Kronos Training and Conference in Florida
I left for Orlando on Friday, the 13th. My co-worker Tom and I had training on Saturday and Sunday and then the conference Monday thru Wednesday. Eric met my mom on Saturday at the Mississippi. The boys got to spend 5 days in Wisconsin. Eric ended up having vacation, so he had a real vacation, no kids, no wife! He was able to do whatever he wanted.
Tom and I arrived in Orlando around 2:45pm. We got our luggage took a taxi to the Dolphin and Swan Resort on the Disney grounds, and were checked in by 3:30pm. We went and talked to the vacation planners at the hotel to find out if any of the parks were open late. EPCOT was open until Midnight for Disney guests. It was our lucky night. Plus, since we were with the conference we received a discounted rate on the tickets. They normally are $67, we got them for $41. We only had to walk 100 feet out of the hotel to catch the boat over to EPCOT.
I have never had the opportunity to stay on the Disney grounds. It sure is nice. The landscaping is beautiful, and everything is so convenient. I didn't know their was a Boardwalk or a Downtown Disney. There was a lot to check out.
We walked into EPCOT at 4:30pm. It turned out that they were having a food and drink festival in the International part of the park. Besides all the permanent countries, they had another 10 small stands set up for countries, such as Australia, Thailand, Mongolia, Sweden and Italy. At each place they had several sample dishes to buy, a wine from that country, or a beer and a dessert. We had a lot of fun sampling. We started in the UK, and I had to have a pint of Strongbow Cider. Well, that went down really quick. At another stand in the UK they had Woodpecker. So I had one of those as well. Between the eating and drinking we did manage to go on the boat ride in Mexico and Norway. We also went over and did Mission to Mars and Test Track, which was a lot of fun. It is only the second time I have been at EPCOT at night, so I got to see the laser show and fireworks, which was cool.
We met a Disney employee who was playing tourist for the day. He told us he makes $2500 a week take home, but they have to work 16 hours every other day. He said he moved there from California, and was going to keep working until he had a good nest egg built up. Tom and I couldn't decide if he was telling us the truth or not, but I said, "Maybe that is why they always have smiles on their faces, and are willing to be so helpful." We stayed at EPCOT until Midnight and then took the boat back to the hotel.
Saturday morning was a little hard for me. We had breakfast and registration at 8am and class started at 9am. I knew it must have shown when Tom said, "Geez, you look a little rough this morning." I didn't feel too hung over, just really tired. Now mind you I am not use to drinking the way we did. We were buying beers at every country! I lost track after 8.
We were taking a class on Crystal Reporting. I was excited to learn something new, but apparently my eyes didn't want to stay open for the first hour. Tom woke me up a couple of times. I didn't even know my eye lids had shut! I'm not much of a soda drinker, but I had a few Diet Coke's in hopes that the caffeine would help me get going. As the day went on, I got back to feeling like myself.
Saturday night we were going to live it up at Pleasure Island. We went over there, and decided to have dinner first. We ended up going to Fulton's Crab House. We had to wait 45 minutes for a table. So we finally got seated around 9:30pm. We had this really nice waiter Luis from Columbia. I tried Lobster Bisque for the first time. It was delightful. I then decided to have crab, since we were eating at the crab house! Luis was kind enough to give me a demonstration on how to crack crab. I have been eating crab since I was 10, but I didn't want to burst his bubble. So I smiled and allowed him to show me. Tom ordered Hawaiian Nairagi. Looking back I should of ordered it too. It was fantastic. It was grilled and glazed with a Thai sauce, on top of grilled veggies. I told Tom I wanted to come back Monday night for dinner so I could order it. After dinner Tom wanted dessert. He ordered an Expresso and I decided to have an after dinner coffee. Well, 2 1/2 hour later we are ready to leave. Guess how much our bill was? Now remember we were eating on the Disney grounds....
It was $92.13 or rather $110.13 with tip. I told Tom there is no way Mercy is going to reimburse us for such an expensive dinner. He really thinks they will. I submitted my expense report on Wednesday. My supervisor thought they may come back and say something. I submitted an itemized bill, to show that we did not have any alcohol with our dinner. I will have to wait and see. It was almost midnight by the time we left the restaurant. We decided to skip pleasure Island and head back to the hotel. The king size bed was calling my name.
Sunday was much better for me. I was wide awake and ready to learn how we can customize reports within Kronos using Crystal Reports. Kronos is our time keeping system here at the hospital. I am excited to apply what I learned. Now I just have to wait for the software to be ordered and loaded on my computer!
Tom and I arrived in Orlando around 2:45pm. We got our luggage took a taxi to the Dolphin and Swan Resort on the Disney grounds, and were checked in by 3:30pm. We went and talked to the vacation planners at the hotel to find out if any of the parks were open late. EPCOT was open until Midnight for Disney guests. It was our lucky night. Plus, since we were with the conference we received a discounted rate on the tickets. They normally are $67, we got them for $41. We only had to walk 100 feet out of the hotel to catch the boat over to EPCOT.
I have never had the opportunity to stay on the Disney grounds. It sure is nice. The landscaping is beautiful, and everything is so convenient. I didn't know their was a Boardwalk or a Downtown Disney. There was a lot to check out.
We walked into EPCOT at 4:30pm. It turned out that they were having a food and drink festival in the International part of the park. Besides all the permanent countries, they had another 10 small stands set up for countries, such as Australia, Thailand, Mongolia, Sweden and Italy. At each place they had several sample dishes to buy, a wine from that country, or a beer and a dessert. We had a lot of fun sampling. We started in the UK, and I had to have a pint of Strongbow Cider. Well, that went down really quick. At another stand in the UK they had Woodpecker. So I had one of those as well. Between the eating and drinking we did manage to go on the boat ride in Mexico and Norway. We also went over and did Mission to Mars and Test Track, which was a lot of fun. It is only the second time I have been at EPCOT at night, so I got to see the laser show and fireworks, which was cool.
We met a Disney employee who was playing tourist for the day. He told us he makes $2500 a week take home, but they have to work 16 hours every other day. He said he moved there from California, and was going to keep working until he had a good nest egg built up. Tom and I couldn't decide if he was telling us the truth or not, but I said, "Maybe that is why they always have smiles on their faces, and are willing to be so helpful." We stayed at EPCOT until Midnight and then took the boat back to the hotel.
Saturday morning was a little hard for me. We had breakfast and registration at 8am and class started at 9am. I knew it must have shown when Tom said, "Geez, you look a little rough this morning." I didn't feel too hung over, just really tired. Now mind you I am not use to drinking the way we did. We were buying beers at every country! I lost track after 8.
We were taking a class on Crystal Reporting. I was excited to learn something new, but apparently my eyes didn't want to stay open for the first hour. Tom woke me up a couple of times. I didn't even know my eye lids had shut! I'm not much of a soda drinker, but I had a few Diet Coke's in hopes that the caffeine would help me get going. As the day went on, I got back to feeling like myself.
Saturday night we were going to live it up at Pleasure Island. We went over there, and decided to have dinner first. We ended up going to Fulton's Crab House. We had to wait 45 minutes for a table. So we finally got seated around 9:30pm. We had this really nice waiter Luis from Columbia. I tried Lobster Bisque for the first time. It was delightful. I then decided to have crab, since we were eating at the crab house! Luis was kind enough to give me a demonstration on how to crack crab. I have been eating crab since I was 10, but I didn't want to burst his bubble. So I smiled and allowed him to show me. Tom ordered Hawaiian Nairagi. Looking back I should of ordered it too. It was fantastic. It was grilled and glazed with a Thai sauce, on top of grilled veggies. I told Tom I wanted to come back Monday night for dinner so I could order it. After dinner Tom wanted dessert. He ordered an Expresso and I decided to have an after dinner coffee. Well, 2 1/2 hour later we are ready to leave. Guess how much our bill was? Now remember we were eating on the Disney grounds....
It was $92.13 or rather $110.13 with tip. I told Tom there is no way Mercy is going to reimburse us for such an expensive dinner. He really thinks they will. I submitted my expense report on Wednesday. My supervisor thought they may come back and say something. I submitted an itemized bill, to show that we did not have any alcohol with our dinner. I will have to wait and see. It was almost midnight by the time we left the restaurant. We decided to skip pleasure Island and head back to the hotel. The king size bed was calling my name.
Sunday was much better for me. I was wide awake and ready to learn how we can customize reports within Kronos using Crystal Reports. Kronos is our time keeping system here at the hospital. I am excited to apply what I learned. Now I just have to wait for the software to be ordered and loaded on my computer!
posted by Rachel | 1:31 PM
1 Comments:
Sounds like a fun trip despite the work. I was worried you were ill again!
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