The Conference Venue

I have attended several other conferences that were held at Walt Disney World, and this is the second one at Coronado Springs. This is my least favorite resort on Disney property for two reasons-size and dining options. The resort is huge and very spread out, it is built around a lake and this makes walking from your hotel room to the conference center a real pain. I’ve also never been impressed with The Pepper Market, the main restaurant at Coronado Springs and the menu at the Rix Lounge isn’t great either. There were 4 conferences, that I know of taking place at the Coronado Springs Convention Center while we were there. It was odd to be often crossing paths with other groups and the janitorial staff did not do a great job of keeping the restrooms clean and stocked.

The Conference Sessions

There was a good mix of sessions on a variety of topics to suit the needs of bloggers. While, as at any conference, the session quality varied-most were very good and it was refreshing o hear from speakers I had never heard from before. The top 3 sessions for me were:

1. The Hand-On SEO Workshop You’ve Always Wanted–@MattWallaert from Microsoft and @Momables. It was great to hear what a search engine wants from the search engine itself! The top 3 takeaways were:

• Visit webmaster tools (Google and Bing) monthly
• Search Engines hate photo collages-don’t include them in your post
• How to optimize WordPress SEO by Yoast

2. 30 Easy Changes to Make for GIANT Growth-Matt Cherry of @iblogmag. Top 3 takeaways:

• Your sidebar should be about YOU! Get rid of badges and ads.
• Utilize LinkedIn-make connections daily
• Just say “NO!” to short term gigs and $50 posts. (This will be a hard change for me)

3.  Affiliate Marketing Round Table with @TarynP This was a whirlwind of a Round Table and a great way to start off the conference. Top 3 Takeaways:

• Your first call to action needs to be in the first sentence of your post.
• Use the ad rotate plugin and put in your own affiliate links.
• Use exit pop-ups to gather email addresses.

An over arching theme was to start email newsletters for the subjects I write about. That will be something that I will introduce in the new year.

The Keynotes

We had 4 keynotes throughout the weekend and they were very varied and two were very good and two were very boring and lacked any takeaways. My favorite keynote was by Alberto Sardinas. He spoke about the power of our story. He also shared about how he, as a radio personality uses social media. It was inspiring on both personal and professional fronts. Kim Garst of Boom Social share with us “How to Build and Award Winning, Profitable Blog”. She gave us actionable steps and ways to move our blog forward.

The Activities

We had the opportunity to be a part of a different evening activity each night.

Thursday was a Sunset Safari and Dinner at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. I have ridden the Kilimanjaro Safari ride countless times and never have I seen so few animals. My guess is that since we were the last safari of the day, most of the animals had been called in for the night. On the savanna we saw 1 Ankole Cattle and a few Wildebeest. There were no giraffe, impala or gazelle! We saw 1 elephant and none of the lions, hippos, rhinos, ostrich, zebras and other animals that are usually seen on safari. We ate dinner in the dining area of the Flame Tree Barbecue, but we didn’t eat Flame Tree Food We did enjoy a delicious buffet, music from a great DJ and a visit from Mickey and Minnie.

Friday night we boarded buses to take us to Universal Orlando to see Blue Man Group. This was my second time seeing this show. It is a lot of fun, but not one of those shows you need to see over and over again.

Saturday night the group went to SeaWorld Orlando for Halloween Spooktacular. Since I didn’t have any young children with me and I have been to the event a few times in the past, I spent the evening showing some Disney newbies around the Magic Kingdom until 2:00am! We had a lot of fun and laughed a lot!

The Expo and Friday Afternoon Activities

When the Niche Parent Conference 2014 agenda came our I was concerned that the Winter Wonderland Expo, the Chevy test drives and the Painting with a Twist activity were all scheduled at the same time. I had nothing to worry about. There were only 7 brands represented at the expo! One I already work with, 2-3 I’d like to work with and 3 that don’t fit with my blog at all.

I spent 2 hours painting an adorable goldfish with Painting with a Twist. Prior to this event, I had seen friends share their Painting with a Twist creations on Facebook but I had never done it myself. I had a blast! I can’t wait to do it again at my local studio.

After the painting activity my roommate Tomika and I headed out to test drive a 2015 Chevy. Unfortunately, I had left my driver’s license in my room so I rode with Tomika as she drove the 2015 Chevy Silverado. I must say, this truck had a smooth ride and a very comfortable and roomy interior.

Mom Maven’s Thoughts

All-in-all Niche Parent Conference was a wonderful experience. I went not knowing anyone who would be there and I made some great friends and I learned a lot. The weekend wasn’t perfect. Everyday ran way off schedule and that is one of the things that drives me crazy. I was there as a volunteer and I got to see some of the behind-the-scenes disorganization and lack of communication that happened on several levels. I hope to attend Niche Parent Conference next year, if it fits in my budget and schedule.

Thanks to all of the great sponsors and organize who made this weekend a success.

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Last week we talked about the “seasons“ of Walt Disney World resorts. This week we are going to check out the different categories of resorts. As I said last week Disney basically has four different categories of resorts, Value, Moderate, Deluxe and Disney Vacation Club.

Starting with the Value Resorts we find these 5 resorts are geared to families on a budget. I have stayed in all four of these resorts over the years. The Value Resorts are All-Star Sports, All-Star Music, All-Star Movies, Pop Century and Disney’s Art of Animation Resort. Most of the rooms in these resorts are like a typical hotel room. They sleep a family of 4 comfortably, though 4-Adults in one Value room will feel cramped. For families with 5-6 people you can request adjoining rooms or All-Star Music offers some family suites that sleep up to 6 people and, depending on the season the suite runs anywhere from $239-$445 a night. Disney’s Art of Animation Resort is a “mostly family suite” resort with 3 of the 4 sections dedicated to family suites. These suites run $298-$511 a night. The Value Resorts all have fun themes, cool swimming pools, arcades, food courts and a shop. A main benefit of staying in a Value Resort is the ability to take Disney transportation to and from the parks. If you stay off site you will pay $12 per day to park on Disney property. On-site guests get a free parking pass and/or can take Disney transportation.

All-Star Sports

Next are the Moderate Resorts. The Moderate Resorts at Walt Disney World are Caribbean Beach Resort, Port Orleans Riverside, Port Orleans French Quarter, Coronado Springs and the Wilderness Cabins. I have stayed at all of these resorts except for the Wildreness Cabins. The rooms are slightly bigger and the resorts, for the most part are larger and better themed than the Values. The Moderate Resorts all have pools with a slide, hot tubs, full service restaurants, food courts, arcades and access to Disney transportation. All of the Moderate Resort rooms house 4 people except for the Wilderness Cabins which can house up to 6 people at a cost of $330-$520 a night.

Port Orleans French Quarter Swimming Pool

Deluxe resorts is where the pricing gets complicated. A few years ago Disney stopped lumping all of the Deluxe Resorts into one price structure. The Deluxe Resorts are beautiful, roomy and full of amenities. The Deluxe Resorts are Animal Kingdom Lodge, Contemporary, Polynesian, Boardwalk Inn, Grand Floridian, Wilderness Lodge,  Yacht Club and Beach Club. I have stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge, Contemporary, Polyesian, Grand Floridian, Yacht Club and Beach Club. Amenities include full-service restaurants, room service, valet parking, swimming pools, beach access, on-site recreation, on-site childcare, and Disney transportation.

Animal Kingdom Lodge

Next we have the Disney Vacation Club (DVC) Properties. These are primarily a time share where you can purchase points and own a week of lodging. The DVC properties are studios and villas and they sleep anywhere between 4-12 people depending on the room and resort. Because these are time share properties you have kitchen facilities, full service restaurants, front door parking, on-site events and amenities, pools, and Disney Transportation. The DVC Resorts are Old Key West, Boardwalk Villas, Villas at Wilderness Lodge, Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa, Beach Club Villas, Animal Kingdom Villas, Kidani Village at The Animal Kingdom Lodge, Treehouse Villas at Saratoga Springs and Bay Lake Tower at the Contemporary.  I have yet to stay at a DVC resort. I did stay in the treehouses, which are now part of Saratoga Springs, back in the 80’s when they were a resort unto themselves. I loved staying in the treehouses, they slept 12 people on multiple levels and we had the kitchen so we could eat breakfast at the resort and keep snacks there too. The DVC porperties are available to be rented by non-DVC owners when the rooms are not in use.

I didn’t mention camping at Ft Wilderness yet. If you like to camp this is the place to stay. Partial hook up spots for tent camping and tent trailers cost between $55-$113 a night while the full hook up spots cost $74-$50 a night. All campsites are for up to 10 people and have a paved driveway, sand pad, picnic table, charcoal grill and electricity.

That is an overview of the Walt Disney World Resorts. Which one(s) have you stayed at? Which one(s) would you like to stay at? Leave me a comment and let me know.

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