Ticket questions for staying in hotel

Michele King

Mouseketeer
Joined
Feb 8, 2015
I have an annual pass, so I never have to think about this and its been forever since I had to buy regular tickets. My brother is coming with all of his kids and some of his wife's family to visit us here in SoCal. They are doing two nights at Disneyland Hotel and two days in the parks. He is a bit worried about money, since he has 4 kids. We are trying to figure out what makes the most sense when buying tickets for the family. I thought I would come here and see if you guys could give me some insight.

1. Are ticket prices any cheaper if you tie them to a package with the hotel? Or would it come out the same if you do them separately?

2. He has talked about one park per day, but he has a few older kids that will want to run around with my kids and that would best be served with park hoppers. So I was going to suggest one park per day for everyone but him and the two older kids. If they get the tickets tied to the hotel can you do that? Or do they all have to be the same?

Thanks for any input. I am trying to save them as much money as possible.
 
if you really want to save them as much money as possible

  1. Stay at one of the offsite motels or the Howard Johnsons on Harbour Boulevard. Desert Inn and Suites, Tropicana and a few others beside them are located at the cross walk to Disney and have a shorter walk than Disneyland Hotel
  2. Get tickets from one of the authorised resellers, Last Minute Travel Club is usually the cheapest, my ticket was $50 cheaper than direct from Disney
 
We save the most money on tickets when we buy them separately through LMT Club. (But double check with the other discount vendors just to make sure there isn't a deal out there right now that would fit your brother's situation better -- look at Mousesavers.com to get a general idea of the current deals.)
Does he have to stay on site? Staying off site would save a chunk of change. If DLH is a must do, check Expedia and other similar sites just to make sure there isn't a last minute deal available -- friends have found last minute deals that were pure pixie dust.
 
oddly enough a package will come out the same price or slightly more expensive. I might be in the minority but I would opt for one park per day passes. They are only going for two days and there is more than enough to do in each park for one day, eliminating hoppers will save money. You can always add hoppers to tickets if you feel like you absolutely need it.
 


Agree with the above posters who recommend staying off-site -- the savings is significant. There are many hotels that are comparable to the DLH (although might not have that extra "magic" or "pixie dust") but the savings easily pay the difference between Park Hoppers and not (probably for everyone in the group and not just the older two), probably ALL their food and any other extra's...everyone is different, but being concerned or worrying about money (especially at a place like DL where everything is costly) is not enjoyable to me on vacation. Typically packages aren't the best way to save, but price it out both ways because sometimes there are promotions that make them worthwhile. Also agree, we almost exclusively use LMT now for our tickets and we have always found they have the best price.
 
I’d definitely look at off site hotels. Our kids have special needs and hav to eat right away. The homewood suites is perfect for us. They also have free dinner m-Th.
 
Are ticket prices any cheaper if you tie them to a package with the hotel? Or would it come out the same if you do them separately?

My tips:

Get a notebook and a pen.
Find out the room-only cost (through Disney, costco, aaa, Expedia, hotels.com, etc) for the intended hotel and intended stay dates and write it down.
Find out the cost of tickets (through Disney, through undercovertourist and lastminutetravel etc) and write those prices down.
Price out packages (directly with Disney, aaa, Costco) for the intended trip and write those numbers down.

Figure out what total is best. Don’t go by generalities or what others have experienced for their dates. Just do the research and the math for any intended trip.

And as others are saying, encourage him to look offsite if money is tight.
 


Thanks everyone. They do want to stay onsite. They picked the hotel.

I will research LMT. I didn't even know they exist. I will also research getting the hotels through places vs directly through Disney. Great tips.
 

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