Walt Disney World: New Orleans Riverside & Downtown Disney

Vacation time! And the kids didn’t know. Yes…that’s right…we didn’t tell the kids. There were 2 reasons for this…1) We wanted it to be a surprise. And 2) We didn’t want to have to answer “When are we going to Disney” every 10 minutes for the preceeding 2 months.

Anyway, the kids were totally surprised! We had told them they were taking me to the airport to go to work and once we got there, Steph handed them some goodie bags with sunglasses and stuff and away we went!

For once the plane ride was an easy experience. No delays, no hassle. The way it should be. Nicely done Delta! Once we arrived in Orlando, we took the Disney bus over to our hotel…New Orleans Riverside!

Riverside

Last time, we stayed at one of the “kiddie” hotels here in Disney. This time, Steph upgraded (I say Steph because she planned almost all of this. I was just too busy and it gave her something fun to do!) and we went with a little nicer hotel. And what was nicer? Well…the pool was heated, the room was slightly bigger (with a fridge) and our room was as far from anything as you can possibly get. And that includes the lobby, food, the pool and the luggage dropoff point. But more on that later! For now…this was a much nicer hotel and we really liked it!

 
But it was a HEALTHY chocolate ice cream sundae…

Dining at Riverside

Once we got settled, we hit the pool for the rest of the afternoon and then decided to head over to Downtown Disney for some dinner. Needless to say, so did everyone else. If you enjoy crowds and getting knocked around, then THIS is the place for you! With all kinds of stores and places to eat (with an hour wait minimum), this place gives new meaning to the word “chaos”.

Boatride to Downtown Disney

A few friends were in Downtown

After an hour of swimming upstream, our names were called at the latest dining experience, “T-Rex”. The place reminds me of “Rainforest Cafe”, except with louder creatures…namely dinosaurs. And lots of them! Once we got seated, it was non-stop entertainment with roaring stegolasaurs and triceratops and lightning sound effects and such. Very cool! And the food wasn’t bad either! Just be aware…it IS expensive! And it wasn’t covered on our Disney dining plan. So there was something I didn’t expect…

Dino bones

T-Rex is COOL!

Fist bump & BOOM!

After a large meal and a boat trip back to our hotel, we eventually got to bed around 10:30. The kids were still hoppin’, but me & mom were about to drop! So tomorrow…Walt Disney World!

The Daily Buzz

Being in Dayton this past week for the NCAA Tournament brought back memories that have started to fade from not so long ago. Almost 7 years ago, I was a part of a band of rowdies who were brought together to create a morning show that was to air on 10 affiliates across the country. Instead, it ended up being on over 100 at one point and it is still on the air to this day.

Who IS that masked man?

If you have a CW station in your area, you might be able to catch it. It’s called “The Daily Buzz”, and from August 2002 to April 2004, I was the director for that little morning show that could. Every morning I would get up at 1am and drive to Miamisburg, Ohio (about 8 miles south of Dayton) to direct the show from 6am-9am. It was an exhausting experience, driving so early in the morning, direct for 3 hours, then return home to my newborn son and wife. I even managed to continue to do freelance television on the side to supplement my income! So this meant I might get 2 or 3 hours of sleep a night before having to turn around and do it all over again.

My kids thought this was cool once…

So what is so great about THAT memory? Well…that’s pretty easy for me. For 3 hours a day, my co-workers & I were pretty much left to create 3 hours of programming every morning. The powers that were simply didn’t care WHAT we did! They just wanted us to fill time and try to be entertaining…on a budget. Of course. So there we were…in Miamisburg, OH…trying to compete with not only the local stations, but then we were on in cities all over the place, not having any idea what we were doing or why. And it was the most amazing 1 year and 8 months of my life!

My last day…5 years ago

I don’t know why you do what you do for a living, but I have always wanted to work in television or radio. At no point in my career will I ever be given the freedom to do what we did every day on that show. We would create complete mayhem just because we could! We had a rundown of things to do…but hardly ever did we follow it. From creating goofy videos to adding graphics over our talents’  faces to adding sound effects that were somewhat inapropriate. You name it, we did it. It was down & dirty tv…and we had a lot of fun creating it.

The show has changed a lot since its Dayton days. Several of the crew moved with the show to Orlando in 2005. Only 4 of the original staff remain. The show is tighter now. Less joking around and more organized, but still with the comedic touches. Recently I saw it while I was traveling and it still has that twinkle in its eye. It’s not your typical morning news show, that’s for sure! And hopefully it never will be!

The Out-Of-Control Room…
(Hot Fries, me, Up To The Minute Meko, Lisa Palmetto & B)

I miss my friends who used to work on the show with me. The guys in the control room will ALWAYS have a place in my heart. The talent, editors and the producers were all great to work with! Many have gone on to do other things and have been quite successful! For me, leaving the show almost 5 years ago was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done and I still miss the camraderie and good times we had. If you ever get a chance to catch “The Daily Buzz“, you should check it out! And for your viewing pleasure…here are some moments from when I was on the show. Thanks to Brad the New Guy for posting them!

Florida Fun

Damn it Delta! I love you ’cause you fly me EVERYWHERE and I get all kinds of mileage. But to cancel my 5:45am flight out of Gainesville was just NOT COOL! So…because of the holidays and bowl games and people flooding Florida for the nice, sunny weather, I have no choice but to take a flight out of Jacksonville…at 5:45PM??? Ooookay…so what do I do in Florida for a day? ‘Cause there’s no freakin’ way I’m hanging out in Gainesville with all the bugs for 12 hours…

How about drive my butt off? Hopping in my rental car (thanks CBS!), I’m off to Lakeland to visit my favorite snowbirds…my Mom & Dad! Having never seen their warm-climate homestead, I figured it was a perfect opportunity to waste away my day. And it was great! I got to watch a beautiful sunrise as I was driving south…

I got to hang out with my parents! I got the 3 minute tour of their home, we went and got some breakfast and hit the market to get some veggies.

A Proud Buckeye Fan

Hey look! It’s Roy Orbison at the Market!

“How do you make those beer can windchimes again?”

Of course, the hard part is always leaving, but I had fun and my journey had to continue. Don’t worry Mom…I’ll be back at the end of the month!

Bye Mom & Dad! (The really tiny people in the distance…)

So off I went into the Florida sun, heading east on I-4 to Orlando and then north to Jacksonville on I-95. A good 3 hour drive and along the way, I got to see plenty of sites!

And now…here I sit in the Jacksonville airport. It’s 4:48pm and no gate agent as of yet. And I don’t have a seat assignment. Soooo…I guess it’s all up in the air on what will happen next! C’MON Delta!!! I know they love to fly…and it shows! Now I want them to fly my butt home! I’ll let ya know how it goes later…

My family…minus 5 siblings…

OH LOOK!!! AN AGENT! Gimme a seat…gimme a seat…gimme a seat….

Aaaaaaaaand…