How much time to drive to universal from Disneyland?

[auntyjenn]

We're going on a Thursday early in January. How long will it take to drive to universal from a Disney hotel if we're trying to get there for super Mario world early entry?

 

[sjmac42]

I’d allow 2 hours for the drive, parking and walking to the gates. If you’re early, plenty of places for a coffee.

 

[starry_solo]

You'll likely be going through rush hour traffic unless you leave Anaheim by 4 am.

What time is early entry?

 

[auntyjenn]

What time is early entry?

I think it's 8am. I couldn't find park hours for 2025.

 

[starry_solo]

I think it's 8am. I couldn't find park hours for 2025.

Yeah, you're going to want to leave by 5 am-ish. Traffic through the 101 to get to Hollywood is horrendous...

 

[auntyjenn]

Eww. Ok thanks. We will go to bed super early the night before!

 

[oakleycat]

I agree with the 5:00 ish suggestion. If you leave at 5 you will get there by 6. If you leave at 6 there's a good chance you miss early entry.

 

[Minnie84]

Friends of ours are driving from the Anaheim resort area to Universal on Monday, Nov. 18th. I’m the planner of the trip so I want to give them an idea of when to head out in the morning. They have early entry which begins at 9am that day. Universal’s hours are 10-6 that day. We aren’t joining them since we have extra Disneyland days instead. Any advice I should give them? They will have a rental car.

 

[auntyjenn]

Ok, early entry is at 9am. Do we still need to leave at 5am? What say ye?

 

[sjmac42]

Again, I’d allow 2 hours for the drive, parking and walking to the gates.
Leave at 6-30am to be absolutely sure. If it takes longer than that it means a major accident so there’s nothing you can do about that.

 

[bcla]

When are you willing to wake up?

We did it years ago when we were staying in Anaheim. Didn't even get up until maybe 9 AM and made a few side trips (lunch and a personal matter). But altogether I think it would have been well over an hour just driving because of the traffic.

 

[auntyjenn]

When are you willing to wake up?

We did it years ago when we were staying in Anaheim. Didn't even get up until maybe 9 AM and made a few side trips (lunch and a personal matter). But altogether I think it would have been well over an hour just driving because of the traffic.

We're trying to hit the Mario Land early entry at 9am

 

[Psymonds]

We're trying to hit the Mario Land early entry at 9am

keep in mind that they will let you in before early entry, you're going to want to be at the gate at 8:30 so they can scan you in, hold you on the upper lot and walk you back to Mario. we were at Mario at 8:55 getting in the line for bowser.