(04-15-2014 08:44 PM)dan o Wrote:  

(04-15-2014 08:30 PM)OneShiningMoment Wrote:  

(04-15-2014 04:10 PM)TigerBill Wrote:  

(04-15-2014 04:06 PM)eltigre Wrote:  Not a bad trip in early March. Much better than CT.
CFL Sports ‏@CFLSports 15m
The @American_Conf just announced that the @AmwayCenter will host the 2016 & 2017 Men’s Basketball Championships! pic.twitter.com/rPPpNQX3hx

Didn't know Amway had their own center, that's pretty awesome. And you're right, that might be a great trip.

Hope Coach Pastner teach the players multi-level marketing techniques before they play at Amway Center

The Amway Center should be at the Pyramid

(04-16-2014 08:17 AM)BinghamptonNed Wrote:  

(04-16-2014 05:55 AM)TallTiger Wrote:  Was told years ago even if you go to the Orlando theme parks during the slower times, they cut down the number of lines available so there's still a wait, unless you pay extra for the fastpass. It's so expensive now, over $100 a day! Ouch!!

you were told wrong.

fastpass is included with a ticket and when you go at off times, the lines are non existent for everything but the top 2 or 3 attractions and they are short lines.

It is ridiculously expensive. My oldest son has four kids and they go every other year and he buys the top of the line everything, fastpass, vip, special breakfasts with characters, the whole ball of wax. I have jumped his butt for spending so much money on those trips.

My wife and I have been with them a few times but it got old for me, it was fun seeing the kids have fun and I enjoyed a few of the rides but after a couple of trips I've seen it all.

We are waiting for our two youngest grandkids to be old enough to enjoy D-World and we will go with them.

Since we live in DFW, I have been lobbying to go to Disneyland instead of Disneyworld, factoring in the weather and the fact that all new rides are introduced at Disneyland before being built at Disneyworld. Save Florida for the beach!!

(04-16-2014 08:17 AM)BinghamptonNed Wrote:  

(04-16-2014 05:55 AM)TallTiger Wrote:  Was told years ago even if you go to the Orlando theme parks during the slower times, they cut down the number of lines available so there's still a wait, unless you pay extra for the fastpass. It's so expensive now, over $100 a day! Ouch!!

you were told wrong.

fastpass is included with a ticket and when you go at off times, the lines are non existent for everything but the top 2 or 3 attractions and they are short lines.

Correct. I'm there every February for a conference. In the past few years, the crowds have increased, but it is noticeably better than the summer. Disney people say "there is no slow season" any more, but there still are slower times.

It sounds great now until it comes time to write the check for the trip.......

Orlando is an expensive destination if you don't intend to travel like a monk.

The top 3-4 teams will send some fans but not many will travel very far to see their team lose the first game.

UCF and USF are more focused on football so it's iffy as to whether or not they will have good basketball teams. If they suck not many of their fans will attend.

It's probably always better to hold the tournament at a location where the home team *should* have a good to great season.

(04-15-2014 08:51 PM)Brother Bluto Wrote:  Orlando ? Lol

Maybe you should get out more if you find that to be funny.

(04-16-2014 10:11 AM)bluebacker Wrote:  It sounds great now until it comes time to write the check for the trip.......

Orlando is an expensive destination if you don't intend to travel like a monk.

The top 3-4 teams will send some fans but not many will travel very far to see their team lose the first game.

UCF and USF are more focused on football so it's iffy as to whether or not they will have good basketball teams. If they suck not many of their fans will attend.

It's probably always better to hold the tournament at a location where the home team *should* have a good to great season.

I disagree completely. We travel there a lot and it's not too expensive at all. Southwest frequently has flights for $250 or less. Because there are SO many hotels, you can almost always find a deal on hotwire or priceline (usually for 4 or 5 star properties). Plus, there are other angles. There's a site where you can rent timeshare points and stay in a great 2-bedroom condo for $120 per night.

Yes, if you go to disneyworld.com and book, it will be expensive...but, if you look, you can do Orlando pretty cheap. (Forget the theme park costs...they will always be expensive.)

(04-16-2014 10:11 AM)bluebacker Wrote:  It sounds great now until it comes time to write the check for the trip.......

Orlando is an expensive destination if you don't intend to travel like a monk.

Not necessarily.

I was just in Magic Kingdom very late last month, and while it was crowded, the lines really weren't that bad. Usually the times were posted as between 30 to 40 minutes per wait with the exception of an attraction or two which were longer. Even when the wait was supposedly 40 minutes, it seemed shorter. In reality it may have been 20 to 30 minutes, and the lines kept moving for the most part.

A one day pass (which is what I got) is expensive at 100 dollars. Especially when I remember the days when it was less than that for mostly the same stuff. Still had a great time, all without a fastpass.

Two years from now, who knows.

(04-16-2014 12:59 AM)Briskbas Wrote:  

(04-15-2014 08:51 PM)Brother Bluto Wrote:  Orlando ? Lol

I wouldn't worry about it. It's not a big convention town.

That's why I probably won't go.

(04-16-2014 10:20 AM)SigEpMike Wrote:  

(04-16-2014 10:11 AM)bluebacker Wrote:  It sounds great now until it comes time to write the check for the trip.......

Orlando is an expensive destination if you don't intend to travel like a monk.

The top 3-4 teams will send some fans but not many will travel very far to see their team lose the first game.

UCF and USF are more focused on football so it's iffy as to whether or not they will have good basketball teams. If they suck not many of their fans will attend.

It's probably always better to hold the tournament at a location where the home team *should* have a good to great season.

I disagree completely. We travel there a lot and it's not too expensive at all. Southwest frequently has flights for $250 or less. Because there are SO many hotels, you can almost always find a deal on hotwire or priceline (usually for 4 or 5 star properties). Plus, there are other angles. There's a site where you can rent timeshare points and stay in a great 2-bedroom condo for $120 per night.

Yes, if you go to disneyworld.com and book, it will be expensive...but, if you look, you can do Orlando pretty cheap. (Forget the theme park costs...they will always be expensive.)

Yeah, so setting aside the cost of the tournament tickets, a family of 4 could fly down, stay 4 nights, maybe take 1 day for Disney or Universal (it'd be hard and maybe a little foolish to go to Orlando and skip them entirely) for $3,500 - $4,000 all-in.... so call it an average of $1,000 / day plus the tournament tickets?

(04-16-2014 01:08 PM)bluebacker Wrote:  

(04-16-2014 10:20 AM)SigEpMike Wrote:  

(04-16-2014 10:11 AM)bluebacker Wrote:  It sounds great now until it comes time to write the check for the trip.......

Orlando is an expensive destination if you don't intend to travel like a monk.

The top 3-4 teams will send some fans but not many will travel very far to see their team lose the first game.

UCF and USF are more focused on football so it's iffy as to whether or not they will have good basketball teams. If they suck not many of their fans will attend.

It's probably always better to hold the tournament at a location where the home team *should* have a good to great season.

I disagree completely. We travel there a lot and it's not too expensive at all. Southwest frequently has flights for $250 or less. Because there are SO many hotels, you can almost always find a deal on hotwire or priceline (usually for 4 or 5 star properties). Plus, there are other angles. There's a site where you can rent timeshare points and stay in a great 2-bedroom condo for $120 per night.

Yes, if you go to disneyworld.com and book, it will be expensive...but, if you look, you can do Orlando pretty cheap. (Forget the theme park costs...they will always be expensive.)

Yeah, so setting aside the cost of the tournament tickets, a family of 4 could fly down, stay 4 nights, maybe take 1 day for Disney or Universal (it'd be hard and maybe a little foolish to go to Orlando and skip them entirely) for $3,500 - $4,000 all-in.... so call it an average of $1,000 / day plus the tournament tickets?

Not counting airfare, I could do it for a family of four maybe $200 per day, more if you count Disney/Universal. Maybe less, staying at a nice condo complex. Right now I could get a 2 bedroom condo in a nice 4 star complex for about $450 for the week. So, $65 a night lodging. March was the same price.

(04-16-2014 01:08 PM)bluebacker Wrote:  

(04-16-2014 10:20 AM)SigEpMike Wrote:  

(04-16-2014 10:11 AM)bluebacker Wrote:  It sounds great now until it comes time to write the check for the trip.......

Orlando is an expensive destination if you don't intend to travel like a monk.

The top 3-4 teams will send some fans but not many will travel very far to see their team lose the first game.

UCF and USF are more focused on football so it's iffy as to whether or not they will have good basketball teams. If they suck not many of their fans will attend.

It's probably always better to hold the tournament at a location where the home team *should* have a good to great season.

I disagree completely. We travel there a lot and it's not too expensive at all. Southwest frequently has flights for $250 or less. Because there are SO many hotels, you can almost always find a deal on hotwire or priceline (usually for 4 or 5 star properties). Plus, there are other angles. There's a site where you can rent timeshare points and stay in a great 2-bedroom condo for $120 per night.

Yes, if you go to disneyworld.com and book, it will be expensive...but, if you look, you can do Orlando pretty cheap. (Forget the theme park costs...they will always be expensive.)

Yeah, so setting aside the cost of the tournament tickets, a family of 4 could fly down, stay 4 nights, maybe take 1 day for Disney or Universal (it'd be hard and maybe a little foolish to go to Orlando and skip them entirely) for $3,500 - $4,000 all-in.... so call it an average of $1,000 / day plus the tournament tickets?

4 round trip tickets = $1,000
4-nights hotel = $480
4-tickets (1 day) Disney = $400
Food = $500 (on the high side if you do it right w/ meals at the condos)

A little under $2,500, which is pretty good for 4 people. Cheapest there is? Of course not. But not nearly out of the equation. Plus, many on a budget drive, dropping the cost down a lot more (~$300 for gas r/t). Let's go Griswald's!

I guess I'm a contrarian, but have never been interested in theme parks. Took my son to Disneyland when he was little. Might take my grandkids to Disneyworld when they're older, but not for me.

But to each his own.

I spent several weeks a couple of years ago in Newfoundland and Labrador, and one of their tourism slogans was "No Disneyworlds here". lol

(04-16-2014 01:22 PM)cotton1991 Wrote:  I guess I'm a contrarian, but have never been interested in theme parks. Took my son to Disneyland when he was little. Might take my grandkids to Disneyworld when they're older, but not for me.

But to each his own.

I spent several weeks a couple of years ago in Newfoundland and Labrador, and one of their tourism slogans was "No Disneyworlds here". lol

Yeah, I'm definitely not a theme park kind of guy.

(04-16-2014 10:16 AM)TigersRuleAll Wrote:  

(04-15-2014 08:51 PM)Brother Bluto Wrote:  Orlando ? Lol

Maybe you should get out more if you find that to be funny.

Inside joke

(04-16-2014 01:08 PM)bluebacker Wrote:  

(04-16-2014 10:20 AM)SigEpMike Wrote:  

(04-16-2014 10:11 AM)bluebacker Wrote:  It sounds great now until it comes time to write the check for the trip.......

Orlando is an expensive destination if you don't intend to travel like a monk.

The top 3-4 teams will send some fans but not many will travel very far to see their team lose the first game.

UCF and USF are more focused on football so it's iffy as to whether or not they will have good basketball teams. If they suck not many of their fans will attend.

It's probably always better to hold the tournament at a location where the home team *should* have a good to great season.

I disagree completely. We travel there a lot and it's not too expensive at all. Southwest frequently has flights for $250 or less. Because there are SO many hotels, you can almost always find a deal on hotwire or priceline (usually for 4 or 5 star properties). Plus, there are other angles. There's a site where you can rent timeshare points and stay in a great 2-bedroom condo for $120 per night.

Yes, if you go to disneyworld.com and book, it will be expensive...but, if you look, you can do Orlando pretty cheap. (Forget the theme park costs...they will always be expensive.)

Yeah, so setting aside the cost of the tournament tickets, a family of 4 could fly down, stay 4 nights, maybe take 1 day for Disney or Universal (it'd be hard and maybe a little foolish to go to Orlando and skip them entirely) for $3,500 - $4,000 all-in.... so call it an average of $1,000 / day plus the tournament tickets?

But that is going to be the case pretty much anywhere. Flights plus hotel plus rental car plus tickets will not be cheap. My point is that Orlando isn't any more expensive than any other city. It's not like going to NYC.

(04-16-2014 01:22 PM)cotton1991 Wrote:  I guess I'm a contrarian, but have never been interested in theme parks. Took my son to Disneyland when he was little. Might take my grandkids to Disneyworld when they're older, but not for me.

But to each his own.

I spent several weeks a couple of years ago in Newfoundland and Labrador, and one of their tourism slogans was "No Disneyworlds here". lol

if you can't have fun in Orlando...there's just no hope for you ;-)

Orlando is a good move, and during that time of year some very good deals are available as mentioned above. But I couldn't help thinking we sure underwhelmed not a few influential people with our hosting venue.

The "per day" cost at WDW gets cheaper as you add more days to your ticket.

Also, if you like going to WDW you can do what we did a few years back:

We bought annual passes and went 3 times that year.
- 7 days
- 4 days
- 7 days

An annual pass costs a bit more than a 1-week ticket package but less than two 1-week ticket packages. (At least it worked out that way then. I haven't looked at current costs.)

Anyway, we knew we wanted to go twice so we bought annual passes. We ended up going a 3rd time, too.

Much cheaper with the annual pass.

We also get the all-inclusive tickets (park hopper, water parks, etc).

Plus, being an annual passholder gets you free parking. Which at the time was either $10 or $12 per day.

Also, if you get on some travel site mailing lists you'll be notified when WDW is running their Free Dining Plan offer. That is a GREAT deal!!!

The dining plan we got included 1 snack, 1 counter-service meal and 1 table-service meal each day for each ticket. The table service meal can be a character dining meal if you want.

Other perks of being an annual passholder includes special offers and discounts in stores.

Current Premium Annual Pass for adult is $754.00.
1 adult 7-day Park Hopper, Water Park & More ticket is $410.00.
Difference = $344.00

If you made a second trip within a year for 2 days, the same type of ticket costs $274.00.
A 3 day trip would cost $360.00

So 1 7-day visit and 1 2-day visit costs $684.00, $70.00 less than a year's worth of unlimited visits.
And 1 7-day visit with 1 3-day visit costs $770.00, $16.00 more than a year's worth of unlimited visits.

(04-16-2014 01:13 PM)TigerBill Wrote:  

(04-16-2014 01:08 PM)bluebacker Wrote:  

(04-16-2014 10:20 AM)SigEpMike Wrote:  

(04-16-2014 10:11 AM)bluebacker Wrote:  It sounds great now until it comes time to write the check for the trip.......

Orlando is an expensive destination if you don't intend to travel like a monk.

The top 3-4 teams will send some fans but not many will travel very far to see their team lose the first game.

UCF and USF are more focused on football so it's iffy as to whether or not they will have good basketball teams. If they suck not many of their fans will attend.

It's probably always better to hold the tournament at a location where the home team *should* have a good to great season.

I disagree completely. We travel there a lot and it's not too expensive at all. Southwest frequently has flights for $250 or less. Because there are SO many hotels, you can almost always find a deal on hotwire or priceline (usually for 4 or 5 star properties). Plus, there are other angles. There's a site where you can rent timeshare points and stay in a great 2-bedroom condo for $120 per night.

Yes, if you go to disneyworld.com and book, it will be expensive...but, if you look, you can do Orlando pretty cheap. (Forget the theme park costs...they will always be expensive.)

Yeah, so setting aside the cost of the tournament tickets, a family of 4 could fly down, stay 4 nights, maybe take 1 day for Disney or Universal (it'd be hard and maybe a little foolish to go to Orlando and skip them entirely) for $3,500 - $4,000 all-in.... so call it an average of $1,000 / day plus the tournament tickets?

Not counting airfare, I could do it for a family of four maybe $200 per day, more if you count Disney/Universal. Maybe less, staying at a nice condo complex. Right now I could get a 2 bedroom condo in a nice 4 star complex for about $450 for the week. So, $65 a night lodging. March was the same price.

Man, I do NOT want to travel with you, lol.

$200 / day for 4? If I'm gonna go to Orlando I want to have some fun!

Eat out nice, see the sights, drink an adult beverage or three.