Day trip from San Diego.. in July... on a SATURDAY...

[Blue dear.]

Hi fellow-DISers!!! Wow, I haven't been on this board for a loooong time. I've missed DW!

Here's my issue. We're planning a trip to San Diego to go to Comic-Con on July 22. But by the time I remembered to register, Saturday tickets were already sold out. We had already booked our B&B for Thurs - Sun. Which leaves Saturday wide open.

We have friends in San Deigo and this isn't our first trip there, so I'd planned on taking a road trip on Saturday to L.A. Then it hit me! WE COULD GO TO DISNEYLAND! I haven't been to DL since I was 8. The husband I have been to DW a couple of times and loved it.

The last time I was at DL, it was basically just Magic Kingdom and that was it. Now there's the other park and I'm not that familiar with it at all. But it looks like DL's Hollywood Studios from what I can tell online. Which is my favorite DW park next to MK.

My question is, it's a 2-hour drive to DL from San Diego. We'll be going on a Saturday in July. (KISS OF DEATH ANYONE?) To make a long story short - - should we just buy a one day ticket to MK (the park?) or should we try a park hopper and hit both parks in one day? We'll have to drive back to SD...

I just don't know what to do. I can imagine the Saturday summer crowd being extremely crowded. Maybe we should just stick to one park?

Help please?

 

[oc_tony]

DL will likely be open from 8am-midnight, although with at least a 2-hour drive there and back, I don't know if you'll be spending the entire 16 hours there. I would plan to leave really early (like 5:30 am) and avoid the traffic to be at DL at park opening. You'll have a good 3-4 hours to hit some headliner attractions, grab some fastpasses, and ride personal favorites. By noon, the crowds are heavier, but that is a great time to hop over to DCA (Disney's California Adventure, the other park). It is a 2-minute walk from one gate to the other, so park-hopping is much easier than at WDW.

The crowds at DCA are usually a bit lower and they have fun attractions like Soarin', Tower of Terror (although the WDW one is better), Toy Story Mania, and CA Screamin'. Starting this April, DCA will also have a new nighttime spectacular called "World of Color" although crowds are expected to be huge for that. Parts of DCA do have a DHS feel to it, but it is its own unique place. Finally, the fastpass systems at the two parks are not linked, so you can obtain FPs at both at the same time. This can potentially be a real time saver.

All this being said, it really depends what time you intend to drive back to SD. If you're going to arrive at park opening and stay until 10pm or later, I'd go for the park hopper. If your budget allows for the extra cost, I think it's worth it.

 

[sonnyjane]

If I only had one Saturday in July, I'd dedicate everything I had to just Disneyland (not California Adventure), but if you have the money and are okay hopping, then you can certainly go for it.

I just wanted to let you know, since I live in San Diego, that you'll be pleasantly surprised that the drive, even on weekdays when there is work traffic, doesn't take me more than 90 minutes. Have fun!

 

[wendydarling33]

I agree it's more like 90 minutes from Downtown San Diego - where Comic Con is. I would also probably just stick with DL because there is more than enough to do there in one day and many of the "headliners" at DCA can also be found at WDW.

 

[MagicalMomAZ]

All I know & all I will remember is it took over 3 hours on June 24, 2006 to get from Newport Beach to San Diego. I will NEVER forget this. We were prepared for a 1.5 hour drive....w/ 2 kids...on limited food.

I'm not a CA native even tho we spend a lot of summers on the Orange County beaches, I still can't KNOW what every commute is like between the two areas. But I DO know from my experience I will NEVER go on a Saturday again.

So ME...being on the safe side...would just do what I can w/o trying to get it "all" in. Be it one park, or whatever.

 

[Blue dear.]

Good points, guys. Thank you! I'd love to be there at park opening but I doubt I could do a 5AM wake-up call.

It's been so long since I've been there - is DL comparable to WDW Magic Kingdom? I could do MK in about 4 hours. We didn't really go on that many rides... Then again, we never went on a summer Saturday either.

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

We did the DL to SD trip on a Saturday (June 13, 2009) and it took us little longer than we expected because we left late around noon and hit some traffic, but nowhere near 3 hours. I'd do it again and I would buy the PH so you have the option to park hop and FP some of the fun rides there like Grizzly, HTOT, CS, and Soaring. We left SD early in the morning a couple of times, like 5am, to be at DL by 7am, and it took us all of and hour and half to hour and 45 minutes.

 

[Blue dear.]

Yeah we'll definitely want to leave early... We could probably do 7AM. Be there by 9AM...? Wonder how bad the crowds will be at 9AM...

We went to Sea World on a Saturday and got there a little after park open... and swore we'd never do it again. But that was SEA WORLD. Lame! I'd do the crowds for DL.

 

[HydroGuy]

Good points, guys. Thank you! I'd love to be there at park opening but I doubt I could do a 5AM wake-up call.

It's been so long since I've been there - is DL comparable to WDW Magic Kingdom? I could do MK in about 4 hours. We didn't really go on that many rides... Then again, we never went on a summer Saturday either.

This thread answers a lot of your questions:

"A DLR Guide for WDW Vets" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1162599

 

[Mugglemama]

Yeah we'll definitely want to leave early... We could probably do 7AM. Be there by 9AM...? Wonder how bad the crowds will be at 9AM...

well, the crowds INSIDE the park might still be tolerable at 9am. however, if you don't actually arrive until 9am, that's another half an hour to park and get the tram to the gates. the lines at the gates will most likely be VERY long, so that's probably another 30 minutes just waiting to get in the gates. by then, it's 10am, and crowds inside are starting to pick up by then (because except for the die-hards like us, most people do not want to wake up at the crack of dawn just to be in line 30-45 minutes before the gates even open. so, a huge amount of people will be getting there right at the same time you are, if you get to the parking structure around 9am).

on the other hand, if it's just you and DH, and you're not toting kids around with you, waiting in lines and dealing with crowds won't be nearly as frustrating or miserable as it can be when you DO have kids with you. we have 4 kids with us on every trip, so utilizing FP and even using RideMax are musts for us, so that we don't have to spend a lot of time in lines.

if you have your heart set on seeing as much as you can during the time that you have though, you might want to consider using RideMax and still doing both parks (personally, we love DCA and would never consider skipping it, but not everyone feels the same).

how late can you stay before you have to head back to SD?

 

[Mich123]

On the bright side, the wake up call might not be so bad, since you'll just be adjusting (or not) to the 2 hour time difference from IL to CA...

 

[splash5]

We will be going to Comic con too! We are doing the 4 day ticket and then moving on to Disneyland for a few days.

 

[ScooterL]

As others have stated, if you leave San Diego by 8:00 in the morning on Saturday, it shouldn't take you more than 90 minutes to get to Disneyland. Even most of the rest of the day the traffic going north shouldn't be too bad. It's driving from Orange County south to San Diego on Saturdays that is horrible unless you do it early (before 10:00 a.m.) as MagicalMomAZ found.

Anyway...I HIGHLY recommend leaving San Diego no later than 7:00 so that you can take some advantage of being at DL before 10:00, which is when the crowds really start to pour into the park.

Remember that World of Color will be open at DCA this summer, and from everything I've seen and read, that is going to be WELL worth seeing, so you might want to get the parkhopper so you have that option.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

Why not drive up from San Diego late Fri? Stay at a hotel near DLR Fri. night ~ head to the parks early Sat. **leave your car parked at your hotel. Last July we were based in San Diego for several nights - one day we drove up to Legoland and that evening drove to Anaheim for 1 day at DLR, I was so glad we drove up the night before.

 

[Leofoenget]

You could you book a cheap hotel across the street the day before, and walk in at park open. Then you could easliy do both parks in one day if you hop. You will be dead tired at the end of the day but it's doable. Anaheim Plaza is cheapo and they will let you stay parked in their lot until midnight the day you check out so you wouldn't have to move your car.

 

[Blue dear.]

how late can you stay before you have to head back to SD?

That's a good question. I wouldn't mind staying the entire day though. Typically when we have gone in the past, we hit the parks early and we're out of there by 8pm because we've done everything. Then again, I've never gone to two parks in one day before.


splash5 - We'll see you there, man! You're lucky to have gotten that four day pass. By the time I got around to buying tix, the 4-days were sold out and the one-days weren't on sale for another month, so I forgot about it. By the time I looked again, I was really bummed that Saturday was sold out. That's really cool that you get 4 days of CC and then another few days at DL! Wow - LUCKY!!


Which reminds me guys - - those of you that are thinking "Why are you bothering going to SD for a measly two days?" This was meant to be a short trip because we're going to Scotland a few weeks before. I just wanted to check out Comic-con and we have friends there, so I decided we should go for it. We'll only be home for a week after Europe before we leave for SD. I'm probably trying to do too much, going to Scotland, then Comic-Con, then DL but that's just me. MULTI-TASKER.

For those of you that suggested driving up on Friday night and staying near DL.... That's a good idea except we've already booked a B&B and there's no way my husband would pay double for DL.

I will definitely try to get on the road as early as possible though and try to be there by 8AM to beat the long lines.

Thanks for all of your input! I really appreciate it!

 

[SirtanJedua]

Sorry for digging up an old thread...

We will be there too! SDCC Thurs, Fri, Sun. and then DL on Saturday! We had the same problem with the SDCC tickets those things sell out quick! We had to jump on the Friday tickets at 97% sold out!

Another question I would like to know is crowd size and weather? My DW and I went last early May for our honeymoon, how much different will the crowds and weather be from that? that is what I am most worried about. That is the only time we have been to CA. SUPER excited though!