There are giveaways galore happening right
now. Enter them all with this round-up and cross your fingers! Everything
you’ll need for summer travel is up for grabs!
Summer
is fast approaching and that means summer vacation. A good percentage of folks
plan to hit up the theme parks in the next 3 months, which is why the parks are
super crowded and hotel prices can be twice as much as usual. People will pay
it and gripe about the long lines, but it won’t keep them from planning to come
back another time of year. Instead they will stand in line for hours to get on
5 rides all day and drag around tired kids at 10:30 in the evening and wonder
why they are crabby and hate everything.
My
first tip will help you make the most of your tickets and enjoy yourselves
more, which is always a plus for any vacation - The parks are open for 14 hours a day. You
can’t expect your kids to go without a nap and endure so much stimulation and
not get cranky and cry at some point each day. You get tired and you are a grown up and not used to naps, so take
a couple hours out of the day for some downtime. The parks will still be there.
I promise. Think of how refreshed you will all be when you go back!
Want
to get the most experience for you money? Then after you’ve scheduled a nap or
relaxation time for each day of your trip, start planning all these other
things around that.
Purchase a
park-hopper ticket. These
can save you money over buying individual day tickets and you can use the same
one over the course of your visit. They just scan your fingerprint now, instead
of the old school way they did it before where you needed to sign the back of
the ticket and present ID each day. Much quicker. You still need your ticket
for them to swipe and also to be able to use the FastPASS machines.
Save
time by buying your tickets ahead of time. Don’t waste time in the ticket queue,
when you can go straight to the gate queue! Like you really want to wait in one
more line anyway. You can save money by buying your tickets online at various
locations. Search online for promo codes, too. I prefer to buy my tickets
through the local AAA travel store, because I find they have the best deals,
but you can also get Disneyland park hopper tickets through Costco
and many credit unions sell discounted ones as well. If you’ll be purchasing a
vacation package, check out BookIt.com and add your park
tickets on that way and save big. Besides AAA, they have the lowest prices on
Disney tickets out there.
Use
FastPASS. This
can also save you much time and get you on more rides. We generally get one for
Big Thunder Railroad, Peter Pan, California Screamin’, Splash Mountain, Space
Mountain, Indiana Jones, Rock’n Roller Coaster, Midway Mania or Buzz
Lightyear. These are the big rides that always have a line. Go first thing when
you enter the park and get a FastPASS, even if there isn’t a line, for any of
these attractions (I recommend Midway Mania or Space Mountain,
because the FastPASSes go quickly). If there isn’t a line, get on the ride, go
do some other rides and then come back at your designated FastPASS time and do
it again. If there IS a long line, go off and do some less packed stuff and
then come back. This works awesome with rides like Big Thunder Railroad in the
middle of the day, because even though the line isn’t humungous, there are a
bunch of other rides to do that normally have shorter lines, and you can get to
three other ones, come back and get right onto BTR and then head to another
part of the park.
Get
to the parks thirty minutes before opening. What’s the point? Well, there
won’t be hoards of people waiting to get in yet and you’ll get first pick of
the big rides when the gates open, freeing you up to do less popular rides in
the middle of the day.
Make
food reservations. While
this won’t save you any money, it WILL save you time waiting in line somewhere.
Disney has a designated dining reservation number for each park (or you can do
it online) to book a table anywhere that has waited tables. You can book up to
90 days in advance. This is especially important if you are dying to eat a
specific restaurant, because reserved tables get served before walk-ins, which
means if you want to eat at Blue Bayou without waiting 45-50 minutes (when you
could be doing other park activities), it’s best to make a reservation ahead of
time. Try to book your dining a little earlier than regular dining times, like
lunch between 11am-12pm and dinner between 5-6pm. This will help you avoid the
crowds, both while waiting to be seated and when you finish dining, because
everyone will have realized they are hungry, too, and flee to a dining establishment.
Woohoo! Shorter lines for you!
Secrets
to Summer Savings has all the tips you need to make Summer vacations more affordable and
easier. From theme parks to beach trips, learn the insider tricks to getting
more vacation for your money and how to fit a trip into your budget. Promo code FBFANDEAL for half off.
Instant PDF download.
Carry
snacks. You
know I always recommend bringing snacks everywhere you go. Disney doesn’t mind.
As long as whatever you bring isn’t in a glass container or alcohol, it’s okay
by them. Bring in your own bottled water, too, and save $9 by not having to buy
their souvenir cups.
Use
public transportation. Obviously, I mean for Disneyland only. Their
shuttle busses are great and are much cheaper than the $12-14 it now costs to
park in the Disney parking lot. Unless you have four or more people in your
group, save the cash and gas. The shuttles leave every 15 minutes throughout
the day until at least an hour before the park closes. There’s also the option
of just walking, since there are so many hotels right across the street from
the parks and main gate.
Avoid
“Extra Magic Hour”. In Orlando,
guests staying at a Disney resort are entitled to the EMH each day at different
designated parks. They get in an hour before the park officially opens to the
public or get to stay and extra hour after the park closes to the public. With
a bit of planning, you can avoid these days and go to other parks instead and
avoid the massive crowds at the EMH parks. This worked wonderful for us and we
found that each park we hit up that day was almost empty until
around noon time. I don’t know how that will work in the on-peak
season, but in the fall, it was spectacular and we barely waited in line for
anything for the first four hours we were in each park. You can find the EMH
parks listed on the online Disney schedules or invest in a membership to TourGuideMike, which will give you
all these tips and more well ahead of the actual online schedule.
Go
in the middle of the week. There will be fewer parades and you'll have to
schedule your day around things like Fantasmic, that only play on certain
weekday nights, but Disney will certainly be less crowded during the week than
on the weekends and you'll have shorter lines and be able to do more.
Bring
your own souvenirs. Yes,
I know this sounds weird, but if you have little ones, they are going to want
toys and shirts and balloons and candy. You can try to evade some of these
costs by stopping at one of the grocery or discount stores around Disney and
stock up on some inexpensive souvenirs (many of which you will find at the
parks for much more) and dole out a bit each day before you leave. Or keep them
in your bag until the kids are getting restless and cranky. You're sure to make
some happy faces. My best friend, and mom of four, has some fantastic tips
for doing Disney as a family on the cheap (or as cheap as you can
get without compromising the fun).
Next
up: How NOT To Do Disney. Believe it or not, there is a right way and a really
wrong way, especially if you’re going in the summer and have to make the most
out of every minute.
What are some of your tips for doing theme parks cheaper or
better?
