Lodging, getting around, restaurants, non music related bars, etc during WMC
Starting a thread to detail all the coping essentials while staying in Miami for WMC/MMW/Ultra/whatever other acronym they're using these days.
Myself, I'm staying at a Miami Int'l Airport hotel (Crowne Plaza). For the first time, I'm bussing it down from Orlando using Megabus (megabus.com). Total roundtrip is $20. They operate out of several cities in the U.S. so if you're not too far away, this is a very viable option.
It's just under a 4.5 hour travel time from 436/50 intersection in Orlando all the way to MIA, or closer to 5 if you choose to get off in downtown Miami. These buses, from what I can tell, are nice, modern buses with comfortable seats, legroom, and USB chargers for mobile devices. With this route, parking nightmares and costs are negated during WMC. We all know these costs during WMC can add up over $100 over the course of a weekend. Probably closer to $200 if you make it a 5 day extravaganza.
Staying in an airport hotel, while "far away" from the WMC action is actually not a bad idea in terms of actually getting to the action. And the rates are a good bit cheaper AND you get much more hotel room for your money. There's an express shuttle (Miami Beach Airport Flyer) that goes for $2.65 each way to and from MIA to South Beach. Service stops at 11:40 but starts again at 6 am so just as you're getting out of the party, hit up a diner or pizza joint and by that time you'll be ready to get back to your hotel.
The bus system in Miami isn't the greatest, lots of stops and lots of transfers, but if you stay in a strategic location to get to the WMC action, it's not bad at all. Other than the airport: Wynwood, Brickell, DT Miami, and the beach, of course. Uber and Lyft are both far cheaper options than taxis and I can almost never recommend taking a taxi in Miami. You will almost assuredly pay a quite substantial less using Uber or Lyft than you would with a taxi service (unless you try to get one during a "surge"...) in that case a taxi might actually be cheaper.
Re: AirBNB and vacation rentals...they are very hard to get when it comes to good deals during WMC week, unless you don't mind staying in Broward or Sunny Isles. AirBNB and the like are great for normal weeks but these condo owners know what time it is when it comes to WMC. Last year and this year combined I have tried to book 5 condos and each time either the owner mistakenly did not increase the rate for that weekend (and didn't approve the rental) or somebody else got it before me. If you can score a dope pad in Miami for a good deal using these sites, then great on you but it is not easy.
I cannot recommend staying anywhere in Broward. You're either paying really high prices to get down to Miami via Uber/Lyft/shuttle services, or you're driving your own car and having to deal with frustrating WMC traffic and very high parking prices. Combination of public transpo/Uber & Lyft is definitely the way to go.
As far as food: the local Cuban joints are always my favorite and cheapest. Nothing like a Cuban-style steak and eggs for breakfast with a glass of absolutely fresh squeezed OJ. And it's usually like $6. . There's an Argentine steakhouse in Brickell though that is just phenomenal so if you want to splurge on a nice dinner at some point, try Graziano's. And an afternoon jaunt in downtown Miami is never complete without a trip to the Filling Station. Hipster burger joint with great craft beer selection (and great burgers). Staff is welcoming and chill as fuck.
Obviously SoBe is fun in its own right and the Clevelander has a legendary bar scene but you are definitely paying to play down there for afternoon drinks. Still gotta check out that scene at least once during conference. I myself gravitate towards the downtown Miami scene during WMC a little more but again, the beach can be a lot of fun. So far the only time I'll be finding myself at the beach is Saturday -- definitely for Bedrock/Digweed at Treehouse that night and maybe getting into something at a pool part that afternoon.
Others feel free to chime in with their WMC tidbits and insights.
Last edited by ucforange on Feb-13-2015 at 20:59
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