Lord I Was Born A Travelin' Man

The jig is up, the secret is out !!! I was in Orlando, Florida, for the SHEA (Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America) conference. I left at 9:20 AM last Wednesday from John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California. Eight hours later I landed in Orange County, Florida. Here is what I wore, my tried and true travelin' duds.

 

Love the closed eyes after long flights across the country.

I took the complimentary (much appreciated!!!) Disney Magical Express to the Wilderness Lodge. It is amazing. All the resorts are, especially the pool areas. When I got there, the bed had towels shaped like Mickey Mouse Ears. The only bad part was that it took 5.5 hours for my luggage to be delivered. I may have made a naaasty phone call. It was deserved.

Anyway, it finally came at 12:30 PM, and so I took a shower. These tiles were in the shower.

Here's a look at the 7 story lobby. It is beautiful. It looks like a log cabin mansion. There are glass cases with Indian War bonnets that are astounding . Everyone wears prairie style costumes.

Behind the pool, which has a giant slide and water spouts and all kinds of stuff, like a jungle gym with water squirting everywhere, is this beach. They show a free Disney movie every night and had fireworks from a ferry boat at 9:30. They do A LOT for little kids.

Here's what I wore for the first conference day. Pants by Limited, tank by Old Navy and mesh vest by Chico's.

Here is a better look at the tops.

 

 

This necklace was a casualty of the vacation. I need to fix it with a jump ring.

The conference was held at the Contemporary. It is just called that. It looks like a giant cruise ship, because that's how it was built. A frame was put up and the rooms were prefabricated and slid in, like the way a cruise ship is built.

There was a skyway that connected the Contemporary to the Bay towers resort. I walked around this whole building on our break.

Here is the pool at the Contemporary. This resort had the fewest children. Here is their children's mega fancy water attraction.

 

 

All of the resorts are joined by a huge lake. You can take a boat, a ferry, a bus, or the monorail to get around - all free.

So after the second day of the conference, I did just that. I took the monorail to every resort. First, the oldest, The Polynesian Village. It's gorgeous. The lobby is so genuinely Polynesian. With the architecture and landscaping, it feels like you are in Hawaii.

Here is the Lava Pool, and the crazy, extreme children's water attraction.

I stopped in the Taboo Lounge and had a Smoked Turkey. All the cocktails I had were deelish. They were also all themed, but I think I had four over the five days, because they are pricy. Everything is very expensive here.

After that, I hit the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa. It is Victorian in style, and super well done. It's like the Hotel del Coronado on steroids. Here is a view across the lagoon from the back beach of the Polynesian Village, which looks exactly like the photos of Bora Bora, with cabins on stilts and white sand beaches.

Here are two shots of the lobby at the Grand Floridian. I think I took this one while trying to capture the guy playing the Grand piano. Everyone was older and sitting around, having tea with or without whiskey and enjoying the breeze off the lake.

This shot shows the giant bamboo bird cage that was there. There were huge floral bouquets, and replicas of fine Victorian furniture. This resort was the most elegant and upscale.

Here's a pretty good shot of this giant resort. It looks like the Hotel del, doesn't it? It had a ton of pools, quite a  few restaurants, a spa, and a wedding chapel. It also had a children's water attraction, but I think it was just rock grottoes and a typical curly slide.

Here's the wedding chapel. If the ceremony is in the back, then you have a direct view of Cinderella's castle at the Magic Kingdom, one monorail stop away.

That was all five of them. I went to the Wilderness Campground on the third night. It's a very nice, KOA type of place. It has pony rides, buggy rides, a Saloon Revue show, a BBQ dinner in a dining hall with a show, and a gift shop. The main attraction for me were the Clydesdale, Percheron, and Belgian Draft horses they keep there. There are 50, and they rotate through the shows and parades. They work four days and rest three. They are all beautiful beyond belief. They are kept in a barn, and you can watch them get groomed and brushed, and go up to the stall and look in. But you can't touch, pet or feed them. I didn't take any pictures because no one else was, and I thought maybe it wasn't allowed. My favorite was a Clydesdale named Sarge. He would keep sticking his enormous head over the rail to look at and sniff the people. He was a big hit. I did get a picture of this deer in the woods on my hike back and forth from the Lodge on the Nature Trail.

The next day, I wore my grey dress to the conference. Most of the time, I felt way too casual. There were people that were much more easygoing than me, but I like to err on the formal side. It was 90 - 95 degrees out, in my defense. Love the Albert Einstein hair and bamboozled expression.

That night, I caught the bus to DownTown Disney. It's just a huge shopping and dining mecca. Here's the Fulton's Crab House Restaurant. There were many things, including Wolfgang Puck, Circe De Soleil, and Planet Hollywood.

Here's the skyline. They are planning some huge expansion by 2016 or so. There are cranes everywhere.

I got candy at Goofy's Candy Shack. And I bought a few things here and there, and will be writing about them in the next few posts, as they are displayed and handed out to the lucky recipients.

They had other stuff too, like a shop that make-overs your little daughter into any Disney princess she desires. This was a bell ringers show. They were mind boggingly good.

I didn't eat at any restaurants, because we got buffet breakfast and lunch at SHEA. The catering was done by the Contemporary, and it was delicious. We got an hour and a half for lunch, so I walked over to and around the Magic Kingdom every day. I was joined several times, and the person I enjoyed the most was Diane from Ontario, Canada, Department of Public Health. I also took excursions every night, and walked as much as possible, which was a lot. I only went to the workout room once, and was almost immediately bored.

Well, that's it for today. I am sitting here waiting for Doc to get home. We are taking the dogs for their first walk in a week. Elli was beside herself at the sight of me. I got up at 4:30 Florida time, and it's 9:30 PM Florida time right now, so I am gonna quit before I get punchy. I am happy to be back in my little home with my little loved ones. More later!!!