the night in.

Each time I plan a trip to Disneyland, the first thing I think of is the budget for the trip.  There are a few main categories to consider when planning out a budget:

• Tickets
• Hotel/Parking Fees
• Gas
• Food
• Souvenirs/Misc. 

Tickets:  We typically take a 4 day trip in total.  3 days in the parks and the last day to drive home and relax.  This means that no matter what, we will be spending around $250/each for tickets.

Currently, Disneyland has a 3 day park hopper promo for $220 that is good until March 11, 2013.  This is a savings of $30 per person which might seems small, but is a good deal in the whole scheme of things!  That's a days worth of meals if you're going cheap or a nice lunch/dinner.

So, for this trip, we will pay $440 for two 3 day park hopper tickets.

Hotel:  This is where things can get tricky.  Hotels around Disneyland range from $50 to around $500 a night, depending on where you would like to stay.  In the past, we have stayed at the Disneyland hotel as well as some nice, moderate and less than ideal establishments.  It all depends on how much you want to spend.  I aim for hotels that are anywhere between $64-$80 a night.  It is really difficult to get a "nice" hotel room in this range which is why Hotwire is my friend.  There is always some excitement in not knowing what hotel you will be staying at until you've already purchased the room.  However, there are forums out there that will try to help you identify the hotel if you're a little worried.  Recently I have discovered the website lastminutetravel.com which is similar to Hotwire, but also has some named hotels that have a great discount.

Other things to consider are parking and resort fees.  These charges vary by hotel and if you are not within walking distance of the parks, you may want to use the hotel shuttles or drive over and park in either Mickey and Friends or the Toy Story Lot (parking is $15 a day for regular vehicles, with re-entry).  Most often, we like to drive over.

So, assuming the hotel is not within walking distance, the total for a 3 day trip (3 nights) would be around $345.

Gas:  This of course depends on where you are coming from.  For us, we typically spend around $100 round trip on gas, and my vehicle takes premium.  (266 miles to Disneyland, one way.)

Food:  I will go into more detail about this subject in a future post.  There are so many delicious things to eat at Disneyland on a budget... and even more so with a bigger pocket book.  In general, we like to estimate around $150 per person for a 4 day trip in total, with meals at the park for 3 of those days.

This would mean $300 would go toward food.

Souvenirs/Misc:  At this point, for us, we usually buy an antenna ball and a new coffee bug each when we go.  However, there are those times when we (read: I) see a t-shirt or awesome Disney Dooney bag.  But, it doesn't happen very often.

I would estimate around $50 for this category.

GRAND TOTAL: $1135 for two people.

Of course, there are cheaper ways to do things.  But, as far as hotel and tickets go- this is about as good as it is going to get.  Stay tuned for more detailed posts about our favorite places to stay, eat and play at the Disneyland parks!