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.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

I know when I write these things up, I forget some little anecdote, or vignette, or commentary because there’s no picture to go with it. Maybe I should take notes next time.

Waking up Christmas morning was fairly uneventful at first. I didn’t sleep great. The Potter marathon was still repeating. I think (after hours of being awake) I slept from 5am to 10am - and then remembered where I was! We groggily said Merry Christmas to each other (the trip was the gift) and exchanged cards.

Still hadn’t touched that oatmeal.

We had an ADR for breakfast at Topolino’s (woo hoo!) at 12:15. Should we take the bus, now that we knew where the bus stop was? Driving seemed out of the question. Lyft it is.

We both started with the Old Fashioned.

And here comes Mickey!

 

[Tony the Tigger]

They start you off with a “paint bucket” of assorted muffins & croissants, and 3 “paints” - strawberry, butter, and chocolate (may have been Nutella? Not sure.)

Like most character dining, it’s pricey, and the characters make stops at each table - in this case: Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Daisy in what I would call French artist attire.

This was *perfect* for a non-park day, and I’d imagine folks waiting in line at sold-out MK on Christmas Day to meet even one of them had a tougher time.

Unlike most character dining, this is a very good restaurant. There’s no, “Oh, do it for the ambience and the character meets because the food is mediocre.” Granted, it’s breakfast, and some of the more basic entrees feel exceptionally light for $55, but what you order is well done.

I think we chose wisely. Brian had some version of smoked salmon on avocado toast,

and I took our server’s advice and ordered the steak & eggs (the steak being 3 filet medallions.)

At some point while ordering, Brian said something about waffles. Unprompted, Aziz brought him one.

Of course, you know who ate most of it. I’ll never fit into that sky blue tracksuit now. The whipped cream was excellent, I believe it had some hint of flavoring that I loved. Quality all around.

Little touches like when I ordered herbal (decaf) hot tea, he brought me two kinds that he liked to brew together. I enjoyed that.

The muffins were refillable, but we were both nicely stuffed. Oh, yes, our new friends:

Brian & Donald got along well. B asked D to “shake a tail feather,” and he obliged, to the delight of nearby tables. B also spoke to D in mimicked Donald Duck language. This was fun!

 

[Tony the Tigger]

 

[Tony the Tigger]

The Minnie pics must be on B’s phone!

There was no rush (except for our next appointment) and we liked Aziz, and bonded a bit. If you ask me enough questions (ok, any questions) you’re going to get a snippet of the Kylie story. That brought on his story about his Dad’s (pretty remarkable) battle with cancer, and we all had tears in our eyes. We ordered a second drink.

We also know someone who works there, and texted her from our table. She was able to switch with someone to get Christmas off, and we met that person as well. Everyone was very nice.

Now, I like to take pics of our drinks, with or without our D3 coins, to post on the D3 (Disney Day Drinkers) FB page.

I actually drank mine before taking the pic, so I thought I’d make a funny post about that.

I don’t know how this happened, but this pic is unaltered.

Blow it up a little. Quoting Professor Quirrell(sp?) when about to die at the end of Potter movie #1: “Wot is this magic?!”

I showed it to our new staff friends and they were just as amazed.

There is no design on that glass. That’s the ice cube inside the glass.

The ice cube mold does put an “RR” (Riviera Resort) on the top of the ice cube. This photo was of the side of the ice cube.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

What do you see in the glass?

 

[Swissmiss]

What do you see in the glass?

A dog’s face (which is proof that Kylie is still with you, even if she isn’t )

 

[93boomer]

What do you see in the glass?

Awww it is a doggie!!

 

[Tiggerish]

A dog’s face (which is proof that Kylie is still with you, even if she isn’t )

That's what I see, too.

 

[Tiggertoo56]

That's what I see, too.

Yep, definitely a doggie in that glass!

 

[Tony the Tigger]

What do you see in the glass?

A dog’s face (which is proof that Kylie is still with you, even if she isn’t )

Awww it is a doggie!!

That's what I see, too.

Yep, definitely a doggie in that glass!

OK, my first thought was The Lion King!

Of course, Mufasa/TLK was plastered everywhere, and I had been planning to watch the live action CGI remake before seeing the new one.

Once I blew the pic up, I thought, “or a dog.” And then I almost felt bad for thinking it was a lion lol. I said almost - because it really does look like a lion.

Of course, Brian reminded me, he used to say Kylie looked like a lion! This is true.

Either way, the image is pretty remarkable, and I couldn’t have intentionally created/recreated it if I tried.

 

[pkkurz]

Oh my, that is a fantastic likeness of Kylie. Gave me chills.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

At some point during the meal, they give you this “signed” card.

We went outside on the terrace, as has become customary.

Made fun of tourists in the pool during winter temps.

And I had an idea on the spot. I was trying to jam as much Disney fun into this resort-only Christmas trip. We could take a Lyft from the Riviera to our next destination…or we could…

Fly!

At first Brian was nonplussed.

Then he leaned into it.

And although I thought we had already been having fun all along,

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Our “flight” hadn’t gotten us any closer to the Winter Summerland miniature golf course, but I enjoyed it! We took the Lyft from wherever we landed.

I didn’t take many pictures, because when we arrived, I gave Brian my phone to put in his jacket pocket. Otherwise, it pulls my pants down a smidge in my pants pocket lol.

This was a lot of fun, and a good time killer on a resort day. It was your basic miniature golf course, but themed to winter and Santa, at least on the side we chose. You can also choose the summer side.

The score went back-and-forth. We each had some surprise holes in one, and some frustrating spots, but in the end Brian was victorious. It was a good time…despite no drinks.

The scorecard:

Including the backstory.

I just realized I filled out the wrong side of the card.