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MEET 2013; Everything to do! Updated 5/3/12
Topic Started: May 2 2012, 03:20 PM (121 Views)
MjrTomoshibi
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Field Commander
Alright! So, we're a bit more than a year out, and I know this is a bit early, but hey! Why not make a topic with all the stuff we might do or want to go to, or whatever, and we can all get an idea ahead of time what we might want to do as a group. There might even be things that we divide up for. Panda and I are still exploring, too, so we don't even know everything here yet. Since this is our first summer, we'll get to see things that are more time related. I'll add links to thinks as I come across them. If you have a request for some type of thing under one of these headers, just post it, and we'll try to find it.

As a side note: From Melbourne, Orlando is roughly 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours away. Not a bad drive. We can take toll roads to be a bit faster, or non-toll to save money. I vote, unless we're in a hurry, to take the non-toll roads. The difference is 15 - 30 minutes to the city limit, but also $5-10 in tolls each way.

Food:
Phocali - best Vietnamese pho noodle soup in town, plus lots of other tasty things.
Panita - Venezuelan and American food, HUGE (split able) plates (so far we've found them for breakfast) for good prices, DELICIOUS french toast! Their Venezuelan breakfast platter is fantastic.
Tijuana Flats - Good Mexican-American type place, TONS of hot sauces to try from mild to deadly. Tasty queso.
Mustard's Last Stand - Adventurous hot dogs! And regular dogs for the less adventurous.
Rolli's - Tasty pork loin sandwiches
Squid Lips - Expensive but really tasty and delicious seafood place.
House of Joe - nice big coffee/tea house with lots of lounge space
Leaning Tower of Pizza - so far, one of the best pizza places we've found.
More breakfast diners than you can shake a stick at.
Long Doggers - hot dogs, burgers, oysters, fried clams. A kind of 'by the beach' dive.
Indialantic Seafood Company - Best fish sandwich you'll ever eat. Fresh tuna and mahi, etc. But... pretty much only fish sandwiches.
Love Bugs - gourmet donuts.
Ice Cream Depot - Need I say more? Oh, probably that it's the best ice cream I've ever had.
In Orlando - really awesome Korean place, where you can grill your food at the table. Small venue.
Orlando also has a huge section of town devoted to Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc, so we could go explore there for dinner some night.

Activities:
Sailing
Beach going (we have wonderful sandy beaches, nice for shell collecting too)
Paddle board (standing on a board and paddling, instead of say, kayaking or surfing)
Kayaking
Surfing (not sure about renting boards or classes, but I can check in to it if people are interested.)
Jet ski rentals
Air boat tour
Fishing - river or ocean
Manatee tour
Kennedy Space Center
Golf (not sure if we have to be members)
Movies (always a choice, if something neat is out)
Pool (might change if we move)
Downtown - shops to explore, restaurants and cafes to try
Zoo - fairly small, lots of greenery (feels like walking in Jurassic Park, haha)
Adventure/zip line course - If all obstacles are meet, it's supposed to take around three hours, it's also at the zoo, so between the two, it'd make for a great full day.)
Orlando - Disney, Epcot, Seaworld, GIANT MALL, shopping galore
Always the option of just hanging out!

Places to stay:
Melbourne itself is small. The two next closest areas are West Melbourne, and Palm Bay. These three areas are all very close together, so getting a hotel in any of them shouldn't be an issue as far as taking much time to get together each day. I'd say, we might end up 30 minutes away if you get something in Palm Bay near the highway, but that's just a guess. If you find a hotel you're interested in, link me to it, and I can tell you how far away it is from us currently, and in relation to the town itself.

That's it for now. I'm probably going to hold off on places to stay until we make our determination of if we're moving to a house or not. Our lease is about up, and we might be able to score a deal. If that's the case, we can probably offer room and board to people. As it is now, we can only really have one person stay at the apartment with us.

Expect updates as time moves forward!
Edited by MjrTomoshibi, May 3 2012, 11:59 PM.
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HDEchidhog
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Let me know if there are any Mariott hotels in the area - I can get discounts at any hotels under that brand.
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MjrTomoshibi
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Well, there is a Courtyard by Marriott, but it's 110, and one of the most expensive hotels in the area. The cheapest is around 36. That's looking at prices on Orbitz for this June, during weekdays. So unless your discount is really super awesome, I'd recommend looking on Orbitz, or some other booking site, to find a better deal.

Also, when looking for 4 people to rent a room, the prices range with 56 as the lowest, to 110, again the Marriott being close to the most expensive.

Things to note - don't get anything that's more than 8-10 miles from 'Melbourne'. And definitely check the map - we live on the mainland, not the island, so I'd stay away from the island unless you really want to be right near the beach.

If you need to check distance from our place, put in "Sarno Road and Apollo Road, Melbourne, FL" into google maps. That's the crossroads by our complex. Again, this may change soon, but it's good enough for now.

Just a thought... Depending on if you plan to get a room with more than just you, it may be nicer to spend money on a better hotel. Our apartment is small, and the whole crew coming to spend time here would be difficult to manage. (That will change if we get a house). A nicer hotel may offer more space for hanging out. Something to think about.
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HDEchidhog
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I ask about the Martiott because my mom works for a Mariott hotel and I can get a family discount as low as $50-60 a night. I'd have to call ahead closer to the meet to make sure, but I can get a two-bed room for fairly cheap - and if a number of us share the room convention-style, the cost will be even cheaper =D
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Vector Sect
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would we be able to actually come visit you in your house or apartment or whatever? when we were in new york, some chump refused to give us a tour of his mansion, whining that we'd dirty his ivory tile with our city grime.
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MjrTomoshibi
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Hope so! We've got a small place, so it'll in part depend on how many come down as to how well we'll fit, but I have no objections for everyone coming over for a movie night, or going to our small pool, or whatever, as long as peeps don't mind two friendly kitties and possibly having to sit on the carpet for everyone to fit.

But with how many things keep breaking, who knows, maybe we'll move over winter break. Grr, stupid AC. (I doubt the moving thing - we have to study over break, and can't afford the week+ of dealing with a new place).
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MjrTomoshibi
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Okie dokie - so I'm thinking we should start laying down some set plans AFTER the new year starts. Those of us taking classes will know when our semesters are going to wrap up and such, and we can compare dates to get a time set in. We can also figure out hotels, plane tickets, and if we want to visit any big parks. The earlier tickets are bought, the cheaper they'll be, and all that jazz (for planes at least). And this can get us a ballpark idea of how much money we'll need for the trip, and a few months to save it up if necessary.

So! With that said, start to think of stuff you want to do while you're here. Outdoor stuff (beach, boating, etc), indoor stuff (exploring our little downtown shops, go out to a movie, etc), active stuff (zipline adventure, swimming, etc), chill stuff (play games, draw, mahjong, movies, etc), big park (Disney, KSC, etc), small park (local zoo, bird trail, etc).

Depending on the budget of people coming, we can go all out, or we can keep it pretty low cost for everyone. We can also split up for a day or whatever if there's a group who want to go to the big parks, and a group who doesn't.

But the point is to let all this sit on the back burner in your brain, so when we open up chat talks about it to make plans, you've got some ideas you want to talk about. =)
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HDEchidhog
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Low cost = awesome!

Let's see... I'm down for swimming and outdoor exploration. I'd love to visit Universal Studios in Orlando, but I know that'd be reeeeal pricey. I'm definitely a fan of movies and a big dinner or two, but as far as activities go, I'm pretty open. I'd love to see the ocean again @_@.
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MjrTomoshibi
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As luck would have it, take a left at the first light outside of our complex, take another left at the next light, a right at the one after that... and go straight. Ocean in 5 minutes.
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