Best/fastest way to get from San Diego to DLR?

[KalamityJane]

2 adults, 3 kids, best way to rent a car, take a shuttle or train? We will be on the WB Panama Canal cruise and need to get from San Diego to Anaheim on a Friday midday (whatever time we debark) We will have car seats with us already.

 

[sunflare]

Fastest and cheapest? Probably rent a car, though you'd have to factor in parking at wherever you're staying in Anaheim. With that many people you can use the carpool lane, so the traffic shouldn't be too hideous unless there's an accident.

 

[SoonerSean]

Amtrak runs from San Diego to Anaheim... takes about two hours. In less than that time you could drive it with a rental car (about 90 miles), depending on traffic, and not have to hassle with getting to/from the train stations which could cost extra with a shuttle or taxi. However, the train station in Anaheim is only a couple of miles from Disneyland so a taxi might not be too expensive.

Depending on how long you need the car - renting is probably cheaper. I rented from Alamo and it was about $150 from Wed-Sunday. Train tickets for 5 are probably going to run you about that for a one-way trip.

There is a rental place in the resort area/Downtown Disney. If you worked it right I assume you could drop the car off there and only have to rent it for the day and that would keep costs down.

 

[KalamityJane]

We'd be there from Fri-Sun or Mon and then back to the airport. Actually, I think we may have to fly out of San Diego and not SNA so it might be better to keep the car the full time and return to the San Diego airport.

 

[Renae De Liz]

Another vote for Amtrak! Went from San Diego Comic Con '09 to Disneyland and used Amtrak from the station in Gaslamp. It was an AWESOME, relaxing ride, with beautiful scenery (often running right by the ocean). Arriving at the Anaheim station went fine, and there were plenty of taxies to hop over to the hotels (I think it was like $12 for taxi fare). It was really nice not worrying about driving in California traffic on the trip.

 

[Iceman93]

Friday afternoon on the I-5 is going to be miserable to drive. Not that it can't be done (I've done it repeatedly in both directions), but if you're open to Amtrak then I think that will be the lower-stress option. Someone mentioned that the station in Anaheim is only a few miles from the DLR; the station in San Diego is a few BLOCKS from the cruise ship terminal.

One thought--have you tried calling DCL to see if they are offering any transfers (most likely on a bus) from the cruise to the DLR for all the guests who have the same plan as you?

 

[KalamityJane]

Good cal on the transfers but I just called DCL and they only offer them to the airport, not DLR