Driving to DL from Saskatchewan

[hopeis]

Anyone driven to DL in the summer from SK? Taking 3 days to drive down we figure.

We are thinking of going down through Vegas, do DL (purchasing the city pass deal) & universal. (How is it for 5 and 9 year old girls?)

Stay somewhere close enough to walk (and inexpensive).

Then we'll drive down to SD to do the zoo and sea world. Not sure where to stay there.

Then wiggle our way back up to Summerland BC (to Calgary and home again) stopping on the way for the Jelly Belly factory tour, see the Redwoods and any other attractions on the way.

Any thoughts, hints, tips??
Thanks

 

[erikamj]

Well we are driving down from Calgary at the end of March. Our plan is to drive from Calgary to Phoenix, stay for a couple of days and then head to Anaheim for Disney. After that we are heading down to LEgoland and then up to San Fransisco then drive back. I will post after we do this adventure and let you know how it went. We are travelling with 4 children 8 and under.

 

[Mackysmycat]

March will be our second time driving to DL from Kelowna, BC. We love it. We leave around 7pm on Friday night to drive straight though the night, stopping the next day around 2pm at a hotel. Then we wake up the next day and drive straight through, getting to DL around 9pm. And that's with driving along the coast for the scenic route, stopping a the redwoods, driving through the tree, etc etc.

Our kids are 7 and 9 and we decided against Universal this time as we believe our kids are just too young still.

We went during Spring break last time and are going for Spring break again this time. We stayed at the Park Vue Inn last time and this time we are staying at the Grand Californian.

 

[dalepool]

Maybe I missed something at the San Diego zoo, but if I was traveling so far I would skip the whole drive to SD. We have a very nice zoo about an hour from home so can make plans or go at last minute for a zoo trip.

We did go to the SD zoo back a few years. It was HOT, the animals were not out-- to hot for them I guess. This zoo is very hilly for adult walking let alone kids. ( can probably rest strollers or bring own)

This is only my opinion. Please flame me.

Universal Studios is VERY HILLY also but they did install an esclator to get from one level to another. We used elevator as we had electric wheelchair. I think your kids would find fun things to do at Universal but most attractions are for older kids.

Knotts berry farm has some good kiddie rides. Knotts seems to have ticket specials all the time. We found some in area papers and travel magazines. Even found some in the fliers that you can get in hotel lobbies, we got some on way down I-5.

Hope this helps a bit -- but remember it is only my opinion.

Patty

 

[inluvwithbuzz]

I have made the trek from Calgary to Vegas to Disneyland 4 times. The first day we drive from Calgary to Salt Lake City and stay overnight there. Then we wake up early in the morning and drive to Vegas. This takes about 18 hours of driving. Then the drive from Vegas to Disneyland usually takes us around 5 hours give or take. Its a beautiful drive and I would not hesistate doing it again and again.

We always stay at the Anaheim Desert Inn and Suites. We have found this to be inexpensive and its right at the walk way to the Disneyland main entrance. I love this hotel have never had a problem. I find this place always very clean and the staff are very friendly.

In October my DS3 and I got the California City Pass. We made the trek for a day to San Diego and did the zoo since we have done Sea World in the past. In my opinion the zoo was kind of a waste of time. There were not many animals out. Its was extremely hilly and it was hard walking up and down the hills let alone pushing a stroller. And I found the food to be extremely expensive. I would never go to the San Diego zoo again. Calgary has a much nicer zoo. But remember this is my opinion. I would recomend Sea World though. We loved it there.

 

[blackjackdelta]

Anyone driven to DL in the summer from SK? Taking 3 days to drive down we figure.

We are thinking of going down through Vegas, do DL (purchasing the city pass deal) & universal. (How is it for 5 and 9 year old girls?)

Stay somewhere close enough to walk (and inexpensive).

Then we'll drive down to SD to do the zoo and sea world. Not sure where to stay there.

Then wiggle our way back up to Summerland BC (to Calgary and home again) stopping on the way for the Jelly Belly factory tour, see the Redwoods and any other attractions on the way.

Any thoughts, hints, tips??
Thanks

First, I think your kids are a bit young for USH and maybe Knotts(has many roller coasters.) The SD zoo really is not that hilly but the Wild Animal Park is and they animals do not play well in the heat. Good luck with your drive and have fun.

Jack

 

[BELLEDOZER]

IMHO the Monterey Bay Aquarium is a much better bet in regards to seeing animals, and since you are considering driving the California coast (it's definitely worth the detour to see it) it's more or less on the way. It cost us just under $100USD for the 4 of us to see it, and it's well worth the visit. I'm going to be a traitor and say that I liked it alot better than the Vancouver Aquarium It's a day's drive from DL along the coast. Piece of advice...use the other bridge that's not the Golden Gate (can't remember the name of it maybe the US'ers on the board can give you the name of it). The bridge connects you with the 80 which takes you back to the I-5 at around Sacramento. If you make the decision to go over the Golden Gate Bridge then you are stuck on the PCH until Crescent City where you can take the 199 to get you back to the I-5 outside of Medford.

As for hotels in DL we love HOJO's, and are driving down to DL and staying there at the end of the month. It's a 7 to 10 min walk, and while it doesn't have a free brekki, they have a small but fully stocked gift shop in building 1 that you can find decently priced breakfast items. And there's MIMI's across the street that has good breakfasts. Hope that this gives you a bit more into, and helps you out. Have a great day!

Trish

 

[DisneyMomma81]

Maybe I missed something at the San Diego zoo, but if I was traveling so far I would skip the whole drive to SD. We have a very nice zoo about an hour from home so can make plans or go at last minute for a zoo trip.

We did go to the SD zoo back a few years. It was HOT, the animals were not out-- to hot for them I guess. This zoo is very hilly for adult walking let alone kids. ( can probably rest strollers or bring own)

This is only my opinion. Please flame me.

I won't flame you ~ I'll agree with you I prefer what we have in SLC much better.

I have made the trek from Calgary to Vegas to Disneyland 4 times. The first day we drive from Calgary to Salt Lake City and stay overnight there. Then we wake up early in the morning and drive to Vegas. This takes about 18 hours of driving. Then the drive from Vegas to Disneyland usually takes us around 5 hours give or take. Its a beautiful drive and I would not hesistate doing it again and again.

It's pretty easy to drive from SLC to DLR in one day *but coming from CAN maybe not* we did it this past November - we left the SLC area around 2pm and arrived around 11pm *which would be 12am in UT*

I wouldn't take my kids to Las Vegas

 

[ironpig70]

Have not done the whole drive but I have done the Redwoods a lot since I have family near the California coast and we are in Oregon.

You can take Interstate 5 north till Williams and then take Hwy 20 west to Hwy 101. Hwy 101 is inland of the coast but you will drive through the redwoods. You can also keep coming up Hwy 101 all the way into Oregon. In Oregon Hwy 101 follows the Ocean. There are numerous Hwy's off 101 back to Hwy 5.

It is a great drive and I would suggest a stop somewhere as the trip from DL to Williams is about 6 hours and to Hwy 101 is another 1 1/2 after that. After you go thur Willits(grew up there) there is not a lot of places to stop for the night until the Eureka area which is roughly2 1/2 hours from Willits.

 

[maelstrom]

use the other bridge that's not the Golden Gate (can't remember the name of it maybe the US'ers on the board can give you the name of it). The bridge connects you with the 80 which takes you back to the I-5 at around Sacramento. If you make the decision to go over the Golden Gate Bridge then you are stuck on the PCH until Crescent City where you can take the 199 to get you back to the I-5 outside of Medford.

The Oakland Bay Bridge? I think a new bridge is being built to replace it.

 

[BELLEDOZER]

That's the bridge I was thinking about. We didn't realize that on our last trip if you went over the Golden Gate bridge that you were stuck for the most part on the PCH until Crescent city. It was still a beautiful drive, and was worth the time to drive it. But DH wanted to go over the Golden Gate Bridge, and we ended up staying at the Four Points by Sheraton in San Rafael, which was the nicest hotel we stayed at during our trip.

 

[Brady's Mom]

You can actually drive to the Golden Gate Bridge and NOT go over it. On the San Francisco side of the bridge there is a parking area and you can actually walk up to the bridge and/or down to the Fort and see some of the construction features and of course, take pictures. My kids love to go to the Golden Gate and walk ON the bridge and look out over the water and out to Alcatraz. Every time we go to SF we have to do the Bridge.

Then you can head back the opposite way if you don't want to take Hwy 101 up the coast. It is a pretty drive, but winds through a lot of trees and mountains and sometimes it's only 2 lanes. It used to take DH and I about 4.5 hours to go from SF to Eureka.

I also second the Monterey Bay Aquarium, I love it there. Long Beach has an aquarium and it is supposed to be nice, too.