Disneyland Bachelorette Party on a Budget

Before getting married, one of the items on my bucket list was to go to Disneyland. What better time to go than with your besties. We planned to be here for 2 days so we could go to both Disneyland and California Adventure Park. Since we were all adults, we knew we didn’t need any additional days since we could get through each park effectively in a day.

When budgeting, the top 3 items that would be most expensive were transportation, tickets, and accommodations. I didn’t want my friends to go broke celebrating my bachelorette. We agreed to try to save wherever we could without being too cheap.

Transportation | Airfare

Being from Vancouver, Canada, we needed to take flights down to California. I prefer direct flight, so I’ll do what it takes to get a good price for them. We could have drove to Bellingham and then taken a cheaper flight, but it’s a hassle.

I like to use Google Flights to track flights to see if the price drops. I’ve had some pretty good luck using it. I would track it a few months in advance of the trip for the flights I wanted. If I’m lucky, I can save 50%.

Transportation | Sign up for Uber and Lyft using Promo Codes

Getting from LAX to Disneyland is going to be an expensive taxi ride and other options would still be pricey or take too long to get to Anaheim.

We took an UberX using a $20 off the first ride coupon that we found online. There’s tons of them around, so make sure you find those codes. From LAX to the hotel, it was just under $40. With the coupon applied, it was $20 in total, which was then split among 4 of us. This is a quicker and cheaper option than taking the Disneyland shuttle.

Uber also has a referral program where you get $20 and your referee gets $20. We kept referring each other, so we could maximize the amount we spent. It’s very useful and we saved over $150.

Lyft also has free credits too, so make sure you utilize it.

Tickets | Free Admission Tickets

Finding cheap tickets as a tourist is a hassle. Only buy tickets from authorized sellers or else you will be SOL when you discover they are fake. There are some online discount sites like Official Ticket Center, Undercover Tourist, and ParkSavers, but you usually have to spend more to save a bit. Some people have said you can get discount tickets at AAA or Costco, but we had no interest in hunting at either of those 2 places down before doing to Disneyland. We were on a tight schedule.

Our group of friends found 2 alternatives to get free entrance to Disneyland, thus saving our group over $500 in admission tickets.

1. Find someone who works for Disney or sister companies

Disney and some of their sister companies give employees free entry for family and friends. Usually, the employee has to be present when bringing you in for free. Luckily, one of my friends knew someone who had a shift during the day we were going, so she brought 3 of us in.

2. Apply for Media Accreditation

Having a food blog definitely has it’s perks.

Qualifying media can request two Park Hopper tickets, good for one day at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Parks, once every 12 months. Just contact their public relations department to apply. You will need to provide them stats from your blog like unique monthly visitors, amount of Facebook./Twitter followers and other engagement metrics.

Accommodations | Indigo Hotel Anaheim

Indigo Hotels in Anaheim was our go-to location for a budget stay close to Disneyland. It is about a 15 minute walk or 6 minute drive to and from Disneyland. It’s an older hotel that recently got renovations done, so it is clean and modern. This came highly recommended from a coworker of mine. It’s a lot cheaper than staying in the Disneyland resort.

With 5 girls, we crammed ourselves in a 2 Queen-sized bed room. It’s supposed to only hold 4 people, but we made a bed with a chair and a bench. Seems weird, but it was still comfortable.

At $113.99 (USD) per night, it was a good price to split amongst 5 people. Check-in is at 3pm and check out is at 11am. It’s close to Anaheim Gardenwalk and a CVS. Easy access to booze since you won’t find alcohol in Disneyland.

Dining | Snack, Snack, Snack

We didn’t end up spending a lot on food while we were inside Disneyland and California Adventure Park. Since we were so preoccupied with taking selfies, lining up for rides, and finding Disney characters that we mostly ate snacks or smaller meals.

You can’t leave without having a corn dog, turkey leg, Dole Whip and churros. All these items were well under $10.

We didn’t find that there were any other sit down restaurants that we wanted to dine at. We kept finding quick and simple meals at the parks. For our larger meals, we decided to eat closer to our hotel later in the evening. You can find the full list here.

Have Fun!

We didn’t dress up all bachelorette-style for this portion of our trip (we saved it for LA), but we had so much fun for 2 days! It’s fun being a kid again. We saw other bachelorette parties here too.

The best time to go would be in the Winter or Fall. Just remember to avoid any major holidays. It’s not fun if the parks capacity is at it’s maximum. We went in early February and the lines were quick and not too crowded.

If you have any money saving tips, please share!