Planning a Family Vacation this Holiday Season?

Are you planning on spending the holidays in Orlando, Florida? Here are some tips to help get you the best deals around the holidays:

1. Pick the right dates. By choosing the right return dates, you could save significantly on Thanksgiving and Christmas travel times. Try to extend your holiday to Monday or Tuesday and return on Friday or after the traditional Thanksgiving holiday weekend. For December travel, traveling on Christmas Day and New Year's Day will help you save a bundle. If you cannot be flexible, try to travel at off-peak times such as early morning, late at night, or especially the red-eye overnight flights.

2. Be flexible. The more flexibility you have in your holiday travel, the lower your costs will be. This includes flexibility in dates and times of travel, airports, and destination.

3. Shop decisively. One of the biggest dilemmas holiday travelers make is not snapping up a good deal as soon as they see one. To avoid this pitfall, follow these steps: know what you want, do your homework to understand what is currently available, and be aware of the going rates for each of your vacation spots. Complete those tasks first, then, once you see a great deal, make your purchase quickly before it is gone. Remember, there are a lot of other holiday travel shoppers out there looking for the best buy.

4. Seek out the discounts. If you are a member of AAA, AARP or any other travel club program, make sure to find and claim any available discounts. Also check out the discounts available at each of the resorts once you’ve narrowed down your choices.

5. Be careful if booking a connection. Airline travel hassles have become normal recently and when you tie in the holidays, things can become much worse. In addition, winter weather problems can cause delays to flight plans. So be careful when booking your airline connections and leave plenty of time for possible delays. This extra time is even more necessary when traveling with children. If you miss your connection, you may have to resort to buying a last-minute full price ticket to get to your final destination in time for your holiday plans.