DL: Transfers vs car hire for a family of five?

[5ofus]

It looks like we're off to Disneyland next year on a surprise, but very budget trip! No idea what time of year it will be as yet, so I can't go about pricing out hotels and airfares, but I can at least start to plan - at least in my head - the smaller things.

We'll be going to Vegas for a wedding - which is the main point of the trip, and as I'm sure you'll all understand, there is no way I can be THAT close to Disneyland without visiting We'll probably be at Disneyland for a week. Vegas for a few days.

The boys will be 2, 4 and 6, so what's the most economical way of getting from LAX to Anaheim? If we go with car hire we'll need at least two car seats which is an added cost, but I'm not sure how the shuttles would handle a 2yo anyway.

We'll be trying to keep this trip as cheap as possible!

 

[Sugarglider]

The cheapest way is probably still a hire car - although needing a larger car for 5 with car seats you will probably pay a similar amount for the "Disneyland Resort Express" coach from the airport. $32 Adult, $25/child rtn. So $140 for the bus compared to ? for the car, car seats, petrol x ? days?

Would you bother keeping the hire car once you are in anaheim? If you rent from Alamo they have an office in DTD where you could hand it back.

These a nice modern coaches, come at least every 1/2 hour (during the day) so I've not experienced them jammed full. Also I don't know where you are staying but it goes first to the Disneyland hotel and the other Disney hotels then around to the others.

I used traveljigsaw on my last trip for my car hire and found them to the be cheapest with insurance included.

 

[Mum from oz]

I'll second Traveljigsaw. I used them at LAX and MCO last year and have already booked them again this year. Great, cheap, easy with all insurances included. We always get the mini van.

 

[Aust]

I've booked return transfers with Disneyland Resort Express for LAX/DLR - I found they have an LAX Family Pass for up to 5 people - $99.99 return, which is a pretty good deal. I've used DLR Express before and they are pretty good. It's a coach so carseats are not required.

 

[aussietravellers]

I think the cheapest will be the $99.99 round trip for 5 people through http://graylineanaheim.com/shuttles.shtml, that Aust mentioned.

If you are considering a car. You will need to hire 3 car seats. New California law that came into place this year, states that children up to the age of 8, must be in a car seat or booster, in the back seat. It is apparently being enforced, even by the super shuttle to DLR, I have heard.

 

[Melbourne5]

We used prime time shuttles the last time we went to DL in2010. They have big clean 9-10 seat vans. You can pay $75 plus tip 1 way in a shared arrangement or as we did for $85 plus tip (1 way ) for exclusive pickup and drop off at lax. It's very good to have the piece of mind of having the vehicle for you and your families use. Tip approx $10-15. This also overcame the issues of car seats etc ( we needed 1 for our 3yo) as you can book in advance.

 

[alicia1506]

we too did the lax family pass for $99.99 return. it was quick and easy, and we prepaid ours online - you get confirmation within a few hours of entering your details online (they get processed manually, not automatically, hence the slight delay in confirmation email) - although you can also just pay at the time you hop on.

when we arrived in lax, by the time we cleared customs etc it was just approaching 7.30am -- we got the first DLR express (and be warned, there are other companies posing as DLR express, but DLR express only have big 40 foot long buses and they always have some kind of disneyland 'wrapper' on the outside) and it went first to the Disneyland hotel, then Paradise Pier, then GCH then took us to our off-site hotels. it was very safe & the driver was fabulous. we plan on only using the DLR express again for our transfers