Big Convention coming into town in December

[Margie J]

From December 6th - 11th the Orlando Convention Center will be hosting a meeting expected to attract 17,000 people (I'm one of them). Meetings will start December 7th at 7am and conclude December 11th at 2pm. Each day, meetings will begin by 8am and end between 6pm and 8:30pm.

On Monday, December 10th at "special event" has been planned and will be held at USF from 6:30 - 9:30pm. I will know more details soon and will post them on this board since it may effect plans for others.

Here's the list of hotels that will house attendees:

Amerisuites Orlando Convention Center
Best Western Plaza
Buena Vista Suites
Caribe Royal
Courtyard I Drive
Courtyard Little Lake Bryan
Embassy Suites Jamaican
Embassy Suites South
Fairfield Inn I Drive
Fairfield Inn Little Lake Bryan
Hawthorn Suites
Hilton at WDW
Holiday Inn International
Homewood Suites I Drive
Hotel Royal Plaza
La Quinta Inn Jamaican Court
La Quinta Inn I Drive
The Peabody Orlando
Quality Inn Plaza
Radisson Barcelo
Red Roof Inn Hawaiian Court
Renaissance Orlando Resort
The Rosen Centre Hotel
Rosen Plaza
Sheraton World
Sierra Suites Universal Blvd.
Spring Hill Suites Little Lake Bryan
Summerfield Suites I Drive
Travelodge Orlando South

 

[EpcotBill]

What is this convention for?

 

[Margie J]

The convention is a medical/research one for those of us in the Hematology/Oncology field. It attracts people from all over the world. That's why it's so large.

I decided to post this info for people planning early December trips since the crowds may effect some vacation plans. In particular, the USF event will have an impact on the area that night. Restaurants near USF and I-Drive may get really crowded during that week as thousands of people leave the Convention Center.

 

[kellymonaghan]

There's a big convention (or two, or three) every month in Orlando. The trick is knowing which ones are going to have special in-park events at IOA or USF, thus closing the parks early.

In theory, you can find out about such events by calling guest services, but only a week or less before the event.

 

[KProuty]

Actually, if you go to the Orlando Convention site, http://www.orlandoconvention.com/home.asp, you can see who is booked at least to come to Orlando and for what dates. They even have an expected attendance figure. I didn't book during the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions convention on November 14-17 because I figured most of the 31,000 attendees would be IN the park versus at the convention hall. Now, I could be wrong in that they don't want anything to do with work... but I didn't want to take a chance.

If you really want to dig, you can go to the Association web site and see what is on the agenda. I was able to do that for the Lotus Convention last year.

Instead of the Amusement Park people, I'm going while the auto show is going on. I figure the autos ARE the attraction for these people, but I don't expect to eat at the sci fi cafe. The public is invited to this one and they expect 40,000.

Hope this helps someone!

Katherine