Drive from Huntington beach/ Halloween party question

[Pamela M]

I'm doing a San Diego/ Disneyland Trip.

I'll be driving from SF to San Diego but going to take 2 days. Using a free night I have at a hotel. I can stay near Huntington Beach or Angles Stadium. My overnight in SoCal happens to be on a Halloween party night. Curious how long it REALLY takes to get from Huntington Beach to Disneyland.

I think I'd prefer to stay in Huntington beach but if it's going to be a real pain I'll stay at the hotel near Angels Stadium.

Also for the people that drive to the Halloween parties - how early do you arrive and do you park at Mickey & Friends or Toy Story lot? How early do you arrive?

Luckily my friends are meeting up with me at the end of my stay in San Diego where we'll head back to Disneyland for another party and a couple of days in the park. Just thought it would be fun to do 2 parties if I can make it work.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

How early you arrive depends on whether you want to take advantage of the early entry hours. You'll be able to enter 3 hours before the start time of your party. We like to enter as early as possible to take advantage of FP/MP, if there are any left at that time, and to get any shopping out of the way. Then we can spend our party time focusing on party activities. Where you park depends on which direction you'll be coming from. If you'll be coming from SD or HB, then TS may be the better option. We usually park at M&F, but that's because it's the more convenient option for our route.

 

[DizneyMommy]

We come from HB all the time, we lived there until recently. It is kinda sucky because there is no real good freeway that goes direct. We often took side streets the whole way. Also OC traffic is horrid in that area at rush hour. As if you stay at the beach you are pretty far from the freeway to behind with. I would stay in Anaheim if you have a choice.

ETA/ if it is a weekday, could be an hour. Weekend, maybe 30 minutes. It all depends on the traffic. We take side streets from basically the beach and it takes about 30-40 minutes in the morning.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

We come from HB all the time, we lived there until recently...

I was hoping you'd see this and comment! That's why I bumped it to the top!

 

[GoldeneyezCA]

We live in HB near the water, and it's generally an hour door-to-turnstile (30 min to parking lot, then 15-30 min to the gate once you include the parking/tram/security/gate line time). From our side of town, we take Goldenwest or Beach to the 22 East, exit Harbor Blvd north, and drive directly to the Toy Story lot. We never use M&F parking structure.

It's worth considering what you want to do the day after the party. HB continues to evolve and is much nicer than the area right near the stadium, especially with Pacific City and the beach, but if you're going back to DL the following day, Anaheim is obviously more convenient.

 

[Pamela M]

Thanks everyone - decided to go with a hotel closer to Disneyland but still able to use my points. I don't want to be driving at midnight for 1/2 or and hourd depending on traffic. Especially since I'll have driven from Nor Cal to DL that day.