July 17th
 

Realizing that the big day was fast approaching, figured we'd better get a thread going so peeps know where the hip happening places to be will um... be.

*

For my part, I hope there's a DTD component so the passless among us can join the festivities. Mayhap some lawn time or Trader Sam's in the heat of the afternoon/early evening?

Also in case people have missed the "Carmageddon" warnings up till now... please note that part of the 405 will be SHUT DOWN on the 16th and 17th, so assume that the 5 will be hellacious and plan your travel time accordingly.

You're taking delivery of your new printer at Disney?

I know certain people are planning a certain something special for that day. It is somewhat, kinda, a little bit related to the famous Carousel takeover of 50th fame - and participants will be recruited. It's an awesome idea, but I'll have to leave it to the instigators to reveal more.


But I figured I should tantalize, since someone started a thread. :p

Can't wait to see that certain-something-special... but we won't be seeing it in person. We're passless chaps and there's no way we're braving the drive down while the 405 is closed. The traffic will be terrifying.

I have no idea why anyone would think a closure of the 405 between the 10 freeway and the 101 freeway would affect the 5 freeway at all. They do not in any remotely conceivable way serve the same traffic destinations. Especially as it concerns Disneyland. The 405 will be open south of the 10 freeway, so anyone in the west of the world wanting to use that to access the 105 or the 91 or the 22 to get eastward to Disneyland can still do so.

Further north, in the affected zone, no one who would be using the 405 to travel south those 10 miles is going to go all the way to the 5 to head southward. That's absurd.

The only people who might choose the 5 over the 405 would be people in the Valley, and those people would be using the 5 to get to Disneyland anyway, and not the 405.


Giant, Mega, SHEESH.


Yes, traffic on the West Side of L.A. will be a nightmare that weekend. This will have ZERO effect on traffic to Disneyland. Pulease.

The thing is, anyone trying to get over the hill from the Valley headed south, or trying to get TO the valley headed north who would normally use the 405 has very few options. I shudder to think what Sepulveda will be like. Topanga? Laurel? Coldwater? Those are sure to be nightmares. So that leaves the 101/5 as the main alternate. It's not going to be the destination for ALL traffic that would have been destined for the 405, but it will most definitely see an increase in traffic, which will have ripple effects beyond the short stretch that will technically be the detour.

Of course, some of that will be alleviated by the number of people who will no doubt be too paranoid about the traffic to even get on the road. But considering how one fender bender somewhere on the 101 usually manages to slow down every other freeway for miles around, it's not beyond imagining that closure of one of the heaviest traveled major arteries could lock things down all around the city.


Getting away fom Hollywood to head to Disneyland probably won't be a problem. But headed back towards the 5/101 split? That I'd be worried about.

For the last few years up here we had a few complete closures of the Bay Bridge for multi-day periods due to bridge construction.

I do'nt know how well LA is communicating things, but by the time the bridge closed everybody was so aware of it and had modified their plans for the window that it didn't really create any major headaches.

Of course, in our situation the psychological factors were different. An alternative to the bridge is at least 30 miles extra driving. There's no "well, I'll just take parallel surface streets" option to encourage people to try it unnecessarily.

The news (so take that for what it's worth) is reporting Sepulveda will be closed to everyone but locals with ID.

I will be there, Carmageddon or no! Morrigoon are there cast member sign ins on the 17th? We know people who know people (though you probably know more people than we).

No, CMs are blocked out on the birthday.