Disney on a Dime

Or at least that's what my cousin suggested I should name a new blog...

I just received an email from her about an upcoming trip her family is planning to the Magic Kingdom. As the 'Happiest Place on Earth' is about our favorite place on earth, she thought I might know something. This fall will be our sixth trip there as a family, so I've learned a thing or two in the last decade we've been traveling to Disneyland. Our favorite time to go is mid-to-late August right before school starts. Typically,with school around the corner, most people have gone home and the crowds have died down. We've rarely had to wait more than 30 minutes for anything. Perhaps I shouldn't let the secret out...

Anyway, here are my best tips to her questions: "Where do you stay and where do you buy your park tickets?" I thought it best to just copy-paste the response I sent her. Maybe it will be of help or interest to someone else too.

Hey Cousin!
How very fun! :) So...do you want the long version or the short version? ;)

First off, Desert Palms Inn & Suites is the BEST hotel we've found. http://www.desertpalmshotel.com/
1. They have rooms that sleep up to 8, so it's one of the few places we CAN stay for a reasonable price.
2. They have the best breakfast in town. Not just a pastry & juice, but I'm talking about eggs, bacon, biscuits & gravy, yogurt, fruit, waffle maker, cereal, toast...fill up the kids before you head out. It's awesome!
3. They're located on the same block as the theme parks (a 5-10 minute walk) so you don't have to buy the shuttle pass for $3/person/day. It's fun to eat breakfast outside on the roof that looks out over California Adventure Park.
4. They don't charge for parking. When our former favorite hotel started doing that, we fired them.

Secondly, we have booked with Getaway Today Vacations http://www.getawaytoday.com/ since our first trip in 2002. I haven't found better prices anywhere...
Until this year as I researched cruise prices. Then I stumbled upon Small World Vacations http://smallworldvacations.com/ and their prices were unbeatable. (But admittedly not by much for the Disneyland portion.) Would you believe the travel agent assigned to us is named Minnie? Really! She said there's a Daisy that works there too. On top of that, she's LDS (located up in Oregon, I believe) and we had a delightful conversation when we first talked. So far, I've been really impressed with their company, and I don't switch loyalty easily.

We've actually booked our trip with both companies this year. Small World Vacations booked the cruise and our Disneyland Package, but the one thing they couldn't do was book us a room for two more nights after the boat docks again when we'll do the third day on our pass. Getaway Today could.

I really love Getaway Today. You pay up front & they send you a voucher for your hotel & your park passes, which you then exchange when you get there. They also send you little gifts like lanyards, pins, and coupon books too. Small World took a deposit and will require the payment of the balance in a couple of weeks. Then they'll mail us our park tickets. I'm a little nervous about that, but I think it will work out OK.

A couple of other thoughts that may save your sanity.

1. Stop at Guest Services before entering the parks and ask for an ID sticker for your younger ones. Three years ago we lost two different kids & when our youngest was found, they put a sticker inside her shirt with our cell phone numbers inside.

2. Consider getting a locker (also between the parks) for $10/day. We'd pack our lunch & throw it in so we didn't have to carry it around. It was also a nice place to stash any souvenirs, jackets, extra drinks, or other things. With the money we saved on lunch, we ate dinner in the park.

3. Take lots of snacks. We gave each of the kids a fanny pack (or just let them fill their pockets with granola bars, gum, beef jerkey, etc) because blood sugar is EVERYTHING when it comes to keeping kids from getting burnt out halfway through the day. And it's too expensive to buy churros & frozen lemonades for everyone.

4. If you plan to do any meals in the park, Rancho del Zocalo (located by Big Thunder Mountain) has the best food, biggest portions, and most reasonable prices out of both parks. At $10-12 a plate (for an adult meal), we'd spend that much at Denny's across the street and you have both the atmosphere and the proximity of the park. We figure we pay a lot for those tickets, so we soak up every minute of it.

That's probably put you past your saturation point now. Sorry, I could ramble on all day about how much I love that place. Guess you got the long version after all. But if you have any more questions, I'm happy to send you opinionated answers. ;)

Hope you have a FABULOUS time!
Love ya'
Liz