Trip Report Two broke guys & a dog (for the last time.) (now with Christmas 2024!)

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.

 

[93boomer]

Random pics on our way out of the Contemporary.

View attachment 831671View attachment 831672View attachment 831673

The Lyft back to the room was much cheaper at that hour and from that location (non-WDW surge pricing.)

As Miss Jackson would say as "Miss You Much" winds down: "That's the end?"

Beautiful tree

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Beautiful tree

I thought so! Especially up against that angled wall.

I was up early the next morning. Just so you know, I did look.

Lord, I was up at 7:18?

I thought about letting Brian sleep and rope dropping this or that.

I wanted to. I always wish we could.

B had to be to work by 5ish. Three hour train ride. We had to be on the train just before noon.

I know he genuinely wouldn’t care if I went, but I know I would feel bad leaving him out.

And it would’ve amounted to less than two hours in one park, rushing, with a $20 Lyft each way.

Not this time.

We got to the train station a little early so I could guzzle free wine in the premium lounge.

Oh, and have a snack. I grabbed a ready-made chicken salad sandwich and some pasta salad. Brian had potato salad and something else, I don’t remember. I did grab a mini eclair on the way out of the lounge to the train at last call.

In case any locals are interested, here are the Brightline menus.

Here’s what we ended up with:

The quinoa salad is tasty, but as small as that adorable mini tequila bottle. Hey, if it’s included, I’m drinking it. Brian clearly could not drink before work.

We did see this rainbow for several minutes.

Per usual, this trip did the trick, and did what I sort of hoped it might do: it made Christmas palatable again. We enjoyed the decorations, the electricity in the air, the purpose of finding an ornament.

I had been buying nice sized live trees that touched the ceiling the last few years. This year, I thought at best, I’d get the artificial one down from the attic. It seemed like too big a job, and too big a celebration for this year. While we normally have our tree up around Thanksgiving, no indoor decorating had been done prior to our trip.

I had an idea on the train, that I think was a good compromise.

When Brian went to work the next day, I got a small live tree.

I got all the decorations down from the attic. We haven’t had a chance to decorate yet, but the tree needed a day to soak up some water and breathe and take shape.

It will be less big a job and less big a celebration, and that’s appropriate. But I had to hang Kylie’s new ornament somewhere!

I’ll update once we’ve decorated. I will probably do lights and Garland tonight (see how my phone automatically capitalizes Garland, as if I talk about Judy all the time?) and we can put probably half the ornaments we would typically use on the tree tomorrow.

I have to decide if we want to drive all the way up on Monday night starting around 11 PM, or just take it easy and drive about halfway, to Fort Pierce. That would break up the drive and we would wake up Christmas Eve morning with a smaller bite ahead of us. We’d get past all the congested areas like West Palm Beach and Boca.

There don’t seem to be any hotels off the Florida Turnpike between Fort Pierce and the Orlando area.

Thanks for keeping up or catching up, we go right back into trip reporting in three days!

 

[93boomer]

I thought so! Especially up against that angled wall.

I was up early the next morning. Just so you know, I did look.

View attachment 831758
Lord, I was up at 7:18?

I thought about letting Brian sleep and rope dropping this or that.

I wanted to. I always wish we could.

B had to be to work by 5ish. Three hour train ride. We had to be on the train just before noon.

I know he genuinely wouldn’t care if I went, but I know I would feel bad leaving him out.

And it would’ve amounted to less than two hours in one park, rushing, with a $20 Lyft each way.

Not this time.

We got to the train station a little early so I could guzzle free wine in the premium lounge.

Oh, and have a snack. I grabbed a ready-made chicken salad sandwich and some pasta salad. Brian had potato salad and something else, I don’t remember. I did grab a mini eclair on the way out of the lounge to the train at last call.

In case any locals are interested, here are the Brightline menus.

View attachment 831759View attachment 831760View attachment 831761View attachment 831762

Here’s what we ended up with:

View attachment 831764

The quinoa salad is tasty, but as small as that adorable mini tequila bottle. Hey, if it’s included, I’m drinking it. Brian clearly could not drink before work.

We did see this rainbow for several minutes.
View attachment 831765

Per usual, this trip did the trick, and did what I sort of hoped it might do: it made Christmas palatable again. We enjoyed the decorations, the electricity in the air, the purpose of finding an ornament.

I had been buying nice sized live trees that touched the ceiling the last few years. This year, I thought at best, I’d get the artificial one down from the attic. It seemed like too big a job, and too big a celebration for this year. While we normally have our tree up around Thanksgiving, no indoor decorating had been done prior to our trip.

I had an idea on the train, that I think was a good compromise.

View attachment 831768

When Brian went to work the next day, I got a small live tree.

I got all the decorations down from the attic. We haven’t had a chance to decorate yet, but the tree needed a day to soak up some water and breathe and take shape.

It will be less big a job and less big a celebration, and that’s appropriate. But I had to hang Kylie’s new ornament somewhere!

I’ll update once we’ve decorated. I will probably do lights and Garland tonight (see how my phone automatically capitalizes Garland, as if I talk about Judy all the time?) and we can put probably half the ornaments we would typically use on the tree tomorrow.

I have to decide if we want to drive all the way up on Monday night starting around 11 PM, or just take it easy and drive about halfway, to Fort Pierce. That would break up the drive and we would wake up Christmas Eve morning with a smaller bite ahead of us. We’d get past all the congested areas like West Palm Beach and Boca.

There don’t seem to be any hotels off the Florida Turnpike between Fort Pierce and the Orlando area.

Thanks for keeping up or catching up, we go right back into trip reporting in three days!

First of all, thank you for sharing this trip with us!!
I am having bad WDW withdrawals. It’s only been a week.
I love your tree size. Perfect! Can’t wait to see it decorated.
I am soo excited for your next trip!! It’s like
“ let’s keep extending the Disney magic”. Love it!
Countdown begins!!

 

[MinnieM123]

@Tony the Tigger , thanks for another fun TR! I love how you present your unique observations about everything!

Photos are great -- I particularly like the one of the lounge area at The Contemporary. Shown in the wall art behind the sofas, it's wonderful that they displayed the older design image, of the monorail passing through the hotel.

Wishing you and Brian a very Merry Christmas, and I'm sure your tree will look great once you've decorated it.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Morning thought:

I’m going to frickin Disney World for Christmas!

 

[93boomer]

Morning thought:

I’m going to frickin Disney World for Christmas!

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Wow, when I looked a couple of days ago, MK was $164 and AK lower.

Today MK is sold out and AK $164.

 

[erstwo]

Big G Garland is the best. (Photo Taken Thanksgiving night, so no one judge me for my lack of garland -with a little g - and the decor still in plastic!)

Sorry about the tickets. Maybe something will work out. Fingers crossed.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

View attachment 831899
Big G Garland is the best. (Photo Taken Thanksgiving night, so no one judge me for my lack of garland -with a little g - and the decor still in plastic!)

Sorry about the tickets. Maybe something will work out. Fingers crossed.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas!

Also, google the original lyrics to that song! Judy refused to sing them because they were…weird and kind of morose, even morbid. She apparently helped rewrite them into what we know today!

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Well, I’ve slept an hour so far. How much more time is left to sleep?

Today was nuts (in a good way) at the stores. It’s pretty amazing how much we sold, and we closed an hour early for our employee holiday get together. The place I wanted to have it was only available tonight. Had about an hour meeting first with some Chinese food and those crazy giant fancy cookies, and then let them loose in an arcade with beer! We had fun. Got home around 2:30 AM? Ate. Fell asleep on the couch, sitting up. I think for about an hour.

Got up and went to bed, but first bought a USB CD player for my new car (had a 350 watt amp & subwoofer installed this morning) which took some comparison shopping. Then booked a room in Fort Pierce (wait for it…on Marriott points!)

Wasn’t looking forward to a 1am or later arrival after a 3 hour drive. Fort Pierce is halfway and gets us past the high traffic areas. The rest of the way will be nice on Christmas Eve morning - especially with my new amp and CD player! Poor new car. This trip will get the mileage up quickly!

As much as I like the idea of going to the parks on Christmas Day, the money and effort required really don’t make sense. We were just there a few days ago, and will be back in a few weeks without restrictions.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Slept from 6-10. That plus the hour on the couch is about normal for me!

Last night, as I left hurriedly to get to my store party, a fresh chill in the air, I opened the front door to find two packages outside.

One was for Brian, so that doesn’t matter. One was for me, but I didn’t have time to open it.

When we got home, I looked at it, didn’t immediately recognize the return address, and thought it was from a record label. As I opened it, I remembered someone had recently told me to expect a package.

Are you ready?

We. Love. This. All the hearts.

It goes perfectly at the entrance to the home/living room.

OK, this pic was taken at 2:30 am, and that wall is a bluish-green in real life.

But who sent it?

 

[93boomer]

Slept from 6-10. That plus the hour on the couch is about normal for me!

Last night, as I left hurriedly to get to my store party, a fresh chill in the air, I opened the front door to find two packages outside.

One was for Brian, so that doesn’t matter. One was for me, but I didn’t have time to open it.

When we got home, I looked at it, didn’t immediately recognize the return address, and thought it was from a record label. As I opened it, I remembered someone had recently told me to expect a package.

Are you ready?

View attachment 832021

We. Love. This. All the hearts.

It goes perfectly at the entrance to the home/living room.

OK, this pic was taken at 2:30 am, and that wall is a bluish-green in real life.

But who sent it?

Awww that was so sweet.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Daytime! That’s better. Still nowhere near my wall color - but damn, those fireworks pictures worked.

Who sent it?

Our very own @TrolleyFollower91 (!!)

Thank you x 10, Em. We appreciate it more than you know.

And yes, it deserved two posts.

This morning, after some electrical issues, once I got the first strand of lights on the tree, I knew it was right.

And that’s good, because it’s the only one that worked from last year’s strands.

But I found some backups that matched in another box. (Smart thinking when I bought those!)

Brian has to go in early today, so I’ll do the (Judy) Garland myself, and the basic ornaments. It won’t take many, and I’m concerned about the heavier ones, but I’ll leave the more important ones for when B gets home, or tomorrow morning if he’s too tired. Then we leave tomorrow!

 

[TrolleyFollower91]

🩷

 

[pkkurz]

Have yourself a merry little Christmas!

Also, google the original lyrics to that song! Judy refused to sing them because they were…weird and kind of morose, even morbid. She apparently helped rewrite them into what we know today!

I looked it up, quite interesting

 

[MinnieM123]

Slept from 6-10. That plus the hour on the couch is about normal for me!

Last night, as I left hurriedly to get to my store party, a fresh chill in the air, I opened the front door to find two packages outside.

One was for Brian, so that doesn’t matter. One was for me, but I didn’t have time to open it.

When we got home, I looked at it, didn’t immediately recognize the return address, and thought it was from a record label. As I opened it, I remembered someone had recently told me to expect a package.

Are you ready?

View attachment 832021

We. Love. This. All the hearts.

It goes perfectly at the entrance to the home/living room.

OK, this pic was taken at 2:30 am, and that wall is a bluish-green in real life.

But who sent it?

What a kind gesture from Em. Beautiful tribute.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

eeeeep, it's tonight!

I guess I'm extra excited because it's Christmas.

I got a little further with the tree yesterday, and enjoyed the lights last night. Judy is on, and a few ornaments - saving the rest to do with Brian before he goes to work. Won't take 10 minutes on that little tree lol. But it's kind of adorable.

On the last 2 day trip, I got by with a carry-on sized bag. On this 2-3 day trip, half my big suitcase is filled with ornaments for the tree I'm putting in the room that is too big and a secret from Brian!

Still have to find something to wear to Citricos. I think the Tigger tie is coming back out.

So much to do today - finish packing - hyperbaric treatment - visit both stores and make sure they're all set - little stops at stores that will have long lines and too many people lol.

I don't know if I should go into the story of what Brian ordered for me online. Thank God it was the wrong size and he will have to send it back. His comment, "Now you know why I always get you a TJ Maxx gift card."

 

[93boomer]

eeeeep, it's tonight!

I guess I'm extra excited because it's Christmas.

I got a little further with the tree yesterday, and enjoyed the lights last night. Judy is on, and a few ornaments - saving the rest to do with Brian before he goes to work. Won't take 10 minutes on that little tree lol. But it's kind of adorable.

On the last 2 day trip, I got by with a carry-on sized bag. On this 2-3 day trip, half my big suitcase is filled with ornaments for the tree I'm putting in the room that is too big and a secret from Brian!

Still have to find something to wear to Citricos. I think the Tigger tie is coming back out.

So much to do today - finish packing - hyperbaric treatment - visit both stores and make sure they're all set - little stops at stores that will have long lines and too many people lol.

I don't know if I should go into the story of what Brian ordered for me online. Thank God it was the wrong size and he will have to send it back. His comment, "Now you know why I always get you a TJ Maxx gift card."

Curious minds want to know!

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Curious minds want to know!

Oh, it’s bad. Like it made me think, “Do you even know me at all?” And, “Stop buying sh…tuff on the internet in the middle of the night!”

I did not say either of those two things out loud.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

OK, Brian is fully packed and off to work. I am barely packed (clothing-wise) but have to leave in about 10 minutes to stop at my nearby store (drop stuff off, pick stuff up) go to my hyperbaric sesh from 3-5ish, go to my other store (drop off, pick up) one more time at the nearby store (drop off) and then home to figure out what I’m going to wear.

I’ll have the car all packed when B gets home, and we’ll have the manageable drive to Fort Pierce ahead of us. He’ll never notice what’s in the back.

B was not so into the whole tree thing at home, but he didn’t have much time, either. We really couldn’t put the heavier ornaments on, except in a very few strong places.

As always, we included our newly bought ornaments from trips since last year - WDW, NOLA, etc.

It’s a different tree for sure - more compact, more Disney-centric except for a few meaningful faves, and of course, more Kylie.

A couple of heavy ornaments, while on hooks, had to rest on the boxes below.

And of course, being me, it had to be meaningful and make me cry, so where is Kylie’s new ornament? Lower left. And why?

Because she often slept in that hallway; and when she got up, she’d walk and brush against that part of the tree (like a cat lol.) We learned to put non-breakables in that area.

Close-up:

Angel above. Our hearts to the right (nearly impossible to see because of the way it turned - it’s a keychain with multiple heart and Mickey shapes that I bought when B and I had Valentine’s Day lunch at the Brown Derby. Kylie came with us and stayed at Best Friend’s Pet Care.

The BFPC pin is nearby, and the two Mickey tuxes, representing us/our wedding/anniversary.

I sat down right there and sobbed for a moment.

And now gotta run - took too long to type!