Traffic timing from Santa Monica to DLR

[Feathers]

Hey all, it's been a while since I've been to Disneyland as you can tell from my sig. I'm returning this July, but we're doing things before our visit to Disneyland for the first time ever and I'm trying to work out some traffic issues.

The plan is to check out of our downtown LA (convention center area) hotel at 11AM on July 9th, store our bags there, then take an uber out to Santa Monica Pier in time for a late lunch. After spending the day there, we'll uber back to our downtown hotel to pick up luggage, then continue on in the uber to Disneyland.

What time would we have to leave the pier in order to best avoid traffic on our way to Anaheim? I'm hoping we can have dinner and relax in DTD that night. We are not really beach people so I can't see us staying in Santa Monica for too long. I've been stuck in traffic between Disneyland and Hollywood before and it was NOT fun at all.

Thanks!

 

[wowsmom]

You can put your info into Google maps (starting and ending points, specific date) and can see what the general idea is for travel times - so you can see what it might be around 2 pm vs 3 pm vs 4 pm. Of course, all it takes is one accident or police pursuit to mess it all up...

 

[MillauFr]

Agreed I would Google Maps. About the best to predict travel times. I wish they would give you a distribution so you can get an idea of the range of travel times to expect.

 

[l4dyj8]

It’s not so much about avoiding traffic... if it’s a weekday, rush hour begins around 2. You WILL get traffic. But know that it’s better earlier and just gets worst. Rule of thumb, give yourself a minimum of 2 hours since you still have to stop by Downtown.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

I would leave by 1:00pm. And plan for traffic regardless.

 

[BadPinkTink]

a few years ago we stayed in Santa Monica and did a day trip to Disney. It took us between 70 and 90 minutes drive each way. We arrived in Disney around 9am and left after midnight

 

[Feathers]

After checking with google and seeing advice here, it looks like we'll be better off getting to the pier early and having lunch in time to leave before 1PM to get back to downtown LA and onward to Disneyland. Hopefully if we can get out of the pier by 12:30ish then we can make it to Disney before 3!

Thanks for the info all.