Marketing geniuses, I tells ya

Finally found the “then” pic

Thank you Grand Marais Ben Franklin

Quick, fun trip to Vermilion to celebrate Mr. Schuster’s 50th

None to be found on this trip

Liked this game a lot

Wide range of weather at The Wilderness

The new Grand Portage Casino is nice

…just like me

Thanks, Sven and Ole

Waking up early in hotels seems like a rip-off (have to do it twice too)

Yay! Missed Little Chef a ton

Bet there are bluff snakes out there too

Chicago Mix (of course)

Union Station, Chicago

Thanks a lot, Simpsons

Warm and crowded @ Cloud Gate

Cermak-McCormick Place Station

Doge art is cool

More cookies than I’ve ever seen in one place

Long live Gordy

This one was outside the candy store

Nice to see Lynn at the candy store

Could Black Bear possibly be looser than Mystic now?

Don’t ever change, Gordy

(Not the Musical)

Glensheen Carriage House

Last week I attended my second Cisco Live! conference in Orlando (last year was my first in Vegas; next year will be San Diego). It blows my mind how much it must cost to host 25,000 people in a facility like the Orange County Convention Center – setup, food twice a day, video production for keynotes and sessions, utilities, staffing, etc. And then there was the customer appreciation event Wednesday night at Universal Studios, which not only included exclusive access to the original park for four hours, but also had free food and drinks everywhere and big name concerts from Leon Bridges, Cake and Sam Hunt. No wonder my annual maintenance bill never goes down…

Speaking of bills, I needed to do this trip on the cheap, so I stayed with my brother and his wife and leaned on them for ground transportation (along with some 25% off Lyft rides). He took me to Animal Kingdom on Sunday night after I arrived so I could check out the new(ish) Avatar stuff. Na’vi River Journey has the cool Audio-Animatronics Shaman of Songs, while Flight of Passage lived up to the nearly two hour wait. We had dinner at the excellent Satu’li Canteen, which really elevates the whole theme park food quality experience, in my opinion.

My conference pass this time was a new intermediate “Imagine” badge, so I didn’t get access to all of the sessions (or a T-shirt or backpack). It did get me into all of the keynotes and Innovation Showcase presentations, though, along with the “World of Solutions” trade show, the party at Universal and free food for breakfast and lunch each day. I found most of the sessions to be useful and not just a week-long sales pitch to buy new stuff (like you get at some conferences). I learned about a lot of new technology trends, including improved security techniques, software-defined networking and container-based development, along with the evolution of the Cisco platforms and products we’ve deployed at the stadium (which thankfully I don’t need to replace right away).

After the conference wrapped up, I had a little extra time to kill before flying home (I wish the standby rules for Delta were more customer friendly). I spent some more time checking out all the changes at Disney Springs, where I had had dinner earlier in the week with my brother at Art Smith’s wonderful Homecomin’ restaurant. World of Disney was half-closed for remodeling, but I still managed to find some things for people. It was interesting to see retail additions like UNIQLO and the dining scene continues to impress with the likes of Morimoto Asia, Jock Lindsey’s Hanger Bar and The Boathouse (in addition to all of the old favorites). Also caught Deadpool 2 at the AMC and made a quick trip to Tampa to check out the very impressive Seminole Hard Rock Tampa complex.

See you in San Diego?

Glad I took a couple hours to visit

Hard Rock Tampa is super nice

Enough with the live in the moment crap, though

Iron Chef, no more! Hitting up Art Smith’s Homecomin’

Lots of interesting presentations @ Cisco Live!

Cisco Live! 2018, Orlando

Mr. Safari from day one

The early air choo-choo

Is this the start of something wonderful and new? Or one more dream that I cannot make true?

Still my favorite in South Bay

Covered them both on this vacation

SK ❤️ seashells

La La Land Day, part II

Crazy long waits here these days

It was much more impressive when I was little

This place has changed a lot

Isn’t that right, Luna?

Fireworks over Big Thunder

Plaza Inn FTW

At least I beat her on one of them

Got our money’s worth on Sunday

The single rider line is key

I love you, choo-choo

Such an original “simple” ride

Coco forever

They better leave the Tower alone in Florida

Can’t believe I never went there until now

Observatory to Hollywood sign = 3.5 miles each way

Just warmer (and with pigeons)

Just like Vegas

Sidewalks @ Griffith Observatory

The wildest ride in the wilderness

Red Wagon on Main Street

Pirates Forever

Club 33 @ New Orleans Square

Still mostly the same as when it opened

Love, love, love the Matterhorn

Used to be I could drive up to Barstow for the night…

Great exhibit at BGFA

At least in Nevada

Who would’ve thought Vegas would go hockey mad?

Mandalay Bay presentation was really cool