The Meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
Join Date:
6/27/2011
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42
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Hello everyone!
I've seen countless threads on Minecon 2013 tickets and who's going and what not. The one thing I have NOT seen is help on housing information. I'm here to help you with just that if I'm allowed to do so. I searched a number of trusted and third party sites who dedicate themselves to finding deals. Now I'm not here to bash or say Mojang didn't do their best or get the best rate. I'm sure they did all they could .
Though what I and other can do is recommend how to find better deals on lodging. I have to say, I did splurge a little bit and booked at the Peabody Orlando, also my flight and hotel were booked at once (I thank Travelocity for that). You should do the following when booking hotels and flights:
Book your hotel or flight NOW or at least 60 days ahead of time - Unless you have a special card (which I will not name) to book last minute deals, the prices generally rise after that period.
Use alert sites like SkyScanner to get emails about flight prices - They do have a nice alert tool to tell you when prices rise or fall on the lowest ticket price.
Book your hotel AND flight in a package - Probably my biggest tip. I booked the Peabody Orlanda and my flight. Cost? Around $800. Now here's the kicker, ever heard of the Loft? It's a luxury class version room and comes with extras. Take my $250 flight cost out and you have what? Around the price the Mojang Housing site offered for a standard double bed room.
Last tip? Browse trusted travel deal sites. Simple. They will save you HUNDREDS. If not for them I would have bought the same stay for well over $1,000.
What is are your tips and how did you save money going to Minecon this or the last few years? Share I'm interested
Don't book without reading reviews of the hotel on tripadvisor, but be careful there, more than 90% of people that had a great experience at a Hotel won't give any feedback on websites like tripadvisor, so most of the critics are generally bad because of this, if you had a pleasant experience somewhere, don't hesitate to share it on tripadvisor. Best way to see if the hotel is ok is to check if the bad reviews are stating the same thing over and over again and see if the people that posted the bad reviews have more than 1 critic, if they only have 1 or 2, you generally can't trust them, and count each good critics like if there was 10 of them, I would say its probably the ratio here, 1 of 10 people would give a good review of a hotel vs a bad review.
Of course there's nothing like personal opinion there and what you see on tripadvisor might not be the reality once you're at the Hotel...
The advantage of booking through Mojang and the Minecon website is that you can get a great hotel room within walking distance of the actual convention for relatively cheap (I booked my room right down the street from the OCCC and I'm only paying $80 for a one-night stay). This is useful if you would like to spend less time travelling within Orlando itself, as traffic can be a pain at specific times of the day, even with the use of public transportation.
The advantage of booking through Mojang and the Minecon website is that you can get a great hotel room within walking distance of the actual convention for relatively cheap (I booked my room right down the street from the OCCC and I'm only paying $80 for a one-night stay). This is useful if you would like to spend less time travelling within Orlando itself, as traffic can be a pain at specific times of the day, even with the use of public transportation.
I live in Orlando, and I booked The Peabody, because their rooms are usually $400 and up, and it's one of the nicest hotels in Orlando. I got one for four people for $189 a night, and it is literally attached to the OCCC. The Mojang deals are REALLY good.
I live in Orlando, and I booked The Peabody, because their rooms are usually $400 and up, and it's one of the nicest hotels in Orlando. I got one for four people for $189 a night, and it is literally attached to the OCCC. The Mojang deals are REALLY good.
I was going to book through Mojang, then I found out I could save like $1000 on a better room level (The Loft) at the same hotel WITH flight through a booking site.Though I wills till say, the standard double rooms they offer if you like no frills is a GREAT deal!
For those of you on a really (really really) tight budget, there is a Wal-Mart a few minutes from the convention center. Wal-Mart allows overnight parking for those that don't mind sleeping in their cars. It sounds silly, but as lodging becomes more sparse, this might become a more viable option to some.
For anyone that wants to save on hotel and transportation costs while getting around Orlando. They have bus transportation system called i Ride Trolley. Most of the route covers International Drive that run North and South lines. There's even 3 stops at the convention center, the #26 stop is right on the West entrance of the convention center where Minecon will be! Each ride costs $1.50 or you can buy unlimited ride passes which goes by the amount of days. A 1 day unlimited pass is $5 and a 3 day unlimited pass is $7 which really beats a car rental. The buses run between 8am -10:30pm daily which is great for the Minecon schedule. I also found out about a site called Next Bus which tracks buses in real time using GPS and if you're worried about missing a bus or when a bus will arrive at a specific time at your stop, you don't have to fret about it. There are several apps for Android phones that access Next Bus so I can use my phone to see arriving buses when I'm in Orlando.
Ok, so I got the transportation around the city covered now for the hotel. I saw a few people saying they booked hotels very close to the convention center, but from researching them I didn't like their prices and the price range I wanted were a little further away, most of which were on International Dr. So I finally settled on a good hotel price and this hotel even has an i Ride Trolley stop right in front of it, so all I gotta do is walk out of my hotel a short distance catch the bus and it will drop me off at stop #26 West entrance of the convention center There were other hotels along International Dr. that has bus stops in front or nearby so you might want to look into it.
Lastly, I still need to book a flight!
I hope this helps other 2013 Minecon Attendees and if anyone has questions feel free to ask!
EDIT #1 - Oh I also need to figure out transportation to and from my hotel and the airport! The hotel that I chose says on their site that they have a shuttle but I'll have to call and confirm to make sure. Others might want to inquire if their hotel offers shuttle to and from the airport as well.
Hi Viet1982 Just curious if you're willing to share the hotel name, looking at them right now around the I-Drive area and need a good deal...
Here is the hotel info:
Rosen International Hotel 7600 International Drive,Orlando, FL, 32819
It's only a 2 star hotel, BUT it had a lot of high reviews from several different travel sites I researched. As of this reply their rate for a standard room is at $63 per night which isn't too bad. You may use Hotels.com site that has an interactive map that shows hotels for the area and see the prices and locations. With that map I used I Ride Trolley bus system's route map to figure out where bus stops along International drive were and sync my transportation needs with my hotel and the convention center
There are a few other hotels a little further up that are in the $50 range per night like Howard Johnson Inn, Econolodge, and Travelodge just to name a few.
Good luck in planning your trip!
EDIT #1- That $63 per night was a quote from Hotels.com I just went to get a quote directly from the hotel's site and their quote rate is $69.99 per night .
I had this hotel in my list but its out of my price range for now, I might consider it because the prices are rocketing sky high right now, something does tell me the websites like the one I use (expedia.ca) are now aware that there's a Minecon during theses dates and so the prices are getting higher. Will be there for sure, but where and how many nights is another story, we're 3 adults but we can't really share a bed so that's another problem for us...
Bleh! Ok so I found out my hotel doesn't exactly do shuttles to and from MCO (Orlando International Airport) and they told me to use a local shuttling service but they're at least $30. So I think I'm gonna go with Orlando's mass transit system via the Lynx bus system. I had mentioned earlier about i Ride Trolly but that's only for International Dr area. So driving time between MCO and the I-Drive is around 20 mins but taking the bus will be 60 minutes but the ride is only $2 so can't really complain. Again, if anyone doesn't have transportation to and/from the airport and your hotel is along I-Drive you can catch a bus on the Lynx system using route #42
I'm including a link to a PDF file that is the bus map and schedule below.
Bleh! Ok so I found out my hotel doesn't exactly do shuttles to and from MCO (Orlando International Airport) and they told me to use a local shuttling service but they're at least $30. So I think I'm gonna go with Orlando's mass transit system via the Lynx bus system. I had mentioned earlier about i Ride Trolly but that's only for International Dr area. So driving time between MCO and the I-Drive is around 20 mins but taking the bus will be 60 minutes but the ride is only $2 so can't really complain. Again, if anyone doesn't have transportation to and/from the airport and your hotel is along I-Drive you can catch a bus on the Lynx system using route #42
I'm including a link to a PDF file that is the bus map and schedule below.
Be advised that if you're traveling with a lot of luggage, the lynx bus driver can deny you entry on the bus, lucky for me it never happened and I suppose they make an exception for the 42 since it starts at the airport after all (been there twice lately (in june 2008 and in january 2012) and in january, it didn,t take 60 minutes, I would say around 90 minutes to go around the Sand Lake Road Area because of the heavy traffic and some road construction had the bus going everywhere.
Be advised that if you're traveling with a lot of luggage, the lynx bus driver can deny you entry on the bus, lucky for me it never happened and I suppose they make an exception for the 42 since it starts at the airport after all (been there twice lately (in june 2008 and in january 2012) and in january, it didn,t take 60 minutes, I would say around 90 minutes to go around the Sand Lake Road Area because of the heavy traffic and some road construction had the bus going everywhere.
Aw man, thanks for telling me about your experience with the Lynx bus. I don't think I would have a problem with luggage I plan on only bringing one bag and it will be a carry on too for my flight because freaking airlines are charging for checked baggage these days. Anyway, I would definitely have an issue with the 90 min ride to and from the airport. Not during arrival but for my departure. I don't want to be late for a flight back home and then get stuck like Mr. Edward Snowden at a terminal *cough* I guess I have to pay a premium price for a shuttle service then. Thanks Dodge34 for bringing that to my attention!
Ended up changing my hotel to the Rosen Plaza at 9700 I-Drive which is directly across from the West Hall at OCCC, even has a walkway to and from the hotel! The price difference was a couple dollars per night compared to the Rosen Inn International on 7600 I-Drive which is further up the street. I got a hotel and flight package from Travelocity which is why I got this room for almost the same amount as the previous one.
I live in Orlando, and I booked The Peabody, because their rooms are usually $400 and up, and it's one of the nicest hotels in Orlando. I got one for four people for $189 a night, and it is literally attached to the OCCC. The Mojang deals are REALLY good.
If you live in Orlando, why would you get a hotel room also in Orlando?
For me, my girlfriend heard a rumor a few months ago that OCCC was going to be the venue for Minecon, so we booked the Days Inn down the street (10 minute walk). I haven't checked the prices since Minecon was officially announced, but all of the "hotel discounts" from the Minecon website were more expensive than the Days Inn we booked. All the hotels in the area probably raise their prices when there is a big convention in town.
If you live in Orlando, why would you get a hotel room also in Orlando?
For me, my girlfriend heard a rumor a few months ago that OCCC was going to be the venue for Minecon, so we booked the Days Inn down the street (10 minute walk). I haven't checked the prices since Minecon was officially announced, but all of the "hotel discounts" from the Minecon website were more expensive than the Days Inn we booked. All the hotels in the area probably raise their prices when there is a big convention in town.
That would explain that I can't find great prices anywhere anymore, even with Expedia and travelocity, let alone finding all the hotels that are near the OCCC is a pain, I'll go down in street view to get a better idea I think it will be my best option since they all claim to be near the OCCC while some are really far or not even on I-Drive, perhaps all the ones around OCCC are more than 60$ a night and that could explain the problem I have...
I found out I could save a lot of money just by crossing the US border before taking my plane (will also save me a lot of time at the customs since I'll only take local fly instead of International fly), so I might ask for my dad to drop us off at Burlington Airport and pick us up when we come back to save a lot of money on plane tickets (from Montreal, the fees and tax are ridiculously higher than most US city) any tips would be appreciated, especially about the luggage policy, I know that its usually a smaller plane that bring us to a more major airport, but do they have smaller size luggage restrictions for this.
I've seen countless threads on Minecon 2013 tickets and who's going and what not. The one thing I have NOT seen is help on housing information. I'm here to help you with just that if I'm allowed to do so. I searched a number of trusted and third party sites who dedicate themselves to finding deals. Now I'm not here to bash or say Mojang didn't do their best or get the best rate. I'm sure they did all they could .
Though what I and other can do is recommend how to find better deals on lodging. I have to say, I did splurge a little bit and booked at the Peabody Orlando, also my flight and hotel were booked at once (I thank Travelocity for that). You should do the following when booking hotels and flights:
Of course there's nothing like personal opinion there and what you see on tripadvisor might not be the reality once you're at the Hotel...
~Epic Space Milk Muffin
I live in Orlando, and I booked The Peabody, because their rooms are usually $400 and up, and it's one of the nicest hotels in Orlando. I got one for four people for $189 a night, and it is literally attached to the OCCC. The Mojang deals are REALLY good.
I was going to book through Mojang, then I found out I could save like $1000 on a better room level (The Loft) at the same hotel WITH flight through a booking site.Though I wills till say, the standard double rooms they offer if you like no frills is a GREAT deal!
Ok, so I got the transportation around the city covered now for the hotel. I saw a few people saying they booked hotels very close to the convention center, but from researching them I didn't like their prices and the price range I wanted were a little further away, most of which were on International Dr. So I finally settled on a good hotel price and this hotel even has an i Ride Trolley stop right in front of it, so all I gotta do is walk out of my hotel a short distance catch the bus and it will drop me off at stop #26 West entrance of the convention center There were other hotels along International Dr. that has bus stops in front or nearby so you might want to look into it.
Lastly, I still need to book a flight!
I hope this helps other 2013 Minecon Attendees and if anyone has questions feel free to ask!
Sources:
http://www.iridetrolley.com/
http://www.nextbus.com
EDIT #1 - Oh I also need to figure out transportation to and from my hotel and the airport! The hotel that I chose says on their site that they have a shuttle but I'll have to call and confirm to make sure. Others might want to inquire if their hotel offers shuttle to and from the airport as well.
Here is the hotel info:
Rosen International Hotel
7600 International Drive, Orlando, FL, 32819
It's only a 2 star hotel, BUT it had a lot of high reviews from several different travel sites I researched. As of this reply their rate for a standard room is at $63 per night which isn't too bad. You may use Hotels.com site that has an interactive map that shows hotels for the area and see the prices and locations. With that map I used I Ride Trolley bus system's route map to figure out where bus stops along International drive were and sync my transportation needs with my hotel and the convention center
There are a few other hotels a little further up that are in the $50 range per night like Howard Johnson Inn, Econolodge, and Travelodge just to name a few.
Good luck in planning your trip!
EDIT #1- That $63 per night was a quote from Hotels.com I just went to get a quote directly from the hotel's site and their quote rate is $69.99 per night .
I'm including a link to a PDF file that is the bus map and schedule below.
http://www.orlando-how-to.com/support-files/bus-routes/42.pdf
Be advised that if you're traveling with a lot of luggage, the lynx bus driver can deny you entry on the bus, lucky for me it never happened and I suppose they make an exception for the 42 since it starts at the airport after all (been there twice lately (in june 2008 and in january 2012) and in january, it didn,t take 60 minutes, I would say around 90 minutes to go around the Sand Lake Road Area because of the heavy traffic and some road construction had the bus going everywhere.
Aw man, thanks for telling me about your experience with the Lynx bus. I don't think I would have a problem with luggage I plan on only bringing one bag and it will be a carry on too for my flight because freaking airlines are charging for checked baggage these days. Anyway, I would definitely have an issue with the 90 min ride to and from the airport. Not during arrival but for my departure. I don't want to be late for a flight back home and then get stuck like Mr. Edward Snowden at a terminal *cough* I guess I have to pay a premium price for a shuttle service then. Thanks Dodge34 for bringing that to my attention!
If you live in Orlando, why would you get a hotel room also in Orlando?
For me, my girlfriend heard a rumor a few months ago that OCCC was going to be the venue for Minecon, so we booked the Days Inn down the street (10 minute walk). I haven't checked the prices since Minecon was officially announced, but all of the "hotel discounts" from the Minecon website were more expensive than the Days Inn we booked. All the hotels in the area probably raise their prices when there is a big convention in town.
That would explain that I can't find great prices anywhere anymore, even with Expedia and travelocity, let alone finding all the hotels that are near the OCCC is a pain, I'll go down in street view to get a better idea I think it will be my best option since they all claim to be near the OCCC while some are really far or not even on I-Drive, perhaps all the ones around OCCC are more than 60$ a night and that could explain the problem I have...