San Diego to Anaheim

[mla1977]

How long is the drive? How bad is it generally? I know that the traffic makes Philly look calm. Our plans are slightly changing now. Originally we were going to go to Anaheim on Wed Feb 27, but now will will go after Sea World on Thurs Feb 28. Leaving sometime after Sea World closes.

What would be a good time to leave San Diego? Sea World closes at 5 that day.

Also, are there options for busses to the Anaheim resort area from San Diego? How much would they cost? What is the schedule like?

 

[ScooterL]

I would recommend NOT leaving San Diego until after 6:00, and 7:00 would be better. Traffic on I5 through San Diego's north county area is really heavy in the afternoon and evening with all of the commuters. The drive from Sea World to Anaheim *should* take you about 90 minutes, if there's minimal traffic.

You might consider taking the train between San Diego and Anaheim - you'd have to take a taxi from Sea World to the train station, but at least you'd avoid the traffic, and the train trip is quite nice (though at that time of day there's lots of commuters on the train, and I don't know how easy/hard it is to find seats).

 

[mindylovesmickey]

I agree with ScooterL. When SeaWorld closes, I would go have a nice sit down dinner for a while, and not leave San Diego until around 7, otherwise you are going to be smack in the middle of the going home rush hour and it will tack at least another hour or so on to your drive, while you could be enjoying a nice dinner or something. Once that traffic dies down you should have a fairly nice drive. As much as I hate LA traffic sometimes, I don't think it compares to the scariness of New York, DC, Virginia, etc. traffic.

 

[phisigprincess]

What about if we were to leave around 10 or 11? Does the traffic calm down by that point? We were planning on flying in Saturday, doing Sea World/SD Zoo on Monday and Tuesday and using Wednesday as our drive to Anaheim day.

 

[sandiegoDeva]

I live in SD right by where the traffic starts to get bad on the 15. If you wait until 6:30 or 7, the traffic should be moving just fine, unless there is an accident or something like that. We're going to DLR on Monday and our GPS says it will take an hour and 20 minutes...we live about 20 minutes north of Sea World so that makes a litte over an hour and a half.

 

[mindylovesmickey]

I don't think you would have to wait until 10, not on a weeknight. By 7 you should be well in the clear. You would be making it up in the Anaheim area by 9 at the latest, and you aren't going to find that much traffic out there, then.

 

[mla1977]

Thanks! We'll be staying at Catamaran (sp?) for a conference and then heading up to DLR and a visit to Sea World. I figured having dinner in San Diego first would be the best option. We'll definitely be bringing tomtom.