DL hotel and ticket question

[meganew]

We’re visiting family in San Diego over the summer and the kids know we’ll be spending a day at Disneyland- but we want to surprise them by staying over a night and going back for a second day. I’m 99% sure we want to stay at the Disneyland hotel (that monorail slide looks like so much fun!) and we want two days of park hopper tickets- but just for those 2 days it’s looking like $1800 for everything together. Is there a good place to buy it at a discount? My cousin is an annual member, would she get a discount on tickets or hotel stays?

[mmmomof2]

I'm surprised it was "only" $1,800! Disney hotel/ticket prices are no joke. The AP might get you a discount on the hotel, but your cousin would probably have to be the name on the room. There was an AP bring a friend ticket deal, but I don't think it's going on anymore.

For such a quick trip I don't know that the 1 night would be worth it. How old are your kids? Can they stay up late? You might not even be able to get into your room until 4:00. I guess if you went for a later break day 1 and then back to the park after dinner it might be nice. But then checkout day you wouldn't have the room after lunch.

[Deleted]

For that short of a stay I'd do one of the Good Neighbor hotels. It doesn't seem like they do early checkin or late checkout or everyone would be in their rooms early and/or asking to stay late.

[Deleted]

I'd also probably skip the hopers and just do a park a day.

[alleinesein]

Disneyland doesn't really do discounted park tickets. There are a few places where you can get a very small discount on multi-day park hoppers but the discount is only a few percent off; you might save more just buy disney gift cards with the 5% Target red card discount.

Your cousin can book a hotel room with an AP discount but it typically isn't valid for weekend stays so as long as you want to stay Sun-Thurs nights, they might be able to get something at 25% off rack rate so while it is "discounted", you can still end up paying $250-$600 a night depending on the hotel and room type. The only issue you might encounter is that your cousin might need to physically be there to check you in.  Back when I used my AP discount on rooms, I would have to show my AP at check in to get the discount.

I'd actually recommend staying in a hotel for 2 nights; drive up in the evening the day before you want to go to the park. That way you can check-in, enjoy the pools, and be able to get a decent amount of sleep and not have to get up super early on your first park day. Then you can also pop back to the hotel during the afternoon for pool time and a nap; this is really nice if it happens to be hot outside.

The Avengers Campus is supposed to open this summer so there is no way to predict how insanely busy the parks will be this year. With ROTR opening yesterday, how people do the parks out here is going to dramatically change. Gone are the days of locals waltzing in after 11 am b/c if you want to ride ROTR in GE, you need to be in the park before it opens. As long as they continue to utilize boarding groups for the ride, expect Disneyland to be packed as soon as it opens while everyone tries to get a boarding group.

One thing to keep in mind is that Mondays tend to be just as busy as the weekend days. Its just an odd thing about Disneyland; I've been on random Mondays throughout the year and they are all stupid busy.

[Deleted]

Jan 18, 2020 16:11:35 GMT -5 alleinesein said:

Disneyland doesn't really do discounted park tickets. There are a few places where you can get a very small discount on multi-day park hoppers but the discount is only a few percent off; you might save more just buy disney gift cards with the 5% Target red card discount.

Your cousin can book a hotel room with an AP discount but it typically isn't valid for weekend stays so as long as you want to stay Sun-Thurs nights, they might be able to get something at 25% off rack rate so while it is "discounted", you can still end up paying $250-$600 a night depending on the hotel and room type. The only issue you might encounter is that your cousin might need to physically be there to check you in.  Back when I used my AP discount on rooms, I would have to show my AP at check in to get the discount.

I'd actually recommend staying in a hotel for 2 nights; drive up in the evening the day before you want to go to the park. That way you can check-in, enjoy the pools, and be able to get a decent amount of sleep and not have to get up super early on your first park day. Then you can also pop back to the hotel during the afternoon for pool time and a nap; this is really nice if it happens to be hot outside.

The Avengers Campus is supposed to open this summer so there is no way to predict how insanely busy the parks will be this year. With ROTR opening yesterday, how people do the parks out here is going to dramatically change. Gone are the days of locals waltzing in after 11 am b/c if you want to ride ROTR in GE, you need to be in the park before it opens. As long as they continue to utilize boarding groups for the ride, expect Disneyland to be packed as soon as it opens while everyone tries to get a boarding group.

One thing to keep in mind is that Mondays tend to be just as busy as the weekend days. Its just an odd thing about Disneyland; I've been on random Mondays throughout the year and they are all stupid busy.

We were in the parks Tuesday through Friday and our worst day was Wednesday. I think you were the one who reminded me that the local AP holders go during the week, right? 

[alleinesein]

@princessbubbleyum Yup. The locals go during the week because a lot of them have restricted passes that only let them in on weekdays.

[meganew]

Jan 18, 2020 16:11:35 GMT -5 alleinesein said:

Disneyland doesn't really do discounted park tickets. There are a few places where you can get a very small discount on multi-day park hoppers but the discount is only a few percent off; you might save more just buy disney gift cards with the 5% Target red card discount.

Your cousin can book a hotel room with an AP discount but it typically isn't valid for weekend stays so as long as you want to stay Sun-Thurs nights, they might be able to get something at 25% off rack rate so while it is "discounted", you can still end up paying $250-$600 a night depending on the hotel and room type. The only issue you might encounter is that your cousin might need to physically be there to check you in.  Back when I used my AP discount on rooms, I would have to show my AP at check in to get the discount.

I'd actually recommend staying in a hotel for 2 nights; drive up in the evening the day before you want to go to the park. That way you can check-in, enjoy the pools, and be able to get a decent amount of sleep and not have to get up super early on your first park day. Then you can also pop back to the hotel during the afternoon for pool time and a nap; this is really nice if it happens to be hot outside.

The Avengers Campus is supposed to open this summer so there is no way to predict how insanely busy the parks will be this year. With ROTR opening yesterday, how people do the parks out here is going to dramatically change. Gone are the days of locals waltzing in after 11 am b/c if you want to ride ROTR in GE, you need to be in the park before it opens. As long as they continue to utilize boarding groups for the ride, expect Disneyland to be packed as soon as it opens while everyone tries to get a boarding group.

One thing to keep in mind is that Mondays tend to be just as busy as the weekend days. Its just an odd thing about Disneyland; I've been on random Mondays throughout the year and they are all stupid busy.

Oooof. I didn’t know anything new was opening this summer. We went last year for a day in July and didn’t get there until 10ish and only stood in line for maybe an hour to ride the Millennium Falcon ride. It didn’t seem too crazy busy or anything- which was my H’s favorite part. Lol. I’m wondering if I can convince him to do two nights. The days of the week don’t really matter since we’ll be in San Diego for 10 or 11 days.

DL seems so much more laid back, it would stink if that were to change. And my cousin is definitely one of those “waltz in at 11” pass holders! Haha. She was horrified when we wanted to be there for rope drop!

[alleinesein]

meganew  They havent announced an official date yet but construction is moving fast. Avengers Campus Summer 2020 can mean anything from end of May until August.  I'm really hoping it is open before July so I can check it out with all my Comic Con friends.  

[TamiTaylor]

Jan 19, 2020 0:13:56 GMT -5 alleinesein said:

meganew  They havent announced an official date yet but construction is moving fast. Avengers Campus Summer 2020 can mean anything from end of May until August.  I'm really hoping it is open before July so I can check it out with all my Comic Con friends.  

I hope so too because we are going in June and my son is super into everything Marvel.

[Deleted]

Do you need to have park-hoppers? You could probably save a little by not getting the hoppers. Otherwise, yeah, single-day tickets (or really anything less than 3 days) is the most expensive way to do Disney.