Hi,

I love your articles on MousePlanet, and I had a question if you may have the time to answer it for me. I am taking my wife and children to DL for our anniversary in April, and needed some information about obtaining a SA pass. I am disabled and I have disability card, placard, paperwork and the like, but I was not sure what to bring with me to prove my disability at guest relations.

Also in your column it said that DCA does not have SA Passes? So there would be no help for me there?

-Troy

A disability card should more than suffice for obtaining a Special Assistance pass. Basically, if they ask for any documentation, it is simply to be sure that you are actually disabled, rather than someone simply trying to get a pass to skip the lines.

As for DCA, the rules there keep changing. I would recommend stopping by guest relations and requesting one anyway, as they have started issuing them in some instances. Cast Members at DCA will generally honor a pass from Disneyland as well.

I hope this helps, and let me know if I can answer any other questions for you!!
 

• Make sure your room has a refrigerator. If it's not included, request one. They might charge you a few dollars a day, but it's worth it.
• A small microwave is handy (as is a coffee maker).
• Go to a "real" grocery store (Vons, Raleys, Albertsons, Safeway, Food 4 Less (my fave!)). They [charge] much less than the park and the [convenience] stores nearby do. You can get beverages (orange juice and milk for the fridge), beer, sodas, and bottled water for much less than anywhere near the park.
• Pack a bottle or two of water per person into the park --- we just did this --- $0.50 for a 1.5 liter bottle versus $4.50 in the park! Smaller bottles are easier to carry (and should cost about $0.25 versus $2.50!)
• You can also get some snacks (such as chips, crackers, cheese) for far less than in the parks. Buy a pack of small ziplocs and fill them with your snacks.
• Fresh fruit (apples, oranges, bananas, pears, grapes [and other fruit that are] easy stuff to wash and carry) is also good, good for you, and inexpensive.
• You can also buy some luncheon meats, bread and cheese and make simple sandwiches. If you have a knife and a small cutting board, then you can throw in some lettuce and tomato, too! Get mayonnaise and mustard packets from fast food places to add to your sandwiches.
• Carry a backpack with you into the park. Use this for your sandwiches, fruit, snacks and waters. As long as you are discrete about it, you won't be hassled. If you are hassled about it, simply tell them that you have food allergies and need to be very careful about what you eat. They won't argue with you about that one.
• If your motel does not include continental breakfast, get some Danishes and some small cereal boxes (plus some spoons). This saves lots of money (and time in the morning). If they do have it, take advantage of it. Take a few extra sweet rolls, donuts or pieces of fruit (depending on what they have) for later on.
• Make a late lunch your main meal. Order the big combo plates (like the barbecue combo at El Zocalo), with a couple of salads. This is enough for two to three people. If you want to buy a soda, get a large soda, with no ice, then ask for a few cups of ice. You'd be amazed how far you can stretch one soda. If you've carried your own beverages, just ask for the ice, instant, cold drinks. Anyplace that sells beverages will give you a cup with ice.
• Do you drink coffee? Buy a cup in the morning, then save the CUP and the receipt. Show both later in the day and ask for a refill --- most places in the park will honor that for free!
• Eat outside of Disney.... unlike Orlando where there's no other choice, in Anaheim, you can literally cross the Street to a Denny's, Coco's, McDonald's (at regular prices!), Acapulco, etc.
• Have a pizza delivered for dinner to your room. You can feed the whole clan for under $20, what it could cost you for one person at a Disney option.
• If you have a fridge, you can also save dinner leftovers and have them the next day for lunch (we did this on a few days). Since we also had a microwave in the room, this made it real easy to reheat and have a nice, hot meal for no extra money.
• If you have a microwave, bring or get some popcorn to pop. Disney charges several dollars for a small box of popcorn, and many dollars for a plastic bucket....nuke a bag or two (for a snack) and save many dollars.
• Buy some frozen, microwaveable entrees. They'll keep for a day or two in the fridge (or they might fit into the freezer).

You mention quite a few tips that encourage visitors to take their food into the park. I do want to reiterate that the parks do not technically allow you to bring your own food into the park. And with all of the great tips you include, I think people can save quite a bit without taking anything into the park.

One thing I forgot to mention a couple of additional tips:

• If your hotel room does not have a fridge, consider bringing or buying a large picnic cooler, and filling it with ice from your hotel's ice machine. This will allow you to keep most things chilled all day.
• Chill or freeze your water bottles in your room's fridge overnight. You'll have a cool bottle of water to sip out of all day.

Stew later clarified: 

The only item that I advocate taking into the park are bottles of water. Everything else, I encourage eating in the room, sharing large plates, or saving leftovers in a fridge for a future (albeit in the room) meal.

For me, one of the fun parts of a Disneyland vacation is actually getting to eat out (and not worry so much about the budget!!). These were simply ideas that we've come up with over the years on ways that we could save money. I just hate spending money on bottled water when I know I can get a case of it for only a little more.

Thank you very much for the clarification, Stew! At the very least, folks who are not comfortable taking food into the parks, may use the lockers outside the parks' entrances.
 

Don't you think if everyone who goes to the parks takes home handfuls of printed napkins that this would significantly add to the bottom line cost of the restaurant and justify the high prices these places charge? I don't think this is a good thing to advise people as it affects all visitors to the parks when the prices for food keep rising. Just my thoughts on the subject.

I've thought about this myself, and my conclusions have been:

1. Even if this tip is written in every single guidebook and travel brochure (including Disneyland Today ), most people will probably not do this. I don't think it is logically possible for everyone to take a handful of napkins home with them. They use just as much in the park already.
2. I am not advocating that people take entire stacks of napkins, but handfuls. Next time you are in the park, take a look to see how many napkins people take to use with their meals. Napkins, I suspect, are lower-cost items for which they go through massive quantities anyway.
3. In the bigger picture, any cost of producing napkins may be offset by the use of napkins as forms of promotional advertising outside of the parks. That is, if I use some DCA napkins for an office birthday party and this leads to one of my co-workers thinking, "Oh, you know, my family should go to Disneyland for our annual vacation this year," and results in this family spending $1,600 total for the cost of their vacation, let's just say that is an awful lot of napkins.
4. If Disney management sees a precipitous rise in napkin usage within its parks, the solution posed may not be to raise food costs, but instead to go with cheaper non-printed napkins, or to limit the amount of napkins available to guests (as some fast food outlets do). The irony as I see it here, is that I really like the napkins, and would probably gladly plunk down the 25 cents or so it would cost for the handful that I take. I like the plainness of them, and I don't want really fancy dinner napkins embossed with mouse heads. The way the system is set up however, I can't pay for the napkins even if I wanted to.

Hi MousePlanet,

I first wanted to say I love your site- I check it everyday and am so happy with your up-to-date stories and new stuff on your site almost every day. I LOVE YOUR SITE!!!!

Anyways, I was wondering about a 50% off merchandise store that I was told about in the Anaheim area that sold items from the Disneyland parks at a very inexpensive price. They used to have a 50% off shop at the Disneyland hotel, but a few years ago they took it away- it was a great place- especially if you need to buy souvenirs for family, friends and students (I am a preschool teacher), and for myself- It was a wonderful place to help the budget on our trips. 

I anxiously await your response- thanks for your time and keep up the good work- your site is the best in my books!!

Kathy 

Thank you for the kind comments, (both these, and the ones I didn't print... ;o) Everyone here at MousePlanet works really hard to keep our site updated with fresh, relevant content. I'm glad you've found a new home!

The store you are thinking of at the Disneyland hotel was Baloo's Outlet. With the renovation of the entire Marina area of the hotel, this store was closed. The space later became Tinkerbell's treasures, a full-price store with much of the same generic souvenir merchandise you find inside Disneyland park. The Arribas Brother's glass- blowing booth was moved from a store in the back to a prime location up front, and one of the ubiquitous pin carts is located outside. 

For outlet deals in the Anaheim area, head for the permanent Character Warehouse store about 3 miles north of Disneyland. Their store is located at the corner of Orangethorpe and Harbor, just north of the 91 freeway.

If you're in the Orlando area, there are 4 branches of the ThemePark Outlet stores: Osceola Square Mall, Kissimmee Manufacturer's outlets, The Mercado in Orlando and Fortune Park in Kissimmee. 

Of course, if you are nowhere near either park, you can find outlet merchandise in MouseShoppe's new Outlet section .