My day started with my alarm clock going off much too early - 6:50 to be exact. After staying up until almost 1:00, after having been up since 4:30 the previous morning, I was feeling a bit sleep deprived. Regardless, I wanted to get up early because I wanted to take a "power walk" to help burn off some of the previous days major over-eating. I walked down to The Boardwalk and did a lap around Crescent Lake. It's really not as long as I would like to have walked, but the first event of the conference - the keynote address - was scheduled for 8:15 (who schedules these things?) The morning was beautiful, although hot and humid.
I spent the rest of the day in conference events. Not much to report there that would be of interest to anyone reading this TR (unless you are a Sybase geek like myself), but it did give me the opportunity to check out 2 hotels besides the Dolphin: The Swan and The Yacht Club. Most of the events for the conference are taking place at The Dolphin - very convenient for me - including the keynote address and all of my morning sessions. They also serve lunch to attendees, which was served in The Dolphin for most attendees (including me), and I must say it was pretty good. One thing about traveling to attend a conference, you end up spending very little.
One thing I discovered was that the special event on Wednesday, which I thought was to be held at MK, is actually going to be at AK after closing (7:30 - 11:00). So the whole park will only have conference attendees and their guests, probably no more than about 5,000 people. It makes me glad I decided to go to MGM yesterday. Also, I thought it was an extra charge, but it's free for attendees. Pretty cool.
Anyway, my first afternoon session was at The Swan, so I got the chance to take a look at that resort as well. It looks very similar to the Dolphin. Again, a very nice hotel, but with so many nice hotels to choose from at WDW, it would never be my first choice. My second afternoon session was at The Yacht Club. What a gorgeous place. The theming is meticulous and very tasteful. As DVC members I can't imagine we'll ever stay here (except maybe after the new YC/BC DVC property is built), but, in my book, if you want to go first class, this is the place to do it.
On my walk to YC I was inspired to go swimming. It was the heat and the humidity that inspired me. I forgot to bring my bathing suit, so I figured I would go by The Boardwalk to see if, by chance, there was such a thing as a DVC bathing suit. Not only is there no such thing, but the CM at Dundy's Sundries informed me that the had no bathing suits for sale at The Boardwalk. They did sell them at YC, though, so I bought one there. After the conference session I put it on and headed to the Swan/Dolphin pool.
The pool is quite nice, though it looks better than it actually is to use. It's got waterfalls and grottos and all that, but it doesn't have all the cool stuff that other grotto pools have like sand bottoms and the like. It also has a water slide, but it's pretty short. (My favorite water slide at a hotel pool is still the one at Disney Vero Beach Resort. I even like it better than the one at YC/BC. The Kiester Coaster at The Boardwalk looked better, but it was closed when we stayed there.) Don't get me wrong, it's a very nice pool. I just think they could have been more creative with the design. Also, I'd hate to be a guest at The Swan. I mean, the walk to the pool from there is very long.
After a short swim in the pool I went back to my room and got ready to go the the conference exhibition hall. There were several interesting exhibits, but I didn't win the digital camera :(
I'll take this opportunity to mention something (for reasons that will be clear in a minute) that is near and dear to my heart, as anyone who has read my previous TRs will know - T-shirts. (You knew I couldn't write a whole TR without touching on that subject, right Ronnie?) Anyway, I have allowed myself 2 t-shirts on this trip (and maybe another in California.) I've seen 2 that I like. I'm definitely going to get one that has "Walt Disney World" with a nice picture of Mickey, and it's dated 2000. Believe it or not, I don't have a generic WDW T- shirt. I usually like to get T-shirts that are more specific to a particular place - like a hotel or attraction. This particular T-shirt has a nice design and is dated - a big plus for me. Anyway, I really like to get T-shirts from hotels. I saw the Dolphin Hotel T-shirt and liked it - but since I'm not crazy about the hotel I wasn't sure if I'd like it. So, when I was at the exhibit hall I decided to check out what they had in the way of T-shirts. I didn't like the T-shirt they had, but I really liked the polo shirt (blue & black piping with the conference logo stitched on the breast), so I bought that. Now, aren't you glad you went through this paragraph? Such a payoff!
It's now a little after 8:00. I'm going to walk to The Boardwalk and have some dinner and maybe a margarita. I'll finish today's report when I return.
Pretty much immediately after writing the above I changed my mind. I thought maybe I'd go to Juan & Only's for dinner and a margarita. Then, on the way down to the lobby, I saw an add for Kimono's in the elevator. I thought sashimi sounded good, and I also felt like something light after all the eating I've been doing. The sushi was pretty good. (This is taking longer than it should because I'm watching Ellen Degeneres on HBO - what can I say? She's funny...)
After sushi I went back to Juan & Only's and got a margarita to go. I took my drink and went for a walk on the Boardwalk. It was a lovely, warm evening. As I was crossing the bridge to the Boardwalk I watched the fireworks from Illuminations. On the Boardwalk there was a lot of activity. It seems there were a bunch of booths set up to promote Disney Adventure magazine. I had a lot of fun watching all the activities, including a Disney trivia contest. My favorite was a booth where people could either throw a baseball or kick a soccer ball, and have the speed recorded by a radar gun. You were then told to throw or kick again and guess the speed of the second try. If you guessed within 2 mph (which most people did), you won a prize. It looked like fun and I decided to try it out, but they closed the line just as I walked up. If I see it again I may try it out.
I stopped at Broadway Sweets for some ice cream, but the line was really long and I didn't feel like dealing with it. Instead I went back to the hotel and got some low fat yogurt (keeping with my attempts to be marginally good) and brought it back to the room.
I said not much happened today (I still manage to drone on, don't I?) I gave it some thought and decided to go to MK tomorrow after the conference events. Since I don't have anything until 10:00 on Thursday, I can stay out late tomorrow night so, yes, Lori, I'm going to go to PI after MK.
That's it for now!
Lori commented:
Wow, someone actually taking my advice! I feel honored.
I'll be waiting for your next installment.....
And that's where you'll read the answer to the above question! The next one is running late because I was out so late last night. It'll be up later today.
Patti commented:
Great reports! I'm enjoying them and wishing I was there instead of soggy NY!
and Ken said:
These are great reports -thanks for the effort.
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