Talk to me about one way car rentals

[Californiacicle]

I have seen mention in the past of people renting a car from LAX to DTD and back in lieu of taking a shuttle or the Disneyland Express. My husband is skeptical of this but with 3 adults and one child, it seems like it might be more economical.

Who all has done this? Is this really a viable option? We don't want to rent for a week because we plan on only going to the parks the whole trip.

 

[pamelaj]

I recently did a ton of research on this for a trip later this month. We actually fly into San Diego, spend two days at Legoland and then go on to Disneyland. The shuttles from Lego to Disney were ridiculous (over $100 for a one hour drive). For us, renting a car from Alamo was cheaper, so we pick it up at the airport and drive it to Legoland then Disneyland and leave it there, a block from our hotel. This was much cheaper then a shuttle to Legoland and separate transportation to Anaheim. You may want to check out Alamo too, they also have a drop off station in Downtown Disney.
Hope this helps!

 

[tarheelalum]

I checked the rates and it seems with tax, airport fees and gas, it will run you about 50 dollars going from Anaheim to LAX with enterprise and 125 (50 for car and 75 taxes and fees!!!!) going from LAX to Anaheim. This is not including the cab fare you are going to need to take you from the car rental place in Anaheim to your hotel at the beginning of the trip and the hotel to the car rental place at the end of the trip. I always drive to DL so I don't know if it pays to do this or not. It does seem like it would be a hassle to do all of this but if it saves you a lot of money it might be worth it.


If I was going to do this I would take a cab from LAX to one of the enterprise locations in El Segundo or Manhattan Beach to get out of paying the insane LAX taxes and fees on rental cars. You will save A LOT of money this way but it is a hassle with all of the cab rides.

 

[atmail35]

Check the rates, because I found when you rent from LAX, the airport fees make it pretty expensive.

We have done a one-way rental from DTD Alamo (via Costco) and dropped it at the San Diego Airport and the price was very reasonable.

 

[Tasscrapper]

I have a one way booked from LGB to Anaheim. Avis was the cheapest and the drop off is on Katella very close to our hotel. I found that there was absolutely differences in prices from the different companies so make sure you check out all the companies.

 

[Californiacicle]

Last night I was looking around on Priceline and I found I could get a one way for $36 from Dollar. The lot to drop off/pick up is down the street and around the corner from the hotel we want to stay in. That seems like it would be an amazing deal. I don't know if that's pre taxes though.

 

[Rubygoose]

I've been looking into doing something similar... looking at renting a car near Disneyland, driving down to Legoland and then driving up to SNA the next day when we fly home. It seems to be a better option than just renting a car for the day in the middle of our trip to drive to legoland and back to Anaheim because most of the rental places want you to return the car by 6pm on a weekday or you get charged for 2 days. And we're going to need to get to the airport somehow anyway.

Does anyone know which (if any) rental companies bring the car and meet you at your hotel for free or even for a small fee?

 

[deesquared]

We did this on our last trip.
We rented a car from SNA. I think it was Alamo? Not sure...my husband arranged it all.
We were then able to drive to In N Out Burger on our way to DL, and stop at the Von's to pick up groceries to bring back to the hotel.
We stayed at Paradise Pier, and when we told them we were only parking the car for one night, they were nice enough to waive the parking fee.
The next day, my husband took the car back to the rental place, only a couple blocks away, and walked back to the hotel.
It was a great way to go!
We then took a flat rate taxi back to the airport when it was time to go home. It was only about $30, and we requested a minivan so there was plenty of room for kids and suitcases!