Please do not tell Mickey but our family plans on visiting Sea World in January as well.
For small budgets, look at the value resorts on WDW property. Also, check out
www.mousesavers.com for cost-saving ideas. You'll find all kinds of tips for lodging, transportation, meals and tickets.
A few lodging alternatives would include:
an Orlando hotel via
www.priceline.com, renting a house or condo, watching for hotel deals at www.travelzoo.com
Do not purchase a package. Design your own vacation by purchasing the accommodations that best suit your budget. Then look for deals on transportation, tickets and meals. For meal savings, you could eat a light breakfast in your room, have a sit down lunch in a nice restaurant and then have a quick service meal. For character meals, breakfast is the least expensive.
Ticket deals on Sea World are usually available as well. I usually Google "sea world ticket discount" to start my search for savings!