Southern Grayline

[abbie13_15]

We are looking into using the Southern Grayline buses for our transportation. I just talked to a very helpful lady from the company. It looks pretty reasonable price wise. $30 round trip for airport transportation. They are also offering free transportation to SeaWorld and Knott's. What are some of your thoughts or experiences on their service.

Also, has anyone used this service for trips to see Hollywood and LA? If so, which one would you suggest?

 

[ukstitch]

I've used them for two separate trips because I don't drive and I've found them very good.

The airport transportation they pick you straight up outside the terminal in a very easy to spot bus and drop you right outside your hotel (at least for us they did - we stayed at HoJos). Return is the same, though we did hav eto change bus at the Disneyland Hotel.

The park trips are similar - they pick you up right outside your hotel and then take you to their main base. From there you get on your specific bus and take you to the park. Coming back you get on the same bus (unless you've been to knotts) with the same driver and they drop you back to your hotel.

I've always found the service easy, clean and friendly and I'd definitely use them again

 

[jlmarr]

We've actually used their Disneyland Express buses to/from LAX or SNA and are very happy with them. Smooth ride vs a sometimes bumpy and harrowing ride with shuttle vans.

We've never done the LA/Hollywood tours, but the Hop On/Hop Off tour sounds interesting. Here's a map. I'm just not sure if they have provisions for connections from Anaheim.

 

[Disneylovers2000]

We used this service for two things last November. Firstly we took the shuttle to and from LAX-Ramada Maingate then for a tour from Ramada Maingate in Anaheim to Universal studios. We did not have a problem with anything. The price was reasonable, the pick up and drop off were at the times they quoted us and our tour guide/bus driver Charles was the BEST! Very informative and funny!! We will definately being using this service again for our trip in July for airport shuttle and our trip to Sea World.
Good luck and have fun!!

 

[pigby]

We've actually used their Disneyland Express buses to/from LAX or SNA and are very happy with them. Smooth ride vs a sometimes bumpy and harrowing ride with shuttle vans.

We've never done the LA/Hollywood tours, but the Hop On/Hop Off tour sounds interesting. Here's a map. I'm just not sure if they have provisions for connections from Anaheim.

I agree the hop on and off tour looks good - it does say though that hotel pick up isnt included which is a pity.

We did the LA/Hollywood tour and also the Universal/LA night tour with them last year and had no problems with them. The LA/Hollywood tour was good but didnt stop as long as we wanted in some places - went to Santa Monica beach as well - wanted to look in the shops on Rodeo Drive but we just drove down there and didnt get off the bus (not that I would have been able to afford anything in the shops, mind you but wouldv'e liked to have window shopped).

 

[yupikgal]

pigby, we went on a tour last summer and had a GREAT time, and it was small and intimate, so it allowed us to get out and walk around Rodeo (can't afford anything either, but I did use the bathroom in one of the fancy hotels!) and we did a VIP tour of Warner Brother studios, went to a mansion on top of a hill overlooking L.A. called Greystone Manor, had lunch at a local hamburger joint, even got to stand in front of Michael Jackson's gate to the last house he lived in! It was fabulous, search for anaheim411.org it is fantastic!! We only had one other couple with us, so it really was nice. We drove around and looked at star's homes and got to walk around a bit too, not just drive by everything. I'd do it again!!

 

[HGLightlyj]

pigby, we went on a tour last summer and had a GREAT time, and it was small and intimate, so it allowed us to get out and walk around Rodeo (can't afford anything either, but I did use the bathroom in one of the fancy hotels!) and we did a VIP tour of Warner Brother studios, went to a mansion on top of a hill overlooking L.A. called Greystone Manor, had lunch at a local hamburger joint, even got to stand in front of Michael Jackson's gate to the last house he lived in! It was fabulous, search for anaheim411.org it is fantastic!! We only had one other couple with us, so it really was nice. We drove around and looked at star's homes and got to walk around a bit too, not just drive by everything. I'd do it again!!

Thanks so much for this post. Have reserved a spot on this tour with the anaheim visitor center. google anaheim411.com through anaheim visitor center. This sounds exactly like the tour I wanted!

 

[niklynn1]

I am trying to plan a trip to SoCal for the first week of June, and hesitant about driving. After reading this thread, I investigated Anaheim411 as it sounded like a possibility for tours that would minimize me needing to drive in LA traffic.

However, on TripAdvisor, there are quite a few posts about negative experiences with this company. Some people called them "scammers" and "con artists". Not sure if it is true or not, but its enough to cause me to avoid them. I don't want to spend my vacation dealing with stress over if they will show up or not.

 

[HGLightlyj]

I am trying to plan a trip to SoCal for the first week of June, and hesitant about driving. After reading this thread, I investigated Anaheim411 as it sounded like a possibility for tours that would minimize me needing to drive in LA traffic.

However, on TripAdvisor, there are quite a few posts about negative experiences with this company. Some people called them "scammers" and "con artists". Not sure if it is true or not, but its enough to cause me to avoid them. I don't want to spend my vacation dealing with stress over if they will show up or not.

I just came back from my trip and from my experience with my tour from the Anaheim Visitor Center I would highly recommend them. I don't know about the negative reviews. I took the Grand Tour LA/Hollywood Tour and it was wonderful. I called and reserved with a man named Tom and he did not require any money up front. He called to confirm the pick-up time a day ahead. The bus picked me up at the hotel and the driver was very informative. Dropped us off near Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Kodak Theatre, Walk of Fame, dropped us off to walk Rodeo Drive, had 1 1/4 hrs at Farmers Market/Grove, had lots of time at both Santa Monica Pier and Venice Beach. Some things in LA we were not able to do as they were filming a movie in downtown LA. Driver was very informative and did not solicit a tip at all. Picked up at 8:30 and back to hotel by 4:00. $72.00 Thought they were great!

 

[yupikgal]

niklynn1, I have not read the reviews on tripadvisor, truthfully, so I can't verify them. What I can tell you is that my family and I really enjoyed our tour, like I said earlier, the driver (I think he's the owner of the company?) came and picked us up from our hotel, there was only one other couple with us, but he switched to a bigger vehicle, which I thought was nice! It wasn't a huge double decker bus like you see driving around, it was a large van, and very comfortable. We were thrilled not to have to drive ourselves. We chose the tour with the VIP Warner Bros. tour, the Greystone Manor, Movie Star homes, Rodeo drive, he stops at a little well known burger joint which is really yummy and inexpensive, and then at the end of the day we went inside some of the nicer older hotels in downtown LA and I loved it, one was the one they used in the 30's, where they held the first Academy Awards! It had an elegant lobby and lots of old pictures of stars from that era...but then again, I love that type of thing! The tour was like $115pp. It was well worth it in my opinion, we didn't have to worry about driving, and it was all day, we got our moneys worth! Good luck!

 

[DLKiwi]

G'day

Like some other people here I'm considering using Southern GreyLine to get from Anaheim to Universal. Possibly the Combo tour that does a short tour on the way home.

The hotel pick up is around 8:15am, off to their main base, and then to the park. They say that we'd get there around 10am. Is that accurate? Or are we going to be getting to the park late and not getting as much time at Universal?

I'm renting a car the following day anyway, and we are a group of 3, so I'm considering just renting the car a day early and getting to the park as it opens. I like the idea of a tour after we have finished in the park (as offered by Greyline) but I guess we may be that tired that we just want to get back to our Anaheim hotel. Or we may want to look around ourselves.

I'm thinking about doing this on a Saturday, so I guess traffic will be lighter.

Any thoughts appreciated.