Surviving the Canadian $ while travelling to Disneyland!

[sherilaine]

But...DL now has Star Wars light saber umbrellas in Tomorrowland! They are $70.00 US. A friend of mine just bought one 2 days ago. It's totally awesome. Has a light saber handle and the light saber part of the umbrella lights up. Totally awesome. Budget for that if it's a must have!

I might as well tell them now and get the nonsense over with before we go.

Funny though as that sounds like some crazy thing I myself would want to buy - but $70USD is over $100 CAD right now. Oh well they can play with their BB8 instead!! Umbrellas are the worst things for breaking so that gives me some arguing power.

 

[MICKEYFIL]

I think she means shopping locally .once they arrive and bringing to the parks. Most people don't pack fruit in their checked or carry on luggage when flying internationally. At least I hope not!

You'd be surprised.

 

[Aladora]

Great thread, thanks for starting it! I love the Canadian part of this board but it is rather WDW focused.

A few things that we do to help with the crappy crappy exchange.

First off, I got a no Forex Visa through Amazon.ca and that saves me 2.5%. It was really quick to apply and I was approved right away.

I try to get our hoppers via Airmiles if possible. It's been a bit harder to get enough Airmiles since all of the Safeways closed on Vancouver Island but Thrifty Foods does have some decent amounts every now and then. We just got back from a WDW trip in December and I switched my Airmiles to Cash Rewards and used a bunch to get $10 Starbucks cards to use for breakfast on a few days.

If I can't get our hoppers through Airmiles, then I do the math to see where the best deal is. I'm a bit of a numbers nerd, I work in finance so I actually enjoy things like this! I usually do a simple spreadsheet for ease of comparison and then just drop in the numbers and see which is best. Flightcentre.ca charges in CAD as does Expedia.ca but their prices are sometimes higher even with the exchange rater figured into the places that charge in USD.

My usual sites to check are:
Flightcentre.ca (CAD)
Expedia.ca (CAD)
Orbitz.com (USD but often has buy 3 days, get 4th and buy 4 days, get 5th free offers)
way.com (USD but the tickets they have available varies so the ones I want might not be there, you also have to call in to order over the phone.)

If I were looking today, here is what I would jot down:
4 day hoppers
FC: $411.00 CAD
Expedia.ca: $423.30 CAD
Orbitz: $300.00 USD (Best rate $422.71 CAD but that is bank rate, likely a bit more than that)
way.com: $285.00 USD (Best rate: $401.58 CAD but that is bank rate, likely a bit more than that)


I also use either ebates.ca or through shop&earn via Swagbucks when booking through Orbitz or Expedia since I can earn cash back that way.

We drink a TON of water while we are in the parks, between the 3 of us we can easily go through 6+ bottles a day and unfortunately neither DS nor I can drink Anaheim tap water. I usually make a Von's order and get a flat of water along with a few other things like granola bars and fresh fruit/veggies for snacks. I can get a flat of 35 bottles of water for $6.09USD, considering that one bottle of water in the parks is $3.00, it is worth it to me to get the flat. We did a combo Universal/DL trip in 2014 and used a car service to drive us from Universal to DL and it included a grocery stop so I just grabbed water then.

 

[mummabear]

It's so sad how bad our dollar is! I leave in 2 days!

Lol the NZD has been as low as 40c during some of our trips. I am hoping our dollar stays strong against the CAD for next xmas

 

[Disneyluvr2]

Another U.S. friend here, and I'm always on a budget to save as much as I can!

Like everyone said, drinking water instead of buying soda at the park is a huge savings! I haven't done this trick in a long time, but you used to be able to ask for a cup of hot water, then you can bring your own tea bag or packet of hot chocolate for a free hot drink.

I don't know the ages of everyone in your party, but adults and kids alike can order the kids meals, and I do so often to save money. They include a drink too! This works at the counter service restaurants, but not at table service. Plaza Inn has a great kids chicken dinner with all the fixings! (I'll attach a pic) The adult dinners at Plaza Inn are big enough to split, so that's an option too. At Hungry Bear, you can get a cheese burger with fries, apple slices and a drink (soda if you want!). Those are my 2 favorite kids meals.

There's a little place called Pizza Press right next to Carousel Inn. You'll walk right by it if you're staying at HoJo's. You can get a medium size pizza with ANY toppings you like for $10.00. There are 6 generous size slices and the pizza is really good! For those of you with an annual pass, they offer 10% off with your pass.

Earl of Sandwich offers a discount with your AAA card. My friend and I shared a Holiday sandwich and each had a bowl of soup and it was only about $13.00. I was starving and wanted a whole sandwich, but I'm glad we shared because the sandwiches are pretty big.

 

[aussiegirls]

Aussie here. Hope you don't mind me crashing your party but our $$ is as bad as yours

Does anyone have any links to coupons that we can use when we are there. I know visit Anaheim has some printable coupons on their site but I don't know of any others. Also, does anybody know what mailing lists you can sign up to where they will send you coupons? So far I know dennys, ihop and mimis.

 

[sherilaine]

The one good thing about

Aussie here. Hope you don't mind me crashing your party but our $$ is as bad as yours

Does anyone have any links to coupons that we can use when we are there. I know visit Anaheim has some printable coupons on their site but I don't know of any others. Also, does anybody know what mailing lists you can sign up to where they will send you coupons? So far I know dennys, ihop and mimis.

The more the merrier and misery always enjoys having a friend over...

http://proserv01.services.lyris.com/PatinaGroup/joinus.html is a good one if you or someone in your party has a birthday close to before your travel dates and you like Tortilla Joes' in DTD.

I am also looking out for some more coupons so anyone who has any links please share. Mousesavers seems to have a pretty solid list though.

 

[dec2009mama]

Two more.
I am in the process of applying for a Marriott Rewards Visa card.

I looked at that credit card b/c of my marriott status they keep sending me offers to sign up but i am not a fan of the $120 annual fee
~not sure I would use it enough on states purchases recoup a savings of $120 on 2.5% the Forex fee (I would have to commit to charging at least $5K or $6K each year in US dollars to break even)

 

[ShaunaM]

The fee is waived for the first year right now. If ,if, we keep it beyond that year ,you get one night free stay on every anniversary for us it would be a wash then

 

[Susie63]

I looked at that credit card b/c of my marriott status they keep sending me offers to sign up but i am not a fan of the $120 annual fee
~not sure I would use it enough on states purchases recoup a savings of $120 on 2.5% the Forex fee (I would have to commit to charging at least $5K or $6K each year in US dollars to break even)

The Amazon.ca Visa has no annual fee and they have a cash back deal as well

 

[sherilaine]

The Amazon.ca Visa has no annual fee and they have a cash back deal as well

So I did end up applying for this - then I saw the credit limit - which is pretty low but I guess that is because it's not through a real bank like we have here in Canada who can verify your actual financial situation before providing a much higher limit. We'll be lucky if our hotel and car rental get taken care of using this visa card but better than nothing!!

 

[dec2009mama]

The Amazon.ca Visa has no annual fee and they have a cash back deal as well

i saw that but I don't want another credit card to manage esp if I would never use the rewards

 

[dec2009mama]

So I did end up applying for this - then I saw the credit limit - which is pretty low but I guess that is because it's not through a real bank like we have here in Canada who can verify your actual financial situation before providing a much higher limit. We'll be lucky if our hotel and car rental get taken care of using this visa card but better than nothing!!

ugh -- i didn't even think of that, our hotel bill for our May stay to run Tink will be about $2000USD b/c we are splurging and staying at PP

 

[Aladora]

So I did end up applying for this - then I saw the credit limit - which is pretty low but I guess that is because it's not through a real bank like we have here in Canada who can verify your actual financial situation before providing a much higher limit. We'll be lucky if our hotel and car rental get taken care of using this visa card but better than nothing!!

I applied for it and was immediately approved for a $4,500 limit. That won't cover an entire vacation but if I prepay the flights, it is plenty for the rest!

 

[Susie63]

i saw that but I don't want another credit card to manage esp if I would never use the rewards

They credit $20 to your account when you reach a certain amount

 

[switch15foot]

So I did end up applying for this - then I saw the credit limit - which is pretty low but I guess that is because it's not through a real bank like we have here in Canada who can verify your actual financial situation before providing a much higher limit. We'll be lucky if our hotel and car rental get taken care of using this visa card but better than nothing!!

You can always prepay a lump sum a couple weeks before travel (enough time to make sure you can check online that indeed has been applied), therefore technically increasing credit limit.

I've used this card for many of recent travels to both Europe & the US; definitely comes in handy.

 

[starry_solo]

Earl of Sandwich (DTD) has an email program you can sign up for. You get something free for your birthday.

Also try Panera Bread, apparently it is opening soon.

As far as sodas, I suggest bringing in your own cans. They have Coca Cola in the parks, but our party prefers Pepsi so that's what we bring. Usually 1-2 cans (we drink water too). If you can, I suggest stopping off at a nearby grocery store (or having it delivered).

If you have Amazon Prime, you might want to order some food/soda delivered to your room.

 

[DLfan4]

Some cost saving tips we used on our trip in 2012:

We flew out of the US on allegiant air. For the Four of us, airfare, rental car and 7 nights at Knotts resort was less than just the cost of airfare alone from Canada.
We bought the southtern california citypass from costco.ca and you pay in Canadian funds.
we bought groceries and ate breakfast in our hotel room.
We also brought our own water and snacks into the park. i brought an icepack from home and we snacked on Apple slices, veggies, goldfish, granola bars....
We had one sit down meal and one small/light meal each day.

 

[taffy]

I am lucky that I opened a US cross border account with credit card that I have put money in when the exchange rate was better. Sadly I think this next trip will use most of that funds.

Aside frm that we usually eat 2 cheaper meals a day and limit souvieniers as we already have so much Disney stuff.

 

[disneychrista]

We also take a Bobble bottle into the park. We just refill it at the fountain. The Bobble has a charcoal filter in it. I like the water in the park but DD doesn't.

My tip on Disneyland water is the colder the better. Go to any counter service and ask for a cup of ice but the ice in you bottle. The ice will melt giving you nice fresh cold water.