Long Layover at LAX? Go to Disneyland!
Why Sit Around Bored at the Airport when You Could Spend Those Hours at "The Most Magical Place on Earth"
Are you thinking it just sounds a little too hard to leave the airport, get yourself to Disneyland, and back to LAX in time for your flight? Let me assure you that it is rather easy and more importantly, it is truly worth the effort!
Our family will be renting a car at LAX and driving to Disneyland. If you do not wish to rent a car there are shuttles you can take from LAX to Disneyland and back again, however we find renting a car to be more economical and less stressful than catching the shuttles. It takes about 45 minutes to drive from LAX to Disneyland (over an hour in traffic) so make sure to allow enough time for your return drive to LAX. The Disneyland website has up-to-date driving directions to get you from LAX to Disneyland in the shortest amount of time.
As you will likely have less than a full day to spend at Disneyland, I highly recommend you buy the latest edition of "The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland". Every time we go to Disneyland we buy the latest edition of "The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland" as it is worth its weight in gold with all of the time-saving tips it has in it. This guide will help you make the very most of your short visit.
A day at Disneyland is not cheap. For this reason we like to spend our time on the rides, not shopping in the stores. We also buy quick snacks instead of spending time sitting down for a full lunch or dinner. Do you have young children? Disneyland has several "pressed penny" machines that make quick and inexpensive souvenirs. For just 51 cents your child can choose the design of their choice and then hand-crank their very own Disneyland pressed penny. I get quarters and pennies from the bank before we leave home so we are ready to go when we see the first pressed penny machine.
Spending your layover at Disneyland is a world away from spending your layover at LAX! It is easy to do and it may just prove to be a highlight of your trip, instead of the absolute low point. Tomorrow our family will happily spend our layover, not at LAX, but at "The Most Magical Place on Earth". We'll let Mickey know you'll see him soon.
Published by Yvette Testut
Yvette is a wife and mother of four. She is a dual citizen (USA and New Zealand) and enjoys traveling the world. Once a third grade teacher she is now a Creative Memories Consultant. Yvette is happiest when... View profile
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What a great idea - lots more fun than spending the whole day at the airport. Hope you had a good time.
Excellent tips Colleen, thanks. You are right about the traffic and LAX, both can be awful. We were very lucky this time - got to Disneyland in about 40 minutes and it was the same returning to LAX (but it was not at peak traffic hours) and check-in was easy as we had checked all our bags in Dallas to go straight through to our destination. I would love to go to the parks in Tokyo and Hong Kong, you are so lucky!! Thanks again for your very helpful info!
Yvette, getting the 'Unofficial Guide to Disneyland' is great advice; with a large family, time saving tips are always appreciated. Thanks for another great article, and enjoy your trip!
Just a caveat on LA traffic - an hour is really the lower end of drive time, depending on time of day. I grew up in LA and used to commute between those two areas and many days it would take over 2 hours to make that drive. Traffic is sadly unpredictable in LA (well, it's predictable that there will always be traffic) so you must allow ample time to return to LAX. Depending on whether you have an international connection, wait times at LAX are miserable. I fly between Asia and LAX monthly and if I have to go through Tom Bradley, it can be two hours to get through the screening process since you have to personally take your checked bags to a TSA agent before going through security. Hope you had a fun time at Disneyland - I miss being able to go weekly, but now my "home parks" are Hong Kong and Tokyo. Just finished up a few days at Disneyland California and this past weekend at Tokyo Disney. I never get tired of visiting the parks!
Would love to go to Disneyland!