Thinking of a Road Trip To Disneyland! LOTS of question!!!

[PRINCESS VIJA]

I am just starting to think about maybe going to Disneyland next summer. We would do it as a road trip. Are there any helpful sites that can help plan this? i.e. attractions on the way?

I know I want to see the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas at night. Like the grand canyon, we would probably spend a day there, and just drive through Las Vegas. The main focus would be to get to Disneyland. And knowing this is a road trip, we can't spend the time in CA that I would want, but tell me what would be some attractions there to see? How many days in Disneyland? 1 or 2 at the MK and 1 at DCA? Would 1 day be enough at MK there?

Is the San Diego Zoo really worth a day? We have a great zoo by us. I wonder if it wouldn't be better seeing things we wouldn't normally see. I know I would also want to swim in the Pacific Ocean as well. Is Hollywood worth a day?

I am hoping to convince DH of this! I would appreciate any help and also any idea on how much $$$ to look at for some of these things. Thanks!!!

 

[marlasmom]

My info is old - we haven't lived there for a long time, but one day was plenty for MK so add a day for DCA and I think you are fine. I loved Universal when we were there (much better than the one in FLorida) and Knots Berry Farm. 1/2 day max for Hollywood and driving around Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive. Have lunch at Lawry's (near downtown LA). It's outside, beautiful garden and quite reasonable. S

 

[maci]

HI!

Just FYI, maybe you already know, but at the top if the disneyland board there are a few threads of things to do in southern cal. They are very helpful!
The disneyland board was really helpful in helping me plan our trip. We leave saturday!

 

[cynsaun]

The San Diego Zoo is definitely worth a trip!

 

[Amy]

Princess Vija, We're sort of doing that this summer - flying to Vegas, driving to the Grand Canyon, then to Disneyland, and back to Vegas to fly home. (I didn't want to hit Vegas twice, but to fly into one city and home from another, plus rental car drop fees - much cheaper doing RT to Vegas.)

Anyway, something neat I didn't know about but learned on the Travel Channel: The drive from the Grand Canyon over to Anaheim is about 8 hours. Didn't sound like much fun to me, but on the map there's nothing but desert. Except for the LONDON BRIDGE. Yep, the London Bridge is in Arizona. Apparently, the London Bridge really WAS falling down, and when they built a new one in 1968, some rich guy in AZ bought the old one, had it shipped here and reassembled in Lake Havasu City, AZ. Which just happens to be right in between the Grand Canyon and Anaheim. So we're going to spend a night there and break up the long drive over 2 days. Kind of neat getting to see the London Bridge without leaving the country!

 

[PRINCESS VIJA]

Thanks for the info guys! Amy, the London Bridge thing is too funny, looks like that will be added to our stop!

I am more convinced that we will do this. I just sort of want to plan out a rough draft of a trip and then present to DH. THere are some really cool things to do between here and there!

I also am adding the Sequioa (sp?) national forest to my list. WOW!!! those trees are amazing.

 

[peachgirl]

We did this a couple of years ago.

Depending on where you're leaving from, the drive can be incredibly boring, but we still really enjoyed the trip. We drove from Tulsa to LV, LV to DL, then on the way home we stopped at the Grand Canyon.


The drive from Las Vegas to DL is probably less than 300 miles. As I recall it took us just a little over 4 hours.


We're doing much the same thing next summer only we're flying to Vegas then renting a car to drive to DL, then back to Vegas to fly home. I agree, much cheaper to get flights in and out of Vegas!

 

[missypie]

If you don't get enough info on the DIS Disneyland board, try laughingplace.com. Those boards are most Disneyland oriented. We were there for spring break 2002...loved it. We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel...if you watch mousesavers you can get great rates. We spent 4 days in the parks...2 at DL, 1 at DCA and the last day park hopping.

 

[Alice28]

I am a DL vet; never done a road trip going through the cities you mentioned, but I do have advice about how much time for the parks.

While Disneyland is smaller than MK, there are a lot more attractions jammed in the park! Plus just a lot of little extras that any Disney fan would enjoy. (Although beware---Tomorrowland is pretty bad right now----Space Mountain is down for a long rehab so there is only Star Tours, the Rocket Jets, Autopia, Honey I Shrunk the Audience and that's about it.....) I think you need 2 days to enjoy Disneyland, and a 1/2 to full day to enjoy DCA (depending how much you want to see- if you don't care about the attractions that are duplicates at WDW then only a 1/2 day).

San Diego zoo is phenomenal- definitely worth a trip if you can squeeze it in.