Tips on saving money @ Disneyland?

[jazellesmom]

Any money saving tips for Disneyland and/or California Adventure?

 

[21yankees]

Most of the portions at counterservice places are huge. Take look at them before you order (it will probably save some $). Also if 2 people want burgers, order a double burger and a bun (it's way cheaper), then you can create 2 burgers.

Bring your own bottled water in, even if you don't like water you can get those individual crystal lite packets or kool aid packets. A bottle of water in the park is close to $3.00.

That's all I can think of for now, I'm sure there are more that I'm forgetting.

steph

 

[jeffersonkim]

How to Save on Lodging

Go in the off season times. September, after Labor Day is a good time.

Also, call hotels directly for their rates and ask if they'd be giving any special discounts for the off season. A lot of times (like my hotel) we'd give extra discounts to get the customers to come to our property, like a 20% off during the down season. The "Manager's Specials."

If you go during weekdays, rather than weekends, you can save even more money.

Those are the biggest cost savings that I can think of right off the bat.


Tickets

Don't ever buy tickets from the gate if you can help it. Good neighbor hotels near by sell them, and if you do some searching, you may be able to find hotels that sell their tickets even lower

Also, AresTravel.com sells them online, and of course, there's always Ebay and CraigsList (if you're willing to take the risk).

 

[audrabolster]

Bring at least 1 water bottle into the park with you. The cost of water at the park is crazy. I would also visit in the off season. You will get better hotel rates, and sometimes they have ticket deals as well.

Stay in a hotel with a mini-fridge. You can order pizza one night and store it for leftovers. Bring snacks with you to the park to much on between meals. You can order groceries online to be sent to the hotel (milk, lunch meat, etc) This will help cut down on the cost of food! If you eat at the park, some of the places have huge portions- split a meal!

Set a souvenier budget! (or visit a Disney outlet store!) My cousins love to do the penny squishing machine. We got them a book to store them in, it's now their favorite souveneir when they visit someplace! (and light on the budget)

 

[funnygarcia]

This is what we do...

Bring bagged lunch (yes you can bring a lunch into the park, they have very nice picnic grounds with larger lockers)

Bring your own snacks

Free water at various locations, it's filtered (tastes good) and you can get ice too.
Rancho Zocalo is the easiest , the tap is in the dining area with cups.

Don't worry too much about bringing bandaids, don't buy Tylenol in the DL stores.. go to First Aid if you find yourself in need of any of those things (free of charge). It's also a good place to rest if you have any health issues.

Share meals. Don't be shy about asking for substitutes -- don't need/ want fries, ask them to be removed.. and the overall cost will be less. I have problems with tomato.. asked for a child's chicken burrito meat to be used instead of the tomatoey spicy meat they normally use at Rancho- yum!

White Water Snacks inside the Grand Californina Hotel is a good choice. Big servings, fresh, lower priced and an almost serene atmosphere.

Ask Ask Ask.. about any discounts if you have AAA or buy an Annual Pass. AAA gets a discount at the character meals and on DL tours. Very occasionally they have deals of free Disney dollars if you show your card at purchase of an AP.

Buy multi day tickets in advance -- Disney itself has some good deals online.
If you are visiting other SoCal attractions.. buy a City Pass.

Take a ride down to Disney's Character Warehouse Outlet Store for souveniers. http://www.ams-liquidation.com/stores.htm
Buy souveniers BEFORE your trip at Disney Store sales, Walmart, etc.. for Tinkerbell gifts, great to keep the "gimmies" away.

Don't bother buying McDonald's in the park (french fry carts and Burger Invasion in DCA), WAYYYYYYYYYYYY overpriced. Walk across the street for McDonald's.. yes they do have a dollar menu (it's hiding behind a cooler).



Coupons!!!
http://www.anaheimoc.org/Articles/Archive/Webpage10153.asp

 

[Zoemakes5]

I ditto what many have said.

In addition, I have purchased glo sticks and necklaces at the dollar store before we leave. I'm able to give it to the kids when we're waiting for parades.

I bring in our own soda. I do that for two reasons, one is because I like Mt. Dew, and DLR only has Coke products, and two because it's so much cheaper. Even if I just buy it from the hotel lobby, it's cheaper than in the park.

We go to IHOP for an evening meal at least once. It's just outside the park, so a quick walk. We usually stay nearby anyway, so we use that time to go back to the room, change into warmer clothes (or at least grab sweatshirts) and get new drinks. I will often pop some popcorn at that time, too, as it always seems as we're waiting for evening parades or fireworks that we smell and want that popcorn.

We'll often eat an entire meal back at the hotel. A few meals that have been hits in the past....tacos (I make the meat ahead of time and cut up everything ahead of time and bring it in baggies or rubbermade in a cooler), hot dogs (really easy to microwave), chili (precooked, just heat it up), sloppy joes, of course sandwiches, we've eaten easy mac in hotels before, too. If you can't bring a cooler with due to travel restrictions, you can buy the pre-made stuff at any grocery store. I find the kids don't mind "eating in" if it's more like a real meal to them.

Plan to eat breakfast in the room every morning, unless you're going to a character breakfast. Or, as others have suggested previously, plan to eat a really late breakfast, and combine it with lunch if you're going to a character breakfast. Then just have a granola bar or some other type snack in the early morning to tide you over.

Give the kids their souvenier spending money with Disney Dollars. If they have their own money and know what they have to use, they tend to be more cautious and it gets rid of the "I wants"

 

[arliepooh68]

also for the mickey d's the hotels have coupons for THAT mickey d's. . . it is a 10% coupon and FYI does not expire until 09 or some crazy date like that. I grab a couple when we mosey over to the hotel, keep one in my car and one in my fanny pack .. .

I paid 3 bucks, minus my discount once I got a few of them, for these really cool water bottle holders, they are not the lanyards, they are a clip that the kids clip to their belt loop, me to my fanny pack or belt loop and no one is complaining about holding a water bottle, you cannot even feel it unless you sit and forget you have it! well worth the 15 bucks I spent for 5, that is 5 bottles of water I get everyone to carry and we have plenty of water for awhile.

I always bring my own bandages just because the one time I needed one, it took us 30 minutes to get one from first aid, that is 30 minutes of my time I will never get back. . . remember, time is money too!

we also found out in the pizza place in TL you can get refills for free of your drinks. . . I did not believe it myself, so of course I asked and was told YES . .

 

[bumbershoot]

Don't worry too much about bringing bandaids, don't buy Tylenol in the DL stores.. go to First Aid if you find yourself in need of any of those things (free of charge). It's also a good place to rest if you have any health issues.

We visited First Aid something like 4 times on our last trip. DH got blisters, and needed bandaids more than once. One day I had just a nasty headache, and all of my usual methods to get rid of it without western medicine weren't working, and I finally called "uncle" and stopped in for ibuprofen. They also gave me a lovely ice pack (crushed ice in a big baggie then they taped those plastic/paper things, like dentists place on your chest, around it) to put on my head and neck (should have tried that first!). And second to the last night I had to make a fast move to catch DS who decided to make a run for it, and did something bad to my ankle...stopped in to FA on the way out for another ice pack.


I like to check out the menus online ahead of time, my fave is dl resort info . com (they've been blocking the name but I'm not the owner, just someone who enjoys the menus there...take out the spaces). It can help to budget (assuming you're looking at updated menus, or make sure you take an outdated price into account), and to avoid restaurants that don't have what you want (which saves time).

 

[ballarinamom]

We use our AAA discount for many meals. Also, we bring muffins and drinks for breakfast in the hotel or while we are in line for rope drop. We are not big morning eaters so this works well. We also bring snacks like fruit rollups and goldfish for DD. She is a grazer and it helps her make from one meal to the other. I order kid's meals for myself at counter service places as I know there will be left overs from DD's plate.

 

[lovedisneyland1]

allearsnet . com is another great site to look up the park menus. It is more up to date than dl resort info . com. Most of the menus and prices on allears are as recent as October of this year. The main page is for Disney World. Just go down to the bottom left of the page and click on Disneyland.

 

[jakoky]

hi there, we were just at DL in september for 10 awesome nights..we are a family of 5, me, dh, and a dd-16, ds-14, and dd-12...For us, we meal shared a lot, the portions are crazy, at least most of them..we ate at mimis most mornings, and my teenage son and husband shared a omelette every morning...it was huge and they were stuffed (and i should say that my dh and two older kids can really eat)...i know we average less than 100 dollars a day on food....Another tip is bring in your own water bottles, we would bring in 3-4(we carried a very small backpack with water and a small amount of snacks-cheesestrings, granola bars,etc)....water bottles run about 2.75 so we saved close to 10-15 dollars a day there...In our little backpack we had bandaids and advil only because if needed, i cant imagine having to search for the first aid building(or having to walk there with my one sore blistered foot) and they take no room up at all...We were lucky too, we got our 5 day passes for free with our airmiles, so that was probably close to 1000 dollars saved for our family...Have an awesome trip
sharon
me, dh, dd-16-, ds- 14-, dd-12-
WDW-Dec 04-first disney experience for my DH, DD, DS, DD and first time at WDW for us all- 9 nights at Pop Century
DL-MAY 06-first time at DL for DH and kids , and my 9th(but the first 8 were all by the time i was about 13) so it was all new to me- 10 nights at Candy Cane Inn
DL-SEPT 07-another amazing DL trip and we got "dreamed"-fastpasses for the day- 10 nights at the HoJo

I WANT TO GO BACK, I WANT TO GO BACK, I WANT TO GO BACK

 

[Amy&Dan]

If you are going to Goofy's Kitchen, if you have AAA, tell them, it will save you 10% which adds up as its expensive. I am pretty sure the other character meals also give this AAA discount. Its not listed on the AAA site last time I looked, and DL doesn't exactly advertise it, but they do give it.

I second bring in your own drinks. Capri Sun for the kids works great, if you freeze if on hot days it will be perfect by lunch time. I also bring my own water bottles, and then once we have drank that, we refill them with the free water they give you at the CS places. Snacks like apples, trail mix, granola bars and fruit roll ups work great in back packs. Suckers are also nice, they can be great as a distraction and stave off hunger if you are waiting in line and somebody is suddenly starving!

Give your kids a Dsiney gift card. You can buy them at the Disney Store beforehand or at any one of the stores once you arrive. That is their money and they can spend as they like. My dd has really learned to think before she buys because she knows once her money is gone, Mom isn't going to step in for a loan!

In addition to McD's across the street (on Harbor) there are some other places. I believe IHOP (which is right at the crosswalk) gives free kids meals with the purchase of an adult meal.

 

[Leofoenget]

Any money saving tips for Disneyland and/or California Adventure?

Yes. Be very aware that Disney's whole puprose is to part YOU with as much of YOUR money as humanly possible. This is what we do:

Bring in drinks and snacks
Walk back to the hotel for lunch or bring in sandwiches
Shop for Disney "stuff" before we even leave on vacation or hit the outlet down the street.
Everyone in my family has Disneyland resort hats, coats, sweatshirts and T shirts that I got at a thrift store sometimes months before our trips

I go to Dollar Tree or 99c only and get Light Stix for the kids to play with during fireworks or Fantasmic, huge HIT and dirt cheap.

We only shop for souvineers on the last day and they can keep in mind during the trip something they want. This helps keep down impulse buying

I buy LOTS of trader pins on ebay and trade those. I only buy pins under $2.

I pop my own popcorn and stick it in a popcorn bucket and we munch on that instead of paying $7 for horrible Disney popcorn. (Thrift Store Disney bucket 99c) I have many different ones. Each kid pick who they want to be for the day.

OH and I go to the store and get Starbucks coffee in the cans it's cheaper for a quick caffeine rush than the espresso they serve at the park.

We try very hard to stay across the street so we can walk back and forth instead of paying for parking, although we will park if necessary if we can hotwire a cheap enough hotel. Always eat breakfast at your hotel.

We usually allow 1 nice meal per trip. Paid for with Disney reward points.


hope this helps

 

[todzwife]

Someone suggested buying clothing/toys etc. BEFORE you come to the park. I've been keeping my eyes open for deals on disneyshopping.com for clothing for the trip next year (buying big) and just got an email today w/ a coupon code for 25% off your order (and they have another code for $5 shipping over $50) LMK if you would like the code.

I go through ebates and get an additional 4% back from my purchase. I got some T-shirts and sweatshirts from $3.75-$8.50 instead of paying $20 for a t-shirt and $40 for a sweatshirt when we get there. It's a little more to pack on the way there, but the savings really adds up.

This is, of course only applicable if you have kids who HAVE to wear Disney clothing to Disneyland.

 

[Leofoenget]

Someone suggested buying clothing/toys etc. BEFORE you come to the park. I've been keeping my eyes open for deals on disneyshopping.com for clothing for the trip next year (buying big) and just got an email today w/ a coupon code for 25% off your order (and they have another code for $5 shipping over $50) LMK if you would like the code.

I go through ebates and get an additional 4% back from my purchase. I got some T-shirts and sweatshirts from $3.75-$8.50 instead of paying $20 for a t-shirt and $40 for a sweatshirt when we get there. It's a little more to pack on the way there, but the savings really adds up.

This is, of course only applicable if you have kids who HAVE to wear Disney clothing to Disneyland.

YES please post the code or PM me

thanks

 

[bumbershoot]

allearsnet . com is another great site to look up the park menus. It is more up to date than dl resort info . com. Most of the menus and prices on allears are as recent as October of this year. The main page is for Disney World. Just go down to the bottom left of the page and click on Disneyland.

You sure? I know that judimouse of dlresort was just there (read about it on mice chat, LOL), and most of the menus are for October, and I'm looking at all ears and they aren't.

There's also a style difference, and I find resort info easier to navigate...but I freely admit that I think differently than many people, and what is easy for me probably won't be for others!

 

[DangerMouse]

You sure? I know that judimouse of dlresort was just there (read about it on mice chat, LOL), and most of the menus are for October, and I'm looking at all ears and they aren't.

There's also a style difference, and I find resort info easier to navigate...but I freely admit that I think differently than many people, and what is easy for me probably won't be for others!

I agree with you, Molly. Now that Judi has updated her menus, I will consistently use dlresortinfo dot com over allears. I always have to use the search feature to find what I want on allears and that drives me batty.

 

[Leofoenget]

Funnygarcia said:

White Water Snacks inside the Grand Californina Hotel is a good choice. Big servings, fresh, lower priced and an almost serene atmosphere.

Plus they have free drink refills. It is very peaceful and quiet. A nice change of pace. If you eat outside be prepared to share you meal with a cute kitty.

 

[NVDisMom]

WhiteWater Snacks is one of my favorite places to eat. Its easy on the budget and the food is really tasty. Its great when the kids want a pbj, basic , yummy, cheap and it comes with apple juice nd a cookie if memory serves. And I love the kitties, DH wasn't too fond of her joing us ON the table, but hey, she doen't have an owner that is consistently telling her no. I'm such a softy, but the are really sweet.

My notes on saving money...avoid IHOP, we went on our very first trip and it was by far the most expensive meal of our trip. Granted, we didn't do any character meals that time, but still...it was $70 approx for 2 aduts and 2 kids. We eat in DTD alot, its cheaper in general (and split everything...if we're still hungry there is always dessert). We bring a coffee maker, coffee and creamer for the hotel. That way we can have our morning cup o' jo before leaving the room. And it tastes like home, instead of risking what your hotel may offer. There's some bad coffee out there!

 

[The Rocketeer]

We were there last weekend, and I saved $$ by purchasing a deluxe annual pass. We originally bought 4-day Parkhoppers for $179. We also knew that we would be making at least one more multi-day trip within the next year. It cost us an additional $80 to upgrade to the annual pass. Right now, a 1-day Parkhopper is $91, so it was worth it to us.

Also the annual pass gives a 10% discount at restaurants like the Blue Bayou and many others. There was a deal going on for annual pass holders spending at least $30 at some of the restaurants, you would receive a Chip 'N Dale pin.

I agree with everyone else about bringing in your own drinks and snacks. Also check out the kids meals. At the French Market, I got a kid's chicken fingers meal with steak fries, sourdough roll, and kid's drink for $5.99, and it was plenty of food. The french dip and barbeque pork sandwiches there are huge, enough for two people to split.

The dollar store rain ponchos are great for Splash Mountain. I didn't put one on and I got soaked. Had to go back to the hotel to change.

Hope everyone's tips help. Have a terrific time!!