Question for anyone who lives in Northern CA

[CindyH]

The Del Taco is located in Santa Nella.

Thanks, Amybirds! I'll mapquest it out now.

If you leave Novato at noon you should miss most of the 80/580 traffic. I would worry more about Oakland to Livermore if you leave much later. That can be pretty brutal in the afternoon.

Thanks for the suggestion. I actually work in Oakland, so I know the afternoon traffic can really back up.

I5 will be conjested that first week of August!

Hopefully not too congested with the CHP!

Our stops are always the Starbuck on Hopyard in Pleasanton, the TA just before the Grapevine, and then at least one other one.

We haven't made the trip often enough (our 1st DL trip was last May) to have "regular" stops, but I figure we should be able to drive at least 3-4 hours before stopping.

Our ressies are not 'til the next day, so we can be leisurely, and get off the road for awhile if we need to.

We originally planned to drive down on Wednesday, getting to DL around 2pm, and using that day as our first day. But I think this revised plan (driving down the day before, arriving around 8pm) should work better, with us getting a good night's sleep and being able to use the whole day on our first day.

 

[Luv2Scrap Disney]

We will be driving down that day, too, from Pleasant Hill.

Just moved here from Martinez via a year in Walnut Creek as we worked on our house!

 

[got2travel]

Just wanted to chime in again and say hi to all my fellow Nor Cal DISers.

I'm in San Pablo and work in San Ramon.

 

[Tikiman]

Now I see why there were so many cars on I5…everyone was going to Disneyland from up north

I got a question for you.

How come at WDW all Florida residence get discounts but at Disneyland only So. Cal residence get discounts? If they want to be separate than split the state!!!

It was bad enough I spent a ton on APs for WDW and they give you nothing out here at Disney. Not even a discount on an AP out here.

 

[challada]

FYI...my parents who live in the Bay Area had a zip code that qualified for the SoCal AP rate (they did want blackout dates so didn't get that one).

 

[disneychrista]

How come at WDW all Florida residence get discounts but at Disneyland only So. Cal residence get discounts? If they want to be separate than split the state!!!.

My guess and it is only a guess, it is because California is bigger with a bigger population.

So far I have not found a So-Cal Discount that I would be inclinded to take advantage of. Then again if I lived in So-Cal it might be different

 

[Molly Meow]

I know it's a little late, but if you whip off I-5 into Patterson, there's a McDonald's about 2-3 minutes off the freeway. It's got a playplace, really nice staff, and it's never busy.

You just turn left off of the offramp and stay on that road. You'll see it on the corner a little ways down, right by Savemart and Blockbuster.

We've also got a Denny's, Quizno's, Starbucks, KFC/A&W, Jack in the Box, and Wendy's right off the freeway. Soon, we'll have a Chinese restaurant.

Can you guess where I live? LOL

 

[4kidsandadog]

Nice to see all the No. California people here.... we are new to the state and moved here to southern Napa Valley in June. I just booked our first DL trip for Nov. 27-Dec. 1 (staying in a 1BR suite at the Grand Californian, using our DVC points). We haven't driven past Oakland on I-80 yet, so I don't know much about what the drive there will be like. We're flying out of San Jose in September for a cruise (booked before DCL announced the switch to the west coast this summer and before we knew we would be living here).

Tikiman, nice to see you... I used to spend a lot of time at your site; the Poly was our resort of choice until we couldn't stay in one room anymore (and couldn't afford a suite). That's why we finally went the DVC route!

Oh, and I wondered the exact same thing about discounts. Oh well, at least we can get the military discount at the base ticket office.

Karen (who will be putting her FL voting registration in a safe place for her next trip to WDW... NEED that FL resident pass!)

 

[CindyH]

I know it's a little late, but if you whip off I-5 into Patterson, there's a McDonald's about 2-3 minutes off the freeway. It's got a playplace, really nice staff, and it's never busy.

You just turn left off of the offramp and stay on that road. You'll see it on the corner a little ways down, right by Savemart and Blockbuster.

And how lucky for you to live so close!

 

[CindyH]

Nice to see all the No. California people here.... we are new to the state and moved here to southern Napa Valley in June.

 

[Tikiman]

Aloha Karen,

We are not very far from you and we drive right out past Napa on our way to DL. Don’t cut down through Oakland. Go right out Hwy 12 all the way over to I5. You can email me if you need more detail. I grew up in the Bay area and moved north in 1990 so I have taken just about every rout. Not only that but when I was racing jet skis I went all over the state (north and south). I would be happy to help.

So why are you flying out of San Jose? Oakland, SFO and even Sac would have been easier to fly out of. We also found a great way to beat the cost of park and fly. Some of the hotels offer free parking while you are on your trip if you pay to stay one night. We do that with the Sheraton near SFO and stay the night before we leave and than shuttle over to the airport in the morning and our truck is in covered parking for up to 2 weeks secure and for free.

Have a good time at the GC. We liked it but I think next time we will go back to the DLH. I am glad I tried it. I hope you get back to the Polynesian someday or even WDW now that you are out here. I am sure you will with DVC.

Feel free to email me anytime steves5150@yahoo.com

Aloha

Steve

 

[4kidsandadog]

Aloha Karen,

We are not very far from you and we drive right out past Napa on our way to DL. Don’t cut down through Oakland. Go right out Hwy 12 all the way over to I5. You can email me if you need more detail. I grew up in the Bay area and moved north in 1990 so I have taken just about every rout. Not only that but when I was racing jet skis I went all over the state (north and south). I would be happy to help.

I didn't know 12 went that far. Being new to the area, we just figured hopping on the interstate and heading down. Now that I look at your plan, it does look like we could avoid a lot of "junk" going that way. Thanks for the tip!

So why are you flying out of San Jose? Oakland, SFO and even Sac would have been easier to fly out of. We also found a great way to beat the cost of park and fly. Some of the hotels offer free parking while you are on your trip if you pay to stay one night. We do that with the Sheraton near SFO and stay the night before we leave and than shuttle over to the airport in the morning and our truck is in covered parking for up to 2 weeks secure and for free.

Price. We actually got the best rate on our tickets (6 of 'em) out of San Jose. Of course, that was before lower rates got announced on other airlines, and we have non-refundables. People told us flying out of SFO was horrible. I guess everyone has a different perspective. Our departing flight did get changed to an earlier one, so we may wind up staying overnight in San Jose before the trip. I will for sure check for a place that offers free parking and a shuttle to the airport.

Have a good time at the GC. We liked it but I think next time we will go back to the DLH. I am glad I tried it. I hope you get back to the Polynesian someday or even WDW now that you are out here. I am sure you will with DVC.

We're spending 3 nights at BCV before our Sept. cruise... and then I'm going to try to book 10 nights over Christmas/New Year's for next year. My 2 oldest want to spend the holidays and their birthdays (30th of Dec.) at WDW.

Karen

 

[Tikiman]

Yeah once you hit 80 from 12 you go north up two more exits and it continues over to I5. When we came back up I5 on the 4th of July weekend the hwys into the Bay area were stopped and we had no problems coming home 12.

I like SFO and we also like Sacramento. So far we have never had problems flying out of SFO either for vacation or work. I say I fly out of there about 7 times a year but I bet there is a hotel near SJ that offers the parking.

We are skipping WDW this year for Maui but next summer I think we are going to head back.

Aloha

Steve