Money saving tips

Disneyland isn't cheap, but we didn't spend like crazy and still found ways to save money.

1) They had an online deal that gave us 5 days for the price of 3. Considering the summer crowds and the baby who needed to eat every 2 hours, we needed all 5 days to see everything.

2) The hotel made a mistake and refunded half the bill. They called and woke us up at 1 a.m. to tell us that our van was taking up 2 spaces and that we needed to move it. By the time Dominic got there 5 minutes later, the lady had already parked her car since our van was within the lines of one space, but she still cussed out Dominic. He complained to the manager that they hadn't confirmed the crazy lady's story before waking us up, so the manager refunded half our money.

3) We brought groceries with us, including bottled water. Even renting a hotel microwave, we saved a lot of money on food and water.

4) Dominic's mom was happy that we could go to Disneyland. Even though she couldn't come with us, she sent us money to buy souvenirs. We told the kids to look around, and then on the last day they could each choose one thing: Samuel chose an Indiana Jones dress-up set (pictured in previous post), Benjamin got a Pirate set, Elisa has a set of 5 princesses, and we bought a book of Disney cartoon short stories. (Thanks, Llama!)

5) Around midnight in the California desert on the way there, we stopped to help a stranded motorist. The poor guy had been waiting an hour, and we were the only vehicle to come by. Dominic helped him change the tire. The guy unexpectedly paid us, and that's what we used to buy the kids' mouse ears. (He gave the money to me, and Dominic told me later that we shouldn't accept money in that type of situation. Oops)