I'm flying in to LAX on a Saturday. I'll be staying at the Grand California Villas until that Tuesday when I fly on to Aulani. Anyway, I'm planning on spending whatever time I have on Saturday, as well as Sunday and Monday, at DL and DCA since I've never been to those parks before. (I had originally scheduled 4 days at the parks, but ended up adding a few days to the Hawaii portion instead.) Here is my dilemma. I can get a direct flight from Dulles to LAX that will land around 9:30 a.m. Or, for $100 less, I can get a direct flight from Dulles that lands around 11:00 a.m. I'm wondering how long it takes to get from the airport to the DL. I'm figuring that by the time I deplane, get to baggage claim and actually get my bags, that I'm probably talking about an hour after I deplane anyway. Then I'll have the travel time between the airport as well as the check in time at the hotel. I'd like to maximize my time on Saturday, but I'm wondering if it's really worth an extra $100 to gain that extra time in the morning. I looked at the Disneyland website, but their May hours are not posted yet. (Actually, they're only posted about 6 weeks ahead. That's really hard for a planner like me!) I did see something about "typical" hours in May, but it also said that the parks may close earlier on the weekends in May if they've been booked for a grad night. Grrrr. I'm just worried that if landing at 11 means that I won't get to the parks until later in the afternoon AND if the parks close early that I'll be paying a lot of money for just a few hours of Saturday park time. Thoughts?
I would expect to be at DLR about 2 hours after touching down at LAX. Some transport options are in the link. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2318297 Hours may vary but on the weekend, 8-12 to 9-11. Weekdays 10-8 at DL. 10-10 and 10-6 at DCA.
