The Imagineers at Disneyland are continually striving to create a better, more exciting experience for all guests. They have dreamed up and executed some really amazing attractions. But that comes at a cost. Some rides are updated to a new theme (such as change from California Screamin’ to the Incredicoaster). Other attractions close permanently at Disneyland to make room for the new.
Paradise Pier
Why do you need to know this?
To avoid major disappointment! Has it been a while since you have been to Disneyland? Did you have a favorite ride? In my opinion it is best to be mentally prepared for not being able to experience something you remember fondly from the past. On our trip this past March I was ready for the fact that California Adventure would look very different than it did in 2001. Adjusting to all the changes would have been a bit difficult for me if I hadn’t been prepared. I thought the changes were great! The re-imagined Incredicoaster was awesome!
For our family of 9 food is a major expense. We are always on the lookout for ways to save on this budget category, especially on vacation. This post will cover different ways to save money on food at Disneyland and California Adventure.
I want to start with this disclaimer: We are not foodies! Yes, we like good, basic, yummy food but we are not going to be looking for anything gourmet. This makes it a little easier for us to use these tips. On one of our vacations to Disney we ate almost all our meals in the park. By the time we left, we all agreed that we would rather bring more lunches. On the last few days we were tired of park food and spending a lot of money for food we didn’t just love. Because we had one member of our party who wasn’t very adventurous with food, we ate at mostly similar places which most likely diminished our Disney food experience.
So, on to the tips…
1) Costco/Grocery Store
This is our main method of saving. On our trip last month we went to Costco for supplies for breakfast, lunch, and snacks. Since we we stayed in a house through Airbnb we had a full kitchen to store everything. We stopped at the grocery store for a few items that we didn’t want Costco sizes of such as peanut butter. The other place we went was Trader Joe’s. We don’t have one in AK and we LOVE the Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups. These made great snacks in the parks.
But what if you are in a hotel? Each of the Disneyland Hotels has a mini-fridge and coffee maker in the room. This will be perfect for breakfast necessities and snacks. Many of the near-by hotels will also have these items but you will want to check and make sure. If staying off-site many have free breakfast included.
HOT TIP: We love to bring string cheese, yogurt, cut veggies and drinks into the park. We always travel with a couple insulated lunch boxes. If we have access to a freezer we also bring ice packs. If not, we will bring plastic baggies and fill them with ice from the hotel ice machines.
2) Bring Snacks from Home
If you don’t want to worry about stopping at the grocery store you can always bring stuff with you. The average snack at Disneyland is around $6. Even if you bring snacks for just a couple of days it will save you money. Bringing food is easy peasy for those you able to drive. But, if you are going to fly I have two options for you.
1) Take a snack box as luggage. Bringing a box of snacks (and possibly lunch items) even with baggage costs will save money. You can bring a lot of snacks in a box for the $25-35 baggage fee.
2) Use snacks a filler in luggage. Granola bars, fruit snacks and strips, baggies of trail mix, and applesauce pouches (these probably should be in a baggie in case of explosion) work great to fill in the nooks and crannies.
3) Order from Amazon Pantry
Mindy at Mommy Mouse Clubhouse has a great post on this. I think the prices on Amazon are a little higher than a grocery store but it depends on what you are purchasing. It is still probably cheaper than snacks in the park.
4) Eat outside of the Parks
Just across Harbor Blvd are many great restaurants. We ate at Mimi’s Cafe, and Panera. Others are Pizza Press, IHOP, Denny’s McDonalds, and Subway. Not too far down Katella Ave. is a Bubba Gump’s and Cheesecake Factory. The Disney Tourist Blog has some good off-site recommendations. Please note, not all of these restaurants will save you money. Some options are just as expensive as in the Parks.
Many meals in the Parks are big enough to share. Especially for kids. One adult meal split between two children will be cheaper than two kids meals. At Cocina Cucamonga in California Adventure I shared one of the bowls with my daughter. At Pacific Wharf Cafe, the bread bowls with soup are very filling. Two bowls could probably feed three people. Julie at Mom Rewritten has a good post about sharing meals. It is a little old so use this as a guide and not definitive information. Smart Fun DIY has some creative ways to eat on a budget. Clarks Condensed gives a $100/day dining plan (all meals) for their family of 5.
Sharing meals can be accomplished at restaurants in and out of the parks. Pizza at Pizza Press is a great inexpensive option to share. We always have our kids share an adult Mac-n-cheese at Panera instead of getting two kids meals. My husband and I usually split the Romano Chicken at Cheesecake Factory (this also saves room for cheesecake).
6) Share Snacks
So many snacks at Disneyland are HUGE. We always share caramel corn, lemon and pineapple Dole Whip, and Mickey pretzels. There are so many good options. When you share you can try so many more delicious treats. How great is that! One thing I never share–Mickey ice cream sandwiches–just don’t even ask!
Decide ahead of time your snack threshold. Will it be one snack/person/day? Will you share a certain number of snacks a day? When our kids were younger (and not as many of them) we gave them a gift card with an amount that gave them $5/day for snacks. They could use it up however they wanted to. They loved to have control of their own snacks.
7) Bring refillable bottles or buy bottled water outside of the park
Bottled water in the park costs $3.50 a bottle. That can add up rather quickly. Refillable bottles can be filled up at water stations around the park. We filled our insulated bottles with ice in the morning and we were able to have cold water almost all day. In addition, you can always ask for a cup of water or ice at the restaurants and quick-service counters.
Purchasing bottled water outside the park is also an option. Before using refillable bottles we would bring a couple of bottles per person in small backpacks (along with our snacks). Yes, we began the morning a little heavy laden but our load lightened as we drank the water. In hot weather, since we have had freezer available, we would bring at least one froze bottle and one chilled. The frozen would melt by the time we were ready to drink. If only partially melted, we would add water from drinking fountains to hasten melting.
HOT TIP: Line your backpack with a plastic bag to keep condensation produced by melting bottles from soaking through your bag (in very hot weather this has a nice, welcome, cooling effect).
8) Eat Bread
We could seriously make a meal of this for our whole family. The Pacific Wharf Cafe in California Adventure sells whole sourdough loafs and rounds for $5.19 each. With some butter that they have setting out, two loaves would be a filling meal (but not very balanced) for our whole family. Just add some cheese brought in our insulated lunch bag and we would be golden!
9)Make a plan and stick with it
Set a food budget before you go. Plan ahead how many meals you are going to eat in the parks, off-site or bring yourself. IF you deviate do so with cheaper options. Look up menus at restaurants to see what it will cost your family to eat there. The Disney website has a list of all their restaurants with menus for your preplanning.
Our Vacation Meal Plan
Our last trip to California was 10 days. We planned $200/day for our family of 9 (2 adults, kids 1, 2, 5, 6, 14, 16, and 18) Our plan was to eat breakfast at the house everyday, pack lunches 6 days, and eat dinner out every night. Obviously we weren’t pinching pennies but if we didn’t have a plan we could easily spend $300/day on food.
$400 at Costco and grocery stores for all breakfasts, 6 lunches and snacks (we ate A LOT of snacks including many veggies and fruit)
$100 dinner at California Adventure
$120 dinner at Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen
$104 dinner at Mimi’s Cafe
$50-60/each for 10 other lunches and dinners
$92 snacks (yummy Dole Whip, Ghiradelli sundaes and some others)
Grand total spent on food $1775
We were $225 under our budget. Woohoo! Now, I will say that we were all VERY tired of PB&J by the end. I also would have liked more snacks if I had known we had the money (probably better that I didn’t).
In closing…
There are so many options on ways to splurge and save on food at Disneyland. You can apply some of the tips above and not others. Any steps you take to save will make a difference. Take some time with your family to create a food action plan that fits your budget and how you want to eat.
Do you have a favorite tip to save on food at Disneyland? Share in the comments below so that others can benefit from your great ideas.
We had a wonderful time at Disneyland but as we looked back there were definitely some things we would do differently next time. Here is our list of mistakes to avoid at Disneyland.
Don’t compare Disneyland to Disney World
They are each fantastic in their own way! They are similar and different. By comparing the two I think I missed out on some of the magicalness of Disneyland.
You can still have a great day even if it is crowded
Don’t let the crowds slow you down
I am pretty sure that my expectations were unreasonable in regard to the crowds. In reality I don’t think that the park was really that busy while we were there. But, on our first day at Disneyland I felt like I had a hard time walking through the crowds. This threw me a bit and so my momentum was slowed. As we were in the parks more days we figured out how to get done what we wanted while weaving through the crowds.
Don’t enter the parking lot/garage at opening time.
We tried hard but to no avail. Every morning we were driving in to the parking lot/garage right at opening time. It is really busy at this time. Many other guests are arriving at the same time. And then it will take you around 45 minutes to get into the chosen park. So, by the time you get to your first ride the park has been open for about an hour. All the popular rides have had plenty of time to get long lines. But while the popular rides’ fastpasses will have a return time quite a bit later you can still take advantage of fastpass for most rides. Fret not! You can still have a great day if you do make this mistake.
Don’t miss out on Fastpasses–Pay attention to the time on the bottom
Our first couple days we did not effectively use fastpasses (we only had the free fastpass option). We would grab one when we got there for something we wanted to ride much later. Then we would use standby lines for rides in the area.
By the 4th day we realized that it was beneficial to use as many as we could. When you receive your fastpass reminder ticket there is a time at the bottom that tells you when you can get your next fastpass. We would then get a fastpass as soon as it was time. Sometimes we would get a pass with a return time in 20 minutes even when the standby was around 30 minutes if we were in the area waiting for another ride. We would ride something with a short standby line, then on the fastpass ride and then get another fastpass. We were able to go on so many more rides this way. Too bad it took so many days to figure this out.
Don’t forget sunscreen
We were at Disneyland at the beginning of March. The weather was about 60 degrees F. It was partly cloudy most days. But there was some sun and apparently it was intense. The second morning we noticed that our 1 year old’s cheeks were quite pink. I remembered seeing the Baby Care Center in Cars Land so we headed there. They had just what we needed–SUNSCREEN. We were told by the wonderful ladies in there that it was cheaper there than in the shops in the park. We paid $4 (I think) for a decent sized tube. They also have diapers, wipes, baby food and other necessities that you might have forgotten.
Don’t forget proper clothing–layers and a raincoat
Notice the layers on this dreary day.
As I said before we were there in early March. The temperature was around 60 degrees F but often cooler. I know we are Alaskans and we shouldn’t have been cold but we were! Part of our (mainly my) chill stemmed from going to a more humid climate. But, I will say, we were not the only people in many layers. Although, the sun did give a little warmth in the afternoon, the mornings and evenings were cool. We ended up leaving many evenings a little after dark because we were cold. So, if you are traveling to Disneyland anytime in the colder months bring a few extra layers than you think you might need. Better too warm than have to miss fireworks because you are chilled to the bone.
Don’t get sucked into the stores during the day
If shopping in the park is what you really enjoy then disregard this tip. I definitely like to go through the stores but we really should have saved it for the evening when it got cold. We could have enjoyed more rides and shows during the day when it was warmish and been inside shopping when it was cooler. Due to the fact that the shops have this crazy ability to suck you in this tip takes some real determination to achieve.
Don’t miss your rider switch window
Rider switch passes are only good for a hour. If you are waiting longer than an hour go up to the cast member and have you pass updated. My experience–Radiator Springs Racers had a 40 minute wait time so my family got in line and I waited with my 1 year old and 2 year old. The actual time we waited was 1 1/2 hours. Already frustrated from a wait twice the anticipated length, I went to use the rider switch pass. It didn’t work! The cast member proceed to inform me that it was only good for an hour. I was a little incensed and didn’t handle myself as well as I should. They did end up letting us through. I still am not sure why they would have a rider switch pass expire before the length of the wait time but, whatever! Hopefully this info will help someone else not go thorough the same turmoil.
Don’t ignore calls from California while in the park.
We didn’t know it but our 6 year old had stepped away from us. I received a call from an unknown Anaheim, California number. My hands were full and I almost didn’t answer but I handed my phone to my husband. A wonderful cast member with our daughter was calling. Our daughter knew my phone number so the cast member could give me a call (the cast member did have to look up our area code–hooray for smart phones!). They actually were only about 100 feet away. This was the easiest, least traumatic lost parent moment for our daughter yet. Lessons to be learned: teach your children your phone number and answer it at Disneyland!
Don’t eat PB & J every day
This is my boys tip. They got pretty tired of these by the end. It was cheap though. 🙂
I hope you enjoyed reading some of the things we learned not to do on our last trip to Disneyland.
What have you learned not to do to make your trip even better?
Driving to and parking at Disneyland is crazy confusing. Disney World is so easy. Follow the signs to the park you want to go to, drive in to the large parking lot, and then follow the people to walk or take a tram to the front of the park. NOT SO at Disneyland!
Our confusion began driving down Interstate 5 still a couple of miles from Disneyland. I entered Disneyland as a destination in Google Maps and it asked me which parking area I wanted to go to. HUH?! Which do I choose? What’s the difference? Which is better?
Pictures are not the actual parking lot or garage. 🙂
Just about every day we alternated which place we parked. I am going to give you some tips from what we learned. We were staying in Fullerton so we would take Interstate 5 South to get to Disney. Since we drove south, those directions I give are first hand knowledge. My directions driving north come from studying the map without any actual driving experience.
There are two current parking areas; the Toy Story Parking Lot and the Mickey and Friends Parking Garage.
Toy Story Parking Lot
Traveling South from Interstate 5 you will take the Harbor Blvd Exit. Traveling North you probably would want the Katella Ave. Exit. You will enter the parking lot from Harbor Blvd. There will be signs showing where you turn left to enter the parking lot. Upon entering will be a booth to collect $25 for most vehicles ($40 for preferred parking) or you can pay ahead and show your voucher. All oversized vehicles must use the Toy Story Parking lot and there is an additional fee.
Once you park, head toward the shelter type structures where you will catch a bus. Most likely you will just be able to follow the crowd. Strollers will need to be folded up to take on the bus. All children must have a specific seat. They may not stand.
Our parking spot never seemed to be a long walk to get to the buses. We didn’t have to wait too long for a bus. One morning there was quite a line but it moved quickly. Once on the bus, settle back for the ride. On Sunday the bus ride seemed relatively short. The ride seemed to get longer and longer throughout the week. This was due to more traffic on the roadways that the buses have to travel to get to the drop off point. You will be dropped off fairly close to the bag check and entrances of the two parks. Disneyland will be on the right and California Adventure on the left.
Leaving the Park
When you leave to catch the bus back to your car there is decent signage after passing through the bag check area. Make sure your stroller is folded up while waiting in line for the bus otherwise you might have to wait for the next one.
Mickey and Friends Parking Garage
This is a HUGE parking structure that you drive into. They are in the process of constructing another one nearby.
Driving South on Interstate 5 you will take the Disneyland Drive Exit. If you are in the carpool lane you can remain in that lane and it will take you to the right spot. Driving north you would take the exit toward Ball Road and then turn onto Disneyland Dr.
You will enter the garage on the ground floor which opens up to many lanes of ticket boots ready for you to pay $25 ($40 for preferred parking) or you can pay ahead and show your voucher. Once through the booths you will follow arrows and cones up to the designated floor to park. There are cast members directing you to the correct spot just like the parking lots. After collecting everything you need for the day follow the signs toward the tram.
You will be directed toward escalators and elevators which will take you to the ground level. The first time we parked in the garage we were on the 6th floor. We rode a short escalator to the 5th floor and then a super cool, very long escalator all the way from the 5th floor to the ground.
To the Entrance by Tram
Continue following the flow of traffic back into the garage where you will go through the bag check (this is your only bag check station) and catch the tram. For us, on Monday there was only one tram running so we had to wait for about three to finally get on. On Thursday there were two trams running so we were quickly on our way to the park. Stroller must also be folded up to ride the tram.
After a 5-7 minute ride, the tram will drop you off at the end of Downtown Disney closest to the park entrances. Since you have already had bags check you can head directly to the entrance and be on your way to a Magical Day.
To the Entrance by Foot
Once on the ground you can walk to the park. Ask a cast member to point you in the correct direction. It is about a 10-15 minute walk to the end of Downtown Disney. There is a bag check to enter Downtown Disney. After bag check walk a little ways and turn left. You will walk all the way through Downtown Disney to get to the park entrances.
Leaving the park
When you leave the park to catch the tram there is clear signage directing you. Please be aware–the cast members attending the boarding of the tram are serious when they tell you to stay behind the yellow portion of the sidewalk. They want you completely behind. Even your toes on the yellow is too much and they will not allow the tram to leave until you step back. So, make their job easier and the wait less for everyone by remaining behind the yellow line!
Both parking options have limited number of parking spaces designated for those with disabilities. You must have appropriate placard or license plate. Standard fees apply. At the Toy Story Lot select buses have the capability of transporting most wheelchairs and ECV’s (some larger equipment cannot fit). At the Mickey and Friends Garage some trams possibly can accommodate otherwise there are wheelchair lift-equipped vans that can take you to the entrance.
Final Thoughts
Each day we alternated between the two parking methods trying to decide which we liked better. I preferred the garage while my husband preferred the parking lot.
The buses were easier for the stroller
The buses seemed slower because of all the traffic on the roads
The tram was more difficult for our stroller but once on felt faster
The amount of walking seemed about equal unless you have to park in the back of the garage. Each floor is huge and some parking spots are very far from the escalator.
I really liked the bag check before the tram. Then once we got off the tram we could head straight to the Magic rather than having one more distraction.
I think once the new garage opens up I would stick to the garage over the parking lot.
All in all, I don’t think that either way was faster. It really is about which method helps you get more into the spirit of Disney.
Happy travels to you…until we meet again!
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