Orlando

Finally, a little freedom! Day six was our first without any obligations or expectations and we were excited to get it and explore!

We woke up early (for a vacation day) and we skipped a morning swim because our cab driving friend from yesterday (I’ll tell you his name. It’s Manuel.) was picking us up at 9:30 so that we could get to the Amway Center for an hour later.

You see, as Canadians, five days without hockey was too much so we were checking out our very first ECHL game between the Orlando Solar Bears and the Greenville Swamp Rabbits. (I repeat, the ORLANDO SOLAR BEARS and GREENVILLE SWAMP RABBITS. Best team names ever.)

So, the game started at 10:30. AM. This was something new for the team and it was designed to allow school age children to come and check out the game. Two thousand of them. From schools all over the city. It was actually pretty cool and the kids were so funny. When they sang along with Sponge Bob Square Pants arena music, when they waved their rally towels every time the Solar Bears scored and, when they chanted, “go bears go” and when they sang their little hearts out to Let It Go on jumbotron karaoke. Adorable.

From the moment we arrived, we were treated so wonderfully. A host came outside just to tell us about a secret entrance where we could avoid the big line-ups of kids. The woman at the box office was really patient and accommodating. Everyone made a point of saying hello to us and welcoming us to the arena.

Orlando is a city of tourism. Everyone here is on top of their customer service game and, you know what? It’s really nice.

We did a loop or two of Amway Center, checked the place out and got to our seats just in time from puck drop. I was inspired to do a special ECHL edition of my “Our NHL experience” series so I won’t give away too many details, but I will say that we really enjoyed the game. The action itself was exciting (3-1 Orlando after one period, 3-3 after two, 7-4 final) and the game day experience was really well done.

Afterwards, we took a peek inside the Orlando Magic team store. They’re the roommates of the Solar Bears. We didn’t buy anything there, but I did try on a blazer that can only be described as snazzy.

Manuel has shown us the way to walk to get to an area of that boasted restaurants, cafes and things to see so we headed in that direction.

Downtown Orlando is quite pretty. It’s very clean and well-kept. There are trees at regular intervals and street art on most corners. The streets are brick and well-marked with big fancy signs. It felt largely like a business district, but it was peppered with enough eateries that it was also tourist friendly. It has a very southern feel to it.

We were hungry and Manuel had recommended a pizza joint for us to try, but then, while looking it up on a map (thank you, Downtown Orlando free wifi!), we discovered Wahlburgers was nearby. We’d watched the show (on hotel tv, of course) and we’d talked about going to one in Vegas with my brother, but we never made it.

I loved the vibe of the restaurant as soon as we walked in. Everything was really dark wood with lime green chairs and accents. It looked really nice.

We were greeted by a super friendly hostess who gave us the lay of the land and sat us at a table in the full-service section. I decided to try sweet tea and Kevin had water. I was a little surprised that the drinks came in paper cups, but /shrug.

Once our server came and introduced himself, we ordered a portobello sandwich for me (“Ma’am, you’re aware there’s no meat on that?” Uh, yeah.) and an OFD for Kevin. Sides were onion rings for me and tater tots for him.

When everything came, it was served in baskets and it was really, really good. The portobello sandwich was a little melty/drippy, but delicious. Kevin really enjoyed the OFD. I wouldn’t get the onion rings again – they were super thin and didn’t taste much like onion at all – but overall, is give the place a big thumbs up. I would definitely visit if I was in another city where there was a location.

As we were getting ready to leave, a couple of guys came in with WWE championship belts. Kevin has always really liked those so he noticed them right away. We overheard them talking about a WWE event that was happening because Wrestle Mania is being held here in Orlando next April and tickets went on sale (presale and in person sales only) that day. We walked away and didn’t think much more about it.

We were deciding between staying downtown and looking around and going back to our hotel for an afternoon at the pool. We leaned towards going home, but I said I wanted to walk at least a little further. I stopped at a bank machine and then we turned a corner and saw some kind of event being set up on a lawn across the street. We carried on and as we got closer to the action, Kevin saw some WWE signage over at the Dr Phillips Centre so we crossed the street. It turns out that we’d just stumbled on the main event!

We asked a host who was working at the end of a long line of people and he said that everyone in his line was waiting to buy tickets to Wrestle Mania at 4pm, but there was “some kind of party” on the lawn starting at 5pm and that it was free.

Sometimes it feels like Kevin and I just run into the most random events and the next thing we know, we’re in the middle of them. It’s actually one of my favourite things about our relationship, that we can make plans, but also break them when something like this happens.

We decided to stick around and see what was going on with this party. We walked around to ththe front of the lawn (which was all cordoned off) mostly just to get a picture, but then we came across a line-up of people. This was just after 3pm.

We got in line and waited until they let us into the party at 5pm. We watched food trucks arrive and tents get set up, we watched photo stations for people who wanted pics with the championship belt and a we saw the real wrestling ring and televisions set up at the far end of the space.

The whole time, I just kept laughing. When is woken up that morning, I’d never expected I’d be attending a wrestling event!

We got let in and went to the photo area so Kevin could get his pic with the belt. Next, we headed straight for the ring and ended up with spots right at ringside! We waited for another 40 minutes and then the hosts came out and introduced themselves. They showed some videos and then welcomed a few wrestlers (including Booker T!) out into the ring.

Next up: the action! We stuck around for NXT matches, one men, one women and then we decided to explore the other tents and start heading home.

We called Manuel and he was about 25 minutes away so we grabbed a couple of Kona Ices and walked around.

We ran into Kevin’s friend from earlier in the day, Shades. He’s the mascot for the Solar Bears and came running up and hugged Kevin like he was a long lost brother. It was awesome!

By the time we made it back to Caribe Royale, it was 9pm. So much for our afternoon at the pool!

We grabbed some food at the marketplace, headed to our room, relaxed, tried to figure out how we’d get everything back into our suitcase and prepared for our last day of vacation and a road trip out to the coast.

Approaching 1am on Wednesday morning, I was sipping rehydrated clear noodle soup because I hadn’t eaten dinner at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Approaching 7am, my wake-up call for the final day of the conference, I was a new level of tired. I thought I was exhausted on Tuesday morning, that was nothing compared to Wednesday. I had a Harry Potter hangover.

Fortunately, day three at KronosWorks is just a half day and it composed of three quick and easy morning sessions. I went, I saw, I grabbed my to-go lunch and came back “home.” 

I’d left Kevin at our hotel because we needed him to check out of the room while I was away and then store our bags at the bell desk. We weren’t leaving town yet, but we weren’t sticking around the Hilton any longer either. When we were planning the vacation part of this trip, I’d discovered that after the final day of the conference, the Hilton was sold out. I went on Hotwire (hotel roulette as I like to call it) and found something else, but it meant we had to move mid-trip. No biggie. 

We had one final lunch at the Hilton, went for a swim, played some golf and then got a cab over to our next destination: Caribe Royale.

I feel like one of my favourite things to happen this day was the conversation we had with our cab driver. He’s a guy who moved from the Bronx to Orlando twenty months ago. He’s happy here and says that it’s much more affordable. He owns four cabs and gave us his number when he dropped us off so that we could call him if we needed to go anywhere else. This was perfect since we actually would be needing a cab. I was able to text him later and he agreed to pick us up next time we were on our way out. That part was convenient and cool, but it was also nice to just have a conversation with someone who has a totally different experience of life than either of us do. This, THIS, is what makes traveling so interesting.

We checked into our hotel, were given a room way earlier than we’d expected (hey, it never hurts to ask!) and here is where the most bizarre thing that’s happened so far on this trip happened.

We made our way through the hotel lobby, out and around the pool, into our tower (it’s seven floors, easy guys) and to the door of our room. We used the key to open the door and we’re just as surprised as the housekeeping employee who was eating her lunch inside. I just laughed, but she apologized over and over and over again.

A couple things here. First, if you were to ever ask me what I thought would be the worst job in the world, I would tell you it’s hotel housekeeping. We all know that people tend to misbehave while away from home and hotels give them a sense of anonymity. That, friends, is a killer combination. I bet housekeeping sees a lot of things that they just can’t unsee. Gross. Second, I didn’t think it was that big a deal. It was just really, really weird and awkward. But, hey, I’d rather she eat her lunch than not – it was just weird that the smell of someone’s home cooked leftovers lingered in our room for a while. Third, she just kept apologizing. Like she was really scared of what was going to happen. And that made me sad.

It took a good twenty minutes of just sitting in silence in our room to shake off the awkward feeling from that encounter. Also, trying to connect to our not so solid wifi.

So, we comforted ourselves with something we’ve started to become hooked on: TLC. 

We don’t have channels like The “Learning” Channel at home and, as Kevin keeps pointing out, there isn’t anything to learn on them at all anymore. I call it hotel TV and it’s something I look forward to on my trips to the US.

• 90 Day Fiance
• Outdaughtered
• Say Yes to the Dress
• Married by Mom and Dad
• My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding

These are just a few of the shows we’ve had on in the background this week.

And, I mean, where do they come up with this stuff? No wonder marriages never last, they’re increasingly treated like game shows!

Eventually, we roused ourselves and headed check out our new pool. 

This hotel is a little different than our last one. First of all, it’s busier. This may be attributed to being in a much smaller area. The property is big, but the common areas are a little crammed together. The pool is a bit smaller, but it’s situated in a way that allows for more pool deck space and there were ten times as many guests taking advantage of that than there were at any one time at the Hilton, maybe even combined. The entrance and lobby area are pretty opulent, but also dated. We’re not picky, though, and I t’s nice enough. Besides, we rarely spend much time in any hotel room.

…Except our first night there. The rush of everything we’d been doing since we left home combined with not having any events to attend left us feeling tired and a little lost. So, we wandered around and explored the hotel, ordered a pizza from the take-out cafe in the lobby and went to bed early. (After binging on My Cat From Hell episodes. Not TLC, Animal Planet.)

I realized when we took a walk on Wednesday night that it was the first time that I’d actually stepped foot on a real Orlando street. I anticipate plenty more Orlando streets in the two days until we leave for home.

Here’s something about Orlando: when I’m here, my hair gets really frizzy, really fast. I’m like Monica Gellar in Jamaica. Well, as much like Monica Gellar in Jamaica as a girl with dead straight hair can be. You probably wouldn’t even notice, but I did. And so did Kevin. Unless he was just trying to humour me.

Anyway. We woke up bright and early on Monday morning to take advantage of the quarter mile track that our hotel has to offer. I don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t run outside. I probably just wouldn’t run because I have no interest in treadmills. Also, they kind of terrify me.

We hit the track and learned that running in Florida is different than running in BC. There is humidity and heat to battle. Neither is so bad in and of itself, but it sure does make it tough to breathe! And a quarter mile is a very short distance if you are doing it multiple times to meet your goal. At home, we are lucky to have a large enough space to run in that it never really looks the same. A quarter mile is nothing and you see the same thing over and over.

But even a repetitive run is good. And, in FLA, sweaty.

I headed to my conference for breakfast and the keynote address featuring several Kronos staffers (Kronites) and Seth Mattison, an expert on workplace trends. Seth was inspiring, thought-provoking and entirely enjoyable. 

Once the two-hour kick-off was complete, we collectively made the trek from the Hilton to the Hyatt Regency (about ten minutes) to get started in the day’s learning sessions. I spent some time getting educated about burnout, organizational design and using data to improve productivity and efficiency. It was a lot to absorb, but it was good.

One of the things I’m most curious about at conferences is the food they will serve. I love seeing how innovative catering can get especially with really large groups like our 2.5k crowd. 

Breakfast was pretty standard, as was lunch. Snacks were fruit and muffins, croissants, etc mid-morning and fruit, popcorn, nuts and cakes mid-afternoon. The mid-afternoon almonds and perfectly shaped tiny pear (they called it korelle on the basket, but Google has never even heard of such a pear, so) were my favourite part.

Things I ate for the first time today:

• Dragon fruit
• Swamp cabbage
• Grouper
• Hominy

After my day of learning, I was ready to retreat back to the room for a little time out. Only about an hour later, it was time to get moving again and catch the shuttle to the evening’s festivities: the customer dinner.

Each year at KronosWorks, attendees are organized by their industry. Many events are applicable to everyone, others are tailored to a specific industry. The customer dinners are a networking opportunity for people in the same industry. They are always a special event and this year, the manufacturing and energy group (my industry) were whisked off to a private “block party” at Universal City Walk. Bob Marley’s, Pat O’Brien’s and Rising Star. Tables were set up serving small plates, there were life sized board games to play and the bars were open with different entertainment in each (Monday Night Football, Dualing Pianos and karaoke, respectively.) 

The most interesting part of the food for me (and from a distance) was a MASSIVE pot of jambalaya. Kevin liked the sliders. I just ate some plain pasta and an M&M ice cream sandwich. (To my knowledge, we do NOT have these in Canada.)

We watched a little football and then decided to break out from the party and explore the surrounding area. 

If you’re like me and haven’t been in an amusement park in a looooong time, it’s a real change of scenery. Lights, action and people EVERYWHERE. It was neat to walk around and see everything that was going on in a place designed to be totally excessive and to completely overwhelm your senses. Mission accomplished! (And this was after the rides and parks seemed to have closed.)

We walked a loop around the area and poked our heads into the different stores and kiosks we came across. Kevin picked up a Grinch holiday shirt for our upcoming Santa Shuffle (benefiting the Salvation Army) and I got my Orlando and Florida Starbucks You are Here mugs.

Once we’d made a full loop, we headed for the shuttle area and made our way back to the hotel for a swim and to get some sleep.

It was a really fun night and just another detail that makes this conference such a specatacularly organized and enjoyable event.

It’s been three busy days since we left home and the conference is only a little more than third of the way through. 

Me being on conference is something we’ve never done before, but I think Kevin had a fun time wandering around and hanging out at the pool during the day. Thankfully, KronosWorks is a very spouse-friendly conference and that is super awesome because it means I don’t have to choose between leaving him alone in the evenings and missing some of the fun! ????

One and a half more conference days, the BIG special event and then we’ve got a couple of true vacation days coming our way!

Who comes to THE SUNSHINE STATE and doesn’t pack SUNGLASSES? 

In asking, I don’t think I really need to answer, right?

Yeah, it was me. 

So, we spent our first Orlando daylight hour hunting down a new pair. Fortunately, it wasn’t so challenging and we’d slept so late that at the same time I was also able to get registered for the conference that brought us here in the first place: KronosWorks. In short: it’s an annual conference and learning opportunity for people who use and maintain the scheduling and payroll software that I implemented in my workplace.

So, we took a walk to where part of the conference is taking place: the Hyatt Regency Orlando. The walkway took us through the Orange County Convention Centre which is seriously HUGE. But everything here is. Huge buildings separated by huge open spaces. 

We checked out where I will be spending the next few days, grabbed some lunch and wandered around over there.

So far, here’s how we assessed Orlando amid all the palm trees, outrageously loud carpets, dim lighting and random roller coasters: Spacious Vegas.

After our stroll around the neighbourhood, we came back for a mid-afternoon swim. We’d hung out in the family pool last night and today we went to the adults only pool. We swam, we sat in the sun, I read. It was great.

We towelled off and headed out to the first of our KronosWorks engagements: the Canadian Customer Reception where I got to see some old friends and meet some new people over drinks and a nice spread of cheese, veggies and dip and a couple of hot hors d’oeuvres. We hung out at that reception for a couple of hours before the next event began.

As we made our way through the hotel to the big welcome dinner reception, we wound through wide hallways and down escalators (to say the hotel is sprawling would be an understatement.) We turned the final corner and it opened up to a wall of windows behind which we could see lights, flames, bright colours and lots of action. It was such a delightful surprise, I wanted to go running out onto the promenade to see it all. (Unfortunately, photos don’t do it justice.)

Once we were outside, we could see that the event was spread over a very large space and tiers of grass and concrete. Tables of all sizes were spread throughout and small stations of food were everywhere. 

I love this kind of party! Small plates with lots of different options. In this case, they included:

• A flatbread station: like pizzas minus the cheese
• A pasta station: freshly cooked ingredients that went into the pasta right in front of you, one cream sauce, one in vodka sauce
• A Mediterranean station: hummus, feta, pita chips, chickpea salad, roasted eggplant and other veggies
• Salads
• Standard prime rib and mashed potatoes
• A station with risotto, vegetables, chicken and mahi mahi 
• Chocolate fondue and handmade truffles
• Dessert! Key lime tarts, chocolate mousse, red velvet cake pops, grapefruit upside down cake and macarons 
• Coffee and tea
• Plenty of bars serving domestic beers and wine
• A craft beer station completed with a Kronos ice sculpture and CO2 glass cooling contraption

It was a super fun time. The food was so good and it was neat to walk around in that outdoor party atmosphere. 

After a little over an hour trying as many different foods as we could, we headed back to our room to relax, digest and change back into our (wet) bathing suits for one last swim for the day. 

Our first full day in Orlando was full indeed! And, funny, we don’t seem to miss the Vancouver rain at all! ????

I gave Kevin a really hard time when he booked travel him from Prague with a NINE HOUR layover in London. It wasn’t enough time to get out and tour the city, but it was too much time to sit in a terminal and still maintain our sanity. Alas, we survived and life went on.

I evened the playing field on this trip when I booked an international flight that left at 7am. We’d decided last year that we wouldn’t take any flights that left before 8am, especially international flights, because it requires such a ridiculously early wake-up call. I forgot. In my defense, flying from Vancouver to Orlando isn’t nearly as easy as you might think.

So, our alarms went off at 3:30am and we did all our last minute packing, kissed the cats goodbye and took a cab to YVR. We flew from there to Dallas Fort Worth where we explored the Cowboys Pro Shop, grabbed some lunch and picked up my Dallas Starbucks You Are Here mug before we were on our way.

We arrived at MCO around 6pm and to our hotel, Hilton Orlando, about an hour later. We dropped our bags and hit the pools, swimming, floating the lazy river and having slushy drinks. ????

We eventually went back to our room and got changed so we could hit the lounge downstairs in the hotel. We watched seven screens of sports action – college football, basketball, UFC – while we snacked on salad (me), wings (him) and (shared) the most amazing crab nachos.

We explored a little further, accidentally discovered that I’ll actually be able to walk to my conference instead of taking a shuttle and picked up some coconut water from the hotel marketplace because I was feeling a strong need to rehydrate. 

By then, it was 11pm local time (8pm in our west coast minds, but we were tired) we headed back to the room for some sleep.

What travel booking risks do you try to avoid? Have you ever booked something you really wished you hadn’t? Do you have any great travel tips for us while we are here?