Disneyland has always held a special place in my heart.
I grew up in Orange County, California, and every summer night, my family watched the Disneyland fireworks from our back patio.
I visited the parks as a teen, then with my wife when we first got married. Once our son arrived, visiting the Disney parks became our family tradition.
Eventually, he got “too old” to hang out with mom and dad. For many years, my wife and I continued to visit Disney parks just the two of us, but we missed sharing the experience with loved ones.
Now that our son has his a wife and child, though, we’ve brought back the tradition of visiting the parks as a family — and Disneyland has become one of my favorite places once more.
Winter trips to Disney have become a new family tradition
For us, December Disney visits have become a fairly new holiday tradition.
For the second year in a row, we had our son, his wife, and their kid fly from Washington state to California so we could treat them to a Disney trip. It’s a treat for us, too, because we get to spend time with them and our 3-year-old granddaughter.
My wife and I are snowbirds, so the trip is also a chance to see our family in the winter without having to face the colder temperatures and snow in Washington.
We always try to learn from our past trips
Last time, we did a two-night Disney trip but it felt too short. This time, I booked four days and three nights instead.
The extra night allowed us to check into the hotel and enjoy its amenities without taking too much time away from the parks. It was worth the added cost.
On our last trip, we booked a Costco Travel package to save money. This time, I chose to book directly through Disney so I could better customize our longer trip.
Although staying on Disney property can be more expensive than staying at nearby hotels, it comes with several benefits, like getting early access to the parks (and a short walk to get to them).
So, we stayed on the property again this year. I wanted to book a two-room suite at Disneyland Hotel, but none were available when I made my reservation in August.
Instead, I reserved two connecting rooms for $4,456. However, just three weeks before our trip I checked the Disney website and saw a suite was available.
First, I’m glad I kept regularly checking the Disney site — you never know when someone else could cancel and the room you want will open up. This could work for hard-to-get meal reservations, too.
Second, I’m grateful I called guest services to change my reservation. The staff member even helped find me a promotion that would save me over $1,300 on the listed suite rate.
In the end, our stay cost $4,571 — so I paid just $115 more to upgrade to the suite.
The trip is never cheap, but it’s worth it for us
After booking the hotel, we also paid for parking for two cars ($240), two-day tickets with admission for one park a day for four adults and one child ($1,630), food, drinks, and souvenirs.
All totaled, our trip was about $7,700. This time, I was also able to cover about $1,100 of the charges using rewards dollars I’d earned with my Disney Visa card.
Throughout the trip, we were able to just enjoy time as a family whether we were going on rides, watching a parade, or swimming at our hotel.
It was a lot of money, but the memories we made once again made the cost worth it. I’m confident we’ll be back as we continue to cement this as our family tradition.
The post I spent $7,700 taking my family to Disney for 3 nights. We found ways to make this trip even better than our last one. appeared first on Business Insider.
