Need Transportation Help from San Diego to Disneyland - won't have car - PLEASE!!

[ReneeQ]

We are taking our first trip to Disneyland in June. Have been to Disney World 20+ times and it is only a 5 hour drive, so have never dealt with getting to a park from the airport.

We will actually be flying to San Diego for a family reunion for 4 days, flying in Wed., staying until Sun. morning. On Sun. morning we plan to go to Disneyland and do Downtown Disney Sun. afternoon. We will have Mon. and Tues. to tour both parks, then flying ALLLLL they way back to Savannah on Wed.

Can anyone help with these questions?

1. What is the best way to get from San Diego to Disneyland? We thought about renting a car, but then considered Amtrak, as the prices looked great. Never been on a train in my life, so don't know what it's like. Oh, we'll be at the Red Lion Hanalei Hotel in San Diego. How far is that from Amtrak or car rental?

2. IF we do Amtrak, is there a shuttle from the Amtrak station in Anaheim (or wherever it actually is) to Disneyland?

3. Does Disneyland have a shuttle to the airport for our return home? (We hope to fly Savannah to San Diego there, then get ourselves to Disneyland, then fly Anaheim to Savannah home).

ANY suggestions or recommendations would be GREATLY appreciated! In return, I can tell you all about the East Coast!!

Thanks!

 

[hookedup]

Hi,
Okay here are my thoughts.

The Amtrak station in SD is downtown and that is probably about 7-8 miles from the Hanalei hotel. You could easily take a cab there. The Amtrak runs to Anaheim and you can take a cab from the train station to DL for about $10-15 each way. One of my friends just did this a couple of weeks ago so I know about this first hand.

Taking the Amtrak is fun I think - the ride to Anaheim from SD is about 2hrs one-way. It is a fun and relaxing trip. I love taking the train, in fact my dh & ds (2 yrs old) and I took the Amtrak across the country this summer from LA to Orlando and went to WDW for a week. That was quite an experience. The trip from SD to Anaheim is not a major one but on the train you don't have to worry about traffic, parking, etc. That could be very fun if you plan it right.

The down side to taking the train is that sometimes it can run quite behind schedule and it would be a big bummer if you were only going to DL for one day and the train was 2 hours late leaving to get to Anaheim. That would really cut into your time in the park. If you were planning to go to the airport from DL you would probably want to fly out of Orange County/Santa Ana and take a cab from your hotel in Anaheim to there. You could talke the train back to SD and take cab from the train station to the airport (very short ride from the station to the airport) and there are lots of cabs around there.

Renting a car would eliminate some hassles and create others. Getting a rental car in SD is fairly easy and there are a lot of rental companies around. The Hanalei may even have a rental desk there - you should call and ask. If you rented a car you could just fly in and out of SD and that would probably save you some money. If you do that rent a car that can be returned at the SD airport.

Hope this helps - let me know if you have any more questions!!
Have a fun trip!

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

<font color=navy>My kids often take the train to San Diego to visit their dad. I drop them off at the Anaheim Station, and pick them up there, too. There are no shuttles that go from the station to the DL Resort area, but there are always taxis waiting there to give you a ride - and it's only about a 10-minute ride to that area.

The kids have been taking the train now for a couple of years, and it's never been late for us. So, even though that is a chance that it could be late, my opinion is that it is a minor probability.

The upside to renting a car is that it will take you less time to drive to Anaheim, provided that you don't hit traffic tie-ups. The quickest I've made it from there is 1.5, and the longest is 3.5 (Thanksgiving Day). You also have the option to stop and visit areas along the way, San Juan Capistrano, Newport Beach, etc. But, if you don't have any intention of doing sightseeing, then that doesn't matter.

The downside to renting a car is the time that it takes to actually get it and return it.

Anyway you look at it, you're going to have a great time.

 

[Rodrigo]

We went to San Diego last August and had 1 free day. We rented a car in SD airport the prior night, we left SD by 6:30AM and were in the Disneyland gate at 8:00AM, for rope drop. Then returned to SD in the night. The expenses were around $40 for the car, $10 for gas and around $8 for parking. It was a 90 miles drive each way.

What I am trying to say is that with the car you could have an extra full Park day.

 

[flyingcircus]

If you can, I think renting a car would be the most economical and easy way to do it. I have rented cars in San Diego, and then returned them at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana ( Orange County). It was actually cheaper for me to do it that way than return the car to San Diego!! The car return at SNA is a piece of cake. Most of the rental returns are right at the terminal- no shuttle. I just made it from Disneyland to SNA in 15 minutes last week.

 

[ReneeQ]

Thanks everyone! I have priced our plane tickets to fly Savannah to San Diego, then Santa Ana to Savannah and the price is the same as Sav. to San Deigo and back as a roundtrip. So that is currently our plan, as it will save us the time of the 90 mile drive back to San Diego. (Though I haven't bought tickets yet).

I figure if we take Amtrak we will have to pay cab fare to and from the station in both cities, but Amtrak's website has a buy one get one free deal right now, so the prices are good. I'm trying to decide if it will cost more to rent the car. Hate to pay for it just to sit in the parking lot at Disney.

Another idea - could we rent the car at the hotel in San Diego and return it at Disneyland, as soon as we got there? Anyone know if there is a return desk there anywhere? We are staying at the Grand Californian. Then we wouldn't be paying the car rental for 3 days for nothing. Then the day we return we could just take a cab to the airport.

I saw this on the Disneyland site:

Airport Transportation: Air-conditioned buses leave for Los Angeles International and John Wayne Orange County Airports from the front of the Hotel. Schedules are available at the Guest Services Desk in the Great Hall.

Is that a "Disney" thing or an outside company? Anyone know? Anyone know the price?

THANK YOU!!!!!

 

[DopeysGal]

The airport buses are an outside company and I wouldn't use them again. We left the GC in plenty of time to get to the airport (you can drive there in 15-20 minutes) and it took us almost 2 hours. We went to all these different hotels and just sat...I guess they have to do that to stay on their schedule. I was so afraid we would miss our plane. I thought the bus went from DL to the airport, without these other hotels. So the next time we got the Super Shuttle round trip from SNA and it was great. Depending on how many in your party, you could probably take a cab for close to the same price.
I don't know if they have a car rental desk at DL but I am sure some of the other hotels in the area do (such as Hilton and Hyatt). If you go to the car rental website and put that you want to pick up in SD and return in Anaheim, I am sure it will bring up the locations. I love riding trains but having only a couple days to visit, I would go with the car option.