How to Make a Disneyland Trip With a Family of 5 Affordable

With Disneyland's new prices, park-hopper tickets for "peak" days — like weekends — are soaring over the $200 mark. Instead, look to travel on low-demand days like random Tuesday and Wednesday, for instance, and you can save up to $50 per ticket!

Many local hotels will offer discounted tickets if you stay with them, so do your research. My family of five and I stayed at the Hilton Anaheim which is a short distance away from Disneyland. We were in a Studio Suite, which is totally the way to go if you're a larger-sized family. It was spacious (and I mean huge compared to other "suites" we've stayed in), clean and had all the amentities that families with young kids look for — namely a fridge and a kitchenette. With two queen size beds and a full pull-out couch, there was more than enough places for everyone to hit the hay. My personal favorite part was how the room was so large, we didn't have to all hear every little sound someone else made while they slept — because everyone knows little kids are noisy sleepers.

There was also a large pool with a kids water slide and splash pad area for times when the kids wanted a break from all the walking in the heat. And I'd be remiss to not mention the on-site Starbucks on the first floor. Getting to the Happiest Place on Earth itself was a breeze: it was either a 15 minute walk or a shuttle ride away.

The Hilton Anaheim, in particular, also offers discounted Disneyland tickets when you book a 2-night stay at participating Hilton hotels. Guests can purchase single-day and multi-day Disneyland Resort Park Hopper tickets and Disney MaxPass Service at a 5% discount off the Disneyland Resort Main Entrance ticket booth price. For even further savings, this discount can be added to Disneyland’s new price promotions, including the $67 children’s multi-day (ages 3-9) and the $67 SoCal resident multi-day admission price. (Savings equals up to $80 offer per day for a family of four.)

And for a place that's notorious for never having discounted tickets, this is a BIG DEAL.

Yes, food at Disneyland is a large part of the charm — Dole whip, anyone? — but you don't have to buy all your food at the park. Even the smallest snacks add up quickly. So save your money for the foods each person is most dying to try and pack sandwiches and snacks for the rest — which are also good things to have when waiting in long lines.

A great way to take up time during the day when lines are too long for littles to wait in, is to go pin trading. You can get the kids a starter pack at the park (or online — just make sure they have the officially Disney stamp on the backs) that comes with a lanyard and four pins. The kids can then go searching around the many kiosks and stores inside the parks that have a pin board with other pins that they can trade for. It's super fun, relatively low cost (as long as you only stick with four) and a great way to pass time between rides.

This sounds like common sense, but it's often the little things families forget to pack. Remember those refillable water bottles and fill them up throughout the day at the many water fountains or restaurants. Trust me, you're all going to be very thirsty with all the walking.

I know, it sounds counterintuitive to tell you to spend money to save money, but if you consider that time is money (especially time with little kids who often have an expiration point), the MaxPass — which is $20 per day, per ticket — is worth its weight in gold. Even if you only spring for it for one day, do it. Our family of three littles — ages 8, 6 and 1.5 — never had to wait longer than 10 minutes thanks to the Max Pass which lets you get Fast Passes all through an app on your phone. That's right, you don't have to haul the entire brood across the park to get a Fast Pass for Splash Mountain or whatever other popular ride you want to forgo the hour-long line on. This means your family gets on more rides during your trip — with far less whining — which is totally a savings in my book.