Quick 2 day trip to WDW for Work!!! About This Page:

[DrDolphin]

One of my numerous responsiblities at work is to stay aware of advances in research on the Florida manatee - which means attending the Manatee recovery team meetings as an invited guest. This year's meeting was held at the Coronado Springs resort and convention center at WDW. The conference was scheduled for 25 and 26 May. One week after the girls trip had ended.

So - after making my room reservation at CS, and getting all of the necessary travel stuff in place - I headed out from Jacksonville to WDW on Tuesday afternoon, 24 May. I had meant to leave work at 2pm - well it was more like 3pm by the time I was on I-95 headed south. The drive was easy - I had a couple of phone calls and listened to books on CD.

I arrived right about 530pm and checked into my room by 6pm. I quickly changed my clothes and headed out the door. My idea was to get some dinner at Beaches and Cream and then head to EPCOT to walk around and possibily ride Test Track or Soaring if I could.

I arrived at Beach Club, valet my car and headed to Beaches and Cream - it was almost 7pm and the place was deserted!!! I was seated at the counter and had a cheeseburger, fries and vanilla shake. Dinner was great (as always) - best burger on property.... and my vanilla shake was out of this world - yum.

After dinner - I decided to bail on EPCOT. I was way tired and decided to head for bed. I got back to CS, parked the car, checked out the gift shop, bought my CS pin for my "resort lanyard". I called for a 530am wake up call and I think I was in bed at about 10pm - I was so tired that I did not look at the clock.

Day 2 -
I woke up to Stitch yelling at me "no more sleeping" and got up, putting on my running clothes and ran 3 laps around the lake. After my morning run, shower anc getting dressed, I headed to Maya Grille for breakfast. That buffet was really nice. Great hot and cold selection, as well as fresh fruit. With my DDE discount, tax and tip - $14.00.

We had our meeting all day from 9am to 5pm. During the conference - it was announced that Disney had a suprise for us - a behind the scenes tour of Living Seas, and then an Illuminations Dessert showing at the England pavillion at 830pm.

At 530pm - two Disney busses left CS with 85 of us and headed to LS. We were divided into 4 groups. Those folks with little ones (under 5 yrs) were taking on a special tour out front while the rest of us went behind the scenes. We saw the pump room, the labs, food prep, medical, dolphin and manatee areas as well as getting VIP seating for Turtle Talk (DDDUUUUUDDDDEEEE). (no photos backstage)...

After LS - we were turned loose in EPCOT to get some dinner. Most folks headed to Rose and Crown for beer - while 4 of us decided to get dinner in Mexico. It was recommended we go with counter service since we had to be in UK by 830. After dinner - we headed around World showcase - stopping in Germany for a wine testing. Jan and Tara had offered me some of a sweet Reisling and I had a glass of that (the Graff Piersporter (sounds like passporter) in the green bottle). It tasted really good. I think I may need to buy a bottle or two in October when I go down to meet mom and dad.

We made it to UK and were taken to the private patio area in France before the "English channel" bridge - where we had rice krispy treats, cookies, lemon bars, brownies and some peanut butter, chocolate and marshmellow thing. Drinks were lemonade, coffee, hot tea and hot chocolate. Illuminations was wonderful - but the wind was blowing right into our eyes....

While everyone else headed back to CS after Illuminations, I headed to MK and EMH with my seasonal pass. I took the monorail over and caught the ferry - during the trip over Wishes started. I got to finish Wishes on Main Street.

After Wishes, I headed to Buzz (157,000), then Space Mountain (undely, undely)... then over to BTMRR (twice in a row) followed by Splash -- and a quick run through HM and POC. By then it was getting LATE (1am) and I was TIRED. I knew I had to be up at 6am for the meeting begining at 8am and then after the meeting ended at 4pm, I had to drive at least 4 hours to Ft. Lauderdale that evening, so I called it a night.

Day 3 -
I think I went to bed at about 145am (rode the bus back from MK) and got up at 6am to take a shower, pack everything and put all my stuff in the car, back to Maya grill for breakfast again and into another day of meetings.

We finished all the presentations, discussions, etc at 4pm and I left WDW property at 430 headed for Ft. Lauderdale. I arrived at the hotel at 830pm after driving through yucky rain.... and I fell on the bed and right to sleep.

So - that wraps up a quick 2 day trip to WDW.... next up - october with mom, dad and Jolene!!!

[MickeyMAC]

Sounds like you had an interesting two days. The behind the scenes tour sounded neat. Thanks for the trip report.

[lauren-roxy]

Sounds like you had another great trip to Disneyworld Terri!! I think that I picked the wrong profession by being in nursing, I have never gotten to go to any cool conferences like this one!!! What did you think of the Coronado Springs Resort? Sounds like you were one very busy girl at MK, You did a lot in alittle time!!! Thanks for sharing your trip!

[pparm]

short, but sweet! Thanks for sharing, Terri!


Paula

[LizardCop]

Another quick trip, lots of fun....

for SM...

[Cam22]

The behind the scenes tour and the Illuminations treat sound wonderful! Your report made me feel like I was there -- thanks!

[Annabel]

Thanks for sharing your quick trip with us Terri

[luvnwdwgal]

Thanks for sharing Terri!!!

[Grammy Grumpy]

Sounds like a great mini-trip. You sure were busy at MK!

[Tara O'Hara]

Terri, what a great little trip you had!! Thanks for sharing it!!

[Colexis Mom]

What a great visit Terri How great that you got to go behind the scenes at LS Thanks for sharing it with us!

Hopefully another conference will come up and you'll get there before October

[simbarel]

Well that sounded like fun! Thanks for sharing, Terri!

[katspjs]

Sounds like a great mini-trip Terri! Glad you had fun!

[MAria R]

Wow, for a 2 day trip you did quite a bit, thanks for sharing it with us.

[DawnDenise]

What an awesome little trip you had. Thank you so much for sharing!!