Southern California Vacation

You'll need a car 100% also a must is to visit la Jolla seal beach by San diego. It is a beach that was ttaken over by aseals. I'd go with hertz or enterprise.

You will need a car, absolutely. There will be no easy way to use public transportation to get to all those destinations and I don't think there is any kind of shuttle service that will take you from Anaheim to San Diego. Get a car.

As others said, you definitely need a car. To get a better deal, look into car rental companies near your hotel, rather than near the airport. It's probably cheaper to get a shuttle from the airport and then pick up a car somewhere else.

From Disneyland, without traffic (or at least, with light/normal traffic), estimate 1.5-2 hours to get to the San Diego Zoo and Sea World and one hour to get to Universal Studios (more like two hours if it's rush hour). Universal Studios is north of Anaheim, San Diego is south, so it'll be a lot of driving.

The weather has been gorgeous, so if you can spend some time at the beach, it's worth it! Laguna Beach is beautiful and has lots of cute cafes, restaurants, art galleries and shops. Newport and Huntington Beaches are trendier and have more of a surf culture.

If you have friends or family in SoCal, there are some really good deals on two and three-day passes to Disneyland right now. A SoCal resident needs to purchase the tickets, but anyone can use them. I just purchased two-day tickets (one park per day) for $129 AND got a $25 AmEx gift card with them, so it's basically the equivalent of getting the second day for free (this deal is available at the Irvine Spectrum and Fashion Island, if you want to mention it to friends in the area).

My husband always rents our car through our Costco membership with Budget and gets a good deal.

We were just in SoCal and I wish we were back there now! Parking at Disneyland will cost you $17 a day, you may be able to use a shuttle from your hotel depending upon where you stay. We always visit the Target that is just a little ways west down Harbor Blvd and buy bottled water. We chill or freeze the water and take several bottles into the park with us, saves a lot of money!

Have fun!!

M

This is an awesome question because hubby and I are going April 10-15th. We are renting a car. I have put in my request for tickets for The Voice. Yes, that was my husband's request!

Not sure where we are staying. Any ideas?

I will weigh in as a southern californian... I would get a car. I don't know how big your family is but you can get a cheapie for $30/day. Well worth it IMO for the freedom to leave when you want to leave, take a detour if you want, pick up and head to the beach if you are over the zoo (*you probably won't be, the San Diego Zoo is pretty cool and can take you the whole day). But you know what I mean.
I would do Hertz or Enterprise to rent a car.

I live in San Diego and go to places like Disneyland all the time. Rent a car. Public transit around here is absolutely terrible to non-existent. It can take you all day to get somewhere on the bus, if it goes were you want to go in the first place, that takes half an hour to 45 minutes in a car, even with traffic. Nothing is within walking distance of anything so a simple trip to the store if you want to keep some basics in your hotel room like bottles of water and snacks means needing a car. You could spend a small fortune on public transit because everything is so spread out.
A suggestion I would make if it's not too late is get a hotel in San Diego for a couple nights of your stay for when you are doing things in this area. The drive from Anaheim to Downtown San Diego can take a couple hours or more depending on traffic. It takes all day on public transit with multiple changes and would probably end up with a cab to boot.
I've never heard of Fox or Advantage. We usually rent from Enterprise. That's who my husband always goes through on work trips. They are good enough. We haven't had any issues with them.

You absolutely need a car. Public transportation is practically non existent in SoCal. The only shuttles I'm aware of are the ones to and from the airport and to and from the hotels around Disney. And San Diego is a good two to three hour drive from LA depending on traffic. You also need to get rooms booked now. There are many in Anaheim to choose from (check Trip Advisor for reviews and rates) and many in San Diego as well. When our kids were younger we liked staying at Embassy Suites or something similar.

You will need a car.

Another place to check out is the Queen Mary in Long Beach.

I grew up in So Cal and you will need a car to get around. There really isn't any public transportation there. As for rental companies, maybe just see the deals from the airport? Have fun! I moved away 4 years ago and I really miss the beach.

Your going to a lot of different places - you'll need a car.

We always have a car, but that's because we usually drive to southern California from Las Vegas.

I think it would just make it easier for you to have your own vehicle if you're going to go to that many different parks.

We've always used Hertz because we used them for business as well, until my husband's company changed recently to another rental car company. I think we use Enterprise now.

There's so much else to do in the SD area than just the theme parks. Having your own rental car will allow you to explore those things that you couldn't do with shuttles alone.

Hope you have a great vacation.

J. F.

Ummm, the public transportation of So Cal is, shall we say; lacking. Rent a car. I live in southern california and this post makes me want to laugh. But I won't. Just, rent a car.