Driving to DL from Oregon

[smsles]

Please tell me I am not crazy to drive to DL from Salem Oregon. My husband will not be going, he does not like Disneyland. My girlfriend and her adult daughter and my two children 7 and 9 years would drive. There would be 3 drivers we would leave on a Wednesday and drive all day till we get to DL. Our first day at the park would be Thursday after resting from the drive the day before. We would stay until Monday and drive all day day Monday to get home. My husband plants these seeds in my head like what if the car breaks or you get in an accident. Our car is reliable. We are trying to save on airfare so we have more money for the trip. Airfare would be a little over $1000. Gas would be about $400.

 

[ironpig70]

I am from Eugene Oregon and we did Disneyland at Christmas and drove but stopped to see family each way.


I will say that its about a 14-16 hour drive to if you did it straight through so 2-3 drivers would be nessecary.

Its doable but will be a long trip.

 

[blackjackdelta]

Too long of a drive for us in 1 day anymore. 18 hours from here and it is an easy drive, but the worst part is from Valencia to DLR and the traffic is not the best. Good luck and have fun.

Jack

 

[briggscreek]

I'm in Grants Pass, and we drove to DL in November. Our kids won't sleep in the car though, so we did the drive in two days. It wasn't bad and was a whole lot cheaper than flying the weekend after Thanksgiving!

 

[snikelfrizt]

We have done it a bunch of times from Dallas Or. We leave early like 3:30 or 4 in the morning and go all the way through. To me going down is easier than coming back, we are all tired and not much to look forward to!!
Good luck and have fun!!!! You will be fine!

 

[clairabell29]

We drove last August, with only 2 drivers. My husband slept all day and he drove from 7pm until 5am when I took over and drove to our hotel. We went to the park that day since we all had some rest. We left at night so my young children would sleep most of the drive. We also drove strait through on the way back. It was an easy drive. If you're worried about breaking down, make sure to have some kind of road side assistance. We love to drive, it gives up time to talk about what we want to do or what our favorite part of the trip was. We always decorate the window of the car with sayings like 'to the mouse or bust!' Enjoy your trip!

 

[ironpig70]

I do not know I didn't post this earlier. Did you check Aligent Airlines?


They only have flights on certain days both out of Eugene and Medford. You could rent a car and fly out of one and into another if the days do not work. Lat time I looked the flights where from $49 to $79 each way. It may reduce airfare to a point where its a llittle more than driving but you save time.

 

[DisneyDreamer8]

I used to live in Turner and we drove several times. We did the drive in one day and I usually drove all the way. We would leave around 4am and it took us about 15 hours. Our stops for food/gas/bathroom on the way down were Weed (gas) Redding (food/gas) Sacramento (gas) Castaic (food/gas).

Now with our son we make it a two day trip until he is old enough to handle the 15 hours in one shot. We drive as far as we can the first day then find someplace to stay.

It is an easy drive especially with 2 or 3 drivers. As for breaking down you can do that anywhere. Just make sure you do a good check of your vechicle before you leave. Cell phones work. If you are worried about it you can join AAA that way you know who to call if there is a problem.

Best of all you save money by driving!!! The airfare from Oregon to LA is crazy. It costs us less to fly across the country to Disney World then down to Disneyland. I have never been able to figure that one out

Have a great trip

 

[MukilteoSailor]

I used to live in Turner and we drove several times. We did the drive in one day and I usually drove all the way. We would leave around 4am and it took us about 15 hours. Our stops for food/gas/bathroom on the way down were Weed (gas) Redding (food/gas) Sacramento (gas) Castaic (food/gas).

Now with our son we make it a two day trip until he is old enough to handle the 15 hours in one shot. We drive as far as we can the first day then find someplace to stay.

It is an easy drive especially with 2 or 3 drivers. As for breaking down you can do that anywhere. Just make sure you do a good check of your vechicle before you leave. Cell phones work. If you are worried about it you can join AAA that way you know who to call if there is a problem.

DisneyDreamer8 made most of the points I was going to make. I think the big thing is to get an early start on the drive. It is a long drive and with kids we make it a 2 day drive (we are a little further north, around Seattle). With 3 drivers it is doable and not as taxing. Do give yourself some time to strech every so often (and for the kids to move about a bit).

If your car is reliable you should be fine. I agree about having AAA or another roadside assistance just in case though. For such a long drive I would usually take the car in for an oil change/maintenance check before hand to make sure car is as reliable as I think it is.

 

[DizNee Luver]

We used to make the drive in one day from Medford, but now we're back in Salem, we stayed one night on the way down & back. It's a very long drive with some of it being quite boring. Once you hit the grapevine you'll hit the traffic & the last bit of the drive can't take quite a while, depending on the time of day you hit.

It's doable, but makes for an extremely long day. Coming back will be even worse due to being tired from being at the parks. Do you have any family or friends between here & there??

 

[OregonDisneyFanatic]

I do not know I didn't post this earlier. Did you check Aligent Airlines?


They only have flights on certain days both out of Eugene and Medford. You could rent a car and fly out of one and into another if the days do not work. Lat time I looked the flights where from $49 to $79 each way. It may reduce airfare to a point where its a llittle more than driving but you save time.

We just flew from Eugene to LAX this last weekend it was $585.00 with taxes and fees for 4 people round trip. We couldn't drive for that.

I was trying to Priceline a rental car but wasn't successful but I did find on the Avis website $83.00 for three days for a pre pay deal. It was cheaper than the shuttle to and from the airport.

 

[iKristin]

The drive isn't bad to me at all. It's 16 hours from where I am (on the border of Washington)

 

[Scaramedic]

My girlfriend and her adult daughter and my two children 7 and 9 years would drive.

Your 7 & 9 year olds are going to drive?

Am I too new to make snarky comments? JK of course.

Road trip. More memories than a flight any day. I think it would be a blast. I used to live in Oklahoma and made a road trip home every 3rd or so trip to Washington. A couple of things. Get an oil change before you leave and have a tire place check your tires. Oh and the best road food, believe or not is truck stops. Yummy stuff.

 

[Dobie]

The Dobies think that the drive is hideous, stressful, and boring and will never, never do it again. Plus, we start dreading the drive home and it tarnishes our trip.

To save money on transportation, the Dobies take Allegiant.

The trick with Allegiant is that they nickel and dime you for everything on the flight. . .picking your seat, boarding first, whatever. So we just plan to check a bag and dont care where we sit for the two hour flight. . .we could NEVER drive from Tri Cities to LA for what it costs three of us to fly on Allegiant.

 

[I5Blazer]

i love the drive. i take my time check out some sights on the way. save a lot of money over flying. of course if you have kids they might not like riding in the car that long.

 

[Halloweenqueen]

Another Tri-Cities Allegiant fan. It just takes some time researching and waiting for a good day to jump on airfare. I find Tuesday afternoon to be the best time to buy.

 

[sonnyjane]

Not too far to drive, but too far to drive in one day in my opinion. My husband would do it. He has no problem with driving 18-20 hours straight if he has to, but I get tired after about 10, maybe 12 max.

 

[purplecrush]

No, you are not crazy. We live in Portland and we drive. We have two kids , 14 and 12 and they love car rides. We usually have alot of fun, as we try to things "off the beaten path" We do stop in San Fran for the night, just cuz I love the town so much. Go ahead and drive

 

[WereObsessed]

We drove straight from Seattle with 2 drivers. Honestly it was a bit of a nightmare, mostly because of becoming car sick right after Mt. Shasta (what a beautiful thing to miss! ). From here it's about a 24 hour drive. I wouldn't do it again under those circumstances, just the 2 of us in a little 2 seat convertible. I have been on many week or more long road trips, and I know it sounds silly but the size of the car really makes a difference. All that aside, the drive down I5 through the Sacramento Valley.. it is honestly one of my favorites in the country. If you have 3 drivers and atleast a midsize car, I say go for it for sure. The money that you will save (if put towards your trip) would make it extra memorable!

 

[smsles]

Thanks for the responses. I am going to look into Allegiant Air as an option.