Disney Done Right: When to Go, What to Skip, and How to Save at Disney Parks

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Everyone is talking about inflation these these days, but I have the wildest inflation example for you.

Wait, I thought you and Megan were going to do an episode on Disney.

Tess, we are.

So I first got my Disneyland annual pass in 1999.

At the time, the deluxe pass was $129.

Slightly more expensive today?

Ooh.

Slightly.

Well, adjusted for inflation.

$129 in 1999 would be $245 today.

Imagine getting an annual pass to Disneyland for $245 today.

Tess, you thought Disneyland was crowded now.

Imagine if it was only $245 for an annual pass.

To give some context, I will say, Disneyland now consists of two parks versus in 1999, there was just one park.

But roughly that same pass I had now today with similar blockout dates costs $1,400.

Yikes.

Now, Sally, I think that would make Pluto's ears stand on end.

I love that, Tess.

Okay, so on the flip side, I think, well, if Disneyland annual passes were only $245 now for the whole year, that would seem like a steal.

Welcome to Smart Travel, a deep dive into the tips, tools, and tactics to maximize your travel dollars.

I'm Sally French.

And I'm Tess Vigland in for Megan Coyle for this first part of the show.

And we are the travel nerds ready to help you plan your next big trip.

All right, let's dive in with some news, Sally.

Well, don't get too excited to dive in.

First, our disclaimer, and that's that we'll talk about a few credit card companies that are nerd wallet partners in this episode but that doesn't influence how we discuss them the benefits terms and fees mentioned were accurate at the time of posting but things can change some offers may have expired by the time you're listening so for the latest details follow the links in the episode description all right now megan's off this week traveling for two count them two weddings but you sally are traveling for work where are you I am talking to you right now from Orlando.

I am here at a media preview for Epic Universe, which is the first new Orlando theme park in more than 25 years, and a highly anticipated one at that.

They've got a Super Nintendo world, a new wizarding world of Harry Potter, a how to train your dragonland.

Tune into a future episode of Smart Travel as we are dedicating a full new episode to that.

But let it be known that it officially opens tomorrow.

That's May 22nd.

Win Guardium Leviosa to Florida.

Yes.

That's a Potterland spell getting me across the country without dealing with TSA.

Ooh, that would be magic to avoid that.

I see you levitating.

All right, but for those of you without the benefit of a wizard wand, if you fly Southwest, here's your reminder that all sorts of new policy changes are going to go into effect on May 28th.

I know.

I'm pretty sad about it, especially the fact that they're bringing back expiration dates on flight credits.

Yeah, I suspect a lot of listeners, though not you, Carry On, only Sally,

are going to be deeply disappointed to hear that come May 28th, Southwest will begin charging fees for checked baggage to travelers on basic Wanna Getaway Plus and anytime fares.

And by the way, the names of those fares are changing soon too.

They love to do that.

And it also does mean, at least on the bright side, holding a Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card can be much more valuable now as those card holders will receive their first checked bag for free.

All right, another piece of airline news.

Delta just dropped some new fare updates.

And while they might look cosmetic, they could hint at bigger changes ahead.

Yeah, you know, so I'm low-key cringey and saying this, but beginning October 1st, 2025, for flights from the U.S.

and Canada, you won't pick a cabin class, no Tess.

You will pick what's called a travel experience.

A travel experience.

That kind of sounds like a fancy phrase for cabin class.

I know it's true.

Okay, so now with these changes, you'll choose from options including basic, classic, and extra.

Extra is the new top-tier, fully refundable option.

It has perks like priority boarding and more miles.

Is it fair to say that you could call these changes extra?

Okay, it does.

Just wait for it.

Excess here gives you seven miles per dollar spent, which is more than the usual five.

So that's good news.

Heads up though, you cannot book extra with Delta Sky Miles.

And if you're flying basic, you're earning zero miles.

Nothing wrong with being basic, I suppose, but not letting you earn miles is downright unclassy on Delta's end.

It is pretty tough.

You know, and this is part of a trend we're seeing lately where perks are being unbundled.

Now, I will say I do not completely hate this trend because the good news is it means lower base airfares.

If you're someone who doesn't care about priority boarding or miles, then this can be an opportunity to score a lower airfare.

You know, honestly, I earn way more miles with credit card purchases than I do with flights and airfares.

So I don't know, I guess I don't completely hate it either.

Speaking of lower airfares, I do have some more good news for you.

So as you know, Tess, I track airfare fluctuations super closely every month.

And this month was particularly fascinating.

So we just got fresh data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics last week.

The report dropped in May, but it refers to April prices.

Just keep that in mind.

But as it turns out, April airfares are down 8% year over year.

That is not something we usually hear.

No, I know.

And it's very shocking.

And I am asympathetic to the many readers I talk to out there who say it feels like travel is more expensive than ever.

You look at these trends like we just talked about with Delta, where they're marketing the chance to, you know, select your own travel experience.

And what it really is, is them trying to seduce you with a low fare, only to get you to pay more once they have your attention.

Sally, that is not the kind of seduction I appreciate.

In no way, not from Delta.

Or from anyone, for that matter.

Time to hand the reins over to you and Megan to talk all things Disney.

Tess, thanks for joining us with the news.

It's always a trip, Sally.

Today we're talking all about Disney's U.S.

parks.

I know you just got back from one of them, Sally.

I did.

Just last week, Disneyland hosted a big media event.

It was all about their 70th anniversary, which kicked off on May 16th.

Now, technically, Disneyland's 70th anniversary is on July 17th, but you know, Disney loves to extend the birthday as long as possible.

So they have a new nighttime parade, a new daytime parade, a new show on Main Street featuring an actual Walt Disney audio animatronic.

And since everyone loves food, there are more than 70 new food items.

Did you try any of those foods?

Oh, you know, I did, Megan.

That is the best part of Disney.

I love good churro.

And the color palette for the 70th is all purple.

So probably the most iconic food I ate was the 70th anniversary churro rolled in ube sugar to give it that purple hue.

Oh my gosh, yum.

I love ube.

Okay, what else did you have?

The other great thing I ate was the cowboy fries.

These were at the Golden Horseshoe.

This is one of the few restaurants that was there on opening day in 1955.

what was not there on opening day was this wild concoction fries nacho cheese sauteed ground beef burger sauce butter pickles

i gotta say that does not sound as appetizing to me if i'm being honest i love fries but like i just don't think that theme park fries are the best ones what about animal style fries at In N Out?

This kind of was giving me that energy, but more protein.

It sounds too wet, too much going on.

Okay, so you are making me sound like I am way too obsessive about all the Disney food, all the Disney stuff, which maybe I am.

But I need to tell you, Megan, I worked at Disney in high school.

Did you know that?

Oh, yeah.

Of course I knew that, Sally.

You're from AOC.

Yeah, I know.

I feel like every single high school kid in Orange County worked at Disneyland at some point in their life.

The official term, though, is not employee.

It's cast member.

And then besides working at Disney itself, my first job out of school was covering the theme parks as a beat reporter for the Orange County Register.

And now, Megan, you live near Disneyland, so I see you there all the time.

I am not as qualified as you to talk about Disney, probably, but I've got a different perspective.

So my family used to always go to Disney World, actually, because I grew up on the East Coast.

We went every time one of us turned four.

It was a very sweet tradition, except unfortunately, my middle sisters are twins.

So we only went once when they both turned four at the same time.

Oh, you didn't get to do a twice as long trip.

Yeah, but let's see.

We did do some other ones after that.

We did a Disney cruise and I went to college here in LA, which is close to Disneyland.

So now I've been many, many times.

And my friends say the best part about going with me is that they don't need a map or someone to tell them what's actually worth it because.

I just provide all of that for them.

You are the map.

We are the maps.

That's what we are today for you listeners.

Today, we are going to talk about how to save money at Disneyland and Walt Disney World.

Now, there are many other theme parks around the world and cruises.

We are just going to focus on Disneyland and Disney World.

That is up next after this.

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As people plan their Disney trip, they want to know when is the best time to go.

So that's what we'll start by talking about today.

Now, Megan, when do you think it's the best time to go?

When there are less people there.

So I would say midweek.

Okay.

And avoid any school holidays.

Yes, I think that is sort of the rule of thumb is if kids are out of school, I'm talking summer, Thanksgiving, Christmas, any of those other holidays, that's when it's going to be crowded.

So if you can avoid any of those times, that is ideal.

Now, it is interesting that you said midweek, because yes, you get fewer crowds, you also get lower prices.

Disney rolled this out somewhat recently is that they do the dynamic pricing.

And I know some people love and hate dynamic pricing, but what's nice is that if you are going on a day that's busier, you're going to pay more.

And if you're going on a day that's less crowded, like a Tuesday, you will pay less.

I think that's nice to reward you for shifting your schedule to a less crowded day.

And especially if you're going with multiple people, say bringing your whole family, saving $20 by going one day earlier per person can really add up.

You can also save by buying packages of tickets.

When you go for multiple days, for example, for Disney World, then the price per day is lower usually than if you buy just one day of ticket.

Sally, I know last time you were at Disney World, you were sitting on the bus and just crunching the numbers about when the actual best month to go to Disney World is.

What did you find?

Yes, this is really interesting.

The cheapest time to go to Disney World on average is actually September.

Their ticket prices average $125.

Compare that to July, where ticket prices average $157.

So basically $32 cheaper per person to go in September versus July.

So if you go when it's hot, then the ticket prices are generally a little bit lower if you can avoid like the summer vacation crowds.

And most of the kids are back in school by September anyway.

So you have fewer crowds and lower prices.

And I still can't stop thinking about how you mentioned you had a $120 Disneyland annual pass back in the day.

So Walt Disney World tickets, that's the park in Florida, start now at $119 for an adult for a one-day ticket.

So basically, my annual pass is a bargain compared to prices now.

Disneyland starts at just over $100 per adult one day ticket.

Again, though, prices are dynamic.

So that lower ticket price is going to be on that random Thursday in September.

It's going to be a lot more if you want to go on the day after Christmas like everybody else.

And while we're talking about prices, we should mention that these are like very base prices.

There are so many add-ons you can get at Disney.

For example, a park hopper, which lets you go to multiple Disney parks in one day,

Lightning Lane Passes, which let you access this line that's hopefully a little bit shorter.

I price this out.

And so on July 5th, that's the Saturday after July 4th, if you get a Park Hopper ticket, which that allows you to go to multiple Disney parks with the Lightning Lane, that gets you into the expedited queue access, that would come out to $303

per adult.

Oh my gosh, I cannot afford that.

And also adults are like anyone over the age of 10, which is pricey that you'd pay that much for a 10-year-old.

All right, let's talk about how you can avoid paying $300 per adult ticket.

One of the best ways to do it is to go on those lighter days, but also maybe buying from authorized discount resellers like Undercover Tourists, Getaway Today.

They have really small discounts, but it is something.

Yes, they can add up.

So Undercover Tourist is one of my favorite places to buy Disney tickets.

In fact, I often buy my tickets from them myself.

So for example, I just looked up undercover tourist prices.

At the Disneyland Resort, a two-day one park per day ticket would be $320.

That's a $10 savings from $330 at the gate.

$10, you times this by your whole family and that's more money in your churro fund.

And then Disneyland and Disney World itself also offer their own ticket deals.

We'll put the link to the article that has all of those in this episode's description.

A couple that are going on right now in honor of Disneyland's 70th anniversary, Disney is offering these three-day one park per day tickets for a discount.

You could also do four days and those are valid for visits through August 14th, 2025.

So, I mean, you've got all summer summer to use it during like peak time.

And you know, that four-day one park per day ticket is $100 per day, which I figure how much money I spend on museum tickets and all of that when I'm otherwise going on a vacation, that I actually do not think this is a bad deal.

And at Disney World, they're offering a special discount for kids this summer, which again, It's kids are ages three through nine.

So a small window there.

You can get three day tickets for 50% off this summer.

Again, another great way to get a discount if you're going during peak days over the summer.

And I'll throw in one more Disney World to get offer through September 22nd, 2025.

That's a three-day free park ticket.

And it comes out to starting at $89 per day plus tax.

The catch with this is you cannot go to Magic Kingdom.

It only works at Disney Hollywood Studios, Epcot, and Disney's Animal Kingdom.

But honestly, those are my three favorite parks.

And Sally, you've got another hack.

This one is using gift cards.

Yes.

So I am a Target red card holder.

This is Target's branded credit card.

There is no annual fee and you can buy Disney Disney gift cards at Target.

Here's where the red card kicks in.

This Target credit card gets you 5% off the purchase price of most items at Target stores and that includes Disney gift cards.

So what I do is ahead of a Disney trip, I buy a bunch of Disney gift cards at Target.

And $100 gift card just costs me $95.

I can use that to buy tickets.

I can also use it to buy anything else that they sell at Disney as long as they accept gift cards.

So any of the shops, any of the restaurants for the most part, this is a great way to save at Disney.

All right, moving on, let's talk about making the most of your time at Disney.

So the less time you spend waiting in line, the better.

What are some of your hacks, Sally, for doing this?

So I think we need to address the big one, and that is all of these ways you can pay to skip the line.

There are a few ways you could do this.

There is a Lightning Lane single pass.

This gets you expedited entry into one ride.

Then there is a multi-pass.

This gets you into up to three rides at a time.

You select an arrival window.

And then once you've used up one of those rides, then you can go select another ride.

And then there's something called the Premier Pass.

This is very limited.

It is new.

It is somewhat intestine and it's super expensive.

So for context, a single ride pass is about $10 to $30 per ride.

That multi-pass is about $20 to $30 per park.

The Premier Pass, wait for it.

I hope you're sitting down.

On the low end for a smaller park like Animal Kingdom is about $130, but I've seen it at the Magic Kingdom for about $450.

That's more than the ticket.

Yeah, so I think a lot of people are not buying this, but this is something where if you are doing a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Disney, maybe you're coming from an international destination and you're only going to be at Disney World for one day and you want to see it all, maybe this is worth it because you do not spend any time in line.

I've been happy with the multi-pass last time I've gotten it because I've been able to to do three or four rides that usually have a little bit of a longer line and then mixing that with some that you do stand in line for.

I've been really happy with those.

Yeah, me too.

You know, I always buy the multi-pass when I go because I do feel like my time is money.

I'm giving up time off of work.

I am on this vacation.

I already spent a bunch of money on the hotel and the ticket.

So I might as well not wait in line.

I think that multi-pass sort of fills that sweet spot of not being the $450 premier pass, but still allowing me to expedite those lines.

And then there are a couple of free ways that you can also try to beat the lines and get to these rides early.

The number one one I think most people know about is the rope drop.

Oh, Megan, people do not know about this.

We need to do them.

Oh, yes, yes.

This is the number one hack that everyone overlooks.

Well, you've done it.

Tell me what the strategy is.

How do you get there?

What time do you need to show up?

So, rope drop is when you get there before the park opens.

It is your prime time to go on everything.

So if the park opens at eight, they will open the main entrance gates earlier.

And And typically they'll let you go to a certain area.

So if you are going to Disneyland in California, typically you can wander around Main Street.

If the park opens at eight, then you can be in there at 7.30.

This is a great opportunity to take some photos.

Often the shops are open.

You can browse around, but you want to get up to those quote ropes.

Sometimes it's not a literal rope.

It's just an employee standing there.

At that time, when they quote, drop the ropes, you beeline to the top ride you want to go to.

I also like the opposite of the rope drop, which is going on all these rides that are really popular late at night when most people are like, all right, they're either watching the fireworks or they're heading back to their car anyways.

I've gone on Space Mountain in like five minutes.

There's a lot of ways that you can stay later and ride a bunch of rides in the last hour of the park being open as well.

The best time to avoid the lines is during the parade, during the fireworks.

And then in general, there are a lot of families who will say, we're going to do the first half of the day or the second half of the day.

What happens is kind of in that noon time, everyone has overlapped and everyone is there.

So either commit to the morning, commit to the evening, but avoid the afternoon time.

I say do rope drop.

Then midday, you're tired, you're hot.

Go back to your hotel, lay in the pool or your bed, and then come back in the evening when the lines are shorter and it's cooler.

Yeah, then you get a break from the park as well.

I think you'll just enjoy the experience a little bit more.

if you're not feeling super drained at the end of the night.

Exactly right.

Now, speaking of hotel, Disney also has a benefit for its hotel guests.

Hotel guests get something called early entry.

This is a bonus 30 minutes extra in the morning.

So if the park opens at 8, that means hotel guests can start getting on the rides at 7.30.

And then the rope drop still sort of applies.

So you might be in the park at 7 a.m.

just mosing around ready to beat everyone else who's a hotel guest at the rope drop.

I also love doing a single rider if you're not riding with small children.

And then for food as well, that's another place where you shouldn't wait super long to get your food because there's just a gajillion places to eat inside of these parks.

You can mobile order your food ahead of time and go pick it up.

So you can save time on lines there.

I would also just say strategizing.

Similarly, the midday lunch break, everyone is eating lunch at the same time.

So if you can eat earlier or later, I would really recommend that.

Great tips to save time when ordering food.

Let's talk about saving money when ordering food.

The number one tip here is bring your own food.

Yes.

That'll be way cheaper than anything Disney sells.

So many people are shocked to know that Disney allows your own food.

Especially your own water bottle, because there's a lot of places to refill that.

If you do want to eat at Disneyland or Disney World and see some characters, you actually don't have to do it inside of the park either.

You can get that character meal experience without needing like a theme park ticket.

And maybe on a day that you're not going to the theme parks, you could book a character meal at one of the hotels.

And then quick mention for the Disney dining plan, where you can pay a certain amount, usually $60 or $100 per adult, and then you can redeem at different restaurants inside of the parks.

We've looked at the numbers.

It's not that much cheaper and you can definitely save more if you're just bringing in your own food.

But if you did want to just like budget for it ahead of time, and there are sometimes some offers.

different discounts on Disney dining.

So if that's interesting to you, you can look up the Disney dining plans.

There are a lot of really good offers coming up the rest of 2025 and even into 2026, including a really good offer in 2026 where all the kids staying in a Disney-owned hotel room get the dining plan free if the adults in the room have paid for it.

And then for different restaurants that you say people should 100% visit when they're at Disney Parks, do you have any recs Sally?

I will give you two.

One is Trader Sam's.

This is not even in the parks.

This is at the Disneyland Hotel.

And there is is also one at Disney's Pollination Resort in Disney World.

Super fun to geebart.

And then my second one, I think you're going to agree with me, is Oga's Cantina in Star Wars Land.

Oh, yeah.

Super cute.

There's a little robot DJ.

So adorable.

His name is DJ Rex.

And they have really fun food.

And then for merchandise, I'm not a big spender on like clothing and things like that.

But for some reason, when I'm in Disney Parks, I get this real urge to buy a shirt or like ears or something.

Because there's so many stores everywhere.

You're like, I can't not look at the shops because every time you leave a ride, there's a shop.

Last tip for those non-themed park activities around the parks.

If you have an extra day, take advantage of some of the cool stuff there is to do around Disney that's actually free.

So some of my favorite free stuff to do at Disney World, that's in Orlando, that does not require a ticket is one, joyriding the monorail.

Two, joyriding the skyliner.

Three, aimlessly wandering around the hotels.

The Disney World hotels are amazing.

Especially around Christmas when they've got the gingerbread displays up.

So cute.

Yes, exactly.

My other favorite one is at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, grab a glass of South African wine at the Victoria Falls Lounge.

They have animals that you can see from the hotel itself.

So you don't even need to pay for an Animal Kingdom ticket.

You can just watch the animals at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Your very own free safari.

I love it.

All right, Disneyland has fewer of these free options around.

You could watch fireworks for free at some of the nearby hotels.

My favorite place is the Pixar Place Hotel, which has a great view and they pipe in the music.

And then downtown Disney also has some fun stuff.

They have a Lego store during the holidays.

They have like snowfall, live music, that kind of thing.

All right.

Good tips.

I think it is time now for some hot takeoffs.

What do you think, Megan?

I'm scared for this Disney one from you.

Let's hear it.

Okay, Megan, so here's my hot takeoff, and that is that Disney should go back to the ticket book system.

So this is a system that they had way back in the day where you paid for a low price to get into the the parks.

And then what you got in exchange was this ticket book.

So at the time when the parks opened, there were A tickets, B tickets, and C tickets.

The A rides were kind of the ones that no one really cares about.

And then the C tickets were the better rides.

And then you could just exchange one ticket to go on one ride on each corresponding ride.

Now, it did limit how many rides you could go on.

Eventually, Disney expanded it out to D and then E tickets.

So you've probably heard the term, this is an E ticket attraction.

You hear that in pop culture now.

And they phased out these ticket books in 1982.

Now, for what it's worth, I never experienced this firsthand.

So I could be wrong, but I think the ticket books sounded really nice because then you don't feel pressure to one have to pay for all the line tickets to expedite the lines, which is something I recently did when I went to Disney.

And it also just gives you time to sort of slow down, enjoy the scenery.

You get to just wander around, appreciate the parks, smell the churros.

So this actually happened to me.

I was at Disney World a few months ago, which is when I started thinking about these hot takes.

It was super hot out.

It was super crowded.

And I was like, you know what?

I'm just going to go wander around World Showcase.

That's an Epcot.

It was the most beautiful day.

It was so nice.

I just enjoyed all the amazing architecture, which Disney does such a good job at.

They had so much live music.

It was peaceful.

I didn't stress about trying to get on the rides because I didn't go on any rides.

And I feel like having this e-ticket book system would kind of bring back that spirit.

Yeah.

I mean, I saw a TikTok once and it was like, people love Disney because it's a walkable city.

Yes.

And exactly what you're describing.

It's like, you just want to go to the park and hang out.

I just want to wander.

I mean, I could get behind this ticket book system.

Although I love when you can ride a ride like 10 times in a row because no one's there for some reason.

There's also a lot of rides that I don't bother with anymore.

Okay.

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