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:
And this (if he's a little less happy here it's just cause there is no drink in his paw.
And this!
And this!!
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:
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.
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.
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.***************************************************************************
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:
And this (if he's a little less happy here it's just cause there is no drink in his paw.
And this!
And this!!
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:
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.
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.
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The concession speech today was so uplifting and encouraging to me though, and I truly hope that somehow our better days are still ahead! 
