Eating at chain restaurants If you visit Orlando and your first instinct is to try every Olive Garden, Cheesecake Factory or LongHorn Steakhouse you see, just turn around. We have so many good restaurants and talented chefs that it’s honestly criminal. Photo via Olive Garden
Getting barbecue at 4 Rivers Smokehouse 4 Rivers Smokehouse actually offers fairly good barbecue for the price and is easily accessible with multiple locations, but the fact that the chain is mentioned every time someone asks for a good barbecue place (see Andrew Zimmern) when there are local restaurants out here that are just as good or even better is why it’s on this list. Photo via 4 Rivers Smokehouse/Facebook
Waiting in line for Butterbeer If you’ve had cream soda, just imagine that with heaps more sugar and only available after waiting for a very long time at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Photo via Universal Orlando Resort
Shopping at Disney Springs Downtown Disney used to be kind of cool with its own nightclub scene, but Disney Springs is just another outdoor shopping mall with overpriced food that’s hidden behind ugly parking garages. Photo via Disney Springs/Facebook
Visiting Walt Disney World It’s arguably what Orlando is most known for to the rest of the world, but with so many other great (and less crowded) things to do across the city, there’s no reason you should be paying those prices just to be surrounded by screaming children and chanting tourists. Photo via Walt Disney World
Raving at the Electric Daisy Carnival This year’s EDC will now be three days of drug-induced psychedelic raves instead of two. Not much dancing gets done either as crowds of inebriated people are packed into the too small Tinker Field. Photo via Electric Daisy Carnival Orlando/Facebook
Foxtail Coffee Kudos to Foxtail Coffee for ensuring its coffee beans are ethically sourced and providing a wide array of brewing styles, but the oversaturation is ridiculous at this point. How many Foxtail stops can Orlando have? The limit, apparently, does not exist. Photo via Foxtail Coffee/Facebook
Visiting Gatorland Gatorland is cool, but you could save yourself the money and literally just peek at your neighborhood pond or really any body of water in Florida. Photo via Gatorland Orlando/Facebook
Riding the Eye at ICON Orlando 360 The whole experience lasts around half an hour, and Florida residents pay roughly $20 for one rotation around the Orlando Eye, which at the end of the day is still just a giant Ferris wheel. Photo via ICON Orlando 360/Facebook
Going to a fancy meal at Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament If you grew up with siblings, you’ve already experienced most of what happens in this show. Two people going at each other with glorified sticks, except seeing this will cost you $65. Photo via Medieval Times/Facebook
Going to an Orlando Magic game Currently at 38 wins and 39 losses, odds are the Orlando Magic will probably lose if you go to the game – no one wants to spend their hard-earned cash watching their home team get clobbered on the court over and over again. Photo via Orlando Magic/Facebook
Shopping at Orlando’s Premium Outlets More often than not, when you go shopping, you expect to spend money, but dropping cash before you ever set foot in a store is NOT what most people have in mind. You can either pay $15 for valet parking in a lot that used to be free, fork $10 for the parking garage or fight with a tourist over a spot on the grass. Photo via Orlando Premium Outlets Vineland/Facebook
Using SunRail as a Mass Transit Option SunRail isn’t overrated, but its schedule sure is. The rail service doesn’t run late and rarely runs on weekends. More people should be able to avoid the wild traffic on I-4 by using SunRail but it’s not a viable option for mass transit right now. Photo via SunRail
Shopping at The Mall at Millenia Just another mall that targets tourists. It’s expensive, and if you want to get some actual shopping done, be sure you can handle the noise and chaos of the horde.
Visting Universal Orlando Like Disney, the same screaming children, chanting tourists and ridiculous lines can be found at Universal, except the roller coasters are slightly more intense and the themes are over a “PG” rating. Photo via Universal Orlando Resort/Facebook
Partying at Wall St. Plaza Who wants to pay a $30 cover charge just to see drunk people throwing up on a holiday? Nah. Photo via Wall St. Plaza/Facebook
Chilling at Wekiwa Springs State Park You might think a visit to this beautiful springs would be a great idea to beat the summer heat, and you’d be right if only every other person in Orlando didn’t have the same idea. Good luck getting in if you’re not there right when it opens, because the park usually reaches capacity early on most days. Photo via Wekiwa Springs State Park
Partying at City Walk Getting to City Walk is a whole journey. After figuring out where to park, you have to walk forever just to get to City Walk’s entrance, where you’ll find mostly chains and a $14 milkshake that will make your wallet cry. Photo via Universal Orlando/Twitter
Paying for The Holy Land Experience Don’t bother paying $50 for an admission ticket and parking fees. The Holy Land Experience has a mandatory free day every year to remind Orlando it doesn’t have to pay property taxes because of a religious loophole. Since 2006, the amusement park has skipped out of paying at least $2.2 million in property taxes. Photo via The Holy Land Experience
Seeing the wax figures at Madame Tussauds It’s just selfies with celebrities you’ll never meet. Photo via Madame Tussauds
Going on Soarin’ Around the World at Epcot Wait in a boring queue line for more than an hour to watch a travel film with a slight seat tilt and you’ve gone Soarin’. Photo via Walt Disney World
Going to SeaWorld Orlando Because who doesn’t like elbowing through crowds of tourists under the blistering Florida sun to watch captive animals stuck in too-small tanks for human entertainment. Photo via SeaWorld Orlando