Dear Diary, I probably had too many Coronas last night. And I probably should have eaten something. I definitely should not have stayed out until three when I knew I had to drive to Orlando early this morning. Also probably I shouldn't have worn a sport coat and tie with shorts.But the company holiday party was so freaking awesome. I got many hugs, and had great times with company peeps. And their plus-ones. And some of their dogs. So despite feeing kind of shit after four hours sleep while starting the drive, I think I'd probably make the same bad choices again.
The Website Pipeline holiday party was a killer event this year, and I’m sure the fine folks on the marketing team will have a post up this week with more details (how’s that for passive-aggressive leadership, eh?) but here are a few pictures for now.
The drive itself was pretty quiet. I fired up some podcasts as usual and it was mostly sunny for the majority of the drive, with a few showers sprinkled in. The weather looks perfect – this week: upper 70s/low 80s. I got to the amazing new Disney Springs (fka Downtown Disney) and got all our ticket activation needs straightened out, picked up our Tables In Wonderland card, and then got a text saying our room was ready.
I drove to our resort, Art of Animation, and headed straight to the room – no check-in required, since the Magic Band serves as room key and park ticket. While I brought my bags in, I checked the girls’ flight status and found they were getting in earlier than expected, so I jumped back in the car and drove to MCO, parked, and went to the area where they’d be coming out of the gate area.
I got ready to record video, waited a few minutes, and then this happened:
Click to see a video of their arrival
We gathered their luggage and hit the road for the quick drive back to WDW. All the usual moments of excitement happened:
- spotting the first Disney bus,
- going through the “Where Dreams Come True” gate
- spotting the purple road signs
and we were even treated to the DHS fireworks as we turned onto Victory Way.
After dinner and checking out the pool area, we also got to see the EPCOT (or, as Leah says it: “EP-A-COT”) fireworks from the bridge between this resort and Pop Century across the lake.
We got back to the room and got settled in for the night, ready for our first day at WDW.
Nothing trumps a “Hello” hug!!