Thoughts on Disneyland to Universal timing

[Gehrig1B]

We arrive to Anaheim on a Monday morning (Anaheim Hilton) and have 5 day Disney hopper tickets. We are 4 adults. Our plan is to leave Friday for Universal. My query - Would you leave for Universal very early Friday and spend the remainder of the day there as well as Saturday (staying at the Hilton Universal Studios) or would you enjoy the morning on Friday at Disneyland and travel mid-afternoon to Universal spending an evening and next day in the park. Not sure how much time we need at Universal, do not plan to purchase the skip the line option.

We really enjoy Disneyland and have not been in 5 years. Several family members are Harry Potter fanatics, thus the Universal visit.

For what it is worth we have visited DisneyWorld and Universal Orlando multiple times.

Any thoughts on our itinerary appreciated. We plan to travel from Anaheim to Universal by uber. I'm guessing there is no "good" time to do this on a Friday?

Thanks for any opinions.

 

[SMD]

Are you planning to do the DLR parks on Monday after arrival and Friday before departure? Are you doing 1 or 2 days at Universal? When is the trip? I'd probably not do Disney on departure day and just go to USH early, but if you have a 2 day ticket I'd just leave no later than 1:30 to make sure you get to Universal before the bulk of the traffic, even 1pm would probably be a huge difference. That could vary depending on if there's a holiday or event happening that weekend.

 

[StormyCA]

Well, to us USH is not a 2 day park. We drove down and stayed just north of USH, went there the next day and were there from just after opening until around 8.30pm (approx 11 hours) when we left for Anaheim and DL.

As far as getting there, it's all about the traffic. If you're going on a weekday you 'risk' rush hour traffic from (just guessing here I haven't lived in So Cal since the late 80s) around 6am to maybe 9.30am. We were coming from the north and it took us about an hour to go 63 miles starting at 7.30am. You'll be driving right straight through the heart of LA and traffic can be a bear. If it were me, I'd either leave after rush hour on Friday OR just get up early Saturday and hit USH at rope drop.

 

[lk2500]

Depending on when your dates are, Friday and Saturday at DLR might be less crowded if AP's are blocked out.

We always take one day out of our trip to go to SFMM and we went to USH in 2008. What we always do is go to SFMM/DSH on a week day other than Friday and get there at opening, spend the day there doing all we want, and then head back to Anaheim (FFI) for dinner and rest. Sometimes we'll even spend a few hours that evening/night at DLR if we have an extra day to burn on our park hoppers - but the past few trips Valencia were really hot and we just crashed at the hotel afterwards. Leave yourself plenty of time for traffic, 2+ hours to SFMM for us each way (yay!).

 

[Gehrig1B]

Sorry I did not fully disclose all aspects of the visit. We are arriving on 12 June and departing on a red eye at midnight on Saturday 17 June.

We already have reservations at Universal City for a Friday night hotel stay. Biggest concern is the transfer to Universal on Friday. Since we have most of Saturday, needing to be at LAX around 10:00 pm, should we forego the early morning departure on Friday (to avoid the am traffic) and just split the days at Universal, Friday night and Saturday morning. If so, it appears it is best to head out from Anaheim by 1:00 pm on Friday (traffic issue again)? We will be using an uber for the transfer.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[StormyCA]

^Biggest concern is the transfer to Universal on Friday.^

If I was taking Uber I'd just go first thing in the morning and let the driver hassle with the traffic, BUT there is frequent surge pricing for Uber in LA so it may be cheaper to wait. It's normally a 30-40 minute drive, but with traffic who knows. I don't mind sitting in traffic, I just don't like driving in it.

Actually, I'd probably spend the whole of Friday at DL and uber to USH around 8 pm. You'd still have practically a whole day at USH assuming you get there at opening on Saturday. By my figuring you'd need to leave USH around 8.30pm to catch your Uber to LAX. I'm allowing 30 minutes to get out of USH, pick up your bags and get to your Uber pick up point, then 1 hour to get you to your terminal at LAX by 10pm. If USH opens at 9, that gives you 11.5 hours to 'do' USH. Honestly, I think that's plenty of time. The one caveat would be the wait times at HP's Forbidden Journey. I don't know if you're planning on buying the FOTL pass, but the wait can be upwards of 2-3 hours. We were lucky enough to be able to bypass the line when we rode it.

 

[lk2500]

Sorry I did not fully disclose all aspects of the visit. We are arriving on 12 June and departing on a red eye at midnight on Saturday 17 June.

We already have reservations at Universal City for a Friday night hotel stay. Biggest concern is the transfer to Universal on Friday. Since we have most of Saturday, needing to be at LAX around 10:00 pm, should we forego the early morning departure on Friday (to avoid the am traffic) and just split the days at Universal, Friday night and Saturday morning. If so, it appears it is best to head out from Anaheim by 1:00 pm on Friday (traffic issue again)? We will be using an uber for the transfer.

Thanks for the replies.

Ah, I see. You will have your luggage and all to mess with so you can't go straight to USH. We have considered staying near SFMM/USH before, but we always decide to just mess with traffic both ways and not mess with the hotel transfer. But then again, DW does all the driving and i just sit there and sleep .

I would still try to arrive as early as possible Friday. Leave early, drop your luggage off, and hit USH early Friday. That way you would still have a chance to get everything done at USH and then chill Saturday - with the option of going again Saturday if you don't get everything done that you'd like. I would hate to have to rush through everything Saturday. Of course, if there is still stuff you want to do at Disney then go with what StormyCA suggested.

 

[SMD]

I guess it depends how important USH is to the trip. 5 days at DLR and 1 or 2 in another park on what is basically a 5.5 day trip is a lot. I'd probably forgo the 5th Disney day to get more value out of what I paid for the Uni hotel. It really depends on where your priorities lie and how much value you place on each expense. Another option night be go to Uni hotel early Friday, drop bags, do LA sightseeing and do a single USH day on Saturday so that you're close to that hotel and can easily leave the park, grab bags and go.

 

[cruisehopeful]

The drive will be brutal on Friday. If it were me, I'd head to Universal after the morning commute, but before lunch. I don't like Motion Simulator rides and Universal is full of those, but I'd probably get some use out of a 2 day trip there. Since you have Harry Potter fanatics with you, you could easily spend half a day there even though the area is very small.

 

[Gehrig1B]

Lot's to think about. I appreciate all the opinions. We will play it by ear I think and see how we feel about Day 5 at Disney as the week progresses. Pondering now whether to rent a car, Downtown Disney to Universal, then Universal to LAX or stick with uber plan. Looks like 2 day one way rental plus hotel parking not much more than a couple uber rides. Decisions, decisions...

Thanks again.