ESEM 2009

Area Attractions and Information

ESEIW 2009 will be held in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, USA. Lake Buena Vista, located in Orange County, Florida, is known for being the home of the world-famous Walt Disney World Resort. ESEIW will be located in the Hilton Walt Disney World Resort Hotel, which is located within Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom, and only a few miles from the rest of the Walt Disney World Parks. Additionally, ESEIW is within approximately 20 minutes of downtown Orlando, FL.

Orlando

Orlando is known for the many tourist attractions it contains, has the second largest number of hotels in the United States, and is one of the busiest American cities. Orlando is also known for its wide array of golf courses with courses available for many different skill levels. Currently, downtown Orlando is undergoing major redevelopment with several major public works projects underway in 2009. We also recommend Best of the Web - Orlando for more information on navigating and exploring Orlando.

Attractions

Disney World is easily accessible from the ESEIW location and is a wonderful place for children and adults alike. Extra Magic Hours are offered to guests of the Hilton, the conference hotel. Disney World will remain open for up to an extra three hours in the morning or evening. Guests of the Hilton can enjoy the theme parks at a more relaxed pace. In addition to the Magic Kingdom, guests will find themselves within a 15-minutes car ride of Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Sea World, and Universal Studios, and Hollywood Studios.

Dining and Entertainment

Downtown Disney is an outdoor shopping, dining, and entertainment complex located within walking distance of the Hilton Walt Disney World Resort. Downtown Disney is open to the public, and offers entirely free transportation to all Disney resorts. The outdoor complex is divided into three areas: the Marketplace, Pleasure Island, and the West Side. Each area features a selection of more than 70 entertainment venues, shops, and restaurants, including: La Douba, Disney Quest Indoor Interactive Theme Park, House of Blues, Planet Hollywood, Virgin Megastore, Lego Information Center, World of Disney, and Rainforest Cafe.

In addition to the numerous restaurants found in Downtown Disney, Universal Studios has Universal CityWalk, Orlando's Hottest Spot for Entertainment. Universal CityWalk offers everything from a night of family fun, to a great place to hang out with friends, to romantic fun for couples. Universal CityWalk is a 30-acre entertainment complex where guests can experience the best in live music, causual and fine dining, dancing, shopping, movies, and more. Guests may also enjoy International Drive, which offers more than 150 restaurants, 485 outlet stores, three entertainment complexes, and three stadium-style movie cinemas.

Shopping

Guests may also want to pay a visit to the Lake Buena Vista Factory Stores (featuring ~50 stores) or the Belz Factory Outlet World (with ~170 stores) for some good deals. Stores offer factory-direct premium quality merchandise at savings of up to 75% every day. Brand names include: Aeropostale, Bass, Carter's, Disney Character Outlet, Converse Shoes, Dressbarn, Eddie Bauer Outlet, Fossil, Gap Outlet, Haggar, Hard Rock Cafe Outlet Store, Izod, KB Toy Outlet, Liz Claiborne Outlet, Nike Factory Store, Nine West Outlet, Old Navy, OshKosh, Reebok, Samsonite, Tommy Hilfiger, Travelpro, VF Outlet, VanHeusen, Vitamin World, and Wilsons Leather Outlet.

Sports

Orlando is home to the Orlando Magic, an National Basketball Association team, which is widely benchmarked within the sports industry, while being committed to the Central Florida community. The 1989-90 season marked the inaugural season of the Magic in the National Basketball Association. Since the DeVos family purchased the team in September of 1991, the franchise has made 10 trips to the playoffs, won two Atlantic Division Championships (1995, 1996), one Southeast Division Championship (2008), captured one Eastern Conference title (1995), and had four 50-win seasons, including a franchise record 60 victories in 1995-96 (Orlando Magic Website).

Airport/Hotel Transportation

Orlando Internation Airport is located 20 miles from downtown Lake Buena Vista off Florida State Highway 526 (map). The approximate airport taxi fare to the Disney Hilton is $47.00 from the hotel.

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