The lobby had some interesting decorations, such as the tiki god balloon sculpture.
Our room was amazing. It had a full kitchen, a bedroom with a king-sized bed, a jetted tub in the bedroom, a walk-in shower in the bathroom, and a washer and dryer. Rachael slept on the pull-out bed in the living room.
My cousin, Keith, works at Universal Studios and hooked us up with one day tickets to both parks. Rachael was not feeling well, so I was the only one to ride the Harry Potter ride. My Aunt Jackie and Uncle Jimmie met us there as they have annual passes. It was nice to spend time with them.
We also spent a day at Seaworld, though I wasn't really impressed. The otter/walrus show was really cute, but I didn't care for the fact that every elementary school in Florida was having their "end of school" celebration there. There's a reason I am not a school teacher.
We had dinner at Maggiano's the last night. It's located on International Drive in Orlando. Loved it! Of course, it helps that my cousin's roommate used to work there. We had a party of about 14 (did I mention I have family in Orlando *smile*).
Now, for the NEGATIVES. When we arrived, they set us up with an "update." We asked about special pricing for the parks. We were offered a deal of $200 for the three of us to go to SeaWorld and eat for free. "Don't buy it over there," the woman told us, pointing to the ticket counter. Sounded great! So, the next day, during our "update," we were told to go to the prize counter and get our prize. I asked for the SeaWorld deal. I explained it to the lady at the prize desk, but she said there was no such offer. That's fine, we'll just buy the one we were told about downstairs. We opted for the $100 AMEX card. Yay for free groceries.
Fast forward to Thursday. We had already wasted all of Monday sitting in on the update, bought a foreclosure at Bonnet Creek, etc. We go back to the desk where we were told about the SeaWorld Deal. It was one of the prizes. We explained that it was not available upstairs. In their defense, they tried to fix it, but offered us the deal at their cost, which was about $280. I was furious and it really colored our trip to SeaWorld, which we just paid for it out of pocket.
