Forex Articles

Walt Disney first thought of opening an amusement park in the late 1930s; it was originally planned to be in Burbank, near the company's offices, and was intended for employees and their families. It took him many years to raise the money, much of it coming via the television show he made for ABC, and which eventually ran for 29 years. Disneyland in Anaheim, California, opened in 1955 and has been a continuous success.

Disney World in Orlando, Florida, opened a few years later, and other locations have been added in Paris, Hong Kong and Shanghai. An additional location in Tokyo is run by an unrelated third party under a licensing agreement. Disneyland is expensive but it is possible to save money if you plan carefully. As always, be wary of scams. If an offer looks too good to be true, it probably is not a good deal.

Tickets for Disney parks are expensive, even by theme park standards. The base price for one park for one day is generally in the $90 to $95 per person range. Children under the age of 10 are less, and those under 3 are free. Discounts in the 5-10% range are often available for the following groups: teachers in the United States and Canada through their local unions; active duty military through their bases; members of California-based credit unions through the websites of those institutions; and for college students through their student unions. The Automobile Association of America (AAA) offers discounts to its members, and some large companies offer discounted tickets to their employees. These discounted tickets must be bought in advance directly from the organization offering the discount, not from Disney.

There are discounts available directly from Disney for two- or three-day tickets for residents of Southern California. The company also sells a range of annual passes that allow repeat visits to the park; these are not a cost saving for short-term visitors but may be useful for people who live in the area and plan to return regularly. Avoid buying tickets via eBay, Craigslist or other similar s; there is a good chance the tickets are not valid, and you will be stuck buying new, full-price tickets.

Disney actively promotes its Park Hopper pass, which allows visits to more than one park in a day; the exact number of parks varies per location. But you will save money while taking time pressure off the family if you stick to just one park.

Disney promotes its on-site hotels to parents as a time-saver: no drive time to the park, no traffic and no parking headaches. These hotels are promoted to kids as continuing the adventure for the entire day. The reality is hotel rooms located off the property are 50-60% cheaper, and hotel discounting sites such as Groupon and Living Social can reduce the cost even further. Expedia, Kayak and Hotels.com provide comparison shopping information to reduce prices to the point where a little less convenience is a good trade-off. Airbnb can also offer cheaper alternatives, many of which come with a kitchen to enable further expense reductions.

Restaurant food within the parks is convenient but expensive. Disney tickets allow visitors to re-enter the park multiple times during the day, so consider planning a midday break to eat outside the park. Keep in mind, however, you are not permitted to bring outside food into the park.

It is pretty much a given that visitors to Disney theme parks want souvenirs. For many, it is a once-in-a-lifetime trip that demands something more than a smartphone photo to commemorate it. But you will save a lot of money if you do your souvenir shopping outside of the park itself. And if you buy something before the actual park visit, this makes it easier to keep the kids focused on rides and entertainment rather than buying souvenirs.