Magic on a Budget?

[mouseymommy]

Most of our trips are small budget trips. Here are some of the things we do/have done.

-bring in bottles of soda for DH. A 6 pack of bottles is as much as 1 soda in the park. We also bring water bottles.

-We freeze capri suns overnight and use them to keep string cheese cold while we are in the park.

-We ask for water with our meals.

-make autograph books for the kids. This trip I'll bring a photo mat to be signed. I'll use it for a photo from DL.

-I buy Disney gift cards at Safeway. I get extra gas rewards, and fill up for less money for our drive out to CA.

-When I go to the grocery store I buy a couple snacks for our trip. We fill our baggies every morning with our snacks.

-We bring snacks/sandwich wraps in the car so we don't have to buy food on the road.

-If souvenirs for the kids are in the budget, they get their own gift card to use. Even though this is usually a small amount per child, ($15) I still get the gas rewards, and they don't ask for anything extra.

You will have an amazing time! Like other posters have already mentioned, your kids won't know or care if it's a budget trip. The important part of the trip will be the fun memories you make. One of the trips that stick out most in our minds was from last year. My DS's became obsessed with Splash Mountain. My DS thought they were singing " How do you do? Pretty good, so is your lawn!" So now we randomly sing "Pretty good, so is your lawn!" It reminds us how much fun we have as a family. Have fun making memories!!

 

[Jaina]

Thanks for the ideas! We will probably mostly eat snacks from home and stores that we'll bring with us. I'm thinking one meal a day we will buy. Definitely not breakfast; it takes too much time when I'll want to be getting us there early! DH is also gluten-free, so we can't just eat anywhere. Another good reason to bring most of our own food and snacks, so there is less wondering and reading and asking about gluten-free. I really wanted to do PhotoPass, but our little camera stopped working recently (the flash died) so we had to use that money to buy another one. (used, on eBay, so it's still a decent camera for $60) We also have a nice DSLR that we will probably bring with us part of the time. But it's too big to lug around everywhere. I read somewhere that you can hand your own camera to PhotoPass photographers sometimes. Do they mind this? Is it considered rude? We won't be buying any ride photos, especially since with a little one, our whole family will never be on there together (for the big ones). I've actually never owned a normal pair of Disney ears (though I've been about 13 times). They always seemed too expensive! (If that tells you anything about how "budget" our trips always were. I'm the oldest of 5, so our souvenirs were limited to about $20 and later whatever money we brought ourselves! )
I am looking at the pin-trading stuff, but not sure if our kids will totally get it. Will a 5 and 6 year old enjoy it? The almost-3-year-old will want to be involved...

 

[brendahamlincoln]

I read somewhere that you can hand your own camera to PhotoPass photographers sometimes. Do they mind this? Is it considered rude?

That's something I'm interested in as well. I'm big into photography so I always carry my own camera around. As much as I'd love to just use the PhotoPass+ option I can't budget for it this time around.

 

[DLmama]

That's something I'm interested in as well. I'm big into photography so I always carry my own camera around. As much as I'd love to just use the PhotoPass+ option I can't budget for it this time around.

Yes, you can have the Photopass people use your own camera. Most of them will ask you for it before you even think about it. They will still use their camera as well and give you the "free"photo pass card. You can go online once you get home and order them if you choose to, but you don't have to. They're crazy expensive!! Plus, you already have close to the same photo on your own camera.

 

[Jaina]

Thanks! We have a nice camera we'll have with us some of the time, so hopefully with someone that knows what they're doing holding it, we'll end up with at least a few decent ones of the whole family!

 

[AimberleeTwins]

I have to say, I'm glad there are others out there who are also on a budget. It sounds weird but it actually gives me more resolve to stick to our budget plan, knowing we aren't the only ones.

 

[Cactus girl]

I know you said that you were going to skip a character meal, but one of our budget friendly alternatives has been the "My disneyland birthday party" at the Plaza Inn. It's $16.99/pp, but you get a lot for that money. Each person gets their own cake to decorate, punch in a take home cup, a cute hat and a chance to take a picture with Mickie and Minnie together.

It's usually an about an hour and a half and unlike a character meal, you are not rushed. Everyone is seated together, everyone sings, dances, makes cakes, interacts with the master of the party--Pat E Cake and it is truly memorable. It is in the middle of the afternoon so it is a chance for everyone to sit down and as crazy as it sounds, you can decompress during the party. You can make advance reservations and sometimes they have day of reservations available.

P.S. If its ok to celebrate your "disney birthday."

 

[scrapbunny]

My BFF that always goes with us to DL needs to eat Gluten free and vegan and DL is AWESOME with both. There is a great thread here with the gluten free guide that you can get from City Hall on Main Street. There are a ton of options and a very budget friendly one is getting the gluten free noddles at any of the places that serve pasta. Because they cook it just for you we found that you get more than a usual serving, enough to feed 2 adults and then some. Another favorite are the sweet potato fries, just get all orders GF otherwise the regular fries get cold while you wait for the GF ones

 

[squirrel]

The pressed pennies would be cheaper than pin trading.

There are a lot of pressed penny machines, but I let my niece choose one from each machine. It will add up but with 3 kids it's still cheaper than pin trading.

 

[JessiePride]

Be careful, because a lot of hotels charge for parking. ($16-$24) a day! Plus resort fees, etc. One of the places that's has free parking and complimentary breakfast is Ayres inn (it also happens to be #1 hotel on trip advisors anaheim hotels.
You can also cut costs by naming your own price on priceline. I've booked a couple of times on there and have gotten 3-4 star hotels for 50-70 a night. (You can put in Disneyland so it will book you close.) Sometimes priceline will have a deal for free parking if you're booking a certain room. I've also gotten a room at the Crowne Plaza on hotwire which I loved.. for 55 a night during the summertime.
The downside to those sites are that you won't know what hotel you're getting (unless you go to better bidding forums, where they have all the hotels listed ....but if you want to save money that's a good way to do it!

 

[starshine514]

The last time we used Priceline was for a hotel in San Diego. They gave us a nice hotel, with a $30/day parking fee. I've refused to do Priceline since then. At least Hotwire gives you a general idea of the parking fees before you've purchased and you're stuck with it.

 

[Jaina]

$30 a night for parking? That is one of the more ridiculous things I've heard about hotels. Sheesh! We've had "resort" fees when we weren't expecting them, and that was bad enough!

We use Priceline a lot, (and my husband knows about those betterbidding site, etc.) but with little kids to walk with, I wanted to choose what we were getting into. So we're staying at the Anaheim Plaza Inn & Suites. I'm not expecting anything special, but hoping for a non-scary experience, and we could get 3 nights there for the price of 2 most places. And I'm familiar with the walk, since we've stayed closer and also in the Candy Cane Inn (once).

 

[T0rrent]

$30 a night for parking? That is one of the more ridiculous things I've heard about hotels. Sheesh! We've had "resort" fees when we weren't expecting them, and that was bad enough!

We use Priceline a lot, (and my husband knows about those betterbidding site, etc.) but with little kids to walk with, I wanted to choose what we were getting into. So we're staying at the Anaheim Plaza Inn & Suites. I'm not expecting anything special, but hoping for a non-scary experience, and we could get 3 nights there for the price of 2 most places. And I'm familiar with the walk, since we've stayed closer and also in the Candy Cane Inn (once).

Two years ago we stayed at the convention center Marriott since the wife worked for them at the time and during the month of december certain days were double discount days. 2 of the 3 nights were $29.50, but parking was $28 a day. That made me cry.

 

[squirrel]

IHOP has kids meals free after 4pm with an adult entree.

 

[CAmommy]

Call me crazy, but we have gone to Disneyland several times with my young children and have never once done a character meal. I really considered it during our last trip there, but alas, my cheapness rang through and I just couldn't spend that much money on the dinner or breakfast. I know it's probably really fun, BUT my kids don't know the difference and don't even know it exists! Also, we aren't big souvenir people. My son likes to get a magnet from every place we visit, and we "splurge" by buying them each a shirt. That is literally all we got at Disney this time around. We eat breakfast at our hotel (usually stay at a place with a fridge, so we have cereal for breakfast). We drink water only from our own water bottles, and bring in juice for the kids. I like to bring a jar of peanut butter and a loaf of bread for when I want to have a light meal. Also, I am trying to teach my kids the value of a dollar, and I don't believe that they need odds and ends throughout the parks or that spending more equals a better experience. Disney magic is apparent when you look into their eyes. No more than the price of admission and a hotel is needed for that.

 

[Jaina]

Call me crazy, but we have gone to Disneyland several times with my young children and have never once done a character meal. I really considered it during our last trip there, but alas, my cheapness rang through and I just couldn't spend that much money on the dinner or breakfast. I know it's probably really fun, BUT my kids don't know the difference and don't even know it exists! Also, we aren't big souvenir people. My son likes to get a magnet from every place we visit, and we "splurge" by buying them each a shirt. That is literally all we got at Disney this time around. We eat breakfast at our hotel (usually stay at a place with a fridge, so we have cereal for breakfast). We drink water only from our own water bottles, and bring in juice for the kids. I like to bring a jar of peanut butter and a loaf of bread for when I want to have a light meal. Also, I am trying to teach my kids the value of a dollar, and I don't believe that they need odds and ends throughout the parks or that spending more equals a better experience. Disney magic is apparent when you look into their eyes. No more than the price of admission and a hotel is needed for that.

CAMommy, this is how I grew up experiencing Disney. And we loved it. I didn't even know all these "extras" (like character meals) existed. We will probably not do any kind of character meal this time, there is a good chance we will never stay onsite, and our kids already have enough Disney toys all over our house that I'm not worried about them feeling too deprived. Disney is already so expensive it's hard to justify spending more money on expensive food and extra experiences. I'm pretty sure they're going to have a blast (and, let's be honest, a bit of whining and complaining anyway, because they're kids) anyway. I am getting so super excited about our trip, and so are they, though they don't know it's happening so soon. My 5 year old DD loves to watch the old (2008?) Disney planning DVD we have and can hardly contain herself, asking when we're going to be able to go.