Driving from Victoria, BC Canada to Disneyland

[Littleprincess2010]

Hubby is booking the hotel as we speak and its feeling more and more like this is actually going to happen!!

We'll be driving from Victoria, BC on a Friday morning and staying 1 night along the way, breaking the trip up into 2 days. (Driving back we will have 2 nights, 3 days)

Im wondering if anyone has any experience driving from BC and where you stopped for things like Gas, Rest breaks, Food and Hotel for a night?

We are going November 5-12 so I am hoping the weather conditions will still be decent. Anyone have any advice for going over the mountain passes? Will there be snow?

We are catching the 1st ferry over at 7am and will be on the road in Vancouver by 8:45.

Im debating stopping in Medford OR. or Redding CA. Any thoughts?

Guess I'll leave it up to you fine ladies and gentlemen to give me some tips and advice for the drive. Thank you!!

 

[GrandBob]

You're going early enough in the season that snow isn't likely. Still, you'll want to carry tire chains just in case. If there is snow in the Siskiyou's, chains may be required.

The main area of risk is, as I said, Siskiyou pass, right on the OR/CA border. You'll start heading up the pass right after Ashland OR, and will be through the riskiest part 10 or 20 miles south of the border. In the dead of winter, you could continue to have snow past Mt. Shasta and Dunsmuir, but in Nov that's very unlikely.

Medford and/or Ashland would be a more interesting place to stop. Redding is closer to half way, but there's not much of interest there. Still, if you're worried about snow, you may want to continue all the way to Redding as long as the weather holds. That way, if a storm comes in over night, you'll be past it. You have no worries from Redding south.

I'd be concerned about snow if you were travelling the last week of November or later. But in early/mid November, you will very likely have no problems at all.

-Bob

 

[Dobie]

I agree with the previous poster--the Siskyous don't usually snow up until December. It might be slick and rainy, though.

Weed is another idea for a stop--it is between Ashland and Redding and you will be "In California" the first night. It is a long haul between Vancouver and Redding--over 700 miles, and both the Blaine border crossing and Portland traffic can be very slow, so you will want to make allowances for that.

 

[blackjackdelta]

If you are a road warrior than I would do Redding(we always stay there) and then you have about 8 hours the next day. If not, I would do Medford.
Weed is just a small spot in the road, I would find some place else. Our drive usually goes 18-19 hours doable in one stretch, but DGF hates to drive on I-5 so I take a break in Redding.

Jack

 

[Littleprincess2010]

Thanks everyone! I love to drive and have done some long haul driving before. I think we will stick with Redding, I was mostly concerned about driving through the mountains and it being snowy but if thats not the case then we'll haul butt the first day and take it easy the 2nd.

Any comments or suggestions on places to stay in Redding for under $100??

Any suggestions for stops from Vancouver to Redding?? Gas stops?? Food??

 

[Anj]

Enjoy! I did that drive when I was 16 and loved going along the coast from BC to California. No advice as mine would be quite dated now (I'm far from a teenager - although I still feel like one sometimes).

 

[aurorae]

I wonder if it would be any faster to take the ferry to Port Angeles. Then you wouldn't have to wait for customs on I-5.

I don't know the schedule, so not sure if there is an early boat or not. Also haven't checked the price.

Once at Port Angeles you could drive down and end up on I-5 around Olympia. That's a scenic drive, too. And you'd skip the Seattle traffic.

Just a thought.

 

[canadian_ehngel]

My advice/info is about the same as Anj's lol. We travelled from Port Alberni (3 hours or so from Victoria) when I was 8, I believe. There were 3 young kids (me being the oldest, a 2-yr-old being youngest), so we weren't able to travel as long during the day. I do know we stayed in Tacoma o the way to and from, only because we have family there. BTW - I'm in Nanaimo!

 

[Littleprincess2010]

Thank you Anj, I think we might do the scenic route on the way home as we have 3 days to spread it out.

I've checked the ferry and it leaves pretty early. 8:20am being the first one. My mom has a disability so we are able to get a discount on BC Ferries so that was another plus for taking that ferry. I will check with Blackball though and find out if they have a similar program.

Hi Canadian_Ehngel, love the screen name!! Im hoping that my daughter, who will be 7, will be ok on the drive. If you remember any details from your trip Id love hear them

Can anyone tell me if there are Gas Stops right along the highway like the 401 in Ontario? Id love to plan it so I dont really have to get off the highway.

 

[c&m]

We have done the drive many times from Richmond, B.C., to San Diego, however, we've always gone during the summer months when the kids are off school. We do the same things again and again, such as stopping in Redding. We stay at the Hampton Inn Redding (loved their comfy beds!), and have dinner at the Olive Garden nearby. Also a Target across the street from the Olive Garden so we always stop in for water bottles and snacks for the next day's long drive. The Hampton Inn also has a free breakfast in the morning so you don't have to search around for breakfast and can start your drive sooner.

Along the I-5 from north to south are a lot of gas stations that you can see off the highway. You'd have the exit the highway briefly to get to the gas station, but it isn't really too inconvenient. We also tend to see a lot of Targets off the I-5 too - this is where we take our bathroom breaks and stretch our legs a bit, as well as buy a small snack treat for the kids to help break up the monotony of the drive.

HTH!

 

[Littleprincess2010]

Thanks c&m, now Im looking forward to redding We dont have an Olive Garden on the island and boy oh boy do they have amazing soups!! I will go look up the hampton inn right now too

How long does it usually take you to drive from Richmond to Redding? And what time do you head out in the morning?

Thanks!!

 

[blabbermouth]

We drove from Victoria to San Diego in June of this year! The first day we took the 7 am ferry and got to Medford at about 6:30pm. We stayed at the Fairfield Inn there. It was nice, clean, friendly staff, and a free upgrade. They also have a free breakfast there. Then next day we left at about 8am and got to San Diego at about 9pm. I'm glad we broke it up the way we did, although the second day did seem long, but there is a lot less scenery in California. We're thinking about doing it again and would stop in the same place.

There are lots of gas stations (Oregon doesn't let you pump your own gas though!) along the I-5 except for the very South of Oregon/North of California. Stop for In-N-Out in Kettleman City, yum! That was the hottest stop we had, 44 degrees celcius! That's really the only stop I remember and it was on our way home

Read my trip report for more info!

 

[whimseysgirl]

I'm in Victoria too! DS10 and I have been driving down every Boxing Day for the past 5 years, and I think maybe we're going for Spring Break (which is in 3 days so I'd better figure that out fast!). This past trip we actually went to Phoenix, with stops in San Diego on the way there and Anaheim on the way back.

Since it's just me driving, we break it up a little differently, and spread it out over 2 nights, and 2 1/2 days. We typically take the 4:00 Coho heading down (ferry and border in one works well), and spend the first night in Portland. Second day is my long haul to Sacramento, which means I can do the mountains during the day. And then it's a shorter drive to Anaheim on day 3 - we get settled in, get some groceries and head for bed early so we're ready to play the next day. On recent trips we've taken to wandering Downtown Disney just for the atmosphere. Coming back is the reverse, but we head home via BC Ferries, since we have friends in Bellingham and try to get some visits in.

Going through the border, tune your radio to 1130 AM - they do traffic every 10 minutes "on the ones", including border and ferry times, so you can decide if you'd rather take the truck crossing or Aldergrove, if the lines are shorter there. You can get the station coming north too, usually around Anacortes.

There are lots of places to stop, just off the highways, though there can be longer stretches in northern CA between stops. I have a Costco membership, so I tend to look for the ones near the highway, where I can get cheaper gas and something quick to eat. I use my GPS a LOT, not so much for navigation as for finding places like Targets or Costcos en route.

We use priceline.com for our hotels, and usually end up in Hilton Garden Inns in both Portland and Sacramento, though since it's online bidding, you don't know what you'll get in advance.

As for keeping busy in the car, we go through lots of books on tape/CD (the libraries here have tons), DS has toys like lego which keep him very occupied and we stop regularly to stretch our legs. It seems to work - if it didn't we wouldn't go as often as we do!

Have fun with your planning! Sorry for the long post...I tend to ramble on

 

[sasywtch]

We use priceline.com for our hotels, and usually end up in Hilton Garden Inns in both Portland and Sacramento, though since it's online bidding, you don't know what you'll get in advance.


Is it the Hilton just before getting into downtown Sacramento?(Garden Hwy)?

 

[canadian_ehngel]

Hi Canadian_Ehngel, love the screen name!! Im hoping that my daughter, who will be 7, will be ok on the drive. If you remember any details from your trip Id love hear them

Thank you! I don't remember a lot of the details from the trip, but I know we took our time coming back from CA. We stopped at sand dunes and a REALLY cool game farm in Oregon (I got chose to bottle feed baby tiger cubs at the game farm), and I believe we also went on a tour of the Olympia beer factory. We also stayed a night or 2 in Reno on the way back. We drove pretty well all day (leaving by about 8-9am, stopping for the day around 6-7pm), with pee and stretch breaks, of course. Other than that (and having to stop on the side of the freeway for my mom to take a pee break and the whole world catching a glimpse of her bare bum), those are really the only memories I can recall (which I think isn't terrible considering it was 15 years ago!!).

 

[whimseysgirl]

Is it the Hilton just before getting into downtown Sacramento?(Garden Hwy)?[/QUOTE]

That's the one. It's in the South Natomas area if you look on priceline. I like it because there's free parking, free wireless and a fridge and microwave in the room. We've had great luck there - less luck with the Portland one. The other hotel that I've won in the area is the Sheraton 4 Points, which was also very nice. Got one downtown that was very dodgy once, so now I just bid in the S Natomas area...thus far it's worked out well.

 

[c&m]

Thanks c&m, now Im looking forward to redding We dont have an Olive Garden on the island and boy oh boy do they have amazing soups!! I will go look up the hampton inn right now too

How long does it usually take you to drive from Richmond to Redding? And what time do you head out in the morning?

Thanks!!

Hope you can get a good rate for the Hampton Inn for your dates. We really like the place.

For our drive, we either cross the border on a Friday night and stay in Bellevue, WA, or just start out early from Richmond on a Saturday. That decision depends on whether we leave during a busy long weekend when everyone's crossing the border.

If we start from Bellevue, we have a 2-hr headstart. We get out at about 7am and arrive into Redding by 7pm. If we start from Richmond, we usually get out at 6am and arrive into Redding by 9/10pm. Of course, we don't stop much, just for gas and for some quick 10-15min bathroom/leg stretches at Target.

The first day to Redding is typically a 12-14 hr drive. The second day from Redding to Anaheim starts at 7am and we roll into Anaheim by about 6pm.

One thing that also helps us save on time is that we all coordinate our bathroom breaks (yes...pretty funny!). This really prevents us from having to make so many stops.

 

[blackjackdelta]

Hope you can get a good rate for the Hampton Inn for your dates. We really like the place.

For our drive, we either cross the border on a Friday night and stay in Bellevue, WA, or just start out early from Richmond on a Saturday. That decision depends on whether we leave during a busy long weekend when everyone's crossing the border.

If we start from Bellevue, we have a 2-hr headstart. We get out at about 7am and arrive into Redding by 7pm. If we start from Richmond, we usually get out at 6am and arrive into Redding by 9/10pm. Of course, we don't stop much, just for gas and for some quick 10-15min bathroom/leg stretches at Target.

The first day to Redding is typically a 12-14 hr drive. The second day from Redding to Anaheim starts at 7am and we roll into Anaheim by about 6pm.

One thing that also helps us save on time is that we all coordinate our bathroom breaks (yes...pretty funny!). This really prevents us from having to make so many stops.

We usually leave Redding at 0630 after breakfast and roll into Anaheim about 1430-1500, no later(unless there is a major accident from Valencia on down.)

Jack

 

[c&m]

We usually leave Redding at 0630 after breakfast and roll into Anaheim about 1430-1500, no later(unless there is a major accident from Valencia on down.)

Jack

Maybe we're taking too many bathroom breaks???

Actually, we always run into a lot of traffic by the afternoon. All the cities we pass in the afternoon, we seem to hit a major clog. Going through L.A. takes a while too. Then we always run into summer traffic construction which shut down freeway lanes.

I'm sure we can make better time. But the past 3x we've driven down, our times of arrival into Anaheim were pretty consistent.

 

[Littleprincess2010]

Ok, now that ya'll have given me a better understanding of how long it takes to get through traffic and make stops I think we're going to add an additional night and go over on the ferry the night before. This way we can get up and leave early and hopefully be in Redding by dinner time.

So we'd take the 7pm ferry on the Thursday and get to Vancouver by 8:45 and then drive through the border crossing and then........ well, thats where I got stuck. Where should we stay? should we drive a bit or try to find a place right in blaine?