Straying from Airport-centric information, I have to say I have not found any info about getting from Los Angeles (the city, not the airport!) to the
Disneyland Resort (I'll tie in LAX at the end!). I work at a downtown hotel and often find myself explaining to guests the many ways to get to the park. Often times, especially with travelers who didn't plan ahead or are on a major budget, the option of taking a Super Shuttle is impossible and a taxi is cost prohibitive. There are other ways to get around this city provided you have some patience.
To be clear, I am referring to good ole' public transportation. From downtown Los Angeles, you can get to Disneyland for $2.90 per person. No joke.
LA Metro runs an 'Express' bus from Downtown LA to Disneyland. This bus also makes a stop at Knotts Berry Farm. This is also good to remember when looking for routes between Disneyland and Knotts.
The 460 runs daily with its first trip leaving Downtown and DL at 4:00AM, running about every 28 minutes until 12:20AM. The charge is $2.90, which broken down is $1.50 bus fare, then $1.40 for the 'express' segment. The reason I say 'express' is because the total ride time lasts about 1 hour and 40 minutes (and often longer). Nonetheless, if you are on a non-Disney exclusive trip without a rental car, this can actually be an incredible value if you are moving from an Anaheim hotel to the Los Angeles and Hollywood area or vice versa. You can connect to many hotels in the Hollywood tourism core via the Red Line, which has a connection with the 460.
And just for information, here are some ways to utilize this further:
-From LAX, take the free Metro shuttle to the Green Line. Ride this east ($1.50) to the end of the line, and connect to the 460 ($1.50). This will take no less than two hours but you do get to the park for $3 per person.
-From any destination serviced by Metro Rail in Los Angeles, you can always get to downtown where you can transfer to the 460 or Union Station for an Amtrak train. The Amtrak ride without reservations is $16, and as others have said, the cab fare is $13. This ends up taking about 1 to 1 1/2 hours total from Union Station. With the 460 clocking in at 1 hour 40 minutes to 2 hours, the numbers start making a difference in it's money saving value. Amtrak for a couple, for example, would cost $45, and the bus $5.80. Time saved? about a half hour.
-As mentioned before, this bus also goes to Knotts Berry Farm. This trip is along one of the better stretches of the route and takes about 20 minutes. You can also get to the attraction restaurants on Beach Blvd. This stretch will only cost you $1.50 as it does not include the 'express' segment.
I will not sugarcoat this and say that the bus is a particularly uplifting or fabulous experience, but it is in no way dangerous or bad. The major problem is the fact that it is time consuming and the route does not travel through the greatest parts of the city (although they are far from the worst). I might also mention that the vast majority of the riders are not traveling to and from the Disneyland Resort, they are just locals utilizing it's connections from Orange County to LA. However, it has not been mentioned and as a car-free-by-choice local that uses these options, I felt that my information might be useful to someone out there.
Let me know if I can be of more help!
