LAX to DL area total trip time with rental car pick up?

[TreeDharni]

We are arriving at LAX on a Thursday ( October 9th) at 7:55am with no checked bags. How long should it take me to get my rental car (at Alamo), drive, and arrive in the DL area? Our hotel is about a mile away from DL on Harbor. We will be going to DL that day so time is pretty important. Would it save very much time if we just took a cab? I have searched high and low for my answer but I have not been able to find morning traffic info. Thank you all for your help!

 

[lk2500]

We are arriving at LAX on a Thursday ( October 9th) at 7:55am with no checked bags. How long should it take me to get my rental car (at Alamo), drive, and arrive in the DL area? Our hotel is about a mile away from DL on Harbor. We will be going to DL that day so time is pretty important. Would it save very much time if we just took a cab? I have searched high and low for my answer but I have not been able to find morning traffic info. Thank you all for your help!

Our flight on a a Thursday in June arrived around 9:40am and we had to wait for our luggage and get a car at Avis. We were at DL ticket window by noon after parking at the FFI and getting our parking pass.

I would stick with your current plan. If you can set it up with Alamo for express pick-up where you skip the desk and just go straight to your car that helps immensely. Avis calls it Avis Preferred, not sure how Alamo works. They just send you an email or text that morning what parking spot your car is in, pretty handy.

Traffic will be heavy no matter what, just be familiar with what route to take ahead of time. I don't have that info here but I'm sure somebody can help with that.

 

[ClosetDisneyJunkie]

Yeah, traffic is an enormous x-factor, but I would think it would be heavy at that time.

One important note is that all cars are kept offsite, so you get a shuttle from the airport out to the rental facility. It's not far at all but waiting for the bus and then getting out to the facility will add 10-15 minutes before you even get to Alamo.

I haven't rented from Alamo at LAX before but I've rented from other companies and I've actually been pretty pleasantly surprised at how quickly they move people through. I'm sure experiences will vary widely though

Sorry I can't give you hard numbers, maybe some of the locals can give you decent estimate for drive time at that time of day.

 

[CalgaryTroy]

In February ( mid-day Thursday ) I made it in about 2 hours:

From my Tripadvisor post -


Exact timing - touched down about 1:35, off the plane in 5 min, luggage and shuttle to Dollar took the longest - 20 minutes. BTW - as mentioned Dollar Express....awesome!


Was in the car at 2:15 - only 45 minutes from Dollar to Anaheim, checking in took a little longer than expected as room wasn't quite ready yet, so we waited from 3:05 to 3:20, in the room about 3:25 for a quick wash and change into shorts and walking over around 3:30, and at the turnstiles about 3:40.


so total: plane touchdown to gates - 2 hours almost exactly.

 

[cruise cruise cruise]

Figure it is going to take you 30 minutes to get the shuttle to the rental car location, check out and get your car.

Traffic is going to be the same regardless of if you drive or take a cab, so just the 30 minutes savings cab vs rental car.

My best suggestion for figuring out drive time, next week check mapquest from LAX to your hotel. Do this each weekday morning at/around 8am. MapQuest will give you the travel time with current traffic.

 

[TreeDharni]

Thank you all so much. This really helps. I will defiantly try to sign up for some kind of preferred membership with Alamo and check map quest daily. We were not planning on having arrival day as a park day when I booked my flight but the very next day I found out my tickets are for two days not just one. I think the park opens at 10 that day so I'm hoping not to miss too much valuable park time. I chose to rent a car for this short trip because it will save me about $30-$40 with the 3 adults in my party. I just hope my little bit of savings does not cost me too much in park time. It seems like it all depends on how long it takes to get the car and be on the road. I was planning on the LA morning traffic to be bad, I just didn't take in to consideration the time to rent a car. Wish me luck!

 

[cruise cruise cruise]

We were not planning on having arrival day as a park day when I booked my flight but the very next day I found out my tickets are for two days not just one.

Well then, I say look at your arrival day as a "bonus" day and don't stress about your arrival time. You will get there when you get there and will have a great time no matter what time you arrive

 

[SMD]

Thank you all so much. This really helps. I will defiantly try to sign up for some kind of preferred membership with Alamo and check map quest daily. We were not planning on having arrival day as a park day when I booked my flight but the very next day I found out my tickets are for two days not just one. I think the park opens at 10 that day so I'm hoping not to miss too much valuable park time. I chose to rent a car for this short trip because it will save me about $30-$40 with the 3 adults in my party. I just hope my little bit of savings does not cost me too much in park time. It seems like it all depends on how long it takes to get the car and be on the road. I was planning on the LA morning traffic to be bad, I just didn't take in to consideration the time to rent a car. Wish me luck!

The parks open at 9am that day, with DCA closing at 8pm and DL at 11pm. You do know that the 10th is a Halloween party night and DL will close at 7pm.

I would check traffic while on the way to get the rental car. As an example, I was headed to the park earlier this week, I saw a sign on the 105 that said 9 minutes to the 710, 25 minutes to the 605. That means traffic, so I quick, refreshed my map app and it said the 110 was fastest, so I took that. Now, I probably only saved at most 15 minutes, so on most days I would probably just stick to my route, but I was meeting someone this time, so I felt I should try to be close to on time.

 

[TreeDharni]

Update: we landed at LAX at 7:40 am on the 9th. Walked out of the plane at 7:50 and did not have checked bags so we were down to the shuttle area in 5 mins (took us a min to find our way). We waited 10 mins for the shuttle and it was a 10 min drive to Alamo. Check in took 2 mins at the kiosk and we walked straight out and picked our own car. We arrived at our hotel (Wyndham Garden Grove) at 9:40. My gps told me to take the 405 to the 22. I felt like we made great time in LA traffic. My goal was to be there by 10. Thank you all for your tips.