DL flight ?

[AllyBri]

First here at the DL boards and need so much help.

Would like to go to DL and I am having a hard time finding a direct flight out of Orlando (MCO). Someone told me it would be better to fly into John Wayne airport because DH would not be comfortable driving in CA. being that it is so much closer, any advice would be greatly appreciated.
If we did fly into LAX are there shuttles to DL from either airport.
Thanks so much.

 

[maltdizzy]

There is a Disneyland Express bus that can be booked, plus the usual airport shuttles most cities have (Supershuttle, etc.). If you have a large family, car services become more competitive as well.

No reason to rent a car if you are only going to DLR, it's all walkable. But L.A. driving is pretty much the same as driving in in other large suburban area, freeways and surface streets just like Orlando...just less tolls. I can tell you if you've driven up and down I-95, you've dealt with worse driving situations.

 

[mrkyyyle]

First here at the DL boards and need so much help.

Would like to go to DL and I am having a hard time finding a direct flight out of Orlando (MCO). Someone told me it would be better to fly into John Wayne airport because DH would not be comfortable driving in CA. being that it is so much closer, any advice would be greatly appreciated.
If we did fly into LAX are there shuttles to DL from either airport.
Thanks so much.

There aren't a ton of direct flights to/from MCO @ LAX but that is probably a more realistic and cost effective option than John Wayne (SNA). We usually fly Virgin America or United when we head to MCO.
You can definitely find shuttle services from either airport to the DLR area, should be a transportation thread somewhere on this board with specifics!

 

[figment_jii]

I agree that driving in LA isn't really all that different from driving in any major metropolitan area. So if you've driving in a major city area before, I think you can probably handle the drive from LAX to DLR, just be prepared for traffic and a lot of tailgating. Otherwise, there are plenty of car and shuttle services that run from any of the airports to DLR. I've personally used SuperShuttle to get from LAX to DLR. It was a shared shuttle van; not the fastest option, but pretty cheap (<$20 per person). LAX is a much larger airport, so you should a lot more flight options (and cheaper options) than SNA. I like SNA because it's a small, less busy airport, but by the same token, it is smaller so there are just less flights (think of it as more of local or regional airport, rather than a major international airport).

 

[OneThree]

+1 on driving in LA being no different than any other major metro area. If you do decide to drive a big difference can be the time you need to drive to/from LAX and the route you take. The 105 in the middle of rush hour is dramatically different than in those non-rush hour times. Just my $.02.

 

[Aladora]

I've never driven in CA so I can't comment on that but we always fly into SNA. It might be slightly more expensive but the convenience always wins out for us. Land at 8:50 am, grab luggage and a cab to the hotel to check in, walk into the parks by 10:30.

 

[ktlm]

From where we live, we don't get direct flights to many places that aren't airline hubs, so that is no big deal for us- it does mean our flights cost more to everywhere typically. We do actually have nonstop flights to LAX, but we choose to fly into SNA instead. It is a smaller airport and very easy to navigate. The security lines are typically short- in July on our way home there were only 2 groups ahead of us. SNA is only about a 10 or 15 minute drive to DLR, where LAX is about a 40 minute drive to DLR. We typically fly in and out on weekends, and there is not much traffic between SNA and DLR. As far as driving in CA, we typically head south from DLR to the San Diego area and spend the 2nd half of the week there, and we have never dealt with anything that would make us uncomfortable driving in CA, as opposed to the middle part of the U.S. where we live. So while driving in Los Angeles may be a different story, I wouldn't say that driving in California in general is bad. If you are only going to DLR and not anywhere else and are staying at a Disneyland resort or within walking distance of the parks, you don't really need to rent a car. Both LAX and SNA have bus service to DLR, but unlike Magical Express which is free at Disneyland, you have to pay for the Disneyland express. If you want to see other things in California, it might be best to rent a car. Do be aware that if you are staying at a Disneyland resort, unlike at WDW where resort parking is free for those staying there, DLR charges. Self parking is $17 a night for guests of the hotel. That is one difference between WDW and DLR resorts that irritates me on every trip. DLR resorts are typically more expensive than WDW resorts to begin with and then they hit you with a nightly parking charge too!

 

[ludari]

Another option if you can get it is flying into Long Beach airport. This airport is the closer than both LAX and SNA but I do not believe their is a Disneyland Express but they are other shuttle options.

 

[AllyBri]

First of all thank you everyone for your advice, we really need it.
It does sound like SNA would be perfect for us, not planning on a car rental. We do not mind paying the extra for SNA just cannot find an airline out of MCO Orlando.

How would I find out which airline goes to SNA?

 

[momsmail]

Hi I can't comment on driving in LA but I can tell you we refuse to do it! HAHA! We always fly into SNA (John Wayne), having had experience with LAX. It is much smaller and much easier to navigate (in our opinion). We book the Disneyland Resort Express, which is about $35 per adult (1 child per paid adult is free) and it takes you directly to most Anaheim hotels. If it does not go directly to the hotel it stops right by it (next door, etc.). With John Wayne the buses come on the hour and the latest bus is 7:00 pm, per their most current brochure. So just be sure your flights will work with their bus times. I have used them 3 times and always have fantastic service-- I even use their company for transportation to Universal, Knotts, etc. I am using them again when we go in Feb 2016. And my son loves the big bus with the characters on it, not that it really matters what it looks like on the outside, but it is a bonus for my little dude. I don't want the pain of a rental car, I don't like sharing shuttles with other people and a taxi is pretty spendy ($100+). I hope you find what you need and have an awesome time!! Lots of great advice and tips on here.

 

[momsmail]

Oh, sorry, have you tried Southwest or Alaska? We fly from Portland, OR but always find a flight on Southwest and they allow 2 bags for free, so cheaper. Good luck!

 

[bcla]

First of all thank you everyone for your advice, we really need it.
It does sound like SNA would be perfect for us, not planning on a car rental. We do not mind paying the extra for SNA just cannot find an airline out of MCO Orlando.

How would I find out which airline goes to SNA?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wayne_Airport#Airlines_and_destinations

Even though it's not a busy airport, there are a lot of airlines that fly to/from limited destinations. American, United, Delta, and Southwest all fly in. United even has a United Club location there.

However, there's no scheduled direct flight from MCO. Here's all the direct flights:

 

[bumbershoot]

Would like to go to DL and I am having a hard time finding a direct flight out of Orlando (MCO).

By this do you mean a nonstop flight? Direct and nonstop seem to the layperson to mean the same thing, but they don't. "A direct flight in the aviation industry is any flight between two points by an airline with no change in flight numbers, which may include a stop at an intermediate point". "Non-stop flights... are flights involving no intermediate stops".

You're not going to find a nonstop flight there. LAX, yes. But not SNA. I've seen flights that change planes in LAX and go on to SNA. (by the time that happens you could have driven to Anaheim)

So fly into LAX. We find the airport simple. Big, but you're used to that with MCO. But for the traveler, simple. Can't really get lost. All rental car agencies are offsite with shuttles that pick up very often. If you can drive in Orlando you can drive in Southern California. Both are populated by people who moved there from other places and, more importantly, were taught to drive in many other areas and therefore no one drives the same way as each other.

We prefer Karmel Shuttle to any other shuttle out there.

There is also SuperShuttle. There's also Disneyland Resort Express, which is a coach bus run by Greyline. It is NOT free like Magical Express, and is NOT run by Disneyland. It's the Express bus to the "Disneyland resort", which is the phrase describing the hotel area around Disneyland. There are other options too.

We prefer Karmel.


I just went to http://www.kayak.com/flights, which checks all carriers but Southwest, and there is NO nonstop flight from Orlando to SNA. Checked Southwest and it's the same.

If "nonstop" isn't what you meant, then there are plenty of choices found on both those sites for MCO-SNA with stops in between.

The other local aiports (beyond LAX and SNA) are BUR (Burbank, again, no nonstop), ONT (Ontario, same story), and LGB (Long Beach, no nonstop and SW doesn't go there from MCO).

 

[SMD]

How would I find out which airline goes to SNA?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=MCO+to+SNA

 

[AllyBri]

Thank you again for being so helpful I will check out everything and get back to you with what I find.

 

[mrkyyyle]

Long Beach is another option. That is even smaller than SNA and extremely easy to get in and out of (granted they don't have as much of the shuttle type transportation as LAX/SNA). It is about 30 min away from DLR.
JetBlue goes from Long Beach to Austin, TX to MCO

 

[Imdboss]

First of all thank you everyone for your advice, we really need it.
It does sound like SNA would be perfect for us, not planning on a car rental. We do not mind paying the extra for SNA just cannot find an airline out of MCO Orlando.

How would I find out which airline goes to SNA?

We love flying into SNA, such an easy airport! I looked on Kayak.com and it seems your best options will be on United or American Air, each with one stop and total time around 6.25 hours to 7.5 hours. Good luck planning!

 

[Dizzy4DL]

If you decide on SNA, I highly recommend using a taxi. If you have 3+ people, it can actually be cheaper than a shuttle service or rental car. Otherwise, we use Super Shuttle. You can find coupons for them by googling. Good luck!

 

[Plaid Princess]

SNA is closer, LAX has direct flights.

I'll echo what everyone else has said about driving in LA. It get a bad rap, but it's no different than driving in any major city (personally, I've found driving in LA to be much easier than driving in Orlando). Just make sure you have an app on your phone to give you a heads up on traffic. Waze is my favorite, and has the added bonus to alerting you to Police shenanigans, so you don't get caught in a bogus speed trap. It's also very likely much cheaper to rent a car than take a shuttle.

 

[bumbershoot]

personally, I've found driving in LA to be much easier than driving in Orlando

At least in LA the direction of the highway is basically what the direction is called. If you're going South on I5 it's actually heading southwards. Unlike I4 in Orlando, which goes N/S through the themepark area though it's an E/W road!