Which airport and hotel recommendation help

[MNmomof4]

We are cruising on Disney on February 13, 2011 and want to spend 4-7 before the cruise in the area. Ontario airport seems to be the cheapest right now from Minnesota and we would have to get a car rental so we can get around and sightsee. We are traveling with our kids, 5 and 3 yrs old. Any suggestions for hotels and is their a car rental company that we can drop the car off and get shuttled to the pier? Any ideas and suggestions? TIA

[Rickey 88]

First of all, the Ontario airport is the least convenient to anyone cruising from San Pedro. In miles it is 60 - 70 miles of freeway driving.There are many rental agencies (far too many to mention) so you need to do a search, looking for those who will allow a one-way return in San Pedro.This site may be helpful to you: http://www.travelmath.com/driving-distance/from/San+Pedro,+CA/to/ONT

[MNmomof4]

First of all, the Ontario airport is the least convenient to anyone cruising from San Pedro. In miles it is 60 - 70 miles of freeway driving.There are many rental agencies (far too many to mention) so you need to do a search, looking for those who will allow a one-way return in San Pedro.This site may be helpful to you: http://www.travelmath.com/driving-distance/from/San+Pedro,+CA/to/ONT

 

 

Are there car rentals at the port or a shuttle service or do we have to take a cab from san pedro?

[Rickey 88]

There are no car rentals directly at the port of San Pedro. The closest is Enterprise who will shuttle you to the pier after you have turned the car in.

[Cruisin' Chick]

I would also agree to forget about Ontario airport. That would be a good option only if you are planning to visit friends in San Bernardino or Riverside counties.

 

Please check out the various threads about the airports and hotels in Los Angeles. There will also be good info about rental cars. The city of LA covers an area larger than some states (well, at least maybe Rhode Island). It is widespread. So the first thing to consider is what is it that you want to do or see.

 

Most likely you should stick with LAX or Long Beach airports. Possibly also Orange County (John Wayne). There may be cheaper flights out of Ontario or even Burbank (which could be a good choice if you plan to stay in Hollywood, Universal City or Studio City), but then you would have to add the cost of getting around.

 

Another key thing to remember is that when you are looking at rates for hotels, if you find an extremely low rate, it could be that the hotel is a dump and/or in a truely undesirable area (not counting lucking out on Priceline, Hot Wire, etc.). So again, please look at the various threads that the locals have been contributing to. We really want you to enjoy your stay here.

 

I do suggest not staying at an airport hotel (the area around LAX is filled with strip malls -- which are aptly named in many cases:eek:) or downtown LA. We can suggest some nice hotels in Hollywood, Studio City (many of us have fond memories of Sportsman Lodge for the restaurant, like me, and some recent CC visitors have given it a thumbs up for the hotel), Universal City (where Universal Studios and City Walk are, and it's not a bad drive to Hollywood proper thru the mountain passes), Santa Monica, etc.

[PatriciaF]

Many car rental agencies offer the ability to pick up one place and drop off another. As posted above, only Enterprise has an office in San Pedro.

 

Ontario is fairly far removed from most LA tourist activities--but you will have to see if the extra driving is worth the savings--plus--how are you going to get back to Ontario? A shuttle would be around $100 back to Ontario and a 60 minutes PLUS drive.

 

Are you looking for the Disney experience with perhaps Legoland? Then Orange County Airport (SNA) is probably a better bet or Long Beach (LGB). You could probably drop the car at Long Beach Airport and take a cab to the port for around $40.

 

Don't forget your car seats--your kids are young enough to require them in California.

 

Use Tripadvisor.com to checkout hotel reviews.

[Bruin Steve]

We are cruising on Disney on February 13, 2011 and want to spend 4-7 before the cruise in the area. Ontario airport seems to be the cheapest right now from Minnesota and we would have to get a car rental so we can get around and sightsee. We are traveling with our kids, 5 and 3 yrs old. Any suggestions for hotels and is their a car rental company that we can drop the car off and get shuttled to the pier? Any ideas and suggestions? TIA

 

I would also chime in that Ontario is incredibly inconvenient unless one has an interest in being in the "Inland Empire" (Maybe relatives there...it's hard to find many other reasons--it's not convenient to any tourist sites of note and it's an incredibly long and expensive ride back from the pier at the end).

 

LAX, despite its size and the lines and delays, is always a good conveniently clocated choice with lots of flights from everywhere...LGB is a little closer to the pier (not much), but is a very small and uncrowded airport...Burbank is another small, easy to get around, uncrowded airport and an excellent choice if one is spending time in the Hollywood/Burbank/Universal area...John Wayne is a medium-sized airport and convenient to Disney and other Orange County attractions...LAX is 20 miles from the pier, LGB 15 miles, Burbank 37 miles and John Wayne 33 miles...Ontario is over 60 miles from the pier...

 

On the car seat issue, California law states: "Children MUST be secured in an appropriate child passenger restraint (safety seat or booster seat) IN THE BACK SEAT OF A VEHICLE until they are at least 6 years old or weigh at least 60 pounds." See this:

 

http://www.chp.ca.gov/community/pdf/ca_vr_laws.pdf

 

http://www.chp.ca.gov/community/pdf/4_steps_for_kids.pdf

 

You might want to check with the car rental company...I believe most have car seats and boosters available.

 

What you really have to think about is what you want to do for those 4-7 days...

Disney?

Knott's Berry Farm?

Universal Studios?

Hollywood?

 

With young children. you may want to split up your time between Orange County and the Universal City area...

 

With 4 to 7 nights, you could fly in and go right to Universal City...From there, you could tour Hollywood and the West Side (Beverly Hills, etc.) on one day, go to Universal Studios the next day, then head down to Orange County and stay either at or near Disneyland...and spend a couple of days in the Disney parks before heading for the ship...The OC area also has some other attractions...Knott's Berry Farm is another large amusement park just a few miles from Disney in Buena Park...and also in Buena Park, there are some Dinner Show attractions like "Medeival Times" and a "Pirate Adventure"...

 

Make time for all that and you may have the most "kid-friendly" week imaginable...Gosh, that and a Disney cruise would be overload for me...So, you might also want to change out some of those kid days and blend in a few leisurely adult days...maybe head over to Santa Monica and Venice (wait--there are more rides on the Santa Monica Pier!) or go to the Getty Museums in Brentwood and Malibu (great for adults...will probably bore your kids)...or just "shopping" at the Grove or Rodeo Drive or Melrose or wherever...

 

What do YOU want to do with your time here?

[MNmomof4]

Thank you for your responses! Believe me I'm one of those parents who lugs the car seats through the airports and on the cruise ship. I was thinking of Disney or Knotts Berry Farm (loved it as a kid) I'm hoping disney will offer a military promotion for tickets next winter. I am assuming we will need a car rental to get around. Would a flight into ONT be okay with a return flight at LAX? I just wish the weater in February was swimming weather and my kids would be in heaven :)

[Cruisin' Chick]

Thank you for your responses! Believe me I'm one of those parents who lugs the car seats through the airports and on the cruise ship. I was thinking of Disney or Knotts Berry Farm (loved it as a kid) I'm hoping disney will offer a military promotion for tickets next winter. I am assuming we will need a car rental to get around. Would a flight into ONT be okay with a return flight at LAX? I just wish the weater in February was swimming weather and my kids would be in heaven :)

 

I just don't understand why you would want to fly into Ontario.

[Fredr]

Hello,

 

Here we go again. I live in Claremont California which is about 30 minutes or so from the Ontario Airport. And I agree that Ontario is the farthest airport from the cruise terminals. However, the Ontario Airport area has some excellent advantages. First, it is a new airport and the baggage claim area is very close to where you catch the car rental bus to the new car rental facility. What does this mean? If you have little kids the hassle is truly minimized in terms of distance and time. You can land at Ontario Airport, have your luggage in hand. get the rental car and be checked into a nice hotel in 45 minutes or less.

 

Secondly there is the Ontario Mills which has lots of things to do,movies in this area and lots of affordable hotels and restaurants. There is even minor league baseball.

 

Ontario is connected to all parts of Southern California by freeway carpool lanes which makes the drive quite a bit faster.

 

IF and this is a big IF you are not interested in seeing Hollywood or other sights in Southern California, AND you get an outstanding price on your air arrangements then Ontario should be considered.

 

For first time visitors, I would fly in to John Wayne in Orange County as this is where there is lots to do, especially a trip to the beach. To me Holywood is vastly over rated, Santa Monica while very nice is over priced in terms of hotels and restaurants, and the cultural stuff really won't be applicable to kids.

[MNmomof4]

I was considering ontario due to cost, especially if you multiply the savings by 4. That would more than pay for the car rental. I guess I am use to renting a car and driving a distance on vacations. Fredr...thank you for being nice honest about ontario airport. I just wanted to know if it was feasible to land their and fly out of somewhere closer to the port. I appreciate your comments. I've often landed in west palm beach for a florida cruise and dont mind the drive if it saves us money. Thanks again for everyone's insightful answers!

[mjesf]

Based on what you want to do (Disneyland, Knotts Berry Farm) I would suggest you reconsider flying to Ontario which is out of the way. LAX, LGB or SNA make much more sense.

[Fredr]

Mjesf,

 

Let's make sure I understand your post...the OP should fly into LAX because it is closer to what?. More expensive hotels and restaurants, baggage claim areas that are outdated, retrieve luggage and handle two small kids, find the pick up place for the car rental and wait for the shuttle. Go on the shuttle which is usually crowded, balancing luggage and keeping an eye on the kids.

 

Each situation is different and Ontario should not be ruled out just because it is farther out.

[kenish]

OP- If you are visiting KBF and DL, flying into ONT isn't that bad as Fredr has said. It's about a 40 minute drive from ONT to Anaheim, assuming no traffic. ONT often gets high ratings in various airport and travel surveys. That said, the traffic part is the catch. If you arrive into ONT between 6-8am (unlikely from MN) or 3-6pm traffic will be terrible and the drive to Anaheim could take 2h. If that's your arrival time I'd go to Ontario Mills and chill out until traffic subsides; your family will probably be starved unless you're into airline food and there's a lot of kid-friendly restaurants there.

 

If you wanted to focus on Santa Monica/Hollywood/San Pedro than I'd agree with others that ONT is the worst choice. But visiting DL makes ONT more favorable (though not as convenient as SNA or LGB). BTW all 5 LA-area airports are considered "co terminals" and you can fly into one and out of another and it will be priced like a pure roundtrip by most airlines. Same goes for rental cars, most will not charge a one way drop fee.

 

Check out the LA area on Google maps and you can get the "lay of the land" and relative locations of everything. An insight into LA culture...the metro area is vast and diverse as others have said. There are many "downtowns" and focal points, so most residents tend to stay in their local area of the city. That leads to a bit of provincialism (I'm just as guilty), and it shows in the posts in this thread. Yes, ONT is "out there" but it's not on Mars :) The only extra cost is gas for the rental car (since you're renting a car no matter what), 20-60 minutes extra drive time compared to SNA, and more driving on the freeway system which some enjoy and others find intimidating. If I could save $100 or more in total airfare by flying into ONT it would be a no-brainer for me (but we're all different in that regard).

 

Whatever you do, don't ponder this too long, the fare you saw could vanish at any time. Also do a final check of other airports before you click on "Purchase".

[PatriciaF]

For me, there is always a trade off between time and money when planning a vacation--unfortunately, we do not have an unlimited budget. We have flown into FLL for a cruise out of MIA the next because the fare savings (about $75/person for 4) more than made up for the cost to get to MIA.

 

If the OP is planning to go to Disneyland/KBF, it isn't a bad drive down the 57 to the OC from Ontario, especially in the afternoon, as the traffic is going in the other directions. Friends that live near Ontario Airport rave about it--quick, clean, easy/close parking. A co-worker that lives in Whittier would rather drive to Ontario for a flight than LAX--as she is usually driving against traffic both ways.

 

The flight back to MN after the cruise again will be a balance of the cost versus the time. If the OP is saving $100/person for the ticket, then the hour drive and the $100 shuttle probably isn't a bad deal.

 

OP--to drop off at an Enterprise office other than the pick up, you have to call and make your reservation. Or, for other rental car agencies, see if you can drop off someplace in downtown Long Beach. The cab to the pier in San Pedro will be about $30. If you belong to Costco, check out its car rental rates. We are getting a two day rental in FLL pre cruise for only $5 more than a one day rate (we need to visit relatives in Miami).

[MNmomof4]

Thank you for all the responses and not making me feel like I'm crazy to consider Ontario. I was thinking MSP-ONT then after cruise LAX or LGB-MSP.

 

Thanks again

[silverado44]

Hello,

 

Here we go again. I live in Claremont California which is about 30 minutes or so from the Ontario Airport. And I agree that Ontario is the farthest airport from the cruise terminals. However, the Ontario Airport area has some excellent advantages. First, it is a new airport and the baggage claim area is very close to where you catch the car rental bus to the new car rental facility. What does this mean? If you have little kids the hassle is truly minimized in terms of distance and time. You can land at Ontario Airport, have your luggage in hand. get the rental car and be checked into a nice hotel in 45 minutes or less.

 

Secondly there is the Ontario Mills which has lots of things to do,movies in this area and lots of affordable hotels and restaurants. There is even minor league baseball.

 

Ontario is connected to all parts of Southern California by freeway carpool lanes which makes the drive quite a bit faster.

 

IF and this is a big IF you are not interested in seeing Hollywood or other sights in Southern California, AND you get an outstanding price on your air arrangements then Ontario should be considered.

 

For first time visitors, I would fly in to John Wayne in Orange County as this is where there is lots to do, especially a trip to the beach. To me Holywood is vastly over rated, Santa Monica while very nice is over priced in terms of hotels and restaurants, and the cultural stuff really won't be applicable to kids.

 

It is not a new airport. It was built in 1929. That makes it 81 years old.