Questions about John Wayne airport

[Sorcerer Jody]

My mom and two toddlers and I are flying into SNA to spend a week in Disneyland in December. I've never been to this airport, but chose it because it is smaller and closer than LAX. Our flight on the way home leaves at 2:30 - what time should we be at the airport? Any ideas what time we should get the Disneyland Express bus (we are staying at the Candy Cane)? How late can we stay at the Park without missing our bus? And are there family-friendly restaurants at the airport to eat at while we're waiting?

I always find trips back home to be stressful - everyone is tired - I am hoping to end this trip as smoothly and happily as I can! Thank you SO much for any advice you can give me! (I've never been to Disneyland with my own children before!).

 

[Dizzy4DL]

I've only flown out of John Wayne once. I can tell you that there was a McDonalds and a Starbucks right next to our gate. We loved SNA compared to LAX. Security took us a grand total of 5 (yes 5!) minutes. We didn't take the DL express so I can't help you there. But we did arrive at the airport 90 minutes before our flight just to be safe.
Good luck!

 

[isisisme]

The ride back to SNA using the Disneyland resort express takes a little bit longer than getting to the hotel since they stop at the DLH for a bit. But not that long. They have a schedule that tells you what time you need to get on the shuttle to be at the airport at varying times. The hotel might have a copy, or look on the website.

There are a few places to eat at SNA. They are currently doing some remodeling, so there are new places opening up.

it should be fairly painless. It was for us a little over a week ago and they were dealing with flight delays due to weather on the east coast.

Good luck.

 

[MND]

My mom and two toddlers and I are flying into SNA to spend a week in Disneyland in December. I've never been to this airport, but chose it because it is smaller and closer than LAX. Our flight on the way home leaves at 2:30 - what time should we be at the airport? Any ideas what time we should get the Disneyland Express bus (we are staying at the Candy Cane)? How late can we stay at the Park without missing our bus? And are there family-friendly restaurants at the airport to eat at while we're waiting?

I always find trips back home to be stressful - everyone is tired - I am hoping to end this trip as smoothly and happily as I can! Thank you SO much for any advice you can give me! (I've never been to Disneyland with my own children before!).

You should be fine if you got to the airport an hour b/4 the flight. We took a cab from the Ramada Maingate for a family of 5 for $37 flat rate (not including tip). That may be cheaper than DL Express. The cab ride took 15 minutes during early afternoon.

JWA is a great airport. Much smaller than LAX and much closer to DLR.

Mike

 

[Madhatter7]

You may want to check prices on the bus cause i heard they were more pricey than a taxi. Our taxi was 40 buck to the GCH. But we were n heavy traffic also. And we always try to be 2hrs before a flight,course we fly out of Sac which is always packed. SNA security was fast though,except one time when we got behind a huge family. I gave the security guy my Fastpass that I had from one of the rides. I was all "Here's my fastpass,can I skip ahead of all these people?" He cracked up!!!! he"s all "That's the 1st time someone gave me one of these" Atleast I made him laugh

 

[Sorcerer Jody]

Thanks for your help, everyone!

I would really love to take a taxi instead of a bus, but I have two two-year olds and I am not bringing their car seats, so I think the bus is my only option.

 

[wdwfan22]

The bus provides car seats? I wonder if any taxi or towncar services does. I suppose not, but I have heard the Disneyland express picks you up way earlier than needed.

I am used to flying out of Denver, so am always there 2 hours early. I got to SNA about 1 3/4 hours early feeling good that I was able to cut some time off, we were checked in, through security, with is about 50 steps away from check in, and at our gate, which was another 50 steps in 15 mins. My son was like, "Why did we come so early?" I had no idea how small the airport was. When we landed I didn't really pay attention cuz we were so happy to be there. I might be tempted to bring there car seat not to have to deal with a bus that stops at multiple hotels.

 

[dsny1mom]

My mom and two toddlers and I are flying into SNA to spend a week in Disneyland in December. I've never been to this airport, but chose it because it is smaller and closer than LAX. Our flight on the way home leaves at 2:30 - what time should we be at the airport? Any ideas what time we should get the Disneyland Express bus (we are staying at the Candy Cane)? How late can we stay at the Park without missing our bus? And are there family-friendly restaurants at the airport to eat at while we're waiting?

I always find trips back home to be stressful - everyone is tired - I am hoping to end this trip as smoothly and happily as I can! Thank you SO much for any advice you can give me! (I've never been to Disneyland with my own children before!).

My guess is if you are taking the DL bus you will be tied to their pick up schedule. Arriving 1 hour before take off should be fine at SNA. Your travel time to SNA will depend on traffic. It's usally about a 20 minute drive but we always allow 45 minutes in case we hit traffic. However the bus may make mutiple stops at other airlines so you'd have to account for that. So I'd catch a bus at 12:30 or earlier.

There is a McDonalds at SNA and a counter type place that sells grab and go types of food and I think pizza slices. We NEVER eat at SNA as the food selections are poor and the McD's is way over priced. We usally eat at DL before we leave and then maybe grab some snacks at SNA to tied us over.

You'll know how long of a walk it is once you make your first walk to DL, so that will be guide as to what time you have to need to leave the park to get back for your bus. Just make sure you add on some time to get your luggage out of bell services.

We love using SNA and have used it exclusively to go to DLR for the past 15 years. So easy to navigate, low crowds and 1 million % cleaner than LAX. I don't care how much cheaper it is to use LAX we always use SNA. 3..

Have a blast!

dsny1mom

 

[Sorcerer Jody]

The bus provides car seats? I wonder if any taxi or towncar services does. I suppose not, but I have heard the Disneyland express picks you up way earlier than needed.

No, the bus doesn't provide car seats, but because it is a bus, car seats aren't required. I am assuming that car seats are required for taxis, limos, and shuttle vans (?), which is why we've chosen the bus. Otherwise, I would have chosen the taxi or limo for sure. I checked the Disneyland Express schedule, and it will either get us at SNA one hour ahead of our flight or two hours ahead. Just in case there is traffic, and because my mom is a bit of a worrier, we'll probably have to arrive two hours ahead (we're flying back to Canada).

 

[01spirit750]

We really like SNA.

Once or twice we had long waits at security, but that was a few years ago.

The last time we were there they had a family line, which is shorter.

I would suggest you check all your bags at the curb. Trying to deal with two kids and all your luggage at the security check will add a lot of stress.

 

[Peace.love.mickey]

Thanks for your help, everyone!

I would really love to take a taxi instead of a bus, but I have two two-year olds and I am not bringing their car seats, so I think the bus is my only option.

Yes, that is what I am doing with my 1 YO, the DLexpress is my only option too. There is an online coupon too!!!

 

[DryCreek]

(we're flying back to Canada).

Ahhh, that is in itself a statement worth a million words! For international flights they always recommend arriving much earlier. I don't know if you can pre-clear Canadian Customs there like at some other airports though. Or, if you can still even pre-clear any more? I thought we could for some Caribbean Island destinations, Canada and Mexico.

 

[emmysmommy]

SNA doesn't have any international flights so no customs to deal with. You must have a connecting flight somewhere - right?

I fly out of SNA at least 6 times a month so am a frequent flier there. They just opened a new terminal for primarily Southwest airlines commuter flights (Terminal C) - however, their baggage check is not working and may not be until the end of the year.

If your flight is at 2:30pm you should be fine arriving an hour before your flight since they tend to have a mid-day lull. The airport is relatively small with 13 gates in the main terminal and another 9 opened in Terminal C.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[MND]

SNA doesn't have any international flights so no customs to deal with. You must have a connecting flight somewhere - right?

I fly out of SNA at least 6 times a month so am a frequent flier there. They just opened a new terminal for primarily Southwest airlines commuter flights (Terminal C) - however, their baggage check is not working and may not be until the end of the year.

If your flight is at 2:30pm you should be fine arriving an hour before your flight since they tend to have a mid-day lull. The airport is relatively small with 13 gates in the main terminal and another 9 opened in Terminal C.

Enjoy your trip!

SNA has flights to Canada. Those would be international flights.

I didn't realize that the new terminal was open yet. I was just there last week and it didn't seem open .


One more thing, what do you mean by "commuter flights"?

Mike

 

[SaskDisNut]

Any flight coming from Canada to SNA would have had US customs preclearance at the Canadian airport that the flight departed from. That is how flights can come from Canada if SNA doesn't have customs. It technically becomes a domestic flight since the passengers have already cleared US customs while in Canada.

Flights departing to Canada will clear customs back in Canada. Canada doesn't have any preclearance facilities at any US airport.

We are flying to SNA but our flight is through Denver and our airport doesn't have US preclearance so we will have to clear customs there before our connecting flight to SNA.

 

[OKW Lover]

I didn't realize that the new terminal was open yet. I was just there last week and it didn't seem open .

It opened on Monday (14th). We flew home that day and they were giving out free water, magazines, luggage tags and there was a drawing for something free (I guess we didn't win).