Arriving through LA or Anaheim?

[Dr Gunnie]

First Disneyland trip coming up and we are flying into and departing from LGB in Long Beach. Just curious if anyone has experience with LGB and could answer a few questions:

1. Is using a rideshare/taxi still the best bet price wise to get to and from the airport? I looked at a few shuttle services, but they seemed to be a lot more expensive.

2. Our flight returning home leaves at 12:45pm. We have a morning breakfast reservation at 8:35am. Figured we should be able to eat, get back to the room and checkout by 10:00am. Does 2 hours, 45 min give us enough time to comfortable get back to LGB?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Tinkaboo]

Yes, rideshare is best but depending upon your day/time of day, it can be CRAZY. Lots of cruise ship people use this airport so it depends on when the cruise ships are coming and going. Someone else on here who cruises can describe it better. I have been at the airport when it was practically empty....and when its jammed packed. If i recall, it's usually Friday/saturday.

Also in December (my most recent trip), there was a lot of construction around dropoff lanes that also created havoc. But the trip itself is about same time /distance as John Wayne so would say your time allotment is plenty.

Also be aware that there are not a lot of dining options there...and def no Starbucks.
But if you just had breakfast, not a problem.

One more thing...you might want to book your Uber in advance for that morning...sometimes it might be a 15 minute wait to get picked up.

 

[LKing]

I love LGB! It is a great airport that is easy to get in and out of and usually has short, quick, security lines.

I believe rideshare/taxi is going to be your best option. Both are easy to pick up at LGB.

If your flight leaves at 12:45 you'll want to be there by 11:30 ish. Regardless, leaving Disneyland at 10 am should give you enough time to get to LGB by 11:30 am.

 

[hardcorestitch]

Avoid LAX at all costs. If you can go through ONT, SNA or LGB from your airline go through there. Much smaller and easier to navigate.

 

[Lumpy1106]

First Disneyland trip coming up and we are flying into and departing from LGB in Long Beach. Just curious if anyone has experience with LGB and could answer a few questions:

1. Is using a rideshare/taxi still the best bet price wise to get to and from the airport? I looked at a few shuttle services, but they seemed to be a lot more expensive.

2. Our flight returning home leaves at 12:45pm. We have a morning breakfast reservation at 8:35am. Figured we should be able to eat, get back to the room and checkout by 10:00am. Does 2 hours, 45 min give us enough time to comfortable get back to LGB?

Thanks in advance!

Long Beach local here. Yes, you should have plenty of time. Give yourself about an hour, DL to LGB - that's more than enough considering you will be travelling after rush hour. As @Tinkaboo said, LGB is (was?) doing construction. The purpose was to move the rental car counters into the historic old art deco terminal (instead of the portable trailer in the parking lot). I believe this is now complete, but you will know for sure when you arrive.

Local tip; if the traffic is bad in the loop, just have your driver drop you off on the road in between the parking structures or even in the cell phone lot. The walk to the terminal is EASY, and TSA is a breeze.

Avoid LAX - it's at least another 30-45 minute drive plus the hassle when you are there. I just got back from a trip where I had to use LAX and it took me an hour from the time I got off the plane to when I got in my car in the remote lot. Yes, it really is that much worse.

 

[Psymonds]

For me the issues around LAX are the typical big airport issues, if you rent a car, it's at the rental car center, not across the airport drive in the garage. They're doing away with the shuttles and offering easier access to the terminals, but I've had the rental car shuttle take 30 minutes, and not infrequently. Of course I'm also flying routes where I have 4 other options (from the bay area) so it's easy for me to complain about 20 or 30 minute inconveniences, because I can fly 8 times a day into SNA or LGB on 2 different airlines. I have the same discussion here with OAK and SFO and I try to avoid SFO... but today I'm flying SFO to SNA for work, because that was the time that worked.

 

[barbaq24]

Flying into SNA should always be preferred over LAX, but it has limited flights. I fly direct to SNA from EWR. If you have to connect to fly to SNA it's probably worth it. It is further from LA so you have less traffic, it's a smaller airport so everything moves faster, and lastly it's very close to Disneyland. You can get there without using highways, in fact during rush hour, google maps may route you locally. It's about 27 mins with traffic.

 

[LAS2AMS]

This topic comes up almost weekly. It’s a lot less time consuming to use LAX if it’s your destination vs. origin. For a destination passenger, the terminals are small and it’s much easier to navigate than most large airports.

If you have a direct flight into LAX but need to connect to SNS/ LGB/ ONT, the total trip will take longer with the connection and there’s a much larger chance for delays/ cancellations/ misconects.

This fourm is too soft. There’s no reason to avoid LAX, it it has the best flight schedule and price.

 

[mdmost]

Well sure there's a reason. I can leave late on a flight from SNA and spend part of my day at Disneyland versus transversing LA to get to an airport as the main portion of my final day. You're right on the best flight schedule at LAX but I've found the price is negligible from DFW. I would never dream of even trying to spend a morning at Disneyland if I had a late flight out of LAX. There's just too much to chance.

 

[LAS2AMS]

Well sure there's a reason. I can leave late on a flight from SNA and spend part of my day at Disneyland versus transversing LA to get to an airport as the main portion of my final day. You're right on the best flight schedule at LAX but I've found the price is negligible from DFW. I would never dream of even trying to spend a morning at Disneyland if I had a late flight out of LAX. There's just too much to chance.

Yes but you’re fortunate that DFW has multiple nonstops to SNA. Only a handful of communities outside the West have service to SNA, and several operate just a few times per week.

The lion’s share of people reading this fourm would be better served by LAX.