DL to Port in San Diego

[tarheelmjfan]

DH & I are taking a cruise out of SD in April. I would love to go to DL/DCA, while we're so close. We've never been. First, how far is it? DH doesn't like to drive on vacation, & isn't crazy about the idea of renting a car & driving there. Is there another way to get there? If there's not another reasonably priced option, how much should a rental car cost? I suppose we would need to fly in & out of LA, since flying into LA & out of SD would probably be much more expensive. We wouldn't need a car at DL. Would it be cheaper to take alternate transportation from the airport to DL, then rent the car for one day to drive to SD, or should we just go ahead & rent it at the airport? Just a reminder... The ideal situation would get us to & from SD w/o renting a car. One last question for now.... We would only have 1 1/2 to 2 days. Is this long enough to truly enjoy a 1st trip there?

Sorry, for all the questions. DH doesn't think it will be worth the added hassle, but I'd love to see the parks. I need some facts, before I bring it up again. Help me convince him to go.

 

[iceskatejen]

One possibility for alternative transportation is taking Amtrak from either Anaheim or Fullerton to San Diego. It's a nice train trip, much of it right along the ocean.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

Thanks, I'll check into Amtrak. I'm trying really hard to convince him it's worth it for a very short amount of time. I wish we could stay longer, but the cruise is 10 nights & keeping him from work longer than that would be pushing it. Any other suggestions for convincing him it's worth the hassle for only 1 1/2 to 2 days of park time.

 

[JoyG]

One option is to buy a "tour" from San Diego for Disneyland. If you google "San Diego Tour operators" you might find something. I don't know the websites off hand, but I did see some places that offered tours to Anaheim/Disneyland (all day tours) from San Diego and included pick up from your hotel and drop off. I would fly into and out of San Diego airport (it was cheaper than LA or Orange County for us). You will end up paying more than the average ticket costs, but it might be cheaper and more convenient than renting a car.

Joy

 

[JoyG]

Ok, I just did some digging. Try this one:

http://www.allsandiegotours.com/Body.asp?tour=SAN-B0006&page=TourDetails

This tour only leaves on certain days though.

But, if the day works for you, you could fly into San Diego. Get a hotel that has free hotel shuttle service from the airport (I stayed at Humphrey's Half Moon Inn recently, great place and free shuttle).

Have the Disney tour pick you up from your hotel and drop you off when the day is over.

Humphreys is convenient to the San Diego port as well, I'm not sure if their shuttle goes there or not, but you could take a taxi I guess.

This plan involves no rental car, no driving and a trip to Disney!

I think you can do DL in one day (not sure if you'll have time for DCA). DH and I drove there for one day during our recent trip to San Diego. The drive was 1 1/2 hours, add another 1/2 hour to park and walk to the gate if you're doing it yourself.

Joy

 

[teedee]

I'm doing the exact same thing in April too! We're sailing on Celebrity's Mercury on April 28. Here's what we did. We booked our ticket as multi city and the price wasn't much more than flying in and out of San Diego. We're flying from Atlanta to Orange County Airport (closer to Disneyland than LAX). Then from San Diego to Atlanta after the cruise. There's a shuttle (Supershuttle) that's taking us to the hotel for $10 each way. We got the Doubletree on City drive for $50 a night on Priceline. I did a 4 hour car rental through Budget on sailing day to get us to San Diego, I don't have the paperwork in front of me but I think it was around $60. The rental car return is close to the airport in San Diego and I've been told a short taxi ride to the pier. This will be my first visit to Disneyland, and I'm VERY excited about this trip!

 

[tarheelmjfan]

Ok, I just did some digging. Try this one:

http://www.allsandiegotours.com/Body.asp?tour=SAN-B0006&page=TourDetails

This tour only leaves on certain days though.

But, if the day works for you, you could fly into San Diego. Get a hotel that has free hotel shuttle service from the airport (I stayed at Humphrey's Half Moon Inn recently, great place and free shuttle).

Have the Disney tour pick you up from your hotel and drop you off when the day is over.

Humphreys is convenient to the San Diego port as well, I'm not sure if their shuttle goes there or not, but you could take a taxi I guess.

This plan involves no rental car, no driving and a trip to Disney!

I think you can do DL in one day (not sure if you'll have time for DCA). DH and I drove there for one day during our recent trip to San Diego. The drive was 1 1/2 hours, add another 1/2 hour to park and walk to the gate if you're doing it yourself.

Joy

Thanks for the info. I'll keep that option in mind. We're pretty into convenience, so I'm not sure a bus tour would work for us. It does seem to fit most of our needs though.

I'm definitely making note of the hotel in SD. I'm very late planning this trip, & need all the help I can get.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I'm doing the exact same thing in April too! We're sailing on Celebrity's Mercury on April 28. Here's what we did. We booked our ticket as multi city and the price wasn't much more than flying in and out of San Diego. We're flying from Atlanta to Orange County Airport (closer to Disneyland than LAX). Then from San Diego to Atlanta after the cruise. There's a shuttle (Supershuttle) that's taking us to the hotel for $10 each way. We got the Doubletree on City drive for $50 a night on Priceline. I did a 4 hour car rental through Budget on sailing day to get us to San Diego, I don't have the paperwork in front of me but I think it was around $60. The rental car return is close to the airport in San Diego and I've been told a short taxi ride to the pier. This will be my first visit to Disneyland, and I'm VERY excited about this trip!

Hi Terri,
I thought I recognized your User Name from the X board on CC. We are on the April 7th, Mercury cruise. I hadn't even thought of checking multi-city flights. That's a good suggestion. Your info. really gives me a great place to start. I think I was more excited about the prospect of going to DL, than on the cruise. Now, it looks like the Blue Bayou restaurant will be closed when we would be there, as well as Fantasmic not showing on those nights. The 2 things I was most looking forward to was dinner at BB, & the Fantasmic dessert buffet. Can you tell why we like cruising on X's ships? Yes, we're into good food! I'm not sure what we'll do now.

 

[teedee]

Hi Terri,
I thought I recognized your User Name from the X board on CC. We are on the April 7th, Mercury cruise. I hadn't even thought of checking multi-city flights. That's a good suggestion. Your info. really gives me a great place to start. I think I was more excited about the prospect of going to DL, than on the cruise. Now, it looks like the Blue Bayou restaurant will be closed when we would be there, as well as Fantasmic not showing on those nights. The 2 things I was most looking forward to was dinner at BB, & the Fantasmic dessert buffet. Can you tell why we like cruising on X's ships? Yes, we're into good food! I'm not sure what we'll do now.

Hi! I thought I recognised your name too! I hate to hear the Blue Bayou is going to be closed, we wanted to eat there. Celebrity is definitely my favorite cruise line, for several reasons. The biggest thing is the service. I've sailed on several lines and no one comes close to the type of service on Celebrity. The staff are so friendly and work so hard to make the passengers happy it just amazes me. The ships are so beautiful and elegant. Not glitzy at all like some other lines, which appeals to me. There's a lot of little things as well. The welcome aboard glass of champagne, cold towels when getting on the ship after a day in port, lemonade and sorbet brought around up on the pool deck during sea days, and one that sounds silly but is important to me NO ANNONCEMENTS! That's the one thing I hate about most cruise lines, the constant announcements for bingo, trivia or whatever. There's none of that on Celebrity. The only announcements you will hear on your cruise are the ones telling you to report for the muster drill and a brief announcement by the Captain at noon letting the passengers know ship's location and weather information.

I hope you have a great cruise, and enjoy Disneyland.