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Saving money when visiting to Disney World might seem to be a contradiction in terms, but with a little planning and preparation, you can have an enjoyable trip to Florida without running up a huge credit card debt.

The Walt Disney World Resort is definitely huge, covering nearly 48 square miles just outside Kissimmee, Florida. There are four major amusement parks, Epcot, MGM, the Animal Kingdom, and the Magic Kingdom. With so much to see, visitors usually spend at least a week just to see everything. Disney has built more than 10 resorts just to house visitors to the area.

Obviously, Disney executives recognize that folks are searching for different options when going to Orlando. For this reason, they have resorts that fit every budget. Hotels are separated into Value, Moderate, and Deluxe classifications. Value is sort of the Walt Disney way of saying inexpensive, but customers will not be let down, as the Disney Value hotels are clean and comfortable. Moderate hotels are definitely nicer, offering slightly larger rooms and full service dining on the property.

Deluxe hotels at Disney are full service accommodations designed to please and pamper any customer. Many of the hotels such as the Contemporary Resort and Yacht Club are along the elevated train, so you can easily ride to Epcot without having a car or riding a bus. Guest accommodations are much larger, and the Disney environment is of course magical.

How should you go about picking a Disney Hotel? Well would you rather spend your hard earned cash on souvenirs or indulge yourself with the best, after all you are on vacation? Value options like the Disney World Pop Century Hotel can cost anywhere from $65 to $140 per night, while top end Resorts start at $225 and go up from there. As you can see, if you extrapolate that by 6 to 9 days, you could end up spending thousands extra just for a nicer place.

The choice belongs to the visitor, but no matter what you pick, you can be sure Disney World employees will do their best to be sure you and your family have a good time on your trip away from home.

This article was submitted by Linda Jefferson of San Francisco.

We’ve just returned from a family holiday to the United Kingdom, our second trip to that area in the last few years and I thought that I’d mention a few of the amazing uk hotels where we’ve stayed during our latest trip. There is so much to see and do in the wonderful cities of the British Isles, those guys really understand the meaning of the word history. Add to that the fact that they converse in a language not unlike our own and that a museum or art gallery can be enjoyed in case of inclement weather and you have found a ingredients of a truly memorable trip. We’re confident that you’d enjoy visiting the British Isles, but would always suggest that U.S. citizens check with the U.S. Department of State Advice to Travelers website before undertaking international travel.

Edinburgh, Scotland

You can be assured of a friendly welcome in the wonderful city of Edinburgh. This friendly east coast city consists of the Old Town which includes the Royal Mile and the New Town, with Princes Street forming the division between the two sections. Edinburgh University dates back to 1582 and its colleges, galleries and museums are scattered throughout the entire city. There are many exhibits open to the visitor, check their web site for opening times.

The summer season sees Edinburgh playing host to many thousands of visitors who are there to visit the various festivals. The Edinburgh International Festival runs for 4 weeks and features theatre, music, dance and opera. Running beside it is the world renowned “Fringe”, which in 2006 offered over 28,000 performances in 261 venues throughout the historic city of Edinburgh. With that many different shows to choose from (in 2006 36% of them were World Premieres) including theatre, comedy, ballet, shows for the children and many musical concerts there is something for everybody. There is in addition, the Blues and Jazz Festival, The Literary Festival and The International Film Festival that run throughout the summer here.

Since we only had two days in the city we decided to push the boat out and stay in one of the most celebrated hotels in Scotland, The Scotsman on North Bridge, Edinburgh. This wonderful old hotel is situated right in the center of many of Edinburgh’s greatest buildings and venues such as The Royal Mile, Holyrood House, Edinburgh Castle and the Scottish National Gallery are all within easy walking distance. As I mentioned earlier the decision had been made to pamper ourselves with a stay at this amazing hotel and everything that we could have expected became reality.

Birmingham, England

One of the main reasons for our recent visit to the UK was to visit the Crufts Dog Show which is held in the National Exhibition Center Arena in Birmingham, the UK’s second city. Spread over four days, it’s the most famous dog show in the world. Last Year 143,000 visitors admired a total of over 25,000 dogs from 26 countries in the show rings. Another great crowd-puller at Crufts is the Discover Dogs section where the owners of 190 different breeds are there with their dog, ready to answer questions from prospective new owners. Because we were only going to the dog show, rather than going into the city of Birmingham we took the decision to stay at a hotel near to the NEC, Birmingham. This time we weren’t searching for one of the world’s top hotels, more a place to lay our heads after a hard day walking miles inside the vast NEC complex. We settled on The NEC Crowne Plaza Hotel which is situated inside the grounds of the National Exhibition Centre. The hotel was exactly what you’d expect, bright, clean and totally impersonal. There was nothing to complain about and we’d readily stay there again for any exhibitions or concerts at the NEC.

London, England

Our final venue on this holiday was London. If you’ve never seen London you really do need to comprehend the sheer size of the city. It has spread outwards in recent years and it’s essential that you decide exactly what you intend to visit during your trip else you’ll spend all of your time sitting on buses and the London underground and I can tell you, that is not a pleasure that you should should look forward to. Our agenda for this final few days of our trip involved us taking part in some serious retail therapy i.e. shopping. To that end we decided to stay in the Knightsbridge area with its vast array of chic, world renowned stores such as Harrods. We booked into the Sheraton Park Tower in ultra-stylish Knightsbridge. The Sheraton Park Tower is one of the city’s most stylish hotels, famed for its “One-O-One” restaurant, London’s best fish restaurant.  The Sheraton Park Tower boasts tremendous views over the London skyline with many rooms overlooking Hyde Park In addition to the host of exciting shops, you will find many of the city’s best museums and landmarks within walking distance of the hotel.