How To Survive A Day At Disneyland On $20

Spending money at a Disney Park is no joke. In addition to the high ticket prices, people can spend upwards of $100 for food and souvenirs per person, per day. However, I can now say that you can spend very little and be satisfied with your food and a souvenir, for the whole day. With only $20 in my wallet, I was challenged to find breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a souvenir on my recent visit to the Disneyland Resort.

Challenged accepted.

As for food, there are a lot of options that are cheap and affordable at both Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park. It just depends on what you’re feeling like eating. For me, I got a banana for breakfast priced at $2.15 with tax. With just the right amount of breakfast in my system, I had $17.85 left for lunch, dinner, and a souvenir.

At 2 PM,  I was conflicted on what I wanted to eat for lunch. Pulling in my knowledge of the Resort, my choices were either between chili cheese fries for $4.59 or a sourdough bread bowl, marinara sauce, and cheese which my friend told me about for $2.01 at the Golden Horseshoe. I went with the latter, which was very filling believe it or not!

I had $15.84 left for dinner and a souvenir. I felt good with the amount I had left, so I decided to buy my souvenir first so I could figure out what options I had left for dinner. After a quick search, I bought something that I could actually use for school, which were Mickey Mouse-shaped sticky notes for $1.93.

That purchase ultimately left me $13.91 for dinner, and feeling very victorious having been able to save enough for a big meal, I splurged on the Cajun Meatloaf at the French Market in New Orleans Square for $12.84. By the end of the night I had $1.07 left and had survived a day at Disneyland for $20!

Of course, there are other options that can be taken and I know my day was just a sample of what could be done. If there’s one thing that our experiment did prove is just that. We’re sure there are many other ways to get by on a limited budget while visiting a Disney Park and with a little budgeting and research, you can still have a magical time on a dime.

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Disclaimer – I was able to get 15% off my meals with my annual pass.

Now it’s your turn! Have you ever had spent a whole day at a Disney Park on $20? How did you survive and what did you buy to do so? Share your spending strategy in the comments below.