Theme park discounts plentiful for Florida residents this time of year

Now is one of the best times of year for Southwest Florida residents to visit Florida's theme parks.

The lights and wreaths have been packed into storage, and, with them, the crazy crowds of that week between Christmas and New Year's Day have gone home, too.  Summer's heat and humidity will likely be held at bay for a couple of months, and there's a fresh slate of theme park discounts for Florida residents. It must be winter at Central Florida's theme parks.

And any theme park fan worth the paper her annual pass is printed on knows that now is the best time for locals to visit -- because of lower crowds and great weather, sure, but mainly because many of these newly announced ticket deals are the best we will see all year.

Here's a round-up of the money-saving deals:

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay

Busch Gardens is offering its popular Fun Card again this year. The discount allows you to pay for a one-day, regular admission ($79.99 for adults, $71.99 for kids) and get in free to the theme park through Dec. 31, 2012. Kids ages 3 to 5 get an even better deal -- free. Busch Gardens and SeaWorld Orlando are offering a free preschool pass that gets the littles into both parks all year. While the Fun Card is available at the gate, you have to sign up for the Preschool Pass online.

SeaWorld Orlando

SeaWorld's new ticket offers are basically the same as Busch Gardens', a Fun Card and the Preschool Pass mentioned above. SeaWorld's Fun Card is a couple bucks more at $81.99 for adults and $73.99 for kids. There's also a combo-ticket option that's worth the money if you plan to go to both Busch Gardens and SeaWorld during 2012 -- pay $136.99 for adults, $120.99 for kids and get a Fun Card that works at both parks. And if water slides are your thing, you can pick up a SeaWorld Fun Card that also gets you into Aquatica, SeaWorld's water park, on weekdays throughout 2012. The prices for that one are $131.99 for adults and $123.99 for kids.

Universal Orlando

To date, Universal Orlando has not announced any new theme park ticket offers for early 2012, but the resort still offers discounts that Florida residents can take advantage of online. Discounted one-day, one-park passes are $76.50 for adults, $71.10 for kids, and three-day passes that allow you to visit any three days in a six-month period are $121.99 adults, $110.99 kids for Florida residents. Universal also offers one of the best annual pass deals for Florida residents. They start at $164.99 and have a monthly payment option.

Walt Disney World

Disney is offering a multi-day pass it calls "Wild for 3" this spring. Florida residents can get admission to one theme park per day on any 3 days Jan. 4 through May 24 for $99. A fourth day can be added for $30 more. There are some block-out dates for this offer; these passes won't work Feb. 18-20 and April 1-13, when Disney is anticipating the highest crowds for President's Day weekend and spring break. Many of Disney's multi-day passes require you to use all the days within 14 days of first use unless you pay an up-charge to extend them, so this is a great option for Southwest Florida residents who may want to spread their one-day visits out over a few months. You can also pick these passes up online.

One final tip for you: I'm often asked if Florida residents can buy discounted tickets such as these for visiting family members from out of state. I wouldn't try it. While you can purchase many of these tickets online, most parks will expect each person using the tickets to show proof of Florida residency (such as a Florida driver's license) at the gate before using them.