In September 2023, we flew to Southern California for our oldest son’s 10th birthday and made our first family trip to Disneyland.
At the end of the article I wrote after that trip, I said we were already talking about doing the same thing when our younger son turned 10.
Three years later, we did.
In May 2026, we returned to Disneyland for our younger son’s 10th birthday and essentially recreated the first trip: two days at Disneyland and one day at Disney California Adventure.
Because we don’t live close enough to simply drive over for the day, Disneyland is a real vacation for us. There are flights, hotel nights, transportation and three full park days to plan around. Once we get there, we want to make the most of the time we have.
The second trip wasn’t cheaper. Excluding airfare and lodging, we spent $1,616.95 compared with $1,382.36 on the same general categories during our first trip. That includes things like Lyft rides, meals, snacks and Lightning Lane purchases.
That’s an increase of about $235, or 17%.
But after two Disneyland trips, I’ve realized our goal isn’t really to make Disneyland as cheap as possible. It’s to avoid wasting money while still spending on the things that make the experience better.
And interestingly, most of the lessons we brought home after our first trip still hold up.
Magical Overload
It’s hard to walk 10 feet in Disneyland without the opportunity to buy something.
Whether it’s one of its famous restaurants, dozens of souvenir stores or kiosks that line the walkways, temptations are everywhere. $6.50 for one bag of cotton candy??
Disneyland should be a fun, magical experience but if that means going into debt or spending more than you planned, that’s not my idea of fun.
It shouldn’t be yours either.
There’s no shortage of Disneyland hacks or “secret” ways to save money. After two trips, though, I think the bigger opportunity is simply deciding what’s worth spending on before you arrive.
These are the five strategies that have worked best for our family.
5 Disneyland Money-saving Tips that Worked for Our Family
1. Budget Ahead
Planning your expenses before your visit is one of the best ways to ensure that you don’t go overboard.
Prior to our trip we talked with a half dozen different friends who had visited the park in the last year. They shared what they felt were expenses that were worth it and which ones weren’t. Based on their feedback we made our own decisions on what we thought would be important to us.
That approach worked well enough that we did essentially the same thing before our second trip.
The difference was that we knew much more clearly where we were willing to spend money.
Our first trip cost $1,382.36 outside of airfare and lodging. For our second visit, comparable spending increased to $1,616.95.
Some of that was simply higher prices. But we were also a little less restrictive the second time. We bought more food in the parks and were comfortable paying for conveniences when we believed they would give us more time to enjoy Disneyland.
Lightning Lane was one of those expenses.
Lightning Lane Was Still Worth the Money
We purchased Lightning Lane Multi Pass again during our May trip, and I would do it again without hesitation.
Our first visit was in September. This time we traveled in mid-May and ran into significantly larger crowds, including graduation groups and Grad Nites.
The standby lines were noticeably longer.
That actually made Lightning Lane feel even more valuable than it did on our first trip.
We also purchased Lightning Lane Single Pass access for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and Radiator Springs Racers. Those are currently separate from Multi Pass, and both are attractions where avoiding a very long standby line can save a meaningful chunk of your day.
Paying extra to skip a line is never going to feel like a bargain. But when we’ve flown in specifically for three park days, I look at it differently.
We’re paying for time.
Spending more so that we can ride more attractions, avoid some of the longest waits and make better use of those three days has been worth it on both of our Disneyland trips.
That’s also why budgeting for those costs before we arrive matters. If I already know we’re willing to pay for Lightning Lane, it doesn’t feel like a surprise expense once we’re standing inside the park.
2. Bring Some Food—but Don’t Overdo It
Disneyland allows guests to bring outside food and nonalcoholic drinks into the parks, which can be one of the easiest ways to keep food costs under control. Disney does have restrictions—including no glass containers and no food that requires heating, processing or refrigeration—so it’s worth checking the current rules before your trip.
On our first visit, we stopped at CVS near Disneyland and loaded our backpack with snacks every morning.
We did much less of that on our second trip.
Part of it was simply that our boys were older. When they were 10 and 7, we felt like we needed to have food ready constantly. Three years later, that wasn’t as important.
We still brought some snacks and refillable water bottles, but we also set expectations that we would buy some food and treats in the parks.
I actually liked this approach better.
We weren’t hauling around as much food all day, and when someone was hungry we were more willing to simply stop and get something rather than trying to stretch every dollar.
The lesson for us after two trips isn’t “bring every meal into Disneyland.”
It’s bring enough to avoid unnecessary purchases, but don’t pack so much that saving money starts making the day less enjoyable.
And we still make room in the budget for the things that are part of the Disney experience—Dole Whip, churros and whatever else the boys decide they absolutely need to try.
3. Set Souvenir Expectations Early
The number of souvenir options available at Disneyland is overwhelming.
You can find just about anything you can imagine and it’s all designed to tantalize your kids.
Prior to our trip we talked with our boys about what we were willing to buy. One souvenir each, anything else they would have to buy on their own.
I’m not saying that they didn’t try to push it and asked repeatedly for more but we were clear in what we were willing to pay for.
We spent two days at Disneyland, with one day at California Adventure sandwiched in-between. That first day in Disneyland they were already begging for variety of souvenirs.
We let them know that they still had two days left and one park they hadn’t visited yet, how did they know that’s the exact souvenir they wanted already? Additionally, we talked about how they would have to carry that giant lightsaber around the park for the next ten hours.
This conversation played out multiple times over the three days but each time they understood (mostly) that they should wait just a bit longer in case they found something better.
Finally, around 8 p.m. on our last day they decided what they wanted as their souvenir and we went in search of the right store.
Each walked out with their own reminder of the Disney trip and everyone was happy.
One even decided to buy his own Pluto hat (with long ears) with his money. While, admittedly I mentally questioned the purchase, it’s clear he’s happy with it. He wore it to school everyday the week we returned.
What We Did the Second Time
The basic rule survived our second Disneyland trip.
We still didn’t want every walk through a gift shop to become a negotiation over whether we would buy something.
This time our younger son also had a little more freedom because one of his birthday gifts from Grandma and Grandpa was a Disney gift card. He could use it for whatever souvenir he wanted.
That worked really well.
Instead of us deciding whether an item was worth the money, he had his own budget and could decide how much of it he wanted to spend.
It also reinforced the same lesson from our first trip: giving kids a defined amount of money makes the decision theirs instead of turning every souvenir into a request for Mom or Dad.
4. Kids Bring Own Money
The morning of our flight down to Disneyland both our boys went to their piggy banks and counted out their money and had to make the tough decision of how much they wanted to bring.
“Do I bring it all?” “Should I save some?” “What if it’s not enough?”
I am big on teaching our kids financial values early on. It is so easy for them to say “I want this” or “they have that” when there is no understanding behind it.
We have conversations with our boys about what things cost, how much work it takes to earn enough to buy something and why we don’t just buy anything we want.
Of course they don’t always fully grasp every detail but the important thing is we talk about it and help them understand the value of money and goods.
We told our boys early on that if they wanted more than one souvenir that they would have to pay for it themselves.
So that’s why the morning we left home they were counting it out and deciding how much cash to bring. We put it in mom’s purse and she was ready with it once the time was right.
While we didn’t tell them they couldn’t buy something with their own money, we used their interest in different items as a math lesson (since we did pull them out of school) to determine if they had enough or how much they’d have left once they bought it.
One thing we may do different next time is buy a Disney gift card and load it up with a 50/50 split. We contribute half of the total amount and they contribute the other half.
This way they can walk through the park and make their own decisions while having to keep track of their overall purchases. They feel empowered to make their own decisions and you don’t have to constantly be asked if you’d buy something for them.
Three Years Later
We never ended up doing exactly what I suggested after our first trip with a 50/50 Disney gift card.
We landed on something similar.
The boys now have Greenlight cards, so they brought those on our second trip and had access to their own spending money. Our birthday boy also had the Disney gift card from his grandparents.
I actually prefer this setup.
They know what money belongs to them, they can decide whether something is worth buying and they can see that every purchase reduces what they have available for something else later.
Which changes the question from: “Will you buy this for me?” to: “Do I want to spend my money on this?”
That’s a much more useful conversation.
Disneyland also happens to be a pretty effective place to teach that lesson because there is something to buy approximately every 30 feet.
5. Mobile Order Food Ahead…Way Ahead
One of our greater failings in this first epic trip to Disneyland was our meal planning. As I mentioned earlier we only brought snacks in with us, so we knew that we’d be buying food at the park.
What we didn’t anticipate was falling completely off any sort of eating schedule.
The first day we didn’t eat lunch until after 2 p.m. because we were riding rides and each food line we passed was WAY too long.
Once we finally decided we needed to eat, the lines were reasonable but only because we were eating so late, which wasn’t ideal for our boys who were getting a little hangry.
Another time we tried mobile ordering but didn’t plan far enough ahead. Even though it was mobile, the food took more than 45 minutes to be ready.
So here’s what you do.
Get an idea of when you want to eat and where early in the day. Well before lunch time use the Disneyland app to select your restaurant, food and pickup time window. Then go ride rides for another few hours.
By the time you’re ready to eat, your food will be ready and you’ll be eating what you want, when you want.
We did this following the Magic Happens parade on a Saturday night.
While we were sitting curbside waiting for the parade to start at 6:30 p.m., we ordered food for the boys, selecting a pickup window of 6:40 to 7:05 p.m. This allowed us to watch the parade (which is wonderful) and then casually walk over and pick up the food we preordered.
My wife and I didn’t want the same food as them, so while they were picking it up I went and ordered from Rancho del Zocalo Restaurante in Frontierland (next to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad) before the parade crowds slammed the place.
We all had what we wanted with little waiting and plenty of options to sit and relax. It worked out perfectly.
Ordering ahead also helps reduce impulse buying.
There are some pretty delicious options at some of the restaurants and when you’ve been walking all day, it’s hot and you’re hungry, it’s easy to add an extra $20 to your bill just through impulse purchases. Doing that each time can add up.
Taking some time and thinking ahead about your meal plan for the day can pay some big dividends, both with options and savings. You’ve got some time in lines, it’s the perfect opportunity.
We Actually Followed Our Own Advice This Time
This was one of the biggest improvements on our second trip.
Mobile ordering was no longer something we remembered only after everyone was already hungry. We treated meals as part of the plan.
Earlier in the day, we would decide roughly where and when we wanted to eat, place the order and then continue riding attractions until our pickup window.
It worked extremely well.
One example was Alien Pizza Planet. We purchased a pizza package that came to nearly $90 for our family. Ninety dollars for pizza is admittedly a sentence that makes me wince a little.
But the package included more than just pizza—salad, breadsticks and drinks—and there was plenty of food for our family. We were also able to place the order ahead of time. When we were ready to eat, we simply went over, picked everything up and started eating. That’s where price and value aren’t always the same thing.
Was it cheap? No. Did it feed our family without wasting a chunk of our Disneyland day standing in a food line? Yes. And for us, that made it worthwhile.
After two trips, mobile ordering is not really a money-saving “hack.” It’s just part of how we do Disneyland.
Apparently We’re Becoming a Disney Family
After our first trip in 2023, I wrote that I wasn’t what you would call a Disney fanatic.
I’m still not sure I’d use that description.
But I also wrote something else: that we’d probably come back when our younger son turned 10. Three years later, we did exactly that. And somehow I think I enjoyed Disneyland even more the second time.
The parks were considerably busier during our May visit. We encountered longer lines, graduation groups and Grad Nites, but none of it had a negative impact on the trip.
We knew much better what we were doing this time.
We understood which expenses mattered to us, we planned meals better, the boys were older and more independent, and we were willing to spend money on things like Lightning Lane when we thought it would give us more time together enjoying the parks.
We had a fantastic trip.
Apparently it also pushed us a little farther down the Disney path.
We have a family trip planned to France this December, including several days in Chamonix, and we’re planning to spend a day at Disneyland Paris—something I’m not sure I would have predicted before that first Disneyland visit in 2023.
Maybe that’s the biggest lesson from two trips.
Disneyland is expensive. Flying in for a three-day park trip is especially expensive. There isn’t a clever trick that’s going to change that.
But we’ve gotten much better at spending our Disney money on the things that matter to us—and skipping the things that don’t.
So yes, apparently we’re ready to do it again.
