Best way to get to/from LA from Anaheim

[SteveNZ]

We (family of 4, two young teens) live in New Zealand and have a 2-week Disneyland trip booked for April 2024. Disneyland is the focus of the holiday so basing ourselves in Anaheim but want to get around LA also. In particular, we have tickets for a Clippers game at the crypto.com arena one evening, and we also want to get to Universal Studios and some of the sites like Huntingdon, Santa Monica, Hollywood etc. My questions are:

• For the clippers game, what's the best way (in terms of safety, time and cost) to get from the Anaheim resort to crypto.com arena. Considering the game likely finishes around 10pm, keen to understand how "safe" that part of town is at night, are Ubers likely to be available, do they hit crazy surge pricing after a game? Is public transport safe? Happy to consider anything, provided it's safe.
• What's the best way to get to/from Universal Studios for one day?
• What's the best way to see the tourist spots in a day? Any tours you'd recommend that pick-up / drop-off in Anaheim? Is it better / cheaper to just Uber from spot to spot at our own pace?

Thank you for any thoughts / advice!

 

[DLgal]

Rent a car. You are going to be there way too long to not have one. Los Angeles is HUGE and it's not going to make either financial or logistical sense to be using ride shares or public transportation for that many excursions. You need a car, end of story.

P.S. I live here. You need a car.

 

[Pluto468]

I agree with DLgal. Traffic is a pain, but trying to handle LA by uber alone or public transportation would be worse. The places you're going to are all far away from each other.

Would it be possible to split your trip into 2 hotel stays? One LA area hotel for Universal, Hollywood and Santa Monica, then move to a Disneyland area hotel for the DL part of your trip?

 

[farmfresh2]

Hi Stevenz
Kiwi too, and have visited many times. A rental may be a good option for you. The traffic is pretty easy to navigate (no worse than Auckland). But parking can be a hassle and $$ at some Disney locations.
I’d consider planning out the trip a bit more too. Anaheim is not a convenient location for visiting LA. You’d be better to do Universal/Hollywood/the old stapes center/Santa Monica whilst being based near by… so consider areas around Hollywood, West Hollywood, or , Santa Monica etc… then do Huntington beach , Disney , Knotts etc from Anaheim.
You will waste hours and hours travelling between these destinations, as well as $$$ ubering around. (I hate to think what it would cost from crypto to Anaheim at surge, plus that relies on someone actually wanting to head to Anaheim at that time of night).
You may have already factored travel times in, but between Anaheim and LA expect to spend at least an hour from the airport (fast ) and quite a bit more anytime during rush hour. Add even more time to get from Anaheim through town to Universal. (We once spent 3 hours crossing from SM to Hollywood…. The traffic was exceptionally bad on that occasion but it gives you an idea). To make universal day worthwhile from Anaheim you will have to get up early and brave rush hour.

If you spend two or three days on arrival doing the LA stuff , you can do the things you describe via Uber. There are usually designated Uber pick up /drop off zones so you should be safe enough after a game, but be aware that LAX doesn’t allow Uber curb pick up… they have a special zone which you have to get do )past Terminal 1… you will come in at 4)…and you order from there. Walk or catch a shuttle. A bit painful with tired kids, (you will also need to shuttle to the rental car area if you decide to hire one).

One advantage of splitting your stay is instead you could just grab a taxi from the curb (designated locations) to some LA accommodation on arriving. When you need to head down to Anaheim you can get an Uber from your hotel. Uber and they can drop you at the curb.

Anyway, just suggestion! Sure you’ll have a great trip!

 

[pennym]

Another Kiwi here. We always split stay between Anaheim and LA. Transportation costs are huge between places. However, we found a great taxi driver who likes Kiwis and took us everywhere we wanted to go in the Anaheim/Buena Park area. He'd pick us up late at night from wherever we were too. If you'd like his number, pm me.

 

[akadada]

Rent a car. Do not try to Uber LA. I travel to CA for work a lot and would never NOT have a car there.

 

[DLgal]

I also agree with the suggestion to split your stay and find a centrally located LA hotel for all the LA stuff.

However if you really want to stay in Anaheim the whole time, the best advice I can give you for visiting Universal is to go on a Saturday or Sunday and go EARLY (be on the road by 6:30am). You will sail right into the parking lot within 30 minutes. The same trip during the week can take 3 or 4 times as long.

But either way, I'd still rent a car. Ride shares have become VERY expensive in this area in recent months and something like trying to get an Uber after a sporting event is a nightmare scenario, honestly. Don't do it.

 

[StageTek]

We (family of 4, two young teens) live in New Zealand and have a 2-week Disneyland trip booked for April 2024. Disneyland is the focus of the holiday so basing ourselves in Anaheim but want to get around LA also. In particular, we have tickets for a Clippers game at the crypto.com arena one evening, and we also want to get to Universal Studios and some of the sites like Huntingdon, Santa Monica, Hollywood etc. My questions are:

• For the clippers game, what's the best way (in terms of safety, time and cost) to get from the Anaheim resort to crypto.com arena. Considering the game likely finishes around 10pm, keen to understand how "safe" that part of town is at night, are Ubers likely to be available, do they hit crazy surge pricing after a game? Is public transport safe? Happy to consider anything, provided it's safe.
• What's the best way to get to/from Universal Studios for one day?
• What's the best way to see the tourist spots in a day? Any tours you'd recommend that pick-up / drop-off in Anaheim? Is it better / cheaper to just Uber from spot to spot at our own pace?

Thank you for any thoughts / advice!

I'm a local. If you don't want to rent a car then there isn't a cheap option.

Yes you can use rideshare for all of your options. Public transportation in the LA/Anaheim area just isn't good. It CAN be done and I'd be glad to give you a step-by-step route from Anaheim to Crypto and Universal - but it's not convenient and can take a very long time.

Leaving the Clippers game there will be rideshares available - there will be surge pricing after the game.

Anaheim Tour Company has the most options. To and from Universal, to and from Paramount Studios with stops along Hollywood Blvd. There is even a Huntington Beach trip. They offer a private tour fitted to exactly what you want to see but that's not cheap.

 

[GoingSince1990]

I would also recommend renting a car, which is also good for getting to and from the airport. One advantage you have is that you will be allowed to use the carpool lanes which can speed things up a bit. Uber is the other option, but Ubering everywhere will probably end up costing more money. As an example I just checked in the app and right now it’s about $45 from Disneyland to the Crypto.com
arena (but after a game the surge pricing will probably be extortionate) and about $55 to Universal. (In addition I usually tip 20%).

 

[akadada]

But either way, I'd still rent a car. Ride shares have become VERY expensive in this area in recent months and something like trying to get an Uber after a sporting event is a nightmare scenario, honestly. Don't do it.

Totally this. Beyond lack of availability, you can easily rent a car for less than one round trip uber in LA area, especially if it's over 15 miles. Orlando we'll Uber, sure. But LA...no way.

 

[SteveNZ]

OK, on advice in this thread we have decided to change to a split stay, so first five days in Hollywood (for Universal, the Clippers Game, Griffith Obersvatory, general sight-seeing) and then down to Anaheim for the remainder. The huge bummer is that we booked Residence Inn Anaheim Convention Centre originally, and now if I want to change the booking to less days the nightly-rate actually doubles which we can't afford, so looking at moving to the Cambria instead which is a little further away but looks comparable.

Still not keen on hiring a car -- neither my wife nor I are confident in LA traffic and everywhere wants $40 per day for parking, and it just doesn't seem necessary. For the Hollywood section of the holiday it seems we can get to everywhere we want to get inexpensively either on the Metro or via Uber. For the Anaheim section, there's nowhere we really need to get to other than the parks so not worth the cost of a car.

Thanks for all your advice. I'm really blown away by how expensive accommodation is in LA compared to our last visit, but I guess everyone is travelling again and the industry wants to recoup its Covid losses so just have to swallow it and make some neat memories!

 

[Vala]

If you are doing split stay and you really don't want to drive it may cost you a little more but yes you can do without a car. It's the back and forth between Anaheim and the other places that would have killed you IMHO. Car may still be cheaper overall, but only you can judge how much your peace of mind is worth to you.

Traffic is probably not as bad as you think. First year I came over my friends insisted on getting me everywhere thinking I couldn't cope. It wasn't worse than a German bigger city during rush hour. But if you don't like rush hour then it may be an issue.

Uber surge pricing after events is insane. I was at Wrestlemania in Inglewood in April, pricing more than quadrupled. That is if you even got a car. Ended up waiting 1.5 hours for a bus and got on that to get out of the surge pricing area. After Raw in the Crypto.com arena the price still had almost doubled.

 

[OlliePop27]

As someone who grew up in CA and has visited LA and Disneyland on trips from out of town, I agree that having a car for the LA portion is the most convenient choice. I also think the split stay is the right choice. I understand the frustration about renting a car and paying for parking. The problem is that even in Hollywood, things are not as close as you might presume and it limits your options for maybe visiting a beach if the desire arises. Ubering so many times to so many places would be complex and expensive, and I would not rely on the metro because of the spread out nature of LA.

Return the car as soon as possible once settled into Anaheim. Lots of options to do so at the convention center or on Katella. I've done this many times and often just walk back to my hotel after dropping off the rental.

Keep checking hotel rates. Things can and do change constantly with rates.

 

[DLgal]

As someone who grew up in CA and has visited LA and Disneyland on trips from out of town, I agree that having a car for the LA portion is the most convenient choice. I also think the split stay is the right choice. I understand the frustration about renting a car and paying for parking. The problem is that even in Hollywood, things are not as close as you might presume and it limits your options for maybe visiting a beach if the desire arises. Ubering so many times to so many places would be complex and expensive, and I would not rely on the metro because of the spread out nature of LA.

Return the car as soon as possible once settled into Anaheim. Lots of options to do so at the convention center or on Katella. I've done this many times and often just walk back to my hotel after dropping off the rental.

Keep checking hotel rates. Things can and do change constantly with rates.

Piggy backing on this, there are several rental car locations on Katella less than 2 blocks from the Cambria.

I'd agree with renting a car for the LA portion.

 

[Proud Cheapskate]

LA traffic while driving on the wrong side of the road while sitting on the wrong side of the car (for a New Zealander)? I don't blame you for not wanting to do it. I tried it in England and it was an abject failure. I really don't have any advice other than skip the car.

 

[felice]

LA traffic does take quite a bit of getting used to but - providing you take it steady and don't rush to be in places for certain timeframes then you should be OK. Also, when it comes to actually hiring a car, do consider avoiding the LAX area and also Disney - outside of these areas the price of renting a car, even for a week, does come down by a lot of $$$. Orange County - for example - has plenty of respectable locations where cars can be hired from and where you won't get ripped off either. These are more popular with the locals, rather than the tourist / travel areas.

 

[jimmymc]

Universal is about 90 minutes each direction from Disneyland, and places like the beach or Malibu can be over two hours. If you can split your stay, there are plenty of great hotels in Beverly Hills and West Hollywood. From there, you'd be able to take Ubers to places like Universal, Studio Tours, and the beach.

If you can't split your stay, definitely rent a car, even if it's only for a few days.

 

[Sykes]

IMO, with split stay Uber/Lyft is a perfectly viable option--I've done exactly the kind of trip you're doing with Uber/Lyft only and it worked well. (My favorite hotel in Hollywood charges $65/nt. for parking so it's rare that a rental car makes sense financially if I'm staying there.) Probably the biggest pain you'll encounter is the pickup at crypto.com Arena--you won't have any trouble finding a car, but there will be moderate surge, there will be a bit of a wait, and you can expect the pickup situation to be a bit of a mess.

Also, if you haven't already, consider calling the Residence Inn in Anaheim and see if you can remove dates without affecting your rate. Most likely you can't, but sometimes you'll have more luck on the phone than you will online.

Edited to add: For your travel between Hollywood-area and Anaheim, one option to consider is the Pacific Surfliner Train. It's $19 and about 90 minutes so it won't save you a TON in time or money, but It runs 4x per day between Burbank or Van Nuys and Anaheim and might be a bit more pleasant than waiting in traffic in an Uber.

 

[bcla]

I've personally taken public transportation to a game there (LA Kings) and found it worked well, but I was taking the Metro E line to Santa Monica. I have taken the 460 bus to Anaheim from downtown LA, and it can get interesting because of some of the neighborhoods it passes through. It takes a while though, but I've successfully used it. But the 460 has several stops close to the arena.

I wouldn't worry about safety around the arena when there's an event. The important thing to do is have their TAP fare card. There is no discount for children who aren't part of a special program with local schools.

 

[DLgal]

One way to mitigate the Crypto Arena situation is just book one of the hotels in the immediate LA Live area and walk back after the game. That's actually a pretty good central location for a hotel base in LA.