Bibbity Bobbity Boo! - I Am Going to the Disney World Social Media Moms Celebration!
11:21 AMOkay, so I didn't want to say anything until now because I was not sure I was going to get in, but now it is final. I am going to the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration March 17-20, with four boys and my mom in to!. Of course, those who know me and my boys know that we are absolute Disney World a-holics and with included 7 day tickets, we will be extending our stay past the included 3 nights and staying for a total of 7 nights!
{About the Event}
For those of you who have seen the #DisneySMMoms hashtag on Twitter and have no idea what the heck it means, it is simply the hashtag that is used to discuss all things about the conference, from registration to actual live tweeting while at the event.
The Disney Social Media Moms Celebration is an annual conference that Walt Disney World began last year and was co-hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom, Resourceful Mommy Media, Mom Select, Mom Bloggers Club. It is a great opportunity to blend family memories with an awesome social media education event and come out with a trip of a lifetime!
For $375, attendees and up to 3 additional guests will receive 3 nights at the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa, as well as 7 day park hopper tickets with water park plus options as well. The fee also includes almost all meals for attendees and quite a few meals and special private party events for their guests. I added on two additional guests at a rate of $150 each for a total of $675, but when you figure that one night during a weekend in March at the Grand Floridian costs $680 for the cheapest room, it is quite a bargain! Not to mention the amazing knowledge and information I am sure to gain from the speakers.
{My Registration Experience}
For months, we have all awaited additional information about registration for the conference this year and it was finally announced that registration would begin on December 2nd at 2pm EST. Beginning at 1:30pm EST on Thursday, I was anxiously staring at orange circles that were automatically refreshing the page every 10 seconds. I had three screens open to the registration page on my laptop and another two screens open on Matt's desktop.
At 2pm, exactly, I was given the screen with the box to check so I could move on with registration and then..... an error message! I was shaking, saying a few unmagical words and desperately trying to get back to the registration screen, but nothing but orange spinning circles. Eventually, I had the brilliant idea to go back pages until I say the original registration page I had received in the beginning. I kept submitting it and eventually it went through! I nervously put in my information and by 2:23pm EST I had my confirmation of registration.
I noticed on Twitter there were quite a few people not getting through including my friend Lorie from The Shewbridges of Central Florida. I went back to the registration page and kept manually refreshing it until I was again brought to the registration form. Luckily, I was able to register Lorie over the phone and she found out yesterday that she got into the conference too!
The waiting wasn't over though! That night, @DisneySMMoms announced that they would be verifying applications and they hoped to have emails sent out to us by the end of the day Friday. So, the waiting began again and all of the hopefuls wondered if they would get in, me included.
At 2:11pm EST yesterday, I received an email that told me I had been excepted and I was walking on air! That is, until I went to Twitter and found out that many many people were turned down. As ecstatic as I am about going to this awesome event, it is sad to see so many that are sad, and it puts a bit of a damper on the happiness.
There has been some anger expressed about it not being first come first serve and I have no idea what was used to determine who got in and who didn't. It obviously wasn't just big blogs, as mine is fairly new and not that large, but I trust that Disney and the rest of the great moms behind this event will take care of all open questions in due time.
For now, I wish nothing but happiness and pixie dust to everyone and will be sure to update with additional details about the conference when we learn more! I am utterly thankful for being able to experience this celebration myself with so many great ladies.
8 comments
Congrats on getting in! Can't wait to actually get to meet everyone in real life and at Disney - so exciting!
ReplyDeleteDon't let others take away the excitement from you of attending this event. I was once invited to a conference where there were many people upset that they did not get in. At first I felt bad but then I reminded myself that if roles were reversed they would be happy to be in.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on getting in, have a fantastic time and I look forward to reading your posts about it.
Congratulations! I'll be there too! What an awesome opportunity. Can't wait to meet you there.
ReplyDeleteThanks ladies!
ReplyDeleteNolie- I appreciate your kind words. I am still excited about going, it is just sad to see so many turned away. I plan on sharing plenty of pictures and videos though!
Elle- Can't wait to meet you there. It is indeed an opportunity of a lifetime and I can hardly wait!
I look forward to meeting you there!
ReplyDeleteWe're lucky to have gotten in. It's a beautiful thing!
http://kristamamaswan.blogspot.com/2010/12/it-was-random.html
Woooo oWHOOOOOO congratulations. SO EXCITED FOR YOU. you must post and tell us all about it. We'll live through your experience
ReplyDeleteYay! It's interesting to hear about the process. I was invited to come so didn't know that it was so highly anticipated.
ReplyDeleteI hope I bump into you there. I'll be heading over all the way from Australia. x
Wow! All the way from Australia huh? That is amazing. I am sure you are going to have a great time and I hope to meet you there.
ReplyDelete