After writing all the posts about this year's Disney trip, I got to thinking about how often we've been to Disneyland and Disney World. In the last 10 years, Mr M and I have been to Disneyland 4
times and Disney World 2 times. How did we do it without spending a ton of
money?
The Short Answer:
Disney gives military personnel good discounts.
Disney gives military personnel good discounts.
The Long Answer:
Disneyland/California Adventure
10 years ago (when we went the first time), Mr M was able to get free admission into Disneyland & California Adventure and we paid a reduced price for my admission. By the time we went to Disneyland the fourth time they’d changed their discounts a bit, so he no longer got in free, but he still got a discounted ticket, as did LMS and I.
Each time we went to Disneyland we stayed with my very kind relatives who live quite close to Disneyland, so we didn't have to pay for hotels.
10 years ago (when we went the first time), Mr M was able to get free admission into Disneyland & California Adventure and we paid a reduced price for my admission. By the time we went to Disneyland the fourth time they’d changed their discounts a bit, so he no longer got in free, but he still got a discounted ticket, as did LMS and I.
Each time we went to Disneyland we stayed with my very kind relatives who live quite close to Disneyland, so we didn't have to pay for hotels.
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LMS with Minnie Mouse at Disneyland, spring 2009- look how tiny she is!
Disney World/Universal Studios
Disney World is significantly more expensive than Disneyland, and since it’s so large you can’t get away with a single day ticket and still do everything (like we could at Disneyland & California Adventure). Luckily they offer great military discounts on 4 day Park Hopper tickets.
Disney World is significantly more expensive than Disneyland, and since it’s so large you can’t get away with a single day ticket and still do everything (like we could at Disneyland & California Adventure). Luckily they offer great military discounts on 4 day Park Hopper tickets.
This year I was preparing our itinerary and discovered that
Universal Studios also gives military discounts. In fact, service members can
get FREE 3-day Park Hopper passes! Family members can get discounted tickets. Last year we wanted to go to Universal Studios to ride the Harry Potter
rides, but it didn’t fit into our schedule and the cost was prohibitive. This year, with the guys getting in free, we
only had to pay for LMS and me. Still pricey for a one day ticket, but if you average
the cost we actually paid by the four of us, it was a lot more reasonable.
Me, Mr M, Uncle R, and LMS at Disney World January 2012
Hotels
We stayed at Shades of Green for 5 nights this year and 3 nights last year. Shades of Green is a hotel for military service members, retirees, and their immediate family members. In some ways it’s considered a Disney resort hotel, but in other ways it’s not (unlike the other resort hotels, we have to pay $5 every day to park there, and we have to pay to park in any of the Disney theme park parking lots).
We stayed at Shades of Green for 5 nights this year and 3 nights last year. Shades of Green is a hotel for military service members, retirees, and their immediate family members. In some ways it’s considered a Disney resort hotel, but in other ways it’s not (unlike the other resort hotels, we have to pay $5 every day to park there, and we have to pay to park in any of the Disney theme park parking lots).
It’s across the street from the Polynesian resort and within
easy walking distance of the Magic Kingdom transportation center, though they also offer bus service from SoG to the transportation center. From there,
you can ride the monorail to Epcot or the Magic Kingdom (or take the ferry to
the Magic Kingdom), or a bus to Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom.
We walked to the transportation center and traveled from
there every day except the day we went to Hollywood Studios. That day we didn’t
want to deal with buses and we wanted to get dinner on the way back to the
hotel so we wouldn’t be eating super late.
The cost per night at SoG is based on the service member’s
rank, and is significantly cheaper than the other resort hotels. The problem is
making your reservation far enough in advance- both times now we’ve had to find
rooms at another hotel the days of the half and full marathon.
We really like SoG. For 3 adults and 1 child, we had a room
with 2 queen beds and a couch that flips over into a twin bed. There was plenty
of room for our luggage and we didn’t feel cramped at all. In addition, the
ground floor rooms (which we’ve been in both times) have high ceilings, which
makes the room feel even roomier. The décor is definitely on the bland side,
but that’s an easy trade off, given the cost savings. The thing to remember is to make reservations at least 6 months out, which we haven't done either time because of uncertainty regarding schedules, which resulted in us not being able to stay at SoG the entire time.
one of the pools at Caribbean Beach resort
Last year we spent two nights at the Yacht Club, which was a
really nice (and expensive) hotel, but a lot smaller than our SoG room. This
year we spent two nights at the Caribbean Beach resort, which was cheaper, but
still more expensive than SoG, and definitely on the cramped side. LMS ended up
sleeping on the floor in her peapod. It did have one small redeeming factor:
the room was pirate themed, which LMS liked.
We didn't actually pay the prices listed on the Disney Resorts site- we called Ears of Experience, and they were able to get reduced rates for us. I think there was some military discounts in there too? I just told them what we wanted (two nights in a Disney Resort hotel, but not too expensive), and they got back to me in a day or so with our options, and it didn't cost us anything to use them.
Other cost saving measures:
As I mentioned in a previous post, we only eat one meal in the park each day. Some people advocate leaving the resort to find food, but you waste so much time doing that that it's not worth it to us. We bring (or buy at a local grocery store) food for breakfast, then find a local non-Disney restaurant for dinner.
We don't usually buy snacks in the parks since they're overpriced. This year we did buy a couple: LaFou's Brew (kind of a frozen appley slushy) in the new Fantasyland and Butterbeer (a frozen cream soday slushy with a yummy creamy foam) and pumpkin juice (spiced apple juice with pumpkin in it- tasted a lot better than "pumpkin juice" sounds) in Hogsmead in Universal Studios.
Princess Minnie
We don't really do the souvenir thing. LMS does get one thing each time: a Minnie Mouse doll this year, Minnie Mouse ears headband last year, etc, but Mr M and I don't get anything specific. We do buy a pin for LMS and one for us and we get smashed pennies whenever we see a machine, but those are things we do wherever we go. We find it cheaper and more fun to collect pins and pennies than random items with names of places plastered across them. Though I still need to figure out a good display board for all the pins...
LMS and Uncle R with their ears last year
We thought it would be a prop job since it was such a small airport, but it turned out to be a normal plane- 25 rows, 6 seats across. We actually got to keep our carry on bags with us this time, instead of having to gate check them like last year (I don't like not having my carry on bag available). We even had free parking and only had to walk a few steps from our car to the terminal. And small airports are so much nicer to fly out of- so much less hassle.
The moral? Broaden your search and be open to flying out of different airports. You never know where you'll find a cheaper flight.
Below are the links for the various sites I've found military discount information. Let me know if you know of any other discounts or deals.
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