Orlando on a Budget

Times are tough, and a vacation may be the last thing on your mind. But this may be the perfect time to make a trip to Orlando.

With the recession in full swing, there may be no time you have needed a getaway more than now. And with the family in tow, things can get costly. But Orlando can be reasonable right now.

1. Plane tickets - Plane ticket prices are near record lows. Airfare wars are peaking now that the travel industry has really slowed down. If you are on the east coast, budget carriers such as AirTran, JetBlue, and others are having excellent deals to Orlando. And Southwest and other major carriers also have good deals. Especially look on Wednesdays, where it appears many airlines are trying to clear out their tickets.

2. Hotels - This is always a debate people have when going to Orlando - should we stay on site, or off site? Well, it depends on whether you want a kitichen to cook in, you need more room, you need a car...all of which would favor an offsite locale. There are excellent hotels and condos that sometimes are much chearper than onsite locations.

3. Amusement Parks -Though staying offsite can be relatively cheap, the deals for onsite housing is now excellent. For example, Disney has deals that include tickets and hotel stay for four people that are excellent. For example, they have deals where you buy 4 days of tickets and hotel rooms, and they give 3 days free! That is a great deal. Universal Studios also has a buy 1 get one free ticket offer, and other offers if you stay on site.

And if you are sick of Disney, there are many other sites that can be visited. SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, etc. all make great day trips, and there are usually ticket deals that have buy one get one free fo these as well.

I strongly recommend visiting the numerous websites available for Orlando as well. My favorite is mousesavers.com, but there are plenty of others that are excellent.

If you have been thinking about an Orlando vacation, this may be the year to do it. I know money is tight, but you may never get better deals than you can now.