No car - do able?

[FantasyAdventureTomorrow]

Hi, long time lurker first time poster.

I’ve done various trips to WDW from England but have never made it to California. I would very much like to visit in the next year or so. My main drawback is that I cannot drive. I would be stopping on Disney property and would preferably be over there for a minimum of 11 days. Am I limited to just Disney or is other sight seeing doable?

I genuinely have no idea where to begin with planning a potential trip, it’s kind of daunting

 

[MaC410]

My wife and I have a 9 day trip to Disneyland coming up in a few weeks and we don't plan to rent a car. There are many hotels within walking distance to the parks and we are staying at one of them for the whole trip. We wanted to see other things in the LA area and that was the only tricky thing to plan because we plan to get around using Uber/Lyft. If you are staying near Disneyland and want to go see other sights the best bet is to plan those other things for weekend days. With all the LA traffic during weekdays it really makes traveling a pain. A 30-40 minute weekend Uber drive from Disneyland to let's say Universal turns into a possible 2 hour drive during busy times during the week. So that's how we've planned our trip. Disneyland during the week, other places on the weekend.

 

[CaptainHappenstance]

Anaheim’s train station is just a few miles from Disneyland. You can Uber there and train it up and down the Southern California coast - San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, etc. Lots to see in each of those cities if you wanted to go visit there for the day (scheduling might make it a bit tougher) or overnight. Near Disney there’s also Knott’s Berry Farms which could be worth visiting if you’re interested.

 

[BadPinkTink]

I have been going to LA / Hollywood and Disneyland for the last 10 years and I dont drive. I do a split stay, a few days in LA / Hollywood and the stay in Motel 6 in Anaheim for Disneyland

I use public transport, city bus and underground in LA / Hollywood , supershuttle from and to LAX , the train to transfer between LA / Hollywood and ART in Anaheim.

This is my June 2018 trip report, where I have put both my LA and Disneyland ytips, including all my transport and how I get around https://www.disboards.com/threads/s...es-i-survived-with-no-maxpass-no-car.3692412/

This is my June 2019 Disneyland only trip report https://www.disboards.com/threads/t...any-firsts-mixed-with-old-favourites.3758518/

 

[BadPinkTink]

@FantasyAdventureTomorrow

1. the first thing to do is to decide what else beside Disney do you want to see.
2. Treat it like 2 different trips , a California LA trip and a Disney trip
3. Stay in LA / Hollywood for the usual tourist things, Hollywood Walk of Fame, Universal Studios, etc
4. In Anaheim its best to stay offsite, the onsite hotels are far too expensive.
5. For your LA tourist things, I use Google Maps to plan. You can see bus routes and underground routes. The Red Underground Metro Line is the line which connects to almost everywhere. I usually stay in a hotel about 10 minutes walk from a Red Line Metro station

 

[FantasyAdventureTomorrow]

Thank you all for your quick replies!

@FantasyAdventureTomorrow

1. the first thing to do is to decide what else beside Disney do you want to see.
2. Treat it like 2 different trips , a California LA trip and a Disney trip
3. Stay in LA / Hollywood for the usual tourist things, Hollywood Walk of Fame, Universal Studios, etc
4. In Anaheim its best to stay offsite, the onsite hotels are far too expensive.
5. For your LA tourist things, I use Google Maps to plan. You can see bus routes and underground routes. The Red Underground Metro Line is the line which connects to almost everywhere. I usually stay in a hotel about 10 minutes walk from a Red Line Metro station

That’s brilliant thank you! And I’ll definitely be reading your trip reports

 

[BadPinkTink]

Thank you all for your quick replies!
That’s brilliant thank you! And I’ll definitely be reading your trip reports

You are welcome

Plan in stages

1. Flight to and from UK
2. Then decide how many days in LA / Hollywood
3. Then decide how man days in Anaheim for Disneyland
4. The decide where to stay in LA / Hollywood
5. Then decide where to stay in Anaheim for Disneyland
6. Then decide what to see and do in LA / Hollywood

When you travel from UK you leave and arrive on the same day
When you travel from LAX you will arrive back in UK the next day

Dont plan much for your arrival and departure days

 

[MillauFr]

We don't rent a car any more in Southern California. We just use Lyft and the train.

 

[BadPinkTink]

Just an FYI for Americans offering transport advice. Many internationals do not have data on their phones when we visit California / USA. While using Uber and Lyft may be convenient to you, its not a realistic option for many internationals. For 10 years I had my phone on Airplane Mode, with Data Roaming turned off and relied on free Wifi. The only way for me to get data was to buy an American SIM card. Just bare this in mind when you offer advice to international people travelling to Disneyland California for the first time

 

[B3rlingirl]

Just an FYI for Americans offering transport advice. Many internationals do not have data on their phones when we visit California / USA. While using Uber and Lyft may be convenient to you, its not a realistic option for many internationals. For 10 years I had my phone on Airplane Mode, with Data Roaming turned off and relied on free Wifi. The only way for me to get data was to buy an American SIM card. Just bare this in mind when you offer advice to international people travelling to Disneyland California for the first time

Yep that’s true! And definitely something to keep in mind!
But if you don’t wanna do a smartphone detox some mobile data is very handy while touring in a foreign city...
Of course you can do very well without any data if you plan a little ahead but on my last trip I found it really useful to be able to check some websites (for restaurants hours or menus) on the go or check a bus schedule...
Also American SIM cards with data plans aren’t that expensive anymore...(at least they are cheaper than I thought they would be) for example: I found one with 4gb data (this year it’s even 5gb) for about 18€ on Amazon.de I guess something similar should be available on Amazon.uk...

And to OP‘s topic....
Getting from LAX (I assume you’ll arrive there) to DL shouldn’t be a problem. There are lots of different options to choose from (uber/lyft, shared shuttles, the Disney resort express...there are different Threads covering that topic)
In Anaheim you can use the ART which is an local bus for example to get to the closest mall (outlets of orange)...
If you wanna do sightseeing in LA I would also suggest staying in LA for that because of all the traffic on the way to and from DL...
I think badpinktink already gave you quite some useful information... I also really like the idea of using the metro in LA and use the train to travel from LA to Anaheim. (Because I don’t really plan on renting a car again in LA anytime soon) I might actually do this on our next trip if I decide to do some Sightseeing in LA...

 

[WonkaKid]

I genuinely have no idea where to begin with planning a potential trip, it’s kind of daunting

Before I moved here, I'd stay at a fantastic hostel in Santa Monica (https://www.hiusa.org/hostels/california/los-angeles/santa-monica). It's two blocks from the ocean and otherwise in a great neighborhood. I suggest spending several days in LA. There are lots of things to see and do here and the desk folk at the hostel are exceptionally helpful. There are a lot of buses to nearly anywhere you'd like to go and it's also a great place to meet other travelers. On Wednesdays and Saturdays there's a fantastic farmer's market a mere few blocks away with many organic choices. Fresh SoCal oranges are by far the best. I'm not sure what their rates are currently but when I last stayed there, I believe they were around $35 per night, which includes breakfast. I've been to 30 countries (38, if you count repeats) and have stayed in hostels countless times. They're so much cheaper than hotels and you meet more interesting people. For example, I met a guy in Peru once who was walking from the southern tip of Argentina to Alaska.

 

[Disney_Alli]

As another international traveler who did many trips without data I will say that most of the ride services can be used from available free wifi (ie want one from your hotel? Use the data in the lobby to call one. Most fast food places and coffee shops have wifi too) I will say having wifi on the buses in Ireland was a godsend to us for our 8 days there without data and without wifi in the house until about day 5.