Road trip to DisneyLand!

[Dukland]

Hi, everybody!
This is my first post on these boards. I'm so glad a friend on another site recommended them.

We went to DisneyLand last year, for the first time as a family. Dh and I hadn't been since we were kids, and it was an awesome experience to bring our kids for their very first visit. As the family Disney-addict, yes, I did cry as we walked up to, and into the gates of DisneyLand. Last time I was there was about 20 years ago, and a lot had changed, of course.

We flew last year, with the Kids Fly Free deal. This year, dh said, "maybe we should go again this year" and I said, "What do you mean maybe?!?" so, I am planning our trip right now. We are waiting for our tax return, which should be soon. I told dh we should go in May, as it wouldn't be at peak-crowds, if we time it right. But when he heard that Pirates would be closed, he said no way, we have to wait until it reopens. That was ds' favorite ride last year. He was 19 months at the time.

I tried to get dh to wait until October, and figured we would just pull dd, who will be almost 6 at the time, out of school for the trip, but dh wouldn't go for it. So, it's a July trip for us! Or maybe August.

And, just to throw another "wrinkle" in the plans, Dh wants to DRIVE to DisneyLand! (our kids are 5 and 2)

So, I will have some questions, I will probably post them in another post. I mostly wanted to introduce myself, and thank everyone for being so helpful. I've been lurking off and on for a bit, and you guys are awesome.

Dukland in Washington

 

[Uuaww]

the ride can be brutal, i live in the bay area cal, and we have 8 hours, so you must be last least 20. my guess would be to do it in 2 shifts, meaning a stop in the bay area somewhere or just south, umm yeah that drive will suck.

 

[victorandbellasmom]

Hi there, We're from washington too. We're doing our first road trip to disneyland at the end of march. Our kids will be 5 and 8. The last time we did a road trip, the kids were 2 and 5. It was from Seattle to Salt Lake City to Reno back to Seattle. I'm actually looking forward to the road trip. Before kids, dh and I would often drive down to Salt Lake City and I've missed road trips. We plan on driving straight down (crazy, I know) and spending the night on the way back home. We also plan on going back in Aug (20-27) too. DD starts kinder and ds will be in 3rd grade, so we'll have to go before school starts back up. I'll write up a report after our trip.

 

[jeana]

I will be going in June with my 7 yr old son, my best friend, and her two sons ages 5 and 8, and YES we will be driving------from Arkansas!!!!!!! We usually do disneyworld, but this time we thought we would do something that would be new for all of us. I drive because I am a plane crash survivor and have yet to work up the courage, and probably never will, to fly again!!!!! So hey, I'm fine with driving, plus you can see the country----yea right!! I drive a Navigator, do they gas will kill me, but hey, you just have to decide how bad you want to do something!!!!!!

 

[eduk8r26]

I live in southern Cal and have driven cross country many times with kids. Once to WDW, twice to Boston, last year Chicago, and the year before to Virginia. I use it as an opportunity to see things we wouldn't ordinarily get to see. Of course with younger kids it might be harder, but I'd much rather drive somewhere.

 

[RADOPT]

There is a ton of stuff to do between you and DL. It should be a lot of fun! I know that it takes 8 hour to drive thru Oregon and probable another 16 hour to DL (7 from euraka to San Jose on 101, 6 from san jose to DL on I5). Hightway 101 is nicer but takes longer. We used to drive a lot on vacation and get to see a lot. Just make sure you bring stuff for the kids to do and make some fun stops. August is usually hotter. I would try to make it in July.

 

[RanStak65]

We live near Salt Lake City and will be taking our third road trip to SoCal on the 1st of April. Our kids, 15,13 & 8, don't mind the drive. We bring the DVD player and usually stop and spend the night in either Las Vegas or St. George, UT. I could drive it through, but would rather not! We really enjoy our road trips. We drove to Denver over the summer and the scenery between Grand Junction and Denver was stunning!

 

[Sledbet]

We are making the trip on FRIDAY!! We live in W. WA. We make the drive to Fresno, CA at least twice per year and it usually takes us 14-16 hrs, so we are counting on a 20hr drive (mapquest says 17.5). We have a 20mo old, 4yr old, and 7yr old. It is a lonnnnnng drive. But we have a dvd player, the older ones have gameboys, and we stop every 3 hrs if iti isnt raining to run them. Going from here to Fresno, we tend to stop in Yreka which is the exact half way point. We are hoping to make it past Sacramento on Friday.

I cant WAIT!

 

[gnbuggy]

Hello. new to posting lets see if i can figure this out. I live in eugene or. it takes somewhere around 16 hours to get to DL if we stay on 5. I have gone 5x in 5yrs driving everytime. we take a day and a half, and stay somewhere in the middle. our fave place is in santa nella. it has a nice hoilday inn express. that would make for a long day from WA though. last trip in january it took us 2 and a half hrs to get from medford to yreka! gotta love the snow...NOT!!

 

[CNDKangaroo]

We are driving from Vancouver, Canada to Disneyland this spring. We have 3 kids, 2, 4, and 6. I figure either it will be a fantastic trip or absolutely awful, we will only know once we try it. We are giving ourselves 5 days to drive down and 7 days to drive home with 6 days in Disneyland. We are camping one the way down and home which is going to be even more interesting as I'm not a huge fan of tent camping but the kids love it! We plan on driving about 6 hours a day (3 hours in the morning, long 1-2 hour break, and then 3 more hours) I have lots of "stuff" packed for the kids -- little $ store stuff that can be lost, forgotten or thrown away when it is finished with. We also bought a DVD player and have various gameboy/DS things for the kids to play with. I also got a whole bunch of Disney story tapes for us to listen to (plus the kids have CD/Tape players they are bringing) The only one I'm worried about is the 2 year old as out of all the kids she is the one that won't sleep in the car!

How does this sound:
Vancouver, B.C. to Oswald West State Park
Oswald West to Sunset Bay State Park
Sunset Bay to Humboldt Redwoods state park
Humboldt to San Fran (China Camp)
San Fran to L.A.

 

[RADOPT]

Sunset Bay to Humboldt Redwoods state park
Humboldt to San Fran (China Camp)
San Fran to L.A.

If your around humboldt and want a good place to eat try the Samoa Cookhouse (http://humboldtdining.com/cookhouse/). It is served family style. The foods is good and there is plenty. They also have very good fresh bread.

Also, Benbow Inn is a good place to strech you legs. It is an inn but you can stop and walk around. (http://www.benbowinn.com/)

That area is beautiful. I went to school there.

 

[Churro]

I live in Oregon, actually on HWY 101 and do NOT recommend driving it all the way through Oregon. While it is a beautiful drive with breathtaking views, it is very windy and narrow at points. We have had heavy rain here this winter and some of the roads have sunken in at certain spots. If you plan on driving 101 it will take you a bit longer. I recommend getting on I-5 for at least half of the trip through Oregon if not more, especially the southern half. I hope this post saves someone time. It takes us 14-16 hours from here with 2 children 2 and 10 on I-5. We like the drive and plan on doing it again very soon.

 

[Churro]

We are driving from Vancouver, Canada to Disneyland this spring. We have 3 kids, 2, 4, and 6. I figure either it will be a fantastic trip or absolutely awful, we will only know once we try it. We are giving ourselves 5 days to drive down and 7 days to drive home with 6 days in Disneyland. We are camping one the way down and home which is going to be even more interesting as I'm not a huge fan of tent camping but the kids love it! We plan on driving about 6 hours a day (3 hours in the morning, long 1-2 hour break, and then 3 more hours) I have lots of "stuff" packed for the kids -- little $ store stuff that can be lost, forgotten or thrown away when it is finished with. We also bought a DVD player and have various gameboy/DS things for the kids to play with. I also got a whole bunch of Disney story tapes for us to listen to (plus the kids have CD/Tape players they are bringing) The only one I'm worried about is the 2 year old as out of all the kids she is the one that won't sleep in the car!

How does this sound:
Vancouver, B.C. to Oswald West State Park
Oswald West to Sunset Bay State Park
Sunset Bay to Humboldt Redwoods state park
Humboldt to San Fran (China Camp)
San Fran to L.A.

I live right near Sunset Bay State park. Please make sure to pack very warm clothes if you are tent camping! Oh yeah it will probably rain also If you need anything you can always PM me. I am happy to post some pics if you need them!

 

[OregonDisneyFanatic]

Churro- off topic, but is that the park that is on the way to Charleston? If so, what a beautiful park. My husband is heading to Coos Bay on Saturday for a Drag Racing awards thing, hummm maybe we should all go and see some sand. Whats the weather like down there?

Kristi

 

[bclydia]

Hello
Well, we took the family to Disneyland back in September and did a road trip to do it. Our family is made up of 2 ladies with disabilities, dh and I and our 2 little ones who were 2 years old and 6months old. We are in Vancouver, BC and it took about 20 hours of driving time. We spent the night in Eugene, Or and in Sacramento, Ca. We found that for our crew, that was a good amount of time on the road without going squirrelly. Mind you, I wouldn't consider it without a DVD player in the car.
We had flown down when our daughter was 11 months and she loved Pirates but this trip at 26 months, she was terrified. She buried her head so far into my chest, I was suprised she could breathe.
My 2 cents worth is to pull your daughter out of school. It will make a huge difference in the crowds you will encounter.
Anyway, have a great time planning your trip. It can be half the fun!!
Lydia

 

[CNDKangaroo]

Our road trip in in May...is there the same weather issues with the 101 and the Temp in terms of cold and rainy? Our May is fairly nice up here. I do plan to pack warm clothing for the evenings -- coats, pants etc. Would you go from Oswald and on the I-5 to Sunset? How long did it take to get from Vancouver to Eugene? And from Eugene to Sacramento? And from Sacramento to L.A? With tent camping we are hoping to get our next site in the mid- late afternoon to set up and have some running around time. Since time really isn't too much of an issue as we have 5 days to get down there and tons of time to get home I figured going the more scenic route would be better but maybe with the kids a faster, more direct route would be better? Cutting from the I5 to the 101...would that save time?

 

[doodlebug]

We just did the drive from Seattle to Anaheim last week with our 5 & 8 yr olds and we have done it in the past too... We go for the one fail swoop attack and drive thru the night.. It took us 20 hours both ways and that included stops to eat, go potty and switch drivers... We packed so many movies, games boy games and snacks that the kids were either happy with that or sleeping!!!

 

[Churro]

Churro- off topic, but is that the park that is on the way to Charleston? If so, what a beautiful park. My husband is heading to Coos Bay on Saturday for a Drag Racing awards thing, hummm maybe we should all go and see some sand. Whats the weather like down there?

Kristi

Sunset State Park is just outside of Charleston, but not very far. It has a great beach because there are not usually any sneaker waves there, because it is a cove area. This is where I take my kids when it is just me and them. It is too risky to take them to the bigger beach without my DH, because that beach has some nasty sneaker waves. I agree that it is beautiful, but kinda small. If anyone is tent camping at that park I highly recommend upgrading to the Yurt if it is available, because of the rain and wind in the winter and spring.

You just missed some fabulous weather the last couple of weeks!! It was sunny and only mildly windy. The rain is now back and forcasted to stay awhile, but on the bright side....the cloud cover makes it much warmer here. I was surprised how warm it was this afternoon, even the wind was warm. It is supposed to be 54 degrees on Saturday.

 

[Churro]

Our road trip in in May...is there the same weather issues with the 101 and the Temp in terms of cold and rainy? Our May is fairly nice up here. I do plan to pack warm clothing for the evenings -- coats, pants etc. Would you go from Oswald and on the I-5 to Sunset? How long did it take to get from Vancouver to Eugene? And from Eugene to Sacramento? And from Sacramento to L.A? With tent camping we are hoping to get our next site in the mid- late afternoon to set up and have some running around time. Since time really isn't too much of an issue as we have 5 days to get down there and tons of time to get home I figured going the more scenic route would be better but maybe with the kids a faster, more direct route would be better? Cutting from the I5 to the 101...would that save time?

Well in May there should be milder weather....still pack coats though! You should plan on rain though... then you can be pleasantly surprised if it doesn't! Sunset State Park is off of Hwy 101. We are not really close to I-5. I didn't mean to make your trip planning more complicated, I am just concerned with the 101 south of here. My DH used to drive from Coos Bay to Brookings and Cresent City everyday and I know that the road has some *sinking* problems. If you go slow, pay attention, and don't mind maybe having a one lane road at certain points then Hwy 101 is ok. Hopefully by then the powers that be, will have any problems the rain causes fixed. We used to go that way all the time. The redwoods are beautiful just over the border, but it is a very windy road.
If you choose to go I-5 from here(Sunset Park), you can go south to Roseburg and hit I-5 from there. That is the way we go now because it is faster. You can go 10 miles per hour faster on the freeway(I-5) legally than you can on the Hwy. We go this way because we have small kids and can make it in one day from here(about 16 hours). Which ever way I am sure it will be fine.
I hope I didn't confuse you too much, Churro

 

[Sledbet]

Well we made the trip. We left March 3rd and returned March 18th. It took us about 19hrs each way. Luckily we had perfect road conditions and only had traffic delays in Anaheim (about 2hrs). We did have a cheap version of a GPS (SO WORTH THE $!) and used it to detour the traffic.

Anyway. We stopped south of Sacramento the first night. (about 14hrs in) and then stopped on the way back in Yreka (we wanted to make it over Grants Pass, but the roads were icy). We like Yreka because of cheap motels LOL.

The kids (7,4,and 20mo) did awesome. They watched movied and played gameboys and we stopped at McDonalds playlands if it was raining, rest areas if not and let them run and chase aball for a good 15mins. We find that it is EASIER to do the trip in less days than it is in more.. they just seem to get more ansy on that third day. They'd rather jut drive for the long haul and be there (wish DH and I could stay up and drive overnight, but we just cant do it)