When considering a trip to Southern California, LAX may be the first airport that comes to mind (or comes up on a search). There are lots of reasons to choose LAX as the airport for your visit to Disneyland or Universal Studios. Here are some of them:

-Price: LAX tends to have the most economical flight costs when compared to more “local” airport options

-Flight Options: LAX will likely have the widest variety of arrival and departure times, and is most likely to have flights available to and from whatever airport you are flying in from around the United States, Canada, etc.

-Proximity: While LAX is NOT the closest airport to Disneyland, it is the closest option to Universal Studios Hollywood, so depending on if/when a visit to Universal Studios is fitting into your vacation, it may be the most convenient option. You can also consider a one-way ticket into LAX and then a one-way ticket out of an airport closer to Disneyland or vice versa if you will be bookending your trip with Universal on one side.

We know people talk often about how LAX is a nightmare to get in and out of, and to be fair we’ve only flown into LAX a handful of times, but we have never experienced major delays or issues when flying through this airport. That said, many have told horror stories of traffic issues, flight delays and Uber/Lyft problems that make it seem like a bigger question mark as far as timing, dependability, etc. so keep that in mind when choosing this airport. It’s an international airport in the middle of one of the heaviest traffic areas in the country and traffic delays ARE a possibility.

Other cons of flying in/out of LAX are:

-Furthest option from Disneyland: If Disneyland is your only goal for your visit (ie you are going straight to the Disneyland Resort area and straight back to the airport with no other stops like Universal, the beach, Sea World, etc) then LAX really isn’t the most convenient option. It is located about 45 minutes to an hour from the Anaheim area, and in traffic it can be even longer. As mentioned above, we’ve never experienced severe traffic delays personally when using LAX, so we’ve typically experienced about a 45 minute or so drive, but delays ARE possible. With that in mind, if you do choose to use LAX as your airport of choice, you may consider booking your flights for arrival and departure times that aren’t going to fall in “rush hour” windows.

-Most expensive ride share or shuttle costs: Because LAX is a long drive to Disneyland, you might save on your flights, but pay for it in Lyft or Uber costs once you land. Take this into consideration when calculating the cost of your overall travel expenses. Also, if you are flying with young kids, realize that this also means traveling with your own carseats to install in a ride share, on a shuttle, etc.

Ride Share at LAX: If you do fly into LAX, make a note that you will have to walk or ride the (free) airport shuttle over to the ride share parking lot. If traveling via Southwest, you will likely walk out of the airport, make a left, and just have to make about a five minute walk to the ride share lot. You can schedule an Uber or Lyft to pick you up there, or there are typically also taxis there waiting to take travelers where they need to go. If you are flying in via Delta airlines or others, sometimes they land in the terminal that is further away from the lot and you’ll have to walk out of the airport and hop on an airport shuttle that will take you to the ride share lot. Plan accordingly.