If you’ve been following me on Twitter, it’s likely you’ve seen me use this hashtag and been thinking either:
A) I wish Erin would stop cluttering my feed with her tweets about some social media moms convention at Disney World OR
B) All those moms in Florida are clearly freezing their asses off.

Yes, it is cold here. I think the temps will be in the 30s tonight! It was sunny today—and it wasn’t snowing—but I wish I had worn my winter coat down here instead of my spring one. I also wish I had given more thought to the fact that it might be a bit of a challenge trying to combine the work/networking of a social media conference with the likes of my two high-energy little boys.

Truth is, I am participating in this conference for parenting bloggers because the opportunity was simply too good to turn down. In the interest of full disclosure, we were offered an amazing rate for the conference which included accommodations at the Polynesian Resort for me and my family. We were also given 7-day park hopper passes and media fast passes so that we could experience all the greatness of Disney World without the hassles of lines and waiting. This is, as my son Tommy put it, “A once in a lifetime opportunity.”

When we come to Orlando, which is usually once a year, we never stay on the Disney property. We own a Hilton timeshare here AND I like having more than a single hotel room when traveling with the children. I also like having a car. That said, I was eager to experience the resort from a different perspective. And today we did: taking the monorail back and forth, hopping from park to park with relative ease, getting the full Disney treatment at every turn.

The social media moms convention officially started tonight, with a press briefing at the newly re-named ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. We got an update on the plans for the largest expansion in Magic Kingdom history and the exciting additions to the Disney cruise line. Then we attended a huge party indoors, originally planned to be a tailgate party.

Before the conference kicked-off, my parents came up for the day and explored the parks with us, which was a nice treat. Here are a few pics of the day, starting with Brendan’s epic meltdown at Epcot and ending with his meeting with Goofy.

I’ll be covering the convention through Friday night, so if you follow me on twitter and don’t want to hear about it, it’s best you mute me. Ah, I bet that’s something my parents wish they could have done when I was a teenager.