The drive from the airport to Disney.

[toni1227]

I just discovered that our flight lands at 2:45 on a Monday! I do not know WHAT I was thinking when I told my DH to book a flight where we left a little later from home. Stupid of me! But at that time I had no idea Disney would take over my life LOL...and now it has.
By the time we get our luggage and rental car will we be stuck in rush hour? Is there an HOV lane we can get on? We debated doing the shuttle vs. a rental car and I think we are just going to do the rental car because we are planning to go to San Diego a few days later.

 

[mechurchlady]

Which airport? From LAX yes there is a HOV most of the way to Norwalk.
Not sure about Burbank, John Wayne is part of the way, and not sure about Long Beach.

 

[I LOVE MICKEY MOUSE]

Traffic should be fine if coming from John Wayne. I JUST got back 30 min ago. From hotel to airport at 5:30 which is rush hour took us 20 minutes. Not bad a all. In the oast when we flew into LAX i was maybe an hour during traffic. I would go for the shuttle & then get rental car from Enterprise which is right by park. They will even come pick you up at hotel & take you back to get car. VERY convenient!

 

[BrerMama]

If it makes you feel any better, our flight lands at LAX at 4:40 pm on a Friday. I think our traffic will probably be a lot worse than yours. I've decided to just not stress about it. We'll get there at some point. Disneyland isn't going anywhere.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

You'll be hitting traffic, but it's still doable.

For directions to Disneyland from LAX: Directions to Disneyland from LAX

 

[toni1227]

I am thinking we might do the shuttle now instead of the car. I keep going back and forth on the issue. But I am leaning towards the shuttle now.
I think the traffic will put us in bad moods if my DH is driving in rush hour in some foreign place to us so maybe the shuttle would be best.???
I did want to be able to stop and get some grocery items before we went to the hotel so that is only downside..but then again I will be saving a couple days on rental car and will have that extra money to spend..(we can rent a car at DTD a few days later when we plan to go to san diego).

Thanks for the info and MARY JO: thanks for your travel link it is great!

 

[albertamommyof4]

Is it cheaper to get rental car from the enterprise by disney then the one at the airport? if so is it a bad idea to get shuttle to a hotel by enterprise to rent the car?
We are going to san diego the first day

 

[bumbershoot]

I think the traffic will put us in bad moods if my DH is driving in rush hour in some foreign place to us so maybe the shuttle would be best.???
I did want to be able to stop and get some grocery items before we went to the hotel so that is only downside..but then again I will be saving a couple days on rental car and will have that extra money to spend..(we can rent a car at DTD a few days later when we plan to go to san diego).

Thanks for the info and MARY JO: thanks for your travel link it is great!

Well, be sure to actually look at the money side of it all. Shuttle, then renting later at DTD (which I think is Alamo), etc.

Also be sure to check out hotwire and priceline.

As for driving in an unfamiliar place...when we drove from and to LAX, I was nervous, so I just stayed to the right and went at the posted speed, not over that speed like so many others on the road were doing. OK maybe a *little* bit above, we didn't want to get smashed, but by staying over to the right we were safer. They take their left/passing/fast lanes seriously down there...far more seriously than they do in WA!

And it's really not that horribly long of a drive, either. Hubby was surprised how fast we got to the disneyland area. The way back to the airport felt longer, but that's b/c we were so incredibly late we only got to our gate 5 minutes before it was supposed to leave. Any trip would feel longer when cutting it that close (totally my fault).

Is it cheaper to get rental car from the enterprise by disney then the one at the airport? if so is it a bad idea to get shuttle to a hotel by enterprise to rent the car?
We are going to san diego the first day

What airport? When? etc etc. There's no hard and fast rule, so you'll have to check out the actual prices for your dates to see what's a better deal for your exact trip, I think.

 

[toni1227]

We booked a car at the Alamo rental place in downtown disney. It is $187 for 3 days down to San Diego total. I used a walmart customer code I found on mousesavers.com (check that website for all rental car company tips and coupons etc) and the alamo website had a $15 weekend coupon. (I saved $36.)
The shuttle after coupons and add tip will br $78.
So total will be $265 vs. like $357 if we got the car at the airport through Hertz.
We are going to try out the shuttle. I think the kids will like riding a bus for the first time too! And we can relax and know the bus will just drop us off right at our hotel.

 

[VacationTrader]

I just discovered that our flight lands at 2:45 on a Monday! I do not know WHAT I was thinking when I told my DH to book a flight where we left a little later from home. Stupid of me! But at that time I had no idea Disney would take over my life LOL...and now it has.
By the time we get our luggage and rental car will we be stuck in rush hour? Is there an HOV lane we can get on? We debated doing the shuttle vs. a rental car and I think we are just going to do the rental car because we are planning to go to San Diego a few days later.

there is an HOV lane and yes stick to the rental car.

 

[jlmarr]

The DIS podcast had a good suggestion a few weeks ago, advising people to consider using the Disneyland Express and *not* rent a car if all they wanted to do was a day trip or two. They'd potentially save money two ways: 1) renting the car only for they days they actually used it, and 2) they could rent a smaller car since they wouldn't be transporting luggage when they were using it. There might also be a #3 if your hotel charges for parking. It's another thing to consider.

 

[robynv]

Can someone let me know how long it takes to get to Disney from each airport? we don't have tickets yet(going in June) still trying to figure out which airport is best from Denver. Any thoughts? or tips? There are 5 of us, and we don't care much about a rental car since disney is all we will be doing.

thanks

 

[Leofoenget]

I just discovered that our flight lands at 2:45 on a Monday! I do not know WHAT I was thinking when I told my DH to book a flight where we left a little later from home. Stupid of me! But at that time I had no idea Disney would take over my life LOL...and now it has.
By the time we get our luggage and rental car will we be stuck in rush hour? Is there an HOV lane we can get on? We debated doing the shuttle vs. a rental car and I think we are just going to do the rental car because we are planning to go to San Diego a few days later.

You will be a carpool so you will be ok. I assume SNA so even if you do hit traffic it 's not that far. I have gotten in at like 5pm and not been a carpool and even with that it didn't take long to get to DL. Just DO NOT get on the 405! I believe there are 2 ways to get from SNA to DL one of which is going on the 405. Go the other way. You want to get on the 55 N toward Riverside then get onto the I-5 toward LA. Do a map quest for specifics

 

[Rivergallery]

Can someone let me know how long it takes to get to Disney from each airport? we don't have tickets yet(going in June) still trying to figure out which airport is best from Denver. Any thoughts? or tips? There are 5 of us, and we don't care much about a rental car since disney is all we will be doing.

thanks

From Long Beach it is about 15-20 minutes, depends on where your hotel is, ours was right near the Garden Walk.