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View Full Version : Driving to Disneyland need freeway Help Please



gobears97
08-17-2007, 03:24 PM
I live in Sherman Oaks and am going to Disneyland on Tuesday (I know that it is going to be hot and hellishly crowded, but it is the only day that is going to work).

I am trying to decide what is the best route to get there. Google Maps and Mapquest say that I should take the 134 to the 5 and go straight down the 5. My impression is that the 5 south in the morning from the valley all the way to OC is a terrible drive.

Would it be better to drive over the hill and take the 405 and eventually get on the 91 to the 5? Then you only have to be on the 5 for a short amount of time.

The other route that I was thinking of was going through downtown and taking the 110 to the 91 to the 5.

Any thoughts would be appreicated with any suggestions about the reverse drive home. I think that we are going to stay somewhat late, so I should miss the bad drive home.

Thanks in advance,
Meredith

dawnid
08-17-2007, 03:42 PM
I'd do the 134 to the 5 all the way. My experience with the 405 is its worse than anyother frwy. Are you meeting people or will you all be in one car? If so I'd leave before 8am and catch the car pool on the 5 as soon as you can. That will get you through the worst of the OC 5 traffic.

If you're really leaning towards the 405 I'd take that to the 105 E to the 605 S to 91 E to 5 S. Its convoluted but the 105 is better than the 91 and this shortens the amount of time on the 91.

Any which way I'd leave before 7 am or after 10am to miss the worst of the traffic.

padilla6710
08-17-2007, 06:22 PM
I would avoid the 91 at all costs this freeway is always jammed. I must take it to get to my college. You are much better going on the 5 and having a straight shot. Avoid any round-about ways it always makes the journey longer.

Bytebear
08-17-2007, 06:25 PM
I agree. The 5 is your best bet.

PinokeFan
08-18-2007, 07:17 PM
First of all, LEAVE SUPER EARLY. :) And, before you leave, listen to the radio traffic reports and/or pop online to sigalert.com to check out the various routes. If the 405 seems OK, it is a viable option.

Once you are over the hill and through West L.A., you will be heading in the opposite direction from most of the traffic. I happen to drive the 405 S every weekday (but only from the 10 to the LAX area) and usually take that route to Disneyland. Either the 405 to the 110 NORTH to 91 EAST to the 5 SOUTH (to get on the 91 you have to get on the 110 NORTH for one exit). Or the 405 to the 105 EAST to the 605 SOUTH to the 91 EAST to the 5 SOUTH.

I've taken both routes several times in the past year without much problem -- usually maintaining speeds of 60-65MPH for most of the distance. (Yes, even on the dreaded 91. Westbound is the 10X worse than Eastbound in the morning.) In fact, the worst traffic I hit is always the last several miles on the 5 before Disneyland. Even at 7:00AM, that stretch can be a parking lot.

Darkbeer
08-18-2007, 08:00 PM
Are you driving by yourself, or will you have someone else in your car and qualify for the carpool lane?

If you have someone else, then I would suggest the 405 south to the 105 east to the 605 south to the 91 east to the 5 south.

The vast majority of it would be carpool lanes, though there is a small segment going south on the 405 near the 10 that doesn't offer it (and the 405 north at the 10 does not offer it going over the pass).

When close to LAX, you need to get out of the carpool lane and get onto the 105 east exit, then get back into the carpool lane when you get on the 105, take it to the end of the 105, and merge to the right to get onto the 605 south, stay in the right lanes a few miles to the 91 east.

Once on the 91 east, get into the carpool lane as soon as possible, and stay in it. There is a special carpool exit to the 5 south. Stay in the carpool lane until you get to the Disneyland Drive exit (another carpool lane). Follow the signs to the parking structure.

Reverse it for the way home.

PanFan
08-18-2007, 10:36 PM
I drive down from Santa Clarita to DL 3-5 days/week and I generally stay on the 5. But then again, I drive by myself and the fact that the 5 doesn't have a carpool lane until the 91 is irrelevant to me. But one thing I like to do is check sigalert.com (http://www.sigalert.com/routefinder/default.asp?Region=kabc+LA+East) for traffic reports, going to the Routes tab and selecting where I get on and off the freeway, then having it find the fastest route based on the traffic at that time. I'm also a big fan of AM980's Traffic on the 1's and AM1070's Traffic on the 5's to see any new problem spots I should avoid.

A lot of times, sigalert tells me to go on the 170 south to the 101 south to the 60 east to the 710 south to the 5 south. When I do this, it's often a little slow around downtown on the 101, but otherwise not too bad. In the morning, your southbound 5 traffic past the East LA interchange shouldn't be too bad. If it is, I sometimes take the 605 south to the 91 east back to the 5 south. Or I'll venture onto Firestone Blvd., but only if it's REALLY bad (plus that's quite a convoluted route and took me many trials and errors to finally master). And by REALLY bad, I mean the sign around Paramount Blvd. says it's 25 minutes or more to the 91 (with no traffic that sign says 10).

As people have said, the earlier you can leave the better. At night, you shouldn't have any problem going straight back up the 5. They do close the 5 north after about 12:30am from the 91 to Valley View, so you'll be forced onto the 91 west at that time. If that happens, you can follow the detour and get off the 91 at Valley View, then follow it up to the 5, or you can just stay on it until the 605 north and hop on the 5 north from there.

Whichever way you end up going, have a great trip!

rokketride
08-19-2007, 06:44 AM
I've lived in West LA nearly my whole life, and if I never have to drive the 5 all the way to DL again it will be too soon. There are some older-narrower parts of that road that can jam up like nobody's business for no apparent reason at ANY hour.

For me, doing the 405/105/605/91/5 route has always yielded the best results. Also, its more of an engaging ride since you arent on any one road for too long. Other than the La Tijera bend (locals know) there isnt anything too bad to deal with. By the time you are on the 5, its the big dollars OC edition with a wide expanse of lanes for the final leg of the journey.

Mostly Anonymous
08-19-2007, 12:17 PM
We live in Sherman Oaks and have done this drive a LOT.

On weekends, the 101 to the 5 is definitely the way to go, but on weekdays we've had much better experience with the 405/105/605/91/5 route.

Yes, the 405 will be bad getting over the hill, but it tends to start clearing up around Wilshire. The rest of the trip has usually been a breeze for us, especially because there are carpool lanes!

gobears97
08-20-2007, 08:46 AM
I am going to be driving solo this time. I guess I will check the traffic when I am getting ready to leave, which will hopefully be around 630 and then take it from there. Thanks for the sigalert suggestion, I will defineately check it out.

Thanks.

Poolslide
08-20-2007, 04:05 PM
Also starting out in the Valley, but having to leave home only at 5:30PM (yikes). Did not want to start a new thread for a similar topic. Will be staying overnight.

Sigalert is giving me the route 101south - 60east - 710south - 91E - 5south. Has anyone tried this route? Is it nuts or a good idea - I never seem to use these freeways so I'm not sure if I should trust this route.

Disney Resort
08-20-2007, 06:31 PM
If you're considering the 405, you can take that south and connect to the Garden Grove (22) freeway. The 22 may give you some relief. Then exit Harbor and head up a couple of miles to the Disney Resort.

Koala Gurl
08-20-2007, 08:20 PM
... But one thing I like to do is check sigalert.com (http://www.sigalert.com/routefinder/default.asp?Region=kabc+LA+East) for traffic reports, going to the Routes tab and selecting where I get on and off the freeway, then having it find the fastest route based on the traffic at that time. ...

A lot of times, sigalert tells me to go on the 170 south to the 101 south to the 60 east to the 710 south to the 5 south.

I love this feature of Sigalert.com!!! I use it anytime I can now. It has helped me so many times, I love it!

I followed Sigalert and did the same drive (the 170/101/60/710...) and while it was a bit more complicated (well, barely) way than the straight shot on the 5, it saved us a bunch of time.

ladodgerjon
08-22-2007, 02:03 PM
I live in Sherman Oaks, too... and make the drive to the DLR at least once a month.

While I prefer the more direct approach of taking the 101 to the 5, I find that I have to listen to traffic reports to see how the 5 is moving before I make a final decision on what approach to take. The 5 can be GREAT... and it can be absolutely hellish (like a giant five-lane parking lot).

If you are traveling AFTER 10am (or before 3:30pm), you probably will do fine on the 5. I've arrived at Disneyland after covering the 45miles in as little as 35 minutes (no traffic)... and have taken as much as 90 minutes to get there in bad traffic.

As for the 405 (to the 105/605/91/5 route), I'm sure you are well aware of the fact that just going from the 101/405 interchange south to WILSHIRE can take you 45 minutes on a weekday (rush hour) OR ON A WEEKEND afternoon.

Again, check the traffic reports before you go. There's no "sure fire" quick route these days.

One caveat: once the expansion on the 5 is complete in Buena PArk, I think the 5 will gain a slight edge over the 405 route. You'll still have traffic downtown (the Echo Park crawl) and the slowing in Commerce & Downey... but the BP widening will help. A bit.

gobears97
08-22-2007, 07:50 PM
A little update. My trip went really well yesterday. After considering all the advice and listening to the traffic reports I decided to take the 5. I left my house in Sherman Oaks at 6:23 and arrived in the Mickey and Friends parking lot at 7:35. I hit some traffic right before downtown and then did not really slow down until about 1 mile before the 91. It was pretty dense traffic until Disneyland Drive. The park was not too crowded and we had a great day. We decided not to go on Nemo because of the lines. When we got in at 8:00, it was already a 2 hour line.

Thanks for all the advice.

:)
Meredith

P.S. The best part of my day was my friend buying me a premium annual pass.

JohnGar
08-22-2007, 08:45 PM
Meredith,

Congrats on the pass. Welcome to "The Club."

As for how we get down there (from Reseda) we take the 134 to the 210 to 605 to 91 to 5. Carpool lanes for 90 percent of the drive and it works in the morning since most people are heading toward LA in the morning. We also use this on the weekends when the Dodgers are playing. We have even headed up to the 118 to the 210 and go from there.

There are million ways to get down there (I have even done a surface street trip once) and I know all the short cuts to avoid the 5 and get to the 605 or closest freeway that's not congested.

Good luck on future trips.