Trip to Disneyland and lots of questions

[Catkramer]

New here to the Disneyland board. We are huge Disney fans, and usually go to DisneyWorld. However, with the change in the economy, we are looking to cut back from the 3,000.00 vacations to hopefully spending only a few hundred.

I have TONS of questions, as we haven't been to Disneyland in almost 4 years.

My husband works for an airline, so we will be flying for free. He also has hotel points, so we are hoping to stay at a Hilton or Marriott close to Disney. We are checking to see if one of these hotels will have free transportation both to/from the airport and to/from Disneyland. Any suggestions would be appreciated. It looks like we are going to try and fly into Orange County. (We have always stayed on property, so this will be the first time we have ever stayed off property)

Another thing, we are only wanting to go for one day in each park. So we don't need Park Hoppers, etc. We will be going with another family, who happens to be a retired military family. They said they should be able to get a military discount on the tickets, so we are looking into that, but I haven't found any information on that. Any information would be appreciated.

In addition, my son has Autism. The family we are going with, their son also has Autism. They are in the same Special Needs Kindergarten class. And as families, we just hit it off and thought it would be great to bring our boys to Disneyland together. It will be their son's first time, and well, my son hasn't been to the Land since he was 2.

When we go to Disneyworld, we are able to get the Disability Pass for him at the front of the Park. We have never had a problem with getting one, and it has helped so much. Is Disneyland any different when it comes to this pass?

Also, I know that they have the "Get in on your birthday free" promotion. Are they planning on keeping that in 2010 and my son is a February birthday and we were hoping to go on his birthday. Do we need to bring anything showing that it is his birthday?

I know the dining plans work differently and the payment plans are different (between the two parks), so it is hard for me to know what to expect from Disneyland since we haven't been there in a while.

Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.