Driving Time?

[MinneTinK]

I'm leaving the Sheraton Universal in Universal City on Friday 3/20 to drive to DL for the weekend...my mapquest says it's a 40min drive, up to 2 1/2 hours in traffic, what time do you suggest I leave in order to make the best time? Thanks!

 

[mechurchlady]

Yep it can take 2 hours to get to Disneyland from Downtown LA.
If you leave before 3pm then traffic is just getting mean. It is Friday so that is the worst day to get through Downtown. So my answer is leave before 3 pm. If you leave around noon then you can do the trip in about an hour or so. It takes me about 15 to 20 minutes to LA and 15 to Disneyland so Disneyland to LA is 30 to 35 minutes. I could do Disneyland to Universal in under an hour at midnight if there are no idiots, drunks and road construction.

Downtown has lowered speed limits on some areas and no car pools in areas of the 5 but once you get south of me you will have car pool lanes and wide freeways. The area form my house to Downtown LA is 3 and 4 lane freeways built long ago and get congested easily. Nobody wants to give up their hotels, businesses, and home for the freeway.

 

[MinneTinK]

We were hoping to leave in the morning so we can get the most out of the day at DL, what is morning traffic like? Should we wake up early and get on the road asap or are we better off waiting till a little later? thanks

 

[fairycat]

Basically you have two options leave VERY early like before 5am or wait till 10-11am. Personally if you can leave your hotel the night before and switch to the Anaheim area then you can leave after 8pm and have much lighter traffic. If you leave during traffic you will do a lot of sitting in traffic!

 

[MinneTinK]

Thanks, we can't leave the night before as we have plans that Thursday night and we also can not check into our DL hotel until Friday 3/20, if we leave at 10-11am, approx what time do you think we could be at our DL hotel? thanks again!

 

[fairycat]

My guess if your lucky 11-12, but plan 1pm just in case.