To Fly or Drive: Making the Ultimate Decision for Your Disneyland Adventure
“Think of all the joy you'll find, when you leave the world behind and bid your cares goodbye. You can fly!” - Peter Pan
When it comes to traveling to Disneyland you have one of two options, fly or drive. 🚗
Obviously, there are both benefits and cons to either option, and depending on where you live flying might be more realistic than driving. So, let's dive in!
In this post we are going to share with you the many things you may want to consider when planning your vacation travel details, including the best airports to fly into, why driving may not be the cheaper option, and more! 👇🏻
Driving to Disneyland 🚙
We live in Oregon, so driving is not unreasonable for us however it is still about a 16-hour drive which we have endured. The benefit of driving is that you have your own car which can make traveling outside of the Disneyland area a little more convenient. So, if you’re thinking you don’t want to spend all your time at Disney driving might be a better option for that convenience alone!
Let's talk cost, driving can be much cheaper, but that also depends on the price of gas. We have successfully found flights in the past that were cheaper than it would be for us to drive so do your research. Calculate how many hours it would take you to get there and how many tanks of gas that would mean for your car. You may also need to work in additional stops and hotel stays depending on how far your traveling from. And don’t forget to consider the wear and mileage you will be adding to your vehicle when your thinking about cost.
Another consideration when you’re debating whether to drive or fly is hotel parking. Some hotels in the area offer free parking and others do not. You could end up spending $20+ dollars a day just to park your car. 😏 Check with your hotel beforehand to make sure you don’t get a surprise bill upon arrival.
Lastly when thinking about driving don’t forget to account for the traffic you will hit when you arrive in the Los Angeles area. Our best advice would be to arrive late at night when traffic is much, much lighter. You could spend 2+ hours sitting in gridlock traffic, exhausted, with kids, who have been in the car for 16+ hours, it’s not our favorite way to start off our vacation. Trust us we learned this one the hard way.
If you are thinking about driving remember when planning out your road trip that you’ll want to account for extra days for travel time. The Disney magic is amazing, but we can tell you firsthand that arriving in the middle of the night and hitting the parks bright and early the next morning may not be the most magical experience for you and your family. Our suggestion, if you’re going to be arriving late, is to take your first day off as a rest day. Sleep in, hit the pool, and maybe visit Downtown Disney before hitting the parks hard on day two. Trust us you will feel refreshed and ready for the Disney Magic this way because no one wants to start their vacation off already exhausted, right? 😴
Flying to Disneyland 🛩️
Flying offers the convenience of a quick trip and takes some of the stress off traveling in terms of getting there. Depending on where you live you can usually travel in less than 8 hours.
You have three options for airports to fly into that are in proximity to Disneyland, Santa Ana (SNA), Los Angeles (LAX), or Burbank (BUR). By far SNA is the closest to Disneyland making for only a 20–30-minute commute depending on traffic from the airport to the Anaheim Resort Area. LAX is the next closest and then BUR is the furthest.
The downside is that unless you have family or friends in the area to pick you up, you’ll need to think about transportation from the airport to your hotel and back. We usually take an Uber and have found that to be a very reliable and affordable way to get to and from our hotel. 🚕
Other options are shuttle services which we have done when traveling with large groups. The convenience of this is that it is reserved well ahead of your arrival, so you get there, and transportation is waiting for you. It is usually a little more expensive than an Uber though so do your research.
Or the last option is renting a car. If you're just going to Disney, you really don’t need a car as long as you are staying in the Anaheim Resort Area. Everything is either in walkable distance or you can take the ART which is the Anaheim Resort Transportation Service, essentially a bus. And consider that if you have a car you may end up having to pay for parking at your hotel. Depending on where you stay you could end up spending an additional $20+ per day extra just to park your rental car. If you’re trying to save money, we suggest you avoid car rentals altogether and go for the Uber option.
Flying can can get expensive especially if you're traveling during major holidays or peak seasons. Flight prices are unpredictable, however, if you are flexible with your travel dates you can find some killer deals. On our last trip to Disneyland, we were able to find flights for under $500 roundtrip for our family of four! Killer deal! Our favorite places to book flights to Disneyland are Kayak and Southwest Airlines, these are where we have had the best luck finding prices that were incomparable to anywhere else. Making flying super affordable and convenient a win, win in our book! 🤗
So Fly or Drive? That is the question.
While there are obvious advantages to both options, we have done both, and hands-down recommend flying over driving. But if budget is a concern driving is usually a great way to save a little money and you can make a fun road trip out of it to boot!
Have more questions about getting to Disney? Send us an email and we’ll help you get there! 🛫
Don’t forget to follow us on social to stay up to date with the newest tips, tricks, and Disney news!
Never want to miss out on new blog posts?
Sign-up below for our email list and you’ll be the first to know when new posts go live!
