Help! Unplanned Christmas in Orlando

[longwaybycarriage]

So, thanks to truckloads of unbelievably bad luck, we find ourselves stuck in Orlando over Christmas. I know that doesn't sound so bad but we're a group of 6 adults all separated from our families so there have been a lot of tears over the past few days and morale has been pretty low.

We arrived on the 1st and were meant to go home on the 18th but now don't have a flight til the 27th. We have a villa in Formosa Gardens and a car (although not big enough for all of us!), but no park tickets left...well except pumpkinpilot who has an AP.

So, any advice on what to do to keep busy on a budget? Starting to wish we hadn't been so thorough during the first couple of weeks! Some of the group haven't seen the WL yet so we'll head there. Spend more time at DTD and maybe window shop the Mall at Millenia. Any other ideas?

None of us want to celebrate Christmas, too depressing... will there be any shops/restaurants open on the day or should we just stay home?

Questions questions, I know, but any help will be much appreciated. Any cheap places to eat or other ways to save money would be good too. We hit Walmart today to get supplies.

Hopefully once the stress of it all wears off we might even start to enjoy ourselves.

 

[Purseval]

Sounds like you have plenty of time on your hands to take some timeshare tours. Look for ones that will give you either cash, park tickets or dinner theatre tickets.

 

[kathy884]

I feel for you. Orlando is great fun on your own time table, but expensive and not where you want to be when that's not the plan. You are also there at a super busy time, so you will need patience for driving around, etc.

Call me the 1/2 day budget queen. On week long trips to the area, we only do a theme park every other day, so I'll share our favorite 1/2 day excursions and you can check out pricing which should be considerably lower than the world class theme parks and see if any of these things interest you.

For food, one of our favorite chains to eat (buffet with soups, salads -- lots of yummy ones / tons of variety), pastas, breads, Sunday bar, fruit is Sweet Tomatoes). It's about $10 pp for an adult for dinner (good food / good value). We eat here regularly in our home town. To beat the Christmas crowds for dinner, we like to dine at the breakfast place, Perkins. It's one of the few places you don't have to wait for dinner. They have breakfast items and lunch type items. If that's ok with you, I think it's a great Christmas time option.

If you like Sea World and haven't done that park yet, they do a second day free and at Christmas especially have lots of great shows // so that's about $40 pp per day. Ask on the Sea World forum too if there is any special pricing going on. Many people skip this park, as there are so many parks in Orlando. I think skipping this is a mistake, though. It's my family's favorite and worth two days if you have the time. You could have one person get a season pass, so you park for free and that person could buy any food etc. for of you and other could pay him/her back -- Season pass holders get a 10% discount. With a large group, we often come ahead with this option.

Here's a free activity I recommend if you haven't already done it. At Christmas time, we sometimes like to park at the Polynesian hotel in Walt Disney World. We just tell the guard that we are shopping at the Polynesian hotel and they give us a three hour free parking pass, and we checkout the deluxe Disney resorts on the monerail loop -- a free activity. // We look around the Polynesian, Contemporary, and Grand Floridian that are all decked out for Christmas. If it's warm too, we might take the boat at the end of the pier at the Contemporary over to Fort Wilderness Lodge and check out that resort too and then take the boat back. All transportation is free and you can check out / look around at these lovely resorts even if you aren't a resort guest.

Other favorite 1/2 day activities that make for a fun day and don't break the bank (We have teens and adults in our party): The Titanic Attraction on I-drive (They do tours on the hour -- It's a very enjoyable two hour activity, includes some looking around on our own. Even those in our party that aren't that interested in the Titanic really enjoyed this.) // Gatorland -- think more old time Florida attraction vs. world class theme park, but a really fun 1/2 day. // Indoor Sky Diving at Sky Venture on I drive - You will need a reservation to do this at Christmas time (Our whole gang ages 13 to 74 loved this.)

Everything / absolutely everything will be open on Christmas day. It's a resort area. My favorite place to spend Christmas day in Orlando is at the Sea World theme park.

Everyone has their own likes / dislikes. And there are people on the TUG2.net forum who regularly just for fun and to get the freebies do the timeshare presentations. And I'm not knocking that, but am just sharing my own personal opinion. Personally, though, I'd skip going to a timeshare presentation. Going to a three hour high pressure sales presentation is not my ideas of a good time (You couldn't pay me enough to sit through one of those). They say 1 1/2 hours, but from what I read and from personal experience of others three hours is more like it.) There aren't too many things that I can think of doing that I dislike more, and I don't really feel right about doing something like that when I have no interest whatsoever in doing a timeshare purchase. If you are interested in a timeshare purchase, resale is the way to go.

 

[spiceycat]

here a list of free stuff to do

http://www.mrfreestuff.com/free-things-to-do-in-orlando/

 

[ibidforit]

Go check out the town of Celebration. You can park for free, window shop, and it "snows" nightly! They also have ice skating and a few other activities that you would have to pay for.

 

[sjanus]

Old Town has car shows, music, shops, etc., and is a fun place! Here is the website http://www.old-town.com/ that lists all there is to do there. Also, another vote for Celebration....we had a great time there. I do want to go back and just walk through all the little shops. But the snow in the streets and Christmas music really is delightful.

International Drive is also a fun place. You can park around Friday's and Bahama Breeze, and just walk from there, lots to do.

Try to enjoy your time together and make the most of it, and perhaps have a late Christmas celebration when you get back home.

Sandy

 

[elcodfish]

Head up to Winter Park, they have a great Main street with shops and restaurants and an hour long boat tour around the lakes looking at the houses that is very fun. They also have the Morse Museum of Tiffany glass, its only $5 per person, and is amazing!

Winter Garden and Winter Park both have farmer's markets on the weekends

Orlando Brewing company gives free brewery tours

 

[longwaybycarriage]

Thanks for all the ideas. We're very pleased to be home now, at long long last...it turned into a 28 day trip! We did manage to do a few new things in our last week and have even come away with a bit of a to do list for next time because there were so many suggestions.

Thanks especially to Kathy884 for all the half day budget ideas!

Dbf (pumpkinpilot) is trying to get me to write a trip report, but I'm still a bit too traumatised at the moment!

 

[kathy884]

So glad to hear you finally made it home. We'll love hearing your trip report (planned days and what you did on the extra unplanned days). Anyway Happy New Year! I'm glad you are able to be with your family New Year's weekend.

 

[ConniegB]

So glad everything worked out and you made it back home! Happy New Year!