Trip Report Two broke guys & a dog (for the last time.) (completed)

No, I’m not mad at Disney. We’ll be back (in fact, it can’t be soon enough.) But this turned out to be our last trip together as a family.

Who: Brian (R) Tony (L) and Kylie.

When: May, 2023.

Can’t tease this, so I’ll just come out with it.

We’ve posted TRs over the years under the “Two broke guys & a dog” banner (and other titles.) Our May trip was short, and we had already booked August for my birthday (complete with a planned meet up with @Tuvalu) so I thought I’d make one double TR after August.

I ended up with Covid mid-month and we had to postpone to December for Brian’s birthday.

In the meantime, Kylie, our 14 year old German Shepherd/Chow Chow was diagnosed with heart failure. That “heads up” turned out to be a gift and a blessing that allowed us to spend so much extra quality time with her.

Kylie’s 14th bday on Halloween:

She stayed with us through the holidays, rubbing on the Christmas tree when she walked past it, per usual (like a cat lol) and was really doing well - eating, going for walks, snuggling. I expected more of a slow, gradual decline…but she passed yesterday. Now my heart is failing.

I don’t know how far I’ll get with this today. It might actually be too soon. But I thought it could be therapeutic, and a nice tribute.

For some reason, since my 30s, if I cry even a little, my eyelids swell up and it’s hard to undo. Ice helps only temporarily. I fear typing all this out will continue the waterworks (it already has) and prolong that condition. OTOH, they’re already swollen, so WTH? I’ll play it by ear, if that’s ok.

This is my love letter to my pup.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

I know, I know. More pics, fewer paragraphs! Here we go.

I'm very interested in your BoG experience. My neighbor down the street took her 4 year old granddaughter to WDW before Christmas. She hadn't been in decades.

She loved every single thing about her trip - the on site hotel, the transportation, the parks - nothing but praise. But she made sure to tell me - don't ever go to that Beast castle restaurant. It was terrible - bad food, bad atmosphere, not worth the money or the time.

I haven't been in years - was so sad to hear that!

And here you go:

That’s right, we got the enchanted rose room - score! That was the first time. Previously we had been in the main dining area, which looked more like a stuffed cafeteria now.

Our room was dark, which made pics slightly challenging. As soon as we sat down, Beast came out.

I thought we might be rushed (the park was closed) but our lovely server said more than once to take our time. I’m so glad she did!

We ordered wine, and the pre-meal bread was fine. (I’m a poet and I didn’t know it.)

For apps, Brian had the potato-leek soup, and I the duck and pork tourrine. I had no idea what that was, but I love pork and duck and was in the mood to wing it.

When served, the CM mentioned my dish was a paté.

Now, when Kylie stopped eating kibble when she first got sick, she would only eat food out of a can (fork-fed by me.) And she would only eat the paté style.

Brian joked this was Kylie saying, “Now you eat it, b****!!

That joke was worth the price of admission. And so was the appetizer. It was very good. My dog ate well. I tasted Brian’s soup and thought it was just OK. Wasn’t crazy about the chips on top. Speaking of the price, this was a prix fixe menu. That was different from our last visit.

For entrees, I chose the filet and Brian the short rib. The deal was we would eat half a plate and switch. And we did.

How was it? Fine. Not bad, not amazing, fine. Have we had better short rib at Tiffins and Jiko? Sure. Have we had better filet at Monsieur Paul and Yachtsman’s? Sure. In fact, we questioned - to ourselves - whether the filet was really filet. It seemed a little different to me, and Brian found some fat when he got the plate, which isn’t supposed to be on filet mignon.

Not worth complaining about. Again, it was fine. We enjoyed the room. We weren’t rushed. And here’s that Beast again!

It is hard to avoid blurry in-motion pictures in the dark without a flash.

Is he flipping me off?

Is he threatening me with a Run-DMC pose?

And he was gone. Everyone clapped.

My concern with a prix fixe menu is it usually includes dessert, but dessert doesn’t always include my husband. I typically won’t order dessert without him and won’t eat it in front of him. In fact, I rarely eat sugar in daily life since before we met. At Disney, all bets are off.

We asked if they could make something for him and they said they had no sugar added sorbets in lemon or raspberry, flavored with sorbitol. He chose raspberry. It was a large portion, and tasted like fresh raspberries blended & frozen. That wasn’t sugar free, so he didn’t eat all of it, but we appreciated it and it was delicious. I had the dessert trio including the grey stuff. To my surprise, loved it all.

One parting shot of the rose before, eh, parting.

Overall review: thumbs up, not a stunning meal, but fine, and worth it for the experience…especially what would come next.

 

[Tuvalu]

Overall review: thumbs up, not a stunning meal, but fine, and worth it for the experience…especially what would come next.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

What came next? Something I had secretly hoped would happen. The park was empty. There was a light drizzle which made for pretty reflections. I’m no professional photographer and iPhone has limits, but I’ll let the pics speak for themselves, in order, as we exited the Magic Kingdom. The good, the bad, and the ugly - unedited, uncropped - over two posts.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Part Tu:

 

[Tuvalu]

 

[Tony the Tigger]

In real time: just picked up a bag from the vet. They made it up like a nice gift bag. Haven’t opened it yet. Brian’s at work. Shutting down for a little while.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

Sorry for your loss. Pets are family.

Thanks for sharing her story.

 

[MickeyCB]

This is flat out gorgeous!!

 

[Tony the Tigger]

This is flat out gorgeous!!

That’s my favorite. I love the shimmering reflections of the lights in the water.

 

[Swissmiss]

In real time: just picked up a bag from the vet. They made it up like a nice gift bag. Haven’t opened it yet. Brian’s at work. Shutting down for a little while.

 

[Tiggertoo56]

I am so loving this report and that from @Tuvalu! It truly shows what wdw friends can do for each other. Love the meet ups and the look of happiness on all of your faces. So glad you managed to have his time together- by the way your photos show dome beautiful pictures and reflections.

 

[k8einwdw]

In real time: just picked up a bag from the vet. They made it up like a nice gift bag. Haven’t opened it yet. Brian’s at work. Shutting down for a little while.

I know how hard it is picking up that bag. It just feels so final. I hope you guys are able to find a special spot for her in your home to keep her memory alive.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

I know how hard it is picking up that bag. It just feels so final. I hope you guys are able to find a special spot for her in your home to keep her memory alive.

I had the presence of mind to stop at Publix on the way there instead of after. I walked into the vet’s matter-of-factly, walked up to the counter, and as soon as I had to say the sentence of why I was there, my voice was cracking all over the place.

I wasn’t expecting her to come back with a cute teal gift bag with a bow with paw prints on it and a tag with her name and my last name. I was surprised how light it was, and remembered how heavy she was when I carried her in there.

I was glad I had already stopped at Publix.

I thought I would open it right away, but didn’t want to. Brian was working until 1am. It was now about 6pm. I moped until about 8:30, and remembered I had been thinking about going to see Wonka again one night when B was at work. That thought gave me a little lift of happiness, so I followed it and was at the movies from 9-11.

Passing the 24 hour gym on the way home, I prolonged my journey by stopping there for about an hour. I didn’t even realize the leftover popcorn from the movie was all over the floor of the passenger side of my car until I got out of the gym.

I texted Brian an oops! pic of it, and proceeded to clean it up when I got home. I hadn’t texted anything about Kylie so as not to upset him at work.

Turned out he got out early, so I was only home for a few minutes before he called, and we talked during his whole drive home (per usual.) As we talked, I made a space in the house and cleaned it.

When he got home, we opened it together. It was pretty overwhelming. Very well done, a lot of little extras. I may share some of that later. I may not.

You were right about “it feels so final.”

I looked OK when I went to bed last night, but I just woke up and the eyelids are swollen. Got about an hour or two to get them down before I have to go out.

Will resume TR soon. Thanks for understanding.

 

[cgersic]

So heartbreaking to read about your sadness, but it sounds like you are starting the healing process, which is good. I'm so glad you were able to spend some time with some "new" friends and have some hugs, laughs and tears.

 

[Bullseye1967]

I had the presence of mind to stop at Publix on the way there instead of after. I walked into the vet’s matter-of-factly, walked up to the counter, and as soon as I had to say the sentence of why I was there, my voice was cracking all over the place.

I wasn’t expecting her to come back with a cute teal gift bag with a bow with paw prints on it and a tag with her name and my last name. I was surprised how light it was, and remembered how heavy she was when I carried her in there.

I was glad I had already stopped at Publix.

I thought I would open it right away, but didn’t want to. Brian was working until 1am. It was now about 6pm. I moped until about 8:30, and remembered I had been thinking about going to see Wonka again one night when B was at work. That thought gave me a little lift of happiness, so I followed it and was at the movies from 9-11.

Passing the 24 hour gym on the way home, I prolonged my journey by stopping there for about an hour. I didn’t even realize the leftover popcorn from the movie was all over the floor of the passenger side of my car until I got out of the gym.

I texted Brian an oops! pic of it, and proceeded to clean it up when I got home. I hadn’t texted anything about Kylie so as not to upset him at work.

Turned out he got out early, so I was only home for a few minutes before he called, and we talked during his whole drive home (per usual.) As we talked, I made a space in the house and cleaned it.

When he got home, we opened it together. It was pretty overwhelming. Very well done, a lot of little extras. I may share some of that later. I may not.

You were right about “it feels so final.”

I looked OK when I went to bed last night, but I just woke up and the eyelids are swollen. Got about an hour or two to get them down before I have to go out.

Will resume TR soon. Thanks for understanding.

Sending positive vibes and keeping you in my thoughts today!

 

[erstwo]

I was surprised how light it was, and remembered how heavy she was when I carried her in there.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

OK back to last week. (The show must go on!)

I was really pleased with how our MK night went. I probably could have gotten more shots if not for the rain and this feeling of, “I shouldn’t be here!” It was cooler than the pics could show and I so appreciated that moment. We may book late restaurants again!

We had no problem exiting and no problem finding our car - the only one in the area!

I wish I could say there was no problem sleeping, but that’s kind of a given for me at WDW. Our room at CBR was cozy, but I had to keep telling someone to roll over so he’d stop snoring like a freight train.

Next morning: another fab WDWmagic meetup - OK, it was epic. I think I’d better read Tu’s TR first lol.

 

[Tiggerish]

I had the presence of mind to stop at Publix on the way there instead of after. I walked into the vet’s matter-of-factly, walked up to the counter, and as soon as I had to say the sentence of why I was there, my voice was cracking all over the place.

I wasn’t expecting her to come back with a cute teal gift bag with a bow with paw prints on it and a tag with her name and my last name. I was surprised how light it was, and remembered how heavy she was when I carried her in there.

I was glad I had already stopped at Publix.

I thought I would open it right away, but didn’t want to. Brian was working until 1am. It was now about 6pm. I moped until about 8:30, and remembered I had been thinking about going to see Wonka again one night when B was at work. That thought gave me a little lift of happiness, so I followed it and was at the movies from 9-11.

Passing the 24 hour gym on the way home, I prolonged my journey by stopping there for about an hour. I didn’t even realize the leftover popcorn from the movie was all over the floor of the passenger side of my car until I got out of the gym.

I texted Brian an oops! pic of it, and proceeded to clean it up when I got home. I hadn’t texted anything about Kylie so as not to upset him at work.

Turned out he got out early, so I was only home for a few minutes before he called, and we talked during his whole drive home (per usual.) As we talked, I made a space in the house and cleaned it.

When he got home, we opened it together. It was pretty overwhelming. Very well done, a lot of little extras. I may share some of that later. I may not.

You were right about “it feels so final.”

I looked OK when I went to bed last night, but I just woke up and the eyelids are swollen. Got about an hour or two to get them down before I have to go out.

Will resume TR soon. Thanks for understanding.

I've been lurking and liking while dealing with my own grief (my favorite uncle died last week) but this one broke.me. As if I needed more breaking.

Having been a pet parent to four deceased cats, and one coming up.on elderly remaining feline, AND having followed your TRs over the years, I'm just so sorry to read about Kylies last days. You are memorialising her beautifully.

Sending virtual love and support.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

I've been lurking and liking while dealing with my own grief (my favorite uncle died last week) but this one broke.me. As if I needed more breaking.

Having been a pet parent to four deceased cats, and one coming up.on elderly remaining feline, AND having followed your TRs over the years, I'm just so sorry to read about Kylies last days. You are memorialising her beautifully.

Sending virtual love and support.

I am so sorry for the loss of your uncle. I feel like you and I bonded a long time ago. All my best to your family.

Thank you for your kind words about Kylie. It kind of feels like I’m holding onto her a little longer in this report.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

On Thursday, we were invited to a get together on Friday morning at baseline taphouse. We had never been! And we looked forward to the get-together. I’m sure most of you have already seen this picture, it truly was epic!

And here’s another. More casual lol.

Some folks, I felt like I knew pretty well, whether we had met before or not. Some I was meeting for the first time - spouses, family members, etc. it was very comfortable. It was very healing. While we did not talk about Kylie, I knew that most of these people knew who she was from reading all our reports. I felt they were extra kind to us. I can’t tell you how much that meant to us and changed the entire tone of our trip. I am forever grateful for the friendship extended in those moments, and especially to @Tuvalu for making sure we were included. It really helped.