Major Budget Saving tips for DLR?

[jewelergirl]

We are going to DLR in a couple of weeks and I have been cruising this board for tips on saving money. We are on a really tight budget, and just wanted to get anyones input who might have soemthing to share .

Here is the master plan, such as it is:

It is me , my DH and my 8YO DD - a late birthday surprise for her - she REALLY wanted to go on her birthday last month, but we just could't pull it off. We have a week 's vacation, but it looks like we will be able to do 4 days on the current total budget of $1100. We could push it to as much as $1400, but it would mean squeeking by for the next month on everything else- still maybe....

So far we are planning on using priceline for hotel (with the help of betterbidding.com). Looks like we should be able to get a hotal for $40 a night plus 13-15% room tax, hotel parking, DL shuttle, etc. Brings 3 night priceline total anywhere from $174 to 226. Anyone has any ideas on cheaper accommodations, suggestions are welcome!!!

Will buy 2 day hoppers online from DLR- 149x2 and 129x1= $427.

Food budget is $300 (includes our own breakfasts an snacks that we will bring with us, sandwiches/fast burgers on the road trip days, and 2 lunches and dinners, drinks and snacks at DL)

Gas will be approx $100

$12x2 wheelchair rental (DH has an injured foot- can walk part of the time, but for sure, not all day x 2.) = $24

$40 for souvaniers (at Walmart near DL- they have a great seleciton of nice Disney stuff- we always buy there).

We'll drive down from Redding, CA on Tues 5/26 and stay the night. Go to DL on Wed 5/27, CA adventure in mornig and afternnon, then DL in evening on Thu 5/28. Drive home Friday 5/29.

Would love to stay longer we have the time- maybe go to Universal (DD has never been there) or stay longer at DL, but I just dont know if we can manager it financially. I know DLR has that great deal on the longer hopper passes with the free days, but the hotel and food are the killers.

That's it in a nutshell- any advice, help, etc are so very much appreciated! We don't know too many of the ins and outs, just what I've drummed up the last couple of day online, so even if it's obvous to DL vet, may not be to us.

You guys rock- long live DISNEY!

 

[Whitty]

It sounds like you've got it all planned out at a great budget cost For more ins and outs on Disneyland, you may want to go to the DLR board instead of the budget board. I think most of the BB people go to WDW. But I know the DLR board talks a lot about ways to save money and things to do at DLR. That's where I get all of my information Good Luck and have fun!!!! Hopefully it won't be too hot when you go

 

[jewelergirl]

Thanks, Whitty- I will go repost it there.

I apprecaite your reply!

 

[MAH4546]

Whats your zip code? Zip codes 90000-93599 (Calif.) and 21000-22999 (Mexico) can buy a 3-day park hopper for $99.

If you have friends in SoCal, they can buy them for you at a local supermarket.

 

[Zoemakes5]

Whats your zip code? Zip codes 90000-93599 (Calif.) and 21000-22999 (Mexico) can buy a 3-day park hopper for $99.

If you have friends in SoCal, they can buy them for you at a local supermarket.

Or you can stop by a local grocery store and buy them there, though I haven't heard that particular deal, though I have an AP, so haven't really looked. Ralphs, Albertson's, Von's all have them. You can get a two fer right now. You'd pay $69 for adult and $59 for child under 9. The way they work is one park one day and the other park the next day. You do have the ability to upgrade to hoppers for $25 pp, but if you're not within the area code, I don't know if you'd have any issues upgrading.
If you do fall w/in the So.Cal area, you can purchase online on the DLR website a five days for the price of three for 149 and 179.
I'd be surprised if you're really going to get $40 rooms that time anywhere near DLR, though. I did a quick search, and one of our favorite fall backs (when we don't stay at hojo's, does have rooms for $49.95 for Tu-Th. My kids love the pool, as it's nice and large and warm. They do have kids eat free, but there are limitations to that.
There is a Mimi's and a Millies across the road from DLR on Harbor. They serve very large portions (easily enough for you and DD or you and DH) to share. There's an IHOP that kids eat free for dinner, but they hike the prices a bit, so I'm not sure how much a savings that is. Though, it is nice to have a "real" meal. A McD's, too. Something I find to be pretty inexpensive is to order a pizza back at the room. Or, there's Panda Express not too far away that can cut down on food costs.
If you have the time, I might try to put the money into another day at DL and cut down on food budget a bit, if you can. You could bring food for lunches, or have sandwiches for a couple of meals. Bring breakfast stuff from home. Since you're driving, even if you don't have a fridge, you can have your cooler with. To save money in the parks, I typically suggest for people to have a late morning breakfast (maybe even a character meal) or a late afternoon lunch. What I find when we do that is that we'll reduce our true "meals". I also can typically get by just fine eating a kids meal, especially from Taste Pilots at DCA. Or the pasta meal at Red Robins Pizza Port. Or split a meal at Red Robins or Rancho del Zocolo.
PM me if you have any other particular questions.
You might enjoy a day at Huntington beach, too. That's a pretty cheap day.

 

[xmlguy]

While you've done a good job with your budget, you can do a lot better, which I'll show.

You can go for 7 nights for about the same price or cheaper, and with much more time at the parks.

Accomodations: On Priceline you can get 1* for $25/night, and usually you'll get the Extended Stay America on Katella, which has free parking, cheap internet, full-size fridge, electric cooktop, and cooking/dining equipment. This is a very clean, comfortable hotel, right next to the Cheesecake factory. I've stayed there many times on Priceline bids. You don't need a hotel shuttle to the parks, because you can drive and it will be better without costing more, as will be made clear below.

A stay from 5/26-6/2, 8 days/7 nights, comes to about $202inc. tax(a bit more for PL service fees). Check out the biddingfortravel.com for these 1* bid reports, which I don't know that the other site has (both sites are good for research). Rather than bidding for all 7 nights, I would probably break it up into 1 bid of 2-3 nights even though it will cost a bit more in fees, to test the waters in case you don't get the ESA, then do one more bid or use the Extend-Stay option (if offered at the same price) for the remaining nights. Only the ESA has been coming up recently, but the multiple bids will reduce your risk if something else takes the bid. For people on a tight budget it's rather dangerous to your wallet to bid 2.5* or higher because you have a very good chance of winning or being "upgraded" to a hotel with a very expensive $20/night parking fee. These hotels will not accept a 1* bid for $25, at least I've never seen it happen or be reported.


For park admission, I'd recommend 1 Deluxe Annual Pass + Parking, and 2 Deluxe AP w/o parking. That's $328+$538, which comes to $866. These have blockout date on 5/30, but open dates for the rest. So you get 6+ full days at both parks, plus the option to return anytime within a year during open dates. Since you have so much more time available to go to the parks, you can also choose to take a much more relaxed approach, if you wish, by returning to the hotel during the afternoon or any other time you want to take a nap or a relaxing break, returning refreshed in the evening for fireworks, parades, or shows.

So that's about $1068 for 7 nights hotel + passes, including parking.

That leaves the rest of your budget for food, Universal/Knotts, or whatever else you want to do during the 1 Disney blockout date. With a full kitchen in your room, you can save your food budget by only selectively dining at the expensive restaurants on-property, although at least you'll get 10% off with the AP. The food is where you have the best option to reduce your overall daily cost, because the Disney restaurants are so much more expensive than cooking for yourself. You could even extend the trip several more days very cheaply, if you have the time, since the additional cost per day is only hotel+food. The next blockout date for the DAP doesn't occur until 6/6.

Then you can plan for your next vacation - which will be even cheaper, having the APs in hand, particularly if you come back on someone's birthday to get the special package. The Deluxe APs have very few blockout days, mostly Saturdays and Christmas week, leaving nearly the whole year available for opportunities to return.

 

[Zoemakes5]

While you've done a good job with your budget, you can do a lot better, which I'll show.

You can go for 7 nights for about the same price or cheaper, and with much more time at the parks.

Accomodations: On Priceline you can get 1* for $25/night, and usually you'll get the Extended Stay America on Katella, which has free parking, cheap internet, full-size fridge, electric cooktop, and cooking/dining equipment. This is a very clean, comfortable hotel, right next to the Cheesecake factory. I've stayed there many times on Priceline bids. You don't need a hotel shuttle to the parks, because you can drive and it will be better without costing more, as will be made clear below.

A stay from 5/26-6/2, 8 days/7 nights, comes to about $202inc. tax(a bit more for PL service fees). Check out the biddingfortravel.com for these 1* bid reports, which I don't know that the other site has (both sites are good for research). Rather than bidding for all 7 nights, I would probably break it up into 1 bid of 2-3 nights even though it will cost a bit more in fees, to test the waters in case you don't get the ESA, then do one more bid or use the Extend-Stay option (if offered at the same price) for the remaining nights. Only the ESA has been coming up recently, but the multiple bids will reduce your risk if something else takes the bid. For people on a tight budget it's rather dangerous to your wallet to bid 2.5* or higher because you have a very good chance of winning or being "upgraded" to a hotel with a very expensive $20/night parking fee. These hotels will not accept a 1* bid for $25, at least I've never seen it happen or be reported.


For park admission, I'd recommend 1 Deluxe Annual Pass + Parking, and 2 Deluxe AP w/o parking. That's $328+$538, which comes to $866. These have blockout date on 5/30, but open dates for the rest. So you get 6+ full days at both parks, plus the option to return anytime within a year during open dates. Since you have so much more time available to go to the parks, you can also choose to take a much more relaxed approach, if you wish, by returning to the hotel during the afternoon or any other time you want to take a nap or a relaxing break, returning refreshed in the evening for fireworks, parades, or shows.

So that's about $1068 for 7 nights hotel + passes, including parking.

That leaves the rest of your budget for food, Universal/Knotts, or whatever else you want to do during the 1 Disney blockout date. With a full kitchen in your room, you can save your food budget by only selectively dining at the expensive restaurants on-property, although at least you'll get 10% off with the AP. The food is where you have the best option to reduce your overall daily cost, because the Disney restaurants are so much more expensive than cooking for yourself. You could even extend the trip several more days very cheaply, if you have the time, since the additional cost per day is only hotel+food. The next blockout date for the DAP doesn't occur until 6/6.

Then you can plan for your next vacation - which will be even cheaper, having the APs in hand, particularly if you come back on someone's birthday to get the special package. The Deluxe APs have very few blockout days, mostly Saturdays and Christmas week, leaving nearly the whole year available for opportunities to return.

To make those Deluxe AP's even better, you can purchase them at Costco, which includes both the AP and a $50 gift card. You could do that for all three, and then when you go to get your picture taken for the AP, you could upgrade one for parking. Keep your first days' parking ticket with you and then you can apply that towards the parking, too. By doing that, you can remove $150 from the total. What a great bday present, too! AP's to DLR!!!

 

[xmlguy]

To make those Deluxe AP's even better, you can purchase them at Costco, which includes both the AP and a $50 gift card. You could do that for all three, and then when you go to get your picture taken for the AP, you could upgrade one for parking. Keep your first days' parking ticket with you and then you can apply that towards the parking, too. By doing that, you can remove $150 from the total. What a great bday present, too! AP's to DLR!!!

Those are all great ideas! Those gift cards add a lot of value. Thanks for sharing!

 

[jewelergirl]

Thanks, all for the wonderful ideas! I really appreciate the suggestions- there are some fabulous tips there that we can definately use. I hope other poeple read these posts and get some of this valuable info to plan their trips as well.

Bravo, Disney gurus!

 

[tasha99]

I think that if you join mimi's email club, you get a coupon for a free meal (breakfast?) I think you have to do it pretty close to when you're leaving since it expires quickly. Anyone know anything about this?