Pineapple Escapes Training Recap
Last week, I was thrilled (and super anxious!) to host my first official AEP – Agent Education Program – for 10 of my Pineapple Escapes agents in Orlando. I spent hours planning, scheduling, and coordinating the event to make sure that we maximized our time and had fun. I was so nervous that I basically didn’t sleep for 4 nights leading up to the training… but it all worked out in the end!
When this training was first on my radar, COVID wasn’t even a thing yet, so adding that hiccup to our plans threw a few wrenches — I was lucky to be released from quarantine just two days before our trip after Bo’s diagnosis. We were all tested before travel since we were all staying in a house together too. Just getting everyone there and healthy was a hurdle in and of itself!
We all arrived on Tuesday evening and rented a cottage at Margaritaville in Orlando. We had a six-bedroom cottage with a full kitchen and living area, plus a private pool and hot tub. Staying offsite added a lot of extra transportation to our trip — we rented a 15 passenger van — but it was the right choice for this first training as it allowed us all extra time together at the house in the evenings. In the future though, I definitely think we will be staying onsite at Walt Disney World and Universal, as it is just so much more convenient!
Wednesday was our Magic Kingdom day and we enjoyed the entire day at the park, experiencing the attractions, trying the food, and seeing the beauty of the park at Christmas.
Thursday was our Animal Kingdom day and when Eta hit Orlando. We were truly in a rainforest! Despite the rain, we were still able to experience a ton at Animal Kingdom before dinner at The Wave at the Contemporary and resort tours of the monorail resorts.
On Friday morning, we had team photos and headshots taken at the Polynesian. The Poly is my favorite resort and just of the few sneak peeks we’ve seen, I am already in love with these photos! It’s pretty obvious how awesome my team is!
After photos, we headed to Universal for resort tours and then into CityWalk for dinner at Cowfish!
Saturday was our busiest day with a VIP tour at Universal. We were able to do so much we wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise – we experienced the new Christmas store, the balloon display, rode Hagrid’s back-to-back, saw the new Bourne Identity show, and so much more! You’ll notice in some of our Universal photos, we were able to take our masks off. Universal is a bit less strict and will allow masks off for a brief photo in the parks. Walt Disney World is more strict and will not allow masks to be removed even for a quick photo.
We also had lunch at Mythos and dinner at Toothsome. The milkshakes from Toothsome can’t be topped! I had the cookie jar this time!
On Sunday, a few of our team had to head home, but the rest of us headed to Whispering Canyon at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge for brunch before touring the resorts on the Skyliner. After our resort tours, we headed back to Universal and we were able to see many of the little areas we had missed during our VIP tour. There was also more frozen butterbeer involved… We ate dinner at Antojitos before heading back to the cottage.
On Monday, we checked out and flew home, after an amazing week spending time together!
While all of the training and experiences at Disney and Universal will be so beneficial for my agents and all of our clients, the most valuable aspect of the training was being able to spend time together. Our team talks to each other daily in our private FB group and via messenger and text, but being able to all be together in person and truly get to know each other and spend time together is a game-changer for team building! Having 11 of us together, and seeing first-hand this phenomenal team that I handpicked, makes my heart so full. There was one point where we were all in the cottage and I looked around at everyone chatting and found myself teary-eyed. We are destined for so many wonderful adventures!
