General input / traffic question / can't make up my mind, help!

[AndrewC]

Option 1

Current plan. Land at SNA Oct 19th around 11am. Have tea lunch at DLH and check in, rest/kill time until about 4pm and then head over to Universal Studios for Halloween Horror Nights, leave HHN at midnight or so and drive back to DLH, try to get up and into the park by 9am on Sunday. Enjoy the parks all the way till Thursday, check out of hotel and leave park around 4pm to head to Knott's Scary Farm until about midnight and then drive to Universal Hilton and check in for Universal Studios on Friday and probably HHN again.

That's what I did last year and it was awesome. I like book-ending my trip with HHN since that's what original drew me to the area for Halloween events, Disney was originally an add on, now it's gained much much more importance to me, but I don't want to give up HHN and Knott's. If I recall last year, I was extremely exhausted on the day I arrived because of a ~6am flight and then HHN and then the drive back to Disney. I wasn't unsafe, but man did I NOT want to make that drive back to Disney at midnight. However, I like to get into Disney early and I value those morning hours a lot, even if I'm only in the park by 9am because of a late night the night before...

Do you think that is the optimized plan and I just need to reduce what I do (HA!) or suck it up and know that first day is going to ware me out like none other?

Option 2

Do I adjust things a little...

Land at SNA Oct 19th around 11am, have tea lunch at DLH but then immediately drive over to Universal Hilton at about 1:30pm. [Will the drive/traffic between Disney and Universal be better at 1:30pm on a Saturday compared to 4pm? Last year it took about 90 minutes during the evening!] Hope for early check in an rest a little at the Hilton, do HHN and then just walk across the street to the hotel and crash for the night. Check out around 8am to drive to DLH [How bad would the drive be at ~8am on Sunday? 60 min?] Check into DLH and head right into the park while waiting for my room. Enjoy the parks until Friday, check out Friday and leave the parks around 4pm to do Knott's and then head back to Universal Hilton, etc.

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I'm not worried about the weekend crowds at Universal since I'll be doing the VIP day package (no wait times) and the RIP package for HHN (no waits).

The drive and the morning time at Disney is my big question and which seems more optimized between maximum rest and least time in traffic and not showing up to Disney late.

Does traffic suck all the time every day? ----> Suck it up and drive back to Disney after HHN and wake up Sunday morning on property

Is Sunday morning traffic 60 minutes or less? -----> Stay at Universal after HHN and begin drive to Disney around 8am Sunday


Option 2 also gains me an extra day in the Disney parks. I wasn't planning on my travel day being a Disney day because by the time I'm done with lunch it would be about 1pm and because I would need to leave no later than 4pm for HHN. But, if my Disney Hotel check in day is Sunday, and I've driven over "early" in the morning (leave Universal ~8am) than I would use all that day in the parks. Option 1 is 4.5 days in the park but every day starts from the Disney Hotel, Option 2 is 5.5 days in the park but the first day starts from Universal. Option 2 also has the option for two Halloween Parties (Tickets for Tue 10/22 already bought, second day would be Thur 10/24. Sun is Disneyland for Fantasmic so no party that night on either option).

Sorry this is so confusing... just any feedback / input would be great. I originally split my stays because I hate doing the drive in traffic and not being able to get into the park as early as possible. The drive at night is almost nothing since there isn't any traffic, it's just a dread that all day because of how worn out I am...

(Guess I should also note that I'm a solo adult, I wouldn't torture kids or teens with this "grueling" vacation schedule, lol)

 

[AndrewC]

Also, about the 4.5 days vs 5.5 days at Disney, the reason I don't just add another day at the DLH to option 1 is because of price. Because option 1 has me staying Sat night, which is $549 (!) the hotel price just gets too crazy for me. In option 2 since I shift all my DLH days to "weeknights" with the lower $475 price, the extra day, over at Universal Hilton, isn't actually that much more expensive. Hilton is ~$250 but I actually SAVE ~$80 from DLH so out of pocket it's only ~$170 extra.

 

[Gaugersaurus]

Traffic leaving 1:30pm heading into LA will be much better than 4pm on a Friday evening you're still looking at 60 min drive minimum though. 8am Sunday should be too bad of a drive, and you'll be leaving LA so the only tough part of the drive will be the 101 which in my opinion is always a disaster. I would go with option 2 as it minimizes traffic hours both to and from Universal. Sundays traffic usually starts to pick up around 9am so the earlier you leave the better, if you're leaving at 8am you probably won't be in the parks until about 10am with drive, check-in, etc.

 

[AndrewC]

Traffic leaving 1:30pm heading into LA will be much better than 4pm on a Friday evening you're still looking at 60 min drive minimum though. 8am Sunday should be too bad of a drive, and you'll be leaving LA so the only tough part of the drive will be the 101 which in my opinion is always a disaster. I would go with option 2 as it minimizes traffic hours both to and from Universal. Sundays traffic usually starts to pick up around 9am so the earlier you leave the better, if you're leaving at 8am you probably won't be in the parks until about 10am with drive, check-in, etc.

So the drive from Disney TO Universal on both options would be on Saturday, not Friday. Option 1 would just be Sat at about 4pm and Option 2 would be Sat around 1:30pm. Not sure if there is much of a difference there or if things get crazy Saturday night heading toward LA/Universal...

 

[Gaugersaurus]

With Saturday I would definitely say leave earlier. The 101 through Hollywood will be a disaster at either time but the earlier you leave will give you more time to relax at your destination rather than being worried about arriving on time but your mileage may vary personally I'd rather be at my destination earlier than stressed about being late. I would still advise staying at Hilton Saturday night and driving to Disney Sunday morning. Even leaving after midnight on Saturday you could have a lot of traffic in Hollywood as people are out enjoying the nightlife in LA

 

[AndrewC]

With Saturday I would definitely say leave earlier. The 101 through Hollywood will be a disaster at either time but the earlier you leave will give you more time to relax at your destination rather than being worried about arriving on time but your mileage may vary personally I'd rather be at my destination earlier than stressed about being late. I would still advise staying at Hilton Saturday night and driving to Disney Sunday morning. Even leaving after midnight on Saturday you could have a lot of traffic in Hollywood as people are out enjoying the nightlife in LA

I'm not terrible worried about being "on time" for HHN at Universal, I think it's like 7pm till midnight or 1 am or so and with the VIP tickets I can easily do everything at least twice in that amount of time. They allow early entry at like 5pm I think but honestly I don't have to be there RIGHT at that time, sometimes it's fun to show up just as it's getting dark. I just want to try and avoid the stress of traffic, last year I remember it just being REALLY bad, like 15 mph for 20+ miles and three or four stopped car in the middle of lanes. I usually don't mind some traffic, and I've been visiting LA for the last 15 years or so, so it's not new to me, but that stop and go bumper to bumper traffic across five or six lanes just gets stressful for anyone

I'm leaning toward option two though. Universal Hilton and HHN, drive to Disney early Sunday, hopefully get a good room that early, do Disney from Sunday till Friday, and then trek back over to Universal again before flying home. Now I've just got to go back and read my DLH booking and make sure I can cancel that, almost positive I can though...

 

[Malcon10t]

OK, if you land at SNA at 11, it will likely be at least noon before you collect luggage and get to the DLH for tea. So, if you have a 1215 tea time and plan on leaving at 130p, you are kind of leaving yourself tight on tea time. You may do it faster if you are alone, but we usually take 2 hours for tea.

 

[AndrewC]

OK, if you land at SNA at 11, it will likely be at least noon before you collect luggage and get to the DLH for tea. So, if you have a 1215 tea time and plan on leaving at 130p, you are kind of leaving yourself tight on tea time. You may do it faster if you are alone, but we usually take 2 hours for tea.

I think I actually land at about 10:25 am. Last year I had a 12:15 tea time I think and actually showed up by noon. Tea took me about an hour to about an hour and fifteen minutes.

 

[MillauFr]

I always felt the traffic issues in Los Angles are far overrated. Sure it can creep along at times but the traffic issues in Orange County and Los Angeles County are far less than I am used to in Seattle.

 

[Epek]

Sunday am from Universal to Disneyland has the best traffic of any time. 45 mins or less. There are always exceptions of course, but i’ve found that even as late as 9-10am, traffic is still pretty good. I live here and visit DLR mainly on Sundays.

 

[Gaugersaurus]

I always felt the traffic issues in Los Angles are far overrated. Sure it can creep along at times but the traffic issues in Orange County and Los Angeles County are far less than I am used to in Seattle.

I don't think traffic is any worse than a major metropolitan city it's more the fact that it stretches for miles. You can drive from LA into OC with traffic the whole way for 45 miles easily turning what should've been a 45-60 min drive into a 90-120 min drive and that's just accounting for everyday traffic. Plus in CA you also have to tack an extra 3-5 mins to your trip for every car stopped on the side of the road

 

[AndrewC]

Sunday am from Universal to Disneyland has the best traffic of any time. 45 mins or less. There are always exceptions of course, but i’ve found that even as late as 9-10am, traffic is still pretty good. I live here and visit DLR mainly on Sundays.

That’s good to hear! I feel like sometimes the route from Universal to Disney was growing to 90+ minutes in the morning, though years ago when I would base my trip out of the Universal area I’m pretty sure I always would head to Disney during the week to try and avoid crowds.

I’m leaning towards rolling the dice on the Sunday morning traffic. That means I’ll be asleep literally like 20 minutes after I call it quits at Universal and hopefully can pack in 7 hours of sleep before checkout and heading over to Disney by 7:45 or 8am. With luck I can get into the park by 9:30am. I’ve always been lucky with check in going quick and smooth at the Disneyland Hotel, and obviously I’ll be fine dropping my bag or leaving it in my trunk until later in the day when my room is ready. Might also get a better room by checking in that early and shifting my stay to all week day nights instead of having a partial weekend

 

[AndrewC]

I don't think traffic is any worse than a major metropolitan city it's more the fact that it stretches for miles. You can drive from LA into OC with traffic the whole way for 45 miles easily turning what should've been a 45-60 min drive into a 90-120 min drive and that's just accounting for everyday traffic. Plus in CA you also have to tack an extra 3-5 mins to your trip for every car stopped on the side of the road

I was astonished last year on my Saturday night trek from Disney to Universal. Traffic would be moving at a manageable but painful 15 or 20 mph, then suddenly slow to about 5 mph for about a mile and then BAM, all of a sudden cars in front of me would be splitting off left and right and a stopped car (with no one in it) would be in my lane directly in front of me. Of course the surrounding lanes didn’t give an F and certainly didn’t want anyone merging into them so even at 5 mph the bumper to bumper made it really had to get into a lane to go around the car.... then that happened at LEAST three more time. I literally was at the point where I was audibly saying “are you kidding me?!” when I finally would get to the disabled car.

None had people in them, all were in center lanes, none had police or any other service vehicles there yet. It almost felt post apocalyptic and added at least 30 minutes to my already 60+ min trek.