My kids don’t know that I recently visited Walt Disney World without them – and that I plan on doing it again. Does that make me the meanest mom in the world? Not really. You see, I was there for the annual TravelingMom writers’ retreat, which was hosted by Disney and spent the majority of my time there working – in educational sessions learning about social media and content creation, attending media events in the parks, exploring better ways to take and share photos from sponsor Panasonic (stay tuned for a post about their new Lumix ZS40 – it’s quickly becoming my go-to camera) and learning about new family-friendly features of the vehicles that transportation sponsor Chevy provided to the retreat. We even had a chance to take the cars for a spin in an Amazing Race-style scavenger hunt around Orlando, sponsored by Chevy and navigated by OnStar.
In short, I was busy. So busy that I wouldn’t have had much of a chance to even see them during the day, and so 
tired at the end of the day that I wouldn’t want to do more than crawl into bed and snooze or watch TV.
Next year will be a different story; my husband and I are hoping that we can all make the trip down to Orlando. But the part about taking them to Disney World will still be a secret – for a while. We have family about an hour away from Orlando, so we would plan to drop me off at the retreat to stay in an Orlando hotel, where I can work while my husband and the kids visit family. Then, after the work part of the trip is over, we’d rejoin and spend a few days in the park. It’d be their first visit to see the Mouse, and neither my husband or I would want them to experience that without all of us together.
Combining a business trip with a family vacation is nothing new for me; however, having it happen in Orlando is a little more challenging.
