Disneyland Our Way: The First of Many Ideas.

If you know us at all, you know that we go to Disneyland quite a bit. Quite a bit meaning since we were married three years ago, we have gone at least 7 times. That does not include the roughly weekly visits while I had my internship at Walt Disney Pictures in the summer of 2006. Some must think we are crazy. Some ask us how we can afford it. Some want to go with us. Well, here are a few tips on how we can go on a trip to Disneyland for a reasonable price.

- Buy a Deluxe annual pass. Sadly for a family of 4+ this probably doesn't sound like very much fun to pay for. At $250 a piece, they get expensive. However, If you buy a three day pass for everyone in your party (I think it is roughly $140 each or $110 each for a 2 day pass) and go once a year, the year pass is a better option. Plan a trip once a year like you normally do. Let's say you go on October 1, 2008 and buy your pass. Plan your next annual trip to be inside the year window. Your second trips cost will dramatically go down because by that time the illusion of your tickets being "free" will have set in. The passes also get you discounts on food, a mere 10%, but that adds up across a two or three day stay.

- Use Priceline.com . I cannot stress this enough. Hotels around the Anaheim Resort area can tend to seem really expensive. Location is everything. People can pay $120 a night at the Best Western across the street. The hotels smell of smoke, parking is terrible, and so on. While they have never really been within a comfortable walking distance (with one exception), we have been very pleased with all of them.

Here are a few examples:

- Holiday Inn, $40/night. Two and a half stars.
- The Hilton Suites, $52/night. Three stars.
- The Hilton (twice), $52/night. Three stars.
-Candlewood Suites, $35/night. Two and a half stars.
- Grand Hyatt (our first time using priceline), $70/night.
- Quality Inn, $40/night. Two stars.

There are taxes and what not associated with the price so it really ends up being $5-$7 more a night, but that's a steal compared to paying face value.

A Disney Rewards Visa Card. So the 1% rewards rate doesn't look so great. I end up putting a lot of businesses expenses on the card and every couple months they have a promotion for 3% rewards in certain categories. Usually our rewards we get pays for the food we eat at the park. In the past couple trips we got some bonus rewards on accident from a customer service call so we were able to do character breakfasts.

That's all I feel like posting at the moment. Let me know other questions you have about the way we do things. I hope this gave some good insight and hopefully you can save a little bit next time you go.