Sacramento/NorCal Dis'ers: Best time to drive home?

[Disney Dad ADL]

Leaving the bay area on a weekday is EASY.
Think about the commutes. Everybody is trying to get INTO SF/Silicon Valley for work. Nobody is trying to commute TO Gilroy/Livermore/Central Valley.

You don't need to wait for rush hour traffic to clear, reverse commute is easy.
I would still aim to leave by 8 am, so as to get to LA as early as possible.

It sort of depends where you live, but yes, I agree with your general statement. The main issue going down to Disneyland is the traffic in Southern California, not the traffic up here in the Bay Area. I would try to get to Disneyland before 3 PM at all costs, especially if you have a meeting that you have to get to.

 

[Whistlebee]

I love the Waze app. It will route you the shortest way possible and continue to reroute you as necessary. Lots of users in Bay Area and LA.

 

[egritz]

I love the Waze app. It will route you the shortest way possible and continue to reroute you as necessary. Lots of users in Bay Area and LA.

Is the Waze app much better/different than just using Google Traffic? I didn't notice it doing anything different on our last trip so I deleted it from my phone.

 

[Whistlebee]

Is the Waze app much better/different than just using Google Traffic? I didn't notice it doing anything different on our last trip so I deleted it from my phone.

I don't know what the differences between the two are. I know Waze will route you onto surface streets from the freeway to get around traffic (maybe Google maps does that too, not sure?). Waze will alert you to hazards or police that are ahead of you as reported by users. The first time I used the Waze app it said "hazard ahead in the road". It shows on the map where you will encounter the hazard. I was skeptical since I'd never used the app but there was a full size table in the middle of my lane on I-5! It was nice to have that advance warning especially in traffic. I'm a pretty big fan

 

[avalovesminnie]

Thanks everyone. I will try to pack as much night before as we can. I work that day though. There is significant traffic in the east bay to get to 580 East. 24 West and 680 South are crazy. However, it is only like 20 miles versus the 80 mile stretch other posters mentioned. We can't leave early enough to beat the traffic due to logistics with 3 little kids, we've tried just going to Monterey and been stuck at 6:30 am.

QUOTE="Chemist, post: 55649608, member: 558187"]Leaving the bay area on a weekday is EASY.
Think about the commutes. Everybody is trying to get INTO SF/Silicon Valley for work. Nobody is trying to commute TO Gilroy/Livermore/Central Valley.

You don't need to wait for rush hour traffic to clear, reverse commute is easy.
I would still aim to leave by 8 am, so as to get to LA as early as possible.[/QUO

 

[egritz]

Well I cancelled our breakfast reservation at Surfs Up. ...Hubby wants to leave by 6am to try and beat both morning and evening commute traffic. We are both missing our 22 month old son who we left with grandparents. Just finished pre-packing and setting the alarm for 5am. Hoping to stop for a quick breakfast north of LA once we are out of the thick of traffic. Fingers crossed it is early enough!

 

[egritz]

After getting gas, we hit I5 at about 5:40...there was definitely traffic...it took about 1 hr to get to hwy 2/Glendale area. We stayed on I5 as Google Traffic put the other route (using 605) at a 56 minute delay, I'm guessing due to accidents. Looking forward to getting home in the early afternoon, but man we're tired!