Help please!

[JPGonzales]

My sister just called and they are planning a short trip to DL this Spring Break. They are on a limited budget with 2 boys, 7 and 5.

Any suggestions on cheap eating and itinerary planning? Any little hints on fun cheap things to surprise the boys with?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[thewritegirl]

Definitely!

First, I went to the Dollar Store and bought a few cheap Disney items and glow necklaces to pack for cheap souvenirs. I also ordered t-shirts on the Disney outlet website for everyone in the family. The best inexpensive souvenirs AT the park, imo, are: Mickey ears, the silhouette place on Main Street, and the leather bracelets in Frontierland that you can have engraved (free) with a little metal disney character attached.

For food: Do you know where they are staying? We stayed at Park Vue last time, which was awesome because they have a really filling breakfast. So, we loaded up on breakfast food. Then, we brought snacks and water into the parks - jerky, granola bars, etc. When we got hungry, we had the snacks until about 4pm. Then, we had an early dinner in the park. That way, we only had to pay for one big meal a day. That was a huge money saver.

 

[Huff]

Use Hotwire to look for a decent deal on a hotel. For our upcoming trip we have a car so its not important for us to find one in walking distance nor on the ART shuttle routes. Best deal we found was the Radisson Suites near Knotts (about 5 miles from Disneyland). It includes a free full breakfast. Price was $70.

Eat breakfasts off site on the way to hotel. Better yet, get a hotel with fridge and stock with cereal, milk, juices, fruit, etc. for cheap breakfasts.

Everything onsite is expensive!! We eat very little in the parks. Its just way too expensive for what you get. Instead we eat in Downtown Disney. Still expensive but at least you get plenty to eat. One favorate has been Jazz Kitchen Express. The burgers are great and very reasonably priced. Far better than Test Pilots grill in California Adventure.

 

[JPGonzales]

hey thanks! Those are some great ideas. They just decided to go and haven't found hotels or made plans.

What about an itinerary. Where do you go first. Is there a website with all the times of the shows, like Steve Soares for DW?

 

[Huff]

Disneyland.com has the current park hours and major show times. It does not list the smaller shows that appear throughout the parks. For mobile phones try m.disneyland.go.com. It shows ride wait times, show times etc.

We never have any pre-planned itinerary. But do have some general rules we follow.

Space Mountain fastpasses run out quickly or have lengthy return times. Get these early. Same with Indiana Jones.

Splash Mountain and Big Thunder often have very short lines late at night. Busy mid day. Same with Grizzly Rapids.

Soar'n almost always has a long line but fastpass return times usually aren't bad.

Tower of Terror typically has a 30-40 minute wait but shorter in the mornings or late at night. Fastpass return times are rarely long.

Fantasyland rides are almost all very lengthy except early morning or late at night.

When very busy go on rides or see shows with short lines such as Buzz Lightyear, Monsters Inc., Pooh, Bugs Life, Turtle Talk, Muppets, etc.

Use park hopping once or twice in the day to maximize use of fastpasses since you can hold fastpasses for both parks at the same time.

 

[mystic_path]

My tips are, if you family has a 3+ park hopper it comes with a magical morning, and this allows each ticket holder entry into the park an hour before park opening to have access to Fantasyland rides. Rides such as Peter Pan, Dumbo, and even Nemo have LONG lines throughout the day. The shortest lines you will find for these rides are first thing in the morning or later at night. But if you have access first thing in the morning you can get those Fantasyland rides out of the way ASAP.

At the entry gates to each park they have park map/brochures with all the show times, character meet and greets etc. But you can also go to Disneyland.com to the schedule to find out what is playing and when, so you have a good idea of shows to see.

To surprise the boys you can always get buttons from City Hall or many of the stores within the parks have them. They have all sorts of different ones. "First time, Honorary Citizen, Birthday, Anniversary, etc". OR at City Hall you can get Disney Dollars, which looks like a dollar bill with Disney Characters on it. You are able to use them like real money throughout the parks/resorts. They come in difference currency, but I usually just spend $1.00 and trade it in for $1.00 Disney bill for scrap booking sakes.

To save money...
- Bring in flavor juice packets and ask for free ice water. You can get this from any counter service.

- There are convenient stores around the area and you can buy breakfast things, bottles of water, granola bars for the park etc.

- Purchase Disneyland gift cards, so each child has a spending allowance for whatever they want in the park. That way there is little to no complaining or over spending.

- There are many places to eat outside the resort. Captain Kids right across from the main entrance on Harbor, kids eat free.

 

[pixiewings71]

My tips are, if you family has a 3+ park hopper it comes with a magical morning, and this allows each ticket holder entry into the park an hour before park opening to have access to Fantasyland rides. Rides such as Peter Pan, Dumbo, and even Nemo have LONG lines throughout the day. The shortest lines you will find for these rides are first thing in the morning or later at night. But if you have access first thing in the morning you can get those Fantasyland rides out of the way ASAP.

At the entry gates to each park they have park map/brochures with all the show times, character meet and greets etc. But you can also go to Disneyland.com to the schedule to find out what is playing and when, so you have a good idea of shows to see.

To surprise the boys you can always get buttons from City Hall or many of the stores within the parks have them. They have all sorts of different ones. "First time, Honorary Citizen, Birthday, Anniversary, etc". OR at City Hall you can get Disney Dollars, which looks like a dollar bill with Disney Characters on it. You are able to use them like real money throughout the parks/resorts. They come in difference currency, but I usually just spend $1.00 and trade it in for $1.00 Disney bill for scrap booking sakes.

To save money...
- Bring in flavor juice packets and ask for free ice water. You can get this from any counter service.

- There are convenient stores around the area and you can buy breakfast things, bottles of water, granola bars for the park etc.

- Purchase Disneyland gift cards, so each child has a spending allowance for whatever they want in the park. That way there is little to no complaining or over spending.

- There are many places to eat outside the resort. Captain Kids right across from the main entrance on Harbor, kids eat free.

OMG this is both the best advice and the worst advice EVER!!!!! Yes, definitely eat at places outside the parks, but PLEASE DO NOT EAT AT Captain Kidd's....it's so disgusting I don't even know how it's still open! Seriously, it's NOT worth the kids eating free, or the $8 buffet or whatever they ruse they use to get you in there....AVOID that place like the plague! Also avoid IHOP, the food is good, service is fine but the prices are highly inflated. Go to Denny's on Harbor, they have standard Denny's fare with normal pricing, go to Mimi's, huge portions, very sharable, go to Rain Forest Cafe in DTD, also has huge portions, DBF and I always share and after 1 appetizer and our meal we are so stuffed when we leave......there are plenty of great places to eat without resorting to CK. Also, there is a McD's on Harbor (near the Mimi's), they don't have the standard dollar menu but the prices there aren't too bad.

 

[mystic_path]

OMG this is both the best advice and the worst advice EVER!!!!! Yes, definitely eat at places outside the parks, but PLEASE DO NOT EAT AT Captain Kidd's....it's so disgusting I don't even know how it's still open! Seriously, it's NOT worth the kids eating free, or the $8 buffet or whatever they ruse they use to get you in there....AVOID that place like the plague! Also avoid IHOP, the food is good, service is fine but the prices are highly inflated. Go to Denny's on Harbor, they have standard Denny's fare with normal pricing, go to Mimi's, huge portions, very sharable, go to Rain Forest Cafe in DTD, also has huge portions, DBF and I always share and after 1 appetizer and our meal we are so stuffed when we leave......there are plenty of great places to eat without resorting to CK. Also, there is a McD's on Harbor (near the Mimi's), they don't have the standard dollar menu but the prices there aren't too bad.

LOL! Agreed Captain Kids is pretty bad. here's a reason they stand outside and hand out free cupons. Some dont mind it however and so I thought id use that as an option anyhow. You also reminded me of Mimi's. If you join Mimi's eclub then you get a free meal cupon. One per table.

 

[Jessica527]

The biggest tip I can give is even though it is a short time, if you don't take things slow... you will be exhausted earlier in the night. Enjoy everything you can, just make sure to relax as well. I know my biggest problem is running from one thing to another and not enjoying what Disney has to offer.

One thing we do to save money if we are staying at the All Star is bring McDonalds coupons and stop there on the way back to the hotel at night. Not the ideal option but does save some money!

 

[Huff]

One thing we do to save money if we are staying at the All Star is bring McDonalds coupons and stop there on the way back to the hotel at night. Not the ideal option but does save some money!

The All Stars are at Disneyworld. OP is referring to Disneyland. But eating cheap offsite applies to both. Last visit to Disneyland I stopped at the McDonalds across Harbor. Prices were high, little to no value menu. For instance, Sausage McMuffins are $1 here in Phoenix. At the McD's across from Disneyland they were $2.79. Similar prices on other items including drinks as well. How are prices at the Disneyworld McD's thats just down the road from All Stars?

 

[eduk8r26]

Millie's across from the main entrance is also pretty good. It's a little closer than MImi's. They have quite a bit on the menu.

 

[Brady's Mom]

Here are my favorite tips for maximizing my dollar at DLR.

1. Eat breakfast in your hotel room - this is assuming that your hotel has a fridge and micro. We eat breakfast sandwiches, oatmeal, cold cereal, yogurt. The hotel we usually stay at doesn't offer breakfast.

2. Bring in sandwiches for lunch - along with chips, cut up veggies, cut up fruits, and water or juices. This helps my family get some of their fruits and veggies and not everything they eat is fried! We bring this food with us if we drive or stop by a grocery store when we fly (we rent a car).

3. Plan on one full meal in the Parks each day - sometimes we switch this up and do lunch (corn dogs) and then eat our "lunch" for dinner. We plan on $15 per adult for a meal and $8 per kid for a meal. DH and I often share. We buy an entree and a side salad and share the meal. With 5 of us who normally go we end up under $60 a day. This way DH and I are not full and feeling gross when we are done eating and we figure if we're still hungry we can buy a snack.

4. My family LOVES the kettlecorn in DTD. We find their big bag to be reasonable (about $7) and it gives us a fun snack that's a little sweet. We do sometimes buy ice cream or other treats - but we figure since we're not spending all of our meal budget of $60 we can afford it!