One Hundred Dollars a Month

{The Girl Who Thinks She’s a Bird and Monkey Boy circa 1999}

Disneyland is one of those places where you can totally tell all hands are on deck to make sure your experience, is, well, magical.  You would be hard pressed to find trash lying around–they are meticulous about cleaning it up, it’s obviously family friendly, and the customer service is always top notch.  The only drawback, in my opinion, is the price.  And while it is true, you can literally spend your kid’s college fund in the Magical World of Disney, you can also make it a memorable family vacation without breaking the bank.

Here’s a few of my favorite money-saving techniques for Disneyland:

Tickets

First off, if you are a teacher or military, you get a discount for park tickets.  Second, if you are a resident of Southern California {or know someone who is and is willing to get you the tickets} you get a discount.

For the rest of us, Costco offers some pretty great deals as well, though, they are not available in every state.  Do your research, it might be worth stopping off at a local Costco to get your tickets once you get to California. If you plan on doing more than just Disneyland {Sea World, Universal Studios, The San Diego Zoo} you might want to look into buying a CityPass.

Accommodations

When it comes to researching hotels, TripAdvisor gets my vote. Not only do they have traveler photos and unbiased reviews {from folks like you and me} they have been spot on every time I have stayed in a hotel I found through searching their site. I never book a hotel room without checking TripAdvisor first.

Right off the bat, the on-site Disney hotels are CRAZY expensive.  BUT, if you are going to California just for Disneyland, you may want to factor in the fact that they will provide transportation to and from the airport, and you will not need to rent a car to get to the park.  Also, you will already be park side, so you also won’t have to pay the $15 per day parking fee.  You’ll have to crunch the numbers and decide what will yield the bigger savings for you.

Another option is to stay outside of the park and find a hotel with a small kitchenette.  Food is always such a big part of a vacation budget, so the kitchenette will more than pay for itself {provided you actually use it.  Ha.}  Disneyland actually has a list of good neighbor hotels that typically run $150 less per night than Disney hotels.  Some even provide shuttles to and from the park {with limited hours, though, so make sure to check.}

Food

Food, food, food.  This is where you can truly save the most money.  Disneyland is gracious about allowing outside food and drinks.  You can quite literally pack in a cooler if you are so inclined.  With onsite restaurants averaging $10-$15 per person, food adds up super fast.  I seriously recommend eating breakfast at your hotel from food you’ve purchased at the grocery store.

Keep it simple—buy milk {provided you have a mini fridge in the hotel room}, fruit, cereal, muffins, etc.  If you have a kitchenette, you can get a little more extravagant.  Buy stuff to make sandwiches, etc. and pack a lunch and snacks.  I know it’s not as much fun to eat a packed lunch, so when my kids were younger I let them get things from the grocery store I would never allow them to throw into the cart at home, just to make it seem like a splurge {i.e. prepared pudding cups, fancy juice, bagged kettle corn, etc.}

If you are really looking to save A LOT of cash, you can pack your crock pot {yep, I said it, go ahead and roll your eyes}, purchase the ingredients for a meal, and plug it in at your hotel room.  You will come back to a ready-to-eat meal for under the cost of one plate at a restaurant.  If you aren’t looking for something quite that extreme, consider eating at a restaurant off site.  You will save 20-30% simply by leaving the park.

Souvenirs

Ah, nothing like that inevitable moment when you wander into the shops only to find that you may have to take out a second mortgage on your house to get every child a trinket to remember the trip by.  There’s a couple of ways to save money on the souvenirs, some are extreme, some are just plain good sense, and some take a little fore-thought.

First up:  tips for the extremist.  Stay out of the shops altogether, and go home with just the memories permanently etched in your mind.  It’s hard, for sure, but it pretty much guarantees you 100% savings.  Not too shabby if you ask me.

Not your cup of tea?  Then shop stores outside of the park.  You will quite literally find Disney related memorabilia EVERYWHERE in Southern California and at half the price.  Let the kiddos know that while they won’t be able to pick out anything in the park, there will be an opportunity to choose their treasures at a different shop.

Finally, if you are great at planning, order your stuff online before you go.  That way, the kids can actually wear their t-shirts to the park.  Get them their favorite character stuffed plush toy before you go too and present it to them at the hotel.  Kids are always excited to get presents, no matter the location—or at least mine were.  Also, no matter where you fall, extremist to casually frugal, if you have little ones, order/make an autograph book BEFORE you get to the park.  It’s soooo fun for the kids to collect all of the characters’ signatures, but they charge you an arm and a leg for what is essentially a notebook.  Having it beforehand means your kids will be ready to go the minute they hit the gates.

Are you headed to Disneyland this year?  What are you going to do to save money?  If you’ve already been, what tips and tricks have you learned?

~Mavis

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