Driving from Idaho to DL in late December. Any problems?

[ilovemickeymost]

We're going to Idaho for Christmas & I want to surprise the kids w/ a trip to DL & surronding theme parks. We live on the East Coast & they have been to WDW. But, I'd love to share a bit of my childhood w/ them. I've only driven from Idaho to DL twice in my life & it was Spring Break time ages ago. This time we'll be making the drive in late December. Are there any areas where weather could be a factor? Dont want to get stranded in the snow on a hill somewhere, alone w/ 3 children. Also, anyone know how long of a drive it is from Boise? Thanks for any help.

 

[MCSfromWA]

Wow! What a fun idea!

We live in Seattle and drive down to DLR a lot. From Seattle it ususally takes us 2 driving days. We have driven in the fall and winter and sometimes it works out great and other times ... well, let's just say we saw some snow. I am not sure how long it takes to drive from Boise, but I think it might be better, given the time of year, if you flew down to CA versus driving. Personally, after the all of the storms and rain and snow that we encountered 3 years ago when we drove down in late December and returned in early January -- unless we have a lot of extra time or can cancel our trip if needed due to weather, we will fly.

 

[cwbronco]

I live in Boise and I personally wouldn't want to make that drive unless I had to. It's usually on the Nevada side that you will run in to problems concerning the weather. If flying is feasible for you guys thats the way I'd go.

As far as the drive itself me and my girlfriend made it in one day this past summer but we left at 9 PM MT time and pulled in to our hotel about 1 PM pacific time.

 

[Disney Dider]

I live in Boise too and you will most likely run into closed roads due to snow and ice. It is a 14 hour drive on good roads only stopping for gas.

 

[Sephrina]

I can remember driving down from eastern Oregon for three Christmas visits when I was growing up. I don't remember ever having any problems aside from an accident that had traffic stopped for awhile, but of course I wasn't driving.

 

[Mugglemama]

We are CA natives who lived in Boise for 5 years ('05 to '10). We now live in Northern California, about 200 feet off of I-80, on the Western slope of the Sierra Nevadas. We did the drive from Boise to Disneyland twice during the 5 years that we lived there.

Personally, I would not do that drive in the Winter. If you take the South-through-Utah route, there are several areas where bad weather is likely and can make the drive quite dangerous (the pass around Snowville, further south around Beaver, and the stretch between Vegas and DLR, no matter which freeway you take).

If you take the East-through-oregon route down into nevada and onto I-80, that stretch between Boise and Winnemucca, NV can be absolutely treacherous (and I know this from experience, having been caught in an unforecasted blizzard once, which caused us to spin off the road into a ditch with our 3 young children in the car). Even if you make it to the 80 without issues, the pass between Reno and where I live now (just on the other side of the pass) can be an extraordinarily dangerous stretch in poor weather, and often is closed during the Winter. Chains are almost always required during Winter, and often even into Spring. If you get through there without issues (if you manage to dodge through between storms, that is), then you still have to deal with the Grapevine on I-5 (which is also often closed when it snows).

I love Disneyland, but it isn't worth the dangerous drive that is required when driving during Winter from Boise, IMO.

 

[pixiewings71]

Ya I don't think I"d do that...my family is all in Idaho, actually most of them live in Fruitland, which is about 40 away from Boise, we drive there when we go to visit (doing it this year in July/August for DD23's wedding), it takes us 10 hours from here (Nor Cal), that's about as far as I'll drive on a trip......to get to DL from Boise is 14 hours, as a pp said, that's stopping only for gas and with no bad roads. I'd check into flights if it's something you really want to do.

 

[Judy from Boise]

I've lived in Boise for 20 years, and never made the drive !

 

[LisainCalifornia]

I would look into flying. Sometimes you can get these amazing rates if you book early. Flying into SNA is the easiest and closest to Disneyland, but there is also Long Beach (Jet Blue) and LAX. Don't count it out due to cost until you really look into it.

 

[skiingfast]

I would look into flying. Sometimes you can get these amazing rates if you book early. Flying into SNA is the easiest and closest to Disneyland, but there is also Long Beach (Jet Blue) and LAX. Don't count it out due to cost until you really look into it.

I think also Soutwest goes from Boise to LAX and SNA.

Allegiant goes from Twin Falls and Idaho Falls to Longbeach.

 

[ilovemickeymost]

Thanks for info. I'm really glad to know. I'm going to look into making it a leg of our flight home. Kinda like a detour. I was trying to avoid paying more for our flights since there are 4 of us. But safety is way more important than a trip to DL.

 

[sukhakuli]

That can be a scary trip in the winter. We made it in March one year, and I thought we were going to get stuck in one of the passes in Nevada. They closed the highway behind our car. The Tahoe pass can be very nasty in the winter, also.

 

[DisMike]

I live in Meridian and have never made that trip that late in the year. However, my BIL lives in Reno and comes up for Christmas every year and really has never had much of a weather issue.

Frankly it's a crapshoot. You may get weather that's just fine. You may get whiteouts. If you go the I-84 to I-15 route through Utah the Utah/Idaho border is the worst. If you get through there with no problem chances are good that you'll be fine.

If you go through Twin Falls through Jackpot, there are multiple places to get in trouble and there is little traffic so if you're in trouble you could sit there awhile. Not good.

If you go through Winnemucca to Reno anywhere along that route could be a problem. Then you have a choice, you can go over Donner Pass towards Sacramento. If you make it over Donner Pass you'll have no sweat the rest of the way.

If you go 395 you can have weather issues until you hit Mono Lake or so where the altitude drops significantly.

Basically, the best route is the I-84/I-15 route. Once you get down to Delta it should be clear sailing. If the weather's bad (assuming you're going from Boise), you have a minimum of 7 hours of white knuckle driving. If you've got 4 wheel drive don't sweat it. If not, you're at the mercy of the elements.

Good luck.