If you're going to head to San Francisco from the Disneyland area, you can fly out of SNA (John Wayne Airport) in Santa Ana. *MUCH* closer and less insane than LAX.
Agreed - you can NEVER underestimate LA traffic!!!! The only times I've had no traffic in LA have been late at night.
So theirs no way I could just get an Uber / cab to each place I wanted to see?
You could, but again, the traffic in Los Angeles is just comically bad at most hours.
Figure at least an hour and a half to two hours from Disneyland to Universal, despite it only being a 34 mile drive. I’ve had it take an hour and a half to go 20 miles in LA traffic before. Your best bet may just be to rent a car.
Oh my, why is it so bad?
Congestion. Too many cars on the roads. Some of the freeways are 6-7 lanes wide in each direction and that’s still not enough.
LA is very much a car-based place, never had an easy or very efficient public transportation system. The metros were all built well after the freeways & cities, almost an afterthought, and people are hard to change from driving. Also, not as many stops or lines as you find in places like NYC or London, so maybe not seemed as convenient. Also, as @BadPinkTink noted, it is a large geographic footprint.
I had it take me 2 hours one time to get from Redondo Beach to Santa Monica. No accident, just traffic! I could have walked it faster!
Wow. I’ve never had it take that long between but I can’t believe it.
It probably won't be a problem. Remember, you don't have to do everything. A big pitfall is deciding to meet others in the lounge after the day's events are over and staying until they close.
