If you’re a Disney buff or if you have kids, you’re gonna eventually find yourself schlepping off to either Florida or California to do the whole “Disney vacation” thing.  Well, some folks will find other diversions, I suppose, but a lot of us realized long before the station wagon pulled into the parking lot that a Disney trip was part of our destiny.

Once upon a time, that meant you were heading toward LA and would be spending a few days at Disneyland.  Then, Roy Disney turned Walt’s big ol’ chunk of Florida land into Walt Disney World.  He undoubtedly exceeded the high expectations of his brother, creating a truly massive complex that dwarfs the original California offering.

Disney World got so big and garnered so much attention that Walt’s original creation started to recede into the shadows.  Everyone still knew about Disneyland, but everyone wanted to go to Orlando for the BIG PARK.

I’ve got nothing against Disneyworld and I’m constantly amazed at how many things they have going on in the Orlando area, but I’m going to stick up for Disnelyland.  It’s the original.  It’s more manageable.  It’s become more affordable.  And  it’s a lot of fun.

The great thing is that you can walk down Main Street USA or zip around the “It’s a Small World” ride in California for a fraction of the price you’re going to spend in Florida.  You can also build a vacation that features Disney action but that doesn’t rely exclusively upon it to fill two weeks.  The California park is so much more manageable, while Florida is a little like visiting a Smithsonian of family fun.  There’s too much to suck in quickly.

If you line up one of the many great Disneyland package deals out there, the trip west makes even more sense.  These specially-assembled deals combine everything you need during your stay in and around the original Magic Kingdom and that bundling creates some fantastic bargains.

Take this package for instance:

“A Good Neighbor Hotel vacation offers a stay at a nearby hotel, preferred seating at selected attractions in Disney’s California Adventure® Park and more. The Disneyland® Resort Good Neighbor Hotels really are “neighbors” to the Disneyland® Resort.”

Sounds pretty good, right?  I bet it sounds even better when you find out that the package costs less than $300 per person.  The same site had some other exceptional deals for those who wanted to stay on-site at the Grand California or some of the other very nice Disney hotel properties.

In many cases, you can snag even better deals by hitting Disneyland during the off-season.  More bang for your buck if you’re willing to shake hands with Mickey in November (Don’t worry, it’s not like your in Duluth or anything.  No frostbite risk at all).

Whatever you do, make a point of shopping for Disneyland package deals before you start making plans and reservations on an ala carte basis.  You really can save a small fortue on your Disney experience by bundling the stuff you need into one deal.  Some of the packages can get interesting, too, with features like gift cards to the shops and meal plans for every member of the family.

If you can just feel in your bones that you will eventually be scheduling a family Disney vacation, think twice about going to the Sunshine state.  You can get all the Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Pluto you can handle in Anaheim, and Disneyland package deals make for a cheap trip.