Yosemite and Disneyland

[Kstarski]

Planning a trip to Yosemite and Disneyland in august. How does this look

1. Fly into Sacramento Friday after noon, get some essentials and stay over night in Elk Grove
Drive to Yosemite valley Saturday morning (we are in central time so should be up earlier)
Saturday-Sunday Yosemite valley lodge
Monday visit mariposa grove and head towards Anaheim
We don’t have reservations for hotel this night or real plans besides mariposa grove which looks like an hour from the valley. So looking for suggestions on how far to drive (5 hours to Anaheim from the grove)
Tuesday we check into courtyard theme park entrance
Wednesday Disneyland
Thursday dca
Friday we have reservations for a hotel in Huntington Beach
Saturday night fly home from Long Beach airport

I’m looking for suggestions on Monday for hotel, should we drive all the way to Anaheim? Try to add another night at corutnyard? A cheaper hotel?

 

[China Expat]

You can drive to Anaheim in one day, and it will take you 7-8 hours.

 

[sjmac42]

You can drive to Anaheim in one day, and it will take you 7-8 hours.

You can but not after visiting Mariposa Grove which can easily fill a few hours, particularly as you need to shuttle in or walk from the Welcome Plaza.
Kstarski, I’d recommend you overnight in Oakhurst or Fresno after visiting Mariposa Grove. From there it will be 4 to 4.5hrs to Disneyland. You can stay closer somewhere like Bakersfield but Fresno and Oakhurst are nicer towns and been closer to Yosemite will give you a chance to see anything you’ve missed without having to rush out of the valley

 

[Kstarski]

You can but not after visiting Mariposa Grove which can easily fill a few hours, particularly as you need to shuttle in or walk from the Welcome Plaza.
Kstarski, I’d recommend you overnight in Oakhurst or Fresno after visiting Mariposa Grove. From there it will be 4 to 4.5hrs to Disneyland. You can stay closer somewhere like Bakersfield but Fresno and Oakhurst are nicer towns and been closer to Yosemite will give you a chance to see anything you’ve missed without having to rush out of the valley

Perfect! I was Looking at Fresno! So I’ll go with that!

 

[sjmac42]

No worries, enjoy your trip. Yosemite is amazing.

 

[DonnerB]

We were in Yosemite last week. Can confirm it should take just under an hour from the valley floor to Mariposa Grove parking. The shuttle service hadn't resumed yet (it's scheduled to by 5/27), so it was a 4 mile round-trip hike from the welcome plaza to the arrival area. The Big Trees Loop trail was also closed, so it would have been an additional 1.5 miles to the Grizzly Giant. It took us about 45-50 minutes to get from the welcome plaza to the arrival area.

We were staying in Fish Camp, just a few miles down Highway 41 from the welcome plaza. It took us just over five hours to get back to LA (Mid-City) when leaving at 9 am on a Tuesday morning, with a stop for lunch and gas. I think I'd also be inclined to stay overnight closer to Yosemite after visiting the grove. We pretty much missed all rush hour traffic leaving when we did (just packed up the last morning - no park). We rushed through our visit to the grove because we had to get to the valley for a tour, and I regret not planning the visit on a different day when we weren't on a timeline. If you don't mind getting stuck in some traffic or arriving to Anaheim later in the night, shouldn't be a problem, but I'd rather enjoy more time near Yosemite than in Anaheim if your first park day isn't until Wednesday! Oakhurst has a wide range of lodging and dining options!

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Perfect! I was Looking at Fresno! So I’ll go with that!

Another town to consider is Visalia. It's an hour closer to Los Angeles.

With normal traffic - hours to Los Angeles
Fresno - 4
Visalia - 3
Bakersfield - 2

(when I go to Bakersfield, I figure I should just continue on to LA... lol )