Flying to Disneyland

[colaz]

A friend and I are really thinking about going to Disney Land, but the problem we are having is finding cheap airline tickets. We can fly out of a fairly large airport, but is there a bigger airport nearly Ontario, CA that we could fly in to for cheaper?

The cheapest we can find to that airport is some $400. Right now we are looking at the nwa website. Is there a cheaper

Also, I am not familiar with Taxi's, but would it be cheaper to have a taxi drive us to our hotel (wherever we go) or rent a car for the week.

Thanks for any help!

 

[hawkrn]

hello colaz- you are in the same dilemma as me! I live in Iowa too and am trying to find tickets from Moline to either LAX or SNA for 6/24. SNA is the closest to DL but the tickets are higher. ONT has the least amount of flight selection for me. Right now AA has the cheapest flight at $361 total. Yuk! As far as taxis, I would think you would pay out of your nose for those. We plan on taking the Super Shuttle, which is a van ($20 round trip per person from SNA or $30 from LAX) or Disneyland Express, which is a bus ($24 round trip from SNA or $28 from Lax). Both have websites. Where are you flying from?

 

[laura&fam]

We're flying in to Long Beach, sorry I don't know the 3 letter airport code. You could check out flights to there.

For us (two adults and one child) it is cheaper to rent a car for three days than to take the shuttle. It's fairly easy to check rental car prices online and super shuttle and others all have websites too. It depends on how many people you have and how long you will be there. I also like renting a car because we can go to the beach. We don't live anywhere near one so that is a treat.

Good luck.

 

[colaz]

We are flying from Minneopolis, MN (sp???)

I was doing more checking, and right now i'm finding tickets to Los Angeles for around $250

I will check out that shuttle idea... can you get that from the Disney Land website?

how expensive is it to rent a car and where are you renting from though Laura?

THanks for hte help

 

[SamIAm21]

Wow, that 24th weekend and the week before 6/24 is big money in terms of airfare and many hotels are already booked out. I tried Paradise Pier (very pricey that weekend and booked already). Candy Cane Inn, booked. HO-JO booked when checking through disneyland.com. Southwest Airlines has really bad flight times and super high fares that week/weekend too. I can't get a decent airfare to save my life!

I know the POTC Premier is the 24th at Disneyland, but geez-a-loo. I am thinking it might be best to put this trip off a while!

 

[craig]

If you're considering taking the Super Shuttle you might want this info someone posted a few days ago. Every little bit helps

There is a coupon code good for $2 off per person one way for shared ride, $5 off on ExecuCar, and discounts on other Super Shuttle services when you book online. The code is Z4M3D, the website for the discount is http://www.anaheimoc.org/coupons/index.cfm. You can book your Super Shuttle reservation at www.supershuttle.com.

Also about airfare. If you can fly out of an airport that Southwest Airlines services you may want to go to southwest.com and download DING to your computer. They notify you when a new special is going on that you wouldn't be available through their regular website. I see LAX come up quite a bit. Last fall we got roundtrip tix from Indianapolis to Orlando for under $90. If you can be flexible with your dates you might be able to get a good deal. Right now the DINGs that are available are for travel by April 30th. They have DINGs that happen sometimes several times in one day. You have to be prepared to make a quick decision because sometimes it's only offered for a few hours. Hope this helps & goodluck!

 

[hawkrn]

My flight just went down to $335 with all the fees, etc. so I bought it. American-Moline to O'hare to Lax. Colaz, if you can get flights for $250 total that's good! Or is that $250 for the fare and then they add the taxes, etc? As for 6/24 Sam I Am, we had this trip booked BEFORE the stinking movie premiere became public, so now I'm not too happy about it being on our first day there. Especially since I have the park tickets for that day and now we will get kicked out to DCA at 5pm. Colaz, Disneyland Express also has a website and they have a $3 coupon. They claim you do not have to book reservations, but you can just print the coupon and take it with you.

 

[hlbtimes2]

travelocity has a cheap fare finder. If your dates are at all flexible, I recomend checking it out.

As for airports you have 4 options:
SNA (orange county / John Wayne) closest, less then 15 miles away
LGB (Long Beach) cute little tiny airport- easy to get in and out of - a little over 15 miles.
LAX - biggest of the 4- for flights from the east coast and midwest you'll probably get the best rates at this one. About 35 miles away
ONT (ontario) also about 35 miles, but smaller airport then LAX.

I did some checking on www.travelocity.com from msp to lax, sna and lgb- you should be able to get a flight for under $250 (close to $200 with taxes and fees) if your dates are flexible.

 

[SamIAm21]

My daughter's birthday is on June 21st, so I thought I'd keep it a big surprise and wake her up the morning of her birthday and just say come on, let's fly out to Disney. I wanted to fly back on the 25th. So, I do have Ding and I'll be watching for a decent LAX flight, but the hotels are booking up quick. It may turn out I can get a cheap flight, but no hotel? Accck. And then just how horribly crowded are those two parks going to be??

Oh well, it could be a good surprise for her birthday in 2007 too. Be just my luck POTC 3 will premier that weekend in 2007

 

[brenda1966]

The best airfare I can find in and out of LAX is on American Airlines. I booked for July for $180 a seat. Last October I booked for $165 a seat.

 

[mshrm]

Hi Colaz, I posted a simular question on another board. I got some information to try www.sidestep.com and found a ticket from Cedar Rapids, IA for 270. Before I tried that website the lowest I could find was 330 out of Moline which is about an hour from here. However the ticket is to BUR(burbank). I grew up in CA so that doesnt bother me, actually it was a relief since I cant stand to fly to LAX(I would to save money though). So if you havent bought yet, definately give sidestep a try.

On the transportaion, probably cheaper to rent depending on your stay length. Lucky for you CA car rentals are better than most other locations as far as price goes. Ive found the best rates so far at sidestep and Hotwire.

Good luck and have a blast!

 

[laura&fam]

Last trip when I booked both my airfare and car rental through expedia.com I got the best price from them. This trip I booked car rental seperately so it was cheaper directly through the thrifty car rental website. (I found the best price through Thrifty.)

There are car rental coupons in the Entertainment books if you have one of those.

 

[lntsmom]

First, the taxis have controlled rates. From JWA it was $35 and NO wait.

I'd planned to use the shuttle and gave up on that very, very quickly. Why spend half an hour sitting at the transportation center, then stop at every hotel along the way? If you fly into JWA, do the taxi service if you have a party of 3 or less.

If you have more than 3, you might want to use Jag transportation. The front desk at HoJos can give you their number. They meet you at the door to your airline so you don't have to schlep your luggage...and they are on YOUR schedule. Cheap and efficient. Very clean vans and polite drivers.

Second, sign up with Southwest for e-mail deals. I know they just raised their rates, but last week they ran $79 to JWA one week and $79 to Orlando the next...both from KCI. It might be worth it to you to drive to Kansas City to catch the better fare!

Third, watch the prices of Alaska Air from Denver. Sometimes it's cheaper to fly into Denver then catch Alaska Air.

Last, you can use Travelocity to keep comparing flights. That's the way I found comparatively cheap rates last year.

Good luck!

 

[caimakale]

Second, sign up with Southwest for e-mail deals. I know they just raised their rates, but last week they ran $79 to JWA one week and $79 to Orlando the next...both from KCI. It might be worth it to you to drive to Kansas City to catch the better fare!

I agree, if you are close to city that Southwest flys in and out of, it will be hard to beat the price. You can probably get a great rate right now on Alaskan, but that promotion will end soon, and you must travel by the end of April.

Sign up for Southwest's Ding! program, I seen a fare today to fly from Salt Lake to Ft Lauderdale for $84 each way! Purchasing as far in advance will also get your fares lower. I typically purchase at least a month early on my personal flights to save extra money. You will save more money flying into LAX, so if you are looking for the cheapest possible fare, that is your best bet. I can fly into LAX for $69 or Orange County/John Wayne (SNA) for $109, both on Southwest.