LAX departure time

[Glynis4]

I would like to use the Disneyland Resort Express Shuttle for our trip in November. But I'm concerned the departure times to LAX won't work for us. The shuttle would leave the Disneyland Hotel for the airport at 9am. Our flight is at 12:50pm (to Vancouver, Canada). It's a Wednesday. We would need to be at airport by 10am in order to be just under 3 hours before our flight. Doable? Cutting it too close? We are travelling with 2 young kids, so we aren't the fastest people getting though the airport. The shuttle before that one is 2 hours earlier, which makes for a pretty early morning. Thanks!

 

[smartlabelprint]

I'd use uber.

 

[PatMcDuck]

I used LYFT in July. Worked perfectly, it was about $38 each way. So nice to just call when you are ready and have a nice peaceful direct trip.

 

[Glynis4]

How does uber and lyft work with needing car seats? I will need 2. We won't be renting a car while in Anaheim so I don't plan on bringing ours.

 

[ParkHopper1]

How does uber and lyft work with needing car seats? .

They don't. You will need to take the DLE or hire a private car service that will provide them.

 

[tammytam]

It's a challenge traveling (well.. the transfer to/from the airport) with kids still in car seats. I was in the same predicament for our trip later this month. The Disneyland Express bus times are not great.. especially after an already long day of travel. And we're not staying at a Disney hotel, so the bus trip is long with all the hotel stops. Unfortunately I don't think Uber and lyft are options unless you bring along the car seats you need (not something I'm wanting to haul around). I ended up booking a car service (Lanskys.. which gets great reviews on here), which will provide car seats and gives us door to door service (with a grocery store stop along the way). It's not the most economical option, but I've been reassured that it's worth the cost.

 

[SMD]

Is 9am the first DL Express departure? If there's nothing earlier you could take the last bus to LAX the night before and stay at a hotel with a free shuttle. Then you'd be a short shuttle ride away the next morning.

 

[Glynis4]

Is 9am the first DL Express departure? If there's nothing earlier you could take the last bus to LAX the night before and stay at a hotel with a free shuttle. Then you'd be a short shuttle ride away the next morning.

There's a 6:45am pickup from our hotel (HOJO) as well - departing Disneyland Hotel at 7am - or we could walk to a hotel that's on "Route A" that has a 7:50 pickup. Is that crazy?! Lol. It would be a walk from HOJO to BWPPI, so about 10 minutes.

I might have to look into Lanskys, at least for one way...

 

[gottalovepluto]

I'd spring for the private shuttle that fits your car seat needs (idk which one- no kids). This way you are not worried about how long other hotel stops take, you are not trying to round up your luggage vs other people's luggage, in general you are not dealing with any extra crazy- because LAX in itself is crazy enough to meet your crazy quota for the day (probably for the month if my last 2 LAX TSA experiences are anything to judge by!). You have to worry about the family at the airport, on the plane & getting back home- imho do the private shuttle just for your peace of mind to give yourself a head jump on all that.

 

[SMD]

I'd walk to BWPPI, but I'm a single adult. It's less than half a mile, but I guess it depends how much luggage you'd be juggling. HOJO has free parking. You might want to price a rental car at this point vs. a combination of DL Express to DLR and private transfer with carseats back to LAX. One advantage of renting a car is you only have to get the carseats to/from the rental car, once you install them they can stay in there the whole trip. You can also add a grocery stop and something non-Disney if that's appealing.

 

[Glynis4]

I'd walk to BWPPI, but I'm a single adult. It's less than half a mile, but I guess it depends how much luggage you'd be juggling. HOJO has free parking. You might want to price a rental car at this point vs. a combination of DL Express to DLR and private transfer with carseats back to LAX. One advantage of renting a car is you only have to get the carseats to/from the rental car, once you install them they can stay in there the whole trip. You can also add a grocery stop and something non-Disney if that's appealing.

We do plan on renting a car for one day to visit some relatives near by, so I priced out keeping the car for the rest of the trip (3 days), but the car seat rentals themselves were $80 for two, so it wasn't going to save us any money. And then the hassle of returning the car at the airport. I had just told DH we had room in the budget for a second character meal, but if we go with a private shuttle that will be out, as it's looking to be an extra $100 . Tough decision.

 

[Glynis4]

It's a challenge traveling (well.. the transfer to/from the airport) with kids still in car seats. I was in the same predicament for our trip later this month. The Disneyland Express bus times are not great.. especially after an already long day of travel. And we're not staying at a Disney hotel, so the bus trip is long with all the hotel stops. Unfortunately I don't think Uber and lyft are options unless you bring along the car seats you need (not something I'm wanting to haul around). I ended up booking a car service (Lanskys.. which gets great reviews on here), which will provide car seats and gives us door to door service (with a grocery store stop along the way). It's not the most economical option, but I've been reassured that it's worth the cost.

Let me know how your experience with Lansky is! It does sound appealing

 

[SMD]

We do plan on renting a car for one day to visit some relatives near by, so I priced out keeping the car for the rest of the trip (3 days), but the car seat rentals themselves were $80 for two, so it wasn't going to save us any money. And then the hassle of returning the car at the airport. I had just told DH we had room in the budget for a second character meal, but if we go with a private shuttle that will be out, as it's looking to be an extra $100 . Tough decision.

Can you bring your carseats? I think renting a car for the whole trip only makes sense if you use your own.

 

[smartlabelprint]

Can you bring your carseats? I think renting a car for the whole trip only makes sense if you use your own.

We use our kids seats on the plane. Then in teh Uber.

 

[Glynis4]

Can you bring your carseats? I think renting a car for the whole trip only makes sense if you use your own.

We could....but I was really looking forward to not bringing them lol! We have one lightweight one, but the other one is quite heavy, plus we're gonna have a big double stroller with us, so it's a lot of "stuff". This is actually the first time our kids will be flying without their car seats. I'm heavily leaning towards Lansky at this point - I think it will be the smart choice, and with the Canadian dollar doing a bit better, my budget can handle it

 

[Nicole1476]

When we stayed at the HoJo we were told the closest DL Express bus stop was the one in front of the BWPPI, despite being dropped off in front of the HoJo at the beginning of our trip. This was a while ago though, so who knows... things may have changed. Really hoping service for the DL Express is better than expected, since we booked our round trip fare through our package... I can already tell you I don't like the return time. 3:40 return time for a 7pm flight... I have TSA Precheck, so I never need that long at the airport... but the 5:40 pick up is too late. Oh well... plenty of time to wander LAX.

 

[ShaunaM]

We could....but I was really looking forward to not bringing them lol! We have one lightweight one, but the other one is quite heavy, plus we're gonna have a big double stroller with us, so it's a lot of "stuff". This is actually the first time our kids will be flying without their car seats. I'm heavily leaning towards Lansky at this point - I think it will be the smart choice, and with the Canadian dollar doing a bit better, my budget can handle it

I have nothing but positive things to say about Lansky;awesome service.

 

[dec2009mama]

don't bring the car seats -- spring for private car service with Lansky's! I'd look into it both ways rather than only one way, plus you get a store stop on the way from LAX to you hotel and it is much faster than the DLE bus!

 

[KatieCharlotte]

Having total control over our hotel pick-up time was one of the many reasons we decided to go with Lansky's. We saved part of the extra cost by stopping at Target and stocking up on inexpensive breakfast and snack foods. HOJO has a convenience store for things like milk and OJ, but the selection of foods is very limited and more expensive. It was so nice to have a driver help us with our bags at the airport, take our groceries to the car, drive safely and efficiently through heavy traffic, etc. The driver was five minutes early taking us back to the airport, and I was impressed with how easily (and safely) he drove through 8 a.m. rush hour traffic and got us right to the entrance in front of our ticket counter. Minus the grocery stop, it was 40 minutes from LAX to HOJO in mid-day, and an hour from HOJO to LAX during morning rush hour.