Driving from Encinitas to Anaheim for 1 day at Disneyland - CRAZY?

[Nemesia]

We're going to be in San Diego (Encinitas) for a week in early May. We're thinking of driving to Disneyland for the day while we're there. Is the traffic going to be too crazy? We'd plan to leave by 7am (earlier if it means far less traffic) and would drive back that night. We'd want to spend a full day in Disneyland for sure. Our dds are 9,9, and 1.5. Thoughts/tips?

[jbbhb]

It's definitely doable. Without traffic the drive will take about an hour and 15 minutes. If you're planning to go on a weekday I would consider leaving at 6 if you really want to miss traffic. The drive back shouldn't be an issue.

[SnuggleBuggles]

We've only ever done DL as part of a SD trip. First time we stayed overnight the night before then drove down after we finished in the park at 11pm. Long day but doable! Second time we stayed over the night before and the night after. If you can swing arriving the night before, it might be better. Just always nice to be at your destination. Driving back that night is fine.

[pinay]

We live about 25 min southeast of Encinitas and did this drive on Monday- took us a little over an hour and a half to get there, we left about 8:30 and there was hardly any traffic. We drove back Tuesday evening around 7 and had no issues, you shouldn't have trouble coming back at all. I found some good info re: parking that I'll come back and post for you as well.

[pinay]

If you are coming from San Diego and you want to get to the Mickey and Friends parking lot, you will need to do a lot of surface street driving. That parking structure on busy days is usually only open to people coming from the north.

So what you have to do is get off on Harbor Blvd., not Disney Way. Turn right on Harbor, then left on Ball Rd. DO NOT turn left on Disneyland Drive even though it tells you to. You will get redirected by the Anaheim police department past DLH and all the way over to the Toy Story lots eventually, negating everything you've done so far and chewing up a lot of time. You have to turn right on Disneyland Drive, then make a U-turn at your earliest opportunity. You will pass the offramp for the I-5 North on the right. Once you make the U-turn, and head south on Disneyland Drive, you will be able to access the flyover bridge to the left that the southbound I-5 traffic gets to use and you will make your way to the Mickey and Friends parking structure. If you miss the flyover bridge, do not continue south on Disneyland Drive as you will get caught up in that Anaheim PD redirection. Just circle back at Ball Rd. and try again.

[Nemesia]

Thanks so much for the helpful parking info, pinay!

[missliss55]

Just had to say that I grew up in Encinitas and my family still lives there. It was such a great city to grow up in.

We used to day trips to DL all the time. Can't comment on what the traffic would be like now tho. Have fun!