Rental Car or Shuttle Bus?

[rangebob]

I'm planning my first trip to DL next month. I was at DL when I was about 3-4 so I don't remember it really. This is also going to be a suprise trip for my son's birthday. I just recently adopted him so this is our first trip that we are doing together.

I'm trying to find out is it better to have a rental vehicle if you are planning on doing other attractions in California (Legoland and Universal) or take a shuttle bus and pay a little more and not have to worry about driving the roads of LA?

[BrerMama]

Personally, with a young child, I'm not a fan of shuttle buses and being on someone else's schedule. I'd do a rental car and try to avoid rush hour. However, I really don't like to drive in CA (although we have done it), so we decided to skip non-Disney stuff this trip. So not sure I'm any help!

[abby]

I prefer not to drive in LA if possible. We have gone to San Diego and I will rent a car and drive around there, but much prefer a shuttle in disneyland. You didn't say how old your son is, but is he is small he may get more out of the trip if you limit yourself to DL and CA for this trip instead of trying to do too much.

[safetymom]

I drove last year and used the shuttle this year. Our hotel charged for parking so for us it worked much better to just use the shuttle. Last year we went to Long Beach one day and it was nice having the car. Really not worth it if you only plan on going to Disney. Next time we will use the shuttle again and if we go to Universal we will use a tour bus.

[hookem59]

I have to agree with BrerMama about not wanting to be on someone else's schedule. We rented a minivan when we went in August (5 adults and 1 child), since we wanted to hit a number of different locations during the week, including Hollywood, Newport Beach and San Diego. LA traffic is interesting--it's either 80 mph or stopped, but it doesn't bother me much as driver, and everyone else was enjoying the sights. We had free parking at the hotel (Paradise Pier). When you're trying to squeeze as much as possible into a trip, it's a big advantage to be able to come and go when you want, rather than waiting for a bus.