Save Money at Disneyland

 

 

1.  DISNEY CREDIT CARD : Watch for these offers in the mail!!! We got one that said if we spend $500 on their card, they will send us a $200 Disney Gift Card.  We did it and it worked!  All we did is use it in place of our other credit card and between gas, groceries and bills, it was easy to hit $500.  And then once we got our gift card, and paid off the bill, we canceled the card.  But guess what, we got ANOTHER offer in the mail and this time we did it in my name and did the same thing and got another $200!!  If you haven't seen these offers, try going to their website https://disneyrewards.com/ and see what they have to offer.   OR get on facebook and enlist your friends and family to keep their eyes peeled in their mail for these credit card offers. 

2.  GETAWAY TODAY.com : We decided that it's usually a better deal to do a package through www.getawaytoday.com .  They have lots of deals where the 4th night is free or something like that.  And our hotel had free, hot continental breakfast, but only to people with the getaway today package...not everyone at the hotel.  Our adult tickets were also priced at a child's rate, so that was better than buying at the gate as well.

3.  NEIGHBORING HOTEL :  There are plenty of neighboring hotels with free parking at the hotel and close enough to just walk into Disneyland. Parking at the park is not that bad if you have to do it, but it's $16 per day! That can add up! 

3.  BRING YOUR OWN DRINKS : Everything is already so expensive there, so anything you can keep from buying is helpful.  We had water bottles, but to keep the kids from complaining about wanting lemonade or something, I brought along these handy DRINK PACKETS so they could have some kool-aid or crystal light every now and then.  There are water fountains all over the park to refill your water bottles and any counter service restaurant will give you free cups of water or ice.

 

4. Also, Try to book a hotel with a FRIDGE & FREEZER.  That way you can bring food from home and spend less at the park.  We would freeze our water bottles, usually one full and a few half way, so that we could have cold water at the park, but it also helped keep our sandwiches and fruit cold in our backpack!  I also brought a few ice packs and it was nice to be able to freeze those over night as well.

5.  PACK BACKPACKS with snacks and at least one meal...I suggest lunch, so it will lighten your backpack load for later in the day.  We just  had this one backpack and it held our water bottles, 1 sandwich or lunchable for everyone, a big bag of chips, bag of veggies, a fruit for everyone and a few extra snacks. Of course the backpacked lightened as the day went on, which was nice and then we bought something for dinner. 

I will admit that Disneyland has pretty good quality food as well as some pretty tasty items that you should not withhold yourself from.  You're on vacation after all, right??!

 

BUT you can still try a few new things without having to spend $$ on EVERY meal and EVERY SNACK. See next tip:

6.  SHARE!  Want to try new foods & treats at the parks? Well, each member of your family doesn't need a whole one.  Get one or two and everyone take some bites.  This way you can try more things for less $$!  

7.  Start a Disney PIGGY BANK for SOUVENIRS.  If your trip isn't happening for another month or more...start putting all your change into one container.  You can get the kids involved in doing work for $$ or doing a bake sale or something to earn money for their souvenirs.  The stores there are SO fun to look through, but don't let yourself get carried away.  As the trip gets close, add up what you have so far...get the coins converted to cash and let the kids know beforehand how much they can spend and tell yourself that you are not spending any extra!!  My kids got their one little souvenir and knew we were out of cash, so they didn't ask anymore.  It worked out great.