Legoland to Disneyland

[chttyangel]

First off; One more week!!!

We will be spliting our time this trip between the San Diego area and Disneyland. We arrive into John Wayne next Friday at noon and will proceed to head to San Diego as quickly as possible. I am expecting traffic since it is a Friday afternoon....before a holiday...but I hope the early start will save us some which is why I say "as quickly as possible".

On Monday we will then proceed back to Disneyland after visiting Legoland for the day. In the Bay Area the time of day, direction and if the carpool lanes are open makes a HUGE difference so I am assuming the same is true for this area. So my question is; Monday after a holiday....better to leave Legoland early and be on the road before 4 OR stay late, have dinner and hit the road around 7?? Hoping someone is familar with this commute. I know traffice can be bad anytime of day but would rather spend the extra time enjoying a meal then sitting in the car if that is the case.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

First off; One more week!!!

We will be spliting our time this trip between the San Diego area and Disneyland. We arrive into John Wayne next Friday at noon and will proceed to head to San Diego as quickly as possible. I am expecting traffic since it is a Friday afternoon....before a holiday...but I hope the early start will save us some which is why I say "as quickly as possible".

On Monday we will then proceed back to Disneyland after visiting Legoland for the day. In the Bay Area the time of day, direction and if the carpool lanes are open makes a HUGE difference so I am assuming the same is true for this area. So my question is; Monday after a holiday....better to leave Legoland early and be on the road before 4 OR stay late, have dinner and hit the road around 7?? Hoping someone is familar with this commute. I know traffice can be bad anytime of day but would rather spend the extra time enjoying a meal then sitting in the car if that is the case.

Haven't done this for a while, but I would say 4 is not early enough. You would be better off waiting, eating dinner, and heading up around 7.

 

[ykmom]

We have done this drive twice and both times we stayed and had supper then drove in - probably leaving between 6:30 and 7:00. The drive at that time was quite pleasant. Have a great time!

 

[jennilouwho]

Not to hijack the thread, but we are going on a Monday in three weeks and if were dumb enough to leave Legoland at 5:00 to get to Anaheim, what time would we get to Anaheim? Would we have serious regrets leaving at 5? I'm worried if we wait until 6:30 the 3 year old will sleep the whole way up and then not sleep that night.....

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Not to hijack the thread, but we are going on a Monday in three weeks and if were dumb enough to leave Legoland at 5:00 to get to Anaheim, what time would we get to Anaheim? Would we have serious regrets leaving at 5? I'm worried if we wait until 6:30 the 3 year old will sleep the whole way up and then not sleep that night.....

With traffic moving at posted speed limits (or above) the drive should take only about an hour or so. Obviously the problem with 5 PM is that it is rush hour and traffic quite likely will not be moving at speed limit for the entire stretch. We have left a little before 5 a couple times. It took us over two hours once. I don't remember how long the other time but definitely over an hour. It's also really exhausting and frustrating dealing with all that traffic; it's not part of our everyday routine so we may be more sensitive than some. The only reason we go rather than wait is one of my kiddos gets carsick so can't eat before driving, so for us there's no point in lingering to eat since that would just lead to unpleasantness. We just deal with the traffic and eat as soon as we get to Anaheim, whenever that is.

 

[bumbershoot]

I'm not an expert in this (my brother lives in Chula Vista and I visit), but the good thing is that Legoland is so relatively far (north) from San Diego proper that you aren't going to be stuck in downtown traffic. Other traffic, sure, but not the snarled mess you encounter heading towards downtown.

 

[dchatelain3]

7 will be best in my opinion, you will hit traffic if you leave at 4. I live in San Diego and my fiancés parents live in Carlsbad. When we drove from Carlsbad to Disneyland it took us an hour and fifteen minutes, not too bad!

 

[jennilouwho]

Thanks Lurker! I guess I will have to think things over for the next couple of weeks

 

[DTDkettleCORNfan]

We drove from Legoland to Disneyland on the Monday after Thanksgiving a few years ago. We stayed at LL until it closed, went to dinner nearby, and had zero traffic heading back up north on I-5.

 

[chttyangel]

Thanks everyone!!