Camilo
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- Joined
- Aug 12, 2006
- Messages
- 555
Hi folks,
we came back this past Wednesday from a 8 day trip to the world (Nov 9th-17th), 4 years after our previous trip in September of 2006.
I had already posted our initiall impressions on the thread I had started back in July, asking for help/advice (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2516918). I would like to provide some information here that hopefully can help others.
* Flying from Buffalo
Best experience ever. Good bye Pearson, except for very long flights such as when we go to Brazil every year (I wouldn't want to drive 2 hours after a 10 hour flight). For internal USA flights, it's Buffalo all the way from now on. Crossing the border took 15 minutes, hotel there was amazing and shuttle service was excellent (more below). Southwest is indeed a no frills airline, but for a short flight to Orlando, it's the way to go. Free pop/non alcoholic drinks and snacks. Service was great and you can't beat the price of 650.00 for 4 people to travel, including all taxes.
In Buffalo, we drove to Walmart SuperCenter on Transit road. WOW, WOW, WOW. Lots of Halloween costumes at 75% off (brand new, not the ones you find after October 31st in Canada, missing masks, gloves, etc). My wife bought our kids a Super-Man costume for 4.00 and a Power Rangers one for 3.00 for next year. We also got a nice sposts summer T-shirt for 1.00, down from 12.00. We need to schedule more shopping trips to Buffalo, that's for sure.
* Marriott Niagara Buffalo hotel
What an amazing deal at 77.00 after taxes to include the night stay, parking and shuttle both ways. The hotel was great, too bad we only really slept there and had breakfast the other day. We did take a look at the indoor pool and looked nice, so did the gym. We didn't actually use them.
Important tip: make sure you sign up to their rewards program (free on the website). As a rewards member, you get free internet (otherwise it costs 13.00 per day). There is a business center that you can use the Internet for free as well if you don't have a laptop.
Full buffet breakfast the next morning costed us 13.00 per adult. Differently from what we were told over the phone (that kids any age would pay 7.00), our kids were free (ages 2 and 4). Total bill including taxes and tip was 31.00 which made perfect sense to us as it was pretty cold to dress up the kids, hop in the car and head somewhere else to come back to the hotel and take the shuttle.
Make sure to say HI to Jeannie when you go there. She's the lady in charge of the omelet station and she was so much fun. She works at the hotel for 18years and only called in sick once .
The shuttle was great both ways. On our way to the airport, although it was scheduled to 9:45 AM, as soon as we got to the lobby, the driver asked if we wanted to leave right away. That was around 9:25 AM. On our way back, I called the hotel and was told the driver was near-by which was true. He arrived at the airport in 7 minutes. Hotel is around a 12 minute drive from the airport. You keep the key of your car, there are MANY available parking spaces there in front of the main entrance.
* Car rental in MCO
I was scared by some reviews of Enterprise, but had zero issues with them. I had read they used old cars, with a lot of kilometers on them, etc. Contrary to what I also read online, their cars are IN the MCO airport lot, a 3 minute walk from the rental counter. The coupon I used made the rental at Enterprise at least 70.00 cheaper than any other konwn company (Alamo, Avis, Dollar, etc). The car I chose had 18000 miles which was not a problem for me being a car I was going to drive for 8 days only. A/C worked perfectly, car had an automatic transmission and it was clean. That's all I really cared.
I was also given an option to upgrade to a minivan for 5.00 per day but I declined as we didn't need the space.
* Weather
Perfect, perfect, perfect. Hot during the day, very comfortable at night. I didn't wear a jacket/sweater in Orlando at all. My wife always had one for the kids after 7 pm. No rain until the very last night, when it rained for 1 hour, during the MVMCP. Much, much better than September, weather wise.
* Crowds
I was expecting lower crowds, to be honest. I was at the parks at opening time but still got 40 minute lines sometimes. We gave up on Dumbo, got 45 minutes on Peter Pan, were unable to get a seat on the 1st Indiana Jones show, etc. Usual wait was around 15 minutes, much more than September (no lines at all). Fastpasses for Toy Story midmania were out by 1 pm. I think I'll try October next time to compare, crowd wise.
* Renting double stroller
We rented a double stroller from http://www.orlandostrollerrentals.com and I recommend it completely for those whose kids are getting too old to have a full sized stroller at home. We paid 100 dollars for the week, full delivery and pick up at our hotel. The stroller allowed our kids (2.5 and 5) to rest and the youngest one to take his daily naps at the parks. Carrying 2 strollers to/from airports woulld have been complicated and we would have had space issue for our luggage.
* Our Hotel
We stayed at the "Clarion Inn Lake Buena Vista". This hotel used to be called "Comfort Inn" until last month. It was renovated last year. Amazing price (50.00 a night) including full buffet breakfast for the 4 of us. Great location, very close to Disney parks (10 minutes) and around 20 minutes to Universal. 2 pools, splash pad, playground, free shuttle to the parks.
* MVMCP
It was our first time attending the event. I'm still not sure if it's worth the price. The parade was great, the fireworks amazing and the ride lines after the 1st parade were really short. Still, huge lines to see the characters, it was impossible to take pictures with Santa Claus, the free cookies didn't taste good at all, same with the hot chocolate. The "snow" in Main Street was nothing special for us, used with the real stuff here. I saw many people without the bracelets.
It was a great trip, except I was a bit disappointed with the crowds. I guess I was expecting the same as September and it was not the same at all.
Any questions, I'll be glad to try to answer.
Camilo
we came back this past Wednesday from a 8 day trip to the world (Nov 9th-17th), 4 years after our previous trip in September of 2006.
I had already posted our initiall impressions on the thread I had started back in July, asking for help/advice (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2516918). I would like to provide some information here that hopefully can help others.
* Flying from Buffalo
Best experience ever. Good bye Pearson, except for very long flights such as when we go to Brazil every year (I wouldn't want to drive 2 hours after a 10 hour flight). For internal USA flights, it's Buffalo all the way from now on. Crossing the border took 15 minutes, hotel there was amazing and shuttle service was excellent (more below). Southwest is indeed a no frills airline, but for a short flight to Orlando, it's the way to go. Free pop/non alcoholic drinks and snacks. Service was great and you can't beat the price of 650.00 for 4 people to travel, including all taxes.
In Buffalo, we drove to Walmart SuperCenter on Transit road. WOW, WOW, WOW. Lots of Halloween costumes at 75% off (brand new, not the ones you find after October 31st in Canada, missing masks, gloves, etc). My wife bought our kids a Super-Man costume for 4.00 and a Power Rangers one for 3.00 for next year. We also got a nice sposts summer T-shirt for 1.00, down from 12.00. We need to schedule more shopping trips to Buffalo, that's for sure.
* Marriott Niagara Buffalo hotel
What an amazing deal at 77.00 after taxes to include the night stay, parking and shuttle both ways. The hotel was great, too bad we only really slept there and had breakfast the other day. We did take a look at the indoor pool and looked nice, so did the gym. We didn't actually use them.
Important tip: make sure you sign up to their rewards program (free on the website). As a rewards member, you get free internet (otherwise it costs 13.00 per day). There is a business center that you can use the Internet for free as well if you don't have a laptop.
Full buffet breakfast the next morning costed us 13.00 per adult. Differently from what we were told over the phone (that kids any age would pay 7.00), our kids were free (ages 2 and 4). Total bill including taxes and tip was 31.00 which made perfect sense to us as it was pretty cold to dress up the kids, hop in the car and head somewhere else to come back to the hotel and take the shuttle.
Make sure to say HI to Jeannie when you go there. She's the lady in charge of the omelet station and she was so much fun. She works at the hotel for 18years and only called in sick once .
The shuttle was great both ways. On our way to the airport, although it was scheduled to 9:45 AM, as soon as we got to the lobby, the driver asked if we wanted to leave right away. That was around 9:25 AM. On our way back, I called the hotel and was told the driver was near-by which was true. He arrived at the airport in 7 minutes. Hotel is around a 12 minute drive from the airport. You keep the key of your car, there are MANY available parking spaces there in front of the main entrance.
* Car rental in MCO
I was scared by some reviews of Enterprise, but had zero issues with them. I had read they used old cars, with a lot of kilometers on them, etc. Contrary to what I also read online, their cars are IN the MCO airport lot, a 3 minute walk from the rental counter. The coupon I used made the rental at Enterprise at least 70.00 cheaper than any other konwn company (Alamo, Avis, Dollar, etc). The car I chose had 18000 miles which was not a problem for me being a car I was going to drive for 8 days only. A/C worked perfectly, car had an automatic transmission and it was clean. That's all I really cared.
I was also given an option to upgrade to a minivan for 5.00 per day but I declined as we didn't need the space.
* Weather
Perfect, perfect, perfect. Hot during the day, very comfortable at night. I didn't wear a jacket/sweater in Orlando at all. My wife always had one for the kids after 7 pm. No rain until the very last night, when it rained for 1 hour, during the MVMCP. Much, much better than September, weather wise.
* Crowds
I was expecting lower crowds, to be honest. I was at the parks at opening time but still got 40 minute lines sometimes. We gave up on Dumbo, got 45 minutes on Peter Pan, were unable to get a seat on the 1st Indiana Jones show, etc. Usual wait was around 15 minutes, much more than September (no lines at all). Fastpasses for Toy Story midmania were out by 1 pm. I think I'll try October next time to compare, crowd wise.
* Renting double stroller
We rented a double stroller from http://www.orlandostrollerrentals.com and I recommend it completely for those whose kids are getting too old to have a full sized stroller at home. We paid 100 dollars for the week, full delivery and pick up at our hotel. The stroller allowed our kids (2.5 and 5) to rest and the youngest one to take his daily naps at the parks. Carrying 2 strollers to/from airports woulld have been complicated and we would have had space issue for our luggage.
* Our Hotel
We stayed at the "Clarion Inn Lake Buena Vista". This hotel used to be called "Comfort Inn" until last month. It was renovated last year. Amazing price (50.00 a night) including full buffet breakfast for the 4 of us. Great location, very close to Disney parks (10 minutes) and around 20 minutes to Universal. 2 pools, splash pad, playground, free shuttle to the parks.
* MVMCP
It was our first time attending the event. I'm still not sure if it's worth the price. The parade was great, the fireworks amazing and the ride lines after the 1st parade were really short. Still, huge lines to see the characters, it was impossible to take pictures with Santa Claus, the free cookies didn't taste good at all, same with the hot chocolate. The "snow" in Main Street was nothing special for us, used with the real stuff here. I saw many people without the bracelets.
It was a great trip, except I was a bit disappointed with the crowds. I guess I was expecting the same as September and it was not the same at all.
Any questions, I'll be glad to try to answer.
Camilo
