With the hefty price tag for a ticket to many of the major theme parks, a trip to Orlando can be mighty expensive. But it doesn’t have to be. There are actually plenty of cheap things to do in Orlando. There are even discounts to be had at the major parks, especially in fall and winter when the older kids are back in school.

My one-and-a-half-year-old son Jack and I spent the last week in Orlando on the cheap. We found a three-star hotel room on Hotwire for six nights for $200 and a rental car for $75 from Payless. The hotel was nice enough and even had two playgrounds and three swimming pools. The rental car was a Yaris, a car that should possibly be reclassified as a toy car, which we spent two hours waiting in line to get, but hey, it was only $75 for a week. Then we set out to see what cheap Orlando had to offer. Here are some of the highlights:

• Orlando Science Center – $17 adult/$12 ages 3-11/Free under 3 – Quite the deal compared to theme park admission, the cheap Orlando Science Center has a lot to offer. We had only planned on spending the morning here, but we ended up staying all day since it was so cool. There was so much for a toddler to do!

In Kid’s Town, Jack worked on a car at the little body shop, picked (fake) oranges in an orange grove, cooked up a meal in the little kitchen, raced boats at the water table and more. At the Science Park exhibit, there were tons of interactive science exhibits even a toddler could participate in. We watched a tornado form, raced wooden cars down a large track, sent marbles spinning down a hole, experimented with electricity and watched as different sound waves appeared in a clear tube with small Styrofoam balls as different notes were played. The All Aboard exhibit was another excellent place for toddlers, with trains, planes and cars for them to play on, including a life-sized Brio train.

The cheap Orlando Science Center ticket included a show at the giant-screened CineDome theatre, so we went to see Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk for some midday downtime. Jack had never seen a movie before, but I thought we’d give it a try. I did have to hold down his seat, as he was too light to hold down the fold-down theatre seat. It would just fold back up on him, which we both thought was hilarious. So cute. To my surprise, Jack LOVED the movie and sat still and quiet through the entire thing. He was riveted. I loved it too. Besides the gorgeous scenery and amazing cinematography, the film features Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a soundtrack by the Dave Matthews Band and Robert Redford narrating.

There was so much more to do here, I can’t even list it all. I highly recommend this museum for babies through school-aged kids.

Note: The Orlando Science Center is located in Loch Haven Park, home to many other cheap Orlando activities. At RedChairProject.com, you can buy a 14-day pass for the Orlando Museum of Art, the Orlando Science Center and The Mennello Museum of American Art for just $25 for adults and $15 for kids.

• Gatorland – Half price after 3 p.m., regularly $22.99 adult/$14.99 ages 3-12/ Free under 3 – We took advantage of the half-price deal and were a bit rushed to see everything by the time they closed at 5 p.m. You could definitely spend the day at this cheap Orlando attraction. We saw lots of alligators and crocodiles, of course, including some albino alligators, and watched the Gator Jumparoo Show. There’s also a Gator Wrestlin’ Show and an Up Close Encounters Show, which we didn’t get a chance to see.

There’s much more here than just alligators, including a nice playground right next to a spray ground, a train ride ($2 extra for unlimited rides), snakes, swamp walks, an aviary, talking parrots and a petting zoo. The food is very affordable and the park is laid out very nicely with plenty of shade. There’s even fans all around the park that spray you with water.

Unlike the many cheap Orlando tourist attractions that sprung up after Disney World opened in 1971, Gatorland is one of the reasons tourists started coming to central Florida in the first place. Gatorland opened in 1949 and is still owned and operated by the same family today. Definitely worth a look.

• Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens – Museum: $5 adult/$3 student (12-college)/Free under 12, Gardens: Free for everyone – This cheap Orlando attraction is the perfect place for a picnic, with a peaceful lakeside setting, beautiful trees and plants and interesting sculptures. It was a very welcome change of pace from the other attractions. We meant to go into the museum to look around, but had to cut our trip short do to a toddler meltdown after our picnic. The gardens alone were well worth the visit though.

Note: There’s a Whole Foods just down the road from the museum for your picnic supplies.

• Downtown Disney – Free – Downtown Disney is Disney World’s dining and shopping destination, with free parking and free boat rides across the lake. There’s also a (very) small Disney train and a carousel here, which are $2 each for children and free for an adult to ride along. Of course, this could turn into a more expensive outing if you buy a lot of souvenirs, but is great cheap fun if you are content to window shop. I would recommend giving older kids their spending money BEFORE entering the shopping area to avoid any begging later. Then they can make their own decisions how to spend their money.

The best part of Downtown Disney was the LEGO Imagination Center, with tons of free stuff for kids to do. There are small round LEGO tables kids can play at, a LEGO car racing track and giant LEGO statues, including one in the lake, and even a playground.

There are also a bunch of fun restaurants here, including House of Blues, Planet Hollywood, Rainforest Café and T-REX, none of which are cheap, but you are saving money on the entertainment for the day. The Earl of Sandwich is a more affordable option. We went to the Rainforest Café. The food was really good and I thought the atmosphere was fun, but unfortunately Jack was terrified by the animatronic elephants. They were nice about moving us away from them though.

We also saw the cutest little girls getting made up like princesses at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, which I would HIGHLY recommend if you have a little girl. Packages start at around $50 for girls to get sparkly princess hair and makeup and a Bibbidy Bobbidi Boutique princess sash, which is a little pricey, but so worth it for a little girl to feel beautiful for a day. All the little princesses were positively beaming.

• WonderWorks & The Outta Control Magic Comedy Dinner Show – Combo tickets: $38.95 adults/$28.95 ages 4-12/Free under 4 – Billed as central Florida’s only upside-down attraction, you can see the coolest part of WonderWorks for free, so even if you decide not to pay to go in, it’s worth a stop to take a quick picture in front of this cheap Orlando attration.

While not nearly as cool as the Orlando Science Center, we had fun at the WonderWorks “museum for the mind.” Jack loved the Bubble Lab and the giant piano on the floor. There was a lot more to do for older kids, including a bed of nails, an earthquake simulator and a virtual roller coaster. We spend a few hours wandering around here before the dinner show.

The Outta Control Magic Comedy Dinner Show features all-you-can-eat pizza, salad, popcorn, beer, wine, soda and dessert, in addition to a very funny magic show with lots of audience participation. This is the dinner show the locals go to, and for good reason. Tony Brent had us all laughing pretty hard. Jack had a hard time sitting still for the show, but he laughed a few times and enjoyed some of the magic tricks.

• Disney World’s Magic Kingdom – Free on your birthday (See MouseSavers.com for other deals & pricing details) – The Magic Kingdom is not usually what you think of when you think of a cheap Orlando attraction, but it can be. Last Friday was my birthday, so we took advantage of Disney’s get in free on your birthday in 2009 promotion. Jack was free too, since kids under three get in free. This was our main motivation for traveling to Orlando and was definitely the best deal of the trip. If it’s too late for you to take advantage of this offer, you’ll be happy to know that Disney just released the details of their 2010 promotion, “Give a Day. Get a Disney Day.” Disney will be letting up to a million people into a Disney park for free for a day in exchange for a day of volunteer work.

We spent our day at the Magic Kingdom riding many of the classic rides like It’s a Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean, Tomorrowland Transit Authority, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and many more. We also stayed for the Spectromagic Parade and the fireworks show. It was a fantastic way to spend my birthday and a very magical day for Jack. I wasn’t sure he was old enough to appreciate it, but as soon as we entered the park, his eyes lit up and he said, “Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!”

Other Cheap Orlando Deals:

• Watch the “snow” fall for free in downtown Celebration, Florida at Christmastime.

• Check out the manatee preserve in Blue Spring State Park from November 15th through March 1st for $6 per vehicle.

• Wet ‘N Wild offers 1/2 price admission after 2 p.m. and currently has a deal where you pay for admission for one day ($44.95) and you get the rest of the year free.

• SeaWorld Orlando is offering an adult ticket at the child’s ticket price ($64.95), plus a second day free.

• SeaWorld’s water park, Aquatica, offers a similar deal, with an adult ticket for the child’s ticket price ($38.95).

• Busch Gardens is also offering an adult ticket at the child’s ticket price ($59.95).

• Universal Studios Orlando has a special deal for unlimited admission to both of their theme parks for seven consecutive days for $99.99 (that’s normally the price of a two-day/two-park ticket).

• Disney World recently unveiled a new deal for three nights (with tickets) free when you buy four nights with tickets at “moderate” and above resorts or two nights with tickets free when you buy five nights with tickets at a “value” resort.

• If you plan on visiting multiple attractions, research ticket bundles like the Orlando Flex Ticket, which includes admission to Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, Aquatica and SeaWorld for $234.95 for 14 days.

Please check the individual attraction’s website for full details of all the promotions, as some are only available online or only at the gate or require advance purchase, etc.

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