Our Favorite Disney Sites

Be sure to check out "Our Favorite Disney Sites" and "Our Favorite Disney Blogs" on the left side of this blog.  Here you will find links to sites we recommend for further reading.  They are organized in alphabetical order but we have broken them down by type here: 

Time Saving
Ridemax (Sign up to receive a daily plan to save you time)

Disney Official Sites
D23 (The Official Disney Fan Club)
Disney Movie Club (Become a member and find hard to find Disney movies)
Disney DVD Official Site (List of all Disney DVD's)
Disney Parks Mobile (See what is going on in the park right now and check out other Travel offers)
Disney Movie Rewards (Receive merchandise by signing up and entering the code from purchased movies)
Disney Parks (The master site for all Disney Parks)
Disney Parks Blog (The Official Disney Blog)
Disney Vacation DVD's (Click here to read our post on these free DVD's)
Disneyland Resorts (Disneyland, Disney World, Paris, Hong Kong, Tokyo)

Cost Saving
Get Away Today (Vacation planning and travel booking)
Mouse Savers (Save on vacation and travel expenses.  Sign up for Email Notifications)

Disney Fan Blogs / Souvenirs
AllEars (News and events at the parks)
Daveland (News and events at the parks)
DISboards (News and events at the parks)
Disney Frontier (News and events at the parks)
Disney Mouse Links (News and events at the parks)
Disney Music Loop (Want to know what music plays in the park?)
Disney Stationary (Want Disney stationary to print from home?)
Disneyland Postcards (See what old postcards were sold at the park)
Hidden Mickeys (See where the hidden Mickey's are hidden throughout the parks)
HV10N90 (Great Youtube site with many great videos from the park)
INTERCOT (Disneyworld Information)
Laughing Place (News and events at the parks)
Miceage (News and events at the parks)
Mickey Avenue (Download Disney fonts on your computer)
Mouseplanet (News and events at the parks)
Name Tag Museum (News and events at the parks)
RU42 Video Production (Purchase top quality videos to remember your trip)
Vintage Disneyland Tickets (See older tickets and programs from years past)
Walt Disney Quotes (Great quotes from Walt Disney)
WDWmagic (Disneyworld News)
Yesterland (See what's changed at the parks)

Check back for updates and changes on the left side of our blog.  As new sites are found we will update.

Don't Forget

Be sure to check out the section "Don't Forget..." on the left side of our blog.  You will find a list of items you will want to remember while preparing for your trip.  You can also click on may of the items to read our blog posts on them or be directed to other sources.

Disneyland Discount Tickets

Here are some things you need to know about Disneyland Tickets:

•Children under 3 get in free, and anyone 10 years old or over pays adult admission for Disneyland tickets.

•The lowest-priced, single-day Disneyland tickets are good for only one park. In other words, you can't visit Disneyland in the morning and Disney's California Adventure in the afternoon of the same day.

•Multi-day Disneyland tickets and one-day Hoppers allow you to visit both parks on the same day. Park Hopper Disneyland tickets expire 13 days after the first use, no matter how many days you buy.

•An easy way to get Disneyland tickets and stay out of line at the park is to order online from Kijubi.com. They guarantee a rate as low as you'll get by buying direct, offer online and postal mail delivery.

•If you buy from Disney, you can have them held at Will Call or mailed to your home. You'll pay a shipping fee that varies depending on your location and lead time. These tickets come with a risk - they cannot be replaced if they're lost, even if you have a copy. Checked bags can go astray, so pack them in your carry-on luggage.

•A better option is to order online and opt for eTickets which you can print out at home. This saves shipping costs, but even more important, an eTicket can be replaced if you forget or lose it, as long as the person who bought it is present and has the credit card they used with them. If that happens, just head for Guest Services at the Main Entrance Will Call window with the credit card and a photo ID and they can issue a new ticket.

•Order by telephone at 714-781-4400.

•Once you start your Disneyland visit, lost tickets cannot be replaced, even if you have a copy of them. Keep them safely tucked into a secure pocket while you're in the park.

•Southern California visitors will find discount tickets for Universal Studios and Sea World everywhere they look, from tourist magazines to the paper lining their dinner trays at the local fast food joint, but getting Disneyland discount tickets isn't quite as easy. The good news is that you can still get some Disneyland discount tickets, and you'll do best if you plan in advance.

•All Resort tickets can be upgraded to annual passes.  Present your ticket on the last day of your trip (to get the most days possible on the year pass) and pay the difference from the price of your tickets and the price of the annual pass.  There are a few options for annual passes and remember to consider a parking pass for all passes other than the Premium.  If you are not from Southern California and have someone in your party who does have a Southern California zip code, that person can purchase a Southern California pass for you.  They need to be the ones who pay for the pass.

•Learn about the regular prices before you get started looking for bargains. There's more about visiting Disneyland here, too.

Disneyland Discount Tickets - Options

•Free Admission For Volunteer Service: During 2010, you can get into one Disneyland theme park ticket free for one day as your reward for doing a day of volunteer service. Find out how to do it.

•Southern California CityPass: If you're planning on visiting some of Southern California's other attractions during your trip, this one is your best bet. You can get 3-Day Disneyland Tickets, tickets for one day each at Universal Studios, SeaWorld and your choice of a ticket to the San Diego Zoo OR San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park. The total discount is approximately 30%, and you can buy the passes online in advance, or at the gate of any of the participating attractions.  You can also find these at most Costco's.

•ARES Travel offers small discounts on Disneyland California tickets and you can also reserve character breakfasts through them. They deliver by e-mail only. You can order online or by phone at 800-434-7894.

•Buy online not at the ticket booth: You can get Disneyland discount tickets if you buy them online in advance. Prices can be up to $50 per ticket less than what you'd pay at the gate. Print at home or to get them in the mail.

•Disneyland Specials: From time to time, Disney offers special discounts. The most common is adding a couple of extra days to a multi-day ticket for free. See what's available and buy it online.

•Shorten Your Stay: Another way to save money is to spend fewer days in the parks, but this doesn't mean you can't do everything. Normal visitors spend more time in line than doing anything else, but you know better. With an inexpensive subscription to Ridemax software, you can stay out of line and easily do in two days what it takes most people three to four days to cover. In fact, I once used it to do almost all of Disneyland in a single day and had time to spare.

•Stay Away from Auctions: Some people buy 5-Day passes, use two or three days and try to sell the remaining time in online auctions. However, these tickets state in writing, "Not For Sale. Non Transferable, Must be used by the same person, all days," and this practice is not recommended.

•Adults Pay Kids' Price: Some years, Disney offers special pricing for visits from January through early spring, with everyone paying the kids' admission fee

•Southern Californians: If you live in zip codes 90000-93599, Disney offers frequent special deals and discounts for online purchases along with special discounts on annual passes. Your local Costco, Von's or Ralph's store may also offer lower-priced passes.

•California Teachers: Members of ACSA, CTA, CRTA and First Financial Credit Union can get Disneyland discount tickets through TSA Special Services by phone or mail. The excellent discounts they once offered are getting less impressive every year, nearly vanishing when you add their processing fees, and you have to order far enough in advance to allow for mail delivery.

•Southern California University Students: Some area universities offer discounted, one-park, one-day Disneyland discount tickets for their students. Check with your Student Union.

•Employee Discounts: Some large corporations and government agencies in Southern California also offer discounted, one-day, one-park Disneyland discount tickets to their employees. Ask your Human Resources department.

•AAA and CSAA Members: These California automobile clubs sometimes offer discounts, but grab your calculator before you buy. Some of their "packages" cost the same as the individual parts at full price.  Plus, if you buy only tickets to the park, they include fee parking at the Mickey and Friends Parking Structure!  This will save you over $10 a day!

•Some area hotels offer discount Disneyland tickets with a room rental.

•Military Discounts: Active duty, Reserve, National Guard, Retired, and DOD employees can buy Disneyland discount tickets, with the amount depending on the time of year. Check with your base MWR for information. Bring your military ID to show at the gate.

•United Kingdom Residents: Theme Park Direct offers some good discounts, but check the current exchange rate and which way it's heading before you buy. It may be cheaper to buy in U. S. dollars.

•Hotel Points: This isn't exactly a discount, but you can redeem Hilton HHonors Points for Disneyland passes.

Random Park Hints, Part 1

There are not a lot of discounts on Disneyland tickets, but you can save money by combining a visit to Disneyland with other southern California theme parks using the Southern California CityPass. These are available at Costco.  You might also find discounted tickets through employee organizations, colleges, or at Kijubi.com.

Buy your tickets in advance to save time waiting in the ticket line. Pay attention to whether your tickets (such as annual passes) have to be picked up or validated at Guest Relations. Guest Relations does not open until the park opens. Will Call tickets can be picked up before the park opens.

Get to the park early. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are the least crowded days at Disneyland.  The ticket booths open about half hour before the gates open. Be in line with your tickets already in hand when the gates open to ride some of the non-FASTPASS rides like Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Pirates of the Caribbean, Matterhorn Bobsleds, or Toon Town before the lines get long.

Lines 13, 20, or 21 move fastest at the Disneyland park entrance.

Some Disneyland Resort packages include early entry into Disneyland. This allows you to enter the park one hour before the gates open and ride some of the more popular rides before the lines get long. This can mean 7 am in the summer. Usually this offer only applies to guests of the three Disney Resort hotels, but occasionally the promotion will include guests at "Good Neighbor" hotels as well.

Use RideMax to minimize time waiting in lines and walking between rides at Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure.

Ride during parades and use Fastpass. If you've already seen the parade or you don't mind missing it, this is a good time to get on rides since so many people stop riding to watch the parade.  Ride at dinnertime. Most people eat dinner between 4:00 pm and 6:00 pm, so lines will be shorter.  Go to Adventure land and New Orleans at night.  When riding the Matterhorn, remember that the line that wraps around the Tomorrowland side is almost always shorter.

Lines that move quickly even though they look crowded: Haunted Mansion, Buzz Lightyear, Pirates of the Carribbean, Jungle Cruise, Indiana Jones, and Tower of Terror.

Afternoon Break. If you have a hotel in the area, plan to go to the park early, take a break at your hotel in the afternoon and come back to spend the evening at the parks. Since most families with small children leave early, the lines for popular kiddie rides like Dumbo and Peter Pan are shorter at night. This mostly applies during the summer when the park is open from 8 am until 11 pm or midnight.

The best view of the fireworks is from Main Street in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle. Most of the Fantasyland rides close down during fireworks and reopen afterwards. If you watch the fireworks from Fantasyland near Dumbo the Flying Elephant and the Carrousel, the fireworks will appear both in front of you and behind you, so you have to watch in two directions, but you'll be first in line when the Fantasyland rides re-open. The Fantasyland rides outside the roped off area re-open first, so you can ride Dumbo and then be ready when they take down the ropes to the rest of Fantasyland. Otherwise there's usually a 40 minute or longer wait for these rides.

Stay at a Disney area hotel. Even if you live in Southern California, you can save time and money by staying at a hotel close to the Disney Resort. Stay at a hotel with free parking and breakfast and it can equal what you would have paid for parking, gas and breakfast at Disneyland if you drive in for the day. If you're checking in the same day, most hotels will let you park at the hotel in the morning, take the shuttle to Disneyland, come back at check in time to have a rest, then shuttle back to the park. The shuttle will bring you back to the hotel up to half an hour after the park closes, so you don't have to drive home when you're wiped out after a long day in the sun.

Start with Adventureland and go clockwise.  This helps prevent criss-crossing the park so many times because it will usually plant you near parades, shows and restaurants around the times you need them. Also, most people tend to go counter-clockwise (i.e. starting with Tomorrowland), so you somehow seem to encounter less crowds going clockwise.  The Disneyland Train does a circle around the park, so use it for transportation.

Get Away Today

Heidi S. from Orem, Utah wrote the following review for Getawaytoday.com:

"We always use Get Away Today to plan our Disneyland Vacation because we can package everything together. We dislike driving and dealing with parking and California traffic so we always fly but we book our flights through any online travel agency. Get Away Today works on a voucher system. They send you a copy of your Disneyland Park Entrance/Meal information which you present to the ticket booth. The Disney Cast Members know exactly what to do and just ask for your picture ID. I have never had any problems. Disney prints out your entrance tickets and also vouchers for all your meals i.e. Ariel's Grotto, Character Breakfast. You receive a voucher for your hotel which you present upon check-in. And vouchers for any transportation which you book. They also give you a lanyard with a pocket to keep your vouchers and tickets in. Their customer service is amazing!  They are very friendly and knowledgeable.
Airport - We used to fly to LAX but have found a direct flight from SLC to Long Beach is cheaper and closer to the park.

Transportation - Get Away Today offers bus services and we rent a private van (Airport Shuttle) to pick us up from the airport and take us back at the end of our vacation. Cost is $85 each way and seats up to 8 people (Longbeach). Get Away Today has had issues with the airport transportation company. This last trip the company put us in a group van with other visitors and had issues with our voucher. I programmed Get Away Today's phone number in my cell and called them. They informed me they had had issues with this company and not to give them any additional funds and spoke directly with the driver and resolved the matter. You can also buy bus transportation from LAX for @ $13 each way.

Universal/Sea World/Knotts Berry Farms, etc. - GetAway Today also sells tickets to other parks around the area. You receive a voucher with the bus reservation number on it. You need to call 24 hours in advance. A bus picks you up outside your hotel and drops you off at their central station. You stand in a line and present your voucher to the agent and they print out your admission ticket and bus ticket and inform you which lane your bus will be in. The driver takes everyone to the park and then picks you up and drops you off at your hotel in the evening. They have vouchers for a tour which basically gives you free transportation and you just pay for your entrance fee. It is packaged so don't buy them seperately. We were told about it from a Get Away Today employee and saved us a ton of money. Make sure you get on the bus at the end of the day when the driver tells you he is departing. Otherwise you are looking at a taxi ride. Always tip the driver at the end of the day. Some people are too cheap but we always do $2-$3 dollars a person.

Hotel - We like to stay across the street from the park so we do not have to walk after a long day in the park. We usually stay at the Best Western Park Place which is across the street next to Captain Kidd's restaurant. They serve a complimentary breakfast upstairs in the restaurant and is one of the better hotel breakfasts. Eggs, toast, bagels, fruit, donuts, pastries, juice, milk, etc. The rooms are not anything great but then most of the hotels seem to need some updating.  We stayed at the Castle Inn & Suites which said it was across the street but it was at the end of the block by Subway and the rooms were really old. Probably would not stay there again.

We would love to stay at the Disneyland Resort but usually we can get our hotel and 3-day park hoppers for @ $1200 - $1500 for five adults and it is over $3000 for the Disneyland Hotels. If anybody has tips about how to get it more affordable I would love to hear it. I can't justify spending that much money when we are not in our room very long."

Thanks so much Heidi for your review.  If you would like more information about Getawaytoday.com or to book your vacation click here.