Our Costco Disneyland Package
October 09, 2017
For a full post about our Disneyland trip (treats, rides, Halloween, MaxPass, etc), click here!
After research, spreadsheets comparing costs, recommendations from friends etc., we decided to book our Disneyland package with Costco Travel. It's super rare to get discounts on Disneyland tickets or hotels, so Costco's prices were pretty comparable with booking through Disney or Get Away Today or other travel agencies, but we got a bunch of extras with our package.
Overall, I really loved getting a package for our Disney trip - it made everything so simple! (Note: we booked airfare separately, so I can't speak to that.) About a month before our trip, our travel package arrived at our door! Excuse the poorly lit picture...
Note: you have to have someone sign for the travel package, they won't just leave it at your doorstep. I actually really appreciated that, because I was paranoid about these expensive tickets getting lost in the mail or stolen from our doorstep!
Anyway, all of your Disney trip essentials show up in a box together - park tickets, hotel voucher, and a lot of awesome extras! Getting this in the mail made me even more excited for our trip! It made the whole process of going to Disney so simple because everything was all in one package. Here's what we got for our October trip:
Anyway, all of your Disney trip essentials show up in a box together - park tickets, hotel voucher, and a lot of awesome extras! Getting this in the mail made me even more excited for our trip! It made the whole process of going to Disney so simple because everything was all in one package. Here's what we got for our October trip:
Hotel
In your travel package, there's a slip of paper for the hotel - DON'T LOSE IT! This is your hotel voucher and you need it to check-in when you arrive. With Costco, you can choose a bunch of different hotels near Disneyland - either a Disney property or one of the Good Neighbor hotels. Your package price can vary significantly depending on the hotel you choose. While Disneyland tickets rarely change prices, the hotel you select will make the greatest impact on your overall package price. I liked that Costco had a bunch of different property options and price points. Note: the closer you get to your travel date, the fewer hotel options you'll have, so make sure to book early! I just booked our December trip and there weren't very many hotel options left by mid-October.
For this October trip, we decided to stay "on property" at the Paradise Pier Hotel (owned by Disney). We'd never stayed at a Disney hotel before and thought it would make our trip more special for my mom's & Zach's birthdays. For a full review of Paradise Pier and if we'd ever pay extra to stay at a Disney property again, check out my post here.
For this October trip, we decided to stay "on property" at the Paradise Pier Hotel (owned by Disney). We'd never stayed at a Disney hotel before and thought it would make our trip more special for my mom's & Zach's birthdays. For a full review of Paradise Pier and if we'd ever pay extra to stay at a Disney property again, check out my post here.
Disneyland Park Tickets
We purchased 2-day Park Hopper Tickets. No matter what type of ticket you purchase, you receive these awesome plastic souvenir tickets. Disneyland tickets are usually just paper, so I loved having these plastic cards that were more durable and would still be nice in our souvenir box years later. They have a few different designs (you can't choose them ahead of time) - we got Haunted Mansion, Grizzly River (pictured below), and Mickey's Fun Wheel (in the above picture). My mom got the Mickey Fun Wheel ticket, so it was home with her when I snapped the picture below of Zach's and my tickets.
A note about purchasing tickets from Costco: You can choose between 2, 3, 4, or 5 day tickets with or without Park Hopper access. How you decide to see Disneyland is totally up to you!
TICKETS TIP: If you have flexibility and aren't sure, choose the minimum amount of days you think you'll be in the park (ex. if you can't decide between 3 or 4 days, purchase 3-day tickets). If you decide you want the extra day(s) in the parks you can easily add them to your ticket and pay the difference. Just remember, you HAVE to upgrade your tickets before the park closes on the last day you use your ticket (ex. if you decide you want a 4th day, you have to go upgrade your tickets before the end of the 3rd day in the parks).
EXTRAAAAAS!
Again, while ticket prices and hotel prices don't vary too much between booking agencies, the value power from a package for us was in the extras! Here's what we got:
Disney Gift Card: When you book your Disney package with Costco, they send you a Disney gift card! The value will vary depending on the length of your stay and where you stay (usually somewhere between $50-150). We received $90 for our 2-night stay at Paradise Pier. You can use the Disney gift card ANYWHERE during your stay - in the parks for food, souvenirs...you can even use it at the hotel to cover parking, incidentals, their gift shop, etc. (We ended up using our to purchase some souvenirs & gifts for family). You can also use it online to purchase things before your trip or save it for another time you need to get something from the Disney store or Disney.com.
The gift card was a big factor in selecting Costco - it was like getting $90 off the package price.
The gift card was a big factor in selecting Costco - it was like getting $90 off the package price.
FREEBIES/Coupon Book: From what I've read, the contents of this book can vary each year, but this is what we got for 2017:
- Downtown Disney Savings – 10% off at: Catal Restaurant and Uva Bar, Earl of Sandwich, Haagan Dazs, Jamba Juice, La Brea Bakery, Naples Ristorante e Pizzeria, Rainforest Cafe, Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen, Sanuk, Tortilla Jo’s and Wetzel’s Pretzels. We didn't use this in October, but I've saved it for December.
- Disney PhotoPass – If you like having the Disney photographers use their fancy cameras to snap your family pictures or want digital copies of the ride photos, then this is a nice savings. We didn't use this a ton, but when we did use it, it was super convenient to have the digital pictures pop up on my Disneyland app to save to my phone.
- Disney Photo Memory – One free 5 x 7 print of a PhotoPass Service or attraction photo or your choice from Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, California Screamin’ or Radiator Springs Racers. We didn't get anything printed during the October trip, but I'm saving it for the December trip.
- Lanyard and Pin – This was a fun extra I didn't know about! You get a free Disney lanyard and pin for each person in your party. We've never done the whole pin trading thing, but now if we want to, we have somewhere to start! Also, the lanyard and super handy to carry your tickets if you don't want to bring a bag or stuff them into pockets. I was worried these free lanyards would have Costco or something else promotional all over them, but I was SO happy to see they were just cute Disneyland lanyards. I don't know if the color changes throughout the year, but we received orange lanyards in October.
- ESPN Zone – Get a burger and $10 ESPN Zone Game Card for only $15. We went to ESPN Zone for Zach's birthday dinner and I was SO MAD I left this in the room! We had planned to use it and play in their arcade after dinner. Oh well, we are saving it for December now.
- Disneyland Park Tours – Receive a 15% discount on select Disneyland tours. We didn't use this, but if you want to go on a park tour, this will help bring the cost down.
Some other info/tips about booking with Costco Travel:
- You pay $200 deposit on the trip the day you book and then the rest is due 1 month before the trip. So if you want to book but don't have all the funds saved right now (or don't want one big charge on your credit card haha), this is a great option for spreading out the payment. You can also pay everything at once upfront.
- While this is through Costco Travel, you're technically booking with Walt Disney Travel. So when we checked in, the cast members kept saying Walt Disney Travel - don't get confused like I did!
- Since this is technically through Disney, you can use a Disney Rewards Card. I have one, but didn't use it because I wanted the travel rewards from my regular credit card instead.
- If you're a Costco Executive Member, you can get 2% back on any of their travel packages. For us, that meant about $30 back.
So if you're thinking about using Costco Travel for your Disneyland trip, I hope the above information was a little helpful! They are open for 2018 trips now and I've heard there are more/different extras in the package, so let me know what you get!
(For our December trip, we booked with Get Away Today so I could compare the two services and I'll do a comparison review post after we get back from that trip.)
Also, I didn't include our price breakdown and what we spent compared to other places. If you're interested in seeing a price breakdown and how I did my research for this or the December trip, let me know in the comments below 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻
(For our December trip, we booked with Get Away Today so I could compare the two services and I'll do a comparison review post after we get back from that trip.)
Also, I didn't include our price breakdown and what we spent compared to other places. If you're interested in seeing a price breakdown and how I did my research for this or the December trip, let me know in the comments below 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻
9 thoughts
We are planning a trip to disney in the next year or so, these are really great tips that I will have to keep in mind!
ReplyDeleteI hope they can help and you have a fun trip next year! If you ever have questions, shoot me an e-mail! :)
DeleteWe went to disneyland for the first time this summer. I wish I'd known some of this stuff! I'll definitely remember to check out costco next time (we're thinking we'll go back next year again). Thanks for sharing your experience.
ReplyDeleteFor the very first time? So fun! I hope you guys go back next year for sure and get all those freebies! If you have any questions about it, feel free to e-mail me!
DeleteDisneyland always brings back the child in me.
ReplyDeleteMe too!
DeleteThis is really helpful! My husband and I have been wanting to visit Disney World for a while now, but the prices can definitely be a deterring factor. I never would have thought to check out Costco's Disney Package! I love all the extra goodies as well, thank you for sharing this <3 :D
ReplyDeleteHave you done the comparison of your December Disneyland trip? I'm curious if you would go with Costco again or the other company.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to know the price you paid through Costco and get away today and who you'd recommend using. We are a family of 7 and I am so nervous as we aren't rich by any means and this would be a trip we haven't taken in 10 years now, and probably wont do again for awhile. I would love to know your thoughts!
ReplyDelete