Suggestion needed on Travel from Oregon

[momof2iam]

Hi I am brand new to the board and need some help. My DH, myself and DS 11 and DS 7 will be traveling from So. Oregon during our Spring Break March 24-31 2007 to visit Disneyland. The drive straight thru would take us about 12 hours . I am thinking about splitting our drive time in half over 2 days and would like to know if there is some place along I-5 that would make a good place to stay over night. I was thinking about driving to SF and staying the night there so that my kids can see the GG Bridge and FW. But am reconsidering it because I am not sure if that would take us to far off the path down I-5. If any one has a suggestion or has done this before I would appreciate some info. BTW Enjoy everyone's post here . Have been lurking for sometime just reading the post. Information is really great. Thanks

 

[gnbuggy]

to the Dis!!
I would stay on 5. SF is quite a drive and in my experience lots of traffic. If you have the time it would be nice though. A couple of times we have stayed in Santa Nella. Im not sure how long of a driving you plan on doing the first day. It takes us about 16 hrs. to get to DL. I think we might drive 12 hrs. the first day. Its a nice stop and there is several fast food places. We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express. This will sound funny, but the east side seems nicer and than the west. Cant explain.
Glad you stopped lurking and joined the Dis!

 

[Disney Hot Mama]

Where in OR? My parents live in Grants Pass, OR so we drive the 5 all the time. (though they just arrived at WDW earlier today!) I drive to either Stockton or Sacramento and spend the night and then continue onto OR from So. CA. There is a nice La Quinta right off the 5 in Stockton (about 30 minutes past Sacramento) that is nice and clean. There is a Coco's and The Old Spaghetti Factory walking distance and the hotel serves a free breakfast (waffles, yogert, fruit, juice and rolls) in the AM to start your day.

I agree not to stray from the 5. While San Francisco is a great place to visit it will take a longer time to get there and then back to the 5 and I don't think the extra time woud be worth it since your main mission is DL.

AAA has a great book that will list tons of hotels. I found the La Quinta by chance and will stay there again on our next trip up and back to OR.

 

[eargal]

Could you leave right after your kids get out of school/you get off work and take turns driving through the night? This is how we do it from the seattle area (18-19 hours). It would add a day to your real vacation. I hate driving and I find I prefer pushing through to breaking it up.

 

[victorandbellasmom]

We live in the Seattle area and we tend to spend the night in the Redding/Red Bluff area, if we spend the night.. It's midpoint for us. Sacarmento might be more your midpoint since you're about 5-6 hours from where we live. I'd tend to stick to I-5 rater than venturing into San Francisco.

 

[momof2iam]

Thank You for the replies. I now have some things to consider on our drive south. I just hate long car rides if I don't have to drive straight thru.

 

[gnbuggy]

Just another thought. If you are leaving from Southern Oregon, it might be possible to get there in one day. That is if you leave really early in the morning and hall a**. Even easier if there are 2 drivers, you can switch driving duties.

 

[MadfordaMouse]

We lived in Salem for 3 years and drove to Disney with our then 2 1/2 yr old. We stayed in the Modesto/Merced area just off the freeway for one night to break it up (it was 10 yrs ago, can't remember the actual hotel). I believe we booked through AAA, if you have it call them and they can help set up a hotel in a convenient area for you and check on all the amenities (pool, breakfast, restaurants, etc.). It was a long drive, but I wouldn't have changed a thing since it was my daughters first Disney trip! Have a great vacation!

 

[Zoemakes5]

I'd recommend going as far as you can that first day. Seems like day two is always slower going and frustrating. And, I hate driving into DL feeling all tired!
If you could make it to Bakersfield, there are a number of hotels.
Merced/Medesto is another good option.
I'd be cautious of staying off the 5 in Sac, it can be a bit scary neighborhoods there.
When my parents lived in Sac and I lived in so. cal, I took a slightly different route. Frankly, I liked the drive a bit better....when you get to Sac, i5 breaks off to i5 and CA 99, then meet back up again right outside of bakersfield before the grapevine. That's the route I always took. More small towns along the way. If you took that route, I'd recommend stay in fresno. From Portland (which is probably north of you), it's an 11 hour drive to fresno and then 4 hours in to Anaheim. You'd have a better chance of figuring out when to leave to beat traffic with only about 4 hours to go rather than 10 or so.

If you want more equal time each day, I'd say Redding is your best best.

 

[Captjackson]

If you've got 2 full days of travel, and not in a rush, then I'll say that a SF detour shouldn't be too much trouble. DW and I love San Francisco.
How about traveling traveling down I-5 to Sacramento, cutting over to the coast, crossing the Golden Gate from the north, and staying overnight somewhere between SFO and San Jose? (If it's already dark, then stay overnight north of SF and drive the Golden Gate the next morning.) Get up early the next morning continue to SoCal on US 101. It's not the fastest by any means, but it'd be a nice drive.
OTOH, back in Feb of this year, we left Portland after work, drove to Medford, spent the night there, and drove to Anaheim the next day. Personally, I think driving from SoOregon to Anaheim is a reasonable drive. (DW would disagree.) Looonng, but doable. We did have 4 adults (plus 2 kids), there was always a fresh driver.