Has anyone rented a car near Disneyland and dropped it off at San Diego airport?

[Vougar]

Has anyone rented a car near Disneyland and dropped it off at the San Diego airport? What has been the best rate that you obtained and from what car company? The cheapest that I can find is in the $70-$80 per day for a full-size car.

Our plan for our upcoming February trip is to fly into John Wayne airport and use shuttle transportation to HOJO's. We will then be at Disneyland for about 5-6 days and then plan on renting a car (for a family of four with car seats and strollers) for about 3 days to use in San Diego.

Thank you!

 

[ShaunaM]

Well sort of flew into lax two years ago, got a mini van hojo has free parking, then dropped at San Diego airport. At the time there was no difference or a neglible one for us to get the van part way through the trip vs. at the beginning, when we factored in shuttle costs. You just need to find a company that allows one way drops.

 

[cari12]

When we went in 2009, we picked up a car at LAX, spent 4 nights at DLH and then drove to San Diego for 2 nights and flew from there. For the 6 days it was around $400 with Hertz. Every other company was giving me $600 and up for our same dates. Just check the websites of all the different companies for your dates every day or so until you get a rate you are happy with. Try them with any discounts you may have (Entertainment book, mousesavers codes) and without. Sometimes it is cheaper without the discount codes.

 

[starshine514]

I haven't done the one-way drop thing, but I do suggest playing around with different days/times and companies. Try Entertainment or Costco discounts if you have them. Check back at least weekly as well, as prices fluctate (nearly all reservations made directly with the rental car company are easily cancellable). Be sure to look at picking up at the beginning of the trip as well; it's unlikely, but possible that a rental from the airport for your full stay may be cheaper than a shorter rental from the DTD location. I know I have gotten a 9-day rental for a lower price than a 6-day rental (same company, same car) here locally, just because weekly prices vary from day-to-day. For example, renting a car on Thursday afternoon here is cheaper than renting the same vehicle (with the same return day/time) on Friday.

Locally, I get the best deals with Alamo, National and Hertz - at their airport location. You may consider having one person take a shuttle back to the airport to pick up the car if the savings are good enough.

 

[minnemom]

We're going in a few weeks; I rented a minivan out of SNA and returning to San Diego. For a 12-day stay, it was $581 through National. I prices all sorts of companies, and prices ranged into the thousands of dollars.

As others said, play with all the possible combinations of airports, dates, and codes you can find. My time paid off, as this rate was quite a bit cheaper, and much more convenient, than flying/renting/returning from LAX.

 

[eveandlo]

We just did this on our trip. We rented from Budget (12.60 a day) for 2 days, returned it, because we were staying at Paradise Pier for 4 nights, so we had no need for car. Walked over to Alamo in Downtown Disney, picked up car, and returned it in San Diego. You need to take a shuttle to the airport, but it is like 2 minutes away, and very convenient, huge bus shuttle. That was only for one day and it cost 30.

 

[taaren]

My brother did this in reverse - picked up in San Diego, dropped off at SNA at the beginning of a DLR stay (after doing a day at Knotts), then caught a ride to LAX with us at the end of his DLR stay. I think he used Fox since they did not have any drop fees for that time, his fare was reasonable. Paid $150-ish for the week.

The other idea that might be more economical if you can't find a decent one-way rental is what we did the last trip ... we just took a taxi to the Amtrak, less than $10 from DL, then take a $17 train ride (per person) down to San Diego. Then you could pick up a car at the San Diego airport and return it there as well.

Just an idea. Often an in-town rental is cheaper than a one-way.

We ended up not needing a car in SD at all. A lot of the downtown hotels in SD have free shuttles to the major attractions: we stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott Old Town and used the free shuttle to the San Diego Zoo and the airport (it also goes to Sea World or the Wild Animal Park if a guest requests it, first come first serve as to where the driver goes but usually ends up going to the Zoo and at least one more attraction for the morning and afternoon return trip). They told us several of the hotels in Old Town have this shuttle so they have to offer it to be competitive. Plus in Old Town there's a ton of great restaurants.

 

[geekypeach]

We picked one up at Alamo in DTD and droped it off at LGB. The rates weren't too bad, sounds about like what you got. I believe we booked through Costco.

 

[tink2dw]

We have family in SD so we All ways staert there first. Dh talk with Enterprise with a manger and they drop the one way fee because we were dropping the car off two blocks from Disneyland rather than LAX helped a lot!