Need a shuttle company that supplies car seats from lax to DLR

[lwilkison]

Just wondering why you are worrying about car seats? They don't require you to use them on any of the shuttles that you book, so you don't need to haul them. We take our kids and don't bring them as that is way too much to haul and never have a problem. I wouldn't worry about it.

When we travelled December 2010 we had to bring our own car seat...the shuttles don't supply them and it is California law that you need to use a car seat...besides, do you really want to be traveling along that highway going that fast and NOT have you child(ren) in seats?!

We just picked up a car seat bag and our DD used the car seat on the plane and she fell asleep on TAKEOFF because she was so comfy

 

[todzwife]

Everywhere has a car seat law, but it does not apply to shuttles. Do you send your 6 year old on the school bus with a car seat? They don't even have seat belts. We are not putting our own conveniences over our children's safety, have you ever taken one of these shuttles? They are not necessary. I'm sorry, but I take offense to the insinuation I am a lazy or unconcerned parent, but you have fun dragging car seats through LAX.

Most shuttles (like the blue van, is that super shuttle?) are just 15 passenger vans. You may want to check to make sure that you don't need a car seat on them. I'm not sure if they are exempt from the car seat laws.

Now, the Disney Express IS a bus, and there aren't seat belts. They protect you by 1. being the biggest thing on the road and 2. The tall seats act to compartmentalize passengers. Unfortunately neither is true with a shuttle.

If you have a child over 4, consider spending $15 and buying a backless Harmony booster at Wal-mart. They are small, light and fit in overhead bins and will at the very least, position the seat belt to prevent serious injury in the event of a crash. If they are under 4, a Cosco Scenera is a light easy to carry seat that installs easily on the plane. They cost about $40.

 

[Davids-Coco]

I think what is being missed in this general discussion is the difference between a shuttle van (like super shuttle uses) and a shuttle (tour) bus (like disneyland express uses). Tour busses and school busses do not have seat belts because of compartmentalization theory, though physics still apply. A non-bus passenger vehicle in CA is subject to car seat laws. Driver and/or parent can get sited if pulled over (or heaven forbid, in an accident). While parents may choose not to, both the driver and the parent are taking a risk in a taxi/shuttle van. Some shuttles may say no if you try to bring your child on without, though unlikely. (see: http://www.carseat.org/Legal/99_Enf.pdf) So there are options both with and without carseats.

OP, if you call around, you may be able to find a few who would. Usually companies will at least tell you if they have them or not. I would suggest asking what seats they use and to check expiration dates. Even though it is illegal to provide seats over a certain age, it does happen unfortunately. I did not see mention if your children are booster appropriate, but there are some great, small ones that can be thrown in a duffle (even if you need three!) and are easy to use as well as inexpensive. Target carries the big kid amp. They run about $25 and have a belt positioning strap that sits behind the child by their should for better placement. Good luck and please report back if you find any! I'm sure there are other parents who would want to know.

 

[jilld11]

Thank you for correcting me. I was specifically speaking about the Disney Express Busses, although I think I may have said shuttles, so my fault for not clarifying. I have been sending clients there for years and have also used them myself and they do not require child seats. Not that I am opposed to safety, I was just originally commenting on that they were not required for this trip. Just giving another option for the OP.

Also, again, don't know where your kids go to school, but our busses do not have roll cages and nowhere around here does. My kids don't go to private school or anything though, but no public school busses around here have that kind of safety feature. They are just the same yellow school busses we rode as kids. And I do know what I'm talking about as my sister in law runs the busses and my son's friend's dad owns the company. Maybe small towns are very different.

I am also sorry if I offended anyone, but I don't like to be personally attacked as a bad parent for just giving the facts.

 

[Isatricia]

Not trying to be mean in any way, but when I was researching school bus safety when my daughter did ride a school bus for 4 weeks a couple years ago, I found that Blue-Bird buses (the kind I have seen most commonly in many cities across the country have what they call roof-bows. A Quote from their website:

Blue Bird's trademark one-piece roof bows, now made with High Strength Low Alloy steel provide maximum roll-over strength.

Maybe other bus manufacturers don't have anything similar. I didn't research them since they were not being used here.

Again, I hope the OP finds a solution that works for them. I know that it can be a struggle when it comes to keeping our children safe. We will be bringing our girls' high back boosters (not a fan of backless boosters) in a car seat bag. I would much prefer them to still be in their 5-point harnesses, but their seats are much too big and heavy to travel with.

 

[jilld11]

I thought this would be a great site to help me plan a vacation for my children and have found that there are people that are so judgemental and think they are much superior that it has left a bad taste. I have been a travel agent for 14 years and have never found a travel site with people who were clearly being very judgemental. I am withdrawing from this site and advising my clients to as well. We are not bad parents for taking out kids on the shuttles w/o car seats, if you have been to most attractions around the country and the world, that would not be the norm. I take great care for my kids' safety, but don't need others to judge.

Thank you for the other opinions on the other posts. They were really helpful and I will take your advice.

 

[Tgl2011]

Wow, didn't mean to start a fight! All I was looking for was a company who supplied seats, as I am not bringing any for a couple reasons, one my daughter doesn't need one where we are from, and we are continuing on to Mexico after Disneyland and we have a shuttle. Us picking us up at that airport, so I don't really need to lug around a couple seats for no reason later on my trip. I have found a couple companies that supply car seats, all I need are booster seats. Except one company has no reviews on them at all and the other (zippy) has very mixed reviews, so was hoping for people's experiences with shuttle companies that supply car seats.

 

[MinnieSkis]

If all that you need are boosters and you do not have small children then I would recommend the Disneyland Resort Express. Large buses are statistically safer than smaller passenger vehicles even though they do not have seatbelts. Many passenger vans used for shuttles lack headrests so unless you bring a highback booster for head support, there is a great risk of neck and spinal cord injuries in an accident. Not meaning to add fuel to the fire but I am researching for our upcoming DL trip and I stumbled upon this thread. For what it's worth I'm also a car seat tech.

 

[SGDisneyFam]

For me, i'll take the "inconvenience" of travelling with car seats (when in fact you check them for free there isn't much inconvenience) and KNOWING my kids are in safe car seats (Ones that haven't been in accidents, old, un cared for etc that shuttle companies may supply) over taking a chance in a 15 passenger van that is no safer than my one ton megacab pickup.

My kids health and safety > everything else.

This is my opinion and not directed at anyone.

 

[luckyman_apd]

I am researching for my own trip in June, and I'm considering just renting a car and bringing my car seat and booster on the plane for my kids. I much prefer strapping my son in a car seat on the plane because he never sits still except in his car seat. The added cost of the rental car may be worth the peace of mind on the plane.

But I have looked at the Disneyland express as well. Not sure if it will work for me for a 6:30 am departure flight on the way home though.

 

[gabsandalex]

I am researching for my own trip in June, and I'm considering just renting a car and bringing my car seat and booster on the plane for my kids. I much prefer strapping my son in a car seat on the plane because he never sits still except in his car seat. The added cost of the rental car may be worth the peace of mind on the plane.

But I have looked at the Disneyland express as well. Not sure if it will work for me for a 6:30 am departure flight on the way home though.

Another option for you might be a taxi. That is what we used with our own seats since we were just going to DL and nothing else. The driver was very patient while I strapped the seats in and it was about $40 each way from SNA.

 

[Travtime]

We had no problem in Los Angeles last summer, we have 3 little kids luckily we found laxairportshuttle.com toke us to Disneyland and Universal, they provided the car seats, I just can't travel and take the car seats with us it's too much hassle.

 

[NiceOneSimba]

We went to DLR in October with our 3-year old. We flew into SNA, flew home out of LAX. We had the exact same concern about car seats and shuttles/taxis.

We ended up going with the Disneyland Express both ways. It was maybe an extra 20 minutes to stop at the other hotels than it would have been to take a shuttle directly to/from the hotel. It didn't seem like that big of a deal, even on the way there when we were exhausted from our 5:15 a.m. flight.

For us, it was worth that extra time to not have to worry about bringing a car seat with us, and worth the piece of mind to know that we were following the car seat law. And, really, it was mostly about not having to lug the car seat.

On every other trip, we've actually carried the car seat on the plane and used it in her seat. This time, we also bought our daughter a CARES harness for the plane. Keeps her strapped in without having to lug the car seat. Best of both worlds!

It looks like some of other posters recommended some shuttle services that provide car seats. If you really want to go direct, those are probalby good options. But the Disneyland Express is pretty cheap, and it was definitely easy.

 

[Mama Who]

Wow, didn't mean to start a fight! All I was looking for was a company who supplied seats, as I am not bringing any for a couple reasons, one my daughter doesn't need one where we are from, and we are continuing on to Mexico after Disneyland and we have a shuttle. Us picking us up at that airport, so I don't really need to lug around a couple seats for no reason later on my trip. I have found a couple companies that supply car seats, all I need are booster seats. Except one company has no reviews on them at all and the other (zippy) has very mixed reviews, so was hoping for people's experiences with shuttle companies that supply car seats.

You did not start a fight. Other people's behavior is not your responsibility. You asked a reasonable question. (To which I have no answer, but I hope something in this thread works for you.)

 

[bumbershoot]

Tgl2011, if all you need are boosters (and the last post I saw from you said that), check out the BubbleBum. It's a very very simple booster, weighs 1 pound, and works perfectly to get the child up so the seatbelt works like it should on the child. I have DS carry it (though DH then feels sorry for DS and moves it, but again, it's only a pound and I don't know why DH does that, LOL). (ps, it's inflatable)

I thought this would be a great site to help me plan a vacation for my children and have found that there are people that are so judgemental and think they are much superior that it has left a bad taste. I have been a travel agent for 14 years and have never found a travel site with people who were clearly being very judgemental. I am withdrawing from this site and advising my clients to as well. We are not bad parents for taking out kids on the shuttles w/o car seats, if you have been to most attractions around the country and the world, that would not be the norm. I take great care for my kids' safety, but don't need others to judge.

Thank you for the other opinions on the other posts. They were really helpful and I will take your advice.

You were talking about a BUS. Others were talking about VANS. Different things. And you might not have been aware that the carseat laws VERY recently changed, so yes, older kids need boosters now in CA.

Just wondering why you are worrying about car seats? They don't require you to use them on any of the shuttles that you book, so you don't need to haul them. We take our kids and don't bring them as that is way too much to haul and never have a problem. I wouldn't worry about it.

They are required on many shuttles "that you book". The vans have seatbelts in them, so you use them.

The shuttle YOU seem to book is a coach bus. No seatbelts, so no carseats.

Everywhere has a car seat law, but it does not apply to shuttles. Do you send your 6 year old on the school bus with a car seat? They don't even have seat belts. We are not putting our own conveniences over our children's safety, have you ever taken one of these shuttles? They are not necessary. I'm sorry, but I take offense to the insinuation I am a lazy or unconcerned parent, but you have fun dragging car seats through LAX.

The bolded was kind of an icky statement. The rest was just part of the misunderstanding. You are obviously talking about buses. Others were not.

I hope you're lurking to read this, because it could help your TA business, to know exactly what sorts of vehicles your clients might be taking AND to know that the carseat laws have changed.

If a van got into an accident, I don't think the police are going to take "my TA told me it didn't matter" as a good excuse for having no carseat/booster being used.