What's the cheapest way to get to San Diego zoo from Anaheim without a car?

[Disney Dider]

we have a family of 5. Tia!!

 

[V2000]

Amtrak train

 

[hlbtimes2]

Its not a trip I've personally done, but I'd check Amtrak. There is a station about 3-4 miles from the zoo and from Disneyland. Its under $30 per adult, and about 1/2 that for a child under 12. Possibly Uber between the Amtrak stations and the zoo/ hotel.

 

[MICKEYFIL]

Hitch hike.

 

[mel2014]

I would personally use the GrayLine tour, which looks like it would be $120 for 2 adults and 2 kids: http://www.grayline.com/tours/anaheim/san-diego-zoo-transportation-only-5911_1/. Since they are big buses, you would need to worry about carseats. Amtrak would be $170. Also, while Amtrak goes from Anaheim to San Diego, you would need to take infrequent buses to get from your hotel to the Amtrak station and from the Amtrak station in SD to Balboa Park. Google Maps puts the trip time at 4 hours. If you have kids a taxi or Uber/Lyft won't work to replace those bus trips, since you would need carseats. The Grayline tour will take you there directly

 

[CDRT]

Just a question, why no car? Are you flying in? Or just don't drive, or want to drive in California? I think the cheapest would be to rent a car. It would save time as well. The a train station in SD is in my opinion to far to walk, especially after walking the the zoo all day.

 

[chrisaman]

I agree. Rent a cAr

 

[Kindermouse]

A 1 day car rental would be cheapest for sure. They will even pick you up from your hotel and often times you can use thier loaner car seats.

If you dont want to do the drive (which is totally understandable since So Cal traffic is awful) I think Grayline is the the cheapest.

 

[smartlabelprint]

I'd skip the zoo. Wasn't impressed. Seems like a PITA for a day trip. If you're headed to SD for a few days it's a different story.

 

[Disney Dider]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts! It's actually for my friend who has three young girls. They have never been much out of Idaho so driving might be too stressful and they are flying in. I have been to San Diego zoo and we thought it was amazing. One of the best zoos we have ever seen. But everyone has different likes.

 

[bcla]

Amtrak train

Amtrak isn't the cheapest way to get there. The one-way fare is $28 from Anaheim to San Diego, and kids (under 16) are half price. Metrolink to Oceanside is $12.75 ($9.50 youth 6-18), and a valid ticket also can be used for free bus connections on OCTA. COASTER from Oceanside to San Diego is $5.50, although anyone at least 6 pays the adult fare. The main issue with that is that it will take longer waiting for the connection.

Amtrak can be a bit cheaper (10%) with a AAA discount, but the ticket has to be purchased at least 3 days in advance. Even the kids' fare can be discounted. Amtrak is certainly more convenient.

Seriously though, I'd just rent a car. Missing public transportation when schedules are off and dealing with long connection times can be a pain. It would require buses or two taxis/car services unless lucky enough to get a minivan taxi. I don't think anyone who could deal with traffic in Idaho would really find a one day trip all that stressful. Dealing with it on a daily basis is another matter.

 

[Michael623]

I can't believe anyone wouldn't be impressed by the SD Zoo. This could be the first negative I've ever heard about it. I've been to 30+ zoos from Maine to Hawaii and SD blows all others away. It is incredible and totally worth the trip. I'm not exactly sure what it takes to impress some people. To answer the OP, renting a car for a day will definitely be the cheapest way to go. Keep in mind at DL you're south of the worst of the LA traffic. The car trip from Anaheim to SD is pretty painless.

 

[Michael623]

I actually thought the LA Zoo was pretty good too although getting there without a car is no easy feat either. There is also the Santa Ana Zoo an exit south of DL, but I would give this one a pass. Not really worth it.

 

[grnflash]

I can't believe anyone wouldn't be impressed by the SD Zoo. This could be the first negative I've ever heard about it. I've been to 30+ zoos from Maine to Hawaii and SD blows all others away. It is incredible and totally worth the trip. I'm not exactly sure what it takes to impress some people. To answer the OP, renting a car for a day will definitely be the cheapest way to go. Keep in mind at DL you're south of the worst of the LA traffic. The car trip from Anaheim to SD is pretty painless.

Agreed! Ok, I'm from SD so my opinion could be skewed here But really, the zoo is amazing. It's like how Disney is the pinnacle of theme parks. The SD Zoo is that good in its category. To the OP, driving between DL and SD isn't that bad, truly. Time it right and they'll be fine. If your friends enjoy zoos, it's worth the trip driving and all.

 

[kamik86]

Agreed! Ok, I'm from SD so my opinion could be skewed here But really, the zoo is amazing. It's like how Disney is the pinnacle of theme parks. The SD Zoo is that good in its category. To the OP, driving between DL and SD isn't that bad, truly. Time it right and they'll be fine. If your friends enjoy zoos, it's worth the trip driving and all.

We drove from SD after being there a few days to anaheim. Found it to be no problem at all, actually a really pleasent drive.

To give you some perspective I'm from a town with exactly two stop lights one of which only turns red if someone pushes the button to cross and even I could handle this drive.

 

[bcla]

I can't believe anyone wouldn't be impressed by the SD Zoo. This could be the first negative I've ever heard about it. I've been to 30+ zoos from Maine to Hawaii and SD blows all others away. It is incredible and totally worth the trip. I'm not exactly sure what it takes to impress some people. To answer the OP, renting a car for a day will definitely be the cheapest way to go. Keep in mind at DL you're south of the worst of the LA traffic. The car trip from Anaheim to SD is pretty painless.

There can be bad traffic, but not quite like LA County.

The rental logistics need to be considered though. Many of the off airport rental locations have limited hours. If you're not back by closing time, that may meaning leaving it behind and dropping the keys in a box. I worry about not being there for the inspection. Or one could wait until the next morning, but that would require parking the car.

 

[Purrkins]

There can be bad traffic, but not quite like LA County.

As of late, I'm finding North Country traffic (ie: North of San Diego) to actually be worse than LA traffic. Same density of cars on the road it seems, LA drivers just know how to drive in it. That said, I'd rent as well.

 

[ludari]

I would definitely rent a car for one day but if that is not an option I would recommend Amtrak.

 

[Kindermouse]

The cost of taking Grayline isn't that bad when you consider that they will pick you up and drop you off at your hotel and thou save a ton of time that gets wasted trying to maneuver public transit. It's 30 bucks to Amtraks 28 and if you use Amtrak you also have to get to amtrack.

I also won't drive in so cal, even though I drive to DL and have a car with me. Im not a traffic person and crazy aggressive drivers give me horrible anxiety. I won't even drive in San franscico even though I go there very often becuase of how stressed the traffic and crazy drivers makes me so I get the idea that the driving would be too stressful.

We did universal for a day on our DL trip in March and, even though we had our car with us we took Grayline and I'm glad we did. It took us nearly 2 hrs to get back to our hotel from universal at the end of the day when it only took us 1 hour to get there in the morning. I sat back, had some snack and watched Paddingon. I looked up how to use public transit and it seemed a bit rough with multiple forms of transit, connections and plenty of ways for me to screw it up. It also would take about 3 hours each way. For me simplifying it by taking Grayline was money well spent.

 

[mel2014]

I'm guessing the people saying "just rent a car" haven't travelled with young kids lately. Since the OP says that the family has "young girls", I'm assuming they would have to have at least two carseats and a booster seat (possibly just two boosters) to rent a car. If they were otherwise planning to take shuttles/buses from the airport to Disneyland, it would be a major pain to drag along carseats just for a one-day trip. While rental agencies do have carseats: (1) they're not cheap to add-on; and (2) there have been many stories about rental agencies offering dirty/expired/inappropriate car seats (e.g., someone has an infant that needs a rear-facing seat and is offered a forward-facing only seat). Also, to even be able to fit three car seats in a car, you need a fairly large car or specific sets of carseats that "puzzle" well together, so they wouldn't be able to just grab a compact or economy rental.