Stranded in Orlando over Christmas

[longwaybycarriage]

I know, boo hoo, right? Any other time most of us would love being stranded here, but we're all away from our families so it's going to be tough.

We originally had Virgin flights leaving on the 18th, but our travel agent messed up big time and could care less so we ended up in a responsibility loophole. Got Air Canada flights via Toronto instead for 19th, but they didn't fly so we got moved to their next available which isn't until 27th. We were too scared to book more indirects for fear of getting stranded and couldn't afford more direct flights... So here we are.

Going to post on the general Orlando board for some advice about cheap activities and such for the week, but wanted to see if any of you had more specific advice for us. How do you go about Christmas out here away from home?

 

[disneyholic family]

well i suppose orlando is where i'd most want to be stranded, but as you, i'd rather be home with the family on holidays....

as for stuff to do - there's lots of stuff....i have to find the link to a thread on holiday doings and whatnot...

i'll go find it....

 

[Chilly]

When people were stranded because of the Ash cloud some parks let people in for free.

 

[heatherbelle]

You need to try and find some free things to do to keep costs down. What about a trip out to the Disney cruise line terminal one of the days and then spend the day by the coast watching the boats etc.

There are also the national parks and mount dora.

Asa another poster has said, its the one place where I would rather be stranded, but I understand missing your friends and family too.

 

[Rosie]

Sorry you're stranded
It sounds fun but I know it isn't as we were stuck for an extra week in Orlando in April.
First as you have e mail try contacting Disney/Seaworld/Universal and see if you can blag a few freebies. They all offered free entry to us in April which was great.
We visited Peabody Hotel and saw the Ducks, Celebration for a stroll around and went to a shopping mall (which we wouldn't usually bother with). If you've got a car you could take a drive to the coast and do some birdwatching/gator watching. I reallyliked strolling around the Boardwalk area and eating at Beaches and Cream which didn't cost a huge amount.
Hope you get to have a little fun but are home asap

 

[les2425]

i am so sorry, the last time i was there during christmas we played mini golf on christmas day as not many people wear out and we got told by the lad at the till to play as long as we wanted for just 1 round 4 hours later we finished lol.
you can go across to st petes area there are some good place to visit for free.

les & bev

 

[dixonsontour]

Do you have a car?

We went to bok tower down the 27. I think it is $5 or so to get in. Very nice change of pace, at 3pm there is a bell concert.

Have you visited all the disney hotels and seen the decorations.

The chip and dale campfire singalong at 7pm at ft wilderness is free and you can also see the decorations the campers have put out.

Celebration has the free snowing nightly event.

ICE at gaylord palms was good.

 

[longwaybycarriage]

We're back!

We ended up having a 28 day trip. If someone had offered me that before I went I'd have been thrilled, but all that time on a tight budget at the end there, with a car too small to take all of us in one trip...not ideal. Still, we tried to make the best of it.

A lot of great suggestions here, unfortunately so great we'd already covered them in the planned part of our trip

We did managed to blag some freebies, which we'd never have tried if it weren't for this thread so big thanks for that. Also now have a to do list for next time of some of the things we couldn't get to because of the car situation!

 

[wayneg]

Welcome home. We got stuck with the ash cloud at Easter, we only had an extra 4 days longer than planned but know how you feel. If you know upfront you can plan but when its dropped on you at the end of a trip its not so easy to do, thankfully we had laptops so that made life a little easier.
We prefer being away for Xmas so that wouldn't have bothered us, further away from the UK the better for us at this time of year.

 

[2Tiggies]

Welcome home! And a belated Merry Christmas!!!