The traffic in Southern California is famous – and not necessarily in a good way. This region does experience some of the worst traffic in the country, so it can take longer than you might expect to get from one place to another. Locals are used to this issue and know what times of day are worst for travel, but visitors are often caught off-guard by the delays.
With that in mind, we’d like to help you understand how long you can expect the trip to take from LAX to Disneyland. If you fly into Los Angeles International Airport to start your vacation, you’ll then need to get across L.A. and into Anaheim to reach the park. How long will that take? Well, it depends, but we’ll give you some guidelines below.
The Basics of the Drive
One thing that often surprises visitors to Southern California is just how big the area actually is when trying to get from one place to another. If you’ve never been here before, you might assume that all of the places you’ve heard about from a distance are gathered up near each other.
In reality, that’s the furthest thing from the truth. This is a huge metropolitan area, both in terms of size and population, and it can take a long time to get from one place to another. To that point, it’s about 33 miles from LAX to Disneyland, as LAX is near the ocean and the park is inland in Anaheim. During busy traffic conditions – which exist throughout the morning and into the late afternoon/evening during the week – it can easily take over an hour to make the drive.
Timing is Everything
Let’s say your plane lands at LAX during the middle of the day, on a weekday. By the time you get off the plane, collect your luggage, and make your way out of the airport, it’s likely that the afternoon commute will have already begun in earnest. If you are heading out to drive to Disneyland at three or four in the afternoon, you will have an uphill battle in front of you. On some days, it might even be more than two hours before you finally arrive at your destination.
Now, adjust that timing and imagine that you are getting to the airport early in the evening. Maybe your plane lands and five or six o’clock, and you then start the process of gathering up your things and heading out. In this scenario, the traffic will be starting to fade, and you might have mostly open freeways in front of you. In a best-case situation, you might spend 45 minutes or less to make the trip. That’s a big difference! If at all possible, choose flight times that are going to leave you traveling to the park when traffic is lighter, and you’ll wind up with a far more enjoyable experience as a result.
The Value of Experience
It’s important not to overlook the value that can be gained by having an experienced, professional driver on your side for this journey. Yes, it’s easy to use GPS to navigate through traffic and pick the right route, and we use that technology, as well. However, GPS only tells part of the story – specifically, it only tells the driver what is happening currently, not what is likely to happen moving forward.
For that, you’ll need a good driver who has made this journey thousands of times. Our drivers have tons of experience in L.A. traffic, and we know what to expect. We still use GPS actively to navigate each journey, but there is also a personal touch that is added to the equation to make your drive as smooth as possible. We can’t make the traffic disappear, but we can use our experience in this area to choose the right path and help you arrive at the park as soon as possible.
Aside from planning the timing of your arrival in the L.A. area carefully, there isn’t much you can do about traffic conditions in and around the city. If you are going to have to sit in some traffic, you might as well have a clean and comfortable vehicle to enjoy while making your way toward Disneyland – and that’s where Anaheim Town Car Service comes in handy. Our LAX to Disneyland car service provides reliable, relaxing transportation, even if the traffic is heavier than you would like. Book your ride with us today and we’ll take it from there!
