the midday sun...

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[wayneg]

We once flew from Vegas to DL, would never do it again. By the time we had driven to airport, dropped car, check in 2 hours before flight, flight time, waited for luggage, bus to car collection, long collection of next car(with nasty staff at Dollar) and driven to DL we could have easily driven quicker and far less stress. I drove back from Disneyland Paris a couple of week back, took about 10 hours, I wouldn't fly for anything less than that.

 

[disneyholic family]

We once flew from Vegas to DL, would never do it again. By the time we had driven to airport, dropped car, check in 2 hours before flight, flight time, waited for luggage, bus to car collection, long collection of next car(with nasty staff at Dollar) and driven to DL we could have easily driven quicker and far less stress. I drove back from Disneyland Paris a couple of week back, took about 10 hours, I wouldn't fly for anything less than that.

that's exactly what i said to Aaron.
definitely for the DL to vegas part of it...
i said by the time we get from DL to LAX, go through security etc etc, we would already be in vegas if we drive straight from DL..
i really hate the whole flying experience...
it's like they think up new ways to torture you..
if we lived in the states again, i'd drive to WDW rather than fly..

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