Mr Floss goes to Charlotte - Day 1

Oh Look. Charlotte!

Well I left this morning from Chicago O’Hare. I have not been looking forward to this trip much. I have a super full work week with several items I am on the hook to deliver so there will be little socialization taking place while I am here. I was hoping to get in early and at least enjoy some looking around on Sunday. This is not to be…

First, I get to O’Hare and park. No biggy except I see a better spot and decide to move my car. Seems the car disagreed with me and will not let me shift out of park. After about 15 minutes I decided it will just have to wait until I get home. (I did find out there is a bypass I can do, so hopefully that will work)

Next the flight was awful. The plane was about the size of my mini-van with wings. It was a moderately rough flight until we started to descend and it was like flying a chopper into a combat zone. I don’t like to fly to begin with, so this was like a personal hell. After we landed, the plane was moving to the terminal, and either had new breaks or a far sighted pilot. It was jerk and move, jerk and move. I think we were late and there was no open terminals, so we exited the plane on the outside of the terminal. (I am loving this trip more and more)

Next I get my rental car. It was supposed to be a Mitsubishi Gallant EX, some sporty deal. (I did not pick this, the agency did) I get to the spot and guess what… NO CAR!
I walked back to the office and they insist the car is there. I argue a bit and they finally accept my word and give me another car. It is a Ford Escape Hybrid – I will never buy one of these but that is a blog for another day…

So I am driving to my hotel about 20 minutes from the Airport. I will say this for Charlotte, a major city in North Carolina… If Chicago took a shit in the South East… It would look like Charlotte. Charlotte is to Chicago like the croissandwich is to French Cuisine.

The hotel is the only place that seems ok. Room is fairly large with a Kitchenette and a separate sleeping area. It has a pool and a hot tub so maybe I can get in some relaxation at night.

Fun Fact for day 1. I packed only 4-5 movies to watch on the plane. I get to the hotel and there is DVD player (Sweet!) I put in a movie and turn on the TV. Here is the creepy part. The movie I put in is The Hunt for Red October. It is playing about 3 minutes in which is finesince I had gone to the bathroom. Suddenly, a Commercial. What the hell is this.

No Lie, The TV was on AMC which had just started playing the same exact movie… So I put in Krull just to see if the luck continued. It did not…

So I am off to Dinner now (Fine dining at the local Bob Evans or Denny’s. I will not be posting any pics after today (the one above is from the official Charlotte Website. I have my camera but forgot the device to take pics from the camera to the Laptop.

Check in later.

The Floss Report – Live from Disney Day 6 “Bibbity, Bobity, Prime Rib!"

What is the definition of a man? The Dictionary will tell you, “an adult male person, as distinguished from a boy or a woman.”

But it goes much deeper then that. Some say being a man is never crying no matter how bad things get. Others say it being able to cry and show your feeling.
For me it’s a bit of both, since I think it is OK to shed a tear. Maybe not when things are bad, but certainly when things are good.

There are several moments that were eye water worthy. When I got married. When my kids were born. When I heard there was going to be a new Batman Movie.

And finally, today, when my girls were made into shining princesses and met their favorite princess Cinderella for dinner.

There was also Prime Rib! That may have contributed slightly to the teary eyes.

Dinner was inside the castle. You walk in and are greeted by Cinderella herself. Then you walk up the spiral tower until you are in a massive banquet hall overlooking Disney’s Magic Kingdom.

The waiters called me Sire. (about time I got the credit I deserve)

The dinner was accompanied by a show featuring the mice and Fairy God Mother.

Oh, and did I mention PRIME RIB!

Dinner was great, the girls were great, and as we ended our day with a little show at Disney and some time by the pool I can say, tears or no tears, there really is something magical about this place. I am headed to bed now. We have an early wake up call and flight home.

Good night everyone, we will see you soon. Rest well knowing two things…

We all had a wonderful time and look forward to returning.

And…

Disney Resorts Shampoo and Conditioner is made for Walt Disney Company by H2O plus out of our very own Chicago Illinois. I thought my hair felt more like home.

The Floss Report – Live from Disney Day 5 “End of Days"

In the 1980’s a wise and often misunderstood Owl once hypothesized it would take only 3 licks to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop. Years later, his reputation ruined due to an affair with a mouse, he would resurface with a new hypothesis.

How many days on vacation before a family has a complete meltdown.

1…
2…
3…
4…
5… !!!

5. The answer is 5.

Yes, it was today that the heat, the excessive walking, and the rush of annoyed people finally took it’s toll. The girls screamed, the ladies cried, and I being the only man in the group did what any man would do. I wept like a little baby.

OK, maybe it was not that bad, but we all did finally need a break and decided in the early afternoon that today would be a pool and relaxation day. And it was.

Before the meltdown we did happen to see a 4 piece marching band perform a Fife and Drum corp. That was pretty cool. We also got to see Aladdin and Jasmine, and Sophia watched the High School Musical Float and then performed in the street on her own.


Feeling rejuvenated later in the evening, Erin and I took the girls back to the Magic Kingdom and against better judgment, we stayed for the Main Street Parade and the Fireworks from the castle.

We headed back to our resort and the bus was full. SOme one gave up a seat for Lilly, who repaid them by falling asleep in their arms... Another one to add to the Lilly Sleeping Collection.

(Pics have been added)
Even though we needed a break today, it was worth it to be able to go back at night and still feel good tomorrow, when we get to dine with the princess’ inside Cinderella’s Castle.

The Floss Report – Live from Disney Day 4 “The Princess Parade and a Fine Meal too”

Day 4 and we are still going strong. Today we got an early start and slept in…

Let that sink in a second…

Get it?

So our early start actually had us leaving around 10am. We were all real tired from the day before. I suggested we take it slower today. Erin agreed if only to please me that moment, then it was full steam ahead until 9pm at night.

We opened with a return to Magic Kingdom to see the castle and some of the ride we missed on Sunday. We also had a chance to take the train and the monorail for some awesome views of the parks. We ate the Ray’s Cosmic Café, a place where an Alien Lounge Singer helps you digest your food over 10 thousand years, and you order what you want by choosing the correct ordering BAY… I chose Chicken. In case you wondered it is Ordering Bay 1.

It was also here Sophia and Lillian had their chance to see not 1, not 2, but 3 Disney Princess’ Aurora, Cinderella, and Belle. Then a surprise visit from Mickey and Minnie. They almost exploded in flames they were so excited.

My excitement came at dinner when we got to have one of the best meals at a family style American food restaurant where you are served huge portions and visiting all through dinner by the like of Goofy and Minnie Mouse. Chip and Dale even stopped over to compare cheeks to Lily. Our waiter Bill was the best so far so I grabbed a picture of him. He then gave each of the girls some Tinkerbell pins so even though they did not like the potatoes much, they had a great time and suggested we return soon.

We wrapped up the day with some more rides and a return to Epcot for some more walking around… Even snuck in another Lilly Sleeping picture tonight.

The Floss Report – Live from Disney Day 3 “Around the World in 80 Minutes”

Day 3 and we are still going strong. I needed hip replacement, two bones shortened in my legs, and the pads in my feet replaced after all the walking we have done so far… then Erin said, “Lets go to Epcot!”

Epcot is like the entire planet wrapped up in a 3 mile walk around a lake. It has some cool attractions at the start like a history of technology ride and a Nemo adventure that mixes real life aquariums with the cast of Nemo as if they were in the water with the fish.

Then you start the world tour walk visiting such places as Canada, Germany, Japan, and China… Which is where I had my first sampling of Chinese food in Florida. Nothing to worry about Chicago, Florida has got nothing on you in the area of Chinese take out. Still it was a nice taste of home.

I also got to sample life in Europe in a Telephone booth, prayed at a monks temple in Tibet, and even walked the River Thames, all only 20 or feet at all time from hot dog and Funnel Cake vendors.

Epcot is also where Lillian and Sophia got to meet their first Disney stars, Alice and Marry Poppins… They were so excited they could not make out words…

After lunch we left Epcot and headed over to MGM studios. I have to say this is one of my favorite places so far. It’s like a huge Movie Studio lot with tons of Movie related rides, tours, and shops. We ended the Day with a 30 minute tour into the making of movie special effects and dinner at the Sci Fi Drive in, a place were you eat inside a car in front of s huge drive in screen showing clips from 40’s and 50’s movies and TV. How cool is that?

At some point Lilly fell asleep... Ans Erin started the Lilly sleeping collection. SO far there are about 20 or 30 of these pics of Lilly all by herself sleeping by attractions, under Disney characters, and sometimes, juet in the middle of nowhere. Should make a great colelction when we are all done since she seems to need about an hour each day now.

OK, need some sleep now… Goodnight folks.

The Floss Report – Live from Disney Day 2 “The Reckoning”

It’s 9am on Monday morning. All over the US folks are getting into work preparing for the long day ahead.

In Florida, a small group of 4 rolls out of bed in search of adventure. They decide to make their way to the wild foothills of Africa in search of wildlife. Actually they head over to Animal Kingdom and take a safari tour were there are no cages… no fences… just you and the animals. The girls loved seeing all the wild animals, and I loved it’s a 15 minute trip so I got off my feet for a while.

After checking out some more animal attractions we park hopped over to Downtown Disney to check out some shopping and the Lego Museum. Check out this wild creature standing over 20 feet tall made of over 1 Million Legos!

So after dinner Erin and I headed out to do some adult travel while Aunt Alana came over to the room and watched the girls.

First I was crushed by an AT-AT


As the day came to a close, Erin and I grabbed a taxi for home in Toon Town. Wonder what Tuesday will bring?

The Floss Report – Live From Disney Day 1

So the day started at a brisk 3:30AM Sunday morning. The family got up disgustingly early to prepare for the biggest journey of our lives.

We arrived at Milwaukee airport at about 6am for a 7:30 flight. We got lucky and boarded on time, leaving the 38 degree Milwaukee at 7:40am. I feared 2 things at this point. One, our plane was a MD80. We were told it would be an MD81, but was in fact an MD 80. This was the plane that was recently grounded by the FAA for American Airlines. Lucky we flew Midway and they have not been grounded yet.
Second was the idea of 3 hours in the air with my kids and no escape. I love the girls, but I have a short fuse for freekin’ out and crying kids. Good news is they both loved the flight and flying. No crying, complaining, nothing. Bad news is the folks next to us did not have such a cooperative child. At least it wasn’t my kids causing the headaches.

OK, so at 11am local time we land in Orlando Florida. The weather was a cool 70 degrees. We left the airport after sitting in line about an hour for a bus to our hotel. We got there about 1pm only to find out our room was not ready, so with bags and kids in tow, we walked to our suite. It’s not like a hotel, but a series of hotels. For example our resort is made up of over 30 buildings, 8 pools, and has a round road that goes around the whole place being over 3 miles long. So we walked to our set of hotels only to find out they were the furthest away. Yikes…

OK, we get there and the room is still not ready… So I go swimming with the girls. I thought we may be delayed getting our room so we packed out suits in our carry ons. The girls and I swim and finally we get our room. No sooner are we in then Erin wants to head over to the Magic Kingdom… We arrive and take a trolley car down the main road when suddenly the street curves and we see it…


Yup folks… that’s what this whole trip has been about. Every time the girls were bad… Every time we needed some kind of leverage… we used this castle as the bait, the bargain, the “you need to be good or” item…

And now we are here and it seems it was all worth it just for the look in the girls faces. And this was just the beginning.

We ended the night with a few rides on Dumbo and Flying Carpets… and made our way back to the hotel to rest preparing for the next big adventure. The next day at Disney which would be our first full throttle day at the busiest place for kids in the world.

Fast fact about this Florida for Sunday.

Animals are extremely friendly and used to humans... See below.