ART?

[millie0312]

We are taking our trip in Dec with my DD8 and DS1 (we only need an infant or car seat, DD won't need any) and are trying to figure out the best, easiest, cheapest way to get to KBF for one day. We will be staying at GCH with no car. I thought about renting a car from DTD but we would need an SUV (there are 3 adults, 1 child and 1 infant), so the cost was over $100 for 1 day, plus we would have to go during our last park day to deal with it (we have special activities planned that day). I saw ART might be an option and we wouldn't need to worry about car seats (I've heard the ones from car rentals can be questionable in safety and cleanliness). Has anyone had experience taking ART with kids to KBF and back to GCH? Does anyone know the cost/hours? We are hoping to find the best option for a good price as going to Disney for 8 nights and 5 park days is already a lot to plan/spend on. I checked their site but it's not very user friendly and I would love personal experience if anyone has it! Anyone have any better ideas for how to get there? Tia!

 

[Nicolette11785]

What is KBF?

 

[Sherry E]

Knott's Berry Farm.

 

[Chris9ty]

Have you looked into the Metro bus? This is our alternative plan for next week. Our hotel- Hotel Indigo - is able to help with our transportation to KBF according to our travel agent - we are making 4 trips to Buena Park- one for Medieval Times and and one for Scary Farm in addition to our 2 Knotts park days. I need a booster and car seat for my kids and we are a tota of 8 in our group. So I was looking into alternatives. The one time I looked at the ART it didn't start going to Knott until noon.
Metro help-
http://socalfun.biz.ht/dlr2bp.html

 

[offwithyourhead]

ART probably fits the bill. You could walk through DTD from your hotel to the bus hub at the front of the parks on Harbor, and then board the number 18 bus which will take you to Knott's. The first bus of the day today says 9 AM, but check the ART website to be sure on your day.

I found ART to be fine. This is one of the longer routes so plan to be there well before the scheduled first bus of the day to make sure you're on it or you'll be waiting a while for it to come back around.

 

[Chris9ty]

Reporting back- We loved using the Metro buses last week. We took it 3 times to Buena Park- twice for Knotts (the stop is at the corner) and once for Medieval Times (the bus stops right in front of it). I followed the information from this site: http://socalfun.biz.ht/dlr2bp.html which I recommend printing or copying down what you need, since sometimes the site wouldn't load. But I also used Google Maps and it was very accurate at showing me the bus routes and where to walk to for the stops and when the bus should arrive. I could put into Google Maps when we wanted to arrive or when we planned to leave and it would tell us when the bus should come. We did leave extra time to get to the stop, our group of 8 were slow walkers. I used the Metro's NextTrip site http://www.metro.net/riding/nextrip/ to put in our stop and bus route to see the tracking on when to expect the bus- this gave us time to pack up the stroller.
It only cost about $8 for 8 of us, since we had 2 young kids and 2 seniors - $1.75 for adults and either 75cents or 35 cents - off peak time for seniors. It ran early in the morning and the last bus was about 11:30 pm. There was always at least one other person getting on our stop and getting off at Knotts. You can see the park from way before you get to the stop, so you don't have to worry about missing it.
Hope that helps. This was so easy for our family and saved us a ton of money and saved us from the headaches of car rental and driving in a city we don't know.

ETA- Metro Bus #460- either Downtown LA or Disneyland

 

[millie0312]

Reporting back- We loved using the Metro buses last week. We took it 3 times to Buena Park- twice for Knotts (the stop is at the corner) and once for Medieval Times (the bus stops right in front of it). I followed the information from this site: http://socalfun.biz.ht/dlr2bp.html which I recommend printing or copying down what you need, since sometimes the site wouldn't load. But I also used Google Maps and it was very accurate at showing me the bus routes and where to walk to for the stops and when the bus should arrive. I could put into Google Maps when we wanted to arrive or when we planned to leave and it would tell us when the bus should come. We did leave extra time to get to the stop, our group of 8 were slow walkers. I used the Metro's NextTrip site http://www.metro.net/riding/nextrip/ to put in our stop and bus route to see the tracking on when to expect the bus- this gave us time to pack up the stroller.
It only cost about $8 for 8 of us, since we had 2 young kids and 2 seniors - $1.75 for adults and either 75cents or 35 cents - off peak time for seniors. It ran early in the morning and the last bus was about 11:30 pm. There was always at least one other person getting on our stop and getting off at Knotts. You can see the park from way before you get to the stop, so you don't have to worry about missing it.
Hope that helps. This was so easy for our family and saved us a ton of money and saved us from the headaches of car rental and driving in a city we don't know.

ETA- Metro Bus #460- either Downtown LA or Disneyland

Thank you!! This helps a lot since a car would be over $100 for 1 day (we would have to rent at DTD) and would be a huge hassle. I sent ART an email and they said basically they don't tell you accurate schedules until you get on the bus that day, so we wouldn't be able to leave when the park closed (which was at 10 pm that night I believe), but who knows how much park time we would get since we would have to wait to see... Sounds like even though it's public transport which I tend to shy away from for several reasons it's not widely used by many in that area which is great for us lol

 

[tarheelalum]

I'd take the Metro Bus. The ART is hit or miss.

 

[Chris9ty]

The Metro bus ran about every 1/2 hour, which we liked- if we missed one another would be on its way soon. The Metro's last pickup from Knotts to Disneyland was 11:38pm last week. The buses were clean too.

 

[millie0312]

The Metro bus ran about every 1/2 hour, which we liked- if we missed one another would be on its way soon. The Metro's last pickup from Knotts to Disneyland was 11:38pm last week. The buses were clean too.

This is great news for us! No car seat worries, no $100+ rental car and hassle simply to transport us to Knotts and sit in a parking lot (plus parking costs), easy schedule to get us there before the park opens and pick up after they close! I'm sold lol was it pretty easy to figure out? We never take buses so I'm hoping to be able to figure it out easily. I read metros site and the other you gave but I was tired and it seemed a bit overwhelming and confusing trying to picture the stops and how far they were and coats, etc. I think we take the express bus and its $1.75 each way? Still figuring out where the bus stop is at exactly but I'll get there lol