Going to San Diego Zoo from Disneyland

Tinkwings

Pfizered Fairy
Premium Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
No
Am a WDW geek, never been to California really or DLR, to which I have always wanted to go and now hope to next year. Beginning to plan. Was not planning on getting a car on our future trip, but thinking I wanted to visit the San Diego Zoo. Maybe adding a few more days maybe not. Well when I was playing on the DLR site putting a potential trip in cart, it had selection for other parks including zoo with transportation. I am sure this is the most expensive way to do things, but does anyone here know how that works or ever used such a thing while on site at DLR? Does Disney use their own shuttles or something, or are they just arranging things for you?:angelic: Just curious why so many add on options come up at check out, like even to go to Knotts Berry Farms and that is rather local....is it that they would rather you stay on site if you must venture out? Nothing like that appears on our checkouts for WDW, it would be akin to them asking if you wanted transportation to Universal!! :joyfull:
 
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Tinkwings

Pfizered Fairy
Premium Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
No
That would be fun....:cool: The railfan in the family not joining us will be rather upset with me though....;) guess I need to figure out logistics of getting there, with luggage, staying somewhere in San Diego and then getting back to airport after my Disney trip.....guess if I was going to ride the choo choo I would not go to zoo that day but next. Justified by the fact that not staying one night in Disney resort would cover entire zooventure........Yes I know there are a zillion things to do and see, but Disneyland is my prime destination....:angelic:. I would make another trip to do otherwise for the most part.....realistically I would be trying to make sure I got back to DLR somehow.....
 

Jedi Stitch

Well-Known Member
If your thinking a day excursion and be back, might a bit hard, and leave you with little time to enjoy the zoo that day. If you're :bookworm:, doing DLR, then going to Diego and say separate night and day, then it would be fun. Just plan accordingly for the trip back to LAX or where ever you fly out of.

To be honest my only experience with San Diego to DLR, was going with my one brother to try to shanghai my other brother from the Balboa Navel Hospital for a weekend liberty to Disney. He wasn't fit for excursions post surgery. We drove down at Marine Layer o'clock in the morning, and was back to the DL, buy midday burn off.
 

TP2000

Well-Known Member
The add-on options are probably using a Grey Line bus with various Anaheim hotel pick ups and drop offs.

It could be easier to rent a car for the day and just drive down. Many rental car companies have offices in the Anaheim Resort District. If you left Anaheim at 9:00am you'd be at the Zoo by 11:00am. You could then spend 8 hours at the Zoo, and leave by 7:00pm and be back in Anaheim by 9:00pm.

Or, better option, after the Zoo have dinner in San Diego somewhere fun and be back to Anaheim by 11:00pm.
 

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
That would be fun....:cool: The railfan in the family not joining us will be rather upset with me though....;) guess I need to figure out logistics of getting there, with luggage, staying somewhere in San Diego and then getting back to airport after my Disney trip.....guess if I was going to ride the choo choo I would not go to zoo that day but next. Justified by the fact that not staying one night in Disney resort would cover entire zooventure........Yes I know there are a zillion things to do and see, but Disneyland is my prime destination....:angelic:. I would make another trip to do otherwise for the most part.....realistically I would be trying to make sure I got back to DLR somehow.....
There might be a nighttime Surfliner? Spend the night in San Diego. Do the Zoo and the rest of Balboa park (lots of museums). Maybe old town San Diego. Then hop on the Surfliner back to Anaheim.

Of course, you could fight two and half hours of traffic both ways by car/shuttle/uber.
 

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
Personally I believe the San Diego zoo and San Diego Safari Park are far superior to Disney Animal Kingdom. They really are that good when you're talking about seeing the animals.
 

Darkbeer1

Well-Known Member
My preference, take the train to the Old Town Station in San Diego, get a Hotel Room for one or more nights, and then use public transit to get to things.

Let alone the San Diego Zoo and Balboa Park, but the USS Midway, Sea World, Belmont Park/Mission Beach/Pacific Beach and other options are easy transit trips using the San Diego Trolley and MTS Buses.

Here is one Hotel I like, nothing fancy, but gets great reviews, especially at the price.


www.sandiego.org

By the way, the AMTRAK Pacific Surfliner does offer checked baggage on most of its trains.
 

mickEblu

Well-Known Member
It's one of America's very finest, if not the finest in the country.

I went once and while the grounds are beautiful and scale impressive, I found all of the enclosures to be too large with most of the animals sleeping in the very back and barely noticeable. A couple of the highlights for me were the Panda and Polar Bear, partly due to the fact that they were two of the smaller enclosures and the animals were awake and active.

One of the best things I’ve ever seen at any zoo are those otters at the LA Zoo that go up and down that water slide over and over again with smiles on their faces. I also find the LA Zoo to be underrated and the animals to be much more visible.
 

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
When I was a kid I thought the LA Zoo's main entrance reminded me of the wall the natives built to keep King Kong out from the 70's version of the movie. I need to go back to the LA Zoo this summer. Griffith Park was so much fun with the train area and observatory.
 

mickEblu

Well-Known Member
When I was a kid I thought the LA Zoo's main entrance reminded me of the wall the natives built to keep King Kong out from the 70's version of the movie. I need to go back to the LA Zoo this summer. Griffith Park was so much fun with the train area and observatory.

Ashamed to say I’m a native Angeleno and have never been to the observatory. Went to the Greek for the first time last summer to see Sebastian Maniscalco.

But yeah the LA zoo is very underrated. The San Diego Zoo being under three hours away probably doesn’t do it any favors. I went 2 years ago for the first time since elementary school and was pleasantly surprised.
 

Darkbeer1

Well-Known Member
Talking about Zoo's.

Santa Ana's, for its size, is surprisingly good. And Disney has helped make it famous in films.


OC Zoo is well. nice.


And I enjoyed the Big Bear Zoo when we visited last year. (Though not very ADA friendly)

 

Darkbeer1

Well-Known Member
My best memory of the LA Zoo is due to my cousin, Kathy (My Aunt and Uncle lived in Burbank).

Her first job was at the Baskin Robbins at the entrance/exit of the Zoo. She came home covered in Ice Cream. Just one sticky mess, who basically went straight to the shower and had mom wash her clothes!!! But she did make some decent money, so she kept working there.
 

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