Have you driven Seattle to DL??

[8timesblessed]

I would love to hear your experience!! We are planning to drive down in May for our trip. I just couldn't see flying with 8 kids and renting a van and carseats etc and thought it would be easier to drive. The most we've ever driven is 5 hours and I have no clue how my kids are going to do. They will be 12 down to 3 when we travel. We plan to be gone 2.5 weeks or so. We are staying at two locations, one week each and are given the other days for travel if we need them.

Thanks for any help!

 

[DLovinFam]

Not from Seattle, but from Portland. We make the trip in 2 days staying in Elk Grove on the way there (South of Sacramento) and Redding on the way back. We enjoy road trips and our kids have always been good travelers. We pack the cooler/s with food and bring a couple of cases of water bottles from Costco!

It may not be for everyone, but it's the way we like to travel if possible. We have also rented a motorhome for one of our Disneyland trips. That was the best! We now own a motorhome, so we may take that next time. (After our short trip in May. We are flying for that one.)

 

[NWPrincess]

Wow...it's been a long time. We drove from Seattle down to the LA area twice when I was a kid (back in the early and mid 1990's). I don't think I would do it since it is only me and my DF and flying would be cheaper, but it sounds like it would be perfect for your family.

From what I remember, the drive took us three days each way. We stopped when necessary, had fast food meals and rented hotels two different nights to rest. I heard someone else say they could do the drive in one really long day, but I'd think it would at least take two days each way. It's nice you are doing it in May, it gets really hot in the summer and makes it difficult even with A/C.

Oooo...a motor home would be nice to do it with (we always just had our big van).

 

[sonnyjane]

It wasn't specifically from Seattle do Disneyland, but I have done the drive from Anacortes (so two hours north of Seattle) to San Diego (90 minutes south of DL) twice. Both times we did it in two days, staying overnight in Redding, CA, and just stayed on I-5 the entire time. Since you'll be traveling in May, I don't think you'll have to worry about weather in the passes like I did, as it was January both times I did our drive and we had to deal with snow/chains lol. It's not a bad drive, just not an exciting one, and there are plenty of places to stop if you have to.

 

[victorandbellasmom]

We've done it a few times. The first time, we drove straight through to DL and on the way back, spent the night in Redding. The kids were 5 & 8. The 2nd, 3rd and time we drove straight through. The last time (last year), we spent the night in Sacramento. We realized that we aren't as young as we used to be and we do need to spend the night to break the monotony of driving.

The kids are used to road trips, especially if its to Disneyland. We have a dvd system in our car and the kids have their Nintendo Ds's and ipod to keep them busy. We're flying down for our trip in May, but are possibly thinking about doing a roadtrip in August.

 

[darph nader]

Drove from Seattle to DL back in (cough,mumble,summer 72,mumble,cough). Straight down I-5,nothing but bad luck. Accident in Portland on a bridge over some river,rained so bad (5MPH) and still couldn't see the front of my own car. POJ car kept over-heating. Took us almost 2 days to get there. Other than that a 'great' trip.

 

[Dobie]

We have made this trip several times. With LA traffic and Portland traffic and potty breaks and breaks for meals, it is two looong days of monotonous travel.

We ususally tried to make the first day the longest--if you can make it past Sacramento and can get up REALLY early on day 2, like 4 or 5, and the traffic isn't bad in LA, you should be there by lunchtime.

Traffic over the Siskyous in Southern Oregon/Northern California can be dicey--several years ago, on the California side, the traffic was FAST--like 75miles an hour--and thick; a car just ahead of us hit the median and rolled and the driver was flung from the car. It was hideous. I'm not suggesting that this is a typical experience, but you should be prepared for a rather difficult stretch of driving here.

With the exception of the Grapevine coming into LA, the rest of the road is flat and boring. Nothing to look at but agricultural land and housing developments.

 

[FlameGirl]

Yep...done it a few times...we plan to drive in November for our next trip down. This time we're bringing the dog.

Stockton seems to be a good stopping point on the way down, then we get up wicked early and roll into Anaheim the next afternoon around 4:00? 5:00? We've stopped in Redding on the way back, like a PP mentioned. It's not a horrible drive, but it's not terribly exciting either.

 

[reynmagsmom]

we drive from Kelso WA every year since 2000 at different times of the year our favs have been April and Sept. Takes us 2 days total as we like to stop and we stop in Santa Nella every time there is a really nice Holiday Inn we always stay at. Its a long drive, its about 12 hrs from here so more like 14 for you but if you have help driving it can be very easy. Then its a quick 4 or 4 and a 1/2 hour trip onto Anaheim. If you go with a plan of where you stop for the night it goes by much faster and with portable dvd player or laptop makes it even faster.... Last year we drove straight through and I can honestly say I will NEVER do that again..... made our first day at DLR seem like it went on forever.....

 

[MCSfromWA]

Yes, we make this drive at least once a year -- last year we drove down and back in March and August. My DH and DMom prefer a two day long drive each way to flying. I am the only driver and I find it to be an enjoyable trip (although I also enjoy the times when I can convince them to fly). We usually stop at Redding each way. It is about a 10 or 11 hour drive (with multiple stops and traffic) from Seattle to Redding and then we try to leave Redding about 7:30 am and we get into Anaheim by dinner. I'd love to either leave Redding earlier or leave Seattle earlier the first day and travel farther south so that we cold avoid the mid and late afternoon LA traffic on the second day. My DD (14) and DD (11) enjoy the trip as well. I let them watch movies and eat treats in the car and so for some reason they love car trips. Anyway, just plan on it taking 2 days and pack accordingly. We like having our own vehicle versus renting a car. And we also think the drive is interesting. We enjoy packing a cooler with picnic items to save time on the road.

 

[sdaughs]

good info.. We are traveling in March, and are driving from Newport, Oregon (about 2.5 hours south of portland). This will be our first time doing this, and I am super excited.

So from the sounds of things, our plan which is to drive from Newport to about Sacramento the 1st day, and the rest EARLY the 2nd day, that is reasonable?????

we have our car dvd players, as well as the kids DsI's, and there ipods, so I think they will be ok! they are 11 and 9.

Any other suggestions???

HUGS

 

[8timesblessed]

Thanks for the info. We were planning to stop in Redding but when I tried to find hotels that would work for our family I couldn't even find ones that would allow me to input 5 people per room, it kept telling me there was no availability. So then I thought we might plan to leave here around noon and travel to Eugene, OR and stop and visit a friend for dinner, let the kids get out and run around and then driving through the night and have DH and I just keep switching off driving. I think it's a 20 hour drive or so. We were thinking if we did it through the night they might not have to go potty as often. Then we would arrive in Anaheim on Sunday late afternoon and would just rest and not do Disney but enjoy the hotel etc. We will be at HOJO for 7 nights and plan to do 5 days in Disney and 1 day at Universal Studios so figured we could have a rest day or two. I just wasn't sure I wanted to get everyone out for one night and pack again. If we do stop I plan to just pack an overnight bag that we pull out but then it seems like you never know about the safety of the belongings you leave in your car. So then it was back to thinking of just driving straight through and having a rest day.

We plan to have DVD's and DSi's and such things for the car and lots of snacks etc.

So now what do you think?

What's the good Holiday Inn you like to stop at?

 

[DangerMouse]

When we moved from AZ to Whidbey Island, we traveled up from the LA area and stayed at the Best Western Miner's Inn in Yreka. The rooms were massive! And I just called and reserved (I always run into issues trying to book more than 2 kids and 2 adults online). They were great. You could easily fit several kids on the floor on mats or sleeping bags. It was a great motel in a unique little town with a free breakfast.

Just a suggestion.

 

[PrincessIM]

good info.. We are traveling in March, and are driving from Newport, Oregon (about 2.5 hours south of portland). This will be our first time doing this, and I am super excited.

So from the sounds of things, our plan which is to drive from Newport to about Sacramento the 1st day, and the rest EARLY the 2nd day, that is reasonable?????

we have our car dvd players, as well as the kids DsI's, and there ipods, so I think they will be ok! they are 11 and 9.

Any other suggestions???

HUGS

Buy them a new game for their DSi just before you leave. Kept ours occupied for a long time!

 

[reynmagsmom]

http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/ex/1/en/hotel/lsnex
This is the Holiday Inn Express we always stop at in Santa Nella from Seattle it and would be like a 14+ hour trip for the first day we usually leave Kelso around 5 or 6 am and arrive in SN around 5 or 6 pm sometimes a bit later depending on stops along the way. We usually find good rates at Roomsaver.com
Hope this helps some.... Have a great trip.

 

[CaliLuvinGirl]

Ooh, good memories lol. Ive ridden to disneyland with my parents four times, preschool, kindergarten, fourth grade, then seventh grade. We always leave at around 2 in the morning, and drive alll day untill about threeish when we reach stockton california. We stay in a hotel called the Radison for the night, to rest and get out of the car. Then the next day we drive from about eight in the morning untill we reach anaheim. We usually reach there around threeish also if I remember correctly. Then we stay at disneyland for a few nights and then usually travel down to LA for a night, and then the next day drive to Redding CA (stay at the red lion lol) and then leave the next morning and drive home. We live in Lakewood, WA. Those cities seem to work great for us, stocton, anaheim, la, redding. It spaces it out manageably. But now that I'm older we finally got tired of all the driving and started flying lol.

ANYWAYS, ways to make the trip easy/fun

Buy travel games for the kids (great ones at AAA. You don't have to be a member to buy the games, it is just cheaper)
Possibly allow your children to pick some sort of attraction they would like to visit that is not to far out of the way to make the day of travel fun. For example, one time instead of stocton we drove to san jose and visited the winchester mystery house
Coloring books, magazines, wordsearches, books! Lol. Make it a competition? Whoever can find the most words in a wordsearch, read the most book, etc. gets a small prize?
If any of your children get car sick, buy pressure point wristbands. They are around 20$ and work amazingly!
My family always made up a snack box lol. We would go to costco and pick up all kinds of good, no melt, snacks to eat in the car. Goldfish and trailmix are great because if spilt they won't leave greas stains!

I hope I helped! Oh, and don't forget upholstery cleaner, two of the four trips I threw up in the car, and I don't even get carsick! lol. And it is absolutely miserable sitting in a car that smells like throw up, so don't forget something to clean up with! Lol

 

[8timesblessed]

Thanks for the info. I think we should stop along the way and when I put in the Best Western it got OK reviews on Tripadvisor but the Holiday Inn Express was #1 and it got great reviews and it's a new hotel with a free breakfast in Yreka so I think we should stop there! 20 hours does seem like a long time and a good night sleep would probably be better. Off to keep planning, it will be here before I know it.

 

[sasywtch]

I know that I will get majorally flamed here from anyone living in Stockton but I live an hour north and Stockton is definitely not somewhere I would make a stop at for the night. It looks ok but old CHP boyfriend who worked the area told too many stories for me. And this from someone who stayed in what was termed the murder/crime capitol and we had no idea place looked good to us, nice and clean. Come home and saw the town in the paper. Benton something somewhere between Chicago and Detroit.

 

[QueenDoOver]

We made that trip with our two boys. Used DVD's and game systems etc. We drove to Redding our first day and stayed at Best Western Hilltop on the way down. Our strategy was to leave Seattle at about 4:00AM, so the kids could sleep in the car while we missed most of the traffic. We did miss most of the traffic, but sadly the kids were wide awake! I would likely try to leave an hour ealier next time.

We did arrive in Redding well ahead of the dinner hour, checked in, relaxed, went swimming and hot tubbing and then down the road to Denny's for dinner, which my kids loved because we never eat at Denny's. We were in bed and asleep by 8PM. Up the next day and in the breakfast room at opening, which I believe was 6:00AM. Had an absolutely fabulous breakfast with scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, biscuits, oatmeal etc. and were on the road again by 6:30. We did stop at the Disney Outlet store on the way down for about an hour, but otherwise drove through and we were at the hotel by about 3 or 4. It was a really fast drive from Redding to LA.

The one advise I would give is to switch off drivers. My hubby did most of the driving and his ankle was killing him when we finally got there. (not sure why he didn't use cruise control more?)

We have not done it since, but would, because we like having a car and avoiding the "dead" time associated with flying, as well as the extra expenses of parking and whatnot.

Good Luck on your trip.

By the way, on the way back home we stayed in Yureka at the place DangerMouse mentioned, and the rooms were truly gigantic(maybe twice as big as a typical room?), but we didn't participate in the breakfast, as we arrived super late, and got up super early and hit the road again. It did feel older and funky and sort of strange somehow. Cars parked next to rooms maybe? Other place was long foyer of rooms opening up to courtyard with pool. Was glad hubby was there anyhow.

 

[blackjackdelta]

We usually stay at the Bestwestern Hilltop Inn(Redding) and have not had a problem with 5 in the room. We love their hot breakfast before heading out to LA.

Jack