1) Research. I would hope this goes without saying, but you never know. Obviously, the more time you have to do this, the better off you're going to be. But you can even do it with just a couple days or a week's notice. The closer you get to the vacation, you are going to be paying more. Most people do deeper discounts further out, and as time closes in they will jack up the price. This is not always the case, as some websites do promote last minute getaways due to things not having booked up yet and doing deep discounts on those. So who knows, you might get lucky! Just be sure you shop around.
2)Seriously consider driving instead of flying. Especially with the more people you are taking with you, you will see a huge increase in savings by driving. We have never flown anywhere (I've never been on a plane at all. And with the rising cost of airfare, coupled with huge invasions of privacy at the checkpoints, I guess that may never happen. And that's okay. But I looked into flights for both a weekend getaway (just out of curiosity because I knew hubby was taking us somewhere) and also for our family vacation and quickly found it would have been way out of the question for both. I'm also in the process of planning a Disney Vacation within the next 2 years, and again quickly decided it was out of the question then too. But our family van as a lot of mileage on it, and I really didn't like the idea of putting even more miles on. But when I looked online at Hertz and Enterprise to rent a minivan for a week, I didn't like having to pay $400 plus insurance costs. I hadn't thought about using a middle man site though, and when our van had a blowout a week before our vacation that really damaged the car, I knew the whole vacation was in jeopardy. Not having rental coverage on our van meant we were not going anywhere-vacation or otherwise-till it was fixed. Luckily, we had a low deductible and only had to pay for that and new tires. We were blessed to have some precious Godly friends lend Jacob his truck to get to and from work, and then when they weren't done by vacation we knew we'd need to rent a car. I had called Enterprise (we don't have a Hertz near us) directly, because they supposedly had a discount because we have geico and our car was in the shop but we did not have rental coverage. So when I called them, I was dissapointed to find our that the "discounted rate" was comparable to other companies without any discount! They quoted me $358 plus a deposit of $150 which we'd get back if the car was returned in the same condition. That was doable, but it would mean a huge dent in our vacation fund. Also, when I called back two days later to do it for sure--I didn't have the money for it Monday, and they required me to pay up front in full to reserve it--they had gone up over $100. The guys there were super nice, but there wasn't much they could do to give me a minivan for much less than $500 (plus deposit and insurance). And in trying to compromise, he suggested a full size car for $350ish without deposit or insurance. Still not worth it to me, I was starting to worry this vacation wasn't going to happen! But then on a whim, I checked out travelocity.com where I was able to still use enterprise but see the prices of different cars. EVERY variety was cheaper!! We ended up getting a full size car for less than $175. And we did not have to pay till we picked it up! I even spoke with enterprise directly to make sure it was going to work out, and the only concern for me was if we could fit Jonah's convertible car seat and the two booster seats in the back seat. (They said most likely yes, and of course the seats did, thank goodness!)
So next time we go somewhere we will totally rent a car, and go full size because not only did it save us from the rental company to book through travelocity, but we got the deposit back, AND travelocity gave us that price for a week long rental, and because we returned it on the day 5 evening, we actually got some $$ back (plus deposit). Only thing is we were a little cramped in the back (hubby and I were fine) but the trunk was huge, and the gas mileage was awesome. Our van gets about 20mpg, MAYBE 25....this car got 40mpg! We literally only had to fillup 2x!
So I say seriously check into renting a car and see if it works for you. Also, I was informed when I called, by my car insurance people that I was completely covered through Geico and did not have any reason to purchase the extra gimmick insurance they sold at the car place. It would have been an extra $15-30/day for that, again not doable for us. She said that our policy followed us to the rental, but you need to make sure you speak to your car insurance company to be sure yours works the same way.
3/4) Check on hotels and loosely plan your meals. You need to decide, and it may depend on where you are going to vacation, or who/how many people you are taking with you, what type of lodging you need. Are you going to be in the hotel alot or are you going to be out and about and only come back for sleeping. Do you/can you plan on doing some meals at your lodging? Here are some things to consider for this:
Would you like to save $ by eating some meals in the hotel/cabin/condo? If you would, then what type of meals? If you want to prepare full meals, perhaps a condo or cabin with a full kitchen or grill is a good value. When you compare prices, compare the best deal on this type of lodging vs. a cheaper hotel and having to eat meals out.
Would you like to eat quick meals in your hotel? Be sure to look for hotels with a microwave and mini fridge included. These are helpful even if you don't plan to eat much because you can keep things like soft drinks or bottled water, as well as leftovers from those big portioned restaurant meals. You may want to bring paper plates and plastic cups, so you can eat the leftovers in the room. Does your hotel room have a table in the room with chairs? Do they allow you to eat in a lobby area?
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Does the hotel/place you want to stay offer food like room service or a restaurant you will want to take part in? Is it included in the price or how much extra does it cost? Also, if staying at a hotel, look for places that have a hot breakfast. Even if you don't eat there every day that can easily save $7-10 per person versus having to go out, plus gas to get to those places.
Branson is a place with a lot of tourist attractions, and pretty much everything costs $15-20 per person, or more if you see a show (we did not). But the hotels are very cheap for the value.
After looking up hotels on tripadvisor and various reviewing websites, I had narrowed it down to a few hotels in Branson. I started a word document for each of my favorites to compare prices on various sites. I looked directly on their website as well as booking agencies and compared each price, and found out that the Angel Inn of Branson would give a $5/night discount if you signed the guestbook online on their website. Of course I called and spoke with them over the phone, and they verified that price on the phone too. Then I found out our hotel had an indoor pool, mini fridge and microwave, free hot breakfast (consisting of hot pancakes one day, biscuits and gravy the next, and daily cereal, donuts, bagels, fruit, milk, juice etc. No meat. Ok with me! It was free!!) Also, she told me if we were willing to "take the stairs" they had a 5/night discount for that too! We ended up paying only $49 a night (plus tax, I think it was 7%. Be sure you ask about the state's required hotel taxes and fees or online booking fees etc) Once I was confident I had the hotel I wanted, I booked it before they booked up fast!
If you are willing to eat breakfast in your hotel, and eat in your hotel room (or the lobby if they allow for lunch or dinner-you pick) for a meal here and there, you can save a ton. We packed down a cooler before we left with sandwich fixin's and picnicked on the way for lunch, instead of stopping in the drive thru. Plus we had a rental car and didn't want to eat in it.
Also, if you are going to an amusement park or the beach, seriously consider packing sandwiches and chips etc. and eating that if it's allowed. I checked beforehand and Silver Dollar City did allow outside food in the park, so we brought sandwiches and bottled water as well as chips. At the park (again I checked ahead of time) drinks were ranging from $3 for a small or a bottled water, up to $12 for a souveneir 32 oz mug with $1 refills. So we did get one of the $12 mugs after our food and water ran out, and got free water refills from the concessions (all offer free water in the mugs, and it's ice too, so it's much cooler than from a dirty fountain). I felt like the 8 or 9 refills we got was a good deal, plus we brought the mug home and it's good to take in the yard to work with.
But that saved us a ton. I have no doubt it would have been easily $60 for walkup stands type food for all of us. Instead we packed our own, and then spent less than $10 for ice cream for everybody. Plus we didn't have to worry about all the greasy food there upsetting our tummies while riding the rides.
5) Loosely plan activities ahead of time. Research online, and once you narrow down your destination, talk to your family about what attractions or places are most important to them. Try to find something specific that each person really wants to do and they will have a blast doing, but that everyone else would enjoy too. That way even though YOU are planning this, they have something specific to look forward to. My daughter wanted to do Ride the ducks, My son wanted to go caving, my youngest just wanted to 'ride da train'. My husband and I wanted to go to Lamberts and ride rides as a family. I wanted to go to the Soda fountain I went to as a child.
We did all those things and more, but I guarantee you, if you were to ask them now what their favorite things were, they'd pick the one they planned before hand AND a new one they didn't expect to like too!They just couldn't decide :D so I am a happy mama!!
I checked into prices before hand, and had some ideas of restaurants that would be fun, memorable places for us based on online reviews and pictures I saw. We have been to Lambert's Restaurant (where they have 'throwed rolls'...maybe you've heard of it :D) before and knew we wanted to go there again. We even were planning to go 2 hours out of the way on the way back to do it, and then found out with a little research that they actually had one just 30 miles south of Branson! Score!! It's not a super cheap restaurant but it's a lot of fun, and the portions are huge, so we ate 1/2 (or less!!) and brought lots back to the hotel to eat the next day. We also ordered pizza to the room one night. Also, one day we bought a huge ice cream Sunday to share. It was like $13 but we all shared it and it was a great photo op. They will never forget it either!!!
We did stop late the first night on the way out (same day as the picnic in Mtn view) and ate taco bell, before checking in to the hotel. We don't eat fast food any more since we started our weight loss, so the kids got a kick out of it, and felt like it was a real treat.
We like to avoid Chain restaurants though as much as possible, and eat at fun atmosphere type places instead. We had some real winners and a couple duds while we were there. (Don't waste your $ at Montana Mike's. The food was poor quality for the very high price. :/) But we had a blast at Lamberts and Mel's Hard Luck Diner.
Also, if you are going to a touristy place like Branson, call the tourism center and have them send you brochures and coupon books if they have them. Also look online for coupons. I found out that by doing "Ride the ducks" it offered us a variety of discounts on other places-cheap imax movie tickets, 10% off restaurant meals and show discounts as well. So naturally we did that first. We just had to keep up with the "wacky quackers" they gave us (lol as I'm typing this, one of my kids just quacked one."
Lastly, I have a few more things to think about.
Souvenirs: Let the kids earn money in the weeks before vacation to buy their own souvenirs Rewarding 'best behavior' works too. Have envelopes on the fridge with a chore listed, and the amount of money they can earn for that job. Encourage them to buy souvenirs that are will have value to them and not just be a 'throw away' item. Get things that will last or you can actually use. We also bought post cards to send to family members from our trip (doing them now actually! Better late than never, right!?) Like my 20 oz coffee mug from Lamberts? I use it every single day. Well worth the $5.50!!
Take pictures. Take lots of pictures. And be in them, moms! Have dad turn that camera around and snap some of you and the kiddos. Also have the kids (if they are old enough) or waiter/random person take pics of mom and dad.
Don't stress too much or worry so much about an itinerary or schedule that you end up missing out on the fun. It is a vacation, after all!
