Aug 16, 2007
For Orlando stays of under a week, the air-and-land packages of Southwest Airlines Vacations are unbeatable in price and value
The least expensive way to enjoy a short stay (i.e., of less than a week) in Orlando is to buy a package that includes airfare and a hotel. When your stay is for only three nights or so, too short a time for renting a vacation home, nothing beats the prices and value offered by the tour operating arm of the aggressive low-cost airline, Southwest Airlines Vacations (tel. 800/243-8372; www.southwestvacations.com).
These are available, obviously, only from cities to which Southwest flies. From each such place, the airfare to Orlando is generally the cheapest of any airline, and airfare is accompanied by equally inexpensive hotels for an unbeatable total price. Southwest's standard formula is to feature a three-night hotel stay, and its prices this autumn for that duration currently average between $250 and $300 per person based on double occupancy, depending on the origin city. (Those prices, please remember, include round-trip airfare). Even all the way from Phoenix, the price is only $314 per person for round-trip air and three-night stays at a hotel within walking distance from the popular Downtown Disney shopping area. It's like getting your hotel almost for nothing, and thus freeing a significant portion of your budget for those high-priced theme park tickets.
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These are available, obviously, only from cities to which Southwest flies. From each such place, the airfare to Orlando is generally the cheapest of any airline, and airfare is accompanied by equally inexpensive hotels for an unbeatable total price. Southwest's standard formula is to feature a three-night hotel stay, and its prices this autumn for that duration currently average between $250 and $300 per person based on double occupancy, depending on the origin city. (Those prices, please remember, include round-trip airfare). Even all the way from Phoenix, the price is only $314 per person for round-trip air and three-night stays at a hotel within walking distance from the popular Downtown Disney shopping area. It's like getting your hotel almost for nothing, and thus freeing a significant portion of your budget for those high-priced theme park tickets.
Write and read comments about this post.
Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the
