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Disneyland Admission Discounts

We have had some requests for Disneyland admission discounts - although Disney does not offer much in the way of discounts, there are a few things you can do to save money. Here are some of them:

One thing to always remember - never buy your tickets directly at the gate - buy them online in advance, prices can be up to $50 per ticket less than at the gate.

1. Check directly on the theme park's website - you may find promtions or discounts offered there. Disney will sometimes offer discounts from January through March which tends to be the off season, such as adults pay kids prices. The off season also tends to have better hotel prices roughly January, February, last three weeks of October, first three weeks of November.
2. Consider buying tickets for multiple days to save. For example a one day ticket cost $80 for the day, but a 3 day ticket cost $199 or $66.33 per day. The more days you add onto your ticket, the more you save.
3. If you are a AAA member, check with your local office. They may offer discounts and they also offer free parking.
4. Book with a Travel Agent - you never know, they may be able to come up with some great discounts. Get a price quote from one. Get-Away Today is a popular agent in Utah that focuses on Disney vacations.
5. If you plan on going to multiple attraction, you can save money with a Southern California CityPass. Costco sells these for the best discounted price if you can find them there or you can puchase them online. You will save much more this way than purchasing the tickets seperately.
6. ARES Travel offers small discounts on Disneyland tickets. You print your ticket receipt at home and present the printed sheet at the park ticket booths, where you get the actual ticket. There is a $2 convience fee, but this still gives you a better discounted price.
7. An annual passport may be more cost effective if you visit more than a couple of times a year. Southern California residents and Disney Vacation Club members (Disney's timeshare program) recieve a reduced price.
8. Some hotels offer discounted Disneyland tickets with a room rental.
9. If you are active or retired military, you can get discount passes through base MWR offices.
10. One year we sat through a timeshare presentation in Orlando to get discount DisneyWorld tickets. This is an option, but you have to commit about 3 hours of your vacation time to the timeshare presentation and you have to keep a firm no answer as you get hounded to sign up for a timeshare. This may or maynot be worth it to you, but you can search the internet for timeshare disney tickets to find offers.
11. Stay away from buying discounted tickets on eBay or Craigslist - there is no way to know for certain how many days remain on these tickets until you get to the gate. The only safe way to get partially used multi-day tickets is to plan on purchasing them with someone you know and trust - you would have to pre-arrange for example if you bought a 6-day ticket and have one person use it for 3-days and the other person would plan to go shortly after for the other 3-days.

*Note: if you plan on going around Halloween, you may want to purchase Mickey's Halloween Party tickets in advance to save $10 per ticket for certain event dates. You basically get to go trick or treating in the park and other special activities.

Again, there are no clear cut discounts for Disney tickets. The discounts that are available are normally still small and you will still pay 80-95% of full price. You may want to look for other ways to save on everything else for your trip such as airfare, hotel and food. Check out our travel link for more details on how to do this.

Priceline: $42 Bonus Cash

Priceline is offering $42 in bonus cash when you activate through this link. Enter your email and set up a password to have the $42 deposited into your account. Bonus credit expires 12/31/2011.

Thanks @ Coupons4Utah

Groupon: $20 for $40 Worth at Avis or $25 for $50 at Frontier Flight

Groupon has a couple of great travel deal today:

Get $40 to spend on Rental Cars at Avis for only $20. Valid at more than 2,100 locations in the US and Canada. Minimum 2-day rental and not valid with rewards points, prepaid rates, or previous rentals.

Get $50 to spend on ANY Frontier Flight for only $25. Expires 11/26/11 - must book by expiration day; choose a travel date prior to 2/28/12.

Groupon Getaways

Groupon has now teamed up with Expedia to offer a new Getaway page that offers great deals on travel packages.

They have quick getaways or luxurious stays to Hawaii or the Caribbean. It should be a great source for travel deals.

Travel Tips & Deals

Since many of us are planning Summer vacations  - I though I would share some of my traveling sites and tips to find great deals on travel.

A few sites that I like for all travel needs are:
-Kayak: This site allows you to compare hundreds of travel sites all at once so that you can get the best deal.
-Travelzoo: Sends you a weekly email with the top 20 deals. Most of the deals include airfare. This can be a great resource if your available to make last minute travel plans on an extreme discount. I also like that you only get one email a week with the best deal, you are not bombarded with various offers.

The rest of the sites I have broken down into categories: 
Airfare
Never book your airfare out more than 5 months, and 3 1/2 months is the perfect time to book your airfare because this is when airliners begin to reduce their fares.

-Bing.com: is a great resource to find great airfare deals. They use a database to compare airfare prices and will advise you with the arrows below whether you should wait a few days to come back and check on prices or whether you should buy now.

-Hotwire.com: is a great resource for airfare if you have flexible dates. They will show you a calendar with various prices so that you can pick the cheapest dates to travel.

(Thanks @ Rachelrayshow)

Hotel
-Blind Reservation: Hotwire and Expedia will get you a cheap hotel if you do a "blind" reservation. If your willing to purchase the hotel room without knowing what hotel you are staying at - you can save more money. You can choose the city and the distance from the city center and you can also choose the star rating for your hotel. I wouldn't suggest anything less than 3 stars.
-Call the Hotel directly - use Expedia, Travelocity, hotwire, etc. to get a price point for a room, but then call the hotel to find out what the best price is that they will offer you. Also keep in mind that most travel sites such as Expedia or Travelocity will charge you a cancellation fee. Most the time when you make reservations directly with the hotel - they will not charge a cancellation fee as long as you cancel with in a certain time frame (usually 24 hrs) before your reservation.
You may have to speak to a supervisor to get a real deal. Also check for discounts such as AAA, senior discounts, miles etc.
-Timeshare & Condos-
I prefer to stay at a condo or timeshare rental because they are normally resort facilities (luxury), have a fully stocked kitchen (cuts food costs), have multiple rooms, and many times free laundry. Here are a few sites that allow you to rent a home or timeshare (keep in mind that most timeshare rentals will rent for a full week and should not require any timeshare presentation, these are timeshare owners who are renting their timeshare - not selling it):

• VRBO - find vacation home rentals. You do need to watch the prices here, because they will sometimes add cleaning fees, deposits, pet fees etc. Make sure you are aware of all the costs. Many times you can negotiate for lower prices with the owners.
• Vacation Timeshare and Rentals 
• Vacation Rentals.com
• HomeAway
• Ebay (search for: timeshare rental): You can get some really good deals here, but they are most often for specific dates. Don't bid too early, make a last minute bid and try to buy from a reputable seller - someone with positive feedback.
• KLS Classified

*Note: If possible use Paypal or I like my Amex for payments just for added security.

Food
-Bring Your Own - If you are staying at a hotel with a refrigerator/microwave or staying at a timeshare, condo, or rental home you can save a lot by bring your own food or buying items at the grocery store there. I will often times get prepared meals from Costco that can easily be heated up. 
-Deal Sites - As you plan for your vacation, keep an eye on Groupon or Living Social which offer deals all over the nation. If you know you are going to San Diego for instance, you can look up Groupon's for the city of San Diego and watch specifically for restaurant deals. Both sites offer deals for hundreds of city's - just check daily for any deals you may be interested in. This may also be a great way to save on some fun activities in the city too - I saw a Groupon deal in San Diego for Whale Watching that would be half off.
-Watch for Coupons - you can also keep your eyes out for coupons from national restaurants that you can bring along with you to keep your meal costs down. Also, look directly on restaurant websites for any coupon offers before you go. 




What are some of your travel tips or deals? Let us know in the comments.

Saveology: $12 for $50 to TheHotelCard.com

Saveology is offering  $50 to TheHotelCard.com (an Expedia affiliate) for only $12!! If you have any future travel plans - this is a great discount on over 55,000 hotels.

Limit 2 per person. One Hotel Card per reservation can be used. No hidden charges. Expires 1 year from date issued.

Expedia: $25 Off Coupon

Here's a great travel deal from Expedia. If you are planning on staying at any hotels from now through July 31st you can get an extra $25 off with coupon code: SAVE25.
The "I have a coupon" link is very small and is listed under the total room cost.


There is no minimum night requirement or minimum cost - you can use it even if you are just staying one night - which is a rare coupon.

The code expires tomorrow (6/1) and is only good for stays through 7/31.

We are planning a trip in a couple of weeks - so this is perfect timing!

FREE 2 Night Stay at Grand Sierra Resort in Reno

I saw this deal awhile ago, but didn't think there would be too many interested in it. I decided to go ahead and post it and you can decide if it's something you would be interested in.

If you want to go to Reno any time before March 31, you can stay at the Grand Sierra Resort for FREE! You just have to type in 2FTG in the code box, or you can upgrade to a deluxe suite for only $25.00 per night up to 2 nights!!

You can also call 1-800-501-2651 with the offer code 2FTG to make your reservation by telephone.
There should be no daily resort fees with this promotion.
There may be a $50 cancellation fee if you don’t cancel 48 hours in advance.

I have seen from various reviews that this is a nice hotel - this is a legit deal, but not sure what the availability looks like.

Travel Deals

Here's a couple more travel deal.
Today from KGB deals you can get a $100 Travelocity gift card for only $50.

Also, Priceline is currently offering two trips for the price of one on cruises. Plus, you can get up to 7-night FREE hotel stay with the purchase of a cruise package.