Big Surprise! I'll be at Disney World again! March 8 - 16th, 2008

Yep - it's official. I just finished booking the first part of the stay - 5 nights at Port Orleans French Quarter checking in March 8 and checking out March 13.

Tomorrow, I should finish booking the other part of the stay...checking in March 13 to Old Key West to stay for 3 more nights in a studio, and checking out March 16.

The first part of the trip won't see me in the parks much during the day - I'm up there for my brokerage's national conference, which is being held at the Marriott World Resort. Most days will be attending talks, product intros, business lunches, and the like. Then dinners with the reps and picking up all the free junk you get at conferences (I love free junk!). But the reason I wanted to stay at Disney instead of at the Marriott was so I could come back in the evening, and rely on Disney Transportation to get me to Downtown Disney or the parks open for extra magic hours (in March, some magic hours extend until 2am!!), which I also get when staying on property. Besides, it's just a couple of miles down Epcot World Drive, which becomes 536, to get to the Marriott in the morning.

So, if anyone's up there during that time, let me know. I'll have most nights free the first 5 days, and the last 3 days completely free, to enjoy the parks. Again!

 

Lucky dog! Just go ahead and rub it in. Thanks! Just kidding, I am so jealous of you.

 

There is nothing wrong with saving your company some money and still getting the on-property perks! I just did the same thing. If I stayed at the conference hotel, it would have been $118 more a night vs. Pop. Plus I was 5 mins away anyway.

 

good job, justin. enjoy your vacation ... er, conference.

 

Well the conference part will be a little boring...but that's only from 8am to 5pm or so each day. Some evenings the dinners are provided by our company, and some evenings the various company reps will be taking groups of brokers out for a night on their corporate expense accounts...but on the nights when nothing else is going on, or dinner ends at 7 or 8pm...most of the brokers are stuck at the Marriott, either at the bar or in their rooms. I'll have all of Disney at my disposal!

And Thu, Fri, and Sat are all about Mickey and me - free time to relax and enjoy.

 

And in Spring Break to boot!

 

yay.

Actually, it won't matter much - this trip I'll be solo other than meeting up with my Disney-employed relatives...so it'll mostly be people-watching and relaxing, hanging at the various resort grounds, and boating around to Downtoan Disney to hang. I don't really mind if I don't even go on a single ride while there this trip (except the wedway...I always do the wedway!).

 

I'm an old regular at Fort Wilderness - from roughly 1982 to 1996, my family would rent a cabin (or trailer, before they built the cabins!) in Ft. Wilderness every Memorial Day weekend. We'd rent golf carts, and spend half the trip buzzing around in those and riding down to the Pioneer Hall/Lakefront area. Just about every year, I take the boat from MK over to Fort Wilderness just to relax and walk the grounds, check out the peacocks in the trees, and then walk the bike trail back to Wilderness Lodge, which is about 1 mile or so.

I'm the same - I just enjoy being there, even if it's just to walk around, people-watch, or grab a bite to eat. It's the main reason I'm staying there for the conference - even if just for a few hours, I can pop into the parks at the end of the day just to chill out on a bench, grab some popcorn, watch the fireworks, and ride the busses or boats back to the resort!

 

Just 9 more days!

Looks like I've got my schedule for the conference planned:
- Sunday is all conference, dinners, and entertainment.
- I'll have Monday night free from 6pm to hit Disney for some night shooting and fireworks.
- Tuesday is free from 5pm on, but one of the vendors will be paying for dinner at Portobello Yacht at Marketplace, so I'll take advantage of a good free meal then hit Downtown Disney afterwards (especially since I can take the boat back to French Quarter when done).
- Wednesday is the final conference day and dinner and entertainment will all be at the Marriott (speech by Steve Forbes, concert by Kenny Loggins, and late night piano bar).
- Thursday, I check out of French Quarter, and into Old Key West...and from that day through Sunday morning, it's all Disney!

 

TO-MORROW...TO-MORROW...I'll LOVE ya...To-MORROW! It's only a day a-way!

Can't wait to get up there again. I should be somewhere on the road this time tomorrow, heading up to WDW.

 

Looks like you scored perfect weather again. You've got good timing with these fronts!

 

Got that right! Weather was absolutely beautiful up there. The first 5 days, during the conference, I could only get over to WDW at night on Monday and Tuesday. Sat, Sun, and Wed were conference event nights. But the weather was crisp and cool, and not a drop of cloud or rain. Lows started on Monday in the mid-50s. On Thursday, the conference ended, and the day was mid 70s and sunny. Friday was a bit overcast, but no rain until after midnight...temps hovered in the upper 60s. Saturday was a bit warm, but beautiful and sunny in the upper 80s.

And the other great perk - the parks were not at all crowded! I hit Soarin in 15 minutes on the standby line, Splash Mountain was 20 minutes, Pirates was a walk on (I mean RIGHT ONTO THE BOAT!), Haunted House was running under 10 minutes. The only day the crowds got a little thick was this Saturday - you could tell the next few weeks were going to be crowded.

Can't wait to get working on processing and uploading photos - been too busy catching up at work so far. Twas a wonderful trip and conference!

 

I'll second that jealousy!