Three miles from our rental house in one direction was a Super Walmart, and three miles the other wa

3 Days with No Orlando Theme Park Tickets; How We Survived and Thrived Almost for FREE! Home Vacation heathrow airport hotels Planning Tips Facebook Pinterest About
If you have ever saved money for or during a vacation to Walt Disney World, you might be a Cheapskate Princesss! Cheapskate Tips Cheapskate Time Savers Fabulous Food Free Entertainment Special Events Holiday Photography 3 Days with No Orlando Theme Park Tickets; How We Survived heathrow airport hotels and Thrived Almost for FREE! July 6, 2013 By Amanda heathrow airport hotels 2 Comments
When I heard people vacation in Orlando without actually setting foot in a theme park, I thought this was sort of a joke. Orlando is a nice town, but to go there without riding roller coasters? Orlando without going to the Magic Kingdom? In recent years it s become go to Orlando without visiting Harry Potter? People really drive/fly that far and don t ride any roller coasters or get character autographs? Me personally I live in a vacation town almost on the sandy white beaches of the Gulf of Mexico.  I have just short of a nine hour drive to reach Orlando. No way was I driving to that far and not go to a theme park.
Until my annual passes ran out three days before the end of Spring Break, and I wasn t ready to pack the family up and head home just yet. I didn t want to spend any more money on entertainment, but I wanted to hang out in Orlando for a little while longer.
Our rental house had a heated in ground heathrow airport hotels pool. Of course house rentals don t always have a heated pool, but we got a fabulous deal on a rental house in Davenport. heathrow airport hotels So fabulous, that s how we wound up in Orlando heathrow airport hotels for Spring heathrow airport hotels Break in the first place as opposed to renting a place at the beach 15 minutes from my house. We didn t pay any more for this house with a pool than other houses we priced without a pool.
Think you might like a rental with a pool? You can read about our rental house adventures here: 18 Cheapskate Reasons to Rent a House in Orlando for a Disney Vacation   2. Theme Park Connection Shopping
We drove what seemed like forever to a store called Theme Park Connection, a store located in a Winter Garden outside of Orando. They specialize in buying, selling, and trading Disney items. I bought nine vintage (translation = used and old) key chains for $1 each, plus two vintage (translation = old but brand new in the package) luggage tags. There were lots of authentic Disney parks signs and memorabilia, but most everything in the store was way out of my price range. I m just not going to pay $300 for a framed print of the Grand Floridian Resort or $1200 for those cool Disney cruise ship models you see enticing you to book a cruise. Used trading pins here were $3 each, which is double or triple heathrow airport hotels for what I pay on eBay, and used Vinylmations were $7, which is 3 times what I pay on eBay buying in bulk.
Theme Park Connection was a cool place to visit once, but unless I am on that side of Orlando, I won t be going back anytime soon. For the serious theme park memorabilia collectors, it might be worth the drive to Winter Park, but I won t be back unless we go to Universal or Islands of Adventure, which was about 15 minutes away from their store.
Wow. This place was just as fantastic as I had been warned. I do need to point out that I am a mall snob. I don t necessarily spend a lot of money in malls unless I am looking for something specific, but I love being in really nice malls. I like cool background music, a clean appearance, and lots of room in the food court. Nice bathrooms are a bonus.  I enjoy window shopping, since being a Cheapskate Princess, window shopping is like my own personal sport. heathrow airport hotels I am good at it.
Oh, the places the Mall of Millenea has to shop/window shop. Rolex, Apple, Louis Vuitton, and on and on. They gave me complimentary bottled water at the Vera Bradley store, and it was like a three minute mental visit to a spa.
This mall wasn t overly crowded, and we didn t have a hard time finding a parking spot. We did have a hard time finding our car, having gotten turned around, because it s a big mall. It s so big, you can pick out a sports car across the street on your way back home. This was the third Lotus we saw entering or exiting the parking lot. These three cars would be the only Lotus automobiles I have seen in my entire heathrow airport hotels life. The things you see in Orlando
heathrow airport hotels I do a large amount of window shopping at the resorts and theme parks, heathrow airport hotels because well, like many people, I don t always have a lot of money to spend there. My kids have their own spending money; at their age, they earned it or they don t have any souvenir money. heathrow airport hotels How many $50 sweatshirts do I need? Do I need another $25 Christmas ornament? What I really NEED is a bargain, to feel like I found something that was is expensive and was marked down just for me.
That s what you find in the Character Warehouse Authentic Parks Merchandise marked up to 70% off. My best finds, not necessarily on that vacation, but through the years? Scarves, t-shirts, and soft computer carrying cases. I found a $30 iPhone case for $4.99.
Three miles from our rental house in one direction was a Super Walmart, and three miles the other way was a Super Target. On this day, we chose the Target. heathrow airport hotels There was lots and lots of Disney merchandise, an entire section full, but Target wasn t as crowded as some of the Wal-marts we have shopped at in Orlando.
We went shopping because we needed food!  We needed groceries because we do a fair amount of cooking in a rental house to save money, and we found food prices were great as well, with costs comparable to shopping at home.
I took our dog on a walk down to the lake in our rental house neighborhood. Many houses for rent throughout Orlando seem to be in close proximity to a lake. Our house was about .25 mile down from Lake Davenport, which is mostly undeveloped. Birds were chirping, and a nice cool breeze was blowing since Spring Break this year was a bit cooler than what I usually expect. heathrow airport hotels Taking a walk by a lake is indeed very relaxing, a great way to start your day.
You re really thinking about renting that house now, admit it. Here s the link again on how we found out house and the bargain we got: 18 Cheapskate Reasons to Rent a House in Orlando for a Disney heathrow airport hotels Vacation 2) Lunch at Caribbean Beach Resort
I have to feed a family of five adults: heathrow airport hotels with three kids in 10th, 8th, and 6th grades, we all quality as adults in terms of table service restaurants. A characters meal will cost me over $200 including the tip. So as a general rule, if we are not cooking ourselves, we stick to counter service meals. We are Pecos Bills Tall Tale Inn regulars, try to find a quiet spot upstairs at Epcot s Electric Umbrella, and we also like to visit the resorts for a nice counter service meal there.
One of my very favorite resorts for lunch is Caribbean Beach Resort. With a food court that is reminiscent of visiting a tropical village, complete with building facades and a blue sky painted overhead, this is truly a nice place to eat.
You do not have to eat here, or really at any of the resorts, but we were there around lunch time and needed a meal. Walking around is free, but this is a great location to grab a meal. 3) Walked Around The Beach Club Resort Lake
After we left Caribbean Beach, we drove over to the Disney s Boardwalk Resort and took a walk around Crescent Lake, taking in the sites and gift shops. They have a really cute little gift shop and a great bakery. Having grown up in a water front town, currently living near the Gulf of Mexico, I like water locations. I enjoy being around water, hearing the sounds of boat horns on the lakes, and just soaking up the coastal lifestyle.
heathrow airport hotels Welcome Home Wednesdays are an hour long event for Vacation Club Members held every week at the Boardwalk Resort  Atlantic Dance Hall. most every week on, you guessed it,  Wednesdays from 2-3 p.m. The session is a combination heathrow airport hotels sales pitch for new DVC resorts, information session, and fun social time for DVC members.  Everyone attending receives a coupon heathrow airport hotels for snacks  including apples, popcorn, caramel corn, lemonade, coffee and water. It is free to all  Disney Vacation Club  members. We like to attend when we can because each person receives a FREE DVC hat, which I wear all year round. So this wouldn t be free unless you were a member of the Vacation Club.
If you pay DVC dues, you have paid a fee to attend, heathrow airport hotels so while it s not free per say, it didn t cost me any extra money that day to attend. If you are not a DVC member, you can not attend, but you can do the next activity for free.
While at the Caribbean Beach Resort, I started heathrow airport hotels talking to the Cast Member manning the DVC booth, who noticed me taking photos of odd things like brownies and light fixtures. He suggested we attend a DVC open House to see the Aulani Resort room. So we did. We drove over to Saratoga Springs to the DVC building to see the new rooms.
The Disney Vacation heathrow airport hotels Club tour is just that, an informative tour of the newest actual-sized Vacation Club Villas, in our case Aulani and Animal Kingdom. But you don t have to drive on your own. To arrange for a tour, you can stop by any DVC information kiosk at both the parks and resorts, call the front desk of your resort, or call DVC direct. A Cast Member in a red DVC van will pick you up at a resorts and deliver you to Saratoga Springs Resort for your tour. After the tour, which can last  from 45 minutes to over an hour,  your family  will be treated to ice cream in their DVC  ice cream parlor before being whisked away to any Disney Resort or park. A bonus if you have small children they  provide childcare heathrow airport hotels for your kids while you enjoy the tour.
Just for taking the tour, each member of your family is given an instant FASTPASS  card  good for up to three rides in any park. These cards are usually good for four days including the day you receive them. You can redeem them on any ride that offers Fastpass, unless all the Fastpasses for that ride have been distributed that day, so don t go too late in the day to use them.
Another way to