Everything You Never Knew You Wanted to Know About Going to Astros Spring Training

So you've finally decided to go to Astros Spring Training - despite my Spring Training Heaven post! Now you have to figure out all of the logistics: How to get there? Where to stay? Rental car? What else is there to do in Kissimmee? The first year I went to Spring Training (2005), I was overwhelmed with all the details, but now, on my fifth trip it's about as scary as planning a trip to visit my parents. Maybe less scary.

My young-but-wise rabbi says that some sermons are informational and some are inspirational, and it's important to know the difference. Blogs are similar - if Spring Training Heaven was supposed to be inspirational, this one is all information. Boring and dry perhaps - but hopefully useful!

How to Get There on a Budget

I'm really talking here about how fly there on a budget, since I'm coming down from the Washington DC area. One consideration is that there are multiple choices for airports. While the Orlando Airport (MCO) is closest - not far at all from the ballpark, Tampa (TPA) is just an hour or so away. Another thing to remember: There's generally no discount for buying round trip tickets, so you can get one-way flights into one airport and out through another, depending on the prices and schedules that best fit your needs. The past couple of years, I've flown into Tampa, picked up my rental car, driven to Kissimmee where I stayed, and then flew out from Orlando, turning in my rental car at the airport there. (More on rental cars below.) I've got cousins in Tampa, so it's a good excuse to visit family. But mainly, it just turned out to be better flight options for me.

Another consideration, when looking for good deals on flights: Tuesday and Wednesday are generally cheaper days to fly than Sundays. In a previous blog entry I wrote about how to pick what dates you want to go to Spring Training - mainly based on finding clumps of home games. If you can arrange for mid-week travel, staying over the weekend, you'll find much better deals on flights.

I generally take an evening flight home, following an afternoon game. If the game is over around 4 PM or so, you can be at the airport - about 13 miles away - in less than half an hour. You can even grab some dinner first and still return your rental car, get through security, and make an 8 PM flight without hassle.

Where to Stay on a Budget

There are a gazillion hotels, motels, resorts, "resorts," townhouses, condos, etc. in Kissimmee! Not in the town itself, which is pretty small, but in the greater area referred to as Kissimmee. There are more hotels/motels per square acre there than just about anywhere in the country! Why? I'll give you a hint: Search for Kissimmee hotels on your favorite travel site, and you'll see many of the usual hotels with titles like "Maingate" or "Maingate East." What gate? The gate to Disney. Kissimmee is where the people who go to Disney stay!

There's a nonstop row of places to stay, of all types and price ranges, from scuzzy to swank. Most of them are on or adjacent to US Hwy 192, AKA Irlo W. Bronson Memorial Highway. This is a long stretch of road, with a ton of traffic, and (despite the "highway" moniker) traffic lights at every intersection. Hwy 192 runs from just past Disney on the West, past the turn to the Stadium about 20 miles east, and then on to Melbourne (Florida, not Australia) on the Atlantic Coast. The higher the numbers get on Irlo Bronson, the closer you are to Disney - and the farther you are from Osceola County Stadium. Big numbers are great if you're there for Disney World, but me, I'm there for baseball. The prices kind of go along that line too - as you get closer to the Holy Disney Empire the hotels get fancier and more expensive.

The trick - if you're watching your budget - is to find someplace nice and comfortable that's reasonably priced. "Comfortable" is kind of a relative term - reflecting your age, lifestyle, tolerance for noise, interest in partying, etc. I'm a married female who goes to Spring Training with my husband or adult sons or (this year) my sister who's celebrating a round-number birthday. I like cleanliness, availability of fridge and microwave, and highspeed Internet access - so I can update my blog and post my photos. I don't like rooms (and guests) who rent by the hour and loud music after 2 AM. I also don't care about fancy soap or entertainment facilities at the hotel, although an exercise room is nice. I also want to spend under $100 a night, so that leaves out the luxury hotels. That's just me (boring and frugal) - you might have other ideas about what's comfortable or nice.

The first year I went to Spring Training, I found an article in the Washington Post travel section that purported to list the 25 best cheap places to stay in Orlando. I was looking for someplace inexpensive where I could have a separate space for my slightly grouchy adult son. I picked a bright pink Howard Johnson's in the 4800 block of Irlo Bronson (Rt 192), where I got a 2 BR/2 bath + kitchen "suite" for about $75 a night. It was serviceable, not too scuzzy, not too nice either. I looked elsewhere the next year, and found the Baymont Hotel (5100 block), where I got a room with a fridge and microwave, free Internet, plus a hot breakfast, for about the same price. People there were friendly and helpful, room was clean. I liked it so much that I went back to the same place the following year. It had been bought by Best Western, but was pretty much the same. Both of these places are about 7-8 miles from the stadium.

Last year, though, I decided that it was silly to be staying at hotels that are closer to Disney than to the ballpark. I found a "resort" that was walking-distance (about a mile) to the stadium, with 2 BR/2 bath full kitchen townhouses that go for under $100 a night. Note the quote marks on "resort": The Villas at Fortune Place are nowhere in the vacinity of being a "resort" so if that's what you want, pick something else. It's very boring looking from the outside - a townhouse city with palm trees - but inside the townhouses are comforable and furnished with the usual Florida casual stuff. The exercise room is minimal, and while there is highspeed Internet, it's only next to the pool. (There were always more people sitting on the porch with their laptops than in the pool.) It's next door to a Publix grocery and across the street from a Latino grocery - very convenient, since you have a kitchen. The best part for me was easy access to the stadium and to the practice fields - about a five minute drive, tops. You could even walk and save the hefty parking fee. The main "disadvantage" of this place seems to be that it's so far from Disney - which I consider to be a blessing. Anyway, overall it was a good place to stay, within my budget, and meeting my needs, and I'm planning to stay there again this year.

Rules of thumb for picking motels: Watch out for places that are pink (check the online photos), or have the word "flamingo" in their names. The online travel web sites (I like tripadvisor.com) generally have customer comments and ratings, which can be very helpful. But they are unmoderated comments, so you have to take the ratings with a grain of salt. Who knows who is really writing those glowing reports (the motel staff?) or the "roaches and mildew" complaints (the competing motel accross the street?)? If you find some fantastic place for $39 a night, let me know - I've never had the nerve to try one.

Saving Money on Your Rental Car

If there's public mass transit in Central Florida, I haven't found it. You need a car. Last year I learned a huge lesson about saving money on rental cars: If you pick up your car outside of the airport, it may be much cheaper. Last year, I saved about $100 off my weeklong rental by picking my car up at the Budget lot just outside the Tampa airport (a 5 minute taxi ride). I returned it to the Orlando airport without an additional charge. You can also Google to find discount codes, sign up for a free member card (not a credit card), or look for coupons to knock the rental cost down further. But the main cut in price came from picking up the car outside the airport. Last year I reserved a compact car, and got a black PT Cruiser that had just come in (6 miles on the odometer) - it was really easy to find in the stadium parking lot amidst all of the white Ford Focuses and silver Hyundais! It was $160 for the week.

The only gotcha: These locations, unlike the airport rental car desks, don't stay open all night long. The one in Tampa closes at 6 PM, so if you have a late flight, it's not a good option.

How to Go to Games on a Budget

Don't bother. You're going there to see baseball, right? So buy the best tickets you can, preferably the first day they go on sale in January. Better yet, find the presale password, and buy the best tickets available two days before they go on sale in January. (Mysteriously, the tickets for the Yankee games will already be almost sold out...) In the scheme of things, the difference between the cheapest seat and most expensive isn't going to make or break your budget.

If you are reading this in March, you can probably just get your tickets at the stadium and save yourself all those annoying fees that Ticketmaster adds on ($4 per ticket, plus $4 per order - and each game is a separate order!). Other than the Yankees games, I doubt they're going to be sold out.

Here's my personal favorite place to sit: Section 103 - right behind the Astros bullpen. If you get a seat up close, the relief pitchers will be sitting right in front of you. Great place to shoot photos of guys scoring or stealing second base, left-handed batters, pitchers (either hand), and the antics of the third base coach. I could write a whole blog just on taking pictures at Osceola County Stadium - maybe I will! If you look at the Spring Training photos in the Photo Album on my website, you'll see why.

Supposedly you can't bring food into the stadium, but that rule really seems to apply to bringing in food that they sell there. I always bring my own food, since I keep kosher, and I generally don't have a problem taking it in. (They do search bags.) You can bring in bottled water. I always buy a case of bottled water when I get to Kissimmee (the tap water is disgusting) and stick a few bottles in the freezer to take to the games. (If you rent a place with a kitchen or even a coffee maker, use the bottled water to make coffee!)

Splurge and buy a Spring Training cap at the stadium store. But better yet - buy a copy of the Astros Media Guide. It's about ten bucks and will provide hours of pleasurable bedtime reading, if you are really really nerdy and sabermetricious. (Yes, you can get the Press Pass for every game free online, but it's hard to cuddle up with the computer.)

And by the way, you can go to the practice fields (on days there are no games) for free. It's fantastic - lots of players, and a lot fewer fans.

Time for bed - tomorrow's a work day. Next time I'll write about what else - besides baseball - there is to do when you go to Kissimmee. (Promise: It will not include anything about Disney.)