Is my scenario worth the effort?

slappy magoo

slappy magoo

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Hey there hi there ho there...here's my situation...

In July, I will need to fly to San Diego for business. I will be arriving on a Wednesday, get some stuff done that day, work most of the day Thursday, then have my Friday more or less free until my nighttime red eye flight back to JFK (departing, as arriving) from San Diego Airport.

Is it worth trying to get up early, rent a car, spend some time in DL, then get back to San Diego for my flight? I'M assuming "No," personally, but if anyone wants to let me know how likely or unlikely a scenario this is, I'm all cyberears...
 
TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
You will be going against traffic up I-5 in the morning, so that's good. It's about a 90 minute drive from downtown San Diego to the Disneyland parking structure. From the time you pull into the structure to the time you are standing in front of Disneyland is about 20 minutes worth of parking and shuttling to the Main Entrance Esplanade.

Similarly, if you leave Disneyland around 8:00PM you shouldn't have much traffic going back to San Diego and it will be another 90 minute drive to Lindbergh Field once you get to your car.

You could save some time in line in the morning by purchasing your ticket in advance at a Disney Store.

You aren't going to see the fireworks or Fantasmic! or the Electrical Parade with this itinerary, but using a few Fastpasses and determining what attractions you wanted to see beforehand you should get a very good dose of Disneyland fun.

You could also take an Amtrak Pacific Surfliner up from San Diego's Santa Fe Station to the Anaheim station at Angel Stadium. Jump in a cab for the quick mile drive from the station to Disneyland's main entrance, and vice versa at the end of the night, and it might be cheaper or easier or even faster than driving and parking. You'd need to get a cab from the Santa Fe Station to Lindbergh Field at the end of the night, but it's only a 5 minute ride. There's roughly a daily weekday train that leaves San Diego at 6AM, 7AM, 8AM, and 9:30AM, getting to Anaheim about two hours later. You'd probably want the 8PM Anaheim departure south, to get you to San Diego by 10PM. Roundrip fares would be $50.00 for Coach and $76.00 for Pacific Business Class, not including a few cab rides.

Pacific Surfliner schedules can be found here... http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Amtrak/Schedules_Page
 
TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
CaesarBoxFan said:
Howdy from your resident San Diegan.

I agree with TP2000. I think that Amtrak is the best way to go. That is my transportation of choice.
Click to expand...

The Surfliner is great. I take it from Anaheim up to Los Angeles every once in awhile to escape the freeway, and occasionally down to South OC or sometimes San Diego. I imagine it's a fun way to get to and from Disneyland from beautiful San Diego.

The Amtrak Coast Starlight up to Seattle is also a great way to travel the West Coast! The singalongs and trivia games and wine tasting parties in the dome lounge car are legendary! :D
 

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