How to pick a hotel for split trip.

[mAlien13]

In the past, we have stayed as close as possible to DLR. For our upcoming trip, we are visiting DLR for 3 days, as well as San Diego Zoo, Sea World and USH, for 1 day each. We are thinking of finding accomodations that split the drive, maybe in Carlsbad or Oceanside. It seems like that would split the drive to about an hour each day, except when visting USH, which would be a bit farther.

We are the type who always arrive at the park first thing, we consider ourselves late unless we can see the turnstile attendant clearly! With that in mind, is this a crazy plan, to get everyone up and out the door that early every day? Would it make more sense to split the stay between two hotels? We weren't origionally planning on the USH and Disney days being back to back, and I am not crazy about packing up and switching after a couple of days, but we could re-arrange if the drive is really terrible.

I am not familiar enough with California to know if this plan would make sense. I would love to hear any advice/input. Thanks!

 

[JenDisneylandlver]

We are doing USH one day and the rest DLR. We talked about staying closer to USH for that one night (making it the last day of the trip), but really didn't want to pack up and have to go check in somewhere else that day (taking time away from being in USH).

So were sticking with staying close to DLR and just making the drive back to the hotel after were done at USH. Since we have AP's we'll probably try and go back in to DL for the evening if I know us too. LOL

 

[mAlien13]

See, now that is a great point that I had not considered! We are also going to have AP's, so if we just stayed by Disney and drove to San Diego those two days, we could jump into DLR for the evening shows. Hmmmm....

 

[bumbershoot]

For DLR and Universal, I would stay very close to DLR. (note that I have not been to Universal, so this is pure Disney fandom talking)

For the San Diego options, I would stay in San Diego. That's a cruddy drive, especially for us Washingtonians (though I grew up in the Bay Area and learned to drive in CA). Bad enough to do it, or part of it, on one day, let alone every day.

 

[mAlien13]

Can anyone comment on what time of the morning is I-5 really congested along the way from DLR to San Diego? What about the same for the return in the afternoon?

 

[JenDisneylandlver]

For DLR and Universal, I would stay very close to DLR. (note that I have not been to Universal, so this is pure Disney fandom talking)

For the San Diego options, I would stay in San Diego. That's a cruddy drive, especially for us Washingtonians (though I grew up in the Bay Area and learned to drive in CA). Bad enough to do it, or part of it, on one day, let alone every day.

This is true, I'm not sure what we'd do if we were going to San Diego (something we've talked about for next time).

It's hard because I think of all the stuff we'll have in the car, not being able to check in until 3pm or later in some places, on a day where we're going to be at Sea World ect... Then if it's in the middle of a trip coming back and doing it all over again! Lots of packing and unpacking! But that is one heck of a drive, and would NOT be pleasant having to do that more then one day even. So I dunno!

 

[silence]

We have done the trips twice where we visited San Diego parks during our Disney vacation. We drove both times. Both trips included 2 days to San Diego.

It is SUCH A PAIN in my opinion. I just really hate the drive "home".

My brother lives in Oceanside, so we at least go that far most trips, but we always try to schedule at the beginning, and then hit DLR after.

I would probably try to split the trip to visit SD parks first, then check in to another hotel in the DLR resort area for the rest if you can.

 

[jencav5]

We go to other places (other than DLR of course!) often. I dislike changing hotels. I like to be settled in one place-moving is a pain.

Honestly, the drive to Universal is way worse than the drive to San Diego, even though it is closer. There is usually always traffic. We drove back to the hotel late once and there was no traffic, but there is always traffic in the morning/day and it takes at least an hour.

San Diego is an easy drive. The traffic is not bad at all in our experience and we have done it many times. We use the commuter lane if necessary. It always takes 1 hour to Legoland, 1 and 1/2 hours to Sea World, SD Zoo, or Wild Animal Park, no matter what the traffic is. Even if there is a little slow up, it is not the whole way. All of these places, except the Wild Animal Park are right off of I-5-very easy to get to.

 

[jencav5]

Just another note-I don't like to add too many other things to a DLR trip unless we're there for a while. For 10 day trips, we do lots of other stuff, for 5 days, maybe only 1 other thing. Less than that, I don't like to do anything else-it takes away from my Disney time! I like to go home feeling like I've been able to enjoy Disney without running ragged!

 

[blackjackdelta]

We always stay close to DLR and make the drive to SD or USH. We hate moving all the luggage and stuff for the 6 of us. We always leave very early to take side trips and come back late.

Jack