Trip Report Phil getting swallowed by a shark is so September. It's time for a November Disney trip report!!!

NOTE - November 7, 2016 - For those of you just looking for the Disney portion of this trip report, it begins on Page 11. If you're looking for the Key West portion, begin on Page 5. PS - Original title of this thread was "Phil got swallowed by a Great White Shark - it's time to go back!"

NOTE - September 9, 2016 - For those of you who don't feel like scrolling through the "pre-trip report" stuff, I totally get it and the Key West portion of the actual trip begins on Page Five. The Disney Old Key West portion will begin in November. :) I'll give the page that starts on too. Now back to your regularly scheduled pre-trip report for those who want to read all of the posts.
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Well, not exactly.

Or should I say, not yet.

Or should I say, Phil is actually the Great White Shark.

Ummm.... what exactly am I saying here, or trying to say, totally unsuccessfully?

Well, here goes.

For those of you who don't chat with us on the Chit Chat Thread, and damn you to all of you who don't (kidding! - come chat!), you will not really know how anti-Disney my partner Phil has been toward Disney since our last trip, which was last June. I'm not going to mince words - he has basically been a total jerk. Every time I bring up going back to Disney, he does something very similar to this:



The last time I brought it up, he said, and I quote, "I would rather be waterboarded than go back there!!!"

That can be arranged, is what I was thinking.

But wait! How can he possibly hate it so much when he acts like he loves it when he is there?? Your honor, I present to you the following evidence:

Biergarten.JPG

And this (if he's a little less happy here it's just cause there is no drink in his paw. :hungover:

Mexico.JPG


And this!

Boardwalk Villa.JPG


And this!!

Spoons.JPG


I could keep going all night, but you get the idea. I find him guilty of secretly liking Disney - at least once he gets there. This is not a tortured, miserable soul at a Disney park. He is having fun. So why all the pushback for going back?

Well, let me quote once again:

"I don't know why we have to go there all the time when there all all sorts of other places to go to!!!!"

Okay. Point taken. I didn't bring it up again for a while.

Then, a series of unfortunate events happened in very quick order, or actually just two that felt like a lot:

I got downsized (that means fired, due to budget cutbacks) from a job I had held for 19 years.Here is what was my incredible office:

Office 4.JPG


And then, soon after, our little cat, Spooky, started screaming in the middle of the night and we ran downstairs to find out what was going on, and the back half of him was paralyzed and cold. He wouldn't stop screaming. We rushed him as fast as possible to a 24-7 animal hospital and they told us that he had a sudden blood clot that had burst and paralyzed him and there was a 99.9% chance that there was no hope. We were basically forced to put Spooky to sleep. :(

Spooky hockey.JPG

Spooky snow.JPG
Spooky tub.JPG

The tears flowed like the River Jordan.

Yeah, it's been a rough patch folks.

But on the good news side, my contract got picked up by one of my previous job's competitors, and I was only out of work for 2 weeks. On the other hand, nothing can replace a sweet cat that didn't deserve to go in such a violent way. Where am I going with this?

Oh yes, that's right. You see, from my previous job, I got a small, but to me, significant severance package. People I tell about it laugh and say it's nothing, but to me, who has lived from paycheck to paycheck my entire life, I finally have money in the bank ---- but not for long if I have anything to say about it, dammit!!

This is my very long and meandering way of saying that I finally convinced Phil to go back to Disney, but only because I surprised him by telling him that for his birthday (on September 15), I was taking him to Key West. We've never been, and assuming that he does not get swallowed by the great white shark in the title of this thread, we are then doing a Key West-a-Palooza and we are going to be staying at Old Key West from November 1 - 4 for Food and Wine Festival.

Look! I themed our Fall! :)

I feel like this resort is totally out of the way of everything, but when I looked at the 25% discount offer that they currently have, I was able to book a one bedroom villa (!!!!) at Old Key West for $150.00 less than it would have been to book a standard room at the Contemporary. It was kind of like an offer I could not refuse.

Yeah, so three nights is basically just a tease, but as I told my pals on the Chit Chat thread (and again, why aren't the rest of you having fun there too??) , I'm going to use this as an excuse to demand a new trip for 2017. ;) And since the Philmonster is bound to throw a fit about that, I am going to search out that Bounce Back Offer as soon as I get to the room. :) If you want, I'll post the details/pics of the Key West trip in September prior to the November trip to the World.

Hope you are all having a great summer.

:D
 
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BuddyThomas

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Just wanted to let you know that your trip report had a bad influence on me.

I've had more alcoholic beverages on this trip than I have had in the past 7 years. At Disney or elsewhere.lol
Congratulations, my friend! I salute you! ;)
Buddy Fish and Sips.JPG

Another great TR.

I know Phil Monster is anti-Disney, but from your pics, he really seems to enjoy Epcot! You should sell your next Disney World trip to him as Epcot-only. Jut thinking ahead!
I don't think he's allowed to go on any more Disney trips. He's just too much of a total b*tch about the whole thing, until he gets there, and suddenly he has a great time. I think it's his way of getting me to pay for the whole thing, and also there is a serious element of him that just does not like it, but you're right. Once he gets there, he is just fine....for the most part. That first day, I thought I was going to kill him. I can see it now:
"Queen killed at Old Key West by angry drunken boyfriend. Tape at 11."

Yeah. Phil Monster can stay home next time.

But don't look now. There's even more to this trip report. Starting in just a minute! ;)
 

BuddyThomas

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
A STAY AT FAKE KEY WEST, or DISNEY, I LOVE YOU - a mini trip report by Buddy Thomas - Part Twelve (or something) - in which I try to put everyone on here to sleep with a bunch of boring photos at Disney Springs - seriously, you can skip right over this part:

Because somehow, 300,000 drinks and thimble filled tastes of wines and beers and slushes had not made our livers explode, and because somehow, 750,000 tastes of every fat filled food in the entire world had not yet clogged our arteries and made us both go into cardiac arrest, we decided night was not over, and it was time for Disney Springs.

As the title of this chapter warned you, I don't have many pics of this, but let's just pretend that two drunken lunatics waited about a half hour for a bus, because that is what happened, and then let's also pretend that these same lunatics finally arrived at Disney Springs and it was basically deserted. Plus a big mall. With only expensive stores. Wait, why are we here again?

Anyway, we finally found some sort of Disney Christmas store, and this happened:

Princess Phil.JPG

Oh look. It's Princess Phil, with all his Princess friends. Note the drink on the floor next to him, the dirty reprobate. It only takes one and a half million drinks to tame the savage beast.

Then I told him to get out of the way so I could take this:

Princess ornaments.JPG


Ahh, how awesome. Did I buy some? No way! Too gay! (Said the gay man.) But in all seriousness, this was awesome, but just not for my own tree. :)

What else?

I know we had a couple of really weak margaritas from some margarita hut, and then we went in the World of Disney Store and I tried on lights:

Buddy Christmas Lights.JPG

Yes, as you see, I never miss a single opportunity not to act like a 12 year old child.

Errrr....there must be some other pictures around here somewhere. Oh, Yeah. We went into this Disney art store. You know, fancy Disney art that is for the 1%, pretty much, if the 1% likes Disney. Beautiful stuff in some instances. Tacky stuff in other instances. And in other instances like this one - beautiful and tacky at the same time:

Castle art.JPG

I always take such crappy pics that I can't tell what that price tag is down there, but it's not cheap. But anyway, I didn't take it home, as you can imagine.

And then, I'm sorry to say that all that happened next is that we stopped by the Boathouse and had one for the road and then we were on the boat going back to Old Key West:

Boathouse.JPG
Bye bye springs.JPG

Bye Disney Springs. You are very expensive and seem designed for very rich people, and I wish you were still Pleasure Island. But at least you still serve margaritas, even though they could not be weaker. But maybe after a day of drinking around the world, that was a blessing in disguise.

More soon. :)
 
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Figgy1

Premium Member
A STAY AT FAKE KEY WEST, or DISNEY, I LOVE YOU - a mini trip report by Buddy Thomas - Part Twelve (or something) - in which I try to put everyone on here to sleep with a bunch of boring photos at Disney Springs - seriously, you can skip right over this part:

Because somehow, 300,000 drinks and thimble filled tastes of wines and beers and slushes had not made our livers explode, and because somehow, 750,000 tastes of every fat filled food in the entire world had not yet clogged our arteries and made us both go into cardiac arrest, we decided night was not over, and it was time for Disney Springs.

As the title of this chapter warned you, I don't have many pics of this, but let's just pretend that two drunken lunatics waited about a half hour for a bus, because that is what happened, and then let's also pretend that these same lunatics finally arrived at Disney Springs and it was basically deserted. Plus a big mall. With only expensive stores. Wait, why are we here again?

Anyway, we finally found some sort of Disney Christmas store, and this happened:

View attachment 177456
Oh look. It's Princess Phil, with all his Princess friends. Note the drink on the floor next to him, the dirt reprobate. It only takes one and a half million drinks to tame the savage beast.

Then I told him to get out of the way so I could take this:

View attachment 177457

Ahh, how awesome. Did I buy some? No way! Too gay! (Said the gay man.) But in all seriousness, this was awesome, but just not for my own tree. :)

What else?

I know we had a couple of really weak margaritas from some margarita hut, and then we went in the World of Disney Store and I tried on lights:

View attachment 177458
Yes, as you see, I never take a single opportunity not to act like a 12 year old child.

Errrr....there must be some other pictures around here somewhere. Oh, Yeah. We went into this Disney art store. You know, fancy Disney art that is for the 1%, pretty much, if the 1% likes Disney. Beautiful stuff in some instances. Tacky stuff in other instances. And in other instances like this one - beautiful and tacky at the same time:

View attachment 177459
I always take such crappy pics that I can't tell what that price tag is down there, but it's not cheap. But anyway, I didn't take it home, as you can imagine.

And then, I'm sorry to say that all that happened next is that we stopped by the Boathouse and had one for the road and then we were on the boat going back to Old Key West:

View attachment 177460 View attachment 177461
Bye Disney Springs. You are very expensive and seem designed for very rich people, and I wish you were still Pleasure Island. But at least you still serve margaritas, even though they could not be weaker. But maybe after a day of drinking around the world, that was a blessing in disguise.

More soon. :)
OMG I LOVE those ornaments and they are not too red shirt!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you got one for the Plilmonster even though he doesn't deserve one
 

BuddyThomas

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
A STAY AT FAKE KEY WEST - a mini trip report by Buddy Thomas - Part Thirteen (or something) - in which I finally wrap this up:

So, let's face it, the trip is basically over at this point, but proving once again that I think more is more, let's just drag it out a bit.

Before we get to the dreaded leaving day -----(well, dreaded for me. I think Phil was about to do cartwheels.)-------I just wanted to show you a couple of things when we got back from our drinkity-drink fest and trip to Disney Springs.

First, here is Old Key West at night:

Old Key West night.JPG


And here is one of those cool wait time signs at our bus stop. Now, you have to remember that both Magic Kingdom and EPCOT are closed at this time, so I'm not understanding why there are still busses picking people up to go there.
Bus wait sign.JPG

And here is something that perplexed us for the entire stay. The ice machine. We coulsd not find the ice machine for the longest time, and our ice maker in the fridge wasn't working too well.

Well, as we left the bus stop to walk to the room, we finally located the ice machine.....at the bus stop!

Ice machine.JPG

Now, I guess that would be sort of okay somehow, but here is a view of the ice machine about half-way from our room:
Ice macine 2.JPG

Yeah, that's right. That's what it has come to. I am now taking pictures of ice machines. So I guess it's time to fast forward to the next morning, and the last breakfast!

Last breakfast.JPG

Those are egg sandwiches on english muffins with a side of Sun Chips that we forgot to eat, along with the rest of the guava cream cheese pastry, and a bunch of stuff that we forgot to drink, including a bottle of champagne! Mimosas here we come!

Now the night before, I had called and asked for a late check out, because our plane did not leave until 5PM, and they said no because it was the Wine and Dine half marathon or 5K or whatever it's called, and they had a lot of check ins. I reminded the woman on the phone that our room was not even ready by 4PM when we checked in, but it didn't make any difference. No late check out. Grrrrrrrr.

Fine, we'd go have an afternoon by the pool. I was told they had lockers and showers.

So here's a last shot of our building just as we were leaving for the final time. Looks very Streetcar Named Desire (even though that takes place in New Orleans).
Building.JPG

Annnd, a quick day at the pool:
Pool day 1.JPG
Pool day 2.JPG

And they really do have lockers and showers at the pool. Very convenient for people who don't get late check outs and have time to kill:
lockers.JPG
shower.JPG
 
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BuddyThomas

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
(continued from above)

And then, our car service picked us up, and just like that, our trip was over. Bye Old Key West! I hardly knew ya!
Bye Key West.JPG

When we got to the airport, I ran into this dame. Phil said he thought she was trying to escape.
Buddy and Snow.JPG

Even though the photographic evidence might disagree with me, I promise that I am not giving her a t*tty twister. Also note, "please no climbing". Poor old Snow. Frozen in time at MCO, to be climbed all over by toddlers for all eternity. What kind of happy ending is that? I blame the witch.

Speaking of happy endings, or unhappy ones, remind me that in the future, I'm supposed to go to Disney AFTER the election results and not before. Talk about now I need a vacation.

And not to get political, but I just think this is really amazing. In New York City, a quiet protest has sprung up in the subway station that I get off at in the morning - Union Square at 14th Street. People have covered the entire station in Post It notes of every color, offering messages of hope, love, and yes, anger. But it's just a really incredible sight. There are thousands and thousands and thousands of them and it gets bigger every week:
Post its.JPG

Sigh...........

So this combined with the post Disney depression has been a bit hard to take. But if one person knows how to combat post Disney depression, it's me, dammit! What do you do? Well first, if you are a hopeless drunken lunatic like myself, you go to an all you can drink wine tasting at the Long Island Aquarium!

Buddy sting ray.JPG

And then, maybe a great new Broadway show about a great comet to forget about reality even more!

Great Comet.JPG

And if that doesn't work, you can always go and join the circus!
Circus 2.JPG
Circus.JPG

And if you still can't shake that post Disney, post election depression, then I guess there's only one thing that can save you.......

Thanksgiving!!!
Thanksgiving.JPG

And with that nine millionth picture of me holding a drink, I leave you for now. I have less free time than I used to because of my new job, but I'll be on here from time to time. And in the meantime, I am wishing each and every one of you the warmest and most wonderful of holiday seasons. Merry Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Year, and everything inbetween!! :)
 

Gabe1

Ivory Tower Squabble EST 2011. WINDMILL SURVIVOR
A STAY AT FAKE KEY WEST, or DISNEY, I LOVE YOU - a mini trip report by Buddy Thomas - Part Nine - in which we finally get down to business and consume a disgraceful amount of food, wine, beer, and cocktails.

Sorry about the long delay. I don't know what is up lately. I have been so busy. But let's get right to it, and this is the first thing I saw when I got out of bed:

View attachment 175965



Yes, there are worse things in the world that you can see when you get out of bed, that's for sure. But I got lucky, and Chef Phil was in full swing:

View attachment 175966

Yeah. When he's good, he's very good. And after our Old Key West feast, of course it was time to do what? Well, what else? Go feast some more!!

View attachment 175967
I don't know if you can see, but the reason I am looking kind of in a weird direction is because there is some cast member screaming at me that I can't stand up there. Sheesh! It's not as if I tried to climb the ball. But anyway, if she wants me down, down I'll come. Here is me in mid-flight:

View attachment 175969
So off we go. First stop?
View attachment 175974
This was inside that totally bizarre Odyssey Center. It's all dark and spooky looking inside and there are plants all over the place, '80's looking carpet on the floors, and beer. We decided to do two flights, and here they are:

View attachment 175976
You see? I was right. Darkness. Plants all over the place. Eighties carpet, and beer. This is truly a waste of a space, but the beer was good, we were out of the hot temperatures, and hey, Disney. So who's complaining? :)

Next, onto Australia, which was just outside the Odyssey Center:

View attachment 175980
There was actually nothing on this menu that I wanted, but Phil wanted to try the Grilled lamb chop with mint pesto and potato crunchies, and here it is, along with Cooper's Brewery Extra Strong Vintage Ale:
View attachment 175982
Ya know, you cannot make anything served in those depressing cardboard containers look delicious. And in this case, apparently, the picture was correct, because this is what that lamb shank looked like a few minutes later:

View attachment 175983
Phil took one bite and deemed it the most disgusting thing he has ever eaten. Alllrighty then. I think it was 7 or 8 bucks. Down the drain. But he ran over to New Zealand which was right next door and got the seared venison loin as a replacement, and he said that was amazing:
View attachment 175984
And just like that, I can't post any more pics, so back to you in a minute or two. :)

I just can't understand the Odyssey or WoL arenas for special event venues either. One you are in a time warp, defunct restaurant with furnishings that are cheap and in no universe meld with the very worn interior design. Then you enter the WoL and attend an event that is in a yesteryear throwback pavillion with equally mismatched furnishings hauled into a forever closed attraction. Seriously for what these ticketed events cost they can't at minimum bring these spaces uptodate? The newest giggle is the space above the Figment attraction for a DVC perk. More odd furnishings and a Freestyle soda machines that for some reason make members go gaga. Puzzling.

Rant over, loving your trip. Hi! to Phil. Hope he has some fun.
 

BuddyThomas

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I just can't understand the Odyssey or WoL arenas for special event venues either. One you are in a time warp, defunct restaurant with furnishings that are cheap and in no universe meld with the very worn interior design. Then you enter the WoL and attend an event that is in a yesteryear throwback pavillion with equally mismatched furnishings hauled into a forever closed attraction. Seriously for what these ticketed events cost they can't at minimum bring these spaces uptodate? The newest giggle is the space above the Figment attraction for a DVC perk. More odd furnishings and a Freestyle soda machines that for some reason make members go gaga. Puzzling.

Rant over, loving your trip. Hi! to Phil. Hope he has some fun.
You are so right. They have some dance party in the Odyssey every June as part of Gay Days and I'm always like, who would want to go to a dance party in this place? I don't care if it's straight, gay, or for lions and tigers. There isn't even a dance floor. It's all carpet. And bad 1980's carpet at that. LOL.
 

Gabe1

Ivory Tower Squabble EST 2011. WINDMILL SURVIVOR
A STAY AT FAKE KEY WEST - a mini trip report by Buddy Thomas - Part Thirteen (or something) - in which I finally wrap this up:

So, let's face it, the trip is basically over at this p:depressed:oint, but proving once again that I think more is more, let's just drag it out a bit.

Before we get to the dreaded leaving day -----(well, dreaded for me. I think Phil was about to do cartwheels.)-------I just wanted to show you a couple of things when we got back from our drinkity-drink fest and trip to Disney Springs.

First, here is Old Key West at night:

View attachment 178295

And here is one of those cool wait time signs at our bus stop. Now, you have to remember that both Magic Kingdom and EPCOT are closed at this time, so I'm not understanding why there are still busses picking people up to go there.
View attachment 178296
And here is something that perplexed us for the entire stay. The ice machine. We coulsd not find the ice machine for the longest time, and our ice maker in the fridge wasn't working too well.

Well, as we left the bus stop to walk to the room, we finally located the ice machine.....at the bus stop!

View attachment 178297
Now, I guess that would be sort of okay somehow, but here is a view of the ice machine about half-way from our room:
View attachment 178299
Yeah, that's right. That's what it has come to. I am now taking pictures of ice machines. So I guess it's time to fast forward to the next morning, and the last breakfast!

View attachment 178301
Those are egg sandwiches on english muffins with a side of Sun Chips that we forgot to eat, along with the rest of the guava cream cheese pastry, and a bunch of stuff that we forgot to drink, including a bottle of champagne! Mimosas here we come!

Now the night before, I had called and asked for a late check out, because our plane did not leave until 5PM, and they said no because it was the Wine and Dine half marathon or 5K or whatever it's called, and they had a lot of check ins. I reminded the woman on the phone that our room was not even ready by 4PM when we checked in, but it didn't make any difference. No late check out. Grrrrrrrr.

Fine, we'd go have an afternoon by the pool. I was told they had lockers and showers.

So here's a last shot of our building just as we were leaving for the final time. Looks very Streetcar Named Desire (even though that takes place in New Orleans).
View attachment 178303
Annnd, a quick day at the pool:
View attachment 178304 View attachment 178305
And they really do have lockers and showers at the pool. Very convenient for people who don't get late check outs and have time to kill:
View attachment 178307 View attachment 178308

Nice lockers. Sorry about the lack of late check out. I swear the answer is always no-no matter what they've messed up.

And I agree, the brown, paper boxes in lieu of plates of yesteryear...bluck. :depressed:
 

BuddyThomas

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Nice lockers. Sorry about the lack of late check out. I swear the answer is always no-no matter what they've messed up.

And I agree, the brown, paper boxes in lieu of plates of yesteryear...bluck. :depressed:
Yeah they were kind of b#tchy about the late check out request too. I get it. They owe me nothing. But I've only been coming here for the past five million years or so.......so like an extra hour or so would seem not to be a big deal. But I guess if they had a lot of people coming in for the 5K run, I see where they are coming from. Anyway, it all worked out. ;)
 

MinnieM123

Premium Member
Bummed that the TR is finished--so many chuckles and insights (in the unique style of Buddy's storytelling . . .) that you shared. :joyfull: Thanks for writing about your adventures again!! :happy:

The lockers/showers near the pool area are a great idea for people checking out later in the day. (Too bad you could not extend your room reservation for later--it's always a carp shoot to see if you can get one of those.) Some years ago when I stayed at AKL, they also had the lockers/shower section nearby. It helped me extend my last day of vacation, by enjoying the swimming pool, before I had to head out to the airport. :)
 

BuddyThomas

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Really enjoyed your report. Even with Phil being grumpy, it looks like you had a great trip. :)

How was The Great Comet? I live in Ohio, so unfortunately, my Broadway experiences are limited (though I am seeing the touring production of Phantom tomorrow night- super excited).
Great Comet is freaking amazing. Here is a video of the off-Broadway production before it added Josh Groban and transferred to Broadway:
 

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