LAX Advice

[BigDisneyOE]

What's it like coming into LAX and leaving LAX these days. I've seen all sorts of nightmare stories about pat downs etc (mainly sent to me from one of my US friends who's actually works for the US Dept of State and goes down the Diplomat lane but hates the new systems). I've got two nearly fives to get thru the process, neither are going to be particularly delightful after flying such a long way for the first time. What tips and advice do other mums of young uns have?

Also we arrive 1PM into LAX. How long does it usually take to get out of all the offical stuff and into the real world? Hubby is determined to get his rental and drive to San Diego the same day ('I want to get there and relax') but I think we may be better getting straight into a LAX hotel for the night and just collapsing into a pool or something. What's best?

Got my wee dose of Pixie Dust today - the kids Disney Store stuff arrived for their 4the birthdays. Postage cost more than the goods but they'll be wrapped and the t-shirts are so huge they can wear them next year to Disneyland!

 

[aussietravellers]

I've never had a problem coming or going from LAX (aside from flight cancellations ). Never had a problem with security or patdowns (other than at Orlando) but the line coming through customs can be pretty long. We have always arrived early in the morning to go through customs and there seem to be lots of flights arriving and I have even been there when customs is first opening so the wait times can be longer.

But even then, it's not ridiculously long. We have been off the plane, through customs, get luggage, through the luggage check line (which can be long too) and to terminal 4 in 30 minutes, other times have been closer to an hour. It is something that really varies and can be a little unpredictable.

My son is always occupied, being in charge of the trolley, looking out for our luggage and has never been a problem. Things seem to always be happening to keep them occupied.

 

[5ofus]

Yep, I second what aussietraveller has said.

As for little kids... we went to Japan with the two older boys last year - they were 16 months and 3 years at the time. When we got off the plane, we did a loo break and let the boys play a bit (on a handrail, away from people) to let off a bit of pent up energy. When we got to the customs line, DS2 decided he didn't want to wait in line and sat down. One of the customs people saw that we were having a bit of trouble and came and got us, escorting us to a line with no people on it (could have been the Japan citizen line, but my recollection is a bit fuzzy) so we could get through and away. Unfortunately, I don't think you will get this kind of helpful service in LAX. I love Japan

 

[aussietravellers]

One of the customs people saw that we were having a bit of trouble and came and got us, escorting us to a line with no people on it (could have been the Japan citizen line, but my recollection is a bit fuzzy) so we could get through and away. Unfortunately, I don't think you will get this kind of helpful service in LAX. I love Japan

Yep they do do this at LAX (sometimes ). We have only been taken out of line once and moved to a small line, but I have seen it happen to others

 

[lovintheland]

We rushed to the customs line at LAX last in the September school holidays and after we joined the queue we were called over to to special line for people with children and our three were 10, 13 & 15 at the time. Staff are not usually over friendly especially when after a long sleepless flight you are still in a state of Disney deliriousness and beaming. It's hard not to be greeted with a smile or nice word, but guess they have an important job to do. (Which I do appreciate for our own safety) But the first time we took the kids over in 2007, we found leaving LAX to be a very daunting scary experience. The kids were terrified. We were being yelled at for standing in the wrong place etc etc. At the time they were bombings in London and as we walked into LAX a Amerincan Today Show reporter shoved a mike in my face and asked me how I felt about the upgraded security measured for the 4th of July weekend after the terror threats in London

Last year we had a good experience on both arrival and departure. V Australia staffed rocked! They were so friendly and so Aussie!!!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Aside from not getting any smiles from the customs officers, LAX is reasonably efficient....especially with kids. If they notice you, the staff will get you to the front of the line with young kids in tow. Getting them to notice you is the tricky bit. It is getting harder now that DS is 11; but we were able to get noticed all the way up to the age of 9.

But just in case they don't notice you, when you are looking to join a queue to get through customs, pick a line, no matter how long it is, with more caucasians in it.
The last time I went through LAX, we got in with planes from China, Mexico, Canada and us Aussies. I got to pick a the line....and picked the shortest line...with the Chinese. Wasn't such a good move as the customs officers didn't speak chinese and the line that was the shortest took the longest to process. Turns out the line with more Mexicans in it was being processed a little bit quicker..but the longest line with the most number of caucasians was practically zipping!

 

[Sugarglider]

I really don't recommend driving to San Diego straight off a flight.

It is 2 hours plus on an expressway and whilst an easy drive you need to stay awake! That road - for some reason puts me to sleep everytime. I have driven it about 6 times at different times and for some reason I find it so tedious I doze off. To this day I don't think I have seen Carlsbad.

 

[Caroline NZ]

We have been to LAX twice with the kids (aged 4 & 7, and then earlier this year aged 6 & 9).
We have not been given any special attention with having children, but the experience has been okay anyway. This year they had to go through the full body scanners on departure. We were not patted down, but my SIL was ( she was not impressed).

Oh yes, and I agree with PIO, the customs officers never smile. It is quite disconcerting, and you end up thinking you are acting suspicious by smiling.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Oh..and I forgot to add that I'm with SugarGlider on driving to SD. We used to normally hop in the car and drive down to SD to go stay with my aunt. We always had to stop around Mission Viejo/Laguna Beach to wake ourselves up. So, the 2 hour drive always ended up being close on 3 hours. Now we stay the night in the Orange County area or close by there before heading down to SD.

Instead of staying around LAX, why don't you look into some place like Huntington Beach or Laguna Beach instead? That way, you get away from the airport and head towards a SoCal beach instead. The alternative is Long Beach; although no real beach there.

 

[areweindisneyyet]

On our last trip through LAX we had a great immigration official who also took DD2's best friend Lumpy the Heffalump and took his trunk print to make sure he could come to Disneyland too!

DD2 was a little nervous and tired, and there was no one smiling but this guy made our day.

 

[BigDisneyOE]

All good thoughts and suggestions. I know I'll be knackered by the time we get to LAX, so I just want to be prepared for anything/everything.

I'm glad the LAX customs thing isn't too bad. I had a fear of my slightly sensory child getting a pat down and throwing the world's biggest hissy and yelling 'stop touching my bum'. Wearing sneakers with velcro is what I'm aiming for with the kids - one kid went right thru last summer in 30C plus heat here in gumboots. He now knows that it's 'the law' to wear sneakers on a plane/boat/bus etc and occasionally to kindy would be nice also.

I don't mind not smiling or even large guns, I was used to all of that when I lived abroad and travelled a lot in the Middle East and North Africa. Oddly the only thing that ever freaked me out was the sign saying 'Gun Check' at Jo'Burg airport and the huge line of people checking in hunting rifles and very large knives... eww.

Righty - I'm just going to tell hubby we are going to stay the night somewhere as suggested. All I need is dark and quiet for us and a pool for the kids to burn off being in a plane for so long. I'll do some investigating into where is nice. Maybe I can convince him to do two nights there before seven nights in San Diego and six nights in Disneyland area.

 

[jacs1234]

We've had no problems at LAX and we have 4 kids yet we have never had special treatment either. Our customs people have always been quite friendly although we are always super nervous for some reason and feel guilty lol. We get so tense trying to keep all the kids together and "helping" them to behave. It's the most stressful part of our trip and once it's over I'm always relieved.

On the way home last year there was a couple of different lines for the security check and fortunately we were in the one that didn't have the full body scan. I DID NOT want to go through that thing.

 

[Sugarglider]

Oh..and I forgot to add that I'm with SugarGlider on driving to SD. We used to normally hop in the car and drive down to SD to go stay with my aunt. We always had to stop around Mission Viejo/Laguna Beach to wake ourselves up. So, the 2 hour drive always ended up being close on 3 hours. Now we stay the night in the Orange County area or close by there before heading down to SD.

Instead of staying around LAX, why don't you look into some place like Huntington Beach or Laguna Beach instead? That way, you get away from the airport and head towards a SoCal beach instead. The alternative is Long Beach; although no real beach there.

Nice suggestions - I have a friend at Huntington Beach and we make it to there Ok. but SD - hmmm - kids in car, everyone tired, different country - I'm just thinking - That's Dangerous

 

[kylieh]

They have changed the shoe rule in some, if not all airports for those under 12. No shoes off rule for security!!! We did security twice on the trip - in Dallas after customs and in Orlando for the trip back.

I wouldn't drive to San Diego when you get there. You may be tired and possibly disorientated for both left and right side and you're time clock being out.

 

[BigDisneyOE]

Nice suggestions - I have a friend at Huntington Beach and we make it to there Ok. but SD - hmmm - kids in car, everyone tired, different country - I'm just thinking - That's Dangerous

I haven't told you about when we went to Broadbeach in Queensland. Landed at Brisbane in the early evening. I took husband FIVE hours to get to Broadbeach as he'd printed a map off the Net with no highway exit numbers or street names. I was so unamused I'd gone silent. Kids were asleep thankfully. Next morning husband says 'oh yeah - I've got GPS on my phone, I'd forgotten about that'. Flames coming out the top of my head at that point. Next holiday on the Sunshine Coast I refused to leave NZ until he'd bought a GPS.

Another possibility would be switch to do the Disneyland part first - we could drive to OC no problems (apart from husband not turning on the GPS). I just need to work out what the boarding times are like for first time cruisers on DCL. If it's late, we could just leave real early from San Diego and get up there on the day.

 

[aussietravellers]

I took husband FIVE hours to get to Broadbeach as he'd printed a map off the Net with no highway exit numbers or street names. I was so unamused I'd gone silent. Kids were asleep thankfully. Next morning husband says 'oh yeah - I've got GPS on my phone, I'd forgotten about that'. Flames coming out the top of my head at that point. Next holiday on the Sunshine Coast I refused to leave NZ until he'd bought a GPS.

5 HOURS It's only about 11 hours to drive to Sydney, you were almost half way to Sydney

I live on the Gold Coast so know the route from Bris to Broadbeach very well and I am at 5 hours You poor thing, I think I would have been ready to murder my DH

 

[BigDisneyOE]

Yes it was one of those 'if you don't stop and ask directions for the fifth time and buy a map and get it marked this time, I'm getting out the car and walking off' moments. He would have been sleeping with the fishes if he could have worked out where the beach was...

The odd thing was that he's driven all over the world in some seriously challenging conditions (dead camels on the road from mines sort of thing) and he gets lost on the Gold Coast.

 

[ame]

Another possibility would be switch to do the Disneyland part first - we could drive to OC no problems (apart from husband not turning on the GPS). I just need to work out what the boarding times are like for first time cruisers on DCL. If it's late, we could just leave real early from San Diego and get up there on the day.

This is what I'd be doing. Nothing like a few days at Disneyland to keep you awake.

I've never taken longer than 1hr to get out of LAX. I used to fly in/out of SFO to avoid LAX b/c of it's reputation, but now fly VA and have gotten over my fear of LAX. We've taken all 4 kids twice and both times we've been escorted to a shorter (diplomat) line. But we have a DD in a wheelchair.

We always pack a V in the top of two suitcases and when we get them I have one and then I'll drive to our near Disney hotel full of caffeine while DH catnaps in the car and the kids nap/play on their electronics. Last trip we arrived in LAX at 6AM and were at Disneyland by 3PM after stopping at a shopping mall and checkin g into our hotel. We were tired and cranky but at leasdt we were at Disney having fun! Sure beat being stuck in a hotel. Disclaimer... my kids were 7,8,11 and 12.

I wouldn't drive to SD unless I stopped somewhere to let off energy. We checked into our Disney cruise at 10 and were on the ship by 1130. This was just after they started the timed boardings.

 

[Jade+3]

Our flight arrived at 1pm. By the time we got our rental car, we hit peak traffic on the freeway. There is no way I would want to be driving to SD.

 

[Sugarglider]

If you are going to go to Disneyland I am tempted to suggest to you that you just catch the Disneyland bus from LAX and then pick up your hire car from DTD when you have finished your days at Disneyland. these buses come every 30 mins - go straight there - are reasonably priced

I admit that given the number of people you have the bus would cost more than a hire car for 1 day - but I am very conservative when it comes to getting behind a steering wheel straight off a flight.

I do admit though that I have also done the "pick up the car and drive 45 mins - 1 hour" thing. When with someone else it is easier.