San Diego to Disneyland

[CalebsDisneyMomma]

My husband has a conference in San Diego in April and we are planning to take a day trip to California Adventure to see Carsland. Last time he had a conference in San Diego we did a day trip to Disneyland. I can't remember what time we left to try to avoid as much traffic as possible but still be at the park prior to opening. What time would we need to leave to be there before a 10:00am opening, say by 9:30? It would be on a Friday morning. Thanks in advance!

 

[CaptainEIEIO]

San Diego is about an hour to an hour and a half from California Adventure, and thats if there is no traffic. For you to be there by opening you would have to be out on the Freeway during rush hour and thats not a good thing as it could extend you drive time by a half hour to an hour and possibly even an hour and a half if there happens to be an accident out there that halts traffic. Its a tough call, but if you seriously want to be at California Adventure at the rope drop then I would leave way early....maybe even 6 to 7 am and then stop and have breakfast somwehere near Disneyland before going into the park if you get there too early. If your not serious about being there at rope drop and want what would be the easiest commute then I would actually leave about the time California Adventure opened, 10am.

 

[ImDMous]

We are in San Diego and as PP said, it takes us about an hour and a half to get to Disneyland with no traffic. If you want to be at the gate at 10, then add time for parking and shuttle which will put you driving in rush hour. I agree with PP that it might be better to go earlier and have breakfast in DTD so something. You can adjust your breakfast duration depending on how what time you arrive. If we are going on a week day, we usually wait to leave until 9 when the traffic has mostly dispersed which gets us to the gate around 10:30-11:00.

 

[paulakimtrac]

Yes, I can concur with previous posts if you want to err on the early side and be there at RD for DCA then leaving earlier is better. If you are staying in downtown San Diego i.e. near the SD Airport, it is probably closer to 95 miles which can easily become closer to a 2 hr drive in traffic. You can park in the Toy Story lot off Harbor/Katella and it's a quick bus ride to the park. For DCA, if you are there at RD, you might want to get your FP for Radiator Springs first thing as they are gone fairly quickly. WAZE is a great app for tracking traffic. Have fun!