Disneyland on a Budget: How to Go For Cheap

I’ve been planning to go to Disneyland for the past five years, or earlier, since my kids were born. The Covid pandemic definitely heightened that desire to take my kids there to experience the wonder, the magic, and the awe of Disneyland, the most magical place on earth.

I think it’s the nostalgia of DIsneyland, we experienced it when we were younger and we want to share that experience with our children. I waited until our kids were old enough to ride all the rides and young enough to still feel the magic (6 and 8 years old this year).

Prior to the Covid pandemic, Disneyland ticket prices were more reasonable, but Disneyland had to increase their prices to recoup the losses from closure of the park during the pandemic.

Currently Disneyland ticket prices range from $104 to $206 USD per day, and this doesn’t include the Lightening Lane add on, which is $32 USD per day.

It’s expensive but when we got there we were pleasantly surprised at the quality and the value you get for your hard earned dollars. The attention to detail and the amount of rides and variety of rides is second to none. In my opinion, Legoland doesn’t compare to Disneyland even though it is signficantly less expensive.

Even though the ticket prices were high, we managed to save about $770 CAD on our Disneyland tickets for our family of four.

Here are a few ways that you can save on Disneyland tickets for your family:

How to Save on Disneyland Tickets

Disneyland is expensive but there are a few ways you can save a few bucks off admission.

Go On a Low Tier Day

There are 7 different tiers, the more popular the day the more expensive it is and the higher the tier (Tier 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). There are only a handful of Tier 0 days available. We chose a relatively cheap option, Tier 2. If you buy a Tier 2 ticket, you can only use it for a Tier 0, 1, 2 day. If you buy a Tier 6 ticket you can use it for a Tier 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0 day. Obviously you don’t want to be over paying.

• Tier 0: $104
• Tier 6: $206

As you can see there’s a big difference between Tier 0 and Tier 6. For a family of four going for two days that’s $816 USD difference.

This is only if you are buying individual Theme Park tickets- we only did two days at Disneyland.

Get Away Today or UnderCover Tourist

Get Away Today or Undercover Tourist offers discounted Disneyland tickets but these are applicable if you are going for 3 days or more.

It doesn’t account for “Tiered” days so you would pay more than if you were picking three Tier 1 days.

That’s why if you are going during a more popular or busy time at Disneyland, then getting a package of 3 to 5 days would be a better deal.

Disneyland For Canadians Offer

Right now there is a Disneyland for Canadians offer (I guess the number of Canadians visiting Disneyland has drastically reduced thanks to the political climate going on right now) until December 31, 2025.

From the Disneyland website:

3-Day, 1-Park-Per-Day Ticket for $104 USD Per Day

• Enjoy this specially priced 3-day, 1-park-per-day ticket—valid May 16 to December 31, 2025—for $311 USD total.
• Tickets expire 13 days after the first day of use or on December 31, 2025, whichever occurs first.
• Subject to restrictions and park reservation availability.

Credit Card Hack

If you have time on your hands (think at least 6 months to one year of time), using credit card points is a great way to save money on Disneyland tickets.

One way we saved $770 CAD on our Disneyland tickets was through credit card hacking. I signed up for two CIBC Aventura cards and met the criteria for the welcome bonus on Aventura points. Then I used these Aventura points to cash in- and purchased Disney gift cards (you can find these at Safeway in the gift card section), which I used to buy the Disneyland tickets. The Disney gift cards do not charge a foreign currency exchange rate when you use them (they are bought in Canadian dollars and can be used to buy stuff at Disney in US dollars).

Another way to pay for your Disneyland tickets using credit card points is through using Scene+ Points. With Scene+ Points they recognize some companies such as “Undercover Tourist” as tour operators so you would be able to use your Scene+ Points since it is considered travel. However, if you wanted to redeem your Scene+ Points on your Disney tickets purchased on the Disney website, you are out of luck since the card company doesn’t recognize the Disney website as travel- but instead entertainment.

How to Save Money On Disneyland Accommodation

One of the best ways to save money on Disneyland accommodation is by signing up for the Marriott Bonvoy program. We signed up for four credit cards (Marriott Bonvoy American Express and the Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express) between the two of us and redeemed our annual certificate to stay at a hotel about a 15 minute walk from Disneyland.

The annual fee for these cards are $150 and $120, so $540 for all. $135 CAD per night for a 4 star hotel is not bad at all, I feel you can’t even get a Motel 6 these days for $135/night.

We still took the Toy Story shuttle (a shuttle at the parking lot takes you right to the parks) and walked the 5-7 minutes to the parking lot. A 15 minute walk after a long day of Disneyland would be quite painful to endure for the kids.

How to Save Money On Food

Disneyland allows you to bring food into the park, you can even bring a soft cooler and an ice pack (no loose ice in a zip lock bag though). We brought peanut butter sandwiches, cream cheese bagels for lunch to save money on food at Disneyland. We also brought snacks and fruit with us. This allowed us to save time (instead of looking for a place to eat and waiting to order) so we could go on more rides.

For dinner, we went back to the hotel. The hotel had a wonderful lounge with hor d’oeuvres including sliders, meatballs, spring rolls which was more than enough for a quick dinner before heading back to the park and staying up until 10pm.

Disneyland food is reasonably priced for some things, it was $6 USD for small popcorn tub and at Alien Pizza Planet in Tomorrowland, a kids pizza meal is under $10 USD.

Save Money on Disney Souvenirs

I remember getting an autograph book at Disneyland when I was a kid and was obsessed with looking at and analyzing the signatures afterward at home.

I made my own autograph book for the kids by buying a notebook and putting Disney princess stickers on it (both acquired at the dollar store).

Otherwise it is $14.99 USD for one at Disney.

Mickey Mouse ears are ridiculously priced as well, $34.99 USD for a pair.

I got one ahead of time for $4CAD at Dollarama.

I also brought some glow sticks and bubble wands to take to the park so the kids wouldn’t whine for a bubble wand at Disneyland (they still did but I imagine it was not as bad as it could have been).

How To Get The Most Out of Disneyland

The most important thing is to download the Disneyland app. You can see the stand by wait times live.

Some people don’t care to optimize Disneyland and some people want to plan it down to the minute. For us, we optimized Disneyland on the first day, and then the second day at Disneyland we didn’t follow the strategy as closely.

We bought Lightening Lane for both days, even though it’s an extra $32 USD a ticket it felt worth it for us.

We were able to go on 19 rides the first day between 8am and 4pm the the optimized strategy and Lightening Lane. That’s 19 rides in 8 hours.

On the second day we went on 16 rides. First we got to the park between 8am and 3pm. We took a break went back to the hotel chilled at the pool and had dinner, then went back to the park at 6pm and stayed until 10pm. That’s 16 rides in 11 hours.

Over two days at Disneyland we were able to ride almost all the rides with the exception of Casey Junior Circus Train (it broke down while we were waiting in line) and Chip and Dale’s GADGETCoaster.

The first day felt smoother as well and less stressful and we felt that the Lightening Lane usage was more worth it. Here’s the optimized strategy that I used for the first day. We managed to fit Hyper Space Mountain in there because it just suddenly opened and we were right beside it having a snack.

The best time to get to the park is when it opens. Between 8am to 10am the line ups are reasonable and you can knock off a lot of the rides on your list quickly, especially if you start off in Fantasy Land.

What We Spent at Disneyland

Here’s what we spent at Disneyland:

Hotel stay for four nights= $540 CAD

Tickets for 4 including Lightening Lane for two days: $1850 CAD – $770= $1080CAD

Day 1- Check Out Downtown Disney

• Took the Toy Story Shuttle (free)
• It’s free to go to Downtown Disney and I wanted to hype up my kids to see Disney paraphernalia before the actual admission to the park
• Had lunch at Din Tai Fung (a popular place for Xiao Long Bao) which I felt was over priced and a bit overrated. It was $160 CAD for lunch. You have to make reservations ahead of time.
• Played in the playground entertainment area (there was some colouring, drumming presentation, games set up that day)
• Checked out the stores and let them spend $25 USD each on their Disney souvenir= $50 USD and another $10 USD in souvenir coins for their cousins.

Day 2- Disneyland

• Toy Story shuttle
• Breakfast at hotel
• Brought lunch to the park
• Had dinner in the hotel

Day 3- Disneyland

• Toy Story Shuttle
• Breakfast at hotel
• Brought lunch to the park
• Had dinner at the hotel
• $6USD Popcorn bucket for kids to share

= $1710 CAD

Saving money at Disneyland Recap

Buying tickets ahead of time, going at a less popular time, credit card hacking, and bringing food into the park are some ways to save money when at Disneyland.

Even though we went to Disneyland with a frugal mindset and didn’t buy that many treats, we had a great time.

Do you have ways you like to save money for Disneyland?