Every year, my family makes a “pilgrimage” to Branson, MO, as a relaxing family vacation. For years, we would pack up for Labor Day weekend and make the long drive down, but everyone else seemed to do the same, too. Yes, one last gasp of summer air is nice at the water park, but the prices and the crowds finally wore us down and discouraged us from making the trip.
But once I graduated from college, time was easier to make available since I wasn’t restricted by the school calendar. We slowly started easing the trip for the date and have settled on visiting during Silver Dollar City’s Fall festival – currently the National Harvest Festival. Now we can enjoy a relaxing, quieter vacation with less traffic and much less headaches.
Go Off-Season
As we discovered in Branson, peak vacation times are a hassle and can cost you much in the way of time and money. If you can avoid the “normal” vacation times that are centered around the typical American school year, you’ll be better off. Of course, when you have kids in school it becomes more difficult to time your vacations. You wouldn’t want to take your kids out of school for a random long-weekend vacation, but I’m not above taking a week every few years to give the kids a special break and a better vacation experience overall – as long as they won’t fall behind due to the trip.
Since the travel and entertainment industries abide by supply and demand pressures as much as any other, times of low demand and high supply give you a better chance of saving money. Hotels, especially long strips of hotels as there are in Branson, will routinely drop their prices during the off-peak times to encourage the few travelers to choose their establishment. Likewise, many eating establishments will offer more affordable meals to entice the hungry vacationers. Of course, you are still on vacation, so expect to possibly pay more than at home. But compared to the peak season, you’ll save plenty.
Visit On Your Birthday
Disney recently announced that visitors who come on the day of their birthday will receive free admission for the day. If you’re going alone or were planning to go anyway, this is a sweet deal since admission can be quite expensive. The idea is that they’ll give you admission for free and they’ll still profit from the other people who pay to attend with you.
As the economy continues to put the pinch on entertainment- and travel-related companies, you’ll likely see more offers such as this one. And even if a company isn’t openly advertising a deal, there’s nothing that says you can’t call ahead and request a birthday discount. It never hurts to ask!
Travel During “Tough Times”
If a local economy is struggling or is in the early stages of recovery, you’re more likely to find exceptionally good deals. Since travel destinations live and die by “outsider money”, the only way to revitalize their economy is to attract more visitors, even if it may incur a short-term loss. A little research and a watchful eye can highlight some out-of-the-ordinary deals.
For instance, if you start seeing new advertising or a new “brand” for a destination, that means they’re trying to tweak their image and attract new visitors. Saint Louis recently did the same thing in a bid to encourage more visitors and business conferences. Since these changes imply a current low demand, you might find special deals to kick off the anticipated growth. It’s a bit hit-and-miss, but persistence is key when trying to find these unique offerings.
Focus On Enjoying Yourself
A vacation is a way to get away from your regular life, a chance to relax. If you’re worrying to hard about getting the absolute best deals, you’ll stress yourself out even more. If you have some vacation time coming up, get your planning done early so you can take full advantage of your time off. I know I surely will since this will be our last chance to get away before the new baby arrives – we’ll be taking every opportunity between now and then to enjoy ourselves.
Do you have any other tips to find great vacation deals? Have you learned a “best time” to visit a specific destination? If so, please share with us in the comments!
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