Travel Deals Archives - Gather Lemons

What’s Included with a Disneyland Costco Ticket Package

Christy — Mon, 02 Mar 2020 16:00:50 +0000

Booking a package deal to Disneyland can often times save you money and the majority of our Disneyland vacations have been booked with a package deal. Two of my favorite places to book Disneyland packages are through Get Away Today and Costco Travel. I should mention when booking a package deal we always book our airfare separately, we don’t include that in the Costco Disneyland tickets package.

What Comes with your Costco Disneyland Tickets Package

I am going to show you all the items and extras included in the Costco Disneyland Travel package for 2020 (styles and colors of extras will vary). Tickets that are part of your vacation package, along with your other vacation documents, will be delivered to your hotel to be picked up when you check in. Here is a peek at what’s included in the package and some tips too.

Hotel Voucher

You will receive a voucher for your hotel stay that will be sent directly to the hotel. Many times parking fees will be included or reduced with your stay, so if you have a car that will save you a little extra. When you book your package through Costco Travel you can choose from several different hotel options. You can choose a Disneyland hotel or one of the Good Neighbor hotels. The package price will vary depending on the hotel you choose. They give you a ton of options and price ranges!

Disneyland Park Tickets

You can customize your vacation by choosing how many days you want to spend in the parks, you can choose between 2-5 days. Here’s a tip! We always choose the minimum amount of days we think we will be in the park. If we are deciding between spending 2 or 3 days in the park we choose to buy the 2 day park tickets. If you decide you want the extra 3rd day in the parks you can easily add the extra day to your ticket and just pay the difference between the cost of the 2-day and 3-day ticket. (You MUST upgrade your ticket BEFORE the park closes on the last day you use the ticket for park admission).

Also, it’s important to note that you DO NOT have to buy Park Hoppers. The package quotes usually contain Park Hoppers, but you can easily change the type of ticket you want at checkout. If we are only spending 2 days in the park we get the 2-Day 1-Park per day tickets. We save approximately $50 per ticket by choosing this option instead of the Park Hoppers. You also have the option of adding Max Pass to your ticket package. Max Pass allows you to book your Fast Pass selections via your phone instead of claiming them in person at each ride kiosk. You will also get all the Photo Pass photos for the day. Max Pass isn’t cheap, it’s $20 per person per day. It can add up quickly, lots of people rave about the convenience and say it’s worth the extra money. We tend to stick with the regular Fast Pass options, we have teenagers run and get all the Fast Passes for everyone and it works out great for us (and saves us money).

Disney Gift Card

When you purchase your Disneyland trip through Costco you will receive a Disney gift card as a bonus. The gift card amount will vary from $145-$245 depending on the length of your stay and the hotel you choose.

Disney Hotel – If you stay at a Disney hotel you will receive one gift card per package depending on the amount of nights you stay.

Stay 2 to 4 nights and receive a $185 Disney Gift Card
Stay 5 nights and receive a $205 Disney Gift Card
Stay 6 nights and receive a $225 Disney Gift Card
Stay 7 nights or more and receive a $245 Disney Gift Card

Good Neighbor Hotel – Get a $145 Disney Gift Card when you book a stay at a Good Neighbor hotel for 2 nights or more.

Magical Extras Savings Card

You will also receive a coupon book with additional savings and perks. The contents of the coupon book will vary from year to year. You will find coupons in this book to save money at Downtown Disney, save 15% on Disneyland Resort Park tour and more.

Lanyard and Pins

Redeem a voucher at a designated location and you will get a Disney lanyard and pin for each person in your the reservation. This is a fun bonus because your kids can trade the Disney pins with Disney Cast members. This has been a perk with Costco packages for awhile now. We booked our first package 9 years ago and we received them back then too.

Splitsville Luxury Lanes Bowling Discount

Roll into vacation with some savings on bowling at Splitsville Luxury Lanes in the Downtown Disney® District! Guests traveling on a vacation package receive $5.00 off bowling per person. (Applicable to walk-in rates only.)

Important Information

You may be surprised to see how much you can save when booking a package deal (it’s not always the case, but most of the time the savings were pretty big for us). If you have a Disney trip planned I encourage you to price out a package with both Costco Travel and Get Away Today and then see what the cost would be individually by booking a room directly through the hotel and buying your Disneyland tickets either through Disney or save a little by purchasing the tickets through Get Away Today.

Here are a few important facts when booking your Disneyland Travel package through Costco:

If you are an Executive Member, you can earn 2% on your Costco Travel purchases!
You will pay a $200 deposit at the time of booking and the remainder is due one month before your departure date.
When paying for your package you can pay with your Disney Rewards card if you have a Disney Visa. I noticed this option when I checked out. I am assuming you should be able to pay with a Disney gift card too. (This is technically purchased through Disney Travel)
You can pay the final amount due online via Disney, you just need the reservation number and your phone number. You should have received and email after you first booked your trip that will include the reservation number.

Cost Breakdown

Here is a peek at the cost breakdown I found when planning a trip for this year:

Get Away Today = $1820

Hotel
Disneyland Tickets (3 – 3-day Park Hoppers)
Lanyards (given to you at check-in)

Costco Travel = $2003

Hotel
Costco Disneyland Tickets (3 – 3-day Park Hopper tickets)
$145 Disney Gift Card (Bonus)
3 Lanyards and pins (Bonus)

Booking Hotel & Tickets individually = $1978

Hotel = $898.50
Disneyland Tickets from Get Away Today (3 – 3-day one park per day tickets) = $1080

In this case I would choose Get Away Today over Costco, but I would choose Costco over booking the items individually. I would subtract the cost of the gift card from the overall cost because this will be saving money that we would have spent on food in the parks anyway. After the deductions, the final cost of the Costco vacation would be $1858. Prices will vary every time you book depending on the season and availability. When we book a package deal more than half of the time we order from Get Away Today and the rest of the time we order from Costco.

Costco’s Disneyland Extras vary from year to year, here is a peek at some of the items that have been included in previous years, these items are not available for packages purchased for travel in 2020.

Luggage Tags

Premium Character Dining Vouchers

Here is the best part about the Costco character vouchers (in my opinion)! If you read the fine print on the back of the vouchers, they can be used at ANY Disney restaurant and each voucher is worth $49 for the adult vouchers and $29 for the kids vouchers. We prefer to use this option when we redeem our vouchers.

So, instead of using all 4 vouchers on 1 breakfast for our family, we use the four voucher individually at 4 different restaurants to cover almost an entire meal for our family. That is 4 meals covered instead of just one! One voucher for $49 can easily cover a meal for four people if you choose a quick service restaurant.

You will want to make sure that the meal you are purchasing is as close to the $49 value in order to get your money’s worth, because they will not give you any cash back. As an example, if you have a group of 2 and your meal only comes to $25, you will lose the additional $24 that the voucher was worth. If your group is small I would recommend eating at a nicer restaurant to get the full value of the vouchers. I highly recommend the Monte Cristo at Cafe Orleans.

Here are a few other popular Disney post to help you make the most of your trip:

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Save on Disneyland Tickets

Christy — Wed, 08 Jan 2020 20:30:21 +0000

Some affiliate links are used in this post, if you make a purchase I may earn a small commission.

You won’t find huge discounts on a trip to Disneyland, but I am sharing some ways you can save on your Disneyland tickets! Some are straight forward discounts and others are more creative, but they all will save you some money. First, make sure you only buy the type of tickets you need. If you are unsure if you will use a 4-day Park Hopper, just buy the 3-Day Park Hopper. You can always add an additional day before the park closes on the last day of your 3-day ticket. You can also save money by choosing one park per day tickets over Park Hoppers. If we have a 2-day trip planned we will just buy two of the one park per day tickets and spend one full day at each park. This option saves us $45 per ticket. Here are a number of ways to save on Disneyland tickets. We will keep this post updated as new deals pop up.

Get Away Today – You can buy discounted tickets to Disneyland every day through Get Away Today. This is a reputable company that I have personally used more than 10 times and I have always been pleased with the service. You can purchase individual tickets or a package deal that includes tickets and a hotel. I have found that the Get Away Today vacation packages often beat the prices of booking your hotel and buying tickets individually. You can save an extra $10 off the low package price by using the discount code THRIVING10 at checkout.

Costco – You can book a package deal through Costco Travel that may save you money on a hotel/Disneyland ticket combo. The Disneyland Costco packages usually contain extras like a Disney gift card and pins and lanyards. Also, when booking through Costco travel you can pay with your Disney Visa Rewards or a Disney Gift Card.

Disney Visa – If you sign up for the Disney Visa you will earn points for every dollar you spend. You can then use those points to purchase Disney tickets (or hotel stays, food, souvenirs or more). In addition to earning points to spend at Disney, they had an offer where you will get a FREE $200 Disney gift card if you open and account and spend $500 within the first 3 months. We did this offer for both my husband and myself several years ago and it gave us a free $400 to put towards our Disneyland tickets. The Disney points may not save you money right away but it is a great way to save up for a future Disney trip. (This method will only save you money if you pay off your balance in full every month. You do not want to carry a balance on the card) The current Disney Rewards Visa offer is a $300 statement credit for the Premier Visa & a $150 credit for the no-annual fee Disney Visa.

Target REDcard – Target sells Disneyland Park tickets, so you can purchase your Disneyland tickets via Target.com and save 5% with your REDcard. They sell both Disneyland one-park per day tickets and Disneyland Park Hoppers. You will also have the option to buy with or without Genie+. You can also save 5% on Disney gift cards if you use your REDcard which can save you money on park tickets or your food or souvenirs.

Military Discount – Active and retired U.S. military personnel can purchase Military Promotional 3-Day and 4-Day Disneyland Park Hopper Tickets. Contact your participating U.S. military base ticket office for all the details.

Consider an Annual Pass – If you visit Disneyland on a yearly basis (or more often) an annual pass might be a way you can save money. In addition to admission to the parks you can also get discounts on food and merchandise. We occasionally buy one annual pass because with the additional discounts it is worth it to buy it for one person. My husband usually get the annual pass and then the dining & merchandise discounts can be used for our entire family.

Here is an example of the thought process on how we decided to get a pass (I used regular discounted rates from Get Away Today, because that is the price we would have paid, not the prices at the gates). Please note pass prices have gone up, but this is still the method you would use when deciding on an annual pass, just use current prices.

We had a trip planned for October (cost of 3-day Park Hopper = $310)
We had a couple only trip planned for Disneyland the following year in April (this trip was getting tacked onto a business trip my husband had in California (cost of 2 One-Park a day ticket = $197)
We had a trip planned the following year in August (cost of 3-day Park Hopper = $310)

The cost of a Disney Signature Passport was $849 and the cost of all the admissions we had planned was $817. We were just $32 shy of breaking even on the Disneyland park tickets. This pass offers 15% discount on dining and a 20% discount on merchandise so we knew we would be able to save that extra $32 over the course of the year. This is the reason why we only buy a pass for one family member, it usually is for my husband because he is the one with business trips to California. In addition to savings from Disney, there are some Good Neighbor hotels that also offer a discount if you are an annual passholder. Just something to consider.

In the past we have also purchased the Disney Premier Passport which offers admission to both Disneyland and Disney World. It was much cheaper when we first purchased it, but if you plan to visit both Disney Parks in the same year it might be a good option. The pass for Disney World does not offer as many dining discounts, but it does offer the merchandise discounts and even admission to the water parks and more.

I’d love to hear if you have ways that you save money on Disneyland tickets.

Disneyland is one of our favorite vacation destinations, you can check out our complete guide to the newly reimagined Pixar Pier. If you have a trip planned this year make sure you check out our other Disney posts too:

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Disneyland Black Friday Sale with Get Away Today

Christy — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 16:47:45 +0000

It’s time to celebrate because Get Away Today is having an early Black Friday sale on Disneyland tickets and packages. I’m sure you know by now that we are big fans of Disneyland! In fact, I am heading back in a couple of weeks to enjoy the holidays at Parks, it’s one of my favorite times to visit. I can’t wait to share all that Disneyland resort has to offer for the holidays.

Get Away Today is offering Adults at Kids’ Prices on all 3-Day and longer Disneyland Tickets and there are NO BLACKOUT dates! The tickets are valid for travel though 12/31/2020. The pricing will automatically apply, there is nothing special you need to do to get they discount. This sale is valid on Park Hopper and 1-Park per Day Tickets with or without MaxPass.

The ticket sale can be combined with the Extra Night Free Hotel stays and up to 25% off at the Disneyland Resort Hotels. You will automatically see the savings in the package price. You can use my promo code THRIVING10 at check out save an additional $10 off your vacation package (minimum 2-night hotel stay & 2 tickets). If you have a trip planned for next year now is the perfect time to buy because of the sale, but also because we usually see ticket prices increase at the beginning of each year. Book now and save!

If you need help deciding on a hotel, make sure you check out our hotel reviews of all the hotels we’ve used around Disneyland, we’ve stayed at over a dozen of them. If you want even more help planning your Disneyland vacation check out my Disney posts below:

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2020 Disneyland Packages Now Available

Allie — Wed, 07 Aug 2019 16:34:16 +0000

Get Away Today is now selling vacation packages to Disneyland for 2020, but at this year’s prices! Typically, the price of tickets goes up each year in January, so if you are looking to book a trip for the upcoming year, now is the time to act, to ensure that you get the very best prices. In the case that you aren’t looking to book a trip to Disneyland, let me tell you why you should:

1. It’s Disneyland. Who doesn’t want to go to Disneyland? (Hint: Answer rhymes with ‘drazy people’)
2. The new ride at Galaxy’s Edge, Rise of the Resistance, is set to open January 17th. (More on that, here: Complete Guide to Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge)
3. In the Spring, you get to experience Disney California Adventures’s Food & Wine Festival, which if you don’t know what that is, it essentially combines two of life’s greatest gifts: food and Disney magic, so it is a must-see in my opinion. (You can learn more about it here: Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival)
4. Phase 1 of Marvel Land. I REPEAT PHASE ONE OF MARVEL LAND. If you’re a crazy Marvel fan, such as myself, then this is majorly exciting!
5. Lastly, towards the end of the year, you can experience holidays in the park, which is an experience like no other. From September through October 31, Disneyland celebrates Halloween and their parties are where I have made some of the best memories. After that, from Mid-November to Early-January, comes all of your other favorites during the Festival of Holidays!

Our family has used Get Away Today on numerous occasions, and have found that they always have the very best deals on packages. Not only, that, but you can use the coupon code THRIVING10 for an extra $10 off your hotel and ticket package. You also can purchase individual Disneyland tickets for 2020 now too. Now go plan that trip! If you need more incentive, Get Away Today also offer a layaway plan so you don’t have to pay for everything up front.

To help you plan your Disneyland vacation we have lots of posts to help you along the way.

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Disneyland Get Your Ears On – A Mickey & Minnie Celebration

Christy — Sun, 17 Feb 2019 01:38:41 +0000

Disneyland is paying tribute to Disney’s most iconic couple…Mickey and Minnie Mouse! Now is the perfect time to visit Disneyland to enjoy the fun celebration, save some money on park admission and enjoy the parks before the crazy starts when Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opens. I recommend booking your trip through Get Away Today, you can purchase individual tickets or a package deal that includes tickets and a hotel. The Get Away Today vacation packages often beat the prices of booking your hotel and buying tickets separately. You can save an extra $10 off the low package price by using the discount code THRIVING10 at checkout. With the spring ticket savings, you can save up to $111 per ticket. The Get Your Ears On celebration lasts at Disneyland resort through May 2019. Here is an entertainment and food guide for the Get Your Ears On celebration.

Mickey’s Mix Magic

Every night you’ll find a music and lights show with state-of-the-art projections, lighting and lasers. The show is filled with high energy tunes and “DJ” Mickey spinning the new celebration song, “It’s a Good Time” along with remixed tunes from some of your favorite Disney songs, like “I Wanna Be Like You”, “Un Poco Loco”, “Let It Go” and more. The show lasts about 10 minutes.

You can view Mickey’s Mix Magic at the following locations:

Main Street, U.S.A.
Rivers of America (on the water screens, when Fantasmic! returns this spring)
The façade of “it’s a small world”

Select nights Mickey’s Mix Magic will also include a fireworks show. The fireworks shows are usually only on the weekends. To know if there are fireworks included and to find the exact time of Mickey’s Mix Magic each night, consult the Disneyland Entertainment Schedule. Showtimes vary between 7-9:00 pm. Some evenings there are 2 shows, so if you miss the first one you can catch the second one.

Mickey’s Soundsational Parade

The Soundsational Parade returns to Disneyland in celebration of Mickey’s 90th birthday. There are colorful floats, great music and tons of your favorite Disney characters.

Watching the parade is fun, but I think it’s even more fun to see the little kids get super excited about seeing their favorite characters. This trip was just my husband and I, but watching all the little kids dance along the parade route and wave to Mickey was just plain fun to watch. This was a colorful and fun parade. During other parades Mickey is often the final float, but with this parade, Mickey was the very first one to kick off the festivities.

Get Your Ears On Food Guide

I’m not gonna lie, probably my favorite thing about the themed celebrations at Disneyland is all the limited edition food! The Get Your Ears On celebration has tons of Mickey and Minnie shaped food that is not only fun, but delicious too. You can check out the entire Disneyland food guide for the Get Your Ears on celebration, but of course we did our best to sample many of the treats and meals and we are sharing our thoughts on everything we ate. Make sure you look for the special red signs at each restaurant or food stand, the Get Your Ears On special items will not be on the regular menus.

The Mickey Cookies & Cream Shake from Schmoozies in California Adventure is probably the cutest thing I have ever seen. It addition to it being cute, it is yummy too. I highly recommend this one!

The River Belle Terrace has a Mickey Jumbo Pretzel. The hand-crafted bavarian pretzel comes with a cheese sauce and a sweet mustard sauce. Both of the dips were really yummy! You will probably have to book a reservation if you plan on dining at the River Belle Terrace. The pretzel was average, but I thought the dipping sauces were above average. I would order it again!

We tried the Fiesta Cone at the Cozy Cone Motel. It has spicy beef, refried beans, shredded lettuce, cheese sauce, sour cream, Pica da Gallo, and crispy tortilla strips. This was just okay. We much prefer the Chile Cone Queso over this one.

Have you had the hand-dipped ice cream bars from Clarabelle’s in California Adventure? They are divine! For the Get Your Ears On celebration they have special hand-dipped Mickey or Minnie Ice Cream Bars. This treat is so cute! You really can’t go wrong with ice cream and chocolate, but I think next time I will stick with the classic hand-dipped ice cream bar. I love the get the raspberry, with milk chocolate.

We also had the Sopes Trio from the Rancho del Zocalo Restaurante. It has chicken, beef, and pork served on fried corn dough with refried beans, shredded lettuce, spicy lime aïoli, and salsa roja. I’m kind of wimpy when it comes to spicy food and this was almost a little too spicy for me. I will say this looked nothing like the picture, the picture made it look all cute and Mickey shaped. Everything was just kind of plopped on the plate. It was still good, I’d order it again. We love this restaurant, we usually stop here every time we head to Disneyland.

Get Your Ears On Merchandise

With every celebration there is also new merchandise. You will find lots of festive, brightly colored merchandise featuring Mickey. I like my Disney souvenirs and shirts to be more subtle, so I didn’t find any Get Your Ears On merchandise I had to take home with me, but you can’t help but smile when you see all the happy merchandise.

We have quite a few Disney posts you can check out if you are in the process of planning a Disney trip.

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Get Away Today Black Friday Disneyland Deals

Christy — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 19:26:58 +0000

Sale extended one day! Black Friday isn’t just for toys, electronics and appliances, it’s also for saving money on trips to Disneyland! My favorite travel site Get Away Today is having a big Black Friday sale on 3-day Disneyland tickets. The amazing discount on tickets are valid on individual tickets or package deals. Adults will pay kids prices on all 3-day Disneyland Park Hoppers or 1-Park per Day tickets. These tickets are valid for travel in 2018 and 2019!! The 3-day Disneyland Park Hoppers purchased through Get Away Today do include the Magic Morning. Here are the details on the special:

Adults at Kids’ Prices for ALL 2018 and 2019 with a MAJOR price cut for spring travel
Valid on all 3-day and longer Park Hopper and 1-Park per Day Tickets
Must be booked by Wednesday, November 28, 2018

I highly recommend checking the package deals at Get Away Today, the discounted ticket prices will be reflected in your package price and if you book a 2-night or longer Disneyland package use my code Thriving10 for an additional $10 off. If you are new to Get Away Today, I have a post that explains the entire booking process from start to finish.

Even better there are extra savings if you are planning for spring travel. Combine the Adults at Kids’ Prices Black Friday Disneyland deal with the value spring travel dates, and you can save up to $95 per ticket over annual pricing! That’s almost an extra $500 savings for a family of five! I don’t think we’ll see Disneyland prices this low ever again, so it’s a once-in-a-lifetime sale!

Below is a breakdown of the savings depending on travel dates:

Now – January 6, 2018: Up to $31
January 7 – May 23, 2019*: Up to $95
May 24 – December 31, 2019: Up to $19

Savings vary per ticket and are calculated based on annual park pricing. Blockout dates April 14 – 22, 2019. Standard pricing with Adults at Kids’ Prices $19 per tickets savings will apply for travel over these dates. Here is a peek at the prices for spring travel.

3-Day Disneyland Park Hopper (Adult) $255 (reg $330) SAVE $75
3-Day Disneyland Park Hopper (Child) $255 (reg $330) SAVE $75

4-Day Disneyland Park Hopper (Adult) $274 (reg $355) SAVE $81
4-Day Disneyland Park Hopper (Child) $274 (reg $337) SAVE $63

5-Day Disneyland Park Hopper (Adult) $284 (reg $370) SAVE $86
5-Day Disneyland Park Hopper (Child) $284 (reg $351) SAVE $67

These are the fun events you can expect at Disneyland in 2019:

Get Your Ears On: A Mickey and Minnie Celebration begins in January
January/February: Lunar New Year Festival
March/April: Disney California Adventure® Park Food and Wine Festival
Summer: Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Opens
September/October: Halloween Time at the Disneyland® Resort
November/December: Holidays at the Disneyland® Resort

We have a bunch of posts to help you plan an enjoy a Disneyland vacation. Don’t hesitate to email me or leave a comment with any questions you may have, I am always happy to chat Disney!

We’ve got your complete guide to Pixar Pier
I share honest reviews of all the hotels we’ve used near Disneyland
10 of the BEST places to eat breakfast at Disneyland
10 of the BEST places to each lunch at Disneyland
Several ways you can save on Disneyland Park Tickets
Great tips that will help you to do Disneyland (and California Adventure) in a day.
Another great way to save on Disneyland package deals is through Costco Travel
Check out the highlights from our trip to Disneyland Paris

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My Biggest Money-Saving Tip for a Disneyland Vacation

Christy — Thu, 11 Oct 2018 00:10:16 +0000

I am an affiliate with Get Away Today, I will make a small commission if you make a purchase through one of my links. I have been a customer of Get Away Today years before I even started blogging about them. I honestly love them!

I’m sure many of you know by now that one of our favorite family vacation destinations is Disneyland. Truth be told, it happens to be a favorite vacation destination for our kidless couple-only trips too. There are many ways you can make a Disneyland vacation less painful on your pocketbook and one of the biggest ways to save is by booking with Get Away Today. I have used Get Away Today on numerous occasions and I have been very pleased with the service and impressed with the savings! It is by far one of the biggest ways I save on our trips to Disneyland.

Here are the current specials and sales happening at Get Away Today. You don’t have to enter a code to get these specials they will automatically be added to your package if you qualify.

Save $24 on 3-day Park Hoppers, purchase by 11/9, travel through December 31, 2018
5th Day Free Park Hopper Tickets now – December 31, 2018
Layaway Plans from just $125 down
Extra Night Free Hotel Specials

I am sharing an example of the savings on a vacation I planned for November 14-18, 2018. Occasionally the savings from Get Away Today may only be a couple hundred dollars, but with this trip the savings was pretty substantial! This trip I save $585.40 over booking the hotel and tickets individually. I am saving 33% by booking with Get Away Today. Many times when you book with Get Away Today, extras like hotel parking will be included too. This will vary per hotel, but you will see the savings while you are booking your trip.

For this stay, I chose a 4 night stay at the Four Points Sheraton with (3) 2-day one park per day tickets. I’m sharing the process I go through when booking my trips. I always start with Get Away Today and then I see what the price is when I book everything individually. I usually check out Costco Travel too. Costco has extras like character dining, but I usually find that Get Away Today offer the lowest out of pocket costs for Disneyland trips. My total for this trip from Get Away Today was $1057. This price includes the hotel, park tickets and parking.

When I priced everything separately with the hotel and tickets I got a package price of $1642.40. I chose the cheaper rewards rate at the hotel, because I figured everyone can sign up for the rewards program (there is no fee). You can also save a little extra by purchasing your Disneyland tickets from Get Away Today instead of directly from Disney. The cost breakdown is as follows:

Hotel = $948.40
Parking (4 nights) = $64
Disneyland Park Tickets = $630

By booking through Get Away Today I am saving $585.40. That savings is HUGE!

I am going to walk you through the entire process of booking a vacation package at Get Away Today to show you just how easy it is. Don’t let the length of the post overwhelm you, I made sure to be extra thorough so you’d understand exactly what you are getting and so you’d know how you can make some changes to save yourself a little money. It’s way easier than it seems, I promise!!

First, you need to know the dates you plan to travel. Usually, when it comes to our Disneyland trips we let great airline deals dictate when we travel. This doesn’t work for everyone, but it helps us save even more money on our trips. As an example I’m showing you the details of the trip for November 14-18, 2018. You will enter all the necessary information on the front page and hit the search button. I always select the hotel and ticket bundle.

On the following page you will see all your available hotel options (you can even book the Disney owned hotels too). These prices usually include 3-day Park Hoppers, which is a great option, but I will show how you can change the tickets if you don’t need that many days in the park. This will lower your package price. For this trip, I am choosing to stay at the Four Points by Sheraton Anaheim. Notice under the hotel price that this is one of the hotels that includes a 4th night for FREE. If you need help in choosing a hotel, you can check our reviews of all the hotels we have used near Disneyland.

Once you click “book” you will be taken to the specific hotel page where you can choose the type of room you need for your family. Since we only have 3 people on this trip, I am going to choose the 1 King, Sofa Bed option.

The next page will tell you about your ticket options. The amount of days in your package will determine the type of Park Hopper that will be added to your trip. You DO NOT have to go with the Disneyland ticket option they suggest. You’ll want to think about how many days you will need in the parks and if you think the Park Hopper option is a necessity. We honestly love the Park Hopper option since the parks are so close to each other, but because most of our trips are only 2 park days, we often choose the 2-day one park per day option. This option saves us a little extra money and one day at each park works out perfect for us.

To change your ticket options, you will want to scroll down the page where you see the “Or Select One of Our Other DISNEYLAND® Resort Resort Ticket Options”. For this trip we chose the 2-day 1 park per day option by hitting the “view” button. Make your choice and hit “update cart”. You can also choose to have longer Park Hopper options too. You an get up to 5 days in the parks.

You can see the price of my vacation has dropped from $1385 to $1067. Now you hit continue to complete checkout.

The next page will give you optional add-ons. If you have plan to do a Character Meal at Disneyland, I recommend you purchase discount tickets from Get Away Today. You can save up to $10 per person. To purchase Character Meal vouchers, click on “view deals”. To see which character meals are considered regular and premium, you can click “details” underneath each title and it will tell you which locations are considered regular and premium.

Before you complete checkout, there are a couple of things you need to know. You can save an extra $10 off your package by using my coupon code Thriving10 at checkout. To enter this code scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the “promo code” button on the left hand side and enter Thriving10. This will take $10 off your package as long as it includes a 2 night hotel stay and 2 park tickets.

You will also notice at the bottom of the page that Get Away Today automatically adds their “Peace of Mind Plan” for $75.

The Peace of Mind Plan allows you to to change or cancel your trip without a fee. If you feel your plans are pretty much set in stone you can remove the “Peace of Mind Plan” from your cart and not pay the $75.00. Once you click “remove” an image will pop up where you can learn more about the Peace of Mind Plan, if you decode to remove it hit “Remove” on the pop-up, it will be taken out of your cart. The majority of our trips are last minute (because of great airfare deals like I mentioned before) so we usually don’t buy the Peace of Mind Plan. However, if I was booking a longer trip that was further in the future, I would gladly pay $75 for the peace of mind of knowing I could change things if necessary.

Next to you will need to sign in or sign up for an account to complete checkout.

You will notice you have several different options for payment including credit card, check, gift certificate, PayPal or even a Layaway Plan, where you can save your vacation with as low as $125 down.

While checking out, pay attention to how your package will be delivered. Sometimes it will be delivered via mail, other times it may be all electronically and you will get your e-tickets and hotel voucher sent via email.

There you go! The entire process of booking a trip with Get Away Today! If you book a trip with them I would love to hear about your savings.

You can also just purchase discount Disneyland tickets through Get Away Today too. Sometimes you may be staying with family, you may use points for your hotel stay and all you need are the tickets, so that is a great money-saving option too. Just head over to Get Away Today and click the “tickets” link at the top of the page.

Check out my other Disneyland posts for even more tips. If you have any questions, let me know. I am always happy to chat Disney.

We’ve got your complete guide to Pixar Pier
Several ways you can save on Disneyland Park Tickets
Great tips that will help you to do Disneyland (and California Adventure) in a day.
I share honest reviews of all the hotels we’ve used near Disneyland
Another great way to save on Disneyland package deals is through Costco Travel
Everything you need to know about visiting Disneyland in the fall
Check out the highlights from our trip to Disneyland Paris

The post My Biggest Money-Saving Tip for a Disneyland Vacation appeared first on Gather Lemons.

Great Wolf Lodge Discounts on Groupon (Multiple Locations)

Shelley — Wed, 19 Apr 2017 14:58:32 +0000

Groupon is offering some great discounts on Great Wolf Lodge stay for many different locations. Plus, you can get an extra 10% off your purchase when you use promo code TRAVEL through 4/20. For all of you folks that live in Washington you can get packages for the Grand Mound WA location for as low as $143.10 (after discount).

You can check out the details and options for all the different location but keep in mind prices will vary by depending on which location you choose.. Here are the rates for the Grand Mound WA Waterpark:

Family Suite $159.00
Save 10% with code TRAVEL (-$15.90)
Final Price = $143.10

Wolf Den $219.00
Save 10% with code TRAVEL (-$21.90)
Final Price = $197.10

Kidcabin Suite + dining credit $239.00
Save 10% with code TRAVEL (-$23.90)
Final Price = $215.10

Grand Bear Suite + dining credit $299.00
Save 10% with code TRAVEL (-$29.90)
Final Price = $269.10

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Disneyland Price Increase 2017 ~ Get 2016 Prices Now!!

Christy — Mon, 13 Feb 2017 20:20:38 +0000

It happens every year…Disneyland ticket prices go up! Sadly, the new Disneyland prices went into effect February 12, 2017. I do have some happy news! Get Away Today is still offering discounted ticket rates to Disneyland with last year’s prices in effect through February 21, 2017. If you have a Disneyland vacation planned anytime this year NOW is the time to buy your tickets.

I highly encourage you to also check into booking a package deal (hotel and tickets) through Get Away Today to see how much you can save. You can save an extra $10 off any 2-night or longer Disneyland package when you use the code Thriving10 at checkout. We have used them on four of our Disneyland trips and I was impressed with the savings each time. First, I like to check the prices at Get Away Today then see what the prices would be if I booked them separately.

We have tons of Disney posts here at Thrifty and Thriving to help with your Disney vacations, here are a few:

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Costco: Disney California Adventure Annual Pass $329.99

Christy — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 15:39:09 +0000

Costco is offering a annual pass to Disney’s California Adventure Park for only $329.99. The regular one-day rate to get into California Adventure is $95.00. I guess if you are a local this could be a good deal, but it seems like you would also want to visit Disneyland too. I think this pass might be a hit with local teenagers, I know many teens enjoy California Adventure (especially when they had the Mad T Party).

Here is what the pass includes:

One year of admission to Disney California Adventure® Park at the Disneyland Resort
Valid for use one year from first use, first use must occur on or before December 1, 2016 (Select blockout dates apply)
Up to 10% off merchandise, food & beverage discounts (restrictions apply)
Disney California Adventure® Park collector’s pin

Keep in mind that this pass does not include parking so you will have that as an added fee when you visit the park. Let me know your thoughts on this pass. Do you think it’s something you will buy, or does it not make sense for your family because you want to visit Disneyland too? If you are looking for a great deal on a Disneyland package that contains tickets to both parks, I recommend buying a package through Costco Travel or Get Away Today. These two services are usually how we book our Disneyland vacations.

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Groupon: Deals on Hotels Near Disneyland

Shelley — Wed, 12 Aug 2015 18:52:41 +0000

Groupon has some nice deals on hotels near Disneyland, which will come in handy if you have a Disney trip planned. Check out the deals on the following hotels:

The Anabella Hotel Anaheim

Red Lion Hotels Anaheim Resort

Cortona Inn & Suites Anaheim Resort

If you are heading to Disneyland, here are a few of my other posts you might enjoy:

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.
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
Check out the details of our most recent family trip to Disneyland.

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Groupon: Best Western Raffles Inn & Suites near Disneyland

Christy — Tue, 27 Jan 2015 21:41:29 +0000

If you are looking for a good deal on a hotel near Disneyland, check out deal on the Best Western Raffles Inn & Suites that is on Groupon right now. Prices start as low as $65 a night. They even have 2-room options that host 2 adults and up to 4 children starting at only $75 a night. Wow! There are dates available into March.

Make sure you check out my post on Where to Stay when you Head to Disneyland and check out these other posts:

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

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Disneyland: Anabella Hotel on Groupon

Christy — Tue, 16 Sep 2014 16:46:30 +0000

Do you have a trip to Disneyland planned? You can get a nice rate on a hotel close to Disneyland. The Anabella Hotel in Anaheim near Disneyland is currently on Groupon! You can get rates as low as $109 a night and it includes a $25 restaurant credit and parking at the hotel.

Stay for two in a Bella Rey king room (starts at $109)
Stay for up to four in a Mission suite or premiere king/double room (starts at $119)

This is what Groupon has to say about the hotel: “The Anabella Hotel offers a quiet respite from the bustle of Disneyland California Adventure Park and the Anaheim Convention Center, as both are located just a short walk from the hotel. The mission-style boutique hotel sits on seven acres of landscaped grounds. Here you can cool off at one of two pools.”

Make sure you check out the details and tips from our most recent family trip to Disneyland.

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Disney World Hotels on Living Social

Christy — Thu, 17 Jul 2014 04:18:45 +0000

Wow! Here’s something I have never seen before. Several Walt Disney World hotels are on Living Social with some nice discounted rates. Here are the hotels you can choose from:

Disney’s Port Orleans – French Quarter from $136 a night.

The 1,008 rooms are set along landscaped lanes, some overlooking the Sassagoula River
Mardi Gras-inspired rooms boast French-inspired paintings and antique-style furnishings
Enjoy the outdoor pool with a water slide that resembles a giant sea serpent
Dining options include The Mint and a food court that serves American and Creole food

Walt Disney World Dolphin Resort from $139 a night.

This 87-acre resort was designed by Michael Graves
Enjoy transportation to Walt Disney World theme parks and attractions
Stays include extended theme park hours as part of the Extra Magic Hours benefit
Play at the on-site pools, health clubs, tennis courts, and other activities
Resort provides delivery of purchases made in the Disney theme parks to the hotel lobby

Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge from $188 a night.

More than 200 animals and birds inhabit the savannas surrounding the hotel
Treat yourself to a relaxing massage in the spa
Resort boasts one of the largest collections of African art in the United States
Savor South African flavors at the on-site restaurant, Jiko – The Cooking Place
Swim in the 11,000-square-foot tropical pool
Enjoy benefits like complimentary bus transportation to Disney theme parks

Disney’s Old Key West Resort from $228 a night.

The resort is a boat ride away from the hip Downtown Disney area
The Magical Express provides a complimentary transfer service to the airport
Renovated in 2005, this hotel has 761 rooms spread over a three-story main building
Enjoy the relaxed family-friendly atmosphere in Olivia’s Café
Families love the four swimming pools, as well as the separate children’s pool

Thanks The Coupon Project!

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Groupon: Best Western Plus Raffles Inn & Suites near Disneyland

Christy — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 18:54:53 +0000

Do you have a Disneyland trip planned soon? If not, now would be great time to plan one. Groupon is offering a super deal on the Best Western Plus Raffles Inn & Suites in Anaheim near Disneyland. Here are the type of rooms available and the prices they start at:

2 Queen Room (2 kids stay for FREE) – prices start at $59

2 Bedroom Suite: 2 Queen & Sofabed (4 kids stay for FREE) – prices start at $75

2 Bedroom Kids Suite: 1 Queen, 1 Bunk Bed, 1 Sofabed (4 kids stay for FREE) – prices start at $75

You can choose available dates through February. Here are some of the hotel features:

Two blocks from Disneyland
Complimentary full breakfast
Kid-friendly suites
Outdoor heated pool
Theme-park tickets sold at the front desk

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