Planning for the Holidays

Although summer has just arrived, before we know it we’ll be trick-or-treating and singing joyful carols everywhere we go. Every year seems to come and go even faster than the one before, which is why I want to talk about planning for the holidays now. More specifically, today we’re going to talk about ways to plan for the holidays when you visit The Happiest Place on Earth. Because of this, I’ve teamed up with my friends at Get Away Today to give you five tips on how you can plan for the holidays now.  

Start a Layaway Plan with Get Away Today

I think that most of us would agree that we don’t have a pile of cash just waiting for us to spend on a vacation. However, when you plan your holiday vacation with Get Away Today, you can take advantage of their Layaway Plan. With their Layaway Plan, you can book travel up until the end of this year. Which means that you can plan your Halloween or Christmas vacation as early as you dream of it.

Plus, the Layaway Plan only requires you to put $125 down per room at time of booking. You can easily make as many payments as you want, whenever you want, just as long as everything is paid off two weeks before you check-in. The best part? You’re never penalized for booking early. If a new promotion or better deal comes along, you can easily apply it to your package to get the savings. Although the Layaway Plan does include a $50 non-refundable Layaway Plan fee, it’s well worth the cost to be able to have flexible and affordable payments on your vacation.

How long should I stay?

It’s no surprise that Disneyland becomes more and more popular each year. After all, it is the Happiest Place on Earth. But just because more people are traveling, doesn’t mean that you need to worry. There are so many ways to navigate the crowds, so it doesn’t seem overwhelming.

Since Halloween Time and Holidays at the Disneyland Resort are the most popular times to travel, I would recommend extending the length of your vacation. When you stay longer, you won’t feel as rushed to get everything done in a short amount of time. Instead of going for two or three nights, take advantage of 4th night free hotel specials with Get Away Today. Plus, they have an Extra Day Free ticket special. With this offer, you can get a 5-Day Park Hopper for the price of a 4-Day ticket. This means that you’ll have an extra day FREE to experience all of the seasonal décor, treats and entertainment. The longer you stay and play, the less it costs per-day.

Check out just how little it is to upgrade to a longer length of stay below:

3-night stay at a moderate property

w/ 2 adult and 2 child 3-Day Disneyland Park Hopper tickets

= $1,846.00

4-night stay with 4th night free at a moderate property

w/2 adult and 2 child 5-Day Disneyland Park Hopper (Extra Day Free) tickets

= $1,962.00

Only $116 more to stay an extra night and spend two extra days in Disneyland! With everything that there is to do during the seasonal celebrations, you’ll want as much extra time as you can get.

Halloween Time at the Disneyland Resort

You can find the most “spook-tacular” time of year at the Disneyland Resort through mid-September until the end of October. During the celebration, you’ll be able to experience “boo-tiful” décor, frightfully fun ride-overlays and limited-time treats so good you’ll scream. In addition to this being such a fun time of year to visit Disneyland, you can also experience Mickey’s Halloween Party.  

Here are the 2018 dates for Halloween Time and Mickey’s Halloween Party:

• Halloween Time: September 7th – October 31st
• September Mickey’s Halloween Party Dates: 19, 21, 24, 26 and 28
• October Mickey’s Halloween Party Dates: 2, 5, 9, 12, 16, 19, 23, 26, 29 and 31

During Mickey’s Halloween Party, an exclusive ticketed event, they close down the Disneyland Park early, so only guests who attend the party can be inside. These guests are able to enjoy exclusive entertainment, like the Frightfully Fun Parade and even meet all of the infamous Disney villains. Since they only let a limited amount of people buy tickets to Mickey’s Halloween Party, you can ride the attractions with little to no wait time. In addition to all of the fun, you can dress up and trick-or-treat around the park.

Since Mickey’s Halloween Party is a popular event, you’ll want to make sure you snag tickets as soon as you can. Mickey’s Halloween Party tickets go on sale June 12th for the general public. Tickets to the party are $105-$130 per person this year, so you’ll want to make sure you budget this cost into your vacation fund if you’re thinking about going. However, if you don’t want to pay the extra cost, you can still enjoy everything that the “Spookiest Place on Earth” has to offer in both Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. If you don’t attend Mickey’s Halloween Party, you can spend the rest of your night in Disney’s California Adventure as long as you have a Park Hopper ticket. Mickey’s Halloween Party is just another reason why planning your vacation early is so important!

Holidays at the Disneyland Resort

The most wonderful time of the year is such a joyful time to visit the Disneyland Resort. This dazzling celebration typically begins at the middle of November and lasts until the beginning of January.  Although this celebration doesn’t have an exclusive holiday party (yet), there is SO much to do that everyone in the family will enjoy.

While details for Holidays at the Disneyland Resort haven’t been released yet, we saw that last year was jollier than ever before. With daytime entertainment like the Holiday Toy Drummers, the Disney ¡Viva Navidad! celebration and A Christmas Fantasy Parade, you’ll want to have enough time to see it all. Plus, they brought back the beloved Festive Foods Marketplace at Disney California Adventure. Here, you can try a variety of food and beverages inspired by cultures from all around the world. If this isn’t enough, you can also enjoy exclusive nighttime entertainment like World of Color – Season of Light and “Believe… in Holiday Magic Fireworks.”

If you’re planning on visiting during the holiday season, I would highly recommend taking advantage of Disney’s feature, MaxPass. For just $10 per person/day, you can reserve FastPass reservations directly from your smartphone. To me, this feature alone is well worth the cost. Instead of running back and forth between Disneyland and Disney California Adventure to grab FastPasses, you could be enjoying all of the holiday fun. Plus, MaxPass includes Disney PhotoPass. With this feature, you’ll be able to download all of the PhotoPass and attraction photos you take that day. This way, you’ll be able to remember your holiday vacation to Disneyland forever. If you’re looking at saving on using MaxPass, I’d recommend only buying it for everyone in your party on super busy days. On the other days, just buy it for one person so you can take advantage of the Disney PhotoPass!

Set Your Budget

Last, but certainly not least, you’ll want to set a budget for your holiday vacation. It can be tempting to buy everything you see when you’re at Disneyland, but there are ways that you can prevent that from happening. My first tip would be to purchase Disney gift cards. You can choose whatever amount you want to put on the gift card, which will limit what you can buy.

Another way you can budget for your Disneyland vacation is to bring snacks and drinks with you to the park. While they don’t allow you to bring glass bottles or coolers full of food, you can bring snacks, sandwiches and bottled drinks with you in your backpack. Although you should definitely treat yourself to a scrumptious Disneyland churro or delicious Dole Whip, this will save you money on buying snacks at the park throughout the day.  

Now that you know how special the holidays at Disneyland can be, why wait? To book your vacation, visit getawaytoday.com or call 855-GET-AWAY to speak to a travel expert directly. Make sure to take advantage of their Layaway Plan and vacation specials. Plus, get an additional $10 off your hotel and tickets package when you use promo code 2Bloom. Let them know that Learning2Bloom sent you!