Cheap Travel Orlando - Tips from the Locals

If you are planning a trip to Florida, specifically Orlando, you are most likely looking for cheap travel Orlando deals and tips. Who better to advise you than someone who has lived in the area for 36 years. Yes that's me, I've lived here most of my life, and therefore I can offer you a bit of help toward your vacation.

First, in regard to theme parks, beware of lots of pitches from people selling time shares and offering you "free Disney tickets" and such. Are these a scam? Well some can be. And even those that are legit can really waste a huge amount of your time and also get you in such an aggravated mood that you won't enjoy your "free" tickets. I use quotes around the word free because I don't believe any of the time share sellers are really giving you free tickets. You might end up with tickets without spending any money, but in the long run you have spent a big chunk of your time and aggravation, and therefore -- not free.

But on the other hand, my cousin is a master at this stuff. She has gotten many many tickets free of charge by listening to these spiels. Frankly I don't know why she does it, but she does, over and over. So for those of you who are determined to consider this a cheap travel Orlando deal, and you really want to give it a try, her method is simply ask how long the sales pitch will last and demand that they stick to it. Don't take no for an answer. Be firm and do not allow them to sway you from your goal, which is free tickets (or whatever they offer) within a specified amount of time that you listen to them.

So on to more cheap travel Orlando tips. Let's talk restaurants. If you limit yourself to the areas by the theme parks you will not find many places that I would consider local "secrets" as far as great and relatively inexpensive restaurants. But there are a couple of places I recommend heartily if you would like to venture away from the tourist areas and into the city of Orlando and its surrounding areas. Really I could write an entire article on just this subject, so I will only mention a couple places here. If you are looking for Italian, Amalfi Italian Restaurant and Pizza is super. It is located at 523 South Chickasaw Trail. I used to work over in this area and ate there at least twice a week. Unfortunately I don't get out that way as much anymore but it is well worth the drive, and definitely worth including in cheap travel Orlando tips. Great food, great prices. If you'd like to drive just a little out of your way into the surrounding area of Apopka you can find what I considered THE best southern seafood type restaurant called The Catfish Place. This one is definitely considered a secret of the locals and has the best catfish, hush puppies, cole slaw, just the works. I really love this place!

Finally, for yet one more cheap travel Orlando recommendation for you, I recommend renting a car. Shop around online before you arrive to find the best deal. I usually find Enterprise to be very helpful and inexpensive, and I have used them exclusively for many years without any problems.But sometimes if you use Travelocity or another online agency you can uncover a deal online, and if you do, go for it. The Orlando area is just way too vast to be trying to navigate around by public transportation. Much much cheaper to simply rent a car.

Use these cheap travel Orlando tips to get a head start on saving money and having an enjoyable Florida trip.