Now, visitors can take the train from places such as Santa Barbara, Los Angeles or San Diego, then zip over to the theme parks or hotels and back on a $3-a-day shuttle or trolley. The shuttle ride takes 15-25 minutes.

The new service is part of a larger plan to connect transit options with trains. Metrolink service will run every 30 minutes in 2009, so the city wants to build up ridership now, said Danny Wu, the city's acting transit manager. Eventually, the city wants to build a transportation hub with links to the Disneyland area, airports and beyond.

The transit system, called ART, started five years ago with red trolleys going only from some area hotels to the Disney theme parks. Now, ART runs 32 vehicles, extending the service to The Block at Orange, Crystal Cathedral and on weekends, the Orange train station. A new stop will go at MainPlace mall in Santa Ana next year. About 2 million visitors ride each year.

"The basic premise of ART is to remove vehicular traffic. The less vehicles we have in the resort, the better off we are," said Diana Kotler, ART executive director.