BEST Budget tips needed

[mommato4]

Ok gimme you BEST budget tips. I need all ways to save money while in Disneyland. We'd like to drive from BC to DL at Christmas. There are 7 of us, 7th being only a year old. Kids are 16,13,9,6 and 1. Last time we had a room, girls shared a cot, boys on a bed, us ( and now baby) on a bed. I know it's not ideal, and over capacity. but cheaper.
I need any and all tips please

 

[Butterfly123]

The way we save the most money is to bring a lot of our food with us. It is healthier, we feel better, and we save a lot of money. We always stay at a hotel on Harbor, so walking back to the room is easy. We splurge on the occasional meal, but otherwise it's sandwiches and other easy things...string cheese, yogurt, dried fruit, nuts, carrots, apples, bananas, etc.

 

[lozzypop]

Since you will have your own car, buying your own food and making sandwiches and quick meals from your hotel room is going to bring you huge savings.

A word of caution - Anaheim hotels can be very strict about their occupancy rate. Maybe check into somewhere like the Desert Inn and Suites which has rooms that will accommodate a larger family.

 

[NiceOneSimba]

We saved a ton of money on souvenirs for our young daughter by buying them in advance at the Disney store and packing them in our suitcase. They also have some great Disney shirts for the younger set at Target. You could buy them in advance and surprise them on the first day.

Find a motel that has continental breakfast that opens before 7 a.m., and you can grab that and bring it with you when you line up at the gates. Or bring Clif bars or something else small but filling to eat while you wait.

Make sure you stock up on soda/juice/milk and bottled water. Drinks are crazy expensive in the parks, and they'll let you bring them in as long as they're not in glass bottles. We probably saved $50 or more doing this over our 4 days, and we did buy several drinks in the park, so we could have saved even more.

Just make sure that whatever you're bringing in is in a small soft-sided cooler.

 

[blackjackdelta]

Ok gimme you BEST budget tips. I need all ways to save money while in Disneyland. We'd like to drive from BC to DL at Christmas. There are 7 of us, 7th being only a year old. Kids are 16,13,9,6 and 1. Last time we had a room, girls shared a cot, boys on a bed, us ( and now baby) on a bed. I know it's not ideal, and over capacity. but cheaper.
I need any and all tips please

Over capacity will get you booted these days. Fraud is not taken lightly any longer and all names must be on the reservation list. Also the grapevine and Siskyou's get very tricky during the winter. Best of luck.

Jack

 

[Huff]

Since you have a car you're not limited to hotels in the immediate vicinity of Disneyland. We stay at the Radisson Suites near Knotts Berry Farm about 5 miles from Disneyland. All rooms are suites with 2 rooms. One room has two queen beds and the other has a queen sofa bed. Theres a free hot breakfast buffet that saves quite a bit of $'s!

Rack rate is expensive ($150-$190) but use code CARLSONEF when booking to get a rate often 50+% off. We've had to book some nights using hotwire (only suite hotel listed in Knotts area) and some with the code to get the best deal for a trip. We usually end up paying $55-$80/night.

Comfort Inn south of Disneyland on Harbor has suites with 2 queens in one room and bunk beds in a seperate kids room. Also has free breakfast. Must call directly to get the best rate usually.

 

[DisMike]

We take my brother in law and convince him to get a hotel on Harbor (he has enough people to get two rooms but he has 1 car so we get a parking pass for the hotel too). My family and I stay with my cousin in Anaheim hills. We take a cooler with food. Eat breakfast at my cousin's house, pack the cooler, drive to the hotel, bring the cooler to my brother in law's room and go back and forth.

I found a back road way to DLR from my cousin's that takes only 10 minutes without having to dink around on 91 or I-5.

Saves us money big time! However, I'm not sure it would work for everyone. You have to find to willing people one of whom lives close by.

 

[OnTheRoadAgain]

• $15 Air mattress (and pump) to avoid the roll away fee if staying more than one night.
• Refillable water bottles.
• The cheapest walking distance hotel with free parking (Castle Inn, not the best hotel, but works on a budget, last minute reservation).
• Or find a place with free breakfast (and free parking) - with that many people, it can save a lot. Check the thread I started HERE for some help. You'll have to shop around online. Or bring your own breakfast items (look for a hotel with a free fridge/micro to help).
• Our dollar store has a lot of Disney items for the little ones, surprise them.
• Kohls and Target for shirts.
• Buy snacks ahead of time.
• Bring your own stroller.
• Purchase tickets ahead of time from a discount site like getawaytoday.com
• DL Restaurants where you fill your own sodas will allow one soda refill with receipt.
• Main Street Market House will give you free coffee refills all day with receipt.

 

[raftislander]

Drinks are crazy expensive in the parks

This is so true. We bring smalll Crystal Light or Lipton flavor packets and ask for a cup of cold ice water at the counter (free) then mix our own drinks at the table. These also help cover the taste of LA water -which even filtered, is not likely to be as good as what you are used to in the Pacific NW.

Portions are large so if you are eating in the parks it is likely that you will be able to share meals.

Read the boards for other ideas on ways to save on souvenirs. Doing the Animation Academy will provide each of your children (old enough to draw) a drawing of a Disney character. There are celebration or first visit buttons at City Hall. If you kids will want to collect signatures from the characters, make your own autograph books to take with you. Take lots of pictures. Remember that a Photopass Photographer will be happy to take a picture of your entire family using your own camera. If you plan to stay for a nighttime parade or fireworks, having some glow necklaces from the dollar store will delight your kids.

 

[kailuagirl]

My #1 save money tip is to eat before you get to the park in the morning. I've gotten there so hungry and I eat junk on the run and then am hungry alittle later. If I can get a decent breakfast I can last much longer.

Like everyone else said, bring your own drinks and snacks, huge $ saver.

And try to keep your kids out of the stores. My daughter wants everything. I will take her shopping, but I like to go check this out first to lead her in the right direction.

 

[rentayenta]

Share meals in the parks.

 

[dnamertz]

Make sure you stock up on soda/juice/milk and bottled water. Drinks are crazy expensive in the parks, and they'll let you bring them in as long as they're not in glass bottles. We probably saved $50 or more doing this over our 4 days, and we did buy several drinks in the park, so we could have saved even more.

Just make sure that whatever you're bringing in is in a small soft-sided cooler.

Can you really bring a cooler full of food/drinks inside the park? I thought this wasn't allowed, and that is why they have the picnic table area located outside the gates (or do they even have that still)?

 

[smiles33]

I heard soft-sided coolers were ok. We only brought 2 refillable Klean Kanteen water bottles so I can't confirm. We mostly had meals outside of the park but splurged on fun snacks (like Dole Whips, Mickey ear ice cream bars, etc.). We did eat at Ariel's Grotto but that was primarily to meet princesses. If you want to save money, just stand in line at Princess Fantasy Faire instead.

I stocked up on souvenirs during a Disney.com clearance sale, so we avoided all stores. I also bought glow in the dark sticks/necklaces/bracelets beforehand so we didn't have to spend money in the parks at night for the glow stick stuff they sell before WOC.

Have fun!

 

[kailuagirl]

Yes you can bring in a soft sided cooler with drinks, etc. into the parks. You just can't bring anything glass or things to like assemble a sandwich, but you can bring in a premade sandwich. I'm sure if it is a huge one they'll have an issue. We bought a tote style one from Target and it was perfect size for us. I think it was by Igloo and they have all different cute styles and a couple different sizes. I think ours was a 12 can size, but I'm not sure.

 

[Brady's Mom]

Our budget tips -

1. Stay w/in walking distance - this saves on the cost of parking and extra gas, and of course, extra/wasted time.

2. We budget $15 per person (over 10 ish) per day for 1 meal purchased in the Parks. We budget $15 per 2 smaller people per day. This usually costs us ~ $60. If we spend it all, we're good. If we just get corn dogs, we have some extra money that we might use for the BBQ Roundup or something else that's expensive.

*DH and I frequently share a meal. We'll get an entree and then add a side salad. It's enough to eat w/out feeling stuffed or having to cart around leftovers or throw food away. We figure if we've only used $15 between us, if we're hungry later, we'll get a snack!

3. We have breakfast in our hotel room - we bring cereal, milk, yogurt, bagels, and DH and DS 15 love the sausage/egg sandwich thingies that you can heat in the micro. We like bringing our food from home - we don't have to search for the right kind of bread or the right kind of cereal or whatever.

4. Make lunch and take it with you. Our family actually talks about how great this is since we eat celery, carrots, apple slices and then sandwiches and chips or whatever. We all feel better since we are big vegetable eaters and never get our "normal" amount of vegies at DLR.

5. Bring some "fun" snacks - things your kids want, but don't get all the time. This works great. Also, some change for the vending machine at your hotel - since the sodas in the machine are MUCH cheaper than the sodas at DLR so it's easy to get a soda fix - if you need it.

6. Budget a little for the food "extras". This makes getting an ice cream cone or a Mickey Bar or a bag of mickey shaped pretzels or an ice cold pickle in the stores no big deal.

7. We've eaten every meal in the Parks, and while they have some good food options and variety, we feel sooooo much better when we eat some "normal" stuff and make sure we have vegies and fruit. AND, our kids don't eat nuggets and french fries for every meal.

 

[disneygal2007]

The way we save the most money is to bring a lot of our food with us. It is healthier, we feel better, and we save a lot of money. We always stay at a hotel on Harbor, so walking back to the room is easy. We splurge on the occasional meal, but otherwise it's sandwiches and other easy things...string cheese, yogurt, dried fruit, nuts, carrots, apples, bananas, etc.

I like this one I have thought about this, but I am afraid I am gonna miss my got meals. And my husband is a pretty big guy (mussels) I don't know if it will be enough.

 

[DryCreek]

How about one small lunchbox for every two kids? It is something that will fit in a backpack (which we always bring).
Who could say no to one of these at the gate?

http://www.disneystore.com/disney-s...+box&Dr=pPublished:1&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial
Edited to add:
Then there is THIS adorable lunch box, although it is metal and costs a bit more, it should still fit in a backpack.
And THIS one is soft sided!
Another ONE for the girls.
And ONE for the boys....

We always bring water bottles from home (when driving anywhere) and put them in the hotel room freezer (if equipped with a refrigerator) at night. They keep everything in the soft-sided cooler nice and fresh all day, and you have ice cold water when you want. We will refill from water fountains, and there is usually a chunk of ice to cool the refill.

 

[modmama]

Unless you know you absolutely will park-hop, buy the one-park-per-day passes instead of hoppers.

Buy your tickets in advance through lastminutetravel.com. I managed to screw this up by waiting until the last minute (well, 2 days before) and missing the window of opportunity. But if you can do it, you can save some cash.

As others have said, bring a water bottle and refill it. Bring nuts, cereal bars, etc for snacking throughout the day. We also eat a giant breakfast beforehand - there are lots of decent places nearby to get eggs, pancakes, etc. and it's always worth it to start the day with a full belly. I actually find the food at Disney to be a decent value - 6-7 bucks for a kids meal that includes a drink is the same as we pay at many restaurants in our own metro area.

Buy souvenirs beforehand, wrap them up and pack them for your trip. The Disney store online always has great clearance stuff. And if you put a little note on them from their favorite characters? Magic!

 

[wvnative]

As others have said, food and souvenirs are the easiest places to cut your budget. We too bring food and drinks from home. We've taken in the stuff to make PB&J before and have no issues filling water bottles from the filtered water stations. Those flavored drink packets can be a wonderful thing when you get tired of water and they don't take up much space. I spread out our souvenir and shirt purchases over the several months preceding a trip by buying things at the Disney store in our local outlet mall. We do allow for at least one meal and one snack in park per day. We generally share snacks and will share a meal if she and I can agree on what to eat.

This will be the first trip I've taken without my DD and with my DF since we started going annually. He obviously eats more than a teenage girl so I'm assuming less sharing will be taking place. Plus, we're going for my birthday and will be eating some places he's never been (i.e.: Goofy's Kitchen) so I intend to splurge a little.

I also bought a small toaster that we take. I can precook sausage and we have one of those things that allows you to do eggs in the microwave which is perfect for homemade "sausage mcmuffins with egg". We prefer to start our day with protein and are usually out the door before breakfast starts at the hotel. Hard boiled eggs are a good option too. We also always take snacks and hard candies or jelly beans in the small backpack I carry.