What airport do you fly into for DL???

[bcarson]

I have never been to California but I am contemplating a trip there in 2006. I am not familiar with the state at all. What airport, city ect is near Disney Land? Thanks

 

[PCFriar80]

DL is in Anaheim, a neighboring city of Los Angeles. LAX is the airport you would most likely fly into. There are a few other smaller airports that service the area, but I think the flight options would be limited.

 

[safetymom]

You could fly into LAX or John Wayne in Orange County, or Long Beach. I would prefer anything to LAX but it depends on your airline. LAX is the largest and the drive from LAX to DL is the longest with lots of traffic.

 

[Donalds_best_pal]

Personally LAX in my opinion isnt as bad as people make it out to me. Yes traffic can be a pain but other then that its like almost everyother huge/major airport. But truthfully if you can fly into SNA(john wayne) that would be so much better. Not much traffic, small and easy airport. When we liived in California we flew at of there whenever psossible. SNA is served by several major and low cost carriers.

Matt

 

[Brian Noble]

Unless you are arriving during rush hours (which run longer than you'd think) LAX isn't too bad. I prefer SNA when I can get convenient flights.

 

[jtm1631]

Same advice as everyone else. LAX is not that bad, but John Wayne is preferred.

What we have done in the past is fly into LAX, spend a day or two at the beach in Santa Monica and then drive to DL for the rest of the vacation. We then fly out of SNA (John Wayne).

Another option that I don't believe I saw metnioned is Ontario airport. This is another small airport in the Pomona Valley area. I used to go to school in that area and always flew into and out of Ontario. If I remember correctly Ontario would be about the same distance as LAX to DL. Just another option for you if you are looking for cheap airfare.

 

[LadyTrampScamp&Angel]

Yes, LAX isn't that bad but if you can avoid rush hour it would help. It's been 7 years since I lived there but I think the freeways in the greater LA area are a nightmare. At rush hour there's a lot of bumper to bumper, stop and go traffic - yuck.

John Wayne/Orange County is the closest to Anaheim and DL. A nice airport, most preferable of the smaller LA area ones. Usually a flight into LAX is cheaper but John Wayne is sooooo much better, but if you can get a deal or not a big price difference - definitely go with it.

Long Beach is a tiny airport. Don't think there's really a lot of flights into it.

Ontario is ok but it's still a drive to DL area. It's inland to the east and I'm thinking it still took me about an hour on the freeways to get back to Orange County, maybe a little more. I lived 15 minutes or so south of DL by freeway.

Good luck and happy planning.

 

[jjohnson]

We got a great rate flying into John Wayne. So glad we did. Nice, small airport & got out really quick.

 

[Amy&Dan]

I have flown into John Wayne, LAX, and Ontario. All three were fine. John Wayne is great and has more flight options than you would think. LAX was not as bad and didn't have nearly as much walking as I had predicted, we flew Frontier so maybe they are located in a better spot within the terminal. We landed around 8:00 and it didn't take as long to get to the Disnyeland Hotel as I would have thought, maybe 45 minutes. Ontario was great. We landed around there around 9:00 at night and were at our hotel near Disneyland by 10:30 and that wasn't bad considering we had to get our luggage, make restroom and snack stops and wait for tardy father in law to pick us up! I generally fly into where I get the good deal! I also make sure if I am flying anywhere besides John Wayne that I take an evening flight so that the traffic has cleared up. We always take a very early flight leaving so DH can still get into the office by noon. From Denver lately I am getting the best deals into Ontario or LAX.

 

[Pinnie]

We have done LAX, but for our upcoming trip in July, we are flying into John Wayne.

pinnie

 

[Uncle Buck]

Burbank is great, too. Getting to and from LAX isn't the problem, it's getting around the airport that is the real headache. All rental cars are way offsite and without an express service (Emerald Aisle) the lines at rental counters are unbearable (so are the rental car exit stations).

SNA>LGB>ONT or BUR>...............>LAX.

LGB is serviced by Alaska, AmericaWest, American, and JetBlue, so there are quite a lot of options considering code-shares.

Fares are the real equalizer, but LAX has some of the highest PFC's anywhere. Sometimes you can save a ton on rental car fees by picking up at one airport and returning at another in the same metro area.

 

[pumpkinboy]

For DL, we would use LGB if flying JetBlue (direct flights from Boston, which is great for us). I like avoiding LAX whenever possible, but if it's fly direct and land at LAX, I'll do that over flying a connector to SNA or BUR, both of which I'd prefer. But hey, since we have direct flights to LGB, we'll do that in a heartbeat.

 

[wintergreen]

I would second the option of Long Beach, if JetBlue flies from your area. Great airline, great little airport.

 

[LadyTrampScamp&Angel]

Wow, Long Beach must've changed since I lived there. I stand corrected on that one

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Wow, Long Beach must've changed since I lived there. I stand corrected on that one

As far as I know, Long Beach is still a tiny airport, and there still aren't a lot of flights into Long Beach from any airline except JetBlue.

JetBlue Airways flies between Long Beach and Boston, Ft. Lauderdale, Oakland, Las Vegas, New York, Salt Lake City and Washington, DC. That's good news for people in those cities.

I'm a big fan of Orange County (John Wayne) Airport. By connecting through major hubs such as Chicago or Dallas, you can fly to Orange County from most airports in the U.S.

Orange County is a small airport compared to big city airports, but the terminal is spacious and well designed. You can rent a car without taking a shuttle. And it's easily the closest airport to Disneyland and to Newport Beach.

 

[LadyTrampScamp&Angel]

Thanks for that info. I used to pick my sister up in Long Beach once in a while when she flew over to visit from Phoenix. I think she was probably flying on America West back then.

I'm also a big fan of Orange County. We used to live fairly close to it in Newport Beach. It's a decent size but not really big like LAX and not really small like I remember Long Beach to be. There are some scenes in Jerry Maguire of Tom Cruise walking through an airport. They were filmed at John Wayne/Orange County.

 

[Pinnie]

Thanks to everyone who posted about John Wayne airport. It makes me very glad that we chose it this time over LAX!!!

pinnie