Suitcases left in car at Disneyland
 

We are moving hotels from Santa Monica to Downtown after a day at Disneyland. I am very concerned about leaving suitcases in the car all day in the Disney car park. The car boot will probably not be big enough to hold three large suitcases and carry ons - to keep out of sight. We will have lots of luggage due to being in the US for three weeks and having ski gear.

Does anyone know if you can "check luggage" into a secure area in Disneyland?

My only other option is to leave the luggage at the hotel in Santa Monica and drive back and pick it up before heading to the Bonaventure in downtown. Don't ask why we want to change hotels- too long a story.

Another question: How safe/wise would it be for someone to take a taxi from Santa Monica to downtown after dark, ie about 9.30pm? This could be another way around the problem, roughly how long would the journey take at that time of night (a Monday)?
Thanks for any help. Schnauzer

What hotel are you staying at in Santa Monica? If you are at a good hotel w/a good concierge could be of help in a situation like this, and may be able to get your luggage transported from that hotel to the Westin downtown for you.

Alternatively, driving from Santa Monica to the Westin Bonaventure downtown before going to Disneyland is not a big deal at all, it is easy. I stay in Santa Monica routinely (about 15 stays this year), and drive a rent car to an office bldg. across the street from the Westin every morning and back to Santa Monica every night. If you do this early in the morning (before 7 a.m.) there will be very little traffic. Even at peak rush hour at 8-9 a.m. the traffic is moving and it usually only takes about half hour to 40 min. to do this drive, unless there is an accident. You take "the 10" (I10) hwy straight east from Santa Monica until you come to the 110 exit for downtown (left side exit), curve to the left and take the Figueroa St. exit (which is the first exit after you curve onto the 110, so stay in the right hand lane), take the exit two short blocks to South Figueroa St. and turn left, then the Westin is three blocks down on the left. Very easy. It will be easy to get back on the 110 freeway to Harbor Freeway and get to Disney from there. That way, when you are done at Disney you can just go to the Boanventure and have luggage already there.

Here is the part of the Disneyland site that will tell you how to get from the Westin Bonaventure to Disneyland. Just put in the Bonaventure's address, 404 South Figeuroa, zipcode 90071.

It is safe to take a taxi to Santa Monica at night if you choose to do it that way. It takes about 20 min. at night with no traffic. But I think you can arrange to get the luggage to Westin before that night by one of the two o[tions above to save a huge hassle of having to go back to Santa Monica after Disney and then go back downtown.

oopsie, I forgot the site to the page to get those directions from Westin to Disneyland:

http://tinyurl.com/ydt95b

emd, thanks so much for that fantastic response. We are staying at the Georgian in Santa Monica, so I will email them and ask if this is possible. I have a flight attendant friend who I am trying to link up with to go to Disneyland and she is staying at the Bonaventure, she has suggested we stay in the same hotel for the last night of our stay as we are going to "do" Hollywood, Beverly Hills together the day after Disney, but being an Aussie I am not too keen on driving through LA by myself to pick her up.

How long would it take her by taxi in the early morning to come from downtown to Santa Monica - would it be even quicker going away from the downtown area rather than towards it? She flies in late from New York the night before so can't come to our hotel and stay, in order that we can go together first thing from Santa Monica. Lots of tooing and froing. Thanks again for your advice, I will work on it.
Schnauzer

The Mickey and Friends parking garage is very safe and secure. There is constant activity, well-lit, with employees all around.

We thought the parking lot at the Contemporary Resort at Disney World was very safe years ago -- well lit, full of activity, guards at the hotel entrance. Besides it was the "happiest place on earth". But when we walked out to our brand new car in the morning we found it had been "keyed", scratched from front to back bumper on both sides.

Neo... I saw a car get 'keyed' at a Disney park.
It was a person cutting through the parking lot with one of those huge strollers loaded to the max. She scraped down the entire length of a car and did not even act like she noticed.

This one was clearly NOT done by accident. It was quite deliberate -- and obvious since it was done on both sides. And it was deep -- to the bare metal.

Disneyland is in Anaheim.

Disney World is in Florida.

Your luggage will probably be fine in the Mickey and Friends structure, but there are no guarantees. I don't think the lockers are big enough for large suitcases. I wonder if the Disneyland Hotel would allow you to leave your luggage there with the bell services?

Gee, I hope you didn't think I didn't realize where Disneyland and Disney World are. But I don't think whether you are talking about Florida or California Disney properties makes an ounce of difference in how "safe" your car is. As mlgb says, "there are no guarantees".

I'm an annual passholder at Disneyland and park in this structure about once a month. I would have no reservations about leaving suitcases in the trunk of my car. There are always people around and the entire structure is covered by security cameras.

Incidentally, I'm convinced that no thief would randomly go around breaking into trunks of cars. Invaribly when one is broken into, it is because a thief saw the owners standing at the back of the car, carefully making sure all their "important" stuff was in the trunk. They walk away and the thief strikes. The odds of a thief getting something worthwhile by randomly opening trunks in a parking lot are very small. The odds of getting something worthwhile after the owners made a big deal about making it secure are great.

The answer? Make sure the stuff is in the trunk before you leave your last destination. Do not stand in the parking lot and open the trunk exposing its contents.

schnauzer, like you, I never like to leave my luggage in the car, even in the trunk, as I once had my rent car trunk broken into in a parking lot in CA and all the luggage was taken. It was awful. There are so many people in the Disney garage and it is well lit, but bad things can happen as Neo points out and I understand your concern.

mlgb, I don't think they are staying in a hotel at Disneyland- they are staying downtown that night at the Westin Bonaventure.

Schnauzer, yes, your friend could easily taxi from Westin downtown to Santa Monica in the a.m. in 20 min. Does she have to stay at Westin the first night due to the airlines dictating that? If she comes to Santa Monica, then you'd be backtracking to go to Disney w/her.

I'm a little confused on the sequence of events. So your friend has to stay at Westing 1st night, and you are staying there the next night after Disney, and you need to not only get your luggage to Westin BUT ALSO need to pick her up to go to Disney (or have her come to Santa Minica to meet you to go to Disney)-- is that it?

Neo: The way this happened surprised me also. We did not stand at the back of the car or open our truck before leaving our rent car that had the luggage in the trunk. We got out of the car and walked away, gone for an hour. An hour later when we returned, trunk had been crowbarred and everything was gone. The rent car company (Avis) told us the thiefs likely could tell it was a rent car and targeted it in the tourist location parking lot we were at (in a town just over the Golden Gate bridge from San Fransisco). I always wondered if they saw us check out of the hotel that morning and followed us over the bridge (obvious we were nto going towards the airport); otherwise it seemed random to me also. But that is the way it happened...

That said, we were not in a covered parking garage w/secutiry cameras, like there apparently is at Disney. I've parked in that garage at Disneyland and it is well-lit. I don't recall the security cameras but that certainly doesn't mean they aren't there as posted above.

Our friends' trunk was broken into in San Francisco. This was after a day of Christmas shopping. Their gifts, luggage, and camera bag were stolen.

Woody

Thanks for the additional answers. Emd, you have pretty much got the idea. No wonder you are confused, I am doing the trip and I am confused!!! Yes, it is a lot of backtracking, the airlines dictate where she stays etc, and yes she either has to come down to S.M. for us to then head to Disney, or for me to to to Downtown to pick her up. After all the other responses I don't think I will leave the luggage, security cameras or not. I think we will have just too much luggage for it to fit in the trunk so the additional bits and pieces left in the car would be very telling - tourist alert!!!
Thanks everyone, Schnauzer

OK, then I woudl head downtown to drop off luggage at Westin, pick her up, and head to Disney. Do not be intimidated by the thought of "going into downtown L.A." on way to Disney; it is an easy on-and-off the freeway and easy to get back on freeway to Disneyland. Freeways are well-marked, just go on the slow side, have your directions from downtown to Disney pre-printed from that Disney site, and you'll be fine.

Good luck!