Planning Your Trip - Public Transport in Anaheim

 

Welcome to the Golden State! For the first time since 2015, Star War Celebration is returning to Anaheim and it looks like it might just be the best location for our favorite convention. With plenty of hotels near the convention center and Disneyland just a walk away, almost everything you need is nearby.

Whilst nothing can beat the freedom of driving yourself, or the door to door service that Uber, Lyft, and even regular old taxis can provide, I imagine a lot of fans (myself included) will be relying on public transport during their time in Anaheim.

Fortunately, Anaheim looks to have great connections for both in resort travel and for travelling to and from the local airports.

Hotel Shuttles

With this being Disneyland, many local hotels offer shuttles to the parks. If you can get a shuttle to the parks, or if your hotel is near the parks, then it's about a 20-25 minute walk from the park entrances to the convention center.

If you want to avoid that walk then you can then use Disney's free trolley from the parks to the Toy Story parking lot. That will put you just across the street from the convention center

It's worth noting that there will almost certainly be a shuttle service provided for Star Wars Celebration, as there has been for previous events, so I will add an update for that as soon as it's available.

Anaheim Resort Transport

Whilst most people will likely be within walking distance of both the convention center and Disneyland during their time in Anaheim, if you want to explore a bit more of the area (or just save your legs after a long day at Celebration), it looks like the Anaheim Resort Transport (or ART) service will be your best bet. Running seven days a week the service typically operates from 7am until midnight (so easily covering Celebration's standard hours, though maybe not quite early enough if you want to be front of the line each morning). ART offers one way fares ($4) as well as 1 day ($6), 3 day ($16), and 5 day ($24) passes which can be bought on the app (where you can also plan your route. You can find all the details on the ART service here.

However, it does seem that many recent reviews for this service are negative, with poor schedules and delays frequently cited. So using Google Maps for other public transit alternatives may be a more reliable option.

Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center

For those wanting to travel a bit further afield, or for getting to and from the airport, you'll likely be heading to (or at least passing through) the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center (or ARTIC), which is the local transport hub for both rail (Amtrak and Metrolink) and bus services (ART and Orange County Transportation Authority).

More details can be found at the Visit Anaheim website, which also provides links to a variety of shuttle services as well.

For airport travel, looking at Google Maps trip planner it seems that the most direct route from LAX is the Greenline Shuttle, changing the the Metro C Line (Green) at Aviation/LAX Station, before changing to local metro services at Norwalk. Whilst travel routes from John Wayne Airport varies depending on your time of arrival.

Honestly, given you'll likely save on transport in Anaheim given how close everything is (especially when compared with Chicago in 2019) I'd probably recommend taking a shuttle to and from the airport just because it's so much easier. We used the L train in Chicago and it all worked out great, but walking to the station and making the changes with all our luggage wasn't always easy and it looks like more changes would be needed getting from either airport to Anaheim with at least part of that journey on regular buses (so, less room for luggage). Another recommendation I've seen online is to take the trains through to Norwalk then get a shuttle or Uber/Lyft/taxi from there as this helps avoid freeway traffic.