Imagine you're on vacation or a business trip. You're running late getting to the airport for the flight out and still need to fill up before returning the rental car. No worries though because you saw a gas station across the street from the rental lot when you got into town.
You pull into the station, swipe your credit card and start pumping. While the fuel is flowing you look around and realize there's no big sign with the gas prices. Hmmm...that's odd. Then you look at the price on the pump and realize you're paying two dollars a gallon more than the local average price! You're getting ripped off!
Yeah, this happened to me recently while vacationing in Orlando...almost. I did swipe my card but noticed the price as I was reaching for the nozzle. It was $3.99/gallon. The local going rate was $2.06/gallon at the time!
The culprit was the convenience store gas station on SR 436 (Semoran Blvd) north of Orlando International Airport directly across from the Thrifty and Hertz lots. No sign anywhere with prices except the little display on the pump...which is difficult to read due to sun glare. No doubt they're hoping that rental car drivers will stop and fill up in a hurry before they realize their wallet's getting cleaned out.
I expect stations to charge a little more in locations like that because they're selling "convenience". But nearly double the going rate?! That's ridiculous. They must make a ton off of tourists and business travelers...I can't imagine many locals buy gas there.
Fortunately I saw the price before I started pumping and in time to alert the guy at the next pump. We both canceled our credit card transactions and drove a mile up the road to a 7-11 charging $2.11/gallon.
Lesson learned...always check the price on the pump before filling up...especially at a station you haven't used before.
P.S.: Make sure you select the fuel grade you want. I stopped at a station in rural Maryland once that had the grade buttons in the order Premium, Regular, Plus...not Premium, Plus, Regular like every other gas station. If you expected Regular to be on the end and hit that button, you're now buying Plus instead.
They also had the octane stickers down near the bottom of the pump instead of near the buttons so you don't have that extra visual cue that something's different. That tells me they're intentionally trying to trick customers into selecting a higher priced fuel grade.
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Monday, May 26, 2008
Dutch Wonderland - A Fun Amusement Park For Families With Young Kids
We recently went to Dutch Wonderland for the first time and had a blast. If you've never heard of it, it's an amusement park in Lancaster, PA (Pennsylvania Dutch Country). It has a cheerful prince and princess theme complete with castle and a friendly dragon. Think DisneyWorld but much smaller with generic characters and a bit of Amish charm thrown in.
The park is perfect for kids under 10. Our little one was grinning from ear to ear the whole time...the kind of smile that lights up your world as a parent. I counted 34 rides...everything from a classic merry-go-round to a big wooden roller coaster. Kids under 36" tall can go on most of the rides and there were only 4 rides that kids had to be taller than 42" to go on. The rides are fun for adults, too, who can go on most although some are a snug fit. The smaller roller coaster had nice tight turns and good speed. The lines were short and we rode our favorite rides multiple times.
DW offers a preview deal that you should consider if you go. Buy a full day admission ticket in advance and you can go into the park after 3pm (or 3 hours before they close) for free the day before you use the ticket. We bought our tickets on Sat, went in to the park right at 3:00, rode a bunch of rides then came back Sun morning and spent the whole day there...all on the same ticket.
The park is clean with a friendly atmosphere. Maybe this was because we went early in the season, but the staff seemed really friendly and cheerful too. There are also live shows and carnival games. As I tried to tell my wife, you will get wet if you sit in the "splash zone" seats at the Frog Prince diving show. What else to tell you...oh yeah, the parking is free.
We stayed at the Old Mill Stream Campground which is right next door to DW. It took ~5 minutes to walk to the entrance of DW from our site so the location is great. Several restaurants and the outlet malls are also in walking distance. The campground has good facilities, friendly staff and is secluded enough that you don't feel close to the highway. Lots of big leafy trees and a stream running along the back of the property with farms and parkland on the other side. You can also buy discount tickets ($2 off) to DW at the campground office. Every evening an old Amish couple rode through the campground in their horse and buggy selling baked goods...cakes, pies, even farm fresh eggs. Delicious!
We'll definitely plan to go back to Dutch Wonderland again...now if I can just get their theme song out of my head.
The park is perfect for kids under 10. Our little one was grinning from ear to ear the whole time...the kind of smile that lights up your world as a parent. I counted 34 rides...everything from a classic merry-go-round to a big wooden roller coaster. Kids under 36" tall can go on most of the rides and there were only 4 rides that kids had to be taller than 42" to go on. The rides are fun for adults, too, who can go on most although some are a snug fit. The smaller roller coaster had nice tight turns and good speed. The lines were short and we rode our favorite rides multiple times.
DW offers a preview deal that you should consider if you go. Buy a full day admission ticket in advance and you can go into the park after 3pm (or 3 hours before they close) for free the day before you use the ticket. We bought our tickets on Sat, went in to the park right at 3:00, rode a bunch of rides then came back Sun morning and spent the whole day there...all on the same ticket.
The park is clean with a friendly atmosphere. Maybe this was because we went early in the season, but the staff seemed really friendly and cheerful too. There are also live shows and carnival games. As I tried to tell my wife, you will get wet if you sit in the "splash zone" seats at the Frog Prince diving show. What else to tell you...oh yeah, the parking is free.
We stayed at the Old Mill Stream Campground which is right next door to DW. It took ~5 minutes to walk to the entrance of DW from our site so the location is great. Several restaurants and the outlet malls are also in walking distance. The campground has good facilities, friendly staff and is secluded enough that you don't feel close to the highway. Lots of big leafy trees and a stream running along the back of the property with farms and parkland on the other side. You can also buy discount tickets ($2 off) to DW at the campground office. Every evening an old Amish couple rode through the campground in their horse and buggy selling baked goods...cakes, pies, even farm fresh eggs. Delicious!
We'll definitely plan to go back to Dutch Wonderland again...now if I can just get their theme song out of my head.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
