Can you plan a Disneyland trip on a budget without skimping? Yessiree! The trick is to avoid unnecessary spending on things that don’t matter so that you can splurge on what’s important to you!
It’s official, we are finally planning a family trip to Disneyland: 2 parents, 2 grandparents, and 2 kids, ages 9 and 11.
We wanted to wait until the kids were old enough to ride all the rides and walk the whole day by themselves, but not so old that it was “not cool” to go. The pandemic pushed it back a year later than planned, but we’re finally making it happen!
Since we’re flying all the way from Hawaii, we’re going to go crazy and hit 3 theme parks while we’re in California: Six Flags Magic Mountain, Disneyland, and Lego Land. As a single-income family, this is probably going to be a once-in-a-lifetime trip, so we’re going to make it count!
I’m exhausted just thinking about it. But super excited at the same time.
Here are our top tips for planning a trip on a budget without skimping:
Save Up to Pay Cash for Your Trip
I hate wasting money! The thought of paying even $1 in unnecessary interest payments is like nails on a chalkboard. That is why we make sure to save up cash for every vacation we take in an Expected Expenses Vacation Fund. Before we take it.
If you were to put a $5,000 vacation on a credit card charging 22% interest and paid $500 a month when you came home, it would take 12 months to pay it off and you’d end up paying $573.87 in interest. (Check out this credit card payoff calculator)
That’s over 1/10th of an entire second vacation! And within that 12 months, I’m pretty sure you’d be ready to take another trip.
If you were to put that same $5,000 on a credit card and pay only $100 a month when you got home, it would take 11 years and 5 months to pay it off with a total of $8,677.91 in interest! That’s more in interest than the entire original trip cost!
So the #1 money-saving tip for trips on a budget, is to save up cash BEFORE taking the trip.
No one wants to still be paying off last year’s or 2 years ago trip when you’re trying to plan a trip this year. That’s a debt trap no one wants to be in.
Do yourself a favor and start an Expected Expenses Vacation Fund and get saving. It will make your trip so much more enjoyable knowing you can return home without any additional bills.
Take Advantage of Credit Card Travel Rewards for a Trip on a Budget
While paying credit card interest is horrible, getting free travel from credit card rewards is awesome!
Credit card travel rewards should only be used by people who are debt free (other than an affordable mortgage and maybe an affordable car payment or student loan)
Using credit cards for rewards is a dangerous game for people who can’t stay out of debt. If that’s you, ignore this tip for now and strive for using it in the future.
With the use of credit card travel rewards, the 3-night hotel stay while we visit 6 Flags will be free!
In November, we were able to open an IHG credit card with no annual fee. After spending $2,000 in 3 months, we earned 125,000 reward points. With the average room at our chosen hotel costing less than 30,000 points a night, we will easily get our 3 nights free. (Grandparents opened their own card too so that we can get 2 free rooms!)
The secret to travel reward points is to achieve your initial spending requirement without any added spending. Simply start using THAT card for ALL of your purchases until you reach the limit. Gas, groceries, eating out, car maintenance, whatever!
By simply changing the card I use for our everyday expenses for a few months, I was able to get a free hotel for 6 flags!
Use Reliable Club Travel Agency for Discounted Trips on a Budget
Travel sites like CheapOair and TripAdvisor are wonderful for finding discounted budget travel. But they often require searching at odd hours to get the best prices. And sometimes require taking inconvenient flights or make changing your reservations difficult.
If you really want a budget trip without skimping, check out Discount Membership Travel Agencies like Costco or AAA.
I have booked trips with both companies and it makes life so much easier while still getting great discounts and perks. Plus, they have actual people working who can help if something goes wrong on your trip.
If you are a member of a wholesale club like Costco or Sam’s Club, or a member of companies like AAA, make sure to check with them for discounted travel packages.
Plan Your Trip On A Budget- Travel During the Off-Season
One of the best times to travel is off-season. If you are able to travel while most kids are in school, you can save so much money. And time by avoiding long lines.
As a homeschool family, this is one of our favorite travel hacks. While most kids are stuck in school, we wait until spring, summer, or winter break has just ended to fly or visit popular attractions. That way the weather is still nice and activities are open but prices and lines are almost half of what they are in the busy season.
When looking for a flight, my mom-in-law requested a Saturday flight as that was when her requested vacation from work was scheduled to start. But flying that Saturday would cost almost $700 a ticket, one way! By leaving on Thursday instead, we could get flights for under $350.
With 6 people flying, that’s a $2,100 savings for leaving 2 days earlier! Luckily, she was able to get an extra 2 days off from work because, with that price difference, we were ready to fly 5 of us 2 days earlier and have her meet us later on. (Mr. Bean and Papa Bean’s jobs are much easier to request time off. Thank goodness for Boring Jobs)
Skimp On What Doesn’t Matter So You Can Splurge On What Does
Living on a budget is all about spending on what is important to you and skimping on the rest.
Budget Planning- Hotel or Food
All the advertisements and popular kids swear you just have to stay at a Disneyland Property to really enjoy the experience. I mean, like wow, there’s a Mickey walking around in the lobby sometimes!
So, of course, when we first started looking at booking this massive family trip, we looked at the Disney Hotels. OMG, sticker shock! Even with the Costco discounts, it was $3,990 for 5 nights and a 3-day park pass. (Per room)
Then I took a look at the Disney Neighbor hotels with Costco. Meaning they are not owned by Disney but are within a few blocks of the park. $1,828 for the same thing across the street.
Considering we were getting 2 rooms, that’s a $4,324 difference!
For some people, that Disneyland hotel experience might be worth the splurge, but our thought is that we don’t plan to spend much time in our hotel room anyways, so why in the world would we spend over double for the luxury of a nicer view and a slightly shorter walk.
Considering how much we love to eat, I’d rather save the money on the room and EAT!
Balance Park Food vs Store Food
Now, we love to eat! We love trying new foods and experiencing new flavors. But I also hate wasting money.
While we are saving all that money on a less expensive hotel room, I don’t want to waste it on $20 corn dogs outside the Tea Cup ride. (I have no idea how much a corn dog is at Disneyland yet, but I’m sure it’s not cheap.)
We plan to try lots of different restaurants and snacks in the park, but we also plan to bring some of our own foods to keep excess spending down and tummy problems to a minimum.
Similar to my other Travel With Family Budget Post, we plan to stop at Walmart, Trader Joe’s, or other local grocery stores to stock up on breakfast foods and snacks before heading to our hotel rooms.
While our FREE hotel room at 6 Flags also provides FREE breakfast, the one at Disneyland sadly does not. So I plan to stock up on instant oatmeal, bananas, apples, granola bars, applesauce pouches, popcorn, nuts, bottled water, and all sorts of snacks. They will help us charge up in the morning, keep us running throughout the day, and relax in the evening.
I love knowing that we have inexpensive, healthy foods available to us whenever we want. (Disneyland allows coolers inside, just no loose ice) It helps balance out the expensive, grease/sugar bomb meals that happen while on vacation.
Plan Ahead for Souvenirs
Other than rides, characters, and food, Disneyland is also a place of souvenirs:
- Mouse Ears
- Star Wars Light Sabers
- Wands
- Candy
- Shirts
- Etc.
Nobody can get through a day without being bombarded with extra stuff to buy.
Here’s my plan:
Before the Trip
- Get a few Disney-related shirts on clearance from stores like Target so they have something fun and new to wear on their trip
- Give the kids a budget to spend on vacation for things like souvenirs
While at the Park
- As they see awesome stuff they want, they take a picture on their phone and mark the place they found it. (Maybe even put the price down) Then let them know you’ll come back at the end of the day/trip (No one wants to carry extra stuff around the park all day)
- When it comes time to get said items, they can choose their favorites and stay within budget
- Also, we are flying. If it can’t fit in our luggage, we can’t get it.
Wrap-Up
When scheduling a trip for your family, make sure to decide what’s really important to you.
While we enjoy spending money on food and activities, you may not give two hoots about food but dream of a Disney Safari View. Figure out what’s important to you and spend on that.
Make sure to save up, plan ahead, and build the vacation of your dreams, on your budget.
Happy Travels!
What do you think? Do you have other tips for saving on travel? What’s really important or not important to your family?
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