how to get to disneyland in california the cheapest?

[proud_canadian]

We would love to go to disneyland in land in california, but it seems the flights are so much more than flying to orlando. We fly to orlando, direct air, out of niagara falls, ny for $600 for 4 of us. Can we get anything remotely similar to fly to california? What airport should we fly into? We don't mind flying out of detroit or buffalo.

 

[proud_canadian]

We are from the Toronto area, forgot to add that.

 

[Sue M]

I'm on the west coast, and make the 3hr drive to Seattle to fly to MCO. It's way cheaper flying out of a major US airport. There is a smaller US airport closer, but savings aren't as big.
We just flew from Seattle to MCO RT for $279 incl tax per person. We lucked out on a great seat sale, but anything under $350 RT I'm happy.

 

[WestWind]

We are also on the west side and drive across the border to Seattle or Spokane to fly.

Sue M - what is MCO?... Orlando? and what airline do you find the best prices?

 

[greenclan67]

Subbing, We are looking at doing this next year instead of Florida, and wondered the ins and outs of it! We usually fly out of Buffalo as well. But can do, Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids, Niagara Falls, Or Rochester! This is my kids new wish list, California!

 

[Hoogy]

We are going in early March! First on the Disney Wonder and then a few days at Disneyland. We found the cheapest flights were out of Detroit (vs Buffalo) and got $121 each way with Southwest. It isn't direct but the stop is brief and worth the savings...since we are a family of 6! It is definitely not as cheap as flying to MCO but it is a lot further...and driving is not an option!

 

[C&B Young]

We would love to go to disneyland in land in california, but it seems the flights are so much more than flying to orlando. We fly to orlando, direct air, out of niagara falls, ny for $600 for 4 of us. Can we get anything remotely similar to fly to california? What airport should we fly into? We don't mind flying out of detroit or buffalo.

After 5 WDW visits we're planning a first trip to Disneyland (we're actually blogging about the whole process currently!). For flights, we're going to fly Toronto to LAX as we want to fly direct and Air Canada is the only direct option into the Disneyland area (nobody flies direct from Buffalo to any of the airport options for DLR). It looks like the best price we can possibly hope for is about $179/pp each way pre-tax(about $245/pp with all fees included).

If you don't need to fly direct, I would try for whatever option gets you to SNA the cheapest, as most DLR veterans say that's the best airport to fly into for a trip to Disneyland.

The good news is that although the flight to California is more expensive than Orlando, the hotels are far cheaper so you'll encounter some savings there!

 

[BitsnBearsMom]

We are also going early March and didn't get very good prices for flights at all IMO. best i could do was 440pp all in BUF to LAX with 1 stop, LAX to LAS direct then LAS to BUF with 1 stop. I even tried looking at all the airports within reasonable distance. BUF, DTW and ROC for leaving then LAX, ONT, SNA and Burbank for the California part. LAX always came up as the cheapest option.

Renting a car in California seems much more expensive too!!

But on the up side I managed to snag 2 GCV studio's 7 months out AND for the vegas part of the trip I managed to get a good price at the Bellagio!! under 5 weeks and counting now!!

 

[webworm]

We would love to go to disneyland in land in california, but it seems the flights are so much more than flying to orlando. We fly to orlando, direct air, out of niagara falls, ny for $600 for 4 of us. Can we get anything remotely similar to fly to california? What airport should we fly into? We don't mind flying out of detroit or buffalo.

I live in Oakville and have flown out of Detroit and Pittsburgh. The travel time to both airports is almost the same and I find it much easier and quicker to cross at the peace bridge. I love the Pittsburgh airport so I would check flights from there as well.

 

[Ted in Halifax]

I know this sounds excessive, probably because it is .... usually we drive to Portland Maine or Manchester NH to fly to Orlando, but this summer we fly from Halifax to Phoenix, AZ catch some Arizona sights and then drive 6 hours to California (Disneyland).

Our flight costs was $320 per person from Halifax to Phoenix return with taxes in .... not bad!

 

[dsneygirl]

We just booked LA for June and the best we could do was about $400 pp all taxes in BUF to LAX. Last year we went to LA using our SW points but it went as low as about $150 each way.

we did have to change planes in Chicago but it was only about a 30min layover and allowed us to get up and stretch our legs.

 

[c&m]

We've flown into LAX, SNA, LGB (Long Beach) and even San Diego. Here are my observations to help you in your decision of which airport to fly into...

Benefits of flying into:

- LAX: It always seems cheaper to fly into this airport from Seattle or Bellingham. I've gotten a fare for $59 each way on Alaska Air before.

- SNA: Proximity to DLR (about 20 min drive away from Anaheim).

- LGB: Proximity to DLR and fastest airport to get out of because it's so small. You get off the plane, walk a few feet to claim your luggage from the carousel, then walk another few feet to get your car rental. Then about a 25-min drive to Anaheim.

- San Diego: A nice excuse to visit San Diego.

Disadvantages of flying into:
- LAX: About an hour's drive into Anaheim, and the traffic is usually HORRIBLE on the I-5. Also a big airport to navigate through.

- SNA: No real disadvantages. Just didn't like having to take a shuttle to get our rental car.

- LGB: No disadvantages. Got out of the airport in record time.

- San Diego: Very far from Anaheim. No real reason to fly into this airport unless you plan to visit San Diego, which is very beautiful.

(BTW, our fave is LGB.)

 

[alohamom]

Well look at all the Canadian Dis'ers heading west! We are going for March Break (March 7-15, gotta have a couple of days to deal with the jet lag!) and I just booked seats with United thru Hotwire for 362/rt/taxes in. Keep in mind it is 25 bucks a bag but we are going with backpacks as carry-on. I had been watching everyday and snagged this when it came out Wednesday but if you go to their vacations option they have some fairly good deals. I have seen prices as low as 280 into San Diego but that was last spring.Hotwire vacations have some great options and you do see your hotel that way-I watch it to see what airline they are offering with the package and then I know who has the cheapest rate for those days. Keep in mind that you could probably get some great airfare in mid January ar any other off season time but with the new CarsLand opening in the summer I think it is going to have a bit of a surge

 

[BLAZEY]

I'm on the west coast, and make the 3hr drive to Seattle to fly to MCO. It's way cheaper flying out of a major US airport. There is a smaller US airport closer, but savings aren't as big.
We just flew from Seattle to MCO RT for $279 incl tax per person. We lucked out on a great seat sale, but anything under $350 RT I'm happy.

We are looking to go down around the Labour Day weekend for a wedding and thought we may go to disneyland while we were down there. DD will be 3.5 so we have to get her a ticket too ( both plane & Disney). We live in Victoria and flying from the Island is crazy$$$$$. Vancouver isn't much better when you factor in ferry , transfer & possible hotel. Taking the Clipper to Seattle seem a much better option. The Clipper round trip with hotel and flights out of Seattle is about 1/2 of flying out of Victoria. I keep checking hoping the flights will come down even more

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

proud_canadian, we are planning a DLR trip for this fall, and I have been researching flights since last summer. We will most likely fly out of Detroit instead of Buffalo because of the cost difference. Your choices are basically Southwest for cheap ("Bags fly free!" is going to be very important for a family of 6 with possibly two or three carseats in tow.) or Delta for nonstop. I consider $350 per person, taxes et al included, to be an OK price from my research and $300 pp to be a GOOD, jump-on-it price. Unfortunately, the better prices don't come up until the summer, pretty close to our trip time.
I continually debate if we should pay more to take small children on a direct flight, or if the break changing planes in Denver would actually be better, since they would get to get up and stretch their legs and seeing another airport might be exciting to them.
I would love to fly into Orange County instead of LAX, but that's another big cost difference to weigh. We are renting a car regardless, so LAX's distance is not that big a deal, especially since we have USC (my alma mater) and the Cal Science Center to visit in LA, but the idea of using a nice small airport is tempting. LAX is HUGE, right up there with the NYC airports, O'Hare, and Atlanta.

AJ

 

[KittyKat1978]

Flying out of Vancouver is crazy expensive compared to everything else I have read on the thread.

I paid $325 from YVR to LAX for Feb and was looking at my May dates and it seems $550 is what I might have to pay.

I guess time of the year will also dictate prices. Slow times vs busy times.