We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.
Last month my husband and I were able to take a quick kid-less trip to Disneyland. I thought it would be fun to share some of the new things we experienced as well as some of the money we saved this time around.
Where we stayed: I booked our trip through Get Away Today, we got a 3 night hotel stay with 2-day Park Hoppers and we saved quite a bit over the price if we had booked everything individually. I highly recommend that you check a package deal at GetAway Today and then compare it to the individual prices to see what the difference would be. Keep in mind that sometimes you will receive “extras” with the package deal. For instance, our package deal included free parking as a benefit. We would have normally had to pay a parking fee for each night of our stay.
We stayed at the Fairfield Inn, this motel is a very short walk down the street to the main entrance of Disneyland. This motel also has a few Disney themed rooms if you want more of a Disney feel to your room. We ended up with one of the Cars themed rooms because we requested a King size bed. We really liked this hotel, and would definitely stay here in the future.
Here is a peek at how much we saved by booking through Get Away Today. The total cost of our package from Getaway Today which included hotel stay, (2) 2-day Park Hoppers, parking and taxes was $859.
Here is the breakdown in cost if we bought everything individually:
Fairfield Inn Hotel (with tax) = $664.99
Parking (3 days) = $39
(2) 2-day Park Hoppers = $420
Total Cost = $1123.99
The total we saved by booking through Get Away Today was $264.99. Not too shabby!
Where we ate: Dining at Disney is always part of the fun. This time we stopped at a few of our faves and gave a new place (outside the park) a try.
Steakhouse 55 – We love to have breakfast at Steakhouse 55, the price of breakfast is cheaper than you would think. The service has always been excellent and the food is good. This is located right next door to Goofy’s Kitchen at the Disneyland Hotel. We have been twice for breakfast and it has not been busy at all.
Flo’s V8 Cafe – We always have to eat at Flo’s V8 Cafe, it is one of our favorite places. We can’t see to order anything but the turkey dinner we love it so much.
Tortilla Joe’s – You can get a coupon for $30 off a meal at Tortilla Joe’s (or any of the Pantina group restaurants) by signing up for their birthday club. It happened to be my husbands birthday recently, so it made our meal really cheap.
Mimi’s Cafe – Mimi’s Cafe was close to the Fairfield Inn so we decided to give them a try for breakfast. The food was heavenly! Seriously, give their breakfast a try. You won’t be disappointed.
Ghirardelli Shop – We had to stop for a FREE chocolate sample at the Ghirardelli Chocolate Shop at California Adventure.
Some of our favorite rides: We got to try out the newly refurbished Thunder Mountain Railroad. This has always been one of my all time favorite rides and now I love it even more. I won’t spoil the surprise, but they did add a little something extra to the ride.
We missed out on Fast Passes for Radiator Springs Racers, but since it was just 2 of us we used the Single Rider line and were able to get on fairly quick. The single rider line is a great option for those that don’t have small children in their party. It’s fun because sometimes you end up racing those in your party. Most of the time, my husband and I ended up in the same car, I was in the front and he was in the back. We were able to ride several times by just using the Single Rider line, I totally recommend giving it a try!
D23 Mickey of Glendale’s Shopping Day and Sneak Peek at Seven Dwarfs Mine Ride: One of my favorite things that we got to experience during this trip was the D23 shopping day at Mickey’s of Glendale. This is the store that that the Imagineers and Disney employees get to shop at, it is located on the Walt Disney Imagineering campus (which is awesome, by the way). The only way you can enter is if you have a D23 membership and if it is a specific D23 shopping day. We were able to pick up some fun Disney Imagineering merchandise for my son who would love to become a Disney Imagineer.
The coolest part is they were had 7 of the Disney Imagineers on hand that created the Snow White and Seven Dwarfs Mine Ride. We got to see an hour presentation of how the ride was created. This ride looks amazing, the carts actually swing from side to side while it goes along the track. Also, the Dwarfs were created with advanced Audio-Animatronics® to make them look even more life like. This FREE event was so much fun for us Disney geeks! I would have loved to take pictures of the Disney campus, but photos were not permitted.
We also were able to receive a FREE lithograph and have it signed by all 7 of the Disney Imagineers. It was so cool!
Joining Disney’s D23 fan club is FREE, but in order to attend these events you need to have a paid Silver or Gold D23 membership. You can check out the D23 calendar of events for future shopping days and other fun D23 events.
Make sure to check out these post for even more Disneyland information:
- Easy Way to Earn Disney Gift Cards for your Vacation – I turn Target FREE Target gift cards I earn into Disney Gift Cards
- Flo’s V8 Cafe – Our Favorite Place to Eat at Disney’a California Adventure
- Save Money when Dining at Disney – See how my husband and I were able to eat for 2 days and spend less than $30 out of pocket.
- View some photos of our most recent family trip to Disneyland
- Figure out when is the best time for you and your family to visit a Disney Park.
- See how I took a pocket photo album and turned it into a Disney Autograph Book
- Find several ways to Keep Cool at the Disneyland Resort This Summer
- Check out 20 Cool Treats at Disneyland
Christine Stoll says
Awesome tips and love the photo of Steve!
MBF says
I got to go to Imagineering a few years ago and it was pretty cool, plus we scored some sweet deals there. Just last week I went to the Studios for lunch. You should try and finagle a shopping trip to Company D, lol, it’s like Disneyland’s clearance endcap!
Gwen says
Hi Christy, we are gearing up to go to Disney again and the 1st place I always check is your site!!! So excited to see all the fun things you did. I am very interested in the D23 event. You mentioned that you need a Silver Membership to attend the events? Would all 5 of us need a Silver Membership?