rental car or not?

[lsulindy]

If we're doing 3 days at DL, staying offsite but close. And, then doing days at other attractions/sight seeing/etc. Haven't narrowed down what yet. Considering Knott's, Universal, SeaWorld, beach, possibly whale watching, even possibly Yosemite.

Would you take a shuttle from LAX to DL and then just rent a car for the second half of the trip?

 

[igomezkailua]

Aloha,

I have traveled to DL without the use of a car for over 8 days. It is possible, to do so. The Anaheim Resort Transit, makes it convenient to go to different attractions. For example they travel to Knotts Berry Farm, Anaheim Stadium, Block @ Orange and Garden Walk. If going to LA or Newport maybe more difficult, unless you take a cheap tour.

Getting transportation too and from the Airport is no problem at all, and is very affordable. Taxi, van etc.

Also, their are many car rental companies in the Anaheim area. For one week it costs me $300. Buying it online is cheaper, and also pending on CC you use, you maybe able to decline "damage collision waiver form" (which raises the price of renting a car dramatically).

Only negative when I did not have a rental car, I was more confined in one area. It cost me $285 for a private 3 person tour around LAX (which by the way they dropped me off at the Airport after tour). Only reason I did not get a car because my friend and I were under age.

I WOULD TAKE THE RENTAL CAR FROM LAX

 

[Plumeria9]

Interesting situation. Assuming cost is a factor, definitely check out what it costs to rent a car at a location other than an airport. There is a car rental at DTD, forgive me but I don't know if it is Alamo or another one. Plus then you don't have to pay $15/day to park at DLR. Picking up a rental after DLR and going to see other stuff like Yosemite sounds like a great idea!

I am trying to find a car rental, and I have rented cars in CA before. This time, it seems that the taxes and at-airport fees are ridiculous and are really jacking up the cost. My situation is different, staying w/ MIL and I don't want to be stuck having to go wherever the in-laws want to go when they want to go, so I want a car for the whole time. BTW the best price I found was through Enterprise. I'm not willing to go w/ a company that I have never heard of, so didn't check any of those out. I did check Thrifty, Budget, Alamo, Avis. Good luck!

 

[hpfan100]

depends on costs

My BF and I went to DLR for a weekend in September and it was cheaper to rent a car than to take a shuttle. I rented from Alamo at SNA and got it for 33 including taxes. The shuttle would have been 40. We stayed a hotel with free parking and walking distance so parking fees were not an issue.

Price check and do whatever is cheaper for you

 

[smiles33]

Don't forget that off-site hotels often charge parking fees (I know HoJo doesn't, but other places do and that adds up over a week-long trip). If you know you're in DLR for 3+ days and the car is just going to sit there, calculate the cost savings of waiting to rent a car from an off-airport location.

Yosemite is a trip that would require an overnight stay (unless you only want to see the park and not hike) so if you definitely want to go there, rent a car but perhaps wait until the DLR leg is done and then drive up and stay overnight there.

 

[lsulindy]

Don't forget that off-site hotels often charge parking fees (I know HoJo doesn't, but other places do and that adds up over a week-long trip). If you know you're in DLR for 3+ days and the car is just going to sit there, calculate the cost savings of waiting to rent a car from an off-airport location.

Yosemite is a trip that would require an overnight stay (unless you only want to see the park and not hike) so if you definitely want to go there, rent a car but perhaps wait until the DLR leg is done and then drive up and stay overnight there.

Yes, the Yosemite portion would be for a few days at the end of the trip. May even fly home out of a closer airport rather than driving back to LA.

 

[Mary09]

Sometimes a car for a week is cheaper than for a few days, due to good weekly rates. But parking at hotels can be $15/night or more, too, so factor that in.

 

[madigraham]

If we're doing 3 days at DL, staying offsite but close. And, then doing days at other attractions/sight seeing/etc. Haven't narrowed down what yet. Considering Knott's, Universal, SeaWorld, beach, possibly whale watching, even possibly Yosemite.

Would you take a shuttle from LAX to DL and then just rent a car for the second half of the trip?[/QUOTE

You can take a shuttle for DL from lax to your hotel if you are staying on property. MY recommendations are that you rent a car at the airport.

Your hotel might have a bus service from your hotel to the parks so you will not have to pay for parking which is $15 per day.

if you are traveling in so cal i highly recommend sea world for young kids. universal and knotts dont have much for kids under 42 inches.

Yosemite is about a 4 hour drive from DLR. :/
also consider LA zoo, Santa Monica Pier, Magic Mountain for older kids.

 

[bumbershoot]

Price out all the options, and decide the value of the car during certain parts of your trip. Price specific rental companies out of their specific locations, I mean get really exact, and see.

On the Transportation board there is generally an ongoing thread about rates for rental cars and coupons/codes. Those work for just about anywhere. You can also check mousesavers for coupons and codes.

We had an 8 day stay without anything planned other than Disneyland (did end up going to San Diego for a day to visit my brother, which was absolutely lovely), with a parking fee every single day, and it was still worth it. We went to two WeightWatchers meetings at the proper center (not just a hotel meeting), which are VITAL to our goals, we went to Trader Joes three times for fruit and water and other things, went to the Target over near both of those places, a Chase branch (forgot to pay rent before we left), and even to Best Buy. It was extremely worth it for that flexibility and ability to do *whatever we wanted to do*. And we got a darned good deal. AND my husband is Emerald Executive with National, so we got a very spiffy car for a midsized price.


If you do *any* grocery shopping, or would *like* to get groceries; if you think you might want to go to an offsite restaurant (we went to Souplantation, yum! it's related to Sweet Tomatoes, where we always go at WDW), etc etc, then price it out and see if the value is there for the full vacation.

 

[Mousequake]

Yes, the Yosemite portion would be for a few days at the end of the trip. May even fly home out of a closer airport rather than driving back to LA.

If you're going to do that, a rental car would probably be significantly more expensive. It always costs more to drop it off at a different location than you picked it up.

 

[lsulindy]

If you're going to do that, a rental car would probably be significantly more expensive. It always costs more to drop it off at a different location than you picked it up.

Yes. But, I'm thinking it might be worth it to avoid a 6 hour drive back. Was thinking of staying at Yosemite 2 nights before heading home, but now I'm not so sure, there's just so much I want to do around the LA and San Diego areas. I was excited about seeing Yosemite though. I've never been to Cali and it's expensive to fly my crew, so I'm trying to cram everything in, but this trip is starting to bust at the seams!