Transportation to/from LAX to Disneyland Hotel

I am almost at the 30 day mark to our first Disneyland trip! SOOO excited. Question: my family of 4 is travelling with my sister's family of 4. My family is staying at the Disneyland Hotel and hers is staying at Paradise Pier. We haven't quite figured out how we are getting from LAX to our hotels. I just kinda thought we'd play it by ear when we landed. Is that a bad call? I just kinda thought if we had just missed the Disneyland shuttle then we could take one of the other shuttles. There'd be 8 of us so we'd pretty much get a van to ourselves.

Then my flip-side question is, I guess I need to book my return transportation at the same time? Or can I just call a number and book later into our trip?

Hope that all makes sense. And if I DON'T use the Disneyland shuttle, any other recommendations? I know there was one Christine used that she feared for her life on...so I might want to avoid that one. :mickey:

So you totally can figure out transportation at the last minute, but you may not get the cheapest deal. There are lots of services that will get you there, but some are more expensive than others. Depending on how long you are staying, it may be better to rent a car for your group, then to use a shuttle service. I looked into a shuttle once but for our group size, and number of days in LA, we found that renting a vehicle was the cheaper option. Besides, as long as you are in LA, why not experience the world renowned LA traffic. :)

Renting a car won't be cheaper. The DL hotels all charge a daily parking fee and gas is pretty expensive here as well and you'd have to put in at least half a tank before you drop off the car. Plus, renting at LAX is a HUGE time commitment since the rental companies are all off airport and the shuttles are infrequent and slow.

I would HIGHLY recommend pre booking the DL Express shuttle. When you book, you don't have to pick a shuttle time. I think they leave every 30 min from LAX and honestly, most shuttles are on a similar schedule. It's a busy airport so you may not be able to just hop onto a shuttle without waiting. The DL express bus is comfortable and your hotels will be among the first stops. I'd go with that. Don't show up at LAX with 8 people and no plan. Not a good idea.

My family of 4 are also at the 30 day mark! We fly into northern California for Thanksgiving and will drive down after to DL for Sunday and Monday in the parks. We choose a rental car company that has a drop off location adjacent to DLR so we wont have to pay for parking at our hotel. We too have not planned our transportation from DLR to LAX.

What I have found is at the time I will be heading to LAX on Tuesday morning, a car service like Uber or Lyft is about the same as the best priced van or shuttle you can reserve. But if you are traveling at peak travel times the rates increase drastically and it becomes one of the most expensive options. There are Super Shuttles or Super Shuttle Mini Vans that are a great deal around $80 for my family at anytime. I will more than likely reserve the Mini-Van so I have the peace of mind that I will make it back home that same day!

I'm not sure if you've figured this out, but depending what part of Northern California you're driving from this is easily an 8 or 9 hour drive. It seems to go really fast until you get to the Grapevine and then you'll hit LA traffic which moves SLOW unless you happen to be moving through at 2:00 in the morning (and even then I've been surprised at how many cars are on the road.) Just make sure you plan accordingly.