San Diego - DL: lots of questions!

[1 goofy family]

We are doing a quick trip to DL on Monday, Dec. 21. We will be driving over from San Diego and I need some help / advice on planning our itinerary.
I realize I'll be in the thick of L.A. rush hour morning traffic, not to mention doing our rush trip to DL at peak visitor time so I know good planning is key. I decided to turn to the experts!

TRAVEL TIME:
We are staying in Del Mar in San Diego, googlemaps says it's 1 hour and 20 mins travel time. What would the actual travel time be with Monday morning traffic? We are staying at the Grand Californian Hotel and have to check in with the front desk for our tickets, so I'd like to arrive around 7:00am.

ITINERARY:
Do the parks still open it's gates a half hour before actual opening? I know in the past we've been pretty lucky with this happening.

I have volunteered to be the FP runner, is it possible for me to take all tickets and run between DCA and DL without the rest of my party to collect Fast Passes?

The general plan right now is to begin at DL and move over to DCA when it starts to get too crowded. We plan to use our fast passes when we return to the parks after dinner.
8:00: Disneyland
12:00: Leave park for lunch - shopping at DTD
3:00 DCA
??? Disneyland: -- around what time do the crowds start to taper off? I'm guessing around 6:00?

 

[sonnyjane]

Regarding time to get to the park that Monday morning, if you're aiming to get to GCH at 7:00 AM, I doubt you'll hit traffic at all. Just leave according to the Google Maps time. I live in San Diego proper (south of Del Mar) and it takes me 90 minutes and that's more around 8-9:00 AM, so you'll have extremely smooth sailing coming from Del Mar around 5:45. I'm not sure why you have to get your tickets at the hotel, did you book through a package or something? If so, I'm not familiar with that.

Regarding the gates opening 30 minutes early, that part is hit or miss. I've been there when they opened Main Street at 9:30 for a 10:00 opening, but I've also been there when they didn't open the gates until 5 minutes before opening, so I think it totally depends on whether they have everything ready or not.

I'm not sure about the FP's, and if you can use a ticket that's only been activated at DL to get a FP in DCA, but I know someone else will know!

 

[1 goofy family]

Thanks, sonnyjane! The drive over doesn't seem as bad knowing we won't be battling any major traffic.
We usually have our tickets and other information mailed to us in a packet before the trip, but for some reason this time I was told we have to pick them up at the check-in counter. I booked using a pin code discount that I got in an email, maybe that has something to do with it? Maybe I should call and ask again, it would be way more convinient to have all documents with me so we could just hit the parks when we get there.

Another question for anyone familiar with the GCH: We are traveling with 3-4 suitcases, we will only be needing 1 for our overnight stay at the GCH. Is it a bad idea to leave the other suitcases in the car overnight? Is the parking garage for the hotel in a secure area? Space will be tight in the room since the kids are now adult size teenagers.

 

[missesdisney]

Not to hijack your thread but I have a similar question. I'll be working in Carlsbad and staying at Marriott DelMar and want to take an evening trip while I'm there (maybe next week) and do just a few hours in DCA (never been). If I were to leave Carlsbad at 5ish how bad will it be to get there? Mapquest says 1 hr 10 and it takes me up I-5 I think?

 

[Disney Dreams]

Not to hijack your thread but I have a similar question. I'll be working in Carlsbad and staying at Marriott DelMar and want to take an evening trip while I'm there (maybe next week) and do just a few hours in DCA (never been). If I were to leave Carlsbad at 5ish how bad will it be to get there? Mapquest says 1 hr 10 and it takes me up I-5 I think?

Mapquest is right with no traffic. However, on a weekday at 5pm, you will have traffic. MAYBE an hour and a half. Traffic could be bad at that time of day though so if you encounter any accidents, it's anyone's guess. Have good tunes. You might consider taking the train. It's very easy from Carlsbad... and no traffic.

 

[sonnyjane]

Not to hijack your thread but I have a similar question. I'll be working in Carlsbad and staying at Marriott DelMar and want to take an evening trip while I'm there (maybe next week) and do just a few hours in DCA (never been). If I were to leave Carlsbad at 5ish how bad will it be to get there? Mapquest says 1 hr 10 and it takes me up I-5 I think?

That one, unfortunately, I can't be of much help with, since I've never done the drive north on the 5 around 5:00 PM. A lot of people live in Carlsbad and work in SD, so you'll be in traffic with them as they are heading north to home. If you could leave before most people get out of work, it would put you ahead of the curve, since you won't get as much traffic going into Anaheim at night. If you can't leave earlier though, I'd just add an extra 30 minutes at most to the Mapquest commute. San Diego traffic going toward Anaheim is not nearly as horrendous as straight up Los Angeles traffic, at least not that I've experienced in the year I've been living here.

 

[lcasa]

Traffic at 5 will probably be bad. The worst traffic I was ever in between SD and Orange County took about 3 hours (very very bad) - best a little over an hour. 7am will have no traffic. I do believe DL always lets people enter 30 min or so early, so you can be at the "rope drop" on Main Street and hear the introduction for the day.

Back to the FP question - we always use a runner, although I've never done it across parks. Definitely no problem having 1 person collect all the passes though.

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

As long as the passes have been activated at one park by each individual, you should have no problem with sending one person to run to the other and get FPs for all. At least that's how it was when we did it.
Once, a few years ago, we tried to do it and it didn't work for one of the passes, but my understanding was that it was the way his ticket was printed out. It was funky apparently, because when my DH went to enter DCA on the 2nd day of our trip they couldn't scan his ticket. So we ended up being sent to guest relations where they printed him out a new ticket to replace the one that was acting up.

 

[HydroGuy]

As long as the passes have been activated at one park by each individual, you should have no problem with sending one person to run to the other and get FPs for all. At least that's how it was when we did it.

I have done this at least a dozen times. It works.

 

[1 goofy family]

Thanks DisneySuiteFreak for the info on the fast pass.
I just got through reading, "Getting the most out of fastpass during high season". It pretty much answered all the questions I had regarding the fast pass system. Thanks Hydroguy!