travel from anaheim hotels to Universal Studios

[DLgal]

I agree, but that interchange where the 5, the 60, and the 10 merge to the 101 is like the 10th circle of hell.

Really? I never paid attention to that. I just follow the signs. From 5 north you just have to keep going straight, more or less. Just a slight hang to the left.

 

[foolish_mortals]

Really? I never paid attention to that. I just follow the signs. From 5 north you just have to keep going straight, more or less. Just a slight hang to the left.

Driving wise it’s not bad and not too hard to follow, but mannnn the traffic there can be brutal especially if there is any event going on and if there is an accident, forget it.

OP isn’t interested in driving in LA and that intersection and even the alternate route would probably be a lot for a reluctant driver.

 

[DLgal]

Driving wise it’s not bad and not too hard to follow, but mannnn the traffic there can be brutal especially if there is any event going on and if there is an accident, forget it.

OP isn’t interested in driving in LA and that intersection and even the alternate route would probably be a lot for a reluctant driver.

I guess. I've been driving in CA for almost 30 years at this point and the chaos kind of gives me life. I might be a little crazy but I feel like it keeps me on my toes, mentally. I am fascinated by freeway interchanges. They are such marvels of engineering. The great thing about them is, if you screw up, it's always so easy to just exit, turn around and try again. Google Maps is my spirit guide. But sometimes I still mess up and miss my exit.

 

[Epicnemesis]

This is the Disney thread equivalent of SNL’s “The Californians”

To contribute, cheapest would be the metro, the best bet is probably Uber if you really can’t bring yourself to drive. Might actually end up being a similar cost after rental, gas, and parking costs. My exposure to the Metro has been exclusively the Expo line, if the experience is similar on other lines expect a reasonably clean train that may or may not smell like weed and may or may not have a crazy person shouting to themselves in the corner.

 

[Peachy0118]

So like, if Universal opened at say 8:00, what time does my family need to be getting inside an Uber? Definitely want to be there before it opens.

Depends on the day for traffic. I think we got into our uber around 6:30; takes a little less than an hour to travel there and we kind of half-napped / zoned out on the way. (Our hotel did breakfast starting at 6 and we definitely did that beforehand, so 6:30 is the best approximate guess.) We were at the gates in tons of time.

It will depend on your group and hotel and breakfast and all that fun stuff of course, but we definitely avoided the upcharge.

 

[DLRExpert]

This is a huge, unnecessary detour. Why would anyone recommend this? This is almost twice the distance traveled than necessary.

98% of my recommendation is Carpool Lanes.
If you leave on a weekday around 630am to 7am. You are going to hit a mass amount of traffic if you take the 5fwy to 101 or 134 (it should be okay during the weekend). The Uber or Lyft will take you through that traffic.
Google Maps estimates ride is about 1 hour and 45 minutes. If you take 5fwy or 10fwy to the 101 or 134.
80-90 Minutes if you take the 5, 605, 210 to 134. Keep in mind this is not taking into account the Carpool Lanes. So it should be even faster.

 

[DLgal]

98% of my recommendation is Carpool Lanes.
If you leave on a weekday around 630am to 7am. You are going to hit a mass amount of traffic if you take the 5fwy to 101 or 134 (it should be okay during the weekend). The Uber or Lyft will take you through that traffic.
Google Maps estimates ride is about 1 hour and 45 minutes. If you take 5fwy or 10fwy to the 101 or 134.
80-90 Minutes if you take the 5, 605, 210 to 134. Keep in mind this is not taking into account the Carpool Lanes. So it should be even faster.

Carpool lanes in LA mean absolutely nothing. I use them all the time and they really don't make much of a difference when traffic is heavy. The "ideal" for carpool lanes is to be able to travel 40mph continuously. That is definitely not the case.

Regardless, I've driven to Universal Studios from Irvine several times in the mornings and it has never taken me that long to get there. It's generally about an hour and 10 minutes, give or take, and I'm a good 15 miles south of Anaheim. From Anaheim, it's just 35 miles.

My recommendation is actually to NOT leave right at rush hour, but rather wait until like 8:30 or 9am. By then, traffic is manageable and the park usually doesn't open until 10am anyway, and there isn't enough in that park to justify needing to be there more than 8 hours at most. We are usually done with "everything" in about 6 hours, 8 if we take lots of long, drawn out food/drink breaks.

 

[jlmarr]

If you're not averse to public transit, you could take the Metrolink commuter train which starts running at O'Dark Thirty. It terminates at the historic LA Union Station and connects there with the subway, the Metro Red Line (and I see they've renamed that to the 'B' Line - whatever). The Metrolink round trip fare does include the Metro fare, but pay attention to the return trip schedule - it doesn't run real late, but if you "rope drop" Universal you won't be there late anyway.

I presume there are breakfast options in Universal Citywalk that would be open before USH.

Right on cue, here's a prominent DL YouTuber showing how you can take the train from the DL area to Universal.

He takes Lyft to Fullerton station, or you could go to the newer Anaheim ARTIC station. Also he takes Amtrak which is much more expensive and then he needs to buy the Metro card. But it's useful to show all the steps involved.

EDIT: Oops! Linked wrong video - fixed now.

EDIT #2: You can go even cheaper by taking the OCTA #50 bus to Anaheim ARTIC, or the #43 bus to the Fullerton Amtrak/Metrolink station. $2 each way. If you're really obsessed with costs, the fare from Fullerton to LA Union Station is cheaper because it's closer, but ARTIC is kinda cool.

 

[sjmac42]

So like, if Universal opened at say 8:00, what time does my family need to be getting inside an Uber? Definitely want to be there before it opens.

USH rarely opens at 8am. It’s likely to open at 9am during July.
I’d just rent a car as well but whether a hire car or Uber, leave at 7am weekdays, maybe 7-30am on weekends. Problem with weekdays is the unpredictability of rush hour, the trip could easily be 2hrs plus. Plenty of places in Citiwalk for a coffee or breakfast though if you get there earlier than expected.

 

[lvdis]

You might want to check out Anaheim Tour Company. They have a ticket and transportation option to Universal from the Anaheim area hotels. We booked a full day tour with them last month to go to Warner Bro Studio and Hollywood Blvd and they were transporting someone to Universal Studios along with us. Dropped them off on the way to our studio tour, then picked them up at the end of the day after the Hollywood portion of ours. We got to spend an hour at CityWalk while waiting to pick the other guest up.

They are a great family run company and I highly recommend them!

https://anaheimtourcompany.com/tours/