Another "driving to LAX" question?

[pjlla]

Honestly, my biggest concern about this trip is the drive to LAX on our departure morning. I'm so afraid we will run into traffic, miss the flight, blah, blah, blah. Anyhow, my main question is.... if we have a 12:45 pm flight and want to arrive at the airport no later than 11:00am, what time should we leave the HoJo Anaheim (keeping in mind that this is a Saturday morning and we have NEVER driven this, so we will be relying on good signs and mapquest directions)? Would it be too early to leave the hotel by 9am? Mapquest calls it a 36 minute drive, but I know that that assumes normal traffic, not LA traffic!! Should we be able to make it in 60 - 90 minutes (assuming no large accidents or other catastrophies)?? I would love to be able to fit in a character breakfast, but I'm afraid of not leaving enough time to get to the airport. Please help!........................P

 

[lap3]

Saturday morning traffic shouldn't be too bad, especially if you take the 105 freeway up from the 605 freeway. If you do an early character dining at Goofy's Kitchen, you should still be able to leave by 9:00 AM and get to the airport in plenty of time to return your rental car(if you have one) or to check in baggage.

For directions from the hotel to LAX, and others may chime in with a different route, I would suggest taking:
5 North
605 North
105 North
Follow the directions to LAX

 

[dirkus]

36 minutes is WAY optimistic (you'd have to be on a road rocket and have the freeways to yourself) but you SHOULD be able to do it in an hour at that time on a Saturday. Of course, an accident can happen at any time and all it takes is one to really snarl the freeways.

Personally, I would probably allow for 90 minutes and make sure I was on the road by 9:30am. Adding 30 minutes for the "never driven here" factor wouldn't be unreasonable. I must admit though that I am the type that would much rather sit at the airport for an hour or two than try to squeeze in that last bit of vacation and then stress out everytime we hit some slow spot of traffic.

 

[Magix]

If you leave by 9, you should be at LAX by about 10 or 10:30. Sounds like the right time to leave.

Let me correct the directions given earlier:

5 North
605 South
105 West
Exit Sepulveda North, stay in Right lanes and follow signs to Rental Car return.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

I have driven from LAX to Disneyland in 40 minutes - traffic was normal speed
(65-75 in some parts), and no tie-ups.

Normally, Saturday morning is not busy for LA standards on the freeways.
However, you never know, so I would give 1 hour to 1.5 hours to get to the
airport. I would say leave at the latest by 9:30am to be safe.

The correct directions to LAX (most direct route) are:

5 north
91 west
605 north (stay in your right lane)
105 west

Exit at Aviation, turn left (you'll be on Imperial Hwy), and get in your right
lane to turn right on Aviation. Get in your left lane, and turn left on Century
Blvd. Follow the signs to car rental return.

If you exit at Sepulveda, turn right, go under the airport runway, and follow
the signs to Century Blvd & car rental return.

Here is a map:

 

[minnieandmickey]

Mary Jo do you just do these in reverse to go to DL from LAX? or is there a better way?

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

I actually gave the directions from Disneyland to LAX. I live off of the 91, close to where it ends, but I work about 5 minutes from LAX.

To go from LAX rental car area to the Howard Johnson, you would go south on the street w/the rental cars (I think it's Airport Street) to Century Blvd, & turn left, to Aviation, turn right, get in left lane, and turn left on Imperial Hwy. Immediately get in right lane, and get on the 105 fwy going east. Take it all the way to the end to 605 fwy, stay in right lane. 91 fwy is about 2 miles down. Take 91 east to 5 fwy south, and get off either on Harbor Blvd. Turn right, and HoJo will be on your left side, Disneyland on your right.

 

[Cora]

Also keep in mind that your car may be searched at the airport, that can add time to your plans.

 

[rsjj]

Also keep in mind that your car may be searched at the airport, that can add time to your plans.

all the times i've been to lax to pickup/dropoff people, i've never been searched! and i don't recall seeing anyplace to stop where a search can be conducted...although i have seen it at burbank airport! hmm...

yes, i'd say 9:30 the absolute latest!

 

[HaleyB]

We flew out of LAX on a Sunday a few weeks back. We had a car to return. We gave ourselves 30 min for the car return, 1.5 hours for everything else (baggage check in and boarding passes). We were a little worried while in line, but really we were fine. The security lines at LAX took forever to get through and everyone around me said the line was normal for LAX
.
It took us about 45 min's from Huntington Beach (about 5-10 min closer) to LAX rental return, we used the way MaryJo detailed for you.

If you leave at 9 you have 45 minutes longer than we gave ourselves, I think you will be fine.