How we Saved Money on our First Visit to Disneyland

We just recently got back from our first family trip to Disneyland and had a blast! I don’t think anyone would describe a Disney vacation as “cheap.” While we expected to spend a lot of money, we ultimately found that you don’t have to completely blow your budget to make the trip special. Here’s how we saved money on our first trip to Disneyland (without travel hacking) and still had a wonderful experience.

Our first family trip to Disneyland

Mr. RFL and I both visited to Disney World in Florida when we were kids, but neither of us has gone as an adult. Nor have either of us ever been to Disneyland or Disney California Adventure before this trip.

For our daughter’s 7^th birthday, we decided it was finally time to give her that memorable childhood experience of going to a Disney park.

We decided that age 7 would be a good age for her first trip to Disneyland. She’s (presumably) old enough to remember the experience and finally tall enough for most of the rides. But, she is also still young enough to feel the pure excitement and magic of Disney.

We all had a great time!

What we spent on our trip to Disneyland

Disney is never going to be cheap. The park tickets alone cause the cost of any trip to add up quickly. However, there are ways make it more affordable without spoiling the fun. There are also ways to make it insanely expensive!

Although we didn’t intend for this to be a “budget trip” when we started planning it, we ultimately opted to save money in a few areas. Afterall, our daughter is still pretty young and this was our first trip to Disney (and not likely the last). 

Nonetheless, it was still a pretty expensive trip for us!

What we spent on 3-night road trip to Disneyland (with 2 days in the park):

How we saved money on our Disneyland trip

There are probably hundreds of articles and podcasts out there about how to plan and budget for a trip to Disney, so I’m going to focus on our own personal experience in this blog post.

We wanted to be present with our child and enjoy this trip… without spending too much time and effort trying to get the best deal and/or cram the most rides in.

Here are a few things we did on our trip to save money, which ultimately didn’t make the experience any less enjoyable.

Skip the Disney hotels (and stay near the Toy Story parking lot)

Disney property hotels were going for over $800 per night! Even the no-frills hotels that were a short walking distance to the park’s entrance were $375 – $600 per night.

We stayed at an off-site Hilton property that was only a block away from the Toy Story Parking lot (one of the two main Disney parking lots). This saved us a ton of money and hassle.

The cost of our hotel averaged $258 per night, and that’s after taxes and fees. Since we were able to walk to the Toy Story parking lot, we left our car at the hotel and only paid for parking once.

The best part about the Toy Story parking lot is that you can go through Disney security at the lot, before getting on the short shuttle bus to Disney. We never waited more than 5 minutes to get through security and on a bus, which looked a lot less stressful than the packed security lines at Disney’s main gate. I would 100% do this again if we ever go back.

Hilton was also offering a Disney deal at the time, so we were able to get 5% off park tickets using our room reservation number, which saved us an extra $40.

Pack lunch and lots of snacks

Did you know that you can bring your own food and drinks into Disney? You can, and with few exceptions!

We packed peanut butter sandwiches, fruit, water and lots of snacks in a backpack both days we were at the parks. It was both more convenient and cheaper to have a quick bite handy whenever we were hungry throughout the day. Snacks also made waiting in some of the longer lines more manageable.

The food at Disney actually isn’t that unreasonable, but it takes time out of your day and costs more than anything you’d bring from home. We didn’t avoid the park food entirely, though. Each day we ate one hearty meal at the park, along with some delicious ice cream from a proper ice cream parlor on the second day.

You can still have fun at Disney without Genie+ or Lightening Lanes

Yes, I realize that this is an unpopular opinion. But it’s true.

If you are planning your Disney trip on a budget, you can eliminate the extras and still have a great time. We did! We agonized over this decision for a while, before deciding to just wing it and go without.

For our trip, it would have cost $180 for us to get the Genie+ for both days, so this was a pretty big savings.

Genie+ and Lightening Lane passes allow you to cram more rides in and avoid the wait on certain rides at the parks, but they come at a cost and are not necessary. Especially if you have younger children.

Genie+ only covers a handful of rides at Disneyland and California Adventure, most of which we didn’t intend to ride (as they are geared towards older kids/adults). Even with the pass, you’ll have to spend a lot of time on your phone to schedule and coordinate ride times. Then you’ll still have to wait 5-20 minutes when you get there. You also aren’t even guaranteed time slots. We preferred to stay flexible for this trip.

Additionally, some of the rides, like Radiator Springs at California Adventure, require you to purchase a separate lightening lane pass if you want to shorten your wait. This is not covered by Genie+ and would have cost us an additional $22 per person, per ride. We just couldn’t justify spending $66 for the three of us to go on a ride that lasts 2-3 minutes. So, we just skipped it and went on other rides. No big deal.

In reality, there were very few rides for which we had to wait more than 30 minutes, or where we wished we’d bought the pass. Visiting on random weekdays in October helped. These passes are probably far more valuable if you visit the parks on holidays, weekends, or during summer break.

I think we made the right decision this time. But we might make a different choice if we go back to Disney when our daughter is older.

Limit souvenirs

There are plenty of opportunities to buy souvenirs while at Disney and your child will be tempted to buy them all. Maybe you will be too. If you’re on a budget, you should know that the souvenirs are a lot less reasonably priced than the food ($$$).

Perhaps set expectations ahead of time, and remember that memories bring us more joy then the things we own. You’re visiting one of the greatest amusement parks in the world! You don’t need to buy a bunch of souvenirs to have a good time. Your family will still cherish the trip.

We allowed our daughter to pick one souvenir to buy, which was plenty. You can see her beloved sparkly Minnie ears in the photo below.

We saved money at Disneyland and still had a wonderful time making memories! You can, too.

Sharing is caring! If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it on social media. This helps the blog continue to grow and reach a larger audience. Thank you for your support!

Featured image by RichFrugalLife

Disclaimers:

The content included in this blog reflects the author’s opinions and personal experiences, which may be different than your own. This blog is not a replacement for, nor is it intended to represent, financial or investing advice.

This post may include affiliate or referral links (blogging isn’t cheap). You can show your support for this blog by using one of my referral links or by making any purchase on Amazon a link on this blog (excluding gift cards). Using one of these links to make a purchase or open a new account may provide a small commission or referral fee to us (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for your support!

Rich Frugal Life is a member of affiliate programs for Amazon and other vendors.

Please refer to our disclosure and privacy policy for further details.