Orlando: Part Two

I arrived back at MCO at 5:20 PM. While I was in South Carolina my mom left Orlando for New Jersey to see her Dad and help her Mom and sisters. Pop developed pneumonia and was hospitalized. I waited at the airport until Dad’s meetings were over and he was available to get me. We then went to dinner before crashing hard back at the hotel. Monday morning I got up early to take Dad to the convention center. I then returned to the condo, slept some more and did a little bit of work. At 5 PM I picked Dad up from his meetings and brought him back to the condo to change and prepare for our evening at Universal’s Island of Adventure. One of the coolest things about when the AAO goes to Orlando is that it typically rents out one of the parks for the conference attendees and their guests.

The most interest from attendees, not surprisingly was Harry Potter’s section of the park. Dad and I decided to head their first. We got on the dragon ride with literally no waiting. We then looked at the castle ride, saw it had a half-hour wait and decided to return later when hopefully the lines had dissipated a bit. We then met up with Dad’s new doctor, Jason, and his wife Tina. We proceeded back to the front of the park and went all the rides that didn’t involve getting wet. At 10 PM we returned to Harry Potter’s Castle and were told that we would not be allowed to ride it because the line was so long that the park would be closed before our turn. We were told, however, that we could take a “Castle Tour” and just walk through and see the incredible sites. We decided that was better than nothing, so we went for it. The Castle was truly amazing. As we approached the end of the “tour” an opportunity presented itself to get in the ride queue. Dad and I jumped on it. The ride was pretty amazing. It was a mix of projected images, moving roller coaster and incredible set pieces. I’m definitely glad we didn’t miss out on it. After completing the castle ride at 10:45 PM, we snuck in a ride on the kiddy roller coaster through the pumpkin patch in HP’s World and then got on the dragon ride one last time. While we didn’t get in quite as many rides as I was hoping, we did ride everything on my to-do list. All in, it was a great night at the park and I look forward to doing it again when the AAO returns to Orlando!

Tuesday morning I attended the conference with Dad. I’ve been tasked with helping him choose an EMR. I spent the morning speaking with vendors and sampling demos on the trade show floor. I can now fully understand why this government mandated transition has many doctors overwhelmed. Picturing my dad trying to wade through all the technospeak is frightening.

In the afternoon I finally made it to an Orlando outlet mall. I’m certain Orlando has more outlet malls per capita than anywhere else in the world. I didn’t purchase much but had fun looking nonetheless. In the early evening I picked Dad up from the conference, took him to change out of his suit and tie and then we went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. We had a nice time discussing all I had learned about EMRs and office management. To walk off some of our dinner, post meal we went to another outlet mall. I thought we would just window shop and enjoy the warm evening air since it was past nine but it turned out the mall was open to 11 PM. This resulted in the purchase of a couple Christmas presents and a much needed new beige jacket for Dad.

It’s now Wednesday evening and by my estimation we’re somewhere over Idaho. We’ve taken the same circuitous route through IAD and PDX. One development that happened today is I found out this year’s Christmas ornaments have been released from customs and I can pick them up in Portland anytime. So while I was quite excited to sleep in my own bed and see my Chippy, I am going to delay that. My friend Mandy is a hero and agreed to pick me up at PDX, let me crash at her house and then deliver me to a U-Haul rental facility in the morning to pick up a truck that I can use to drive the ornaments down I-5 in the morning.

I am off to see Granny and Pop in week.

Until that adventure,
Katy