National Sales Meeting 2014

Disney Swan and Dolphin Resort, Orlando FL

The Dolphin during the day

The reason I knew I wouldn't get much painting (or anything else) done this week was my attendance at my company's annual national sales meeting in Orlando FL at the Swan and Dolphin hotels on the Disney property.

Things got off to a rough start as we got our weekly big snowstorm on Monday 2/3, the day I was to fly down. An 11:35am flight got cancelled and turned into a 1:30pm, which turned into a 6pm, which turned into an 8:40pm. Fourth time was a charm, and the snow which lasted from about 10am through 4pm (7 inches in total) had stopped and been dealt with adequately enough that getting to the airport in time for the later flight was not too bad. In the midst of the storm even the main roads had been impassable. The flight was on time, and me and several coworkers arrived in Florida at 11:15pm, instead of the originally intended 2pm. So much for getting down in time to relax and enjoy the remainder of the travel day. I was at the Dolphin and in bed by about 12:45am.

The storm was very rough on the area, with widespread power outages lasting for days. Brother Dave and his Darling Wife, as well as my Mom and younger brother Chris all stayed at my house overnight Tuesday night. After having been out of power for a day and a half or so, they all got power back Wednesday during the day, and returned home safely.

The Dolphin at night

The rest of the week was a very good, and very busy meeting. Grace was not very happy that I was going to Disney World without her, but I was able to repeatedly reassure her "don't worry, I'm not seeing any of Disney World either." Schedules were packed with good content, and the one evening that most of the people went to a private nighttime opening of Hollywood Studios I was in my hotel room working on a project that needed my attention. Pretty glamorous. In the five days I was there I never set foot off the Swan and Dolphin property. So while it was a fun trip, and there were a lot of nice evening events, it wasn't a boondoggle by any means (not that I am complaining in the least - we were treated very very well while there).

Conference facilities were pretty nice, and the meeting was well run.

Coming back this afternoon was easy especially compared to the trip down. We left on time, caught a tail wind and arrived a half hour early. I was back at home by dinner time.

It has been a few years since the family last went to Disney, and we should probably go again while the kids are still young...