Yosemite and Disneyland

I am dying to stay in one of the crystal cove beach houses but haven't had much luck getting reservations. I thought that was further away than 30 minutes though, at least in daytime traffic? I google mapped nearly everything last spring and I had a hard time finding anything within an hour.

Should be around half hour if not during rush hour, unless the 55 is really bad. I sometimes work in our Newport beach office not far from Crystal Cove, and sometimes meet the family at DL after a half day. The 55 can get bad at lunch and various other times, so i sometimes go the "back way" up 405 then through fountain valley/garden grove up. Its more like 45 minutes but pretty predictable surface streets. And there are a lot of places to grab a Banh Mi and vietnamese coffee along the way.
 
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Considering AP blackouts...is there much difference the week before Memorial Day or the weeks (either before or after) July 4th at Disneyland? Is there a big temperature difference between the two in Yosemite? I know when we were in Rocky Mtn much was still closed due to elevation etc, around Memorial Day but everything was open by July 4th. Obviously, elevation isn't the concern so much at Yosemite but I'm just curious if May or July is preferable?

For instance, the kids finish school on May 17, so we could leave that afternoon or the next day to start the trip. Looking at the calendar, we would likely leave home around July 4th (Wednesday) and be gone the rest of that week and the next.

I'm also going to check out the KOA you mentioned. The kids would love a swimming pool or a hot tub!
 
Considering AP blackouts...is there much difference the week before Memorial Day or the weeks (either before or after) July 4th at Disneyland? Is there a big temperature difference between the two in Yosemite? I know when we were in Rocky Mtn much was still closed due to elevation etc, around Memorial Day but everything was open by July 4th. Obviously, elevation isn't the concern so much at Yosemite but I'm just curious if May or July is preferable?

For instance, the kids finish school on May 17, so we could leave that afternoon or the next day to start the trip. Looking at the calendar, we would likely leave home around July 4th (Wednesday) and be gone the rest of that week and the next.

I'm also going to check out the KOA you mentioned. The kids would love a swimming pool or a hot tub!

First of all, I'm still thinking of the old names while the whole thing about trademarks is still being sorted out. So if I refer to any names that the current concessionaire isn't using now, it's just because that's what I've been calling those places for years.

There are pools in Yosemite. The ones at the Ahwahnee Hotel and Yosemite Lodge are reserved only for hotel guests. It looks like the new concessionaire is charging a $5 day use fee for the public ($4 for kids under 12) at the Curry Village pool. If you're camping and need to take a shower, you could pay the swimming fee and the use of the pool is a bonus. I can't find anything indicating how much it costs just to use the showers.

http://www.travelyosemite.com/things-to-do/swimming/
  • Use of our swimming pools is free to our overnight guests.
  • Non-lodging guests may use the pools at Half Dome Village and Yosemite Valley Lodge:
  • $5.00 per adult per day
  • $4.00 per child (12 and under) per day
I thought it was more expensive. The last time I was camping in Yosemite the previous concessionaire charged $5 for a shower, but from memory it was something like $10 for public pool access.

And temperatures vary a lot in Yosemite. A big concern for you will be if you want to do Yosemite first. From your direction, the Tioga Pass entrance will be the most convenient. However, that's in the high country and whether or not it's open depends on plowing progress. The state is usually done plowing on CA-120 first as it's lower elevation. NPS plows a longer stretch at higher altitude and deals with fallen logs/rocks, as well as a road where plowing equipment falling off a cliff is a distinct danger.

https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/tiogaopen.htm

This was a big snow year and Tioga Pass didn't open until June 29. In a low snow year it will be open by Memorial Day. One of the odder years what when it was still open until mid-January and there were literally people skating on Tenaya Lake. It was cold enough for the lake to ice up, but there was hardly any snow so the roads weren't closed. One of the big issues they had was that they don't have enough rangers, maintenance crew, and law enforcement during the winter to handle that level of visitation in the winter. They hire lots of seasonal staff for summer.


Here are the weather averages, which I assume are for Yosemite Valley:

https://weather.com/weather/radar/interactive/l/USCA1269:1:US

The average low in May is about 45ºF, so that's certainly something to think about if you're going camping. I remember going backpacking in June in Yosemite, and at the higher elevations it was about 40ºF and I was barely handling it with a 40ºF rated sleeping bag and thermal underwear. The sleeping bag temperature rating basically meant "you won't die", but it didn't mean that "you'll feel comfortable". But I was stuck with what I was carrying. If you're car camping you can probably bring stuff like extra blankets and/or wear extra clothes. I've also been camping during the summer in a heat wave and I was sweating at night when it was 65ºF and I was in a sleeping bag rated for considerably lower temperatures.
 
Just wanted to correct myself. I didn't look closely at the section that says the pool at Yosemite Lodge is available to the public. It wasn't the last time I was there, but that was under Delaware North operation, and now the concession is run by Aramark.
 



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