Driving Disneyland to Universal?

[WiganTony]

Just putting together a tentative plan for a future visit to CA, and we are hoping to visit both Disneyland and Universal. As we are planning visiting San Francisco then Pismo Beach, and finishing up in San Diego, we don't really want to be having to change hotels in the LA area.

Looking at various maps, it appears to be around 40 miles between the two parks, and as we will have a car, seems a fairly straightforward drive. However, I'm wondering how long the drive would take us on a weekday morning (would be planning on getting to Universal for opening time), or alternatively on a weekend morning.

All advice gratefully received

 

[blackjackdelta]

We have found the drive to take between 45 minutes to 2 hrs. Never been the same no matter what day, am rush hour being naturally the worst and hopefully avoiding accidents.
Have fun

Jack

 

[mysteriouspnai]

First of all, I'm glad you're planning on stopping in Pismo Beach! I'm from around that area, and it's very underrated IMO. For us, it seems that weekdays on the road seem to be busier than weekends as rush hour seemed to hit while we were on our way to Universal. It also took us between 45 min to probably 1.5 hr to get there.

 

[Melora]

I lived in the Cahuenga Pass for 15 years right next door to Universal.

On a good day with little traffic I could make it from my house to Disneyland in less than an hour. But my sister who lived next to Disneyland would never drive to see me in the mornings.

Traffic is extremely bad going north (Disneyland to Universal) into downtown in the morning.

If you are going that direction then you really should try to get started by 6 AM unless you want to sit in traffic for hours. Once you pass downtown the traffic lightens up considerably.

Going the other way around (north to south) is not quite as congested.

 

[perugiagirl]

Ooo...these are things I need to know too.

Is your rush hour busy ALL morning or mainly 6 to 9am?

Universal opens at 10 the day we are there.

 

[WiganTony]

Thanks everyone for your replies - greatly appreciated. I suspect that we will try and plan our day at Universal on a Saturday or Sunday when the traffic is lighter, and possibly stop at the Howard Johnson just outside Disneyland when in the area.

Mysteriouspnai - we've seen a couple of trip reports on other forums that have commented on how nice Pismo Beach is, hence our plans to stop for a few days of chilling out. My only concern is the outlet mall - no doubt my wife and daughter will be planning on spending a few (read many!!) $$s there

 

[mysteriouspnai]

Really, our outlet mall is very tiny so you may not find too much there. You're definitely better off going to the Camarillo Outlets for some serious shopping on the way down! BUT, if you want to avoid a bill of an extra vacation day (due to the amount of spending that magically happens there), I suggest not mentioning it to the wife and daughter

 

[Plutos Mommy]

Really, our outlet mall is very tiny so you may not find too much there. You're definitely better off going to the Camarillo Outlets for some serious shopping on the way down! BUT, if you want to avoid a bill of an extra vacation day (due to the amount of spending that magically happens there), I suggest not mentioning it to the wife and daughter

I live just north of Pismo and mysteriouspnai is right, the outlet mall is pretty small and not much there to really get excited about.

Pismo has some fun "beach town" gift shops and of course the beach itself is a big draw. If you like clam chowder, try the bread bowl of chowder at Splash Cafe.

 

[Caroline NZ]

In May last year we drove down from San Fran to San Diego, and stayed the night at Pismo Beach (Lighthouse Suites). We really enjoyed it, and for our trip in 2013 we are planning to stay again, but for 2 nights this time.

We drove from Hojos Anaheim to Universal Studios, and the traffic was pretty bad. Next year, after leaving Pismo Beach,we are driving to Universal Studios (stopping at the Camarillo Outlets on the way), staying 2 nights at a hotel next to Uninversal Studios, and then moving on to Anaheim for the last week.

 

[WiganTony]

I live just north of Pismo and mysteriouspnai is right, the outlet mall is pretty small and not much there to really get excited about.

Glad to hear it's only a small outlet mall, although I suspect it warrant a visit anyhow!!!


I may well look into amending our itinerary to have an overnight stop by Universal for our single day there, then maybe look at staying at Newport Beach or Huntingdon Beach for the remainder of our vacation and drive to Disneyland (hopefully traffic not too bad) and also to Seaworld for a day.

 

[Huff]

Weekend mornings are generally not a problem. Almost always a 45 minute drive. Much lighter traffic on the weekends but crowds maybe higher at Universal. Possibly longer hours at the park though.

Weekday mornings are fine if Universal opens at 10am. We leave DLR area just before 9am and traffic has been fine. Earlier than 9am and I-5 is slowed to a crawl.

Oddly the return trip heading south has almost always been somewhat slow no matter what time Universal closes. Not a big deal since we're in no hurry.

 

[WiganTony]

Thanks Huff for that info - decisions, decisions to make!!!!