Just don’t do it. I get it. Disney is expensive. When you’re buying tickets for a whole family, it can be tempting to want to cut corners.

There’s nothing wrong with cutting corners on your Disney budget, but you just don’t want to cut them using this method.

Disney Ticket Scalping is Both Illegal and Risky

Buying Disneyland or Disney World tickets on Facebook Marketplace, NextDoor, Craigslist, or any other third-party app can be tempting. The tickets may be cheap, but they’re likely cheap for a reason. Chances are, they’re a scam.

Instead…Buy Slightly Discounted Tickets from Target or Costco

Costco has Disney ticket packages for their members that are available for purchase. At Target, you can use your Redcard to purchase Disney gift cards, saving 5%. Those gift cards can then be used to purchase your Disney tickets online or from Disney’s park apps.

Don’t Forget, Residents Can Buy Discounted Tickets

Southern California residents can buy discounted multi-day tickets for Disneyland. Florida residents are also eligible for discounted multi-day tickets for Walt Disney World. This is BY FAR the best way to save money on Disney tickets, providing the largest savings on tickets.  

Note: You will be asked to show proof of residency (usually a government-issued photo ID) at the gate. So, only buy a resident pass if your primary residence is located within the required area.

In addition to purchasing a resident ticket, another great way to cut corners at Disney is to use these 11 hacks to save money on food! 

Knowing that it’s impossible to see and do it all, we usually create a “must-see, must-do” list before visiting Walt Disney World and Disneyland. These don’t have to be fancy spreadsheets (but I’ve done that before, too).

Make a “Top Three” List for Each Member of Your Party

Just grab a pen and paper and ask everyone who will be joining you to name three things that they HAVE to experience. Also, have them name one or two special treat/food items that they want to try if that’s important to your family.

Having a list, even if we don’t take it with us, gives us a good idea about which attractions we want to make a priority during our day. This is especially helpful if you are traveling with different age groups. Your teen will likely have a different list than a younger sibling. If everyone gets to participate in the planning, it ensures everyone will have a good time!

While Disneyland may be the “Happiest Place on Earth” and Walt Disney World may be the “Most Magical Place on Earth”, you can be sure that young children may be, at times, neither happy nor magical.

This unrealistic expectation was the biggest miscalculation I made when we visited Disneyland for the first time with kids–talk about Disney trip planning mistakes!

Disney is incredibly fun, but there is a lot going on. Too much of a good thing is still too much.  

Inadequate food and rest are the two main reasons my kids have meltdowns. Having healthy snacks on hand helps.  Fried foods and sugary treats are tasty but can mess with your body.  If a child needs some downtime, head back to the hotel for the afternoon, or escape for an hour to a quieter spot like Tom Sawyer Island at Disneyland Park or Magic Kingdom.

Above all, expect some hiccups in your day. If you’re expecting some difficult moments, they’re not nearly as frustrating. Even if your day is peppered with a meltdown or two, your trip isn’t ruined!  We have found that the magical moments stick with everyone the longest, creating the best of memories.

As much fun as it is to say, “Who cares how much I spend?! I’m on vacation!”, lack of financial planning before a Disney trip could lead to a money catastrophe after the trip.

I love budgeting for trips. It’s just a way for us to choose ahead of time what’s most important to us! Save yourself some stress and draft a budget. If you need help getting started, check out these 9 easy steps to create a foolproof trip budget.

As tempting as it is to sleep in while visiting the parks, you can always get the most done in the parks during the first couple of hours. Crowds are typically the lowest first thing in the morning, making lines the shortest!

It takes time to go through security and get through the gate, so we like to plan to be at the park 40-60 minutes before the park opens. With COVID, things are a little different, so 30 minutes may be adequate.  

When Disney states a park opening time, that time is the time the rides and attractions begin working. You can often enter the park up to an hour before the park technically opens! Sometimes, Disney will start allowing guests into attractions before their scheduled opening time, so it pays to get there early!

You don’t want to forget to download the park app! If you’re visiting Disneyland, look for the Disneyland app on Google Store or the Apple Store. If you’re going to Walt Disney World, download the My Disney Experience app.

Not only can you purchase tickets directly from the app, but you can also use it to look up ride wait times, reserve dining, view menus, order food, find characters, discover parade and shows, locate restrooms, and more!

Avoid These Mistakes to Have a Magical Time at Disney

Make the best of memories on your next Disney vacation when you avoid these common Disney trip planning mistakes!  You’ll save time and money (and headaches), allowing you to focus on what’s most important.  

Have you learned from your mistakes at Disneyland or Walt Disney World?  Share them below!  Planning a trip to Disney and have a question?  Ask it!  I love hearing from my readers.

It seems like a no-brainer, but it’s true for our family.  The best way to save money on food at Disney is to never spend it!

If I don’t make a budget, we just fly by the seat of our pants.  Five dollars becomes ten.  Ten dollars becomes twenty.  Suddenly we find ourselves spending significantly more than we thought we would.

Enter THE BUDGET.  Decide ahead of time how much you’re going to spend.  Figure out the cost per meal.  The easiest way to calculate how much it will cost is to look at current menus.  Download the app for the park you want to visit.  For Disney World, it’s My Disney Experience.  For Disneyland, it’s the Disneyland app.  Or you can visit the park website and view the menus there.

Every restaurant shows its menu with prices, making it easy to get an accurate estimate of what you might spend on any given meal.

I use a free expense tracking app, Spending Tracker, to enter all our expenditures and stay on budget.

Or bring your own.  Soft drinks can add up quickly!

If you don’t mind drinking canned drinks, Disney allows guests to bring in their own soft drinks or energy drinks.  The only requirement is that it’s in a can or plastic–no glass.

For me, eating out makes it feel more like a vacation, so I’m not the type to make my own lunch every day, BUT I have brought in our lunch before and saved $60.

You can’t bring in a full-sized ice chest into the park, but we filled a couple of soft-sided lunch boxes with sandwiches, chips, and fruit and stuffed them in the storage compartment under the stroller.  There are plenty of places around the park that you can choose from to sit and munch on your deletable peanut butter and jelly sandwich. 

If you don’t have a stroller, you can rent a locker, but it costs money–and I’m averse to unnecessary spending.

Even if you don’t want to pack a lunch, stuffing snacks into your backpack is always a good idea, especially if you have young children.  It’s easy to eat a granola bar or banana while you’re standing in line outside, saving you time.  Most snacks available for purchase at Disneyland and Disney World are significantly more than you would spend at the grocery store.

Along with snacks, there are a few other items you should throw in your backpack to help avoid small item purchases.  What should you bring to Disney?  Check out my post about 15 things you should pack in your backpack for Disney.

If your kids are showing signs of an approaching hanger episode in the afternoon, skip the cotton candy, and do something different: order a kids’ meal from a quick-serve restaurant!  The last time we were at Disneyland we got a kid’s meal from Alien Pizza Planet.  For $6.99 they shared a large slice of cheese pizza, carrots, fruit, and bottled water (they didn’t want milk). 

Eating at sit down, fancy restaurants is usually not a top priority for our family at Disney.  Mostly because we want to maximize our time and budget.

Choosing quick service restaurants is a great way to save money on food at Disney.  It will also decrease the amount of time you spend waiting in line (online ordering) and minimize your spending (no tip and cheaper meals). Choose places that give you the biggest bang for your buck.

When I’m selecting a hotel, I look for hotels near Disney with free breakfast, specifically free HOT breakfast (eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes–the works!).  Having a hearty breakfast makes my body happy and starts my day off right.  It’s usually much more cost-effective to eat at the hotel rather than in the parks.

I’m a huge Booking.com fan and use them to book all of our hotel accommodations.

There are few things in this world that I strongly dislike. Wasting food is one of them.  I’d rather buy more if we need it than see it tossed in the trash.  Sometimes, Allan and I will share a meal, if I know the portions are larger.  Or we may buy two meals and share them with three people.

Reducing food waste is good for your pocketbook and our world.  And it doesn’t hurt that it helps you save money on food at Disney!

You can use your Target REDCard to buy Disney gift cards, saving 5%.  If you’re using the credit REDCard, rather than debit, don’t forget to pay it off immediately so you don’t spend extra in interest.  While the savings aren’t huge, every little bit counts!

Some restaurants offer a 10% discount when you pay for your meal using the Chase Disney credit card.  Check the CHASE Disney credit card website to see which restaurants offer the discount before you go!

SAVE MONEY ON FOOD AT DISNEY

Using all or some of these hacks to spend less money on food at Disney will allow you to enjoy your next trip without breaking the bank!