Las Vegas to Disneyland day trip

Manyin · 25 Feb 18, 10:05 AM

Hi,

I am travelling to Las Vegas in September with a group of 7 staying for 7 nights. As this is my 7th trip I was looking for other things to do.

I am exploring the idea of flying from Las Vegas to LAX and visiting Disneyland for the day, flying back to Las Vegas later that night.

Just wondering if anyone has done this before and what people's thoughts were, is this doable? I've found reasonably priced internal flights and would just purchase a day pass.

Any thoughts?

Thanks Gillian

KarenG · 25 Feb 18, 10:40 AM

Definitely possible, but you're going to be 'in transit' for a long time. The flight time is short but you'll be travelling to and from airports (worst bit is from LAX to DL and back again) for a significant chunk of your day.

If there are flights from LV to John Wayne Airport (SNA) that's much closer to DL in travel time.

Just guessing really, but think you could be 'in transit' for 8 hours maybe (? ) eg:

Leave LV hotel and travel to LAS, arrive one hour before
Flight lasts one hour
Get off flight, get transport to DL, travel to DL (90 mins or probably longer)

Then the same in reverse, but you probably need to factor in extra "just in case" travel time getting back to LAX. Traffic can be awful.

JoS · 25 Feb 18, 06:41 PM

I agree with Karen. It is doable. We have just done LA to LAS flights both ways delayed by maybe 20 mins. Flights great. Traffic in LA horrendous. We didnt do Disney. Would just make me question the amount of actual time you would have there and the cost of the ticket, plus a very long day to make the most of it. Hope you make the right choice.

loldis · 25 Feb 18, 06:49 PM

I had planned to do this on our last LV trip for the same reason but ended up convincing DH to cut it short instead so flew back earlier than planned.

Flying into SNA (look at Southwest, they have multiple flights daily) will cut down the travel time dramatically. But I would do an overnight to do both parks if you can spare the time.

Manyin · 25 Feb 18, 09:18 PM

Thanks for the replies everyone, most helpful. I think I need to do a bit more research/planning. Thanks again 👍

400ixl · 25 Feb 18, 10:28 PM

You need a full day to one of the parks, or the best of both. Add on to that best part of 4 hours travelling at each end you are looking at a 16 hour day minimum really.

I would only do it with a stop over personally.

duchy · 26 Feb 18, 01:44 AM

Definitely fly to Santa Ana John Wayne airport rather than LAX .
We did the major stuff in both parks in a day but I'd suggest flying in the evening before and out late the next day , there's plenty of cheap motels right by DL with free shuttles so it doesn't need to be Disney prices for the overnight unless you want to splash out.

Southwest is $130 return
Taxi is about $50 each way shuttle around $19

If you wanted to skip the overnight the first Southwest is 7.20 am from Vegas so you could get away with leaving your hotel just before 6am and the last flight leaves at 9.20pm (I'd probably overnight at the end so I could have dinner and fireworks at DL though and get the 07.15 or 9.10 the next morning although those flights are $30 more but I'd be sulking to not do the fireworks)
Hotelwise we usually use Hotwire or Priceline as we don't really care where we stay so long as it has a shuttle, two years running we got the Crowne Plaza doing that which was fab as the pool was great and Target was bang opposite . The funny thing was the hotel valet remembered me the second time as the tourist who didn't panic when an earthquake hit the year before (we ended up in his office watching the aftershock reports on his TV before heading to Disney as we knew they'd shut down all the rides for safety checks... everything was back up and running within an hour anyway)

duchy · 26 Feb 18, 02:16 AM

Originally Posted by 400ixl

You need a full day to one of the parks, or the best of both. Add on to that best part of 4 hours travelling at each end you are looking at a 16 hour day minimum really.

I would only do it with a stop over personally.

Strip to LAS 20 mins max
Hour for check in as security can be busy but no luggage to check, broarding card printed at hotel and minimal hand luggage presumably
Flight to SNA one hour
Taxi SNA to DL in rush hour 30 mins

Door to door less than three hours

We usually do it before or after Vegas as we tend to not just do Vegas but it's definitely do able especially as the OP can rest by the pool to recover once back in Vegas

daytonababe · 26 Feb 18, 03:34 AM

Personally I would only do it if stopping overnight.. seems a lot of travelling and expensive to not have a proper full day in the park (parks).

25 Feb 18, 06:49 PM	#4
	25 Feb 18, 06:49 PM loldis Imagineer
loldis Imagineer Join Date: May 17 Location: Sussex	I had planned to do this on our last LV trip for the same reason but ended up convincing DH to cut it short instead so flew back earlier than planned. Flying into SNA (look at Southwest, they have multiple flights daily) will cut down the travel time dramatically. But I would do an overnight to do both parks if you can spare the time.

25 Feb 18, 10:28 PM	#6
	25 Feb 18, 10:28 PM 400ixl Imagineer
400ixl Imagineer Join Date: Mar 12	You need a full day to one of the parks, or the best of both. Add on to that best part of 4 hours travelling at each end you are looking at a 16 hour day minimum really. I would only do it with a stop over personally.

26 Feb 18, 01:44 AM	#7
	26 Feb 18, 01:44 AM duchy Imagineer
duchy Imagineer Join Date: May 04 Location: Kent	Definitely fly to Santa Ana John Wayne airport rather than LAX . We did the major stuff in both parks in a day but I'd suggest flying in the evening before and out late the next day , there's plenty of cheap motels right by DL with free shuttles so it doesn't need to be Disney prices for the overnight unless you want to splash out. Southwest is $130 return Taxi is about $50 each way shuttle around $19 If you wanted to skip the overnight the first Southwest is 7.20 am from Vegas so you could get away with leaving your hotel just before 6am and the last flight leaves at 9.20pm (I'd probably overnight at the end so I could have dinner and fireworks at DL though and get the 07.15 or 9.10 the next morning although those flights are $30 more but I'd be sulking to not do the fireworks) Hotelwise we usually use Hotwire or Priceline as we don't really care where we stay so long as it has a shuttle, two years running we got the Crowne Plaza doing that which was fab as the pool was great and Target was bang opposite . The funny thing was the hotel valet remembered me the second time as the tourist who didn't panic when an earthquake hit the year before (we ended up in his office watching the aftershock reports on his TV before heading to Disney as we knew they'd shut down all the rides for safety checks... everything was back up and running within an hour anyway) Edited at 02:05 AM.