Traffic on a Friday morning

[TheDaysGoBy]

Hello. I just had a quick question. I'm heading to the parks for one day (Friday 9/9) and both parks seem to open at 9am that day. I know the parking garages open an hour before park opening. My goal is to try to get there, parked and at the gates as close to 9am as possible. So my question is, how bad is traffic in the area on a Friday morning? We'll be coming from Huntington Beach, which GoogleMaps tells me should only take a half hour but I wasn't sure if I should add more time to that to account for morning traffic. I punched the direction into Google and it looks like it's directing us to use I-5 if that helps to determine how bad traffic may be.

Thank you in advance!

 

[WonkaKid]

Huntington Beach looks like it's only about 12-15 miles from Disney. I'd take surface streets, since the 5 isn't particularly close. It shouldn't take longer than about 45 minutes to get there (possibly less), I would think. However, I've never been to Huntington Beach myself. Traffic in/around LA is always bad during the morning commute.

Like you, I like to get to the park as early as possible. I'd leave no later than 7:00. You'll probably park around 7:45 or so (or at least reach the garage -- sometimes they open more than an hour before the parks). Then it takes a little time to get to the line -- the tram from the lot and the security line/check. However, if you arrive at 7:45, you should have more than ample time. Remember: DL usually lets guests enter the park 20-30 mins before the official open time. You'll go up Main Street to "the rope drop." At 9:00, the rope comes down and the mad dash begins. I always suggest Peter Pan first, since it's the only time you'll wait less than ten minutes for it (I'm usually first or second, though).

Hope this helps!

 

[TheDaysGoBy]

That definitely helps, thank you! I appreciate the suggestion to use surface streets. I looked into it more, and it does seem pretty easy to stay off the highways and navigate to the parks.