It has been a while since I blogged anything. Mostly I was too lazy, but perhaps with the New Year, I will be re-energized to blog more. The Orlando trip during Christmas was pretty fun, but was also a trying time because of a pretty big mistake with the planning: Using a travel agency.
Originally the plan was to get hotel/rental car separately so we had some freedom in where to go. But, at the last moment, I was convinced to go with a travel package that included transportation and hotel at a good price. Unfortunately for us, the package was from some Chinese travel service that loved to skimp corners.
1. Our tickets were "Youth" tickets. This meant that we could not take advantage of the "add a day" pricing plan that all the Disney parks offered. Basically, "add a day" allowed anyone to add more days onto a ticket for significantly less each day. Instead of paying $40 or so for adding Epcot to our travels, we had to pay the full $75 per person
2. Our "hotel" was dirty, loud, and filled with tourists. Because of the tourism, it lead to a very interesting "Taxi" adventure on Day 5.
3. The provided transportation was strictly based on the travel agencies' schedule. this meant we had no freedom in planning our trip and if we wanted to go anywhere else or visit the parks in a different order, we had to pay for our own transportation.
4. Mandatory "tip" of $3 per person, per trip for the drivers. Considering that each morning we had to use them to get to the parks then each night use them to get back, we had to pay $18 per day.
Besides the travel agency headaches, we also didn't realize just how cold Orlando would get. I had checked the weather beforehand, and saw the forecast was going to be several degrees warmer than Houston so we packed light sweater and jackets. Then a cold front came in which caused mornings and evenings to be bitterly cold.
Overall though, the experience was positive and we had a lot of fun. Our plan for the 5 days was as follows:
Day 1: Travel/Half day at Epcot
Day 2: Magic Kingdom
Day 3: Universal Studios
Day 4: Animal Kingdom
Day 5: Orlando Outlet/Travel
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