Rental car or no?

[Paigesmom2013]

So I thought I had our transportation plan figured out but now I'm not sure? Family of 4 is flying into Lax for a week in April (with inflatable booster seat.) I see I could rent a midsize car for $175 for the week, taxes included. Our Anaheim hotel has free parking but we'll walk to the parks no matter what.
It seems like either UberXL or a private ride would cost us about the same amount round trip. And Laxit lot sounds annoying. Plus, I was going to rent a car one day anyway to go to beach. It would be nice to have the option of driving to a grocery store for a few things.
Specific questions: what does "shuttle to rental facility" mean? Is this like what they have in PHX?
Is it too hard for a (middle age) suburban midwesterner to handle the drive at 3pm and again at 10am? (I've driven in San Diego and didn't love it, but did okay.)

 

[ParkHopper1]

No consolidated rental car facility at LAX. Each company has their own dedicated shuttle to off site facility. No worse than any other shuttle to rental car facility.

If it Is a wash price wise...car makes sense. Drive time will be what it is if you are in an Uber or driving yourself. .

 

[dina444444]

So I thought I had our transportation plan figured out but now I'm not sure? Family of 4 is flying into Lax for a week in April (with inflatable booster seat.) I see I could rent a midsize car for $175 for the week, taxes included. Our Anaheim hotel has free parking but we'll walk to the parks no matter what.
It seems like either UberXL or a private ride would cost us about the same amount round trip. And Laxit lot sounds annoying. Plus, I was going to rent a car one day anyway to go to beach. It would be nice to have the option of driving to a grocery store for a few things.
Specific questions: what does "shuttle to rental facility" mean? Is this like what they have in PHX?
Is it too hard for a (middle age) suburban midwesterner to handle the drive at 3pm and again at 10am? (I've driven in San Diego and didn't love it, but did okay.)

You will be hitting the start of rush hour traffic in LA if your leaving the airport around 3pm. Could take up to 2 hours or so to get to Disneyland. And as poster above noted all of our rental car facilities are spread out around the airport and each has their own shuttle service. They are currently in the process of building one consolidated facility that will be serviced by the APM, which is part of the whole LAXit thing.

 

[MillauFr]

I would rent a car if I were you. Driving in LA isn't too bad. I find it much less stressful than Seattle. Sure there is traffic but as long as you have an idea where you are going the freeway system is excellent and easy to navigate.

 

[smartlabelprint]

We used Lanskys from LAX->DLH. I’d absolutely do it again. He took us to a grocery store for a few things.

We took uber/lyft back to the airport.

 

[Vala]

Driving in LA sounds worse than it is. My friends insisted on driving me everywhere first year I came over - or arranged weird Supershuttle transfers - because they were worried about me as a German driving in LA traffic. During rush hour it's a way, way, way larger traffic jam than I was used to. But the intensity wasn't worse than rush hour in a bigger German city.

 

[mel2014]

If you weren't planning the beach day, I'd say skip the rental car, but since you were going to rent for a day anyway, I'd lean toward getting it for the week, since the hotel has free parking. Are you arriving at 3 pm on a weekday or weekend? On a weekday, rush hour traffic can be pretty bad. With a family of four, you'll be able to use the carpool Lanes on the 105 and 605, which may help a little.

 

[CastAStone]

The only struggle will be that you can (and should) use the car pool lanes but Google Maps still doesn’t help you navigate them. Using car pool lanes will save you close to an hour on many LAX-Anaheim trips.

Waze has a feature you can enable to use HOV lanes, although I haven’t tried it personally.

 

[Pamela M]

I drive to DL from northern CA. It’s the price is a wash and your not charged for parking I would get the car. You never know when you’ll want to do a target run. I always like to either bring or do a target stop for water. The water in Anaheim tastes awful!

 

[StormyCA]

Looks like base price UberX & Lyft are around $80.00 - $120.00 round trip. I wouldn't consider that a 'wash' compared to $175.00 for a car rental. Of course Uber XL is more at $150.00. That I would consider a wash!

If I didn't think I could cram us all into an UberX (we've gotten 4 adults plus baggage into one) then I'd rent the car.

 

[Bossy22]

If it’s a wash I wouldn’t get the car. It’s so stressful to drive down there, especially in rush hour!!!

 

[StormyCA]

See, I don't find driving the freeways in LA (or any big city) at rush hour stressful. Frustrating, sure, because you're just sitting there inching along. But then, I grew up in So Cal and I guess I'm inured to traffic. Just crank up the tunes, sing along, and relax. When BFF and I go to DL, I do all the driving once we hit the Grapevine

Stressful is driving in San Francisco at any time with all the one-way streets, people zooming around you and then double parking, and dodging cable cars. Now, that's stressful. BFF lives in the Bay Area, so when she and I go to the City, she does all the driving.

Horses for courses.