Combine a Las Vegas/Disneyland trip... on a budget?

[Mrs. Charming]

Hi all! I've been to WDW several times over the years, and we'll be doing WDW again in 2010. But... my mom's expressed interest in going to Las Vegas in December, and since we're alllll the way across the country in PA, might as well do DL too.

The idea is to fly from PA to Las Vegas, stay in Vegas for 2 or so days, and then get from Las Vegas to DL, maybe by renting a car. (If there's a good way to get there that doesn't involve a car, let me know!) Then fly out of LAX or other airport back to Philadelphia.

Has anyone done this before? I just can't imagine being 4 hours from Disney Land and not going there! I need to see the Mouse!

I'd like this to be as cheap as possible, but still have fun and not sleep with cockroaches!

Is this feasible or just a horrible idea?

Thank you!!

 

[lcasa]

Not really that bad - although try not to drive from LAS to DL on a Sunday night - lots of weekenders go to Vegas. You'll get to see LOTS of desert. There's an outlet mall on the way for a break.

If I were you I'd defnitely go for it! DL is Walt's park - I just read an interview with Tony Baxter, head of Creative Dev for Imagineering - and he says DL is the most charming. I totally agree - haven't been to the 2 asian parks, but have been to Paris 2x, WDW 6x, and DL at least once a month for the last 20 years. (Paris is gorgeous though)

There isn't any transit other than car or flight available unfortunately. Sign up for Southwest's Ding service if flying is more appealing.

Vegas has a lot of deals right now - sign up for the mgm email list. Just saw NYNY for $47 a night during the week. That could save you enough to pay for the DL trip!

 

[StageTek]

I'd like this to be as cheap as possible, but still have fun and not sleep with cockroaches!

Is this feasible or just a horrible idea?

Thank you!!

A round trip car rental is much cheaper than a one way drop-off.
So renting a car in LV, driving to DLR and dropping it off at LAX
is going to be expensive.

But you should be able to get a good car rental rate at the LV
airport, drive back and forth to DLR and head back home from LV.

There are several inexpensive motels around the DLR for a couple
of nights. I have no problem with a Super8 or a Motel6. If you’re
okay with those you can keep you expenses down.

 

[MouseLover]

Hi! We scheduled a similar trip in 2005.

We flew in to LAX, rented a car 1-way & drove to Las Vegas, and flew out of LAS.

Most of the car rentals charged a fairly hefty drop-off fee, but we found one major that didn't charge at all. Sorry -- I don't remember which company. Just check several & check back often because they run specials & rates change frequently.

I live in a rural area with only 3 airline choices nearby. We flew on American. I think we had to call the airline directly to schedule that type of split-flight. The price was only $4 or $5 more than flying into/out of the same airport.

The drive from LA to vegas was no problem. I don't remember what day of the week it was on but there was barely any traffic.

I don't know how strict of a budget you are working with, but I do not recommend motel 6 or super 8 in las vegas, based on what I've read. (Check out www.tripadvisor.com for customer reviews if you haven't already.) There are too many vegas deals on the strip! Register at some of the casino hotel websites and the email offers will start pouring in. Stratosphere is almost always cheap ~$40/nt. It is older, at the end of the strip, but we stayed there in 2004 and our room was incredibly clean, comfortable, & quiet. I have been getting email offers for Excalibur for ~$30, and quite a few places for around $50-60 (Flamingo, MGM, Luxor, NYNY).

We have the same problem. I can't imagine sitting in Vegas, knowing I was 4 hours from DL. I did that in 2004, and the only thing that kept me in LV was that my daughter was not with me -- no way I was going to go home & tell her Mommy went to DL without her! Now I can't plan a trip to LA either, because dh says he can't bear to be in so. cal. & not go to LV 4 hours away!!

 

[Mojodisney]

We've done the drive from Las Vegas to DL. Rental cars maybe cheaper in LV than in LA. So if there is an option to roundtrip it to LV than I would do it. Also, definitely sign up for a Vegas hotel that you like. they are emailing discounted room offers like crazy right now. A number of the hotels are owned by the same group so signing up for one may bring you offers from others you may not have considered.

Have fun! We love LV and DL!

 

[denisenh]

We did a trip like it 2 summers ago. Flew into http://www.lawa.org/welcomeONT.aspx and rented a beautiful http://www.cadillac.com/cadillacjsp/model/landing.jsp?model=dts&year=2009 with cooled seats (nice for our desert drive), stayed in Anaheim http://www.candycaneinn.net/
3 nights and enjoyed http://disneyland.disney.go.com/disneyland/en_US/home/home?name=HomePage&bhcp=1 tremendously (we have had many, many trips to WDW and I really enjoyed DL a lot!)
We then drove to palm springs area and stayed at http://www.renaissanceesmeralda.com/ for 4 nights. The views from our room left us in awe.

We made our way across the desert, found a neat plaza with cold stone creamery and a starbucks for a leg stretch and snack.

We stopped for dinner at http://www.primmvalleyresorts.com/hotel_buffalobill.php just over the state line.
We hadn't planned it and had never heard about it...it just caught our eye. It was fun to explore a bit after eating.

Then continuing on to http://www.orleanscasino.com/ for 4 nights and then to http://www.theplatinumhotel.com/ for the remainder of our 2 week, out west LA/Las Vegas vacation, returning the car rental and flying home from http://www.theplatinumhotel.com/ .

It was a fabulous trip and me, DH and DD's now 13 and 17 have great memories!

 

[denisenh]

i mean, we flew home from http://www.mccarran.com/

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

Hi all! I've been to WDW several times over the years, and we'll be doing WDW again in 2010. But... my mom's expressed interest in going to Las Vegas in December, and since we're alllll the way across the country in PA, might as well do DL too.
The idea is to fly from PA to Las Vegas, stay in Vegas for 2 or so days, and then get from Las Vegas to DL, maybe by renting a car. (If there's a good way to get there that doesn't involve a car, let me know!) Then fly out of LAX or other airport back to Philadelphia.
Has anyone done this before? I just can't imagine being 4 hours from Disney Land and not going there! I need to see the Mouse!
I'd like this to be as cheap as possible, but still have fun and not sleep with cockroaches!
Is this feasible or just a horrible idea?
Thank you!!

Hi, we do it all the time, at least once a year and this year we're doing it 3 times. It's about a 4 and a half hour drive one way. Car rentals for some strange reason are through the roof right now unfortunately. You may be able to find something, but I would do a round trip. If you drop off in LA you'll be charged a hefty fee. Last I checked, all the major car companies were charging the drop fee. There was a time when they didn't charge, but once a few started doing it, they all jumped on the bandwagon. I've found the best prices through Dollar.com. They always overcharge and then drop the price within the last few weeks of my trip by at least a hundred dollars. We usually rent at least 2 weeks. The airport facility fee is what kills the prices in car rentals everywhere and now even in Vegas since they built their new rental facility. Someone has to pay for it...
Whatever you do, do not plan to go to Vegas on a Friday from LA. Everyone else is doing the same thing. My friend got stuck in 11.5 hours of traffic on a Friday going back to Vegas because they traffic is heavy to begin with, and there was an accident. Do not plan to drive to Anaheim on a Sunday from Vegas because everyone from LA that drove is doing the same thing as well.
There is a nice shuttle I read about that is about $99 per person to DL from Vegas. Not sure if that's round trip or not. But they have restroom facilities on the bus as well as snacks and drinks. Can't recall the name, but I'm sure you can google it if you're interested. I believe it drops off at your hotel in Anaheim and picks up at a couple of places in Vegas. On second thought, it may drop off at the Garden Walk in Anaheim. Not sure, but google it if interested.

Check Hojos for their Entertainment rate. Hojoanaheim.com Many times they drop the rate closer to the dates you want. If they don't have the Entertainment rate, I also recommend Fairfield Inn Anaheim on Harbor as well. They are very nice too for the price.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

We just did this actually, but we're west coasters so we had our own car, so no advice on the rental car part. We drove from home (N. Cali) to Beverly Hills, Beverly Hills to Vegas, Vegas to Disneyland and Disneyland to home. We were in Vegas from a Sun-Fri and DL from Fri- Sun. We didn't experience any traffic either direction which was nice. We stayed at the MGM Grand in Vegas, which I highly recommend. We got a great deal on our room and I'm still getting emails for $52/night, so sign up for their emails. We stayed at the Carousel in Anaheim and while it was ok, it's not a place I'd stay again. I will take the slightly longer walk from the Hojo anytime (if I can't stay onsite of course!).

Now that the kids are back in school, maybe I'll actually do a trip report.

 

[hockey mom]

We are doing this in Nov. I booked one way flights to Vegas, 4 nights there, then used SW for $59 to SNA, 2 nights at GCV, then home from Lax. I have never been to DCA and I can't wait.

 

[denisenh]

We are doing this in Nov. I booked one way flights to Vegas, 4 nights there, then used SW for $59 to SNA, 2 nights at GCV, then home from Lax. I have never been to DCA and I can't wait.

you will LOVE it!

 

[yesmylove]

We are doing this trip in less than two weeks. We are flying into Vegas on Friday, leaving for Anaheim on Monday afternoon on the Lux bus (99.00 return trip), it will pick us up at the Flamingo and drop us off at our hotel in Anaheim which we can walk to DL. Then on Friday it picks us up at our hotel at 8:30am and heads back to Vegas and drops us back off at the Flamingo.
Check into the luxury shuttle service for Vegas. Hope this helps.

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

We are doing this trip in less than two weeks. We are flying into Vegas on Friday, leaving for Anaheim on Monday afternoon on the Lux bus (99.00 return trip), it will pick us up at the Flamingo and drop us off at our hotel in Anaheim which we can walk to DL. Then on Friday it picks us up at our hotel at 8:30am and heads back to Vegas and drops us back off at the Flamingo.
Check into the luxury shuttle service for Vegas. Hope this helps.

Oooohhhh, could you please remember to come back here and post about your experiences using the Lux bus? It sounds like a decent deal and for not having to deal with driving, that's a plus! Pretty please...

 

[yesmylove]

DisneySuiteFreak
Yes I will let you know how the Lux bus turns out. I hope it is as good as it sounds. We were also doing this so that we didn't have to drive. My husband likes that he can sit back and watch the scenery and relax. It's is a 4and a half hour drive with a very short stop in Barstow.

 

[yesmylove]

Hi, you asked for a report about the bus and it turned out to be ok. They picked us up at the Flamingo (3:30pm) we were the last pickup stop and from there it was on to Las Vegas. The lady who served the refreshments and snacks was very nice. We received two drinks or pop or juice, they did have some beer and wine but we did'nt have any and we also had two snacks. There was one stop in Barstow of 20 min. in which you could run in and use the bathroom and grab some food, you bring it back and eat it on the bus. There is a bathroom on the bus as well. The bus did drop us off at our hotel in Anaheim as promised. On our way home because our hotel is across the street from the bus depot (Anaheim Garden Walk) we went there to catch the bus home. You have to confirm with the bus company 24 hours in advance both going and returning. There is only 3 pick-up and drop off spots and I am not sure how many hotels it will pick-up and drop off in the Disneyland area. Our price for 2 adults was 198.00.
(luxbusamerica.com)
I hope this helps.

 

[Mrs. Charming]

Wow, cool! Thank you for the update/report. I think that's something we'll do. I think if we end up not needing IVF next year, we'll do a nice big trip to somewhere we've never been -- Disney Land! (and Vegas of course) I'm glad to hear it was a nice experience.

 

[Cinderella1122]

We are doing this too! However, we planned a DLR trip and decided to tack Vegas onto the beginning, since we are from PA and rarely go out west. We are flying from Philly to Vegas and then spending 3 days in Vegas before flying from Vegas to SNA to spend 4 days at DLR and then flying back to philly from SNA.