places to visit within 2 hours of Disney

[Anal Annie]

Oh you’re staying on points. Then yeah, don’t move hotels, day trips are definitely doable. Just avoid the peak of the rush hours (7am to 9am and 4pm to 6pm is the worst of it).

LOL well at least that's a shorter rush hour than here in the DC area! Around here the am rush is full on from about 6:45 to 9:30 and the evening rush starts on the beltway by around 2:00 and easily runs until 6:30 maybe 7:00 on a rainy or snowy day. I'm a production manager and go from job site to job site all around the Maryland suburbs (I may drive over 100 miles a day sometimes) and I soooo dread having to hit the beltway anytime after 2:00 because I know I'm going to be sitting in traffic.

I peeked at some flights - hard to find non-stop to some of these So Cal airports so that is likely to be a big factor in whatever we book. We're lucky here that I do have 3 major airports to pick from and they're all about 50 min. away from where we live. BWI would be our first choice as it's easy peasy in & out & has cheap parking then National would be 2nd choice (since it's downtown not the easiest to get to) and Dulles last (crossing the bridge into VA is another beast in of itself). At least we have lots of time to plan!!

 

[cmph]

LOL well at least that's a shorter rush hour than here in the DC area! Around here the am rush is full on from about 6:45 to 9:30 and the evening rush starts on the beltway by around 2:00 and easily runs until 6:30 maybe 7:00 on a rainy or snowy day. I'm a production manager and go from job site to job site all around the Maryland suburbs (I may drive over 100 miles a day sometimes) and I soooo dread having to hit the beltway anytime after 2:00 because I know I'm going to be sitting in traffic.

I peeked at some flights - hard to find non-stop to some of these So Cal airports so that is likely to be a big factor in whatever we book. We're lucky here that I do have 3 major airports to pick from and they're all about 50 min. away from where we live. BWI would be our first choice as it's easy peasy in & out & has cheap parking then National would be 2nd choice (since it's downtown not the easiest to get to) and Dulles last (crossing the bridge into VA is another beast in of itself). At least we have lots of time to plan!!

Not to scare you, but non-rush-hour LA area traffic is definitely worse than it is in DC, and it can be very unpredictable. We are west coast transplants from the Baltimore/Washington burbs, and our oldest goes to uni in LA now. It took us 2h+ to get from Westwood to DL mid-day on a Friday in October. That same trip, we also came to a dead stop followed by stop-and-go at 11pm on a weeknight when we arrived in LA (construction plus more traffic than most places have at that time of night). We've also encountered lanes closing down for construction at like 3pm as we drive in - very odd choice! I can't imagine anyone thinking "oh hey, let's shut down the 2 left lanes as we approach rush hour" in DC lol. HOV is also not as useful as DC, almost seems slower some of the time; pay attention to the type of HOV lanes as you drive between locations (some are free, some are paid, and the transitions are a bit confusing to us non-locals).

I never enjoyed driving the beltway, but LA traffic is a different beast. DH thinks of driving in the city proper as an adventure sport but cannot stand the crawl getting in and out of LA. I'm still getting used to it and adjusting expectations. I would absolutely split up your arrival and departure airports if it makes sense for your itinerary. We recently canceled a flight out of LAX when we had to unexpectedly be in Irvine day-of; I did the math, and it took less time to drive home.

 

[sjmac42]

Rush hour does last longer than i said, that’s just the worst of it and with the distances it should be over by the time you get to wherever you’re going.

 

[Anal Annie]

Not to scare you, but non-rush-hour LA area traffic is definitely worse than it is in DC, and it can be very unpredictable. We are west coast transplants from the Baltimore/Washington burbs, and our oldest goes to uni in LA now. It took us 2h+ to get from Westwood to DL mid-day on a Friday in October. That same trip, we also came to a dead stop followed by stop-and-go at 11pm on a weeknight when we arrived in LA (construction plus more traffic than most places have at that time of night). We've also encountered lanes closing down for construction at like 3pm as we drive in - very odd choice! I can't imagine anyone thinking "oh hey, let's shut down the 2 left lanes as we approach rush hour" in DC lol. HOV is also not as useful as DC, almost seems slower some of the time; pay attention to the type of HOV lanes as you drive between locations (some are free, some are paid, and the transitions are a bit confusing to us non-locals).

I never enjoyed driving the beltway, but LA traffic is a different beast. DH thinks of driving in the city proper as an adventure sport but cannot stand the crawl getting in and out of LA. I'm still getting used to it and adjusting expectations. I would absolutely split up your arrival and departure airports if it makes sense for your itinerary. We recently canceled a flight out of LAX when we had to unexpectedly be in Irvine day-of; I did the math, and it took less time to drive home.

Thanks for the heads up!! I still feel like we're maybe a little more prepared for coping with the traffic than someone from Podunk, WV where the back-ups are from a John Deere driving down the middle of the road pulling a wagon with a load of hay. I realize there's going to be conditions beyond our control but hopefully we won't be too intimidated. Do they use Easy Pass out there for the HOV lanes? Should we bring one with us or do we need to plan for something else? I do know what you mean about HOV not always being the fastest tho - I see that lane not really working out on I-270 all the time. Monday morning & Friday evening traffic always seems to be the worst here so maybe we'll plan to stay closer to DL on those days and avoid the congestion. I still have to figure out if we buy 3 days of park tix if we have to use them on consecutive days or not. Lots of differences to research but it may be nice to space our park days out.

 

[cmph]

Thanks for the heads up!! I still feel like we're maybe a little more prepared for coping with the traffic than someone from Podunk, WV where the back-ups are from a John Deere driving down the middle of the road pulling a wagon with a load of hay. I realize there's going to be conditions beyond our control but hopefully we won't be too intimidated. Do they use Easy Pass out there for the HOV lanes? Should we bring one with us or do we need to plan for something else? I do know what you mean about HOV not always being the fastest tho - I see that lane not really working out on I-270 all the time. Monday morning & Friday evening traffic always seems to be the worst here so maybe we'll plan to stay closer to DL on those days and avoid the congestion. I still have to figure out if we buy 3 days of park tix if we have to use them on consecutive days or not. Lots of differences to research but it may be nice to space our park days out.

Oh for sure! When my parents complain about rush hour traffic in their midwest city, I'm like - nope, that's nothing. LOL. You definitely aren't going to be intimidated, that's a non-issue. But it's just really hard to plan well, b/c there are so.many.cars. all the time. I google mapped a bunch of departure times to leave Westwood for Disneyland on that trip I mentioned, and we missed our prime window by about 15min... and consequently added 45min of driving time. In the middle of the day. The prior month, after college move-in was done, there were accidents one after another on our way back home, and it took us about 3 hours to get from Westwood to the Ontario airport area. I just have to reset my brain and assume it'll take 2-3 times as long as it should. If you expect that, then you won't find it so frustrating, and you might have some pleasant surprises!

It's not Easy Pass. I think it's a CA-only system? FasTrak? or something like that. We do not live in southern CA - adjacent state - so I haven't investigated getting a transponder (if that would even be possible for a non-CA res).

DL tix have 13 days after first use before they expire, so you have flexibility.

 

[sjmac42]

You have 14 days to use a 3 day ticket so no issues there. You just need to make your park reservations in advance for specific days you want to visit. They can be rescheduled depending on availability which is usually fine outside of the really busy times (Christmas week, Easter, Memorial Day weekend etc).
Personally I can’t remember ever having to use a HOV lane in SoCal over many trips. I’ve always been able to get where I’m going easily enough and just time the longer trips to avoid the worst of the rush hours. It’s almost always quicker to drive than use PT unless you’re going from Hollywood to Universal or Downtown or something. That 45 min drive into LA from Anaheim can easily turn into 90 mins or 2hrs but PT will take 2-3hrs anyway with multiple transfers depending where you want to go.

 

[Anal Annie]

You have 14 days to use a 3 day ticket so no issues there. You just need to make your park reservations in advance for specific days you want to visit. They can be rescheduled depending on availability which is usually fine outside of the really busy times (Christmas week, Easter, Memorial Day weekend etc).
Personally I can’t remember ever having to use a HOV lane in SoCal over many trips. I’ve always been able to get where I’m going easily enough and just time the longer trips to avoid the worst of the rush hours. It’s almost always quicker to drive than use PT unless you’re going from Hollywood to Universal or Downtown or something. That 45 min drive into LA from Anaheim can easily turn into 90 mins or 2hrs but PT will take 2-3hrs anyway with multiple transfers depending where you want to go.

Thanks! We ARE going the weekend before Memorial Day and staying into Memorial Day weekend....how far ahead do you think we'll need to bite the bullet to buy tix and make our park reservations?? That's another thing on my mind but I was hoping to wait until after the holidays to spend the money for the tix....although I saw a good Cyber week sale on Undercover Tourist to get Adult tix for the price of child tix the other day so I was definitely tempted to buy but I didn't... . Do they link into MDE like they do in FL?

 

[LKing]

It's not Easy Pass. I think it's a CA-only system? FasTrak? or something like that. We do not live in southern CA - adjacent state - so I haven't investigated getting a transponder (if that would even be possible for a non-CA res).

Yes, it is called FasTrack. And the 405 in Orange County will be FasTrack starting Dec 1.

 

[sjmac42]

You can wait until after the holidays to purchase. Tickets just went up in price so it’s not likely they will rise again before your trip.
Here is the reservations calendar for Disneyland so you can keep an eye on park reservation availability. To be clear, park tickets never sell out, its the park reservations that may fill up.
https://disneyland.disney.go.com/av...egments=ticket,ph,ap,resort&defaultSegment=ap
As you can see, Christmas is still wide open so I don’t think it would be an issue, just something to keep an eye on. Availability for Disney Hotel guests is often better anyway. I think you’d be pretty safe buying a month or 2 ahead, you can’t make park reservations more than 120 days in advance anyway.
Also look at Undercover Tourist and GetAway Today for tickets as they offer small discounts and have a good refund policy. Disney doesn’t refund tickets only unless you have a package. Either way you can always apply the value of unused tickets to a future trip.

 

[LKing]

Disneyland may still be available but yesterday they announced this about WDW:

Theme park tickets are no longer available for Christmas Day on December 25 at Magic Kingdom and New Year's Eve on December 31 at either EPCOT or Magic Kingdom. Reservations are also unavailable for Resort hotel guests for Magic Kingdom on December 25 and 31, and for EPCOT on December 31.

 

[Anal Annie]

You can wait until after the holidays to purchase. Tickets just went up in price so it’s not likely they will rise again before your trip.
Here is the reservations calendar for Disneyland so you can keep an eye on park reservation availability. To be clear, park tickets never sell out, its the park reservations that may fill up.
https://disneyland.disney.go.com/av...egments=ticket,ph,ap,resort&defaultSegment=ap
As you can see, Christmas is still wide open so I don’t think it would be an issue, just something to keep an eye on. Availability for Disney Hotel guests is often better anyway. I think you’d be pretty safe buying a month or 2 ahead, you can’t make park reservations more than 120 days in advance anyway.
Also look at Undercover Tourist and GetAway Today for tickets as they offer small discounts and have a good refund policy. Disney doesn’t refund tickets only unless you have a package. Either way you can always apply the value of unused tickets to a future trip.

Thank you again - I didn't know they didn't allow park reservations until 120 days - I'll put that on my calendar and try to buy our tix around 90 days out or so. Hopefully by then I'll have a better idea on our trip itinerary and can figure out what days we'll want to go & if we need hoppers or not etc. (I really hate all this pre-planning they require now for all the parks.)