Orlando, finally
Now is the time when I detail all the wild things that happened in Orlando during the NCORE conference.
Now, if you believed that... I have a bridge to sell you ;)
Actually, nothing really wild happened. But we did agree that what happened in Orlando would stay in Orlando. That being said, here's the abridged version.
We arrived in Orlando on May 25th, two days early, which was news to Kim. I think I was the only one who realized how early we were going. I wasn't going to say a word because after all, we were going to the most magical place on earth (*sigh*) right?
On Sunday, we arrived and get checked into the Disney Coronado Springs Resort and spent the day just resting. Here's the thing about the Coronado Springs Resort. This is Disney's description of the resort:
While Disney gave it a try with the whole Mexican theme, somethings are just a little bit off... like the pyramid that doubles as a water slide. Nevermind the fact that pyramids of that sort were used to sacrifice the village virgins in honor of pagan gods. Nevermind that the food which is supposed to be mexican taste only about one step better than taco bell at four times the price. Throughout the week, I kept for the magic to rear its head.
On to the conference. NCORE stands for National Conference on Race and Ethnicity. So it was a conference on diversity, cultural competence and all the things that go with that. I went to so many workshops, I can't possibly tell you about them all. So I'll stick to the extracurricular stuff.
Downtown Disney, it's interesting... it actually reminded me of the Inner Harbor, except with a bunch of Disney stores. We went to the Wolfgang Puck Cafe, which was wonderful. We walked around for a while each time we went, but didn't do any real shopping. After all, it is Disney - Downtown Disney, which means Disney junk at inflated Disney prices.
One cool thing that we discovered was the water slide at the main pool at the resort. I wasn't going to get on the water slide because I had just gotten my hair done. But after some serious peer pressure from Kim and Carol, I decided to just go for it. The water slide is the best thing ever invented :)
On Wednesday, we went to Epcot for a welcome reception which turned out to be one big party. Even though we didn't get to roam around Epcot, it was still a fun time. Here's the part where I leave out the rest of the story to protect the not-so-innocent.
The remainder of the week consisted of conferences, trips to the pool, and conversations with Anton, a black british guy who couldn't dance. We inadvertantly took him under our wings and taught him how to do some basic steps...at least all the ones that he should've already known, like the electric slide.
Mixed in with the week was a loose bear at the Hard Rock Cafe resort, wild fires, and gas prices that rose to over $4/gallon. All that and no internet :(
I've grown tired now. I'll have to tell you my adventure when I was attempting to come home from Orlando.
