Driving early AM from Bay Area...SoCal traffic help

[crystal1313]

Hello! We are driving down early Am from the Bay Area, Concord, CA to be exact. My kids want to leave VERY early, at 4 or 4:30 AM. They just cannot wait to swim at the DLH. LOL. I do not mind leaving that early, but my question is......won't we be arriving in the thick of SoCal commute traffic? Has anyone left that early recently and can give me any advice? I tried google maps, entering our time and date, but it just gives me a range of time (5 hours and 45 minutes to almost 8 hours). I know anything can happen and nothing is exact, and SoCal almost always has traffic...but trying to avoid the majority of traffic if that makes sense! Any thoughts, info, advice are greatly appreciated! TIA!

 

[ShadowCross]

I'm not from that far south but the last time I went down there (also from near your area) we timed it so we wouldn't hit the grapevine before 10 AM. All the commuter traffic has made it to their jobs and the traffic wasn't too terrible. We drove from Disney to Universal on a Thursday morning and we spent nearly 2 hours driving the 40-ish (if I'm remembering correctly) miles. And we didn't leave our hotel until around 9, so that traffic would be less.

 

[ERQTraveler]

If you arrive at The Grapevine around 10:30 AM, then you’ll be fine.

Have a great trip! It’s so hot right now that a swim will be perfect.

 

[Pamela M]

I usually leave around 5am-5:30am from the SF airport area. The only traffic I hit will be where all the highways converge in LA. It's usually not too bad - I've sat in much worse her in the bay area.
Not sure where in the bay area you are leaving from but I go straight down 101 and take 152 to highway 5. Makes highway 5 feel that much shorter!

NOTE: there is a way to go around that - sometimes my garmin will take me that way. Wish I could tell you what it is - It takes you about 15-20 miles out of the way but you aren't in any traffic.

When I leave at that time I usually arrive around noon and can be checked in to my hotel (if room is ready) and in Disneyland by 1pm. I probably stop every 2 hours or so - to get gas, coffee or use the restroom.

 

[DennieC]

Hello! We are driving down early Am from the Bay Area, Concord, CA to be exact. My kids want to leave VERY early, at 4 or 4:30 AM. They just cannot wait to swim at the DLH. LOL. I do not mind leaving that early, but my question is......won't we be arriving in the thick of SoCal commute traffic? Has anyone left that early recently and can give me any advice? I tried google maps, entering our time and date, but it just gives me a range of time (5 hours and 45 minutes to almost 8 hours). I know anything can happen and nothing is exact, and SoCal almost always has traffic...but trying to avoid the majority of traffic if that makes sense! Any thoughts, info, advice are greatly appreciated! TIA!

We are from Brentwood, so not too far from Concord. Our sweet spot always seems to be to leave around 7am to 7:30am. It gets us down there in about 6 hours. We stop for lunch, so usually get to Disney around 1:30pm to 2pm. Just the right timing to avoid the commuter traffic in SoCal. The only challenge is once you leave downtown LA, the construction on I-5 from the Citadel shopping area south to Orange County always has back ups. But once through there it is clear sailing.

 

[RemainSeatedPlease]

Hello! We are driving down early Am from the Bay Area, Concord, CA to be exact. My kids want to leave VERY early, at 4 or 4:30 AM. They just cannot wait to swim at the DLH. LOL. I do not mind leaving that early, but my question is......won't we be arriving in the thick of SoCal commute traffic? Has anyone left that early recently and can give me any advice? I tried google maps, entering our time and date, but it just gives me a range of time (5 hours and 45 minutes to almost 8 hours). I know anything can happen and nothing is exact, and SoCal almost always has traffic...but trying to avoid the majority of traffic if that makes sense! Any thoughts, info, advice are greatly appreciated! TIA!

I think that might actually be great timing. When I was a kid growing up in the Bay Area (Antioch/Oakley) we often left very early in the morning, and I don't remember it being an issue.

As an adult I live closer to the Sacramento Valley, but it takes me about the same amount of time to drive down there. Although Google says you can get there in about 6 hours from where we live, it typically takes us 7-8 hours. I can't figure out why, I feel like we don't stop that often for breaks, but for some reason it always takes us longer. When we've left around 9 am we found that that was too late, and we were hitting evening traffic in LA. But if we leave around 7:30 am to 8 am, we find we're hitting morning traffic in Sacramento and Stockton. To avoid both, we try to leave around 6-7 am. I would think that leaving around 4 am wouldn't be bad either, you'd skip Bay Area traffic and get into the LA area in the middle of the day. If you are really worried about it, leaving at 5 am would be ideal I think.

 

[tink89]

We live in the bay area near SF airport we always leave at around 5:30 am take 101 to 152 to I5 we were at DLH at 11:45 AM last December. This is with two cars, 12 people having to make at least 3 stops(the adults not the children). We do always get traffic when we hit LA area. I think the 5 hrs is if you make no stops at all which sounds about right since out stops are usually a good 15 min at least.

 

[crystal1313]

We live in the bay area near SF airport we always leave at around 5:30 am take 101 to 152 to I5 we were at DLH at 11:45 AM last December. This is with two cars, 12 people having to make at least 3 stops(the adults not the children). We do always get traffic when we hit LA area. I think the 5 hrs is if you make no stops at all which sounds about right since out stops are usually a good 15 min at least.

WOW. That would be amazing if we could get there at that time. We have to stop at least twice as we have an electric car that will need to be charged. But the stops are fairly quick usually.

Thank you all for the replies! I am thinking about leaving around 5:15ish factoring in the time spent charging. That should put us at the base of the grapevine around 10ish I think.

 

[justlai87]

I'm from San Francisco and when I made the drive back in 2017 I left around 3:30 AM and arrived in Anaheim around 10ish in the morning. I only made one stop just before the Grapevine to gas up.

 

[crystal1313]

I'm from San Francisco and when I made the drive back in 2017 I left around 3:30 AM and arrived in Anaheim around 10ish in the morning. I only made one stop just before the Grapevine to gas up.

Was that on a week day? We used to be a one stop for gas family too but now have to make two stops to charge!

 

[Pamela M]

WOW. That would be amazing if we could get there at that time. We have to stop at least twice as we have an electric car that will need to be charged. But the stops are fairly quick usually.

Thank you all for the replies! I am thinking about leaving around 5:15ish factoring in the time spent charging. That should put us at the base of the grapevine around 10ish I think.

I remember being so surprised as we walked into the hotel at 11:30am! Planning on doing the drive again for the Haunted Mansion after hours party in August.

 

[justlai87]

Was that on a week day? We used to be a one stop for gas family too but now have to make two stops to charge!

Yes it was...a Thursday in July...was headed down for D23 Expo.

 

[crystal1313]

Thanks everyone! Hoping that maybe traffic will be lighter since it's a Friday and a lot of people take Fridays off (well, at least up here in NorCal it seems a lot people take Friday off in the summer because traffic seems lighter). Trying to stay positive!

 

[Rich M]

We drive from San Leandro and I usually leave by 4 AM and get down to Disney by 10 AM. That usually includes one stop in Lost Hills for gas, snacks, and bathroom. I prefer to leave early and hope everyone sleeps while i drive. We are going on Sept 22nd and leaving at 3:00 AM since we have reservations for Star Wars at 11 AM. We don't want to take any chances.

 

[crystal1313]

We drive from San Leandro and I usually leave by 4 AM and get down to Disney by 10 AM. That usually includes one stop in Lost Hills for gas, snacks, and bathroom. I prefer to leave early and hope everyone sleeps while i drive. We are going on Sept 22nd and leaving at 3:00 AM since we have reservations for Star Wars at 11 AM. We don't want to take any chances.

My husband went to high school in San Leandro!

Even on a weekday with SoCal commute traffic? That's really good drive time! Thank you.

 

[Rich M]

My husband went to high school in San Leandro!

Even on a weekday with SoCal commute traffic? That's really good drive time! Thank you.

Yeah I have gone during the week also and usually if you can get through the Downtown Area fairley early the better off you are but it seems like you always hit traffic no matter the time of day there.

 

[crystal1313]

Yeah I have gone during the week also and usually if you can get through the Downtown Area fairley early the better off you are but it seems like you always hit traffic no matter the time of day there.

Awesome! Oh yeah, I realize there will be traffic no matter what. Just trying to avoid the "peak" traffic times! LOL. I think the only time we have gone through without traffic was around 2am! We left late from home....