Disneyland Transportation

[IHeartTink04]

Okay, I am a Disneyland dummy and I have some big questions for you experts!

We are considering a trip to Disneyland and Southern California. We would like to stay on Disney property the whole time but we would like to do some things outside of Disney.

Here are the things we would like to do:
SeaWorld
Visit Hollywood
San Diego
Possibly Universal

What is the best way to get to these destinations?

How are cab fares?
Are there buses of some sort?
We considered renting a car but we have heard the driving is scary!!


What do you guys suggest?

 

[charmama4]

Sounds like a great vacation!!!

OK, some questions for you: how many adults, how many children? how long are you staying in California? how long do you want to stay in San Diego, Ananheim and LA??

Yes, I remember the traffic well and driving in SoCal can be uhhh...exciting....but you can do it. You drive defensively and be observant of everything and 'body around you and you'll be fine. Someone local will help you better on what hours would be better to travel during (non rush hour times). I (thank goodness) haven't had to deal with SoCal traffic in 6 years.

 

[glendalais]

The Destinations you've listed are actually quite distant from one another.

Anaheim to San Diego/SeaWorld is about 100 miles. Assuming you're even able to find a Cab Driver willing to go that far, it would be at least $250.00 in fare each way. Hollywood/Universal are about 30 milies from Anaheim, and would be about $80.00 in Cab Fare, again assuming you can find someone to take you that far.

Tour Busses do indeed run to and from all the destinations you mentioned. If you're staying at one of the Hotels of the Disneyland Resort, you may contact the Guest Services Desk for more information and/or to book passage. Otherwise, contact your Hotel Front Desk.

 

[Kittyskyfish]

Oh, you'll definitely need to rent a car for all those destinations. You'll love the freedom a rental will give you and besides, there will be times you'll want to make an unexpected detour to see something and buses aren't flexible like that.

I can't help you on best routes since I'm not a local, but don't worry over the crazy drivers. I've driven there quite a few times and they aren't that bad. Much of the anxiety is caused by being on busy freeways and not being confident in directions and where you need to exit. It really helps to have a GPS device to assist with navigation. If you don't have GPS, then plan the route by knowing the names of several exits prior to the one you need.

Have a great trip!

 

[JoRo]

years go we took the bus to universal - big mistake we were stuck on a schedule, specific bus. Since then we have always rented a car to go to universal - its not that bad of a drive UNLESS you hit traffic. One trip we thought we would be back in time to hit DL in the evening and it took us almost 2 hours to get home....but that is to be expected because of the area. If you have small kids remember you will need carseats - in that case I would take the bus to avoid traveling with a carseat. Well at least that is what our world is like now with a 3 year old and 1 year old.

Good luck

 

[jonsmom57]

We are doing a similar trip in August.

We will be staying in Anaheim for the first leg of our trip, renting a car for the day to go to Universal.

Afterwards, we are taking the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner to San Diego, staying in San Diego, renting a car and doing the Zoo and Seaworld.

 

[dismsn]

I think you should rent a car. We were there last month and visited everywhere you want to visit. We went to Universal on a Sunday and didn't have much trouble (there were a few slowdowns). We stopped in Hollywood on the way back to Disneyland from Universal (Universal closed at 7 p.m. so we had plenty of time to stop in Hollywood). We ended up getting back to Anaheim about 9:30 (as the fireworks were going off) and had no trouble traffic-wise.

We drove to San Diego on a Wednesday evening (left DL around 6 p.m.) and didn't have any traffic trouble and came back on a Saturday (with a detour to the Wild Animal Park) and didn't have any traffic problems.

My only advice would be to get maps from AAA prior to your trip. Like an idiot, I printed out the directions to each destination but didn't have a map to find out where we were if we got off course (that happened frequently, unfortunately). We always found our way to the destination but sometimes we went a tad bit out of our way (like finding the freeway after we visited Hollywood--my husband wouldn't turn around and go the way we came ).

 

[Kauinohea]

We will be adding Sea World and Leggo Land to our DL vacation.
Since we need a car seat and booster if driving, we decided to do Greyline tours. I know its a bit restricted with times etc, but the thought of lugging those car seats just for 2 days of or 9 day trip makes me tired

 

[pixiewings71]

Ya, just rent a car and trust me, if I can drive in So Cal traffic so can you! lol I'm a small town girl and HATE driving in big cities/areas but I've done it in So Cal and it's not as bad as it looks. lol