Just thinking of looking at pricing DL for senior trip

[mikewdw]

We are looking at senior trip for family of 5. Many trips to WDW but never DL. Just estimating price for about 5-6 days in park with air fare and onsite does $10,000 (not counting food) sound about right? We could fly out of atlanta. Late May dates. Any tips on planning or checking for lower prices? What about good neighbor hotels? Just trying to decide if its in our budget to even begin with. Any planning tips or info appreciated.
Thanks
mikewdw

 

[Pluto468]

That sounds like an exciting trip! I would think $10,000 would be plenty, but I guess you have to add it all up to be sure.

A few things:

Disneyland only has passes up to 5 days, so if you want 6 days you would need to buy an extra ticket for that.
~
Undercover Tourist and Getaway Today are two reputable websites that sell Disneyland tickets. They have sales once in a while that can help with ticket prices. Also as you know since you are a WDW vet you can get non hoppers, or not add Genie+ to save money. (I always do hoppers, but skipping them can be a good way to save money.)
~
You've probably heard this, but hopping is SO easy at DL because the parks are right across the esplenade from each other, and Downtown Disney is right there too. It's all super walkable.
~
The resort hotels really vary in price. Pixar Place (Formerly Paradise Pier) can be as low as $400-500, Disneyland $500-600 ish Grand Californian can be more like $800-900 depending on the room. Suites or club level will cost more. The prices depend on days of the week, time of year etc. There are usually spring sales.
~
There are tons of great hotels within walking distance, some even closer than the resort hotels. Be sure to check hotels that aren't considered "Good Neighbor," too. You can get a nice hotel for around $300 right across the street from the Disneyland entrance, less than a 5 minute walk. (Some of the fancier hotels across the street can be up to $500 or $600 depending on the room type.)
~
When flying to Disneyland you have a number of options for airports, and can get much better fares depending on which you choose. Also depending on your airline, I guess.

Times are estimates, it depends on time of day etc.

SNA (Santa Ana/John Wayne) 15/30 minutes away
LGB (Long Beach) 30 minutes
LAX 45-90 minutes depending on traffic
Ontario 45-60 minutes
Burbank 60-90 minutes

 

[Howry]

The Hotels on the right hand side of the picture are all a super short walk to the park. Most are shorter then the on site hotels if you want to save some of your budget for other things, these might be worth looking into.

 

[alleighboo]

We are looking at senior trip for family of 5. Many trips to WDW but never DL. Just estimating price for about 5-6 days in park with air fare and onsite does $10,000 (not counting food) sound about right? We could fly out of atlanta. Late May dates. Any tips on planning or checking for lower prices? What about good neighbor hotels? Just trying to decide if its in our budget to even begin with. Any planning tips or info appreciated.
Thanks
mikewdw

I think you will be fine at $10k. We fly out of Charlotte and into LAX. The flights are our biggest cost because changing planes makes me super anxious so we fly non-stop. We went late May last year and it was around $600 on American. It's hard to find non-stop to the smaller airports in the area, but we have never had an issue with LAX.

I would also strongly consider looking into a Good Neighbor. We've stayed at Paradise/Pixar Pier and The Anaheim Hotel. We are staying at the Disneyland Hotel in June because it's a graduation trip for my stepdaughter, but if it wasn't I would be at The Anaheim Hotel again. The price difference is insane. If you're use to higher end resorts at WDW, then you might consider and Disney hotel but if you are a value resort person or just use the rooms to sleep, definitely look at Good Neighbor! They can even be a shorter walk and DL doesn't have "the bubble" as much as WDW. Looking out of The Anaheim we could see the Guardians tower...so that counts as "bubble" for me. Especially at 1/3 of the price.

As someone else said, tickets only go up to 5-day and then you would have to add on. We did 3 our first trip and did everything (during October) but the more days the better. We did 4 the next time and are doing 5 next trip. Park-hoppers are a must have a Genie+ works a whole lot better in DL than WDW.

You mentioned end of May, just be aware of Grad Nights going on. With as many days as you're planning, crowds shouldn't be an issue but it will be full of teens. We went during Grad Nights this year and I planned next summer's trip around it. It wasn't awful but as a teacher myself...it was annoying. Just a heads up!

We are East Coasters who have officially decided to be Disneylanders instead of WDWers. Sorry for the wall of text but hopefully it's helpful!

 

[Tinkaboo]

You would probably only need 5 days even with park hoppers. Because of close proximity, you can go back and forth with ease. CA closes before DL so if you are late nighters, you can go back and close DL after CA. CA is still only a half day park to me and that’s doing multiples of some things. AC isMUCH BETTER at night if you have Marvel fans. I was just there for my annual December 5-day trip and Friday was so crowded, we just called it a day at noon. It’s not just grad nights, most any night after 10, the park seemed to turn into the OC Mall, loaded with teens all on their phones not paying any attention to their surroundings, at least that was last week.

 

[disneyfan150]

You mentioned end of May, just be aware of Grad Nights going on. With as many days as you're planning, crowds shouldn't be an issue but it will be full of teens. We went during Grad Nights this year and I planned next summer's trip around it. It wasn't awful but as a teacher myself...it was annoying. Just a heads up!

Oh no! I booked a trip for the first week in June and 2 out of 3 days are Grad nites. I just looked at rebooking flights and rooms, and there would be more costs involved. How bad is Grad Nite? I am a teacher, too.

 

[OlliePop27]

Oh no! I booked a trip for the first week in June and 2 out of 3 days are Grad nites. I just looked at rebooking flights and rooms, and there would be more costs involved. How bad is Grad Nite? I am a teacher, too.

I'm sure you can manage it, especially since you know going in that Grad Nights are taking place.

I always tell everyone planning a DL visit for the first time that the best place to look first about crowds is the Magic Key blockout calendar. More than anything else, this dictates crowds at DL, along with single day ticket pricing. It actually ends up that holidays and weekends are often less crowded than weekdays or non-blocked out weekend days.

Don't get me wrong - it's crowded all the time. However, the crowds differ in type and intensity. I've consistently found that when the most Magic Key's are blocked out, that's the best time to go. Particularly looking for the 2 lowest passes and even better if the 3rd level pass is also blocked.

Since you can't change dates just go in with a plan and I'm sure you'll be fine. If you can move to Memorial Day that might actually be better or once you get into July because the two lowest level passes are blocked the entire month.

 

[disneyfan150]

I'm sure you can manage it, especially since you know going in that Grad Nights are taking place.

I always tell everyone planning a DL visit for the first time that the best place to look first about crowds is the Magic Key blockout calendar. More than anything else, this dictates crowds at DL, along with single day ticket pricing. It actually ends up that holidays and weekends are often less crowded than weekdays or non-blocked out weekend days.

Don't get me wrong - it's crowded all the time. However, the crowds differ in type and intensity. I've consistently found that when the most Magic Key's are blocked out, that's the best time to go. Particularly looking for the 2 lowest passes and even better if the 3rd level pass is also blocked.

Since you can't change dates just go in with a plan and I'm sure you'll be fine. If you can move to Memorial Day that might actually be better or once you get into July because the two lowest level passes are blocked the entire month.

Thank you so much for all that information. I am going to check out the Magic Key calendar now. Maybe I can get something to workout.

 

[alleighboo]

Oh no! I booked a trip for the first week in June and 2 out of 3 days are Grad nites. I just looked at rebooking flights and rooms, and there would be more costs involved. How bad is Grad Nite? I am a teacher, too.

I wouldn't reschedule. Especially if there is going to be a big price difference. The crowd levels were manageable, even low most of our days. The issue was the packs of wild teens that were running rampant. I would say about 80% of the time you didn't notice they were there...but that other 20%, yikes. I teach 2nd grade and it was like someone had let loose hundreds of giant 2nd graders. It was the running, screaming, pushing, line jumping (from stand-by into the LL), and the meowing throughout the entirety of Pirates that did it for me. Would I cancel or not go to Disneyland just because it was Grad Nights? No. Would I ever plan a trip for Grad Nights again? Also no .

But seriously, you'll be fine. Just prepare yourself and know you're probably going to encounter obnoxious groups (like you normally would anywhere) except they're awkward, loud, and smell like cheap body spray and think fart jokes are still funny.

 

[Pluto468]

meowing throughout the entirety of Pirates that did it for me.

I've heard screaming and singing, but...meowing? That is so weird lol.