Driving from Alberta

[candygirlIRE]

Just a few questions for those who drive to Disneyland from Alberta...

How long does it take for you to usually get there?
How many overnights do you do along the way?
Good places to stop/stay??
Fun stuff to see along the way?

We are deciding how long it will take for us to get there...

We have family in Salt Lake City Utah so we know we could stay there if needed (helps with hotel cost) and we have to be in Las Vegas for a wedding the night before our Disneyland vacation starts.

Thanks for any and all info

 

[henryk67]

Just a few questions for those who drive to Disneyland from Alberta...

How long does it take for you to usually get there?
How many overnights do you do along the way?
Good places to stop/stay??
Fun stuff to see along the way?

We are deciding how long it will take for us to get there...

We have family in Salt Lake City Utah so we know we could stay there if needed (helps with hotel cost) and we have to be in Las Vegas for a wedding the night before our Disneyland vacation starts.

Thanks for any and all info

wow, that must be some journey,

 

[candygirlIRE]

wow, that must be some journey,

We've traveled down to LV before and it took us 3 days, but then again we stopped in Montana, SLC, and then on to LV. We only did 6-7 hrs driving at most each day.

Kinda want to do it quicker this time....

just not sure what's the best approach

 

[Mrs. M. Mouse]

Well we drove down last summer from Alberta!

Which way are you planning on driving? We went down the pacific coast highway through kingsgate boarder crossing over to portland then down from there....

We overnighted in Portland, then in a small town along the way in the redwood forest. We stopped in San Francisco 2 nights along out way then went from there right to Anaheim.

If we hadn't stopped in San Fran we would've only taken 3 nights to get there.

If you go down through navada it would likely take 2 nights but the drive was rather boring. We found it fairly baren on our way home from San Diego lol...

So our route was down through Portland, Arcata, San Francisco to Anaheim then on our way home we went down to San Diego then up to Vegas, Salt Lake and home.

ahhh now that I read your post again I see you're driving down through salt lake and Vegas....your trip is going to be shorter but feel much longer being mostly desert!

There's lots of pit stops along the way and I'm sure you'll see lots of interesting things! Have a great drive!

 

[drag n' fly]

We keep saying we will drive but always cave and fly. Many people I know have drove it and it can be done in 2 days. It is approx a 22 hour drive from Calgary

 

[LindaM]

We have done this drive several times, it has taken us two days to drive. The I-15 is great, we leave at 4 in the morning go till Salt Lake City, and arrive in Anaheim the following afternoon.

 

[Club33forme]

Yes, the I-15 all the way. We are from SK. but we come home that way to visit relatives in Calgary. We find it feels like way less travel to drive it in 2 days. We stretched it to 3 easy days and it just felt like an extra day in the car. Your Salt Lake stop might be just right, then a short drive to Vegas. Vegas to Disneyland is just a few hours depending on traffic. Make sure to check out the Disney Outlet in Vegas just South on the strip in the Outlet Mall. Also another Disney Outlet a mile or two North of Disneyland. Vegas usually has better deals.
Not sure if you have been to Disneyland before but pick a Hotel on S. Harbor Blvd. Between 1380 HoJo and 1734 Castle is very walkable. 1500-1600 is near the walkway to Disneyland. We have stayed in most of them and they have been clean and OK.
I wish we were going, Have fun.

 

[GrtWtNorth]

I haven't done the I-15 route yet, but we used I-5 when we lived in Vancouver. It's a very fast, efficient highway, despite LA traffic. We took the scenic route all the way down to Mexico (~10 days), but drove back in two easy days: San Diego - Redding - Vancouver. Add another day to get to Calgary.

You might want to keep this route in mind in case there are storms that hit the mountains and close some of the passes. During a storm, you can still drive up I-5 -- it will be rainy, but almost never closed. At Portland, you can select your best route over the mountains home.

 

[endy]

We've driven from Calgary to San Diego 12-14 times. About 25-27 hours so a couple less to Anaheim. Not a whole lot to see along the way. There's a rest stop around Idaho Falls that is incredible & very worth stopping at, I prefer the south bound side. It's lava flows, there's 2 trails you can walk with interesting facts.

If you have time on the way back Bear World is about 20 miles NE of Idaho Falls and really fun, give it 2-3 hours.
There are some outlet stores at St George, UT if you need to stretch your legs. Don't stop at the stateline outlets unless you have lots of time, it's a pain in the butt to get off and back onto the highway. Have a full tank when you leave Vegas. It'll get you to Barstow. At the Lenwood exit there are truck stops for gas and more outlet stores, fairly easy to get in and out. If you stop here instead of getting back on Lenwood exit you can stay on the outlet side and go south on the side road and get back onto the highway with less traffic.

It's a long drive, take short breaks when you can. Oh there's a couple sections of road thru southern Utah where the speed limit is 80 yes 80. And I've had semis pass me.

 

[Phil'sFrontier]

That is about the same amount of time it take to drive to Calgary from Whitehorse. My Dad an I have done that in 1 full day of driving before.

That 80mph spot would be fun too! The wife's Pathfinder likes to go fast

Totally off topic, but if you go into google maps and search directions from a place like Seattle to Beijing, it tells you to KAYAK across the Pacific ocean....lmao

 

[candygirlIRE]

Totally off topic, but if you go into google maps and search directions from a place like Seattle to Beijing, it tells you to KAYAK across the Pacific ocean....lmao

 

[rbbs]

We just did this and this time we made it to Provo, Utah for our first night and then spent 3 nights in Las Vegas before going to Anaheim for 5 and then Santa Barbara for 2, Santa Cruz for 1, Petaluma, CA for 3, Auburn, CA for 1, Reno for 1, Brigham City, Utah for 1 and West Yellowstone for 1. A great trip and in addition to Disneyland our favorite stops were Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Nappa Valley, Highway 49 (did some panning for Gold), Lake Tahoe (not enough time there though!) and Bear World at Rexburg Idaho. This trip we skipped going to San Diego and Mexico and the Redwoods as we did a couple years ago but this trip was epic in its own way. Don't forget to hit some outlets along the way! This time we hit Las Vegas, Gilroy and Petaluma. There are many ways to get to Disneyland and there is lots to see whichever way you go as long as you have time to stop and enjoy!

 

[candygirlIRE]

So for those who drove from Alberta to SLC (or Provo), how did you find the drive.... that's a lot of driving, but we think it would cut that day stop in Montana (and save another day in the car).
We have 3 kids, we know we will be making some stops, likely every couple of hrs for potty breaks of course.
How long of a drive are we looking at (actual drive time, not counting breaks) from Calgary to SLC??


I do have to say, I am so freakin excited for our trip that I could drive 20hrs straight just to get there (Plenty of Red Bull and Beaver Buzz needed LOL)

 

[Mrs. M. Mouse]

Well montana would be closer than driving straight through to SLC for sure! it's a long drive otherwise. We found Montana to actually be kinda boring to drive through....lots of farm land lol...

It would take you approx 15 to 16 to get to Salt lake from calgary driving straight through.

if you were to go:

Calgary to Helena - 8-9 hrs
Helena to salt lake - 7-8 hrs
Salt lake to Vegas -6-7 hrs
and then vegas to Anaheim would only be another 4 hrs.

I suppose it all depends how long you want to be in the car each day. With younger kids we found that 8 hrs was max for them to not go completely batty!

 

[rbbs]

We always like to stop at Idaho Falls and even plan to stay there from time to time but when we get there and stretch out and check out the falls we just all feel like getting back in the van and driving more Then we hit Salt Lake City and like to get through the grinding traffic there to get to the other side of it and stay in Provo. I would say this is 16-18 hours depending on how long you like to stop to see things along the way. Provo is a very clean, safe, realitively cheap place to stop for a night and we usually only pay $80 to $90 to stay right by BYU where we get up and walk the track or go for a quick swim etc. before our next leg of the trip which is a quick relatively short drive to Vegas where we again get cheap hotels $30-$40 per night Kayak will point you to the best deals on hotels. I would also cross check things with tripadvisor.

As for Montana being boring I have a new appreciation for that State after our most recent trip where we drove from West Yellowstone to Helena on the 287 and it was one of the nicest stretches of country I have ever driven through (including Zion, Big Sur, Nappa Valley etc.) It was stunning! Especially around Hebgen Lake and the many many Fly Fishing towns along the way. You could tell the locals have a good secret they are keeping through that quiet but beautiful part of the country. Going to Whitefish later this summer....can't wait!

You will love whatever route you take! Nothing like a good, long road trip. I am still coping with the post trip blues. I constantly find myself looking at a map and feeling like driving somewhere Likely take a week or two to get the "get in a drive" out of my system. Enjoy your trip! Make it a long one!