Well, we are considering having one of our upcoming conferences at the WDW Resort so 7 of us flew in and stayed partly on Disney's dime to tour the property and to have a team meeting (we work in different parts of the country and try and get together to brainstorm twice a year).
1/17 - Four of us (two owners, two directors) flew in late in the evening and stayed one night at Pop Century in the 1960's wing. For a "value" resort I loved my brief stay (8 hours). The rooms were like any small hotel in size, but had that great Disney touch to them. The pool in the 60's wing was a good size, shaped like a psychadelic flower and had flower squirters along the sides that were about 6/7 feet tall. A colleague and I enjoyed walking around the lobby looking at all the memorabilia. Most heard quote was "Can you believe we had some of this stuff."
1/18 - Moved over the the Grand Floridian. I had a great room on the top floor with a small walk-out patio that faced directly at the castle and also a nice view of the contemporary. The bed was fantastic. That first night I woke up at 3am just to walk out and stare at the view. We spent the first half of the day in a meeting inside Citrico's. If you ever eat there stare a moment at the design on the glass doors to the wine room. They are hidden Mickey's which I noticed during a very boring part of the meeting when I tilted my head a bit. During the afternoon a Disney representative took us all over to MGM for lunch at The Brown Derby. The food was great and the staff was wonderful. It was fun walking through a theme park during a company trip. We then toured Yacht/Beach Club and it's conferences facilities. Both the resort and it's conference area are very impressive and is a possible location for our conference. Then a trip of to Disney's Event Group, a fun run-in with mother nature (we are a cleantech company) and a presentation on how Disney can *enhance* your conference if you'd like. After that we toured the GF Conference facilities. This would also hold our conference (500 attendees), but didn't have as much "open" feel as the Yacht/Beach's conference area. Finally off we went for a great time at the Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue (switeched from Luau which was cancelled due to 38degree temps which we laughed at being from Michigan). Always a classic, and this time I noted some new jokes in the skit from the last time we were there (especially some shots at the DVC).
1/19 - Three other team members flew in for another day of meetings inside Citrico's at GF. For lunch we ate at the GF Cafe and the food was of course wonderful. In the afternoon we moved out onto the 2nd floor patio off the main building and enjoyed some FL sunshine. In the evening we did a tour of the conference facilities at the Contemporary and got a preview of the new rooms. BTW, these rooms are FANTASTIC. I can't wait to stay there once they are completed (HD wide-screen TVs, more modern look, etc...). We also received a heads-up on new changes to the monorail station and the main shopping/lobby area. While Chef Mickey's will stay it will become more of a "Disney Business" feel as this hotel is scheduled to be more of a business/resort location than it currently is today. For dinner we dined at the California Grill (again great food) and watched the fireworks from the top of the Contemporary. If you have never done this, save a few $dollars$. It is definately worth the experience.
1/20 - More meetings in Citrico's and out on the patio in the afternoon. I can't stop staring at the hidden Mickey's, and finally let my co-workers (who weren't WDW Fanatics prior to this meeting) on my silly grin when I stare at the door, lol... Around 5pm we have our bags moved over to the Animal Kingdom Lodge and two people head back home. My wife flies in to meet me at AKL. THIS IS A FANTASTIC RESORT! I would stay there again in a heartbeat. I would take time out of my day to just walk through it's lobby. It is that great! A few of us cruise over to PI in the evening for dinner at the new Raglan Road (GUINNESS!). With a live band from Ireland and frequent Irish Dancers performing it was a lot of fun. From there we went straight to the Adventure's Club and (of course) had a great evening laughing ourselves silly.
1/21 - Off to EPCOT and straight to Soarin' for a Fastpass. At 10am the fastpasses were already booked until 4:05 - 5:05 pm. A colleague and her husband dropped off their swimsuits at The Living Seas for DiveQuest. Then JIYI, HISTA, MS, WOE, and a Margarita in Mexico. A trip over to Canada (one owner lives in Toronto) and a viewing of their 360 movie. After that he had to leave to catch his flight. The rest of us marched over to Living Seas to wave through the glass at our colleague as they dove with the sharks, sea turtles, and fish. BTW, they loved this, but said after 30 minutes it got a little old until they started messing with all the people staring at them (you've got to know their personality, lol). The definately said they would do it again, or go for a swim with the dolphins next time. Then we zipped through the UK (more guinness), France (wine sampler for the wifes), and over to Japan for dinner in Tepenyaki Steak House. What a great time we had there (or was it all the Saki). Food:great, Atmosphere:great, Chef:great. Finally a quick run over to Italy for another wine sampler and out to watch Illuminations. Then a relaxing stay in AKL first we went out and did the night vision goggle animal viewing (very cool), and finally out in the Savannah around the lava rock firepit for some conversation.
1/22 - Off to MGM for a brief visit. My wife and I did a bit too much gift shopping for the hordes back home and almost missed the Magical Express bus. A note here, if this bus says it is going to leave at 2:35pm you'd better be on it at 2:34pm or they will LEAVE WITHOUT YOU.
RESORT COMMENTS:
Pop Century: I enjoyed the brief stay and have already decided we will stay there when my entire family returns 10/2006. It was fun, bright, and well-done.
Grand Floridan: Well this hotel is just *grand*. But, for some reason it wasn't very "magical". Well except my view of the castle, but I think I'd rather stay at the Contemporary when it's refurbed and get the same view. Maybe I'm just not stuffy and rich enough yet to fully appreciate it. :lol:
Animal Kingdom Lodge: UNBELIEVABLE! The lobby is just magnificent. The rooms were decorated appropriately and going out on the balcony every morning for coffee with my wife and just watching Zebra's, Giraffe's, etc was fantastic. I really though I'd think AKL was just interesting, but I was blown away by it. The attention to detail is amazing.
SIDE NOTE:
As a company who promotes Clean Technology as a legitimate investment area we were mildly let-down by the lack of simple things the Resorts could be doing to promote sustainability. So on my return I wrote all the GM's of each resort we stayed at during our trip. It was not a scathing email, it was a thank you for letting us stay, and an encouragement to consider some ideas for their resorts with reference links. NOTE: AKL did have a seperate recycling basket from the normal waste basket, but the other resorts didn't.
EMAIL'S TO DISNEY GET NOTICED if done right. I spent probably two hours writing and re-writing this email before sending it out. I wanted to make sure it was done right in a complimentary, yet "insightful to change" manner. Within 48 hours I had received TWO phone calls regarding my email which by that time had been passed on throughout Disney's entire Environmentality Department and to each GM at all the Disney Resort's. Both times I was thanked for the thoughtful email I had written and the call from Environmentality discussed it with me and was surprised that some of the items I wrote about weren't already implemented.
FINAL NOTE: My company is hiring and is a great place to work. Go to www.monster.com and do a simple search of the word Cleantech to find all of our positions available! :sohappy:
1/17 - Four of us (two owners, two directors) flew in late in the evening and stayed one night at Pop Century in the 1960's wing. For a "value" resort I loved my brief stay (8 hours). The rooms were like any small hotel in size, but had that great Disney touch to them. The pool in the 60's wing was a good size, shaped like a psychadelic flower and had flower squirters along the sides that were about 6/7 feet tall. A colleague and I enjoyed walking around the lobby looking at all the memorabilia. Most heard quote was "Can you believe we had some of this stuff."
1/18 - Moved over the the Grand Floridian. I had a great room on the top floor with a small walk-out patio that faced directly at the castle and also a nice view of the contemporary. The bed was fantastic. That first night I woke up at 3am just to walk out and stare at the view. We spent the first half of the day in a meeting inside Citrico's. If you ever eat there stare a moment at the design on the glass doors to the wine room. They are hidden Mickey's which I noticed during a very boring part of the meeting when I tilted my head a bit. During the afternoon a Disney representative took us all over to MGM for lunch at The Brown Derby. The food was great and the staff was wonderful. It was fun walking through a theme park during a company trip. We then toured Yacht/Beach Club and it's conferences facilities. Both the resort and it's conference area are very impressive and is a possible location for our conference. Then a trip of to Disney's Event Group, a fun run-in with mother nature (we are a cleantech company) and a presentation on how Disney can *enhance* your conference if you'd like. After that we toured the GF Conference facilities. This would also hold our conference (500 attendees), but didn't have as much "open" feel as the Yacht/Beach's conference area. Finally off we went for a great time at the Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue (switeched from Luau which was cancelled due to 38degree temps which we laughed at being from Michigan). Always a classic, and this time I noted some new jokes in the skit from the last time we were there (especially some shots at the DVC).
1/19 - Three other team members flew in for another day of meetings inside Citrico's at GF. For lunch we ate at the GF Cafe and the food was of course wonderful. In the afternoon we moved out onto the 2nd floor patio off the main building and enjoyed some FL sunshine. In the evening we did a tour of the conference facilities at the Contemporary and got a preview of the new rooms. BTW, these rooms are FANTASTIC. I can't wait to stay there once they are completed (HD wide-screen TVs, more modern look, etc...). We also received a heads-up on new changes to the monorail station and the main shopping/lobby area. While Chef Mickey's will stay it will become more of a "Disney Business" feel as this hotel is scheduled to be more of a business/resort location than it currently is today. For dinner we dined at the California Grill (again great food) and watched the fireworks from the top of the Contemporary. If you have never done this, save a few $dollars$. It is definately worth the experience.
1/20 - More meetings in Citrico's and out on the patio in the afternoon. I can't stop staring at the hidden Mickey's, and finally let my co-workers (who weren't WDW Fanatics prior to this meeting) on my silly grin when I stare at the door, lol... Around 5pm we have our bags moved over to the Animal Kingdom Lodge and two people head back home. My wife flies in to meet me at AKL. THIS IS A FANTASTIC RESORT! I would stay there again in a heartbeat. I would take time out of my day to just walk through it's lobby. It is that great! A few of us cruise over to PI in the evening for dinner at the new Raglan Road (GUINNESS!). With a live band from Ireland and frequent Irish Dancers performing it was a lot of fun. From there we went straight to the Adventure's Club and (of course) had a great evening laughing ourselves silly.
1/21 - Off to EPCOT and straight to Soarin' for a Fastpass. At 10am the fastpasses were already booked until 4:05 - 5:05 pm. A colleague and her husband dropped off their swimsuits at The Living Seas for DiveQuest. Then JIYI, HISTA, MS, WOE, and a Margarita in Mexico. A trip over to Canada (one owner lives in Toronto) and a viewing of their 360 movie. After that he had to leave to catch his flight. The rest of us marched over to Living Seas to wave through the glass at our colleague as they dove with the sharks, sea turtles, and fish. BTW, they loved this, but said after 30 minutes it got a little old until they started messing with all the people staring at them (you've got to know their personality, lol). The definately said they would do it again, or go for a swim with the dolphins next time. Then we zipped through the UK (more guinness), France (wine sampler for the wifes), and over to Japan for dinner in Tepenyaki Steak House. What a great time we had there (or was it all the Saki). Food:great, Atmosphere:great, Chef:great. Finally a quick run over to Italy for another wine sampler and out to watch Illuminations. Then a relaxing stay in AKL first we went out and did the night vision goggle animal viewing (very cool), and finally out in the Savannah around the lava rock firepit for some conversation.
1/22 - Off to MGM for a brief visit. My wife and I did a bit too much gift shopping for the hordes back home and almost missed the Magical Express bus. A note here, if this bus says it is going to leave at 2:35pm you'd better be on it at 2:34pm or they will LEAVE WITHOUT YOU.
RESORT COMMENTS:
Pop Century: I enjoyed the brief stay and have already decided we will stay there when my entire family returns 10/2006. It was fun, bright, and well-done.
Grand Floridan: Well this hotel is just *grand*. But, for some reason it wasn't very "magical". Well except my view of the castle, but I think I'd rather stay at the Contemporary when it's refurbed and get the same view. Maybe I'm just not stuffy and rich enough yet to fully appreciate it. :lol:
Animal Kingdom Lodge: UNBELIEVABLE! The lobby is just magnificent. The rooms were decorated appropriately and going out on the balcony every morning for coffee with my wife and just watching Zebra's, Giraffe's, etc was fantastic. I really though I'd think AKL was just interesting, but I was blown away by it. The attention to detail is amazing.
SIDE NOTE:
As a company who promotes Clean Technology as a legitimate investment area we were mildly let-down by the lack of simple things the Resorts could be doing to promote sustainability. So on my return I wrote all the GM's of each resort we stayed at during our trip. It was not a scathing email, it was a thank you for letting us stay, and an encouragement to consider some ideas for their resorts with reference links. NOTE: AKL did have a seperate recycling basket from the normal waste basket, but the other resorts didn't.
EMAIL'S TO DISNEY GET NOTICED if done right. I spent probably two hours writing and re-writing this email before sending it out. I wanted to make sure it was done right in a complimentary, yet "insightful to change" manner. Within 48 hours I had received TWO phone calls regarding my email which by that time had been passed on throughout Disney's entire Environmentality Department and to each GM at all the Disney Resort's. Both times I was thanked for the thoughtful email I had written and the call from Environmentality discussed it with me and was surprised that some of the items I wrote about weren't already implemented.
FINAL NOTE: My company is hiring and is a great place to work. Go to www.monster.com and do a simple search of the word Cleantech to find all of our positions available! :sohappy:
