Disneyland Logistics
The whole fam on the Cars ride!
First off after you book your Disneyland tickets, buy this portable charger(paid link) because all of the recommendations I will make later in this post will not matter if your phone is dead. This thing can charge a phone 4 times on a single charge, its a minimalist shape, and I recommended this to a friend recently and she agreed it was a LIFESAVER when she went to Disneyworld! Anyways back to the main part of the post!
I had been daydreaming about taking the kids to Disneyland for a long time but knew we needed to wait until they were tall enough for most, if not all of the rides. I decided to look up vacations as one does in winter in the PNW, and realized Calvin was tall enough for all but 3 rides that he wouldn’t want to go on anyways. Then we looked at our our Alaska Airlines miles we had saved up and saw that our Companion Fair was available and we needed to use it or it would expire. As I was pricing this out I of course checked Costco Travel’s Disneyland packages with hotels, days in the park, and Disneyland gift cards all included.
As we have become more minimalist in our living, one big thing for us has been valuing experiences over material things. We kept talking about wanting to take a trip for the kids’ birthday since they are just about a month apart and that became the idea behind this trip. Once we realized we could actually make this trip happen somewhat affordably and it would be the most amazing birthday surprise for the kids, we decided to pull the trigger. We also let both grandparents know that we’d love them to come if they were available. My in-laws couldn’t with the last minute timing of it(hello all of our plans ever), but my parents said yes and I’m SO thankful they came with us. It would have been way more taxing on Corban and I, and way less fun without them there. The bonus was that they also booked through Costco but they stayed the Grand Californian Hotel. Being able to use their pool and hotel as a mid day rest for the kids was extremely helpful. Next time we will definitely stay in a Disneyland Hotel because that 1/4 mile trek late at night with exhausted kids was ROUGH. The convenience factor is real folks, with or without kids!
Now down to the nitty gritty, the bonuses booking through Costco Travel are bountiful! If you’ve never booked a vacation through them I highly recommend looking into it. They have the Disneyland official hotels options and “good neighbor” hotels that you have the option of booking through their site. Based on how many days you stay you can get a Disneyland gift card up to $160 for Good Neighbor hotels and up to $260 for Disneyland official hotels. Also regardless of the hotel you choose you get 2% back which is applied to your Costco reward check each year and if you have their credit card(we don’t) you get another 2% back. Costco frequently runs promotions based on the time of year so watching their promotional page is a good idea if this is something you’re looking into for the future. If you stay at one of the Disneyland hotels you also get early entrance into the park 30mins-1 hour earlier than other guests. Also we decided to Uber and not rent a car but flights and car rentals through Costco can also be included in their vacation packages.
Another unexpected gift of booking through Costco is the ability to cancel. I had been watching for the most affordable and closest hotels. We booked one and then I checked a couple of weeks later and The Anaheim Hotel became available and so I called and got our booking switched and we saved a few hundred dollars! That specific hotel was ok, wouldn’t stay there again but it was the location that was the main issue. Also the fact that the bathroom was open to the hotel room so it was bright and there was no light separate from the main bathroom area for the shower so we took showers at night by phone flashlight. Not what you want to do after so many miles on your feet and very over tired kids. We originally had thought about booking one farther away that was cheaper but no hotels offer complimentary shuttles anymore so it was going to add up in that way and take more time so we decided against that. We also tried to stay in one room with my parents at the Grand Californian but they have rooms for up to 5 and then it jumps to suites that start at $5,600 instead of the $2,200 range we were looking at.
Also, being able to purchase tickets, hotel, Genie+ and park hopper all together was way less stressful than purchasing them separately. Genie+ was TOTALLY worth it and we will always include it when we go in the future. Park hopper was the same, absolutely worth it. Those two extras go hand and hand and really allow you to get the most out of your visit. The app also lets you download any photos from rides or from the Disneyland photographers which makes it so much easier than it used to be!
Another pro tip, buy this power bank from Amazon for your trip. It is an absolute necessity when you are on the app for ride reservations, food, looking at wait times, and getting all of those memorable pictures!
Another game changer especially as being a vegan was the Disneyland app which allows you to reserve rides with Genie+, see wait times, view food wait times, and restaurant menus. You are also able to order food for pick up ASAP or scheduling in our in advance. This cut down on my food stress dramatically and I was happily surprised at how many options there were in the park. We used this many times and it was especially helpful with being able to reserve rides with Genie+. This gave us a lot more control over the timing of our day. And honestly people always go on about how expensive the food is, it wasn’t! As long as you’re not dining at Jazz Kitchen and the fancy places in Downtown Disney for every meal, its actually affordable.
On our way back to the airport, our Uber driver told us that in the future, the Target a couple of minutes down the road has basically the same merchandise but for 1/4 of the price. We didn’t really get souvenirs as minimalist aspirers but if that’s something you’re into make sure to check out the Targets in the area before you pay full price in the park!
We also purchased the Individual Lightning Lane for the Cars ride which was well worth it. We walked up and maybe waited 20 mins and passed people saying oh that could have been us 2 hours ago if we would have paid for it. We were SHOCKED! Individual Lighting Lane is also available for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance in Disneyland, which we did not pay for and regretted it, but we learned our lesson. Normal lightning lanes are available when you purchase Genie+ except for these two rides which are extra.
Also here’s some other random thoughts since it’s the end. We took early flights since it was cheaper and originally planned to go into the park that day but ended up cancelling that and just spending that travel day at the pool at my parents hotel. Only going into the park on non travel days was a wise decision and even so that first day was LONG and all we did was travel, pool and barely eat dinner. I’d recommend not paying for a day in the park on your travel day if you have kids. Without kids we totally would have gone into the park, but hey this is a family specific post so here we are.
P.S. shout out to our “Uber” driver, my college roomie Jess for recommending the writing of this post!
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